Health Adda

Christmas is the perfect occasion to explore the complex relationship between faith and healing. The plummeting attendance of  patients  to hospitals and clinics at this time every year has several explanations: the faithful ascribe it to  rejuvenation  of faith, my medical colleagues to winter being the “healthiest” time of the year, and pragmatists to the cold and fog that deter patients. The reason why malaria, dengue and encephalitis beat a retreat at this time is because the cold deters mosquitoes even more than people. Further, water borne infections drop sharply as foods are preferred hot or fried (aloo tikis, parathas, tea rather than sharbats, paani batashas and salads) in which germs die.    Clinic attendance alone may not be a good indicator of the role of religious faith in a community’s health seeking behaviour. It is observed that a sharp drop in patients from concerned communities ,occur during Ramadan, around Diwali and Christmas, and may reflect social attitudes of de

The recent tragedy in West Bengal in which 170 people died after drinking locally made hooch shows once again how vulnerable our poor are, and how poor are our mechanisms to ensure their safety. Hooch, Moonshine or Jake is the name given to illicitly distilled illegally produced alcoholic drinks that do not conform to safety standards. They are made by fermenting sugary or starchy substances, distilling them to increase the concentration of alcohol, and often adding other substances for more punch. They have been produced for generations in home-made stills or barns, often under the cover of forests and swamps, and catered to poor labourers, farmers, rikshaw-drivers and hawkers. Outbreaks of poisoning and deaths due to bad hooch have occured in various parts of the world from time to time. Major Indian tragedies have occured in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Odisha and UP in the last 3 years, and despite the temporary reactions they elicited, the magnitude of tragedies has just got bigg

With my days of cricket feats and trecking tales slipping into history, and people calling me “uncle” rather than by my first name, I decided to explore ways of keeping at least my heart younger than my rapidly greying hair. I started by exploring whether the cooking medium in our kitchen needed change. A mind boggling 479 million results emerging in a trite on googling “healthy cooking medium” bowled me into confusion. The search threw up oils and fats I had not heard of, many clamouring for the “best” spot. Seconds later I realized that most of this “information” was “promotion” stuff by manufacturers, marketeers and oil lobbies, as is often the case in the world-wide-web. My grandpa’s wise saying “When too many opinions fly around, no one knows the truth” seemed to fit well here.  I therefore chatted up with Dr Sudeep, our young cardiologist, to find out what medical science was preaching these days.  “Desi ghee”, derived from the nutritious milk of holy cows, whose virtues my gran

It's natural to worry during stressful times. Some people however feel tense and anxious day after day, even when there is little to worry about. When this lasts for six months or longer, it may be generalized anxiety disorder or GAD . This illness affects several of us. Unfortunately, many people don't know they have it, and hence miss out on treatments that lead to a better, happier life. The main symptom of is a constant and exaggerated sense of tension and anxiety. You may not be able to pinpoint a reason why you feel tense. Or you may worry too much about ordinary matters, such as bills, relationships, or your health. All this worrying can interfere with your sleep and your ability to think straight. You may also feel irritable due to poor sleep or the illness itself. Body problems that accompany excess worry are muscle tension or pain, headaches, acidity, diarrhea, trembling or palpitations. What sets GAD apart from normal worries is the feeling that you can't stop w

Pimples or acne, a common skin disease of adolescence, can sometimes play havoc and change lives. My cousin, roughly my age, and I had care-free fun-packed school lives till acne made their appearance on his face in his teens. They erupted relentlessly, often in large crops, caused redness and swelling, refused to die down, and caught everyone’s eye. He sulked and avoided people, spent much time trying new ointments and lotions every evening, and became depressed. Thirty years later, while I see the same innocence and affection in his eyes from childhood days, others initially notice only his scarred rough face. Acne vulgaris is characterized by pinheads, blackheads & whiteheads often on scaly red oily (seborrheic) skin. It occurs due to blockage of skin follicles by shedding keratin and sebum (oily secretion from the glands of the hair follicles), causing them to swell, and at times, getting red and inflamed. Infection with bacteria, present on the skin, often compounds the pictu

