Daily Health Tips: Enlarged breast tissue in men (gynaecomastia)

Posted on December 6, 2013 by chatwithdrketch

This can happen in boys and men as a result of hormonal imbalance (of estrogen and testosterone) and can affect one or both breasts. As a result of the hormonal changes at these periods, new-borns, adolescents and the elderly may experience this. Other risk factors include the use of performance enhancing drugs (steroids or androgens) in sports.

Boys and men with this condition may feel some pain and embarrassment. To prevent this condition, staying away from illegal drugs, like anabolic steroids and staying off alcohol could be helpful. Also, getting your doctor to review your medication to ensure that you are not taking any drug that could lead to increase in breast tissue would be helpful.

Usually, this would disappear on its own but where it doesn’t would require further treatment in the form of surgery to remove excess breast tissue or medication.

Have a great day, people.

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Daily Health Tips: Cancer

Posted on December 5, 2013 by chatwithdrketch

The real disease burden of cancer in a country like Nigeria is really under-reported. A significant portion of patients die at him without ever being diagnosed and the few that get diagnosed come in at the late stages where it is practically impossible to beat the disease.

How can we stop this disease from manifesting in the first instance? Here are 5 quick tips to prevent cancer

Limit Red Meat and Animal Fat: Studies have shown that a diet high in animal fat increases the risk for several types of cancer, particularly colon cancer. Poultry and fish contain less fat than red meat,  thus reducing the red meat in your diet may help to prevent cancer. A diet high in fat also is major cause of obesity, which is a risk factor for many types of cancer. 

 Reduce Your Alcohol Intake:Drinking excessive amounts if alcohol have been implicated as risk factor for many types of cancer. Studies suggest that men who consume 2 alcoholic drinks per day and women who have 1 alcoholic drink per day significantly increase their risk factors for certain types of cancer.

Eat Your Fruits and Veggies: A diet rich in fruits and vegetables greatly reduces your risk of developing cancer and many other conditions. 
Fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants, which help repair our damaged cells. Green, orange and yellow fruits and vegetables are your best bet to help prevent cancer. Studies also show that dark fruits, like blueberries and grapes, may also have anti-cancer properties. 
Cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower are especially useful in preventing cancer, according to numerous studies

Avoid smoking and exposure to smoke: Smoking has been implicated in not only lung cancer, but many other types of cancer. It is the most significant cancer risk factor that we can reduce by quitting or never starting.

Practice safe sex:Unsafe sex has been implicated in cervical cancer. Unsafe sex can cause infection with the human papillomairus (HPV), which can cause cancer of the cervix and is a risk factor for other types of cancer. HPV is a common sexually transmitted infection that is spread through sexual, skin-to-skin contact. There is a vaccine to prevent this cancer now. Please ask your doctor where you can get it. HIV/AIDS is also associated with some types of cancers. Get screened regularly.

Here’s to a healthier you!

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Daily Health Tip: Asthma

Posted on December 5, 2013 by chatwithdrketch

Asthma is a disease that affects quite a few in our population. If you are a mother with an asthmatic child, you will remember the heart wrenching agony you felt when the diagnosis was first given to you. You imagined a lifetime of wheezing and crises. However, this may not be so. Hygiene around the house plays a large role in ensuring that allergens which are substances that provoke allergies and could start up an asthmatic attack are on the low side and therefore your child healthy.

Dust mites are small organisms that are not usually visible to the naked eyes found in fabric, feathers and wool. Thus they are usually resident in pillows, throws etc and feed on dead skin that human beings shed normally everyday. They love moisture and heat and thus can be found on beds as a result of the sweat from people. Though they do not fly, as beds are being made and they can fly across the room and cause allergic reactions on people who are prone or trigger an asthmatic attack in people with these conditions.

How to hold this small but mighty organism at bay? Here are our top five tips

  • Remove dust. Try dusting with a damp napkin or an oiled duster. This ensures that the dust doesn’t get airborne to settle somewhere else. Worse still to settle inside the airways of an asthmatic. This is sure to provoke an attack. Try vacuuming instead of using a broom or brush.
  • Use allergen proof mattress covers. These covers are tightly woven; they trap and prevent the dust mites from escaping from the mattress to provoke the airways into spasm.
  • Wash beddings every week. This should also be done for stuffed toys. Ensure that this is done with hot water to kill the dust mites and remove allergens. And stuffed toys should be kept off beddings.
  • Limit the use of carpeting and other dust collecting items of furniture around the house like curtains and upholstered chairs. These are major reservoirs of dust mites. Scrub, polish and keep your floors clean; change curtains to horizontal blinds and reduce the population of these mites significantly.
  • Keep the moisture and humidity low and reduce clutter. These would reduce the breeding places of the mites.

