SHALOMJERUSALEM

THINGS WOMEN SHOULD EXPECT AFTER CHILDBIRTH

2010-06-14T02:22:00.001+01:00

. For many women, the process of pregnancy ends after the child is delivered. That is quite understandable after a hectic nine months and all the associated discomforts. However, according to medical experts, it does not stop there. Just as there was pre-natal care for a pregnant woman, a nursing mother should also have access to post-natal care information. This will ensure that things do not go wrong even after delivery. The post-natal care a woman needs can also depend on the kind of delivery she has gone through (either normal or assisted delivery). An assisted delivery could mean delivery with forceps or through a caesarean section.

For a normal delivery, it can come with a tear, or it can come with a cut. If you have a tear, it can heal by itself. And if it is large enough, it can be sutured. However, whether episiotomy or tear, you may be advised to do sitz bath- a type of birth in which only the hips and buttocks are soaked in water or saline solution, in order for it to heal properly. But for caesarean section, the woman of course has to stay in the hospital, as all major surgical procedures require.
Another area where the woman needs to take care of very well is the nipple. Especially if the woman is breastfeeding, she must take very good care of her nipples. A woman who is breastfeeding must be told that she must always put her baby on both breasts if not it will become engorged and may even become abscess, which can be very painful. She may be advised to put Vaseline on the nipple to avoid having cracked nipples. But that will also mean she will have to clean her breast before breastfeeding, else she will be feeding her child Vaseline.
Most women are concerned about the size of their tummies after childbirth, so there is always that need to let them know what they can do to get their tummies back to the pre-pregnancy size. However he dismisses the various practices women carry out as mere myth. Such practices include the drinking of brandy, which many claim clears the woman’s womb of left-over blood, massaging of the tummy with hot water and tying it with wrapper. The hot water massage does not have any effect on whether the woman’s body will return to its normal size or not. And the belief that if you drink brandy, it will get out all the blood in the womb is all a lie. It does not get out anything and the wrapper does not do anything. Any woman who is concerned about the size of her tummy should start doing abdominal exercise, as this will help greatly. And for a woman who had caesarean section can start after six weeks, but women should know that individual bodies are different. This is, the fact that your neighbor regained her flat tummy shortly after childbirth does not mean your own will follow the same pattern. Some women have weak abdominal wall muscles so they can’t have flat tummy like those who have strong abdominal muscle. However, exercises generally help because the help strengthen the muscles.
Emphasis is laid on the need for the woman to go back to the hospital after six weeks, as this is not a mere formality; because that it is expected that the woman’s system should have gotten back to normal. Some of the ailments that were pregnancy induced would have gone, and if not the woman would be thoroughly investigated. For instance if a woman is pregnant and has high blood pressure and six weeks after delivery, it’s still there, you don’t assume that the pregnancy was sorely responsible for it.
Another thing which gynecologists usually check is the lochia that is the normal uterine discharge of blood, tissue, and mucus from the vagina after childbirth. This is to ensure that it has stopped, and if it has not stopped then the doctor will Endeavour to control the situation, as it is not good enough to linger for so long. Then there is also the issue of the menstrual flow. A lot of women would not see their menstrual period for as long as they breastfeed while there are some who will start their menstrual period one month after childbirth. However whether they do see it or not, the onus falls on the doctor to advise them on effective family planning. Does that mean a breastfeeding woman who has not seen her period can still get pregnant? The answer is yes.
What about women who claim that they use breastfeeding as a form of family planning? In family planning, we have what is known as lactational amenorrhea method which is based on breastfeeding. It is documented, but no method is 100 percent fail-safe, so a woman should not say because she is breastfeeding, therefore she can’t get pregnant.
But how soon can a woman resume sexual intercourse after delivery? As soon as she feels like. Even if a woman goes through a caesarean section? Oh yes! If a woman wants to have sexual intercourse on the night of her caesarean section, why not? That is if she can handle it. There are no medical implications. Generally any woman who goes through childbirth should always maintain good hygiene, eat balanced meals and get enough rest.