Music, which started from 7 basic musical notes derived from sounds of nature or songs of various animals, has evolved considerably over time from mere entertainment to a form of therapy. It is being increasingly recognized that music can make a difference not just to our moods and relationships but to our health and recovery. Our exposure to “music” probably starts from the 20 th week in the womb when the baby’s hearing faculties develop, and he “listens” to his mother’s heartbeat. The fluctuations of her heart rate brought on by anxiety, frustration, relaxation or rest are stored in the fetal brain as memories, often reflecting in later years, the moods and attitudes of the two-some. Adolescents attach great importance to music often huddling as friends or partners based on a common taste or liking to a type of music – slow classical, to rhythmic melodies, to vocal,deep-throated emotional renderings, to pop, jazz or hard rock. This common “taste” often brings together people of sim

As a first step towards conquering ageing, scientists seem to have discovered that a portion of our 23 pairs of chromosomes, called telomeres shorten with time, and might underlie the process. And what goes with it is a gradual decline in the activity of an enzyme present in our cells, called telomerase. With over 60% of people in developed countries facing the winter of their lives, research institutions such as the National Institute of Health in USA have included ageing as one of their major thrust areas.. Answers are being sought with urgency from laboratories on why the disturbing changes of wrinkling of the face, graying of hair and weakening of bones occur, and if these can be prevented. Ageing is the accumulation of physical, psychological and social changes that occur with time. What is intriguing is why 2 person, who went to school together and lived similar lives show these changes so differently. Why did the former chief of IMF, Dominique Stauss-Kahn have to hit news-headl

The eerie silence that follows Diwali can usher in gloom as the weighing -machine needle tauntingly veers to the right at this time of every year. Remorse at our recent gorging is the norm at such times, and getting back to shape with all the barfis and laddoos still filling the refrigerator, the challenge. Getting back to exercise in this phase poses major hurdles. Our playmates have yet to return to the turf from their Diwali bashes. The bright five-thirty summer mornings have been swallowed by the night. And with the nip in the air, it is prime time to curl up and glimpse a few more frames of pleasant dreams as we wait for our morning cup of hot tea to drag ourselves out of bed. Where and how then do we begin to arouse ourselves, start moving and regain the lost waist lines and belt holes? Step 1: Shrug off the laziness. My German friend Winfried, tells me that there is no equivalent to “wake up” in their language; they only have “stand up”!. I found this German habit of literally

Caffeine, contained in coffee, tea, cola drinks and chocolates, has been in the eye of a storm swirling around breast lumps for quite some time. Says Dr Amit Aggarwal, consultant in the Department of Endocrine Surgery at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, “If young girls can give up coffee, tea and chocolates, their breast lumps often disappear miraculously”. The issue had erupted few years ago when a lime-soda drink (7-Up) manufacturer had started advertising its drink as safe for women because it does not contain caffeine. Understandably, it upset the manufacturers of Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola, which do contain caffeine. They contend that 7-Up's advertising campaign was based on unsubstantiated health concerns. Avoiding caffeine a xeno-estrogen, can be practically difficult. "Xeno" means foreign. Estrogen is the female hormone that causes breast development and dominates the first part of the menstrual cycle. Scientists now believe th

The young remorseless killer Andres Behring Breivik, who cruelly snuffed out 92 innocent young lives in Oslo recently in a cruel saga that shocked the world, had shown similar traits towards animals in his younger days. He is said to have loved hunting, and enjoyed killing innocent animals. Little surprise then that he shot 25 teenagers dead when they tried to swim away, like shooting fleeing birds. The increasing violence in schools and society in recent years has, in most cases, began with cruelty to animals.   High-school killers in the USA such as Kip Kinkel and Luke Woodham of USA, tortured animals before starting their shooting sprees as did Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who shot and killed 12 classmates, admitted to mutilating animals.  Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz, director of the Child Study Center at New York University. says about potential criminals, “You have a child who has symptoms of aggression toward his peers, an interest in fire, cruelty to animals, social isolation;

