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| HEALTH TRIBUNE | Wednesday, June 25, 2003, Chandigarh, India |
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Oral rehydration solution — a home remedy Morning dose of insulin drug works best for diabetes HOMOEOPATHY & YOU
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Oral rehydration solution — a home remedy Diarrhoea is the most frequent problem affecting children. It continues to kill millions of children. Most episodes subside with fluid administration and diet changes but 1 to 4% of these are fatal worldwide. Oral rehydration solution is the most wonderful invention of the century. This home remedy can save millions of lives if used early and appropriately in all types of diarrhoea cases. The major causes of infectious diarrhoea in children are human rotaviruses, other viruses, bacteria and protozoa infections, depending upon the age of the child and other epidemiological factors. Undoubtedly, bottle feeding, poor sanitation, contaminated food, unsafe water and bad hygiene are important public health issues responsible for most episodes of gastroenteritis. Viruses are behind most diarrhoea cases. Bacteria cause only 10 to 15% of acute diarrhoea. Shigella and invasive E. coli cause dysentery. Parasitic infections like amoeba and giardia are also important causes. Giardia infestation is common, especially in toddlers and those in day-care centres. There are other organisms also which can cause acute diarrhoea. Many worms infest the gut but they do not cause diarrhoea. Teething also does not cause diarrhoea. There are many non-infective causes of diarrhoea. Fever, vomiting, abdominal pain, blood in stool, red excoriation around anus are some of the common accompanying features, depending upon the cause. Irrespective of the cause, the basis of management in diarrhoea is the replacement of the fluid and electrolyte losses. It is very commonly seen that a lot of unnecessary laboratory tests like stool culture and blood culture are done Antibiotics are prescribed unnecessarily as the cause is virus where antibiotics will do harm to the patient rather than treat diarrhoea. Parents are genuinely worried and because of ignorance they pressurise doctors to somehow immediately put a stop cork to the leaking rectum. It is important for doctors to understand the mechanism of diarrhoea and convince the parents of children how the disease is a self-limiting problem which needs ongoing fluid replacements, why antibiotics are unnecessary and harmful and how fluid replacement by oral rehydration salt is the only medicine required. Many doctors prescribe binding agents and intravenous fluids just to make parents feel that so much is being done. They fail to understand that parents can be explained the basis of oral rehydration by spending more time with them. Since the intestine possesses an effective mechanism to clear unwanted infective organisms in addition to bodies’
defenses, most infections are brief, self-limiting and do not require antibiotics. The objective of treatment should be to preserve the fluid and electrolyte balance, to prevent the deterioration of the nutritional status while the disease runs its course. As soon as you notice diarrhoea, take a WHO oral rehydration salt packet, mix it in plain clean water and give it to the child sip by sip. Do not give it by bottle. It has been scientifically proved that if this is continued even a moderate dehydration patient will not require intravenous treatment. This can even make vomiting stop. Diet should never be stopped due to the fear of diarrhoea with every bite of food. Oral rehydration solution is the wonder treatment for such a serious and common malady. The onus of its popularity is on the medical community, the doctors, nurses, chemists and the paramedical staff. —
The writer is president, Indian Academy of Pediatrics. Phone nos. 0172 562239, 802226
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Morning dose of insulin drug works best for diabetes
WASHINGTON: Supplementing oral diabetes with an insulin drug in the morning, gives it an edge in producing better blood sugar control than taking it at night, a recent study has found. According to a report in Health Scout, a study conducted by German researchers assigned 695 patients having type 2 diabetes with a morning injection of glargine with their oral pill or bedtime glargine with their oral pill. One particular group was injected with it at night. After 24 weeks, the study proved blood sugar control improved in all groups, but it improved the most in those who injected the glargine in the morning. However, researchers have not been able to explain the reasons behind the morning injection working best. Most long-acting insulins have a "peak," or the time during which they work most strongly to lower blood sugar, with blood sugar levels falling dangerously low unless enough food is at hand. But researchers insist that glargine is different because it does not peak, but rather works to lower blood sugar slowly over 24 hours. According to Dr. Daniel Lee, an assistant clinical professor of family medicine at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine in Los Angeles, the morning glargine is a player commonly
prescribed by doctors and believes the study is the first to examine a pre-breakfast injection of glargine. Although he doesn't think "it wasn't a huge improvement'' in the morning glargine group, yet every little bit of control over blood sugar can help. About 17 million people in the United States have diabetes, with nearly 6 million not even aware they have the disease. —
