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What you should know about smoking and drinking

Each time you take a puff, you are inhaling 4,000 chemicals, including 43 known cancer-causing compounds

With pollution in food, air and water as well as the stressful state of emotions, one is bombarded repeatedly by hazards to optimum health and well-being.

Your daily concerns take center stage now. Here are several options you may consider with regard to your possible addictions.

Is there a quick way to kick the habit of smoking cigarettes?

It is called “butting out.” You cannot stop the addiction unless there is sufficient motivation.

To begin with, you must know the facts:

Each time you take a puff, you are inhaling 4,000 chemicals, including 43 known cancer-causing (carcinogenic) compounds and 400 other toxins. These include nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide, as well as formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic and DDT.

In combination, these toxic substances create free radicals (or unstable molecules missing electrons). Because these molecules are incomplete, they attack normal cells by stealing their electrons. A chain reaction of damaged cells occurs.

Enter antioxidants, which shield your cells from radical damage. While they cannot promise a miracle defense, each vitamin and mineral has potency.

This doesn’t give you the license to smoke, and then take a multivitamin supplement. The best way to rehabilitate your life is to simply quit. The anti-oxidant stars are vitamin C, E and B complex (beta-carotene).

How to quit smoking:

1. Declare it as your new non-negotiable reality.

2. Try nicotine gum or patches. Nicotine replacement products are designed to wean the body from addiction gradually. If this is the method you have chosen, then be aware that anything acidic will clear your body of nicotine faster. The point of patches is to minimize nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Go easy on orange juice, grapefruit and other acidic drinks. (Reference: Thomas M. Cooper, D.D.S. co-author of “The Cooper Clayton Method to Stop Smoking.”)

3. Join the wellness bandwagon by signing up for membership in health clubs/associations. Smoking is the number one taboo.

4. Use a buddy system. Team up with a friend who has the same goal. Make sure you check on each other’s progress.

5. Reward yourself. Set up an escalating series of prizes for yourself (depending on your budget, of course).

Example:

Month 1 – Cut down cigarettes from one pack to half or 50 percent

Prize: One whole day at the spa

Month 2 – Reduce smoking by 75 percent

Prize: Weekend stay in your favorite hotel

Month 3 – Zero smoking

Prize: Trip to Paris or go on a Philippine island-hopping vacation for two weeks with the family.

Lifestyle habit

If I drink alcohol everyday, am I at risk for alcoholism?

Do you drink heavily? Most doctors agree that a glass or two of wine daily is an acceptable lifestyle habit. But beyond the limit of two servings, your habit could lead to alcoholism. When you drink to overcome a withdrawal symptom, then this is a big red flag. For example, after your second glass, you crave for more. The urge becomes greater after every drink.

A withdrawal symptom is nervousness or anxiousness.

Visit www.ncadd.org, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Inc. Their self-test for alcoholism could guide you properly. Questions may strike a familiar chord in you.

Do you drink heavily when you are depressed, disappointed, under pressure, or have had a quarrel with a loved one?

Has a friend ever spoken to you about your drinking problem?

Do you get into scandalous situations when you are drinking?

Recent studies have shown that light to moderate drinking may be considered safe, plus there is the health benefit of lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Others, though, should check if they are sensitive to yeast (because of the process of natural fermentation) and preservatives like nitrites (which may cause headaches).

Of late, experts have increased the maximum tolerable consumption to not more than three drinks for a woman and six for a man. More than these numbers increases your risk for cancer and serious problems with the liver, brain and pancreas.

Something to ponder:

Brain researchers observed that every time alcohol is ingested, it causes the brain to convulse. Alcohol causes tremors and seizures when taken in excessive amounts.

In Braindiseases Weblog, doctors cite the CAGE criteria:

C – Cut down. Do you feel a need to cut back on your drinking?

A – Anger. Do you ever feel angry and offended when someone brings up your drinking habits?

G – Guilt. Guilty about your drinking?