With simple hygiene tips, even diseases like asthma can be controlled. So join us as we do this.

Here’s to a healthier you!

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Daily Health Tip: HIV/AIDS…your role in the fight.

Posted on December 4, 2013 by chatwithdrketch
Good morning everyone! Did you know that Sunday, December 1st was World AIDS day? It is celebrated every year to draw attention to AIDS and issues surrounding it. The theme of this year’s celebration was ‘Shared responsibility: strengthening results for a HIV-free generation’. How can we make the next generation HIV free or reduce its impact in our own generation if we don’t join in the fight?

A significant number of people ‘hide their heads in the sand’ anytime HIV/AIDS is discussed. That way, it appears the gist doesn’t involve them and they know nothing about it. But we are all involved. If we are not infected, we are affected by knowing or being related to other people who have been infected with this.

How can you help? Stop the stigmatization? Would you make an HIV positive patient feel welcome in your home? Would you be openly associated with him? Would you employ him if you were an employer? Would you encourage other people to associate with him and call out anyone who discriminated against them?

Coming to you, have you been tested? How long ago was that? Have you engaged in risky behaviour (indiscriminate sex without condoms) since your last screening? Do you actively preach ABC: Abstaining from sex, if not married; Being faithful to one partner and using a condom, if engaging in risky sex (totally understanding that even this is not 100% safe).

Do you share the information on HIV/AIDS with young ones that you mentor or your children? Do you also raise awareness on the fact that blood transfusions, sharing sharp objects and touching body fluids with un-gloved hands could be dangerous? The latter is especially important information for children who may rush to help other children who are injured and try to clean off the blood themselves. We need to teach them to exercise caution in the presence of body fluids.

As we think about these questions, let’s remember that people living with HIV/AIDS are human beings like you and I, and just happen to have a longstanding ailment (just like hypertension) and who deserve love and understanding from all of us. Let’s also remember that we have a significant part to play in ensuring that the next generation is free from HIV/AIDS. The Government has a huge role to play, but we can get even more done by starting from our backyards!

Please comment and let me know how you would answer any or all of the questions above.

 
Here’s to a healthier you!
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Daily Health Tip: my tummy after my baby

Posted on December 3, 2013 by chatwithdrketch

Hello pregnant mothers, or soon to be pregnant mothers or husbands/brothers/friends of either pregnant or soon to be pregnant mothers….yeah, yeah, I know! That was long winded, right?! I think old age is catching up with me 😀

Okay, the most popular question from yesterday was how to lose the pregnancy belly. Honestly, I’ve got no easy answers. It’s diet and exercise….oh and breastfeeding. But breastfeeding is not very helpful if one is not exercising and watching their portions. Again, the dictum of feeding for two here doesn’t also count.

The diet to focus on is the very same one we talk about all the time: fruits, veggies and complex carbs with focus on healthier cooking methods (less frying etc). Exercise should focus, initially on pelvic floor exercises especially if you’re leaking urine when you cough or laugh. To locate your pelvic floor muscles, try holding your urine when you feel pressed. If you are successful, then you have located the muscles you need. Then empty your bladder and lie on the floor. Contract those same muscles and hold the contraction for about 5 seconds and then relax it for about 5 seconds. Gradually build this up to holding the contraction for 10 seconds. Repeat this about 3 times a day. Once you no longer leak, you’re ready for your exercises.

Have you noticed how it is usually easier to lose the baby weight after your first baby and harder afterwards? 😀 Focus on building up your stamina gradually especially if you were not very active in pregnancy or before. Please remember to always contact your doctor before starting any vigorous exercise program. As you get into the groove, get down with your aerobics, strength training and sit-ups et al.

This is where breast feeding comes in, if you’re exercising and eating right, breastfeeding can help lose weight…as much as 300 calories per day. Does tying a wrapper tightly round your waist help flatten tummy? Honestly, I’ve heard people who swear by that technique. So, what I’ll say is, if it works for you, why not? Just don’t tie so tight as to stop blood flow 😀

How soon to start exercise after having a baby? Well, it depends on how active you were before and during pregnancy. If you were very active, you can start some light stretches as soon as you feel able. However, generally, we advise 6 – 8 weeks after birth to allow for a post-natal check to have been done. Again, start small and allow your body to get into the groove.