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HOMOEOPATHY & YOU Dr Vikas Sharma Tea mugs, fan regulators, TV cabinets, expensive pens...what looks like a part of a “Sunday sale” are, in fact, victims of Ravi’s emotional outburst. “It’s like an uncontrollable fit, and I usually take to smashing things. These anger fits turn me into a monster. I feel like a big fat angry baby breaking things,” says Ravi. For our second subject, Deepti, suspicion, jealousy and revenge fantasies take a big toll on her psyche. “I often find myself, for no reason, hating somebody I haven’t seen for years. Hating and the thirst for vengeance come unbidden, unwilled, uncontrolled,” she says. Clinically speaking, none of these subjects (Ravi and Deepti — not their real names) suffer from any major psychiatric illness. It’s just that their emotional responses are a bit exaggerated; it’s only a part of them that has these impulses and that they are not representatives of them as total adults. So, our subjects look for a conventional treatment, and after going through hours of psycho-analysis and a bit of advice they are told that such mild conditions cannot be medicated...“mild condition, my foot”, yells Ravi, and there goes the cup on the psycho-analyst’s table. “It saps all my energy living such fantasies. I feel so habituated with them, It makes me feel like an addict. What I need is a cure. A proper medicinal cure,” Deepti whines. And so, with a bit of skepticism, they see a homoeopath referred to by a mutual friend who had cured him of those sickening nightmares that were there with him every night for the last decade. After going through a lot of details, the homoeopath tries to explain the impressions in the subconscious mind and the modern-day thought about neuro- chemicals being actually responsible. Ravi, as abruptly as ever, suddenly breaks out, “doctor, damn your neurolinguistics”. “Tell me how these sweet pills of yours would wash away all those impressions in my subconscious mind?” The homoeopath, not moved by Ravi’s abruptness, calmly explains, “Because homoeopathy does not believe in treating labels of disease, it tries to treat the person at the deepest level, and more so homoeopathic medicines are highly diluted chemicals that are charged to act as messages to stimulate the body’s own restoring devices.” In fact, specific medicines are there to treat different situations. For example, mental conditions that arise after a long history of domination by others have a specific set of medicines. Where no other medical system understands the intricacies of human psyche so well. It’s only with homoeopathy that such disorders can be treated and one need not be altered too much beyond a normal state to look for a treatment. “As for you, Ravi, I’ll put you on Staphygaria...er stapheesgaria!” the homoeopath tells him. “What the hell is that?” exclaimed Ravi. “It’s a homoeopathic medicine used for situations similar to that of yours where impressions of past displeasure are responsible for violent behaviours,” explained the homoeopath. Deepti, looking more convinced, says, “Doctor, tell us more about it.” “Well...,” said the doctor, ...“it is very often that some of us live such heightened emotions without knowing their origins. Little do they realise that these impulses of revenge and violence were formed at an age much earlier in response to a set of difficult circumstances with which, given the limited skills as young ones, they could not deal otherwise. It’s a part that was meant to generate a healthy emotion, and until they restructure it will keep on going the same way.” Realisation is the first step, but not the only one. It is only with homoeopathy that such disorders that cannot be classified due to the wide spectrum and mild nature be easily rectified. The fact that homoeopathic treatment can help those with such exaggerated emotional responses and also that one need not be altered too much beyond the normal state for treatment is one of the biggest contributions homoeopathy can make to the modern medical world. More so, its ability to wash the unwanted impressions in the subconscious mind makes it one of the most advanced intervention systems in medical science. —
The writer is a Chandigarh-based homoeopath and can be contacted |
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INFO
CAPSULE WASHINGTON: Simply taking androgen supplements, the male hormone testosterone, to increase muscular strength alone is not responsible for packing more might into the muscles, recent studies by University of Southern California researchers have revealed. According to E. Todd Schroeder, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, androgen treatment increases lean body mass and a proportional rise in strength, with the amount of muscle added. —
ANI Brain fluid’s role LONDON:
A Swedish team has found that the levels of two chemicals in the spinal fluid hold clues to the presence of psychopathic personality traits, bringing scientists closer to understanding the root cause of these problems. The chemicals involved, known in short as HVA and 5-HIAA, are by-products of the breakdown of two key brain chemicals, which sendmessages around the organ. The levels of these brain chemicals, dopamine and serotonin, have already been linked to mood and personality traits, according to a report in BBC. —
ANI New treatment for rectal cancer LONDON:
A Spanish team has developed a new treatment that shows promise for patients with advanced rectal cancer. The results of a trial by Prof Andres Cervantes' team demonstrated how to prevent a recurrence of the cancer. Rectal cancer is very difficult to treat because of the high risk of relapse. Since new growths are likely to occur in the same area, the key to successful treatment lies in controlling the cancer locally. —
ANI Time for bed? Ask your genes LONDON: Make the most of your day byunderstanding your body clock's genetic basis. Whether you are a morning or an evening person could depend on a single gene, says an extreme sleeping habits study. Simon Archer of the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK, and his team surveyed the sleeping habits of hundreds of the British public with a quiz called the Horne-Vstberg questionnaire. It features questions such as: "What time would you get up if you were entirely free to plan your day?" They then analysed cheek cells from participants with the strongest tendency towards a morning or evening lifestyle.—
ANI AIDS origins unravelled LONDON: The origins of HIV may have been unravelled according to a new study.
A team led by Paul Sharp of the University of Nottingham, UK, reckons that chimps probably acquired the virus, called simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), by eating other monkeys in West Central Africa. The predominant strain of the virus causing AIDS, called HIV-1, is thought to have jumped into humans from African chimpanzees, maybe through people eating infected bushmeat. —
ANI Growth hormone good for obese WASHINGTON:
Researchers at St. Louis University have found that a controlled dose of growth hormone may help obese people lose weight and maintain the energy to exercise. The findings are significant because obesity is a major health risk and associated with complications of liver, lung and heart disease and an increased risk of developing diabetes mellitus. —
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