Burning sensation when urinating and UTI, more common in woman during rainy season

Urinary Tract infections or UTI’s are common bacterial infections of the urinary tract. They occur for various reasons but primarily due to being sexually active, menopause, or lack of hydration. 

A woman suffering from UTIs

It has been proved that women are at a greater risk than men due to the female anatomy (the urethra in a woman is shorter than in men, which means the bacteria have to travel a shorter distance from the rectum). 

Symptoms-  It includes a strong, persistent need to urinate, a burning sensation when urinating, and urine that appears cloudy and is strong in smell. The important thing to note here is that a UTI can be present in the bladder, kidneys, or urethra. If a person is suffering from back pain, a fever, or chills accompanied by nausea and vomiting, these are serious signs and may mean that the individual has a kidney infection. For these symptoms, it is necessary to go to the doctor or ER promptly. One interesting point to note is that elderly patients often show symptoms of confusion, restlessness, and agitation as opposed to the symptoms mentioned above. 

So, how do we prevent these pesky bacteria? It is very simple to avoid urinary tract infections so, 

• Stay hydrated.
• Drink plenty of fluids 
• Drink plenty of water. 
• Cranberry juice can help, but don't overdo it.  
• Empty your bladder after sexual intercourse. 
• Do not use douches! They can be irritating to the flora in your urethra thus causing an imbalance. 
• Make sure to wipe from front to back to prevent bacteria from spreading. 

Note, that the aforesaid advice is for UTIs in adults. 

In children, UTI's are always complicated and require medical attention with the care of a physician. however, in adults UTI’s can be treated with oral antibiotics. Typically, a physician will perform a culture of the bacteria to determine which antibiotic to be given to the individual. Usually, a patient needs an oral antibiotic for three to seven days depending on the culture and antibiotic. However, recurrent UTI’s might require a stronger and longer course. Please do not try to treat with any antibiotic you have at home. It may not even work for the type of bacteria that has caused your UTI. 

Keep in mind to drink plenty of fluids when you have a UTI to help flush out the bacteria. Most importantly, do not stop taking your antibiotic as soon as you feel better. Complete your course because some bacteria may still be lingering. All in all, UTI’s can be easy to treat, depending on the bacteria and various other factors, particularly age. So, stay hydrated and practice good hygiene to prevent these unwanted infections. 

Hope you find this information useful to take routine care of your health.  

Stay healthy, stay safe...

Excess Iron in brain can develop many diseases – A new study.

Iron overload, usually caused by the genetic condition hereditary hemochromatosis, can cause a wide number of health issues, but this study sheds light on its impact on the brain. 

Research has been conducted by the researchers based on the studied data gathered by the UK Biobank to see if hereditary hemochromatosis and the subsequent iron overload had an impact on the brain. In the study, it was observed that some people with two copies of the HFE gene mutation, meaning they would have hereditary hemochromatosis, had iron buildup in the brain.  While studying the iron deposition seen in the brain's motor circuits. The researchers concluded that the iron buildup in the brain was linked to a higher risk of developing movement disorders.

According to a new study, the iron buildup in the brain may have a higher risk of developing movement disorders like Parkinson's disease But interestingly, the increased risk for movement disorders was only present in males. However, this isn't too surprising, as the iron buildup in males will almost always be more severe due to the lack of mensuration.

These findings hold implications for the further extent of how hereditary hemochromatosis and iron overload can impact the body and how they can lead to movement disorders. But even more importantly, the importance of the findings for medical purposes is especially notable because they can be applied immediately - after all, the safe and approved treatments for iron overload already exist.  

Usually overloading iron in the brain is caused by the genetic condition hereditary hemochromatosis, and develops a wide number of health issues. The findings of this study were published in the peer-reviewed academic journal JAMA Neurology. Before explaining hereditary haemochromatosis, it's important to understand the role of iron in the human body. 

Iron is an essential mineral that the body needs to function, and it is especially prevalent in the human blood. This, in turn, is why the level of iron in the body must be balanced and controlled. The exact amount of iron needed in the body can vary, but it usually tends to be just 4-5 grams of iron, with 2.5 being used to bring oxygen into the blood and the rest being used in cells throughout the body, especially the liver, spleen and bone marrow - the former of which is where the primary iron reserve storage. 

Much research has already been conducted on what happens when iron levels in the body are too low, which is known as iron deficiency, something that is generally more common among those who menstruate due to the loss of blood. 

Further, there is also a significant amount of research that has been done on how to compensate for this, which can be done in the form of iron supplements or making sure one's diet contains a necessary amount of iron. Indeed, food is the main source of iron. But less well-known, especially among the general public, is that it is also possible for the body to have too much iron, which is known as iron overload or hemochromatosis. This can happen in a few days, such as repeated blood transfusions, too much dietary iron, or too many iron supplements. But hereditary hemochromatosis is the most well-known means for this to happen. This condition is genetic and is linked to a specific gene, the HFE gene, and is most common among those of Celtic descent. Both parents would need to have the gene for it to manifest as the condition, similar to other genetic conditions like Tay-Sachs disease. 