E – Eye-opener. Is your drink your eye-opener each morning?

Should your drinking problem worsen, seek medical help. It doesn’t hurt to see a therapist. Alcoholism has often been related to emotional and psychological challenges.

Take charge by abstaining if you have strong will power.

Start eating and drinking nutritiously.

source: Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/235989/what-you-should-know-about-smoking-and-drinking

The mosquito menace in the Philippines

Mosquitoes can transmit many infectious diseases that are caused by a variety of microorganisms to people, but these diseases are mostly confined to certain geographical areas. In the Philippines, the mosquito-borne diseases include dengue, Chikungunya, Japanese encephalitis, malaria, and filariasis. Dengue, chikungunya, and Japanese encephalitis are caused by viruses while malaria and filariasis are caused by parasites.

Dengue and Chikungunya

Dengue and chikungunya have things in common. They are both caused by RNA viruses, albeit from different families. Also, they are transmitted by the same mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. Furthermore, their signs and symptoms, which appear three to seven days after a bite from an infected mosquito, are similar—high grade fever, joint pain, joint swelling, rash, headache, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue. The two diseases differ, however, in that Chikungunya is generally more benign than dengue (serious complications and fatalities occur rarely), although the joint pains that it produces are often more severe and incapacitating.

Japanese Encephalitis

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is caused by the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) whose most important vectors are the mosquitoes Culex tritaeniorhynchus and Culex vishnui.

The vast majority of JEV infections are asymptomatic. Symptoms, if they occur, appear five to 15 days after the bite of an infected mosquito. They are flu-like and include headaches, fever, and fatigue and in children, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Although generally benign, one in 250 patients infected by JEV develop encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), which can be fatal, especially in children. Lifelong neurological defects such as deafness, emotionalliability, and hemi paresis may occur in those who survive the encephalitis.

Malaria

Malaria is a serious disease that is still a major public health problem in the Philippines, although the number of reported cases has been decreasing since 1990 because of the anti-malarial program of the government.

Malaria is caused by a parasite, a protozoon (i.e., a single-celled organism) that belongs to the genus plasmodium. There are four known species of this genus that cause disease in man—Plasmodium falciparum, P.vivax, P.ovale, and P. malariae—all are present in the Philippines.The parasites are transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.

Malaria is present or endemic in all provinces of our country, except Cebu, Leyte, and Catanduanes, but most cases occur in rural areas, especially in forested, swampy, hilly, and mountainous regions—the preferred habitat of the mosquito vector.

The typical presentation of malaria is high grade fever that periodically recurs every after two to three days. The fever is preceded by several hours of chills and, as the fever subsides, the patient experiences marked sweating.

Malaria patients sooner or later develop anemia, but the more dreadful and sometimes fatal complications of the disease are kidney and liver failure, and cerebral malaria.

Filariasis

The causative agent of filarias is in the Philippines are two microscopic, thread-like roundworms: Wuchereriabancrofti (the more prevalent one) and Brugiamalayi. The former is transmitted by several species of Aedes, Culex, and Anopheles mosquitoes while the latter by at least two species of the Mansonia mosquito.

Repeated mosquito bites over several months to years are needed to get filariasis. Most people with filaria worms stay asymptomatic, but a small percentage will develop a condition called elepanthiasis, in which the limbs, genital organs, and the breasts swell to monstrous proportions.

According to our Department of Health (DOH), filariasis is endemic in 44 provinces in the Philippines but most cases occur in the rural areas of Bicol, Quezon, Mindoro, Masbate, Mindanao, Palawan, Agusan, and the Mountain Province. Also, seven provinces have reached elimination level already, namely: Southern Leyte, Sorsogon, Biliran, Bukidnon, Romblon, Agusandel Sur, and Dinagat Island.

source: Manila Bulletin
http://www.mb.com.ph/the-mosquito-menace-in-the-philippines/

Oh my Gally!

