chatwithketch

Q: At what age should a mother start brushing for her child?

A: Hey! Thanks for writing in. I’ve answered your question and thrown in a bonus for when to start potty training too! That’s to apologise for not posting yesterday. The day just vanished before I knew it! :O

Taking care of your baby’s mouth/teeth starts from birth. If you don’t start this early enough, you may end up with a situation known as baby bottle tooth decay. This condition occurs when babies’ teeth are exposed to prolonged contact with sugary liquids or substances. In children, this can also be caused by allowing children to go to sleep while feeding at the breast, on a bottle or giving them pacifiers that have been coated with honey or other sugary substances. During sleep, saliva production reduces; thus, these sugary substances, which lead to the production of acids, stay on the teeth for prolonged periods leading to erosion of the enamel and subsequent tooth decay.

•    Mothers are advised to practice exclusive breastfeeding but if for any reason bottles have to be used for any period, this should be carefully monitored. Ensure that baby never falls asleep with a bottle containing milk (be it expressed breast milk or formula), fruit juice (fresh or packaged) or any other sweetened fluids. This also goes for children who are breast-fed. Please don’t let them fall asleep on the breast. This ensures that the baby’s teeth is not in contact with sugary fluids for prolonged periods of time. This prevents tooth decay.

•    Even before your baby’s teeth actually erupt, clean baby’s mouth and gums at least once a day, gently massaging the gingivial tissues and gum. This can be done using a piece of moistened cotton gauze wrapped around a finger. This helps to clean baby’s mouth, establish the development of healthy teeth and aid teething.

•    As soon as the first tooth erupts, plaque removal should commence. Ensure that babies’ teeth are brushed at least twice a day. Before the child can spit out, please use a non-fluoride containing toothpaste. We don’t want the child swallowing fluoride and coming down with some ailments and other disease conditions including the development of whitish patches on teeth. However, as soon as the child can spit, please introduce fluorinated toothpaste.

•    Wean the baby from the bottle as soon as possible and use a cup for liquids. During the weaning period, dilute the bottle feeds as much as possible to the point where only water is taken with the bottle.

•    If your baby uses a pacifier, please use for only short periods of time and be sure not to coat with honey or any other sugary substance to ensure that his teeth is not in prolonged contact with substances that will lead to tooth decay.

For more on this, please click on the links below:

Daily Health Tips: Is It Bad To Let My 2-Year Old Son Swallow His Toothpaste?

When to start potty training? Well, usually between the ages of 18 and 30 months, a child shows some signs that he/she is ready for the next big step…potty training. Here are some of the signs to look out for:
• They can remove clothing, talk, climb etc
• They are usually aware of having soiled their diapers
• They have bowel movements at about the same everyday
• They no longer have bowel movements (poop) at night
• The gap between wet diapers is about 2 hours.
• They know when they are urinating
• They can tell you when they need to urinate

This process would usually take an average of 3 months. However, your child needs to feel ready, otherwise it will be a battle of wills…and trust me, you won’t win! Remember the one who has to clean up all the ‘accidents’? 😀 So, look out for the signs of readiness and remember that if a child is emotionally destabilized, he/she may relapse to pre-potty training ways. Patience is key. If you decide your baby is not ready yet and suspend temporarily, be sure to re-introduce as you observe the signs noted above.

Have a fabulous weekend, people 😀

Q: Hello there, I need your help Doc. I’ve been experiencing a huge discharge which even burns my panties down there. What might be the problem? It stresses me. God bless you

A: Vaginal discharge is quite common in females especially in sexually active females, though it can also occur in people who are not sexually active. It can be rather disturbing if associated with symptoms like itching, sores in the genital area and bad odor.

There are different causes of discharge and many organisms responsible for vaginal discharge (bacterial, fungal and protozoan), and the offending organism/cause will determine the treatment.

Some causes include poor hygienic practices, use of harsh chemicals to wash the genital area, use of tampons and pads for long periods without change, insertion of herbs or other objects into the vagina, and wrong cleaning practices, like cleaning from back to front (the correct way should be from front to back)

From the description of your symptoms, it is rather difficult to determine the cause of your discharge.

I would advise you try to maintain a high level of cleanliness, eat healthy, involve in exercise as this helps in cleansing the system, try to keep the place dry always, by during with a towel or tissue after washing (wash with only water or water and a mild toilet soap). Washing and urinating after intercourse can also help. I would also advice you visit a doctor, who would request you have some test done and then based on the results would prescribe the appropriate drugs for you.

Following the result of your tests, your doctor may advice that your partner be treated if he thinks it’s a sexually transmitted infection. This would prevent you from getting reinfected on meeting him after your treatment. It’s important to note that this is not always the case…your symptoms may not be due to a sexually transmitted disease and in that case, there may be no need for your partner to be treated.

Fungal infection such as candidiasis are not usually transmitted through intercourse and so would not require this.

Sorry, about the discomfort you may be going through, but once treated properly you will be preventing yourself from likely complications and recurrence.

Hope this helps. Cheers!

