Three Health Mysteries That May Be Treatable

Health issues can be mysterious—certain symptoms may occur with no explanation and a condition may seem alarming but turn out to be harmless. The good news is that even if doctors don’t know what causes a particular ailment they may still be able to treat it effectively.

Vertigo

Rotational dizziness, where the room seems to spin, is called vertigo. Temporary bouts can be caused by a variety of things including fluid or inflammation in the inner ear and are often annoying but harmless. Chronic vertigo may pose a larger impediment to daily life such as frequent nausea, headaches or falls. Your physician may not be able to pinpoint the cause but the dizziness itself should still be corrected. If other treatments fail, ask your doctor can a chiropractor help with vertigo?

Motion Sickness

Another condition that stems from inner ear issues, motion sicknessaffects a third of the population. Women and children seem most susceptible, though doctors do not know why. As the name indicates, motion sickness is a response to movement, most often rapid or jerky action as in a plane, ship or automobile ride. Symptoms include nausea, dizziness, increased heart rate and headache. Most people afflicted use preventive measures—they avoid reading in a moving car, for example—and treatments like ginger, acupressure wristbands, or certain antihistamines. Severe cases can be treated with prescription medications.

Benign Tumors

The word tumoris often associated with cancer, but many tumors turn out to be harmless growths made up of abnormal cells. Their root cause is a mystery and these masses have no useful function. They can be found just about anywhere on the body; technically, even some types of moles are tumors. If a tumor proves benign, or non-cancerous, you may not need to take action beyond regular monitoring. However, tumors can be removed if they become painful, trigger unwanted symptoms (such as uterine fibroids causing heavy vaginal bleeding) or cause embarrassment due to their appearance. In such cases surgery is performed to excise the tumor, leaving behind only healthy, normal tissue.

No Brainer Tips for Overall Good Health

All this time you have been trying to add years to your life, but have you ever paused and thought of actually adding life to these years? Have you ever thought of finding that one thing which can bring happiness to your life? No, it’s not money, but that one thing that money follows- good health. And it’s not just about physical health, but also mental and emotional health which are also equally important, if not more. Follow these tips to live a healthy life.

Stay Active

exercise

Try Your Best To Have Some Exercise!

One of the main reasons why people remain frustrated, angry and upset is prolonged periods of inactivity. People who are active feel more energetic and better mood. Quite obviously, it also contributes to your physical health. You can do some cardio and strength training regularly to get a good physical and mental health. Further, consider meditating for at least 5 minutes a day to enhance your emotional and mental health.

Maintain your bodyweight and fats for good health

An individual with extra body fats has significantly higher chances of facing diabetes, hypertension and even heart attacks. Extra body weight, whether in the form of fats or muscles, is unhealthy. Checking your BMI is a good way to maintain a healthy level of body weight.

Get a balanced diet

This simply means getting a mix from a wide variety of foods, and in a balanced proportion so that your body gets all the nutrients it needs. Also, it is very well established that you need to drink sufficient amount of water for a good health, no matter what. Try not to avoid any food group completely and make sure to have good amount of liquids throughout the day.

Be Hygienic

This is a given. Probably, you heard that germs from dirty environment makes our immune system stronger. But too much of these germs can really get you sick. Take a bath whenever necessary. Also, don’t forget about your dental hygiene. Brush, floss and gargle everyday to maintain your teeth’s tip top shape.

Apart from that, adequate sleep is a must. Finally, while there is no way to get healthy overnight, you cannot afford to avoid any of these tips if your goal is to live a healthy life.

Foods To Eat After Wisdom Teeth Extraction

Wisdom teeth are the third molars in your mouth and there are many reasons why one or more may be extracted. Whether it is due to cavities or some traumatic event, wisdom teeth extraction is a minor procedure that will not require a long hospital stay. After the procedure, however, you will be required to be careful with what you eat.

The molars and premolars perform the functions of chewing and grinding. Losing one or more will have an impact on how effectively you can chew. Also, the gum tissue where the wisdom tooth is removed will be left inflamed and in pain. This side should not be used to chew and the food eaten should be easy to chew.

