chatwithketch

Want to lose some weight? It’s all about the math!

‘The pleasure of eating a candy bar lasts but a few minutes. Burning off the calories it delivers can take nearly an hour. So this is definitely not a simple way to lose weight! ‘

Read! https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/simple-math-equals-easy-weight-loss

‘ A widely-advertised facial moisturizer claims to be the best on the market — and sells for $225 per bottle. Should you buy it? Another brand offers a complete skin care regimen — but it comes in 10 different bottles of lotions and potions that all need to be applied daily. Is it worth your time? ‘

Read! https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/difficult-relationships-linked-to-bone-loss

Q: Good day Dr thanks for always attending to our questions. Please kindly attend to mine. I discovered that my breasts are bringing out milk if I press them and also feel a little pain. I am not a nursing mother, neither am I pregnant. In fact I have implant family planning on me. Dr is there anything wrong? I need your answer

A: Some women who are not pregnant may have milky fluid come out of their breasts when they are not breastfeeding or even in women who have never been pregnant. This is called galactorrhea. This is not a disease on its own but a symptom of a problem. The hormone, prolactin which is responsible for lactation in nursing mothers, is usually produced in these cases.

This milky fluid can be expressed by pressing or it can spontaneously come out on its own. It can affect one or both breasts and usually there are no blood stains involved.

Sometimes, the cause of this discharge may not be known but some causes could be some medications, some drugs like cocaine, spinal cord injuries, some birth control pills, stress and even excessive stimulation during sexual intercourse.

Galactorrhea can also happen in men and new born babies! In new born babies this can happen if the mother has a high level of estrogen which crosses over into the baby and stimulates the formation of breast tissue and sometimes, some milky white discharge. Please note: this is NOT witchcraft!

If you notice this, please visit your doctor who may try to express this discharge to study. The discharge may also be clear (as in your friend’s case), bloody or even tinged yellow. These need further evaluation and the presence of lumps should also be checked for. The level of prolactin will also be assessed. This may, however, be normal in people who are overly sensitive to prolactin. In this class of people, prolactin level is normal but there is still milky discharge from the nipples.

Treatment is focused on the underlying cause if one can be found. If the problem is medication, please stop or switch to something else under the supervision of your physician (doctor). If there is a tumour producing prolactin, drugs can be taken to shrink it or surgery can be done. If no cause is found, drugs that reduce prolactin level are prescribed. Remember, that your friend could be pregnant and so a pregnancy test may not be out of place.

In the meantime, breast pads can be worn to prevent the embarrassing leaks from staining clothes, limit manipulation of breasts either by self-breast examination or during sexual activity and try not to wear clothes in which there would be friction between the nipples and the material.

All the best!

Q: Good day, Doctor. Is there something wrong with my wife? Since we got married with a child 3 years ago, my wife does not have appetite for sex – only a day after her monthly cycle she enjoy to have sex with me

A: Thanks for writing in. I can understand your worry as indeed sex is a critical aspect of marriage. The way you feel needs to be dealt with, so that it doesn’t become a bigger problem, later on.

Usually low sex drive could be due to stress, depression or even the physical challenges that come with having had a baby or even going through menopause. I’ll start with the most obvious question: have you tried talking with your wife about this? Perhaps you could try setting the mood – get a romantic dinner ready for two and then dress the part. Play some music, light some candles and send your children to spend the night with your parents 😀 Take the time to bond emotionally and connect with your wife on that deep level. With the emotional connection, the sexual connection will follow and that’s because women connect emotionally first before they connect sexually. Spending a little more time on fore-play may also be helpful.

Planning date nights with wifey is also a great way to bond. We all get busy with stuff…work, house work, children etc and so it’s so easy to get to that point where your discussion with wifey revolves around only practical, everyday things.

By the way, if you’ve got a television in your bedroom, take it out. Make your bedroom a haven for you and wifey. Don’t bring work in there. Let that be a place where you and wifey can reconnect after a long day. Make sure your children sleep in their rooms. There’s no greater downer than trying to ‘chillax’ with wifey and having your baby’s cries ruin the mood.

So make a conscious effort to cut out the clutter and bond with wifey.

If these don’t help, try having a chat with your doctor so he can counsel you and perhaps find out if there are other reasons like stress or depression responsible for this and treat accordingly.

I hope this helps 😀

Q: Please ma, I gave birth through operation six months ago; I would like to know the spacing to give before conceiving again. Thanks!

A: Interesting question! And a good one too! 😀 I smile because I had two babies in two consecutive years (2004 and 2005)! They are really a year and 9 months apart but it was kinda embarrassing when people pointed that I practically had them back to back 😀

Truth is, when you and hubby choose to have children is totally up to you but just like everything else in life, there are choices we make that may not be optimal in the long term. Having children at very close intervals (less than one and a half to two years) puts both mother and baby at risk.

For mum, she would not have had enough time to build back her stock of nutrients like iron and folate. Some studies also suggest that she’s also more likely to have placental problems like placenta previa or placenta abruption.