HANDLING MEASLES IN CHILDREN

2010-06-11T01:53:00.000+01:00

The measles rash typically has a red or reddish brown blotchy appearance, and first usually shows up on the forehead, then spreads downward over the face, neck, and body, down to the feet.
Measles is highly contagious. When someone with measles sneezes or coughs, he or she can spread virus droplets through the air and infect others. Most of the times, the cases occur in settings where there are lots of kids, some of whom haven’t gotten vaccinated or whose immunity has diminished since they got the vaccine.
The most important thing you can do to protect a kid from measles is to get him or her vaccinated according to the schedule prescribed by your doctor.
Prevention
Infants are generally protected from measles for 6-8 months after birth due to the immunity passed on from their mothers. Older kids are usually immunized against measles according to state and school health regulations.
For most kids, the measles vaccine is part of the measles-mumps-rubella immunizations (MMR) given at 12-15 months of age and again at 4-6 years of age. Measles vaccine is not usually given to infants younger than 12 months old. But if there’s a measles outbreak, the vaccines may be given when the child is nine months old, followed by the usual MMR immunization at 12-15 months.
As in the case with all immunization schedules, there are important exceptions and special circumstances. Your child’s doctor should have the most current information regarding recommendations about the measles immunization. Measles vaccine should not be given to pregnant women, or to kids with active tuberculosis, leukemia, lymphoma, or people whose immune systems are suppressed for some reasons. Also, the vaccine should not be given to kids who have a history of severe allergic reaction to gelatin or to the antibiotic neomycin, as they are risk for serious reactions to the vaccine. These kids can be protected from measles infection with an injection of antibodies called gamma globulin if it’s given within 6 days of exposure- these antibodies can either prevent measles or make symptoms more severe.
Measles vaccines occasionally cause side effects in kids who don’t have any underlying health problems. In about 10% of cases the measles vaccine causes a fever between 5 and 12 days after vaccination, and in about 5% of cases the vaccine causes a rash, which isn’t contagious and usually fades on its own.
Treatment
The symptoms of measles usually last for about 2 weeks. It is highly contagious, and 90% of people who have not been vaccinated for measles will get it if they live in the same household as an infected person.
A child who is diagnosed with measles should be closely monitored for fever and other symptoms to detect any complications. In some cases, measles can lead to other health problems, such as croup, and infections like bronchitis, bronchiolitis, pneumonia, conjunctivitis (pinkeye), myocarditis, and encephalitis. Measles also can make the body more susceptible to ear infections or other health problems caused by bacteria.
If fever is making your child more uncomfortable, you may want to give a non-aspirin fever medication such as acetaminophen. Remember you should never give aspirin to a child who has viral illness since the use of aspirin in such cases has been associated with the development of Reye syndrome. As with any viral infection, encourage your child to drink clear fluids: water, fruit juice, tea, and lemonade. These will help replace bodily fluids your child loses in the heat and sweating of fever episodes. Use a cool-mist vaporizer to relieve cough and to soothe breathing passages. Clean the vaporizer each day to prevent mold from growing. Avoid hot-water or steam vaporizers that can cause accidental burns and scalds in children.
Kids with measles should get extra rest to help them recover. It’s usually safe for a child to return to school 7 to 10 days after the fever and rash go away. But to be sure, check with your child’s doctor.
When to Call the Doctor
Call the doctor immediately if you suspect that your child has measles. Also, it’s important to get medical care if your child:
• Is an infant and has been exposed to measles
• Is taking medicines that depress the immune system
• Has tuberculosis, cancer, or a disease that affects the immune system.
• Keep track of your child’s temperature. Let the doctor know if your child has an earache, since this may be a sign of an infection. Remember that measles is very rare; a child who is properly vaccinated is extremely unlikely to contract the disease.

DEADLY SKIN CANCER

2010-04-28T23:44:00.001+01:00

EXPERTS DISAGREE OVER DEADLY SKIN CANCER

The nation is in grip of what looks like a terrifying melanoma epidemic: Melanoma is being diagnosed at more than double the rate it was in 1986, increasing faster than any other major cancer.