Foods to eat

To avoid worsening the pain, start by eating liquid foods. The options you have include:

  • Soups and broths
  • Smoothies
  • Yogurt
  • Apple sauce
  • Ice cream
  • Pudding
  • Mashed potatoes
  • Scrambled eggs

These foods are highly nutritious and soft enough to be swallowed without the need to chew too hard. Was that ice cream on the list? Yes it is! You can actually treat yourself to a bowl of ice cream after wisdom tooth/teeth extraction. It is rich in protein and the cold temperatures will help numb the pain. However, avoid having too much ice cream as this may cost you your other teeth.

How long should you stick to this diet? This depends on how fast your healing process is. While some people can chew well within 4days, for others it will take more than a week. Do not eat hard foods until you are ready and the process is painless. A good way to adjust back to normal eating is to move from liquid foods to soft ones and eventually tough ones.

Stay hydrated

Do not think that eating liquid foods provides your body with enough hydration. You still need to take in water and lot of it at that. Ensure you have a minimum of 8 glasses per day. Also, increase your intake of juices and energy drinks. These will help hasten the tissue healing process.

Foods to avoid

Other than the foods to eat after wisdom teeth extraction, you should also take note of the foods not to eat. Spicy foods should be avoided as they tend to irritate the gums and so do citrus fruits. Alcohol and tobacco should also be avoided as it may affect the tooth extraction site and lead to adverse effects by the drugs given by your dentist after the extraction. Foods that may be trapped in the extraction site should also be avoided. These include grains like rice, popcorn, nuts, chips and so on. These will delay healing process. To know more on about wisdom teeth treatment you should ask our dentist more about it.

The Patient’s Guide to Simple Congenital Heart Defects

What is Congenital Heart Defect (CHD)

This is an abnormality in the function or structure of the heart. This includes things that affect the walls of the blood vessels, organ, that carries the blood to and from it, and the valves which regulate blood flow. Some CHDs are minor and cause no noticeable symptoms. Others so severe that they can place the patient’s life at risk.

Symptoms vary according to the type of defect suffered, as well as its severity. In this article, we’ll explore a few of the most common simple CHDs, including septal defects and valve problems.

Atrial Septal Defect

Artial Septal Defect

Visual Representation of ASD

Inside the heart, the left ventricle and atrium are separated from the ventricle and right atrium by a wall. This wall is known as the septum. It blocks the deoxygenated blood which on the right side from mixing with the newly-oxygenated blood on the left side. Many kids are born with a hole in this wall. If the hole is in between the atria and is known as atrial septal defect (ASD).

When an ASD is small, symptoms may be barely noticeable. Even though blood between the right and left sides is allowed to mix, the amount that does so is negligible, and thus does not pose a significant problem. When the defect is bigger, symptoms are more pronounced. A larger volume of oxygenated blood in the left atrium flows back in the right atrium rather than being pumped out of the heart to the rest of the body. Treatment is often necessary.

Ventricular Septal Defect

A ventricular septal defect (VSD) is the same to an ASD. The only difference is that the hole is in between the two ventricles. The effect is normally the same. Oxygen-rich blood that would otherwise be pumped into the aorta can flow back to right ventricle.

A small VSD is unlikely to have severe consequences. A larger hole, however, can cause fatigue, difficulty taking deep breaths, and in extreme cases, cyanosis due to a marked lack of oxygen in the blood cells. Occasionally, a large ventricular septal defect can cause pulmonary hypertension, a condition where high blood pressure causes the heart to work harder. Unless the septal hole is corrected, the patient may eventually experience heart failure.

Valve Abnormalities

The heart is equipped with valves that manage blood flow between the chambers and the arteries attached to them. The right ventricle and atrium are separated by the tricuspid valve; the left atrium and ventricle are separated by the mitral valve; blood flows from the right ventricle to the pulmonary arteries through the pulmonary valve, and blood moves from the left ventricle to the aorta through the aortic valve.

These valves can be diseased in a few ways. First, they might fail to close completely, allowing blood to flow backward. Second, they may be stiff, and thus fail to open properly. When this happens, the chambers are unable to empty. Third, a valve might be unable to open at all.