And for all those who asked questions about breastfeeding, this should not be a problem as once you position the baby correctly to the breast, milk is ‘produced’ for the baby through a let-down reflex. So, it is almost a misnomer to say one doesn’t produce enough. It is not very common. So, nursing mothers should ensure that they drink copious amounts of water and put their babies to the breast. If beast feeding problems continue, see your doctor with your baby to ensure that the baby is latching on to the breast properly.

Have a great day 😀

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Daily Health Tips: Eating for two!

Posted on December 2, 2013 by chatwithdrketch

Good morning y’all. I hope you all slept well.

Today, we will discuss weight gain in pregnancy. I’m sure everyone has heard the ‘eating for two’ fable :D. It is indeed, an old wives’ tale because if you were eating for two, the assumption would probably be that you should double your calorie requirement for a day….so for a woman that probably means you can get away with taking in as much as 4000 calories per day!!! That’s a recipe for disaster.

Pregnancy is associated with increased cravings and of course growth of the baby, but you do not need significantly more calories to cope with this state. The recommended weight gain for pregnancy is 8 – 16 kg in all (with an average of 12kg).

Let’s break it down for you.

During your first trimester, you actually do not need more calories than when you were not pregnant. You can continue with the activities you used to do before including exercise. However, exercise should be toned down from vigorous to moderate. Moderate exercise is any physical activity that you perform that but you’re still able to carry on a conversation without running out of breath…that’s as simple an explanation as it goes :D. It includes walking, swimming, dancing, pregnancy exercises (these are taught in some antenatal classes), stretching and relaxation exercises. Remember that you must never start on any exrcise regimen without discussing with your doctor who knows your specific medical history.

Please note that you should never to exercise to the point of exhaustion, not to over-heat yourself and not to carry on any jumping etc…partly because you are prone to injuries of the ligaments (like sprains)and because, it’s just not safe at the time. I always used to know I was pregnant whenever I sprained my ankle…it happened in 2 out of 3 pregnancies! It may not be an exact science, but it worked for me :D. Just kidding…don’t try this at home 😉

During your second trimester, your calorie needs start to increase. The recommended increase in calorie intake is about 300 calories per day. Does this sound like much? It actually is not! A popular brand of wheat biscuits (serving size of 4) is 240 calories. That’s wheat biscuit ;). So, imagine the quantum of calories in the other junk foods we crave for during this time! Take the time to read labels of food packs and check what a serving size is. If there are two serving portions in a tub of ice cream and you finish the whole tub, you’ve clearly eaten double the calories that is written on the tub!

In the final trimester, the calorie requirement increase some more to about 400 calories per day. Note that for multiple pregnancies (twins, triplets etc), the calorie needs are extra 400 calories in second trimester and extra 500-600 calories in the third trimester.

So, what to eat? The same things you did before you hot pregnant…assuming you were eating right :D. More fruits and veggies, complex carbohydrates (they are rich in fibre and keep you feeling full for a longer period of time) like beans, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, brown rice etc. Load up on proteins too (fish, chicken etc), calcium tich foods like yoghurt, skimmed milk…you don’t want to experience those muscle cramps of pregnancy. They can be excruciating! I know…I’ve had them J

Eat 5 small meals a day: breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and dinner. This should keep the hunger pangs at bay and deal with the cravings. You probably will still crave stuff: Iyalamala’s food, ice cream with all the toppings, a ‘ginormous’ burger etc and guess what? You can give in once ina blue moon, just don’t make it a habit! If you take in more calories than you need, you run the risk of having a big baby with all the complications associated with that during pregnancy and delivery and of course, it’s harder to get back to your pre-pregnancy weight after the baby. A study has also shown that babies fed junk food while the womb develop a taste for that and of course, become junk food addicts later. You don’t want to do that to your baby, I ‘m sure.

Have a great and productive week, y’all.

 

 

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Daily Health Tip: The trio of Diet, Exercise and Stress

Posted on December 1, 2013 by chatwithdrketch

Hello friends, it’s the 1st day of December! 31 days before 2014 is upon us. 31 full days to make the rest of our heart’s desires for this year come to pass. May all our dreams come true!

Still on weight loss, there are still some questions I get asked a lot that I will discuss tomorrow. For today, we will focus on 3 things: diet, exercise and stress.

Diet is very critical in terms of what you, how you eat it and how much of it is eaten. A diet full of junk food (meat pies, doughnuts) is unhealthy on a lot of fronts. It contains empty calories which give you calories you don’t need and make you demand even more calories in a short while. They also cause your blood sugar to yo-yo (jumping up) jumping up and down in a way that doesn’t help blood sugar control. A diet that is also full of white carbs like white bread, polished rice etc is also not ideal for the same reason. So what should we eat? A balanced diet…a diet that contains all food groups in sufficient amounts for the body to use them efficiently.