******This post was contributed by a doctor ‘guest’ blogger. For related posts, please click on these links:

Daily Health Tips: Is Vaginal Discharge Normal?

Daily Health Tips: Is Vaginal Odour Normal?

Daily Health Tips: Toilet Infection…seriously???

Have a good night, y’all 😀

Is there a relationship between food and depression? Read!

https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/food-and-mood-is-there-a-connection

Q: Hi Doc, I know you must be busy but this is very scary for me… For two years now I have been experiencing bad breath but recently people around me; in taxis, school, home, church etc complains of perceiving a dead rat even when I am not talking but just breathing from the nose. Please help.

A: This is a very frequent question and so I have decided to revisit it today.

Bad breath, also called halitosis, may be as a result of poor hygiene habits, eating strong smelling foods or could be a sign of other medical conditions.

If adequate dental hygiene is not maintained, food particles can remain in our mouths, encouraging bacterial growth bacteria in our mouths can break down food particles and raise a serious stink. Proper dental hygiene habits includes:

Brushing your teeth twice a day (this sounds like a ‘no-brainer’ but the right technique is important. Mentally divide your mouth into four quadrants and spend at least 30 seconds on each quadrant. This way, you spend a minimum of 2 minutes brushing)

Brushing your tongue (if you finish brushing and you can still see all that whitish residue on your tongue, you haven’t done a good job. Some of the smell comes from there. Some tooth brushes come with a tongue scraper at the back of the brush…use that. If not, buy one or just use your brush)

Flossing your teeth everyday. Ask for this in your local super markets. This gets rid of the food particles between your teeth where your tooth brush can’t reach.

Using a mouth wash can also help the prevention of mouth odour.

Eating strong smelling foods like onions and garlic could also cause mouth odour which may not be taken care of by brushing. This is because these ‘foods’ are absorbed into the blood stream and excreted through the lungs. So, the smell will persist until excretion is complete. The small can be masked with mouth wash etc

Disease conditions that can lead to bad breath include mouth infections, Diabetes Mellitus, sinus infection etc.

Other conditions like use of tobacco (chewing or smoking), some drugs and dry mouth (which is the reason for morning breath :D) are also culprits.

Prevention is focused on the tips given above and ensuring that you visit your dentist at least twice a year, brushing at least twice a day (if not after every meal) with a fluoride tooth paste (remember that fluoride is not recommended for children less than 2-3 years and even then, only a pea size is recommended), change your tooth brush once every three months and drink lots of water.

Let’s keep the pearls shining and the breath smelling really fresh.

By the way, would you tell a friend, if he/she had bad breath?

I asked that question during one of my shows and most people didn’t want to be the one that causes offence by telling someone that they have bad breath. However, most people also wanted to be told if they had bad breath. So, who will bell the cat? :d

Did you miss the show? Catch it here and watch me have fun putting OC Ukeje on the hot spot. https://chatwithdrketch.com/2015/05/03/watch-the-dr-ketch-show-episode-on-bad-breath-here/

Have a good evening, y’all 😀

Q: Hi Doctor, I’ve been having a very painful headache since last week Wednesday. I took headache pills but it’s still the same and very painful. What should I do and what could be the cause of it?

A: Headaches refer to pain or ache anywhere on the head. They may be primary, in which case they are due to problems with the structures sensitive to pain in the head. Or they may be secondary in which case the pain is due to an underlying disease that causes the pain-sensitive structures in the head to be activated.

Common causes of primary headaches include:
Tension headaches: This is the more common type of headache seen as the everyday sort of headache. It affects both sides of the head as a constant ache. Its causes are not very clear but they can be triggered by stress, hunger, dehydration, etc they can last a couple of minutes to several hours but are not severe enough to stop regular activities. Resting and sleeping well, eating properly and staying hydrated can help prevent this.

Migraines: These are felt as severe throbbing pain at the front or side of the head. Some people may experience other symptoms like nausea, vomiting and being sensitive to light. The pain lasts from a couple of hours or can stretch on for days. Thus, it is more severe than the tension headaches and can stop an individual from carrying out their daily tasks. Some find that they need strong medication prescribed by doctors to get relief but others are relieved by using over the counter medications.

Cluster headaches: These cause severe pain around one eye and are associated with red or watery eyes and a blocked nose or runny one. They tend to occur for one or two months at a time at about the same time of the year. Most times medications do not work for these headaches. Your doctor will prescribe specific treatment courses.

Chronic daily headaches may be due to medication overuse. This would occur in people who use pain medications too often and then end up with rebound headaches…the exact condition they were trying to avoid. Moral of the story: Never abuse your medications J Use only as directed by your doctor.

Sex headaches: Yes, this can occur. It’s also known as post-coital headache, orgasmic headache etc. It could occur during sexual intercourse, during orgasm or after sexual intercourse. And it can also occur at any time of the day and during any type of sexual activity. It is felt at the back of the skull just above the neck and is usually described as throbbing. Or it could build up gradually during sexual intercourse and intensifies as the sexual excitement before an orgasm increases. They can last anything from a few minutes to a few hours; may never recur or may happen a couple more times before gradually fading away.