But why the numbers are increasing is a contentious subject, so touchy that one dermatologist called it “the third trail of dermatology”.

Many dermatologists argue that melanoma, the most deadly skin cancer, is in fact becoming more common, and they recommend regular skin cancer screening as the best way to save lives. But some specialists say that what the numbers represent is not an epidemic of skin cancer but an epidemic skin cancer screening, and a new study lends support to this view.

In the study, in the current issue of the British Medical Journal, Dr. H. Gilbert Welch of the department of veterans’ affair in white river junction, Vt., and Dartmouth Medical School and his colleagues analyzed melanomas changing incidence and death rate. They used Medicare data to track the swift rise in melanoma cases since 1986 and data compiled by the National Cancer Institute to track the death rate and the number of people with early and late-stage disease.

They found that since 1986, skin biopsies have risen by 250 percent-nearly the same as the rise in the incidence of early stage melanoma. But there was no change, they found.

Welch and two colleagues, Dr. Steven Woloshin and Dr. Lisa M. Schwartz, argue that if there were really an epidemic of melanoma-for example, if something in the environment was causing more to get the skin cancer-scientists should see increases in cancers at all stages. This is what happened with lungs cancer caused by smoking, and with other cancers caused by toxic substances.

The fact that the increase was seen only in very early stage disease was a tip -off that the epidemic might be less than it seemed, Welch said. And that, he says, leads to a difficult question. The point of screening melanoma is to reduce the death toll from cancer. But if screening has not altered the number of patients with advanced disease of patients or lowered death rate, what is its benefit?

”That’s the million dollar question,” Welch said. “It certainly rises question about whatever we’re doing any good.” The researchers hastened to add that people who notice suspicious moles or spots should not hesitate to see the doctor. But they said skin cancer screening id directed at healthy people who have no reason to suspect that anything is wrong.

The federal preventive services task force, which makes screening recommendation, has said that there was insufficient evidence to recommend either for or against skin screening, but the American Academy of Dermatology.

Speaking for the dermatology academy, one of its past presidents, Dr. Darrell Rigel, a dermatologist in New York, and said it made sense to look for melanomas and remove them before they spread. “And there’s another thing we know with melanoma that’s very clear the earlier, the better the survival.’’

Rigel questioned Welch’s conclusion that the increase in biopsies was leading to excessive diagnosis of melanoma. ”I would say the inverse is more likely,” he said. “There are more melanomas and therefore more biopsies.”

At the American Cancer Society, Dr Len Lichtenfeld, an oncologist, said his group reviewed the same data is Welch and came to a different conclusion. Screening he said, appears to be saving lives.

As evidence he pointed to a trend in the data indicating that the death rate from the disease rose slightly year by year until about a decade ago. That is consistent with an increase in serious cases of uld be expected if screening was working.

Welch disagree, he said the death rate has been basically flat since 1986, although it bounces around slightly from year to year as a result of statistical fluctuations.

“We don’t disagree about the data,” Welch said. “We disagree about the interpretation. We are not arguing that there is zero change in disease burden. We are arguing that most of the newly diagnosed cases are the result of increased screening.”

Others who study cancer screening that Welch’s arguments were convincing add that he raised sues about the national melanoma epidemic that could not easily be dismissed.

Dr. Barnett Kramer, associate director of the office of disease prevention at the National Institute of Health, said the ideal way to know if a screening program works is to do a randomized clinical trial, assigning some people to screening and not others, then seeing if the screening saved lives.

Absent such a study, he said, he finds Welch’s paper convincing. “It does not look like our melanoma awareness campaigns have made an impact on mortality or on late-stage disease,” Kramer said.

That also is the view of Dr. A. Bernard Ackerman, emeritus director of the Ackerman Academy of Dermatopathology in New York. Dermatologists have gone too far he said, with screening clinics, removing innocuous moles and diagnosing melanoma freely. “There has been a mania for taking off these moles that are of no consequence,” Ackerman said.

