chatwithketch

Q: Please what causes itching rashes on the body?

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 dysfunction
• Medications

Treatment of skin rashes is, of course dependent on the cause. It may include any or a combination of medications (anti-histamines), wet dressings on affected areas and phototherapy. If the itch is severe enough to affect your daily life, lasts more than 2 weeks, keeps coming back, is all over your body, is associated with other symptoms like yellowness of the eyes, please see your doctor immediately. 

What can you do at home to provide relief and minimize harm to yourself? I’ll split them into dos and don’ts

Dos

• Keep your nails short so that you don’t do mortal damage if you do scratch J
• Or if you don’t want to do that, you could wear gloves to sleep at night – that way, even when you scratch unconsciously, no harm done
• Try patting the itchy part instead of scratching
• A cold compress held against the itchy part can also help reduce itching
• Wear more cotton fabrics to allow your skin breathe and not chaff your skin
• Use cotton beddings for the same reason

Don’ts

• Avoid hot baths. Keep bath water cool or lukewarm. Want to know why? Read this!
• Avoid vigorous drying off after a bath. Dab your skin dry
• Avoid perfumed products – soap, deodorants, shower gels, lotions etc
• Avoid tight-fitting clothes. They make a bad matter (itch) worse
• Avoid harsh detergents for laundry
• Avoid spicy foods – they increase blood flow to the skin and make itching worse

Have a good evening 😀

Q: Dear: Doctor I’m 9 weeks pregnant and going through threatened miscarriage I’m bleeding heavy with clots I go to my doctor regularly but I always get the same answer that my baby is still there I just need bed rest. This bleeding worries me a lot, is there anything I can do to stop the bleeding?

A: A threatened miscarriage also known as threatened abortion is vaginal bleeding that occurs within the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. The bleeding is sometimes accompanied by abdominal cramps indicating that a miscarriage is possible

Causes of threatened abortion include the placenta trying to latch on to the wall of the uterus (womb), vaginal infections, damage to the cervix, blood clot around the amniotic sac.

Your obstetrician will make this diagnosis with an ultrasound scan. If a heartbeat is present irrespective of your symptoms, then it is a threatened abortion. Absence of a heartbeat signifies a miscarriage

Treatment is as your doctor has already told you – take time off and rest! 😀 I know a lot of times, if we are not loaded with meds and/or given injections or admitted as inpatients, it appears our doctors are not doing enough. But you don’t need that. There’s nothing that will be done in the hospital that a lot of rest and relaxation will not fix.

Speaking of relaxation, a threatened abortion is one reason why a doctor may issue some restrictions on sexual activity during pregnancy. So, please abstain until bleeding has stopped.

Continue to attend your antenatal classes as discussed with your doctor and please seek help in the hospital if bleeding becomes heavier or turns bright red.

All the best!

‘Decongestants commonly used by people with allergies, such as pseudoephedrine (eg Actifed) and phenylephrine (eg Sudafed PE), constrict small blood vessels in the nose. Although this eases nasal congestion and improves breathing, the effect isn’t limited to the nose’. Blood vessels all over the body are constricted causing the heart to work that much harder pumping blood all over the body. Excessive use of nasal decongestants can lead to rebound nasal congestion after the decongestant is stopped. And so, one ends up with the same situation they were trying to solve from the beginning plus an elevated blood pressure!  So, if you must, do not use your nasal decongestants for more than three days.

Read! https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/can-allergies-cause-high-blood-pressure

June 14th every year is World Blood Donor Day. This day is set aside to thank voluntary, unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood. It also raise awareness of the need for regular blood donations to ensure that all individuals and communities have access to affordable and timely supplies of safe and quality-assured blood and blood products.

Have you ever given blood? Do you plan to? Now, before you stroll down to the next clinic to donate, please read the post below…an earlier post I had made on requirements for donating blood. Enjoy…. 

To donate blood, you have to be at least 17 years or over, in good health with a healthy blood count and weigh more than 50kg, you can donate whole blood every 56 days and your blood will be screened for viruses and bacteria. 

Now to specifics…. 

Before the blood donation, be sure to do the following: 

Ensure that you are eating an iron-rich diet like green, leafy veggies, red meat, cereals fortified with iron etc.Avoid fatty foods

Be sure to avoid alcohol and take in lots of fluids (water and other juices)Bring along your donor card and form of ID

Avoid vigorous exercise

During the blood donation, be sure to 

Wear loose and comfortable clothing which can be folded above the elbow.

Relax and let the bleeding proceed 

You shouldn’t feel any pain after the initial prick. If you do, please call the attention of the medic close by. 