Hereditary hemochromatosis essentially causes the body to absorb far too much iron from food, increasing the amount of iron in the body. Unlike iron deficiencies, which can be solved by simply having more iron, iron overloads are harder to solve because humans don't actually have a way to release the excess iron outside of menstruation and pregnancy. In fact, the ability of menstruation and pregnancy to release excess iron from the body is why symptoms appear in people who menstruate much later than in others, really only appearing after menopause. 

However, according to the study, symptoms tend to appear late across the board, with males on average only showing symptoms after the age of 40 and females after the age of 60. When undergoing iron overload, the iron will accumulate in the body, often in the liver, skin, heart, thyroid, pituitary gland, and more. This, in turn, is linked to numerous other symptoms and diseases. These include, but are not limited to: 

·                     Joint and abdominal pain

·                     Liver cirrhosis

·                     Liver cancer

·                     Arthritis

·                     Diabetes

·                     Severe fatigue and weakness

·                     The skin turning bronze or gray color

·                     Abdominal pain

·                     Lack of sex drive

·                     Liver failure

·                     Heart failure

·                     Erectile dysfunction and sexual impotence

·                     Memory fog 

Considering how many of these conditions can be life-threatening, treating hereditary hemochromatosis is very important. 

Treatment-  Blood donation under consultancy with your doctor is the best treatment as any iron overload can simply be prevented by getting phlebotomy (essentially bloodletting, just safely getting rid of blood in comparable amounts to a blood donation) on a regular periodic basis - sometimes just a couple of times a year. Apart from that medications also exist, and diets used to limit iron intake can help as well.

Long COVID Symptoms makes many changes like hair loss, low sex drive, erectile dysfunction, etc in the body – a study report

A study reveals that the long Covid Symptoms make many changes in the body. It includes hair loss and reduced libido. Other symptoms included chest pain, fever, bowel incontinence, erectile dysfunction, and limb swelling. About 2 million people in the UK have persistent symptoms after COVID infection, termed long COVID. They commonly reported long COVID symptoms, such as fatigue and shortness of breath, which have a significant effect on people's daily activities, quality of life, and capacity to work. But long COVID symptoms are much broader than this. In a new study published in the journal, Nature Medicine  62 symptoms have been identified as associated with long COVID.  

Much of the initial work undertaken to understand long COVID has been among people who were hospitalized, but most people infected with COVID have been managed in primary care, therefore, it is known relatively little about long COVID in people with typically milder initial infections. In the study, it has been analyzed electronic primary care records from more than 450,000 people in England with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID, and 1.9 million people with no prior history of COVID, from January 2020 to April 2021.  Both groups were matched very closely in terms of their demographic, social, and clinical characteristics, then, scientists assessed the relative differences in the reporting of 115 symptoms to GPs. For those who had COVID, they measured this at least 12 weeks after they were infected. 

They found that people who had been diagnosed with COVID were significantly more likely to report 62 symptoms, only 20 of which are included in the World Health Organization's clinical case definition for long COVID. Some of these symptoms were expected, like loss of sense of smell, shortness of breath, and fatigue. But some of the symptoms that they found to be strongly associated with COVID beyond 12 weeks were surprising and less well known, such as hair loss and reduced libido. Other symptoms included chest pain, fever, bowel incontinence, erectile dysfunction, and limb swelling. 

These differences in symptoms reported between the infected and uninfected groups remained even after we accounted for age, sex, ethnic group, socioeconomic status, body mass index, smoking status, the presence of more than 80 health conditions, and past reporting of the same symptom. 

They also found that younger age, female sex, belonging to certain ethnic minority groups, lower socioeconomic status, smoking, obesity, and a wide range of health conditions were all associated with a higher risk of reporting persistent symptoms more than 12 weeks after COVID infection.

 Stay healthy, stay safe...

Are you Underweight? Know some healthy ways to gain body weight.

 On health grounds, it is mandatory to maintain a healthy weight. Both underweight and overweight can give adverse effects on the body and may prone to acquire many malnutrition or more nutritional disorders to the body. 

Being overweight can cause obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, and other health conditions and all of these conditions can damage different vital and important internal organs of the body and that can be fatal. On the other hand, if you are underweight, you might face issues such as low blood pressure, anemia, and low immunity among other tiredness, severe muscular pain, and other health conditions. It is, therefore, important that you maintain a healthy weight so that you don’t have health complications. 