WHAT MEN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PROSTATE CANCER AND CANCER CURE

2010-04-19T03:43:00.000+01:00

WHAT MEN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PROSTATE CANCER AND CANCER CURE

Normal body cells grow. They are also said to divide and die in an orderly fashion. During the early lives of an individual’s life, normal cells divide more rapidly until the person becomes an adult. After that, cells in most
part of the body divide only to replace worn out ones and also to repair injuries. But because cancer cells continue to grow and divide, they are different from normal cells. There are different kinds of cancer including breast cancer (affecting women), lung cancer (affecting smokers mostly) and for men, the prostate cancer seems to be one of the most common to mention but a few.

WHAT IS PROSTATE

Experts say the prostate which is found only in men, is a walnut-sized gland, located in front of the rectum and underneath the urinary bladder. It is said to contain gland cells that make some of the fluid that protects and nourishes sperm cells in semen. Just behind the prostate gland are the seminal vesicles that make most of the fluid for semen. The urethra, which is the tube that carries urine and semen out of the body through the penis, runs through the prostate.

Male hormones cause the prostate gland to develop in the fetus. Male hormones are also called androgens. The most common androgen is testosterone. The prostate continues to grow until a man reaches adulthood and then stays about the same size as long as male hormones are produced. In older men, the part of the prostate around the urethra may continue to grow, a condition called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). This can cause urinating problems because the urethra (tube that carries the urine) is squeezed by this growth.

While some prostate cancers grow slowly and spread quickly, most prostate cancers grow slowly. But that does not mean it should be treated with levity. According to medical experts, every cancer (including prostate) is capable of causing death. It spreads to other organs apart from its primary location, so, it is capable of killing if not detected early enough.

Some doctors believe that prostate cancer begins with a condition called Prostatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia. PIN begins to appear in some men in their twenties. Almost all men have PIN by the time they reach 50. In this condition, there are changes in the microscopic appearance (size, shape, etc.) of prostate gland cells. These changes are classified as either low-grade, meaning they appear almost normal, or high-grade, meaning that they look abnormal. Cancer develops when cells in a part of the body begin to grow out of control. Although there are many kinds of cancer, they all start because of out-of -control growth of abnormal cells.

Medical experts say they do not yet completely understand the causes of prostate cancer. But some researchers have come up with what they consider as factors that increase the risk of getting it. These include:

Age factor

Generally, the chance of having prostate cancer rises rapidly after age 50. About two thirds of all prostate cancers are found in men above 65 years of age.

Genetic factor

Prostate cancer seems to run in some families, which invariably indicates an inherited or genetic factor. Having a father or brother with prostate cancer more than doubles a man’s risk of developing this disease. The risk is much higher for men with several affected relatives, particularly if their relatives were young at the time the cancer was found. As a matter of fact, research has proven that there are some families where every male has been known to have prostate cancer, though there are factors that are minor because most of the time, it is genetic.

Prostate cancer can be often found early by testing the amount of prostate-specific antigen in your blood. Prostate cancer may also be found when your doctor does a Digital Rectal Examination, in which the doctor inserts a gloved finger into the rectum. This is possible because the prostate gland lies just in front of the rectum where the doctor can feel whether there are many bumps or hard areas in the prostate. And if there are, that means the individual will need further testing to see if there is a cancer. A biopsy is usually done for confirmation. If you have routine yearly exams and either one of these test results becomes abnormal, then any cancer you might have has likely been found at an early, more treatable stage.

However, experts say if the prostate cancer is advanced, you might have blood in your urine (hematuria) or trouble getting an erection (impotence). Advanced prostate cancer commonly spreads to the bones which can cause pain in the hips, spines, ribs or other areas. Cancer that spread to the spine can also cause it to press on the spinal nerves which can result in weakness or numbness in the legs or feet or even loss of bladder or bowel control.

Prevention of prostate cancer

Though people believe that lifestyle and diet can actually help, medical experts say that since prostate cancer has more to do with one’s genes than any other factor, the best bet for every male adult is to always have medical check-up to facilitate early detection. It is always advisable for every male above 45 years to always see a doctor and do the Prostate Specific Antigen for early detection. That is very important because you can still treat it when it is still localized. cancer can be cured if u have it already. Need cancer cure info CLICK HERE