1. F.
D’Souza, Karkala
*My son
is 12 years old. When he urinates or passes stools the smell
is terrible. Kindly advise me. Does it affect the health in
any way?
** Many people have bad smelling
excreta and it can be quite normal. Rarely this may be due to
some unusual chemicals produced in the body during the normal
process of metabolism. Little can be done for altering this.
However, change in the diet and at times drinking good amount
of water may reduce the bad odour. If there are no other
associated health problems, bad odour itself may not affect
the health. You may consult a physician and if he advises get
both urine and stools analyzed in a laboratory.
2. H.
Ilyas, Kuwait
* I am
27 years old lady; I am having the problem of falling hair
from the front of the head, I had used different kinds of oils
but no use, I am still loosing hairs from the scalp.
**The problem you are having is
seen more commonly in men and occasionally in women and is
termed as ‘androgenetic alopecia’. This is not a disease, and
is one of the physiological events. Here the terminal hairs
(near the forehead) are replaced by progressively finer hairs,
which are short. This process may begin at any age after
puberty. And it normally becomes apparent at an early age
(around 17 years) in males and little later (by 25 to 30
years) in females. There may not be any hormonal defects and
all other systems may be normal. This changing process is very
slow but accelerates during and after menopause.
Though this problem is without
any disease, similar symptoms may be seen or may get
aggravated in other conditions like thyroid diseases,
iron/protein deficiency, and polycystic disease of the
ovaries. You may consult a physician to rule out these
associated conditions. Except to that I do not think you can
get any remedy to this.
3.
Flavia, Dubai
*I am a
female of 31 years old married with 2 kids. I am 5'7" and I
my weight is about 88 Kgs. My problem is that I have hard
motions and sometimes painful and I get cuts on the anal
region. Can you please suggest cure for this?
* In the previous edition I had
answered a question regarding the same problem. Having good
amounts of vegetables in the diet and drinking sufficient
amount of water helps in solving the problem of constipation.
If there are fissures in the anal region due to constipation
you may consult a doctor and get anaesthetic ointments for
local application. The fissures in the anal region aggravate
the problem of constipation and constipation does not allow
the fissures to heal. Anaesthetic ointments applied properly
may help in masking the pain and avoid secondary constipation.
Some times bowel softening agents may have to be taken for a
limited period. Constipation is best solved by proper food
habits.
4.
Vinod, Mangalore
* I am
36 and have been married for 3years. Having one kid, my
problem is that I cannot have sex with my wife for more than
one minute. I am mentally disturbed now, is there any
medicines are available for this? Kindly give me advice
** I presume you have this
problem from the beginning of your marriage and not of recent
origin. The problem of inability to have physical union for a
‘sufficient satisfactory duration’ is termed premature
ejaculation. But the ‘duration’, which a particular individual
refer may be within normal limits. What one refers the
‘duration’ to the entire act of lovemaking or only to the
duration of climax after real physical union also matters.
Lack of perfection in the art of lovemaking may the real
problem and not the duration. Proper foreplay with a partner
who is co-operative in lovemaking is the most essential aspect
in marital act.
I have dealt in detail about
this problem in my book ‘Married Sex Life’ in Konkani.
Understanding the causes and nature of the problem is most
important. It helps many couple to find solution themselves to
the problem and intervention of the expert is rarely required.
Premature ejaculation is not a physical problem and therefore
specific drugs are not available. If the problem persists,
there are various remedies described (I have explained a few
in my book). Mutual co-operation is the most essential
requirement for this problem.
5. J.
Fernandes, Dubai
* I
have already a son who is 9 years; and after eight years I
conceived. And in the scanning I came to know that it was a
missed abortion. What is the reason for this and can I
conceive again or there are any problems because of abortion.
Occasionally I have neck pain and leg pain, please advice.
** The nature has its own ways
of avoiding the birth of defective babies and natural abortion
is one of them. The embryo, which is the baby in its formation
stage, may be defective due to one or other reason. Some of
them may be a defective egg or sperm, some gross defects in
the brain or heart or in other parts of the baby etc. Such
embryos do not grow and they are sent out. This is natural
abortion, which normally occurs in the early part of the
pregnancy and rarely may be delayed to second trimester. When
the natural abortion is not complete it is termed missed
abortion.
Natural abortion is not rare and
women are able to conceive and give birth to normal babies
after that. You can still conceive and can have normal
pregnancy.
For the pain in leg and neck,
you may consult an orthopaedic surgeon.
6. A.
Rodrigues, Sharjah
*I have
daughter of one and half year old. From birth she used to pass
stools on alternative days without any problems. When we came
from Mangalore to here, she was not all passing the stools and
as per the doctor’s advice we started to use suppository. We
used for continuously 6 months since doctors were not ready to
carry any test. After that, we have done test and from it they
doubted that the passage is narrow. So we went Mangalore and
we contacted several doctors. After that we decided to go to a
pediatric surgeon and he did biopsy and the report came
normal. He gave laxative medicines and she passes stool daily.
But now after 3-4 months little blood exists in the stool. He
told it might take some months to heal it. Can you let us know
what we can do in this case?
** By the description provided
by you, it appears that you have consulted a proper doctor. He
has rightly done the biopsy to rule out a congenital
condition, which is the cause for persistent constipation in
some children. The present problem may be because of the hard
stools that the child passes even after giving bowel softening
agents. By giving her food containing good amount of fiber-
such as vegetables and fruits and giving good amount of
fluids- fruit juices, water etc. after or in between two meals
may help in softening the stools. If the stools are softened,
then it might help bleeding to stop while passing the stools.
You may remain patient for few more months to see if the
problem disappears by itself. If the bleeding increases, then
consult the specialist again.
