Ask Doctor Michael

ALLERGY  Allergy is your body's reaction to a normally harmless substance(s) called allergens. Yes, these substances are harmless to your body but your body has become hypersensitive to them.  This means that when you come in contact with them, your body evokes serious immune responses to them so as to eliminate them.  This developes over time as exposures are frequent and because of the severity of the immune response on  these substances, your systems can be implicated. Allergic reactions can as well be hereditary. This means that it can be inherited and can run in families.  In a normal allergy condition, you react by