Some people thought, that gaining weight is very difficult, however, on the practice ground, it is observed that gaining weight is too easy in comparison to reducing weight.  

Anyway, some people are interested to gain a little weight to look, not like a very thin personality. It is, however, important that you gain weight in a healthy manner and not just include all sorts of food in your diet to gain weight.

[Are you underweight? check regularly]

One more point I would like to add is that the genetic factors are also involved in making the body fatty or slim, although the genetic impact will not give more value if you are determined to maintain yourself healthy, it is seen in many cases that some people diet is very less in comparison to other but have more body weight whereas some are eating more but no gain of the body weight observed. There are many medical terminologies involving these conditions like imbalancing of hormonal secretion from respective glands like pancreatic glands. The pituitary gland, thyroid glands, etc, and to maintain the hormonal balances in the body or make the good function of the respective glad to work well with the appropriate amount of secretion of hormones, health screening followed by doctors consultation is very important. However, I will suggest a few ways that will help you to add some pounds if you are underweight. 

1. Add simple carbohydrates to your diet: If you want to add some extra pounds to your diet, it is recommended that you add a bit of carb to your diet and that could be some potatoes or a bit of rice that could help you add some extra kilos. 

2. Add smoothies and shakes to your diet: Smoothies and shakes have calories in them and consuming them can add to your weight. Also, they have good nutrients in them which is again a healthy option. 

3. Exercise: This might sound weird but yes, exercising is important for weight loss as well. When you exercise, you stop the accumulation of fat and work on muscle building which eventually helps in weight gain. 

4. Get good sleep: When you get good sleep, it helps to improve your metabolism and also helps in muscle gain which eventually adds to the weight.

Disclaimer: Tips and suggestions mentioned in the article are for general information purposes only and should not be construed as professional medical advice. Always consult your doctor or a dietician before starting any fitness program or making any changes to your diet.

 

Eating disorders in children and preventive meausres

Eating disorders are more common in young children and can be seen in any age group. Eating disorders mean problems with the way a child eats. It can be stressful for the parents to deal with the child having an eating disorder as it can impact them mentally and physically children with eating disorders tend to experience adverse effects on nearly every organ in the body thus, timely treatment is key to helping children with eating disorders. 

[Image showing Eating disorders]

According to Dr. Vrushali Bichkar, Consultant Paediatrician and Neonatologist at Motherhood Hospital in Pune's Lullanagar, there are many types of eating disorders that have been seen in children; however, the common and main eating disorders are under  

1. Anorexia Nervosa - This is an eating disorder wherein the weight of the child is below average for their age and height. Children with anorexia have a fear of getting fat or gaining weight. They tend to have a distorted body image, calling themselves “fat” even when very thin. Those with this issue tend to have mental health problems like mood disorders, depression, or anxiety disorders. Symptoms-  Bluish discoloration of the fingers due to a lack of oxygen, hair fall, fatigue, insomnia, fainting, and the absence of menstruation in teenage girls.

2. Bulimia Nervosa - Here, a child engages in episodes of bingeing during which he or she eats too much food and then purges, or tries to get rid of the extra calories. This means self-induced vomiting or excessive exercise, such as running on a treadmill for hours. Those suffering from it have anxiety and self-injurious behaviors. Symptoms-  Stained teeth, calluses on the backs of the hands or knuckles from self-induced vomiting, frequent weight fluctuations, and an irregular menstrual cycle.

3. Restrictive food intake disorder - If a child has this disorder then he/she is unable to or refuses to eat certain foods based on texture, color, taste, temperature, or even the aroma. Symptoms- The child may have weight loss problems, inadequate growth, and nutritional deficiencies. Here, a child may consume only a very narrow range of foods and refuse even those foods if they appear new or different.

4. Binge eating disorder - Having a binge eating disorder means the children will eat large amounts of food but do not attempt to get rid of calories once the food is consumed. Such children can be obese or overweight. 

Symptoms- They tend to have trouble coping with anger, sadness, worry, and stress. They will always feel guilty for eating a lot and not exercising. Causes: According to Dr. Vrushali Bichkar, genetics, stress and pre-existing psychiatric disorders can make a child prone to having an eating disorder. 

Treatment: “Psychotherapy, nutrition education, medical monitoring, and medications in some cases can help children with eating disorders,” suggested Dr. Vrushali Bichkar. 

Preventive measure - Dr. Vrushali Bichkar advised, “As parents, you need to speak to your child about unhealthy eating habits, encourage the child to eat healthy foods, maintain an optimum weight, exercise daily, sleep well and stay stress-free. Try to help your child to build a healthy body image, do not body shame the child. Do not diet around the child as he/she will feel that it is alright to skip healthy foods or even starve. So, make sure that your child gets all the essential nutrients from the diet.”

Make your children healthy and stay safe...