7. R.
D’Souza, Mangalore
*I am
married, 34 years. About six years ago I had sex with a sex
worker. After that some thick fluid like thing started flowing
from my genitalia; I consulted a doctor who told me that the
girl was not clean and he gave me some medicine with which the
problem solved. After three years I got the problem again, I
went to the same doctor and he gave me the medicine, the flow
of fluid like thing stopped. I am scared now. What is this
sickness?
** I am
surprised that being aware of the dangers of getting infected
by deadly disease like AIDS you went to a sex worker. I hope
you have undergone all the tests that are required to rule out
the communicable diseases like Syphilis, AIDS and others. If
you are lucky from not getting infected by them, then thank
God. If the tests are not done you are required to consult a
good doctor and get the tests immediately.
It looks
that you have some chronic infection of the urinary tract and
it is better for you to consult a nephrologists or a good
physician. He might advise you to get your urine fully
analyzed and suggest proper remedy. Please note if you neglect
it then other part of the renal system might get affected.
There is a danger that your wife get infected or she might
have been already infected and she too can be a source of
recurrent infection. In that case you are required to get her
tested and treated.
8. F.
Cardoza,
*I have
blisters on my genitalia, which look like cauliflower, They do
not itch, I can see a pus like liquid inside, but I cant burst
them easily, I have this since 5 years, no pain can u tell me
what is this and whom should consult?
** Based on your description it
appears that you are having a condition known as ‘genital
wart’. This is one of the diseases transmitted by sexual
activity. I hope you have not visited any sex worker. This
problem, (condyloma accumulate) is caused by a virus (human
papilloma virus). You are required to consult a venerologist
or skin specialist and seek proper treatment.
The growths in the genital
regions need not be always related to sexual activity and
whenever these appear specialists are to be consulted. Some
of these may be simple growths. Many of these problems are
better solved in the initial stage.
9. N.N
*I am
staying in Gulf with my wife. My wife is a house wife. In
these days she is behaving strangely. She was a very clean
person from the beginning. But now for her, everything looks
dirty. She does not like to go out because there is dirt out
side (The place where we stay is a clean city). She washes her
cloths and body several times a day. She was a courageous
lady, but now she gets scared too much. She is depressed. She
is uncertain about cleanliness of her cloths and body.
** The condition in your wife is
a psychiatric disorder and is known as obsessive disorder. She
requires an urgent psychiatric consultation. The condition can
be treated by medication.
10.
Prem, Bangalore
*Is
masturbation in men for 5 times a day good for health?
** Though
it is rare possibility to practice masturbation five times in
a day regularly, masturbation itself has no adverse effects on
the body. In many young people there are lot of wrong notions
and beliefs about it. Many of them think that masturbation is
not good medically and spiritually. Though medically there are
no ill effects, because of the wrong belief, they may take the
habit seriously and try all that they can to stop it. The
feeling of guilt may be so much the habit might turn into a
psychiatric problem and instead of stopping it one might start
practicing it as many times as possible. This is termed as
obsessive masturbation. Even then the habit does not cause any
bad effects on the body or on the sexual growth. It is the
feeling, which creates lot of mental stress and has to be
treated properly, preferably by a psychiatrist.
By educating the young men and
women at an early age and informing them the facts regarding
masturbation lot of problems may be avoided.
If one practices the habit and
gets tensed to masturbate frequently psychiatric help may be
sought. Occasional practicing more than once or twice may be
perfectly ok.
11. T.
AV, Mangalore
* How
long it takes to find out whether a person has AIDS? If the
blood report shows negative whether there are chances of
having AIDS? What are the symptoms of AIDS?
**It
normally takes about three months from the time of last
exposure to the disease, to find out by blood test whether a
person has HIV infection. However some individuals may be
positive as early as three weeks and are able to transmit the
disease. Some of these may be able to transmit the disease
much earlier, but the blood may not show the signs of the
disease.
However the individual who is
just exposed to the disease and who is able to transmit it to
others may not have any symptoms of the disease and he/she
will be perfectly healthy. This may last for any time from six
months to six years or long.
The disease finally surfaces
with one or more of the following signs:
-Fever of more than one month’s
duration.
-Loss of weight more than the
10% of the body weight.
-Chronic diarrhea, (loose
motion) more than one months duration.
-Persistent cough of more than a
month’s duration.
-Generalized itching (purities)
on the body.
-Recurrent Herpes Zoster
infection (Painful ulceration common in the genital region)
-White patches in the mouth and
throat (Oropharyngeal Candidiasis).
-Generalized lymph node
enlargements.
All the above are not the
specific features of AIDS. They are seen in so many other
conditions. Whenever one or more of the above are seen in an
individual screening test for AIDS is recommended. At times
AIDS is accidentally detected when the person undergoes test
as a routine before surgery, blood donation, or when
investigated for nonspecific health problems.
12. J.
Menezes, Mangalore
*I am
29 years old unmarried male, I always feel giddiness when I
get up suddenly. I have the habit of hand practice two or
three times weekly. I am loosing my weight day by day and my
muscles became so soft like a sponge. Is there any medicine to
become fat? I used to go to Jim and was also participating in
cross country race now I stopped. Please advise
** I do not think there is any
association for your present problem with the habit of
masturbation (hand practice). For head reeling as well as for
the loss of weight you are required to consult a physician and
follow his advice. After systemic examination he might advice
you to undergo few blood tests.
There are no medicines which
really help to put on weight. Good balanced food and regular
exercises are required to put on ‘good weight’; without
exercises just taking rich food will help only to accumulate
fat and will be ‘bad weight’. As you have not mentioned your
height and weight, I am unable to suggest whether you should
ever try to put on weight. It appears to me regular exercises
should solve your problem. However as you are losing weight,
consult the physician.
***************
Readers are
welcome to send their feedback on this column-Click
Email this page to a friend