1. F. Rego, Mangalore
* I am 33 years of age. I was having palpitations off & on for which ECG &Echo was done, the doctor (cardiologist) who was treating me told me its normal but there is something called WPWS, he also gave me some type of beta blocker 3months. I still get this palpitation Can you please advice me & tell me what WPWS is?
** You may be aware that the heart beat is regulated by some sort of electric currents generated and transmitted in the heart. This electric current regulates the heart beat. The electric current is transmitted through certain fibers in the heart musculature, which also form junctions termed as ‘nodes’. This is comparable to the electric wires, transformers and junctions of the electricity of our daily use.
WPWS or Wolf Parkinson’s White Syndrome is a condition involving the electrical fibers in the heart. Normally, an electrical signal starts at one part of the heart (the left atrium's sinus node) and is transmitted through the area between the atrium and the ventricles (AV node), to the other parts of the heart (Ventricles). In this disease, there is an abnormal electrical connection that bypasses the AV node a condition, which can lead to irregular or rapid heart rates.
Symptoms usually are due to rapid heart beat that leads to palpitations and other associated symptoms such as dizziness or chest pain. Some patients, however, never develop any significant heart problems, and the diagnosis is made during routine evaluations.
The cause of this disease is an abnormality in the electrical circuit within the heart. In addition to the normal electrical circuit, patients with WPW have an additional direct connection between two portions of the heart. The cause of the abnormal electrical circuit is unknown, but most patients are born with the problem.
A diagnosis is made by abnormalities (delta waves) detected on the ECG that suggest the possibility of the disease. In the absence of any symptoms, no particular treatment is necessary. However, if any of the symptoms develop, patients should contact their physician. Normally the problem does not lead to major complications.
There are varieties of drugs to control the symptoms. If your problems are persisting, you may consult the doctor again.
2. S.Hallman, USA, Georgia
*I am 30 years old and ready to start a family. I have been on contraceptive pills for at least 6 years. How long do you need to wait after stopping the pill before trying to conceive?
** There is no need to wait. Once you stop the pills the genital system starts returning to normalcy. There is no harm in planning conception immediately after stopping the pills.
However, like in any other healthy woman the possibility of conception depends on lot of factors.
3. N. Serrao, Mumbai
*I am a man of 21 yrs. The problem I have got is I lack facial hair despite being of healthy growth and crossing my 21st birthday. Can you please advice any medication over this. This condition is affecting my confidence in facing people.
** Though by puberty beard and moustaches start appearing, their proper growth is not uniform and varies from individual to individual. Some have thick facial hair at a young age and in others they may be sparse even when they are in their third decade.
Most probable cause for this is inherited and little can be done to increase the facial hair growth. If other secondary sexual characters are normal, then no treatment may be indicated.
However in few individuals there may be deficiency of testosterone hormone, which will also manifest by delayed or absent secondary sexual changes.
You may consult a skin specialist to know why you have no facial hair. If it is genetic, you might get facial hair by another few years. If there are any obvious defects, certain blood tests may be sought.
4. M D'souza, Udupi
*I am a lady of 24 years. I have many pimples on my face that I feel uncomfortable to go with friends and to talk to them. Please advice any lotion or any treatment that I can use. My skin is normal.
** Acne is a term that’s used to describe verities of small swellings appearing on the face. They include whiteheads, blackheads, and pimples. Most teenagers get the type of acne called acne vulgaris, which can show up on the face, neck, shoulders, back, and chest.
The skin contains certain glands which prepare greasy substance known as sebum. This comes out onto the skin through small openings, termed as pores. The sebum naturally lubricates the skin and hair. But sometimes if a pore gets clogged beneath the skin with excess sebum and bacteria, the dreaded acne is caused.
Whiteheads happen when a pore gets clogged, closes, and then bulges out. If a pore gets clogged but stays open, the top may darken and a blackhead develops. A pimple happens when dead skin and bacteria work their way under live skin. This leads to a small infection that makes the skin look red.
Although everyone is different, acne is usually caused by the build up of oil and dead skin in a pore. Several factors are involved in the development of acne. Central to this are the sex hormones, which are produced at puberty. The male hormone testosterone - found naturally in women as well as in men – triggers the sebaceous glands to produce more of an oily substance called sebum, making the skin greasier. However, most acne sufferers don’t have a hormone problem and their hormones are at normal levels in their blood.
