chatwithketch

Q: Doctor, why do my gums bleed while I’m cleaning regularly?

A: Gum bleeding during regular cleaning may be due to a number of causes.

Gum Infection, wrong cleaning method, use of hard bristle brushes and, bleeding disorders could all cause this.

I would advise you be gentler in your brushing, it’s not how hard you brush that gets the teeth clean; it’s the method used.

Brushing in a circular motion removes all the particles in between the teeth and prevent holes forming in the teeth or other infection. Brushing from side to side is not a good method and should be avoided as the gums often get injured when using this method.

Brushing twice a day, spending at least 2-3 minutes on this activity is recommended. Use of saline gargles can also help. This is prepared using a glass of warm water, add half a teaspoon of salt, mix…

Q: What can I eat to have a lovely skin?

A: Hi dear, thanks for writing in.

I will give you general tips for keeping your skin, nice and healthy.

Moisturise, mositurise and moisturise! Long hot showers/baths may sound very tempting but they dry out your skin. Opt for short showers. Immediately after you have a bath/shower (with cold or warm water as opposed to hot water), pat your skin dry…leaving some moisture still on it, and then apply moisturizer at this time. This locks in the moisture. Look for moisturisers that contain ingredients like isopropyl palmitate, propylene glycol linoleate, squalene, and glycerol stearate, jojoba oil, lanolin, glycerin, hyaluronic acid, sorbitol, propylene glycerol, urea, and lactic acid (Long list, aye :D). These ingredients provide the mix of keeping the skin soft, smooth and pliable and then also draw moisture from the atmosphere to the skin’s surface increasing hydration.

If you…

Q: Good day Dr, please what could cause a 23 year old girl to be bed wetting? My niece that stays with me bed wets almost every night while my less than 3 year old son does not.

A: Bed wetting hardly happens once a child gets to the age of 7 years. However, for a small percentage of children, this continues for a while longer. We will talk about bed wetting in children another time. Today’s bed wetting discourse is about this problem in adults. What could lead to bed wetting in adults?

This usually indicates a medical problem like Diabetes Mellitus, prostate problems (prostate cancer or prostate enlargement), bladder cancer, urinary tract infections or urinary tract stones. Sometimes though, it could also be due to an emotional disturbance or anxiety.

Treatment of adult bed wetting will be focused on the underlying cause. For instance, if it is due…

Q: Hello Doctor. During the time of breastfeeding (0 – 6 months), is it okay to feed the baby with other milk? And according to medical recommendation, when is it the right time to start mixing other kinds of milk like Lactogen with breast milk?

A: Thanks for writing in. Is it okay to feed your baby with other milk during the first six months? No! During the first six months, your baby should be getting pure, unadulterated breast milk. After this period, you can now include infant formula. Remember that your baby should not get regular cow milk until he/she turns 1 year old.

For more tips on breastfeeding and weaning, please click on the following links:

Daily Health Tips: Should I Exclusively Breastfeed My Baby Beyond 6 Months?

Daily Health Tips: Storage Of Breast Milk Re-Visited

Have a great night, people 😀

Q: What will happen if I take amoxicillin without the prescription of my doctor? I take it because my ear is aching and I do not know why and now I feel dizzy. I thought it would ease the pain that I am feeling right now. Please reply

A: Hi! I am quite convinced that this is a serious matter with that crying face J

First, please go and see your doctor. Why would you take amoxicillin without knowing whether the pain is due to an infection or not? There are so many different causes of ear pain and I’ll give you a small list below:

Ear pain with fever can be due to ear infections or a cold. For more on ear infections and colds, please click on the links: https://chatwithdrketch.com/2016/10/18/daily-health-tips-ear-infections/ and https://chatwithdrketch.com/2015/08/08/having-a-cold-heres-your-survival-tool-kit/

Ear pain with pain when swallowing can be due to sore throat and tonsillitis. For more…

Q: Good evening Doc, please I want to ask what other way can you use to  cure nasal polyp and what is the correlation with  allergies?

