Health

Postpartum Blues

Lavanya Tumkur Prasanna
PhD scholar, Dept of Clinical Psyhology, NIMHANS.

Academics qualifications: BA, Msc Psychology (clinical), MPhil in clinical psychology and (PhD)

Psychiatric Illness Post Childbirth

Birth of a child can be a joyous experience to most parents, since at the end of a nine month ordeal, comes out a little breathing wonder giving you the new title “mom and dad”. Like most things in life, post childbirth, a period known as “the postpartum period”, the women’s body begins to heal and rebuild the strength. However child birth could also bring about changes in women’s mental and physical health which in turn may have ripple effects on her interpersonal relationship with her husband, family and friends. The main focus currently is on a number of mental health issues related to childbirth.

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The Antibiotic Apocalypse!

By Ravi Chandra Dasari,
MSc, Molecular Biology
Uppsala University, Sweden

“Antibiotic resistance is one of the major issues affecting modern medicine and its ability to preserve public health against infectious diseases. India is the world’s largest consumer of antibiotics for human health, the next largest consumers are China and the US.”

Antibiotic resistance is one of the major issues affecting modern medicine and its ability to preserve public health against infectious diseases. A growing number of infections such as pneumonia, tuberculosis and gonorrhoea are becoming harder to treat as the antibiotics used to treat them have become less effective. Antibiotic resistance has been plaguing countries across the globe. India is the largest consumer of antibiotics in the world. The lack of proper regulatory mechanisms, lack of proper sanitation, increase in income and cheap over-the-counter distribution of antibiotics has led to the rampant growth of resistant infections. Overuse of antibiotics is a major driving force in the growth of resistance in microbes.

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The Thyroid And Her

Dr Akshatha Manjunath MBBS, MS General Surgery Consultant in General Surgery.

“How often have you heard someone ask a friend who has put on a few too many pounds, “have you got your thyroid checked ?”. Or maybe it was to someone who was finding it difficult to get pregnant . Is thyroid really the culprit in so many of a woman ‘s woes? How common is it to develop thyroid problems ? Do you have to get your thyroid functions tested ?”

How often have you heard someone ask a friend who has put on a few too many pounds, “have you got your thyroid checked?”. Or maybe it was to someone who was finding it difficult to get pregnant. Is thyroid really the culprit in so many of a woman’s woes? How common is it to develop thyroid problems? Do you have to get your thyroid functions tested?

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Be The Light, Keep The Hope Alive.

“There are 1,20,000 people in India who have curable blindness and are hoping to live their dream – to see this beautiful world through their own eyes.”

“Remember Red, hope is a good thing, may be the best of things and no good thing ever dies”

– Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption, 1994.

There are 1,20,000 people in India who have curable blindness and are hoping to live their dream – to see this beautiful world through their own eyes. More than 90 percent of the cornea transplant operations are successfully performed each year, restoring vision and hope to people. This eye donation fortnight, take a pledge to keep the hope alive. Continue reading “Be The Light, Keep The Hope Alive.”

Know BP, Stay Happy!

Author: Dr. Raghavendra L, MBBS MD (LABORATORY MEDICINE, AIIMS)

“Awareness about High Blood Pressure (BP) and its monitoring is the need of the hour. People who control their blood pressure are able to live healthy and fulfilling lives.”

Hypertension is a silent, invisible killer that rarely induces symptoms. In the United States, almost one in three individuals are affected by hypertension, of whom 80% are aware of the condition and only a half of those use medications to control it. What we see as hypertension in the clinics is just a tip of the iceberg, most cases remain largely undiagnosed. The fact that it is a forerunner to more sinister diseases like diabetes and stroke makes it all the more important to be aware of it. Continue reading “Know BP, Stay Happy!”

Early Diabetes Is Reversible! Know It To Cure It.

Author: Dr. Raghavendra L, MBBS MD (LABORATORY MEDICINE, AIIMS)

“However, the desired metabolic changes to reverse diabetes can be brought about only during a certain time period and this window of opportunity should be seized before the change becomes irreversible”

One tenth of the world’s population has diabetes. With the ever increasing cases of obesity, the stage is set for diabetes to assume pandemic proportions. To make it worse, one third of the cases is not diagnosed in early stages. Most individuals harbor elevated blood sugar levels for three to five years before it catches their attention.

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Diabetes Simplified!

“Type 2 diabetes can affect anyone, usually middle aged and elderly men and women. People who are overweight or inactive are also more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.”

This one is for folks who have been hearing about diabetes all along but neither had the energy nor the patience to digest tons of information available out there, to know what it actually means.

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Backache hurts, Knowing About It Doesn’t

Author: Dr. Latika Gupta MBBS, MD, DM (Clinical Immunology), Rheumatologist

“Pain in the lower back can be a harbinger of chronic arthritis of the spine in younger individuals, more so often, in men. This kind of pain is felt in the mornings or wee hours in the night and is associated with stiffness of the spine”

The bark of the “back ache” is always stronger than its bite. The pain makes it much worse than it actually is.

One in every four people has had a back ache at some point of time in his life. Its a professional hazard for dentists, engineers and farmers. Pain in the lower back starts off as a regular occurrence and people generally tend to move on with it by popping pills on and off. So, are these pills capable of eradicating back aches? Do we need to worry at all, or rather when should we start taking our back pain seriously?

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