Signs of a valve defect vary based on which valve is affected. For example, a regurgitant – or, “leaking” – mitral valve will prevent oxygen-rich blood from being circulated to the body. This leads to fatigue and related issues. A stenotic – or, stiff – pulmonary valve can increase blood pressure in the right ventricle, leading to possible heart failure.

There are a lot of congenital diseases known to man, but some of them can be corrected. Congenital tooth problem can be corrected easily.

Chromosomal Abnormalities and PGD

Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is a method aimed at eliminating embryos created by in vitro fertilization (IVF) that have abnormal chromosomes or carry a serious genetic disease before pregnancy begins. Genetic diagnosis of preimplantation (PGD) refers specifically to when one or even both of the genetic parents have a known genetic abnormality, and testing is conducted at an early level to determine if it does not carry a genetic anomaly. These structural or numerical defects in embryos are more common in elderly pregnant women, especially those older than 35 years. This situation can lead to infertility, as it reduces the likelihood of implantation, and also causes unwanted miscarriages. In fact, 40 out of 100 pregnancies in women aged 39 and older will lead to problems associated with structural or numerical chromosomal defects. In contrast, genetic preimplantation screening (PGS) refers to methods in which embryos from suspected chromosomal-genetic parents are screened for aneuploidy.

Since only implanted embryos are transferred to the uterus for implantation, genetic testing of preimplantation is an alternative to diagnostic procedures for new diagnosis, which is often accompanied by a complex decision to terminate the pregnancy if the results are unfavorable. PGD ​​and PGS are currently the only possible options to avoid the high risk of contracting a child with a genetic disease before implantation. This is an attractive remedy to prevent hereditary genetic disease, thereby eliminating the dilemma of ending pregnancy after an unfavorable prenatal diagnosis.

Indications for Preimplantation Genetic Screening

Most of the early loss of the pregnancy can be attributed to aneuploidy. Since only chromosomally normal embryos are transferred to the uterus, the risk of losing the first and second trimester is markedly reduced. There is currently no specific list of indications for genetic screening for preimplantation (PGS).

Thousands of clinical cycles of genetic diagnosis of preimplantation were performed around the world, resulting in the birth of hundreds of healthy children.

The advantages or benefits of PGD are listed below:

  • The procedure is performed before implantation, thus reducing the need for amniocentesis later during pregnancy.
  • The procedure is performed before implantation, which allows couples to decide if they want to continue the pregnancy.
  • This procedure allows couples to pursue biological children who might not have done it otherwise.
  • This procedure can help reduce costs, usually associated with congenital disabilities.

Also, hundreds of babies were born after PGD / PGS around the world. To date, there are no reports of an increase in the frequency of fetal development or other identifiable problems.

The main reason for choosing this PGD procedure is that the risk of miscarriage during normal pregnancy decreases from 23 to 9 percent, the probability that an embryo attached to the uterus almost doubles, the chances of a clinical pregnancy and returning home with an increase in the baby and the frequency of the multiple pregnancy decreases.

How is the PGD Procedure Performed?

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is a screening test used to determine the presence of genetic or chromosomal disorders in embryos obtained by in vitro fertilization (IVF). The following are steps related to the implementation of the PGD procedure.

1. The patient’s suitability for PGD is evaluated by a doctor who specializes in the related disease.
2. The couple is then prepared for the IVF procedure.
3. The egg taken from the mother is impregnated with the father’s sperm in the laboratory environment.
4. Embryologists extract one or two blastomere cells from the removed embryos by biopsy.
5. Cells extracted with biopsy are subjected to a special staining technique (FISH), which allows you to examine the chromosomes under a microscope after the fixation process.
6. Embryos with structural or quantitative chromosomal defects are selected and removed. Then, healthy embryos are transferred to the mother’s uterus.

Although PGS was included in the treatment of patients undergoing IVF treatment, its indications, usefulness, and results remain an active area of ​​research in the field of reproductive medicine. As preimplantation is optimized for medical disorders at the early level, its place in medicine and society will continue to cause controversy and ethical debate.

Despite all its advantages, the cases in which this method will be used should be carefully selected. It should be remembered that the PGD procedure requires that the cell is removed from the embryo by biopsy. Thus, there is a chance to harm the embryo, and this procedure has a 10 percent error. Thus, it is believed that it causes more harm than good when it is performed unnecessarily.