I have had cause to describe the ideal plate of food several times: Half the plate should be filled with vegetables, a quarter with complex carbohydrates like beans, local rice (like Ofada/Abakaliki/brown/wild rice), sweet potatoes, oatmeal etc and the last quarter with protein (fish, chicken etc). Remember that carbs are necessary to provide the energy needed for our daily activities. So, O do not ‘demonise’ (:D) them….however, not all carbs are created equal. Complex carbs are superior because they supply energy and fibre and some also supply minerals and vitamins.

Then remember portion control. Reduce the plate size you usually use, if you need to lose weight. This automatically reduces the quantity of food you can eat.

Remember also to make a conscious effort to chew your food properly and take your tome. Don’t wolf it down…or inhale it :D. Chew intentionally so as to give your brain sufficient time to process the signal from your brain which says that you are full. Have you observed that when you rush your food, you move from being very hungry to being completely stuffed! There’s no in-between, where you realize that you’re full before you get to the stuffed part. That’s because your brain didn’t have enough time to process that info before you became ‘over-full’.

Note that, even if a food is considered healthy, it doesn’t mean you should eat as much of it as you want. For instance, beams is healthy on so many levels but it also high in calories and so you still need to stick to the portion described. Moderation in everything!!

Exercise is critical because it makes your heart strong, improves your body’s ability to break down food, resist diseases and generally provides a feel-good attitude. It also helps you lose weight. Mathematically, exercise helps to burn what you have eaten such that, if you do enough and watch your portions, at the end of the day, there will be a food balance between what you have burnt and what you have taken in. If you have not been engaged in any exercise for a long time, please see your doctor before you start any vigorous regimen. A minimum of 150 minutes of exercise per week is essential for good health. Try to get this exercise anyway you can: walking, dancing, skipping, arm wrestling, pillow fights etc. All the activities count and help you keep you fit, trim and healthy. If you use the gym, that’s great. You can get the instructor to put you on a regimen that involves aerobics, strength training (training with weights) and then focus on troublesome spots like your tummy etc. (in that order) or suggest useful regimens that are helpful.

Finally, I will talk about stress because quite a number of us are stressed our and as we approach the end of the year with all the activities involved, we get even more stressed out. Stress causes the release of a hormone called Cortisol which, amongst other things, causes fat to be deposited around our tummy. The bad thing about tummy fat, is that it is not on the outside. It is actually on the inside, around the organs. So, no amount of sit-ups can touch this fat…it can help tighten abdominal muscles (especially for those who just put to bed) but it won’t get to the fat around organs (visceral fat). This fat is associated with some disease conditions like Diabetes Mellitus etc. So, reduce your stress consciously by figuring out how to better cope with your sources of stress or even eliminating the stresses that you have control over. It’s your life after all.

Have a truly beautiful day, y’all 😀

Here’s to a healthier you!

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Daily Health Tip: Weight loss (facts and fiction)

Posted on November 30, 2013 by chatwithdrketch

Hello everyone, it is the last day of the year!!! Thank you all so much for the love you showed me yesterday. You all touched my heart 🙂

Today, as part of the readers’ choice topics, we will discuss weight loss. There’s so much to talk about and I’ll also try to weigh in on some facts and fiction too.

I have a lot of people who write in and tell me that they don’t know why they add weight because they hardly eat! Now, I have never seen anyone who stays off food and actually gains weight. That would be an interesting study! For this group, the main problem is what is actually eaten when they do eat. Sometimes, people tell me, the only thing I’ve eaten all day is biscuits and a bottle of soft drink. The thing about biscuits and soft drinks is that they contain empty calories which give you a quick feeling of fullness, quickly followed by more hunger pangs…and then you find yourself reaching for more biscuits. If however, you were to eat a complex carbohydrate or even fruits, they keep you feeling fuller for longer…and so you avoid the temptation to eat more.

Some people also write in to ask me about slimming pills or green tea or any of those wonder drugs that make you shed weight on ‘seconds’ and instruct you never to eat of specific classes of foods. Let’s use green tea as an example. Green tea is great and studies have shown that it speeds up metabolism and so helps you break down all the food you’ve taken in, faster. However, weight gain is  a function what you’ve taken in and what you’ve taken out. If you take in 3000 calories and you’re able to burn only 500 calories, then clearly, there is some excess that will get converted to fat et al. Remember that some of our ‘snack’ like some burgers pack as much as 500 to 600 calories in one serving….and that’s just one meal (or maybe even snack ) with 3 more meals and perhaps another snack to account for. And so, if you are loading your system with more food than you need, then even the purest of green teas is going to have a hard time keeping up with your metabolism…there’s just too much work to do what with all that food! :D. Remember that generally, women are entitled to 2000 calories intake in a day and men are entitled to 2500.