When gallstones become life-threatening

It’s been exactly a year since I experienced the most excruciating pain ever. I felt like an elephant was weighing down on me. The pain radiated from my abdomen all the way to my spine and upper back. It intensified whenever I breathed! So I endured the pain as I took breaths of precious air.

My pain threshold is high. I was in denial for three months all the while getting severe abdominal pain attacks. One was after I had a slice of pizza, then another after I attended a dinner party, and another one when I had half a cup of soda! I told myself perhaps my digestive system is more sensitive since I am no long used to eating high fat foods and drinking cabonated beverages for a decade now.

At the back of my mind, however, I knew that there was something wrong. I suspected gallstones but as I said I was in denial until that fateful day when I excreted clay-colored stools and tea-colored urine. Ominous signs that told me I had an obstruction in my common bile duct and that I was terribly sick. I broke down, accepted my fate, and prayed for healing. So off I went to have my blood exam and urinalysis done further confirming that my liver enzymes were deranged and I had infection. To make matters worse, I was starting to turn yellowish!

A team of seven doctors (endocrinologist, hepatologist, gastroenterologist, laparoscopic surgeon, urologist, and anesthesiologists) was formed, thus diagnosing me with ascending cholangitis. A medical emergency brought about by infection of the common bile duct due to an obstruction by gallstones and in my case also biliary sludge—particulates that precipitated from bile, a fluid produced by the liver, stored in the gallbladder, and released into the small intestine to digest lipids including fat, cholesterol, and fat soluble vitamins A,D,E, and K.

What causes gallstones to form? Well one of the things you don’t wish to inherit is this. Unfortunately for me, I did! A gallbladder that does not empty properly, obesity, type of diet, liver disease, medical conditions such as diabetes and hypothyroidism that could affect your lipids (triglycerides and cholesterol levels), and drastic weight loss can all lead to gallstone formation. There are two types of stones: cholesterol and pigment stones. Stones inside the gallbladder may not lead to an emergency situation but when the stones fall off and get into the common bile duct, then you’re in deep trouble just like I was.

What to expect during the recovery phase

After undergoing two procedures, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) to put a stent in my common bile duct and laparoscopic cholecystectomy to remove my non-functioning gallbladder, not to mention a blood transfusion post surgery, I thought I was fine. Little did I know that I would experience more abdominal pain so severe that I was afraid I would have to undergo surgery again.

If you have gallstones and have opted to have your gallbladder removed, expect the following symptoms characteristic of postcholecystectomy syndrome during your recovery phase:

Abdominal pain

Uncontrollable and frequent flatulence

Bloating, indigestion

Diarrhea, especially after eating food that contains fat

What to do when you experience postcholecystectomy syndrome?

Consult your doctor for proper management and prescription

Eat small, frequent meals instead of few large ones

Chew your food properly, avoid hard to digest foods like meats

Eat fruits like banana and apple to help form stool

Hydrate throughout the day

Eat soup dishes with vegetables and lean protein like fish or chicken to boost immune system and enhance wound healing process

Avoid saturated fats from processed foods, pastries, and fastfood

Avoid gas forming foods like beans, onion, garlic, and cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower)

Consume probiotic food or supplement under the supervision of your dietitian

Gradually introduce healthy fats from fatty fishes, nuts, seeds, and oils into your diet

Symptoms may be temporary or persistent. Consult your doctor and dietitian for proper management and prevention of complications.

source: Manila Bulletin
http://www.mb.com.ph/oh-my-gally/

Calcium supplements tied to higher dementia risk for some women

Some older women who take calcium supplements commonly recommended to ward off age-related bone damage may face an increased risk of developing dementia, a small study suggests.

The heightened dementia risk appears limited to women who have had a stroke or suffer from other disorders that affect blood flow to the brain, researchers report in the journal Neurology.

