chatwithketch

Q: Good morning Doc, March last year my wife had a miscarriage because she took hot pepper soup without her knowing she was pregnant. Now, she doesn’t want to get pregnant again. What should I do? Please help

A: condolences on the loss of your baby. It is never an easy experience for anyone to go through.

Unfortunately, often times, the cause of a miscarriage is not identified. You need to understand this so that neither you nor her blame yourself unduly. Having said that though, first trimester miscarriages are mainly due to problems with the baby/fetus. These problems could be due to problems with the placenta. This is how the baby receives its nutrients in the womb and so, if this organ cannot deliver, a miscarriage might occur. There may also be a problem with the baby’s chromosomes, such that a baby may receive too many or too few genetic materials or there may be a damaged egg/sperm. Other associated risk factors include smoking and drinking alcohol, being overweight, malnutrition, increased maternal age, trauma and drug abuse. By the way, trimester is 3 months of pregnancy. Therefore, first trimester refers to the 1st three months, 2nd trimester, the 2nd three months and 3rd trimester, the last three months

To try for a pregnancy again, remember to ensure there is unprotected sexual intercourse at least three times a week with ejaculation of sufficient amounts of semen. You should start on folic acid supplements as soon as you can, to prepare you and baby for the journey ahead.

To prevent a recurrence, focus on ensuring that you stay healthy and do not indulge in harmful habits like smoking and excessive alcohol drinking. Other helpful tips include eating healthy, keeping weight within normal parameters, avoiding trauma and not abusing drugs.

In addition, as soon as you get pregnant again, you should register for antenatal as soon as possible and keep to your appointments religiously.

All the best!

Hey!

How’s the new year treating you so far?

Well, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day (I hope y’all had a good one?), here are some trips to practice self love for those times when you feel you have fallen short of your goals. Don’t sweat it! You will get there!

Read! https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/4-ways-to-boost-your-self-compassion

Q: Hi Dr. Ketch, I really need your help so bad because I have a huge problem every time I go to sleep. Every time I sleep, I always experience “SLEEP TALKING”. How can I prevent that illness? Doc please help me! Thank you!

A: Thanks for writing in!

Sleep talking refers to talking during sleep without being aware of it. This is medically referred to as somniloquy. Sleep talking may be spontaneous or triggered by conversation with the ‘sleep talker.’ The sleep talkers may mumble simple sounds/gibberish or long speeches; they may talk for a few seconds per episode or several times during the night; they may whisper or shout; they may appear to be talking to themselves or other people; voice and language may be similar to or different from normal etc. The list goes on…

Sleep talking is common in children and appears to run in families although it could also be brought on by fever, stress, sleep deprivation, certain medications, substance abuse, alcohol, depression etc. It is not typically considered a medical problem especially when it occurs by itself but it could also be the sign of a more serious medical disorder. This condition could occur with other sleep disorders like sleepwalking, sleep apnea, nightmares etc.

What can you do on your own to reduce this? No treatment is usually required but if this is severe or goes on for a long time, then an intervention is needed. A good place to start would be a review of the listed causes above to understand which of them could be responsible for this problem in your own case. For instance, if you’re not getting enough sleep, are stressed, are abusing drugs or alcohol, work on those. Review your medications (including the times you take them) with your doctor and seek help for depression. If none of these appear to help, then a consultation with a sleep specialist is in order. If you do not know one, your doctor will be able to refer you to one.

In the meantime, ensure that you let your partner know that you are working on getting help for this condition. A stop-gap measure that could help them get more sleep (if your sleep talking is depriving them of much needed sleep) is to get ear plugs and also use ‘white noise’ like the sound of a fan to drown out the noise of your sleep talks.

All the best! 🙂

‘A sleep shortfall can be hard on your heart. Make sure you’re getting enough quality snooze time.‘

Read!

https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/are-you-getting-enough-sleep

‘Treating high blood pressure may do more than prevent heart attacks and strokes. In older adults, intensive blood pressure lowering may also conserve brain function, according to a new study.’

Want to know more? Read!

https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/how-better-blood-pressure-control-may-benefit-the-brain