A: A nasal polyp is a painless small growth in the nostrils with a stalk protruding from a surface. Though harmless, they can keep growing and block the nose if left untreated. Patients typically use the terms ‘stuffy nose’, ‘blocked nose’ or nasal congestion to describe this condition because of the obstruction (blockage) to the flow of air, in and out of the nose. It is not clear what causes this but it is thought that having asthma, allergy to air-borne fungi and a drug reaction to aspirin could predispose one to it.

Stuffy nose is the same description that patients with allergy use to describe their situation. In this condition, an individual’s immune system reacts in an exaggerated manner to certain foods or…

Q: Hey Doctor, I hope you are fine. I went to visit my hubby in November, then we had unprotected sex for 2 months. In February, I started to feel something funny about my body. When I get up, my pressure goes up and I have back pain. I thought it was nothing. In my tummy I could feel something beating fast. In March, I started vomiting whenever I ate chicken. In addition, I have green lines on my chest and my hands. My boobs got big and hurt. My periods didn’t stop but only going for 3 days now – weak blood. Now I am ugly. I have pimples and my tummy is too big. Yesterday, I went to a doctor. He touched my tummy and he said he can ‘hear’ the baby’s head but the time he touched it, it hurt. So, he sent me to scan and …

Q: Hi Dr Ketch,is the electric blanket safe for my 4months old baby?

A: Congratulations on your new bundle of joy 😀
No, the electric blanket is not ideal for your baby because of the risk of over-heating burn or even a burn. So, please don’t use it. Focus more on dressing baby warmly, avoiding clothes with long strings that may pose a strangulation risk. Whatever you do, make sure baby’s head and face are not covered. If you can get a baby sleeping bag, that would be perfect.

Now, I’ll give you some extra tips to help you and baby sleep comfortably…tonight 😀

During night time feedings, keep lights low. Night lights stop you and baby from coming fully awake and so you can go back to sleep after the feed…effortlessly.

Commit to sleep and make it a priority in your life. The advice frequently given to new mothers…

It’s a weekend again and a number of us will be visiting some fast food restaurants for snacks or quick eats. The problem is with the quantity of saturated fats in some of these foods. A diet rich in saturated fats is associated with heart disease. Unfortunately, this fat is super abundant in a lot of the fast foods we love and crave.

Here are some tips to help you reduce your intake of saturated fats:
 Eat more white meat eg chicken and fish. Choose the healthier cuts of chicken like the breast as opposed to the wings and drum sticks
 Choose low fat dairy products: Full cream dairy is rich in saturated fat and so from the age of 2 years, children should be switched to skimmed variety or 1 or 2% milk
 Remove the skin from chicken and trim off fats from it during preparation:…

Q: Good morning doc. I have been having this body itching for the past two months and I have taken drugs but it would go and come back again. The itching occur mostly in the evening, what could be the cause and what should I take to stop it?

A: Body itching can be caused by different conditions including:

• Skin reactions to heat or allergies
• Skin conditions like eczema, dandruff or psoriasis. For more on eczema and dandruff, please click on these links https://chatwithdrketch.com/2014/03/01/daily-health-tips-what-can-i-do-about-the-eczema-on-my-skin/; https://chatwithdrketch.com/2017/05/18/hlwdk-daily-health-tips-help-with-dandruff/
• Parasitic infestations like scabies. For more on scabies, please click on this link: https://chatwithdrketch.com/2017/07/22/hlwdk-daily-health-tips-scabies/
• Fungal infections like jock itch or athlete’s foot. For more on scabies, please click on this link: https://chatwithdrketch.com/2018/03/31/hlwdk-daily-health-tips-athletes-foot/
• Hormonal changes during pregnancy or menopause
• Other medical conditions like thyroid, liver or kidney problems
• Dry, cracked or irritated skin. For more on eczema and dandruff, please click on this link: https://chatwithdrketch.com/2017/12/29/hlwdk-daily-health-tips-i-itch-after-every-bath/
• Nerve…