chatwithketch

Q: How can high blood pressure be reduced besides taking bp tablets?

A: To reduce your risk of high blood pressure, incorporate these lifestyle measures:
Reduce your intake of salt. Use salt sparingly while cooking and there should be no added salt after cooking. Remember that there are hidden sources of salt that we probably don’t think of like in salted nuts, processed foods like bacon and sausage, chips etc

Eat less oil. If you have to use oil at all, be sure to do so sparingly. Even the heart healthy oils are loaded with calories.

Eat more fruits and vegetables as they contain loads of goodness. They also ensure that you do not pile on excessive weight that may also predispose you to high blood pressure.

Exercise or make sure that you are involved in activities for at least 150 minutes every week. This could be in the form…

Q: Hello, Dr. Ketch Please help me prescribe what I can do or take to tackle erectile dysfunction. Sometimes, I don’t want to feel that I have it because I don’t have the urge for sex. Please help me. Thank you

A: Erectile dysfunction (ED) occurs when a man is no longer able to get or maintain an erection sufficiently enough to have sexual intercourse. It may be really dramatic in some men, such that where they used to want intercourse very frequently; they find that there is reduced sexual desire.

Oftentimes, this may be due to just stress and better stress coping mechanisms help. However, because this is a sensitive topic, many men do not seek medical help such that this causes significant strain in their relationships. Other causes include depressions, relationship challenges, high blood pressure, high cholesterol level, high blood sugar, obesity, some medications, tobacco use, substance abuse…

Q: How can I get rid of stretch marks?

A: Stretch marks occur when the skin is over-stretched like during pregnancy, during the growth spurt of the teenage years and during rapid weight gain or loss. So the skin, sort of, loses its elasticity, over stretches, leading to the breaking the of interconnected fibres of the middle layer of skin, dermis. When this happens, the blood vessels show through, with the characteristic red or purple colour stretch marks have initially. As the blood vessels contract, the pale fat underneath the skin shows through causing the stretch marks to assume their usual pale colour.

Stretch marks can also occur in people who have a family history, people with underlying health conditions like Cushing’s syndrome ~(where the body produces too much of the hormone, Cortisol) and sometimes after prolonged use/abuse of steroid creams (some of these are used to treat eczema).

Common…

Q: Hi Doc. I am a breastfeeding mom and l have discovered l have a painful lump in one of my breasts, Could it be cancer? Should l stop breastfeeding?

A: Painful lumps in the breasts of breastfeeding mums may be blocked milk ducts. Usually your milk ducts block if you’re making milk faster than you’re expressing it and indeed you should feel some relief every time you breastfeed from that breast…so stopping breastfeeding may just be making a bad matter already worse

What causes this milk duct to block? It could be that your baby is not latching on well to the breast and thus not sucking enough from that breast. It could be that you don’t feel well and are not feeding baby often enough, or you decided to wean baby suddenly. Other causes include tight nursing bra, sleeping on your tummy, a nursing pump that’s not powerful…

Q: Please Doctor find time to give me a response. God bless you

I am 29 after an active sexual life I stopped having sex but just last year after 11 months the last time I had sex, resuming sex practice has been painful for me which after having sex I have pain and my vagina suffers inflammation on the body of the two inner closure of my private part and it is becoming disturbing to me and my partner. Please what could be the cause or prevention to it?

A: Pain during sexual intercourse is more common with women but can also happen in men. The first question above was sent in by a woman and the second one was sent in by a man. This condition is called dyspareunia in medicine.

Dyspareunia is a condition in which one experiences pain during or after sexual intercourse. In women, the…

Q: Hello Doc, what is a whitlow and what’s the treatment?

A: Whitlow usually refers to Herpetic whitlow caused by Herpes Simplex Virus. It usually affects the tip of the index finger or thumb. It happens when the finger skin, especially the cuticle, is broken and invaded by virus causing infection of the soft tissue around the nail. This can happen through skin to skin contact or when infected fluid touches the breach/cut in the finger skin. In children, this can happen when a child with cold sore (what we usually term fever blister), sucks on a finger with a cut on the thumb or also through contact with someone who has genital Herpes.

The virus may remain inactive in the skin for up to 3 weeks before symptoms manifest. This condition is intensely painful and patients would complain of swelling and blisters in the affected area, tenderness over the…

Q: Good evening Doc, please I would like to know the benefits of PREGNACARE PLUS OMEGA-3 and CALCIUM TABLETS on pregnant women AND is it safe if a baby constantly kicks in the womb?

Hi dear, thanks for writing in. I’ll start with your last question. Babies in the womb, just like you and I, have their moments. Sometimes, they are quiet and other times they are very active. You need to know what is normal for your baby and let your doctor know when there is a difference from normal. Generally, in the first couple of months when baby is really small, you hardly feel the kicks and when you do, they feel like flutters or even the feeling you get when you have indigestion. As they grow bigger, you start to feel their kicks more often and indeed stronger.

Below, is a post I had written on this…

Q: Good evening Doctor.Please at what month does a baby starts kicking? How good are all these supplements (Pregnacare, Obron 6) etc and at what month is a pregnant woman supposed to start taking them? Please notify me when you answer my question.

A: The first time you feel your baby’s movement is known as quickening and the time women feel it varies person to person. It ranges from 16 to 25 weeks but women who have had babies before may feel this much earlier. Women describe it as different things: a bubbly feeling; butterflies in their tummy; gas etc.

When should a woman start taking supplements? Well, to answer that it’s important to note that there are 3 vitamins that are particularly important to pregnant women:

Folic acid prevents neural tube defects which may occur during the first 28days of pregnancy. This is usually the period when quite a…

World Mental Health Day is observed on the 10^th of October every year. The theme of this year’s event focuses on psychological first aid. This speaks to supportive and psychological help people can offer to fellow human beings who have been through a crisis event.

When we hear mental health, we mostly think of ‘mad’ people. This has led to stigmatization of people of people with mental health issues. They do not own up to the issues they are going through, have no idea where to go for help and are mostly forbidden from talking about their issues. This has led to a situation where people with mental health issues do not get the help they need.

In honour of this day, I will re-post some of my mental health blogs. I hope you find them helpful and more importantly, I hope they help you provide support when next…

Happy Children’s Day! And no, I am not just referring to your children, I’m referring to you! 😀 You are somebody’s child 😀 My mother still sends me a message every 27th of May…so, go figure! 😀

And to celebrate today, we will take a question related to children….

Q: Hi Dr, my question is, ‘when does a baby start to grow? And is there a difference between the growing process or boys and girls?’ A: Hey! Thanks for writing in.So, when does baby start growing? Well, from the time of fertilization (union of the sperm and egg). If you use the 40 weeks of pregnancy typically used by your doctor, then that means that fertilization and commencement of growth of baby happened around week 3 (remember that we count from the first day of your last menstrual period and so that means that the 40 weeks includes your last…