“Our study is the first to show a relationship between calcium supplementation and increased risk for dementia in older women,” said lead author Dr. Silke Kern of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

Still, the findings from this observational study don’t prove calcium supplements directly cause dementia, Kern added by email. Even for women who have had a stroke, it’s too soon to say for sure whether it makes sense for them to avoid calcium supplements, Kern noted.

“These findings need to be replicated before any recommendations can be made,” Kern said.

Millions of women take calcium supplements to strengthen bones made brittle by osteoporosis, a bone-thinning disorder that typically develops starting during menopause when the body slows production of new bone tissue.

For the current study, Kern and colleagues examined data on 700 women between the ages of 70 and 92 who didn’t have dementia.

At the start of the study, and again five years later, women did a variety of psychiatric and cognitive tests including assessments of memory and reasoning skills. A subset of about 450 women also got brain scans.

When the study began, 98 women were taking calcium supplements and 54 participants had already experienced a stroke.

During the study, 54 more women had strokes, and 59 women developed dementia. Among the women who had brain scans, 71 percent had so-called white matter lesions, which are signs of mini-strokes and other disorders that affect blood flow to the brain.

Overall, women who took calcium supplements were twice as likely to develop dementia as their peers who didn’t, the study found.

But the increased risk appeared limited to people who had a stroke or other signs of existing cerebrovascular disease.

For women with a history of stroke, the dementia risk was almost seven times higher if they took calcium supplements than if they didn’t.

When women had white matter lesions that can be a precursor to strokes, the dementia risk was three times greater when they took calcium supplements.

Among women without a stroke history or white matter lesions, however, there wasn’t any increased dementia risk associated with calcium supplements.

Beyond its small size, other limitations of the study include the lack of follow-up brain scans at the end of the study, which made it impossible for researchers to assess how calcium supplements may have influenced the development of white matter lesions or silent strokes.

In addition, the study didn’t look at how much calcium women got in their diets, which can affect the body differently than supplements and is thought to be safe or even protective against blood flow problems, the authors note.

“Women and the public need to realize that when we talk about micronutrients –calcium included – and cognitive functioning, we need to consider that the combination of nutrients will be more predictive than one nutrient,” said Dr. Neelum Aggarwal, a researcher at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago who wasn’t involved in the study.

“For example, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium all are typically looked at for their effects on multiple organs, and cognitive functioning will be affected most likely by a combination of these nutrients,” Aggarwal added by email. “To say that only one nutrient increases the risk of dementia is premature and more studies need to look at a combination of nutrients.”

source: Reuters Health
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-women-calcium-dementia-idUSKCN10S26L

Know the right doctor for your illness

If you don’t feel well, do you know which doctor to go to? I know a lot of patients are confused as to what kind of doctor to visit for their symptoms.

As a general rule, you can first consult a family medicine practitioner or a general practitioner for your medical concerns. And if your case needs it, you will be directed to the right doctor.

Thus, I’m giving you a rundown of some specialties of doctors and a short description of what they do. This is just a partial list.

• Allergologist. If you have problems with allergy, constant runny nose, sneezing, coughing or rashes that just come and go, see an allergologist.

• Cardiologist or heart specialist. If you have chest pains, heart disease, high cholesterol or high blood pressure, you need to see a cardiologist. There are several kinds of cardiologists. A general cardiologist diagnoses and treats diseases of the heart and blood vessels in adults. A pediatric cardiologist treats heart disease in children. They are the experts in congenital heart diseases, like if a baby is born with a hole in the heart. If you need an angiogram or an angioplasty, you need to see an interventional cardiologist.

• Cosmetic surgeon. Well, this line of work needs no explanation. If you want to be beautiful, have your eye bags removed, and turn back the years, this is the doctor you need.

• Dermatologist. For skin problems, removing unsightly blemishes and warts or hair removal, you need to see a dermatologist.

• Ear, nose, throat specialist. For ringing ears, dizziness, deafness and, sometimes, objects stuck inside the ear, see an ENT specialist. ENT doctors are experts, too, in nose bleeding, polyps, mouth sores, and tonsillitis.