It is thought to be due to the release of adrenaline and rapid rise in blood pressure which occurs as one approaches orgasm. And so in these cases, the headaches may not be a cause for concern. However, it is also a possibility that these headaches are a sign of a more serious condition like bleeding onto the surface of the brain.

People who usually have migraines, who use recreational drugs like marijuana, use birth control pills etc are more likely to have sex headaches.

Should you swear off sex? Yes, if you’re unmarried And no, if you’re married;) If you have just experienced this, try lying quietly for about an hour or two after taking an analgesic (like paracetamol) to handle the pain. However, it is very important to see your doctor as soon as possible to let him/her know what happened. This is important because, while there may very well not be any underlying issue, you want to be sure to rule out any serious medical condition causing these headaches. Your doctor will also prescribe some drugs on a regular or intermittent basis to deal with your symptoms.
Primary headaches may be triggered by stress, skipped meals and dehydration as noted above. However, they may also be associated with alcohol, foods that contain nitrates like spinach and bad posture.

Secondary headaches may be due to dental problems, hangovers ear infections, blood clot in the brain, wearing tight gear on the head like hats or even wigs (yes, I see you ladies :D) or even eating cold stuff like ice creams etc.

So, what should you do? If you find that tight head gear or eating ice cream is the problem, see if stopping helps.

If you find that these headaches are now more frequent than usual, more severe than usual, stops you from going about your daily activities, is no longer responding to the over the counter medications you used to take etc, please see your doctor. If you have been seeing the same doctor, as it appears to be in this case, with no relief, please seek another opinion or request a review by a neurologist.

All the best.

Q: Hi Dr, I have milky white discharge, no smelling and I’m not pregnant. What’s wrong?

A: Well, you didn’t really specify what sort of discharge you were referring to. I will attempt a guess and say, perhaps, vaginal discharge.

Some level of vaginal discharge is normal on a daily basis as the vagina sheds cells and produces fluid needed to clean and provide protection for its delicate skin. You would have observed the difference in the consistency depending on your menstrual cycle.

If this discharge however develops a strange smell, becomes itchy with swelling and pain in the vagina or you notice bloodstained discharge, then it is time to see a doctor. Abnormal discharges could be due to candidiasis, pelvic inflammatory disease, sexually transmitted infections or in the case of blood stained discharge, may be cancer etc

Usually, a sample of the discharge is sent for investigation and it will confirm what infection is there, if any, and what drug will be useful in treatment.

All the best!

Q: I slept with this girl around October last year and started experiencing weird symptoms and got tested end of December, the results was negative, and on February results was negative and around march results came back negative

So, I’m worried because I’ve been experiencing oral thrush

A: I guess my first question is, ‘what did you test for?’ HIV? Well, that could be the reason but it could also be due to other issues. Believe it or not, our bodies are filled with different micro-organisms, all of which are searching for relevance and dominance 😀 These good and bad micro-organisms usually maintain a delicate balance until something happens (like when one takes some medications like steroids, uses antibiotics, has a depressed immune system as occurs in extremes of age: very young and very old and also if one is infected with HIV, has cancer or Diabetes Mellitus) to disturb this delicate balance. When this happens, fungal organisms which were minding their own business before, have an opportunity to overgrow in the mouth and cause problems.  This condition can also happen in the vagina causing vaginal thrush or even in infants causing diaper rash.

What does this look like? It looks like creamy white patches on the tongue (which is why you referred to it as tongue thrush), on the inside of the cheeks, gums, tonsils, back of throat etc. They look like you can just scrape them off but any attempt to do that would usually lead to bleeding. People with this condition may also experience pain when swallowing or eating. Children with this condition are usually irritable and fussy.

Treatment of this condition is with the use of anti-fungal drugs which would usually have to be taken for about 10 to 14 days. For nursing mothers, there may be a need for antifungal cream applied on the breasts as the baby and the mother may pass the infection back and forth to each other. Talk about joy in sharing 😀

To prevent this:

• Practice good oral hygiene: brush your teeth twice a day being sure to spend time brushing the surface of the tongue
• Rinse out your mouth after every meal, if you can’t brush, especially if you have just taken a lot of sugary foods.
• Limit your intake of sugary foods
• If you use dentures, take them off before you go to bed
• If you smoke, don’t reduce the number of sticks you smoke. Just quit! 😀
• Remember the ABCs. Abstain…which is always the best bet if you’re not married, be faithful to one partner (who is hopefully being faithful to you) or use condoms

The risk of HIV infection through oral sex may be reduced by the use of barriers like condoms and avoiding ejaculation in the mouth. Use of pre-exposure drugs (prescribed for people at risk) and ensuring that anti-retroviral drugs (drugs used for the treatment of HIV) are being used correctly by partners who are HIV positive may also reduce risk of HIV infection through oral sex.

All the best!

For those who take Ciprofloxacin at will, you should read this! 

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/fda-certain-antibiotics-may-bring-serious-risks

Are you one of those who need a coffee-pick-me-up every now and then? Well, did you know that just as coffee can increase your energy levels, it can also decrease it? Read!

https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/drink-for-energy