After the blood donation, 

Don’t be in a hurry 

Relax and have a snack and a few drinks (non-alcoholic, please)

Avoid smoking in the first 2 hours

Avoid alcohol in the first 8 hours

Avoid strenuous exercise and do not carry heavy stuff with that arm for the rest of the day

Keep the pressure bandage on for about 30 minutes afterwards

Keep the plaster on though for about 6 hours after.If you feel lightheaded, please lie down, drink a lot of fluid and rest until you feel better

If the donation site starts to bleed, please apply pressure and elevate arm. If this continues, please see your doctor.

Go save some lives 🙂

Q: Good evening Doctor, I am 30 weeks pregnant and unfortunately my house help left for school about 3 week ago. Now all the house chores such as sweeping, washing, mopping etc. are on me now. Please, will this have any negative effect on the baby? I am very worried.
A: Hi dear. Thanks for writing in and congratulations on your pregnancy. I assume that it’s your first from your question 😀
So, pregnancy is not a death sentence or an illness, really. It is a natural condition and so, potentially, you can do a lot of things without any problem. Now there are caveats…if you have threatened abortion (miscarriage), your doctor will advise you to be on strict bed rest and not to lift a finger, literally 😀 There are a few other conditions that may limit what you can do, but your doctor will definitely be the one to issue those orders. In any case, whenever in doubt, please consult your doctor.
Having said that, bending to sweep or mop is okay in pregnancy but it has to be done the proper way…bending at the knees and not twisting your body while at it 😀 I suggest that you use the long-handled brushes/mops for sweeping/mopping as opposed to the local/native brooms/scrubbing brushes that require bending…in probably uncomfortable ways.

Pregnant women get lots of advice: from friends, mothers, mothers-in-law, colleagues, husbands etc. Sometimes it’s confusing to know what’s true and what’s not.
As a follow-on of my post a few days ago, I give you some more pregnancy myths and my take on them:

Advice
The first breast milk, colostrum, should be discarded as it is dirty and causes rashes in children

Fiction (False)
Colostrum is the first milk produced by the mother and is loaded with antibodies and nutrients needed by the baby. Babies should not be deprived of this milk.

Advice
Women should not take the prenatal vitamins (antenatal drugs) given at the hospitals because it makes babies grow unnecessarily big.

Fiction:
The iron tablets are important to prevent anaemia (blood shortage) in pregnant women and the folic acid ensures that baby’s spine develops well with no defects. In fact, it is advised that women who wish to get pregnant should start taking folic acid about 3 months before they conceive.
Any other ones you know?
Have a great evening 😀

Q: What happens to people that are lactose intolerant?

A: Lactose is a natural sugar found in milk. People with lactose intolerance can’t digest lactose, which is the natural sugar found in milk. This is because they lack an enzyme called lactase. Some people with lactose intolerance cannot digest any milk or milk product at all, others are able to digest small amounts of milk and milk products.

Lactose intolerance occurs more commonly in adults and in the African, Asian and South American races. It appears to run in families. So, a positive family history means one has a higher risk of developing this. Lactose intolerance usually occurs during the teenage or adult years but some of these people are able to take some milk or milk products. Severity of symptoms depends on the degree of lactase deficiency and the amount of lactose in the person’s diet. Some cases of lactose intolerance can develop after diseases of the small intestine, as a result of ageing or even after stomach surgery. It could be permanent or temporary.

Some children are born with lactose intolerance and thus cannot tolerate any food that contains lactose. This includes milk and all milk products. Some pre-mature babies have lactose intolerance just because their bodies cannot make the enzyme needed to breakdown lactose yet. This is temporary though. As soon as the body starts making lactase, then the problem disappears.

The symptoms of lactose intolerance typically include bloating, gas, diarrhea and tummy ache when you’ve had excessive amounts of milk. Anyone with this condition can reduce the symptoms of lactose intolerance by trying the following:

• Try staying off dairy for a day and see if your symptoms decrease. . If the symptoms reduce, then gradually add back some dairy products and see if your symptoms start up again
• Reducing the amount of dairy you take at any one time. Eg take a small amount of milk and sip slowly.
• Try out different dairy products and see what works for you. There are varying amounts of lactose in different dairy foods. Quite a number of people with lactose intolerance are able to tolerate yoghurt with live cultures. You could try different things and see what works for you.
• Taking lactase tablets prescribed by your doctor to help digest your dairy products. These are usually taken before you take the lactose. This may help but is not useful in all cases.
• Try taking milk with other foods as this may slow down the digestive process, changes the way the body absorbs it and ultimately produce less symptoms.

The main challenge that people with lactose intolerance have is figuring out other food sources that can replace dairy in their diets with the right amount of calcium.  Dark green leafy vegetables, fortified cereals and almond milk are excellent sources of calcium. So stock up on those!

Finally, ensure that your doctor is part of the solution.

All the best!