• Endocrinologist. Think diabetes, fatty foods, and obesity. Also add problems like goiter and hyperactive thyroid. You need the diabetes experts, the endocrinologists.

• Gastroenterologist. I guess you know that gastro doctors treat ulcers, abdominal pains, and constipation. But they’re experts in problems of the liver (like hepatitis), gallbladder, and pancreas, too. Gastroenterologists are the ones who perform a proctosigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy to rule out colon cancer.

• Infectious disease specialist (IDS). For prolonged fever and difficult-to-treat infections, ranging from dengue, swine flu and typhoid to sexually-transmitted diseases, you need the IDS experts.

• Nephrologist or kidney specialist. If you have urinary problems or swelling of the feet, you should see a nephrologist. Nephrologists handle all matters related to kidney diseases, including kidney failure, dialysis, and kidney transplants.

• Neurologist or brain specialist. If you have persistent headache, dizziness, or tingling of the hands and feet, you should see a neurologist. They’re the experts in diseases of the nervous system, the brain, spinal cord, and nerves.

• Obstetrician and gynecologist. They provide care during pregnancy, childbirth, and also treat conditions of the female reproductive system. There are some doctors who train in oncology and gynecology combined (the gyne-onco), which makes them the experts in treating masses and cancers of the uterus, cervix, and ovaries.

• Oncologist or cancer specialist. This line needs no explanation. They’re the cancer experts.

• Ophthalmologist or eye specialist. Is this article blurry or foggy? For any problem related to the eyes, see your ophthalmologists who are the experts in cataract, glaucoma, and red eyes.

• Pediatrician. These kid specialists take care of patients from birth through their teenage years, maybe until they’re 15-16 years old. Everyone needs a pediatrician, at one time in their lives, for vaccines and check-ups.

• Psychiatrist. A psychiatrist treats depression, anxiety disorders, and mental illness. They handle drug addiction problems, alcoholism, and relationship/emotional problems, too. And don’t worry, majority of their patients are not mentally ill. They’re really a pleasure to talk to.

• Pulmonologist or lung specialist. Have difficulty breathing? Coughing out phlegm? Smoking every day? Losing weight? See a lung specialist before it’s too late. Pulmonologists also treat asthma, allergies, and those with sleep apnea.

• Rheumatologist: A rheumatologist specializes in arthritis problems. Any joint, bone, and muscle pain is within his field of expertise, too.

Here are the surgical specialties:

• Cardiothoracic surgeon. A heart bypass, fixing an aortic aneurysm, and removing a mass in the lung are jobs that belong to cardiothoracic surgeons who perform these delicate and difficult operations within the heart and chest area.

• General surgeon. A general surgeon diagnoses and removes diseased organs such as the appendix, gallbladder, thyroid, breast masses and other cysts.

• Neurosurgeon. Brain tumors, brain aneurysms, spinal nerve problems are all delicate operations reserved for the steady, deft hands of our neurosurgeons.

• Orthopedic surgeon. For bone problems like fractures, osteoporosis, and various bone-related aches and pains, see your orthopedic surgeon. They also handle hip and knee problems, especially those injuries related to sports.

• Plastic surgeon. This miracle worker repairs the physical defects of our skin, muscles, face, extremities, breast and external genitalia.

• Urologist. Here’s the favorite doctor of guys above 50. They’re the experts in impotence, prostate problems, and sex concerns. All your secrets are safe in the office of your favorite urologist.

There are many more important specialties and fields in medicine (such as rehabilitation medicine, geriatric medicine, anesthesia, colorectal surgery, bariatric surgery, alternative medicine, public health medicine, and many more). Maybe in the future, I could write a second part to this article.

Finally, for your medical problems, my advice is to look for PRC-board certified doctors and you can’t go wrong. More power to all our Filipino doctors!

source: Philippine Star
http://www.philstar.com/health-and-family/2016/08/16/1613748/know-right-doctor-your-illness