Some ask, can I lose weight without exercise? You can…if you watch your portions. However, exercise is useful for more than just weight loss. Exercise makes your heart strong and reduces your risk of other ailments.

And then some ask, I eat only once a day, how can I possibly add weight with that? If you eat once a day, chances are you snack on other things during the day that you do not consider as food…it could very well be cookies etc. But even if you don’t snack on anything, chances are that when you eat once, you binge and essentially make up for all the meals that you didn’t eat during the day….and so we’re back to square 1 :D. Remember that you’re actually allowed up to five small meals in a day. 3 main meals and 2 snacks.

So these are some points to ponder for today as we go about our business and our parties 😀

Tomorrow, we will talk about how to go about this business of losing weight. Remember y’all, it is hard work and determination. No fancy tablets to help you deal with it here 😀

Have a great day.

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Daily Health Tip: Sudden Death

Posted on November 29, 2013 by chatwithdrketch
Hello everyone, you’ll have to forgive me today. I did promise to discuss weight loss today, but I’d like to take a rain check till tomorrow. Forgive me? Thanks

Today, I’d like to talk about the unpredictable nature of life…especially the concept of sudden death. We all hear about it but kind of assume that we are immune to it. Yesterday, I got the news of the sudden passing of a good friend. He just slumped and died; he didn’t give any of us a chance to say good bye. When I got the news, I started wondering whether we’d spent enough time talking the last time we saw, whether I’d returned that phone call etc. I guess it was all in a bid to prolong his life in my head…if that makes any sense, at all.

And so my friends, as the year draws to an end and we all get busy with ‘busyness’ (which is a lot of activity but with no real work being produced), racing around trying to spend all the cash we spent the year making, spend a moment to consider yourself.

Listen to your body…oftentimes it gives you the warning sign before something happens. You wake up exhausted on most days, can’t seem to get your energy level up, chest pain which is ignored etc. Check the symptoms out and indeed check yourself out. Make an end of year resolution to have an annual medical check every year…you can start from this year; eat healthier…start replacing most of your carbs with more veggies, one step at a time until your plate resembles the ideal plate filled with veggies on half the plate, protein on a quarter of the plate and complex carbohydrates on the last quarter. Exercise…walk dance, do anything that gets you moving. Whatever you do, just make every effort to live healthier.

You really do not know what you have until you lose it…and that includes the life and the health we all take for granted.

Stay healthy guys…and stay alive.

I still hope it’s a bad dream and my friend, Chinedu is alive and well, watching all the drama……I wish!

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Daily Health Tips: Excessive sweating and body odour

Posted on November 28, 2013 by chatwithdrketch

Readers’ choice topics

Sweating is normal during strenuous physical activity and in warm weather. In fact, as we sweat and it evaporates, we actually feel cooler. Unfortunately, for some people sweating is an issue as they ‘appear’ to pour the stuff by the buckets or would start the day with patches of sweat on their under-arms etc. This inevitably leads to body odour.

How to prevent body odour?

Take a shower twice a day or failing that, at least once a day. This helps wash away sweat as well as reduce the number of bacteria on your skin.

Remember, sweat on its own is virtually odourless. But when microscopic bacteria that live naturally on your skin mix with sweat, they multiply quickly and raise quite a stink.

 

Ensure that you towel off after a bath or shower. Pay close attention to areas where you sweat a lot. Sweat causing bacteria love moist areas…so make it difficult for them to breed.

 

Use a deodorant or anti-perspirant on your underarms twice a day, in the morning and the evening. Deodorants do not actually prevent sweating, but they mask the smell of bacteria on your skin.

 

When sweating heavily or in very hot weather, please change your clothes frequently…and be sure to wash those sweaty clothes before wearing them again! Perhaps, a smell more annoying than ‘mere body odour’ is the smell of dried sweat on an outfit! A definite no no! Fresh clothes help keep body odour down.  

And while at it, be sure to change your socks too, especially if you tend to have foot odour. Deodorant powders or detergent based running shoe cleaners used in shoes are useful. 

How to prevent excessive sweating? Well, if this is caused by obesity or stress, treatment would focus on weight loss and stress management techniques respectively. Some other disease conditions can also lead to excessive sweating like Diabetes Mellitus, Tuberculosis etc; but a doctor has to diagnose this as the cause of sweating and then advice on treatment.

Generally though, the tips above are helpful in majority of cases.

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