When there is an excess of sebum, the area around a hair follicle and the opening through the skin – the pore – can become clogged. A bug, a bacterium called Propionobacterium acnes that lives normally on the skin can thrive within the blocked pore. This infection causes inflammation, which is responsible for the redness and swelling of a spot. Sometimes as in severe acne, the pocket of inflammation within a pore can rupture, causing damage to the skin that can result in scarring.
Drugs such as certain steroid tablets and some beauty products that block the pores can contribute to acne. Contrary to popular belief, acne is not caused by eating fatty food or chocolate.
Acne is not a trivial complaint. It can be the source of considerable emotional distress. But there is a range of treatment options to tackle the problem.
Home treatment: It’s important to keep spot-prone areas clean, so wash the affected area twice a day with an unperfumed cleanser. Antibacterial face washes and soaps specifically for greasy skins are also available. However, the skin needs a certain amount of oil to maintain its natural condition, so avoid aggressive washing with strong soaps.
Also try to avoid the temptation to pick at spots: over-enthusiastic squeezing can cause scarring. Acne tends to be less of a problem in the summertime. This may be due to the sunshine helping to dry the skin. No home treatments for acne will work immediately. It can take weeks, if not months, for significant effects to be noticeable.
Non prescription remedies: Over-the-counter remedies are available from a pharmacy to treat mild acne. Lotions that contain benzoyl peroxide dry out the skin and encourage it to shed the surface layer of dead skin. Benzoyl peroxide also has an antibacterial action. Together, these effects make it harder for pores to become blocked and for infection to develop. Benzoyl peroxide can cause redness and peeling, especially to start with. This tends to settle down within a few days.
Prescription medicines: If the problem is severe you may consult a skin specialist. They normally start treatment for mild to moderate acne with a preparation containing benzoyl peroxide. If this does not work, or if you have more severe acne, there are a range of other treatment options that can either be rubbed onto the skin (topical) or taken in tablet form (oral). Sometimes antibiotics, hormone preparations also are advised.
5. M. Campbell, Louisiana, USA
*I am 30 years and my husband is 31.He told me that he went to a doctor when he was 21 years old and they told him that he was infertile. He never went back to find out what he could do to make him fertile again. I would like to have a family soon if it's possible. What can we do to try to make him fertile again? Would taking vitamins or changing his eating habits help? He doesn't really have an appetite, but he's very healthy. He's 5'8 and 165lb. He told me that the doctor didn't tell him what caused him to be infertile back then, I don't think he got any tests done to find out. We'd appreciate any help you can give us.
** You have not mentioned since how long you are trying for family. If your husband was informed that he had some defects which would make him infertile, don’t you think it is wise to consult a doctor? You may seek the help of an urologist for proper assessment and treatment of the problem, if any.
6. N. Bexs, Virginia
* I am 16 years of age. I have had sex for the first time 2 nights ago. The night I had sex I was bleeding, the day after I was not and now today I am bleeding again, is there something wrong with me? We also did the "pull out" is there still a way of me being pregnant. I have heard about pre-cum, can that still get a girl pregnant? I am really scared and I just want to know as soon as possible.
** One should be careful about ‘withdrawal method’ (the one you have termed as ‘pull out method’). This is one of the most unreliable methods for avoiding conception. It requires great self-control on the man's part and man must be able to predict exactly when he is going to ejaculate and therefore is difficult in men who ejaculate prematurely. Even when male organ is withdrawn before ejaculation, pre-ejaculate often contains sperm, enough to impregnate the woman.
While practicing this method one should be prepared to get pregnant and possibly catch a sexually transmitted disease.
There can be bleeding in some of the women in the initial sexual encounters. This is mostly due to lack of proper preparation (fore-play), dryness in the female genitalia and forcible intercourse. Bleeding is not a sign of virginity. It also does not indicate whether the sexual encounter has resulted in conception. Bleeding normally stops by itself. However if there are major tears or erosions a specialist may be consulted.
If you are worried about possibilities of conception, you may consult a gynecologist. There are certain tests which can reveal pregnancy at its very beginning.
7. S. Kumar, Dubai
* I am getting married after 4 months. My problem is I have not got enough strength at some times when I contacted the girls and have not attained satisfaction with them. Can I get married?
** It is not unusual for some young men like you to have these types of experiences. The pre-marital sexual experiences can be discouraging to many. This is mainly because many men have hesitation and inhibition in pre-marital sex. Fear can be from impregnating the girl to acquiring diseases. The inhibition and fear may lead to pre-mature ejaculation to impotency. If not properly counseled this may continue even in marital sex.
But these men are perfect physically and their worries are purely psychological. Normally men do not have physical defects as far as sex is concerned. Any minor variations in the sexual organs do not make them sexually disabled. The sexual disability is normally psychological.
Sexual relationship in marriage is different from that of pre-marital sex. There is no need to worry about pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases etc. You should accept that your present problem is in your mind and not in the body. You can go ahead with marriage. If the problem persists after marriage, consult a psychiatrist or counselor.
8. C Fernandes, Kuwait
*I am a 35 years old, having two kids. My weight is 52 kgs. I go for evening walk with my husband. I have brisk walk for 30 minutes. While walking, my calf pains and I can not walk for more than 35 minutes. Also I can not run much. I do this walking exercise only to keep myself fit and I don’t have any health problems. I take enough milk and yoghurt everyday.
** You may consult an Orthopedic specialist or a neurologist. It requires proper assessment to find the cause for the pain. These types of problems can be set right by medications.
9. M Preetha
*I am married few months ago and I had undergone the marriage preparation course in Mangalore. During that course, I was taught that a woman is most likely to become pregnant if sexual intercourse takes place just before or just after ovulation. Taking this into consideration, we used to have sex without precaution for 5 days after and 5 days before the onset of period. (My periods are regular, starts 28th of every month. We used to have sex without precaution till 2-6 and then 22-27 of every month). Even though "the window of fertility" is 5 days, to be safe we used to take make it 15 days. But I conceived using this method. I consulted a qualified doctor and explained my family planning method to her. She said woman can conceive any time during the cycle. So to avoid unplanned pregnancy couple has to use precaution ALWAYS during intercourse. There is NO such period called fertile or safe. I am confused now.
**I do not think you were advised to follow the safe period method as a method of family planning. In marriage preparation courses, normally natural family planning is taught and mucus method is the one that is commonly explained and encouraged to follow. Even in natural family planning method, there are chances of conception due to various reasons. These are required to be accepted as divine gift!
Window of fertility is the most likely period of ovulation and it is commonly advised for infertile couple to make use of, the chances of conception are better in this period. Most of the couple is advised to practice this at least 6 months before opting for costly tests of infertility and artificial methods as treatment. The incidences of conception are more if physical union is regularly performed during window of fertility. However this is not a guaranteed method. You might have read this in the earlier editions of this column.
Your calculation regarding the fertile period (5days) is not always true. It varies from woman to woman. This is due to variable survival period of sperm in female genital tract after intercourse as well as the survival of egg after the ovulation. So in theory, middle 2 weeks are fertile and 1st and last weeks are 'Infertile'. Having said that, even if you follow this safe period (1st & last week of your cycle), this method has high failure rate. This is because, apart from reason mentioned above (survival time of egg and sperm), also there is large variation of ovulation timing in each cycle. Therefore this method is not normally recommended for effective family planning. In fact safe period can be highly unsafe!!!.
10. Yangchen, Paro, Bhutan
*I am 29 yrs divorced with two children age 14 and 9. After my last child I underwent tubectomy. Now recently I got remarried and now I want to have baby from this husband. Is it possible for me to conceive or is there any other
remedies, please help me with this.
** The success of recanalization after tubectomy is not guaranteed. The chances of success depend on the expertise of the surgeon, duration of tubectomy etc. In your case recanalization after a gap of 9 years may have guarded results. You may discuss this issue with the doctor who performs the surgery of establishing contact between two cut ends of the tube.
11. Lewis, Mangalore
*I'm 23 yrs old. Sometimes the color and the smell of the urine changes, the smell is at times bad .Is there is something wrong? How do I know there is something wrong?
** The colour as well as odour of the urine depends on the food items one takes. It also depends on the fluid intake. If fluid intake is less urine gets concentrated and concentrated urine may have dark colour and can have strong odour.
If you are suspecting any definitive problem, you can get the urine analyzed in laboratory.
12. D.A. Lobo. Mangalore
*I am a healthy 37 year old female. My problem is that I feel my scalp smells regardless of frequent washing. I wash my hair religiously every other day with shampoo and conditioner. It also feels very itchy though I do not have Dandruff. I have tried different shampoos with no result. It seems the smell has gotten worse in the last year or so. I have not consulted any doctor so far.
** You may consult a skin specialist. Itching on the scalp is not always due to dandruff, it can also be due to other causes. You may be having allergy to some ingredients of the shampoo itself. Consult a skin specialist for proper assessment and treatment. |