For more details on these placental problems, please click on these link:

Daily Health Tips: Placenta Previa

Daily Health Tips: Can Placenta Previa Recur In My Pregnancy?

Daily Health Tips: Placental Abruption!

For baby, there are risks of being born premature or having a low birth weight when born.

In addition to these, the economic and emotional stress are issues to contend with. Having children is a lot more than bringing them to life, having two toddlers running around all day may very well take its toll 😀

Just as there are risks with babies born too close together, there are also risks for children born too far apart (greater than 5 years). Interestingly, they are the same risks of babies being born premature, having a low birth weight or small size for age of pregnancy. The mother is prone to high blood pressure.

Having said all of these, remember that these are guides. For women who started having their babies late (perhaps from 30 years), it’s difficult to stick with this dictum as they want to make the best use of the childbearing years they have left. And who can blame them 😀 Remember that if you do find yourself pregnant for another baby while breastfeeding another baby, continue breastfeeding except you have a history of premature babies, premature contractions or multiple pregnancy. Always check with your doctor.

So, in a nutshell, the optimal space between babies should be one and a half to two years and less than 5 years.

Have a great night y’all 😀

Yesterday was Global Hand washing day with the theme, ‘Clean Hands for All’. This day is devoted to the important work of advocating for the importance of washing hands with soap.
Do you know when to wash your hands? We should ensure that we teach children and indeed remind ourselves to wash hands after playing or doing stuff outside the house, before eating, after using the toilet, after playing with pets or disposing of their wastes (in fact children should not be encouraged to play too close to their kennels or sheds), before cooking and even after handling dirty laundry! The list is endless…but that’s also because the possible means of contaminating our hands are endless and the germs find easy routes into the body once we touch our hands, mouths, eyes etc. So we can’t be too careful…and just in case you wondered, ‘no, you don’t have to wear a face mask like dear Michael Jackson and/or gloves all the time’ to protect you from the many germs that exist! That might be…well, for want of a better word, perhaps just a teensy weensy bit extreme!
It may sound like we all know this and, ‘hey, who really needs to be reminded?!’ Trust me! people need this reminder. I’ll share my experience below.
I was in church on Sunday (a while ago)….unfortunately, not early enough to snag my favourite seat in the house. There’s really nothing special about the area I like to sit in…just that I like the aisle seat. As I got to church this Sunday, this seat had been occupied by a young lady.
As I sat down, I started to fan myself…all of that racing from the car park to the church was taking its toll! The young lady in question turns to me and informs me that she’s cold and so I was to stop fanning myself! And I looked at her like, ‘can’t you see what I am dealing with here?’ I answered with, ‘But I’m hot’. I however, proceeded to change the general direction of my blowing such that it wasn’t getting to the left (hopefully) where she was seated. So, all in all, it wasn’t a great start to a moment of renewing of minds and souls 😀
My pastor did a great job as usual, but during the service, I couldn’t help but notice same young lady repeatedly blow her nose into a ‘face towel’ which she was using as a handkerchief. She would transfer this towel from hand to hand. I did worry about that because at the end of service, we always shared this song as a church and we were all supposed to hold hands while singing it. I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to get out of shaking ‘my friend’s’ hand without causing offence. I hoped that perhaps, she would decide to leave before the signature church song. Well, she didn’t 😀
I considered the options open to me 😉 Interestingly enough, preaching had been on divine healing. I wasn’t quite sure whether to tempt/test my faith by holding her hands or exercising wisdom by not doing so…after all, ‘…shall we continue in sin for grace to abound?’ Sin in this case being shaking a hand that I knew had a significant number of germs in them 😀
I decided to go the way of the ‘path of least resistance’. I moved away to another seat at the back of the church. I watched though to see whether ‘my friend’ would shake the hands of the people close to her. And guess what? She did! She shook hands with the guy next to her after nicely transferring her ‘handkerchief’ to another hand! I was in shock!
Now, I may have made this sound funny, but it really isn’t. Germs…all sorts are transmitted in this same way. In the light of the fact that Global hand washing Day was just celebrated, it is important that we remind ourselves of the hygiene rules of engagement for times that we need to be in public.
• If you have a cold, try and find somewhere close to the back of the church to stay. It’s important not to share your germs.
• After you have blown into your tissue (tissue is better as it can be disposed of after use, as opposed to handkerchiefs which are used repeatedly in a day becoming a rich culture medium of germs which can be easily passed on), keep your hands to yourself. If people want to shake your hands, you should politely explain that you have a cold. You will earn the respect of the people who asked for a handshake.
• Wash your hands as soon as you can…often too.
• Cough into the crook of your arms.
• At home, keep drinking cups and glasses separate.
For more on this, please click on this link:

Having A Cold? Here’s Your Survival Tool Kit!

‘ Could just 10 foods substantially impact your risk of dying from a cardiometabolic disease (CMD) like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, or stroke? Maybe.’

Read! https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/10-foods-that-may-impact-your-risk-of-dying-from-heart-disease-stroke-and-type-2-diabetes-2019100717965?