A recently held poster-making competition organized by HOPE Initiative ( www.hope.org.in ) on 22 nd September in which 170 artistically-inclined school students representing 36 schools took part, once again drove home the point that perceptions and emotions, rather than dry bits of medical information, often shape our attitudes towards health and its hazards. Pix 1: Students pouring imagination and colours on to their posters. The Governor of UP Shri BL Joshi, who graced the ceremony in Lalit Kala academy as chief guest, expressed appreciation and intrigue at the imaginative and creative ways in which students from class 6 to 12 had depicted topics ranging from “Life Style Diseases” to “Road Traffic Accidents”. Pix 2 : Shri BL Joshi surveying the posters “Health” can be as boring a topic, if students are lectured on the virtue of eating apples, to an as amazingly exciting one if they are encouraged to research and present issues as they see through their own eyes. Sample this

As a medical specialist, armed with voluminous knowledge of diseases, skills and several years of experience, I had started exuding a good degree of confidence, somewhat more than what my wife felt was desirable. It was around then that a frail, 83 year old lady came to see me for abdominal pain, jaundice and fever. She was as apprehensive of me as a doctor as I was of her old age. The duct through which bile flowed from her liver to the intestines was blocked and converted into a bag of pus with stones. It was not without trepidation that I offered to pass a rather thick endoscope down her throat to the intestines, pass an electric wire into the lower portion of her bile duct and cut out and clear the passage through ERCP. I did not mince words in explaining to her sons the considerable danger that the procedure carried in her vulnerable condition. The patient on her part agreed to take the chance. With two of my juniors keeping strict vigil on her pulse and respiration, two nurses a

The recent death of the young 17 year old Ayazzudin, the son of our ex-cricket skipper Mohd Azharuddin, and his cousin Ajmal, in Hydeabad in a 2-wheeelr accident once again sent that familiar shiver down our spine. These 2 kids were trying to beat their own speed record on their superbike gifted to them by their indulgent well-off parents. These precious lives having been lost, and condolences paid, it is time we faced where we are heading.   Deaths due to road traffic accidents (RTA) in India registered a sharp 6.1% rise between 2006 and 2007. However, road safety experts say the real numbers could be higher since many of these accident cases are not even reported. "There is no estimate of how many injured in road accidents die a few hours or days after the accident," points out Rohit Baluja, member of the UN Road Safety Collaboration and Commission of Global Road Safety representing Asia. RTA is all set to be the 5 th largest killer in society very soon. We Indians are ve

If you are the one of the “mujhe gussa ata hai” types, watch out! Your proneness to anger might be putting your life to risk. Recent studies show that angry people have a five times greater chance of dying before age 50 than their cool headed counterparts. Anger elevates blood pressure, increases threat of stroke, heart disease, cancer, depression and anxiety disorders. To make matters worse, angry people tend to seek relief from the ill-moods through other health-endangering habits, such as smoking and drinking, or through compulsive behaviour such as workaholism. What seems to be more harmful is the persistent simmering form of anger than the quick short-lasting bursts. The normal experience of overt anger lasts only a few minutes, but the prolonged forms, such as resentment, impatience, irritability and grouchiness can go on for hours and days at a time. They stimulate secretion of stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, which wreck havoc to health. Anger depresses the imm

Do you remember what you dreamt last night? Even if you can’t and are under the impression that your sleep was dreamless, you would have actually dreamt more than 2 hours or 25% of the time that you slept. Dreams   are successions of images, ideas, emotions   and  sensations occurring involuntarily in the  mind  during certain stages of  sleep. Good or bad, dreams always take us to some interesting places.  They can range from normal and ordinary to the surreal   and bizarre. Dreams can at times spring a  creative  thought or give a sense of inspiration. Dream imagery is usually absurd and unrealistic and they are generally outside the control of the dreamer. They can vary from frightening, exciting, magical, and melancholic   to adventurous. Dreaming is as old as human history; it finds mention in ancient Mesopotamian, Chinese, Assyrian, Greek and Indian texts. Credit for the first serious attempt to study and understand dreams, called Oneirology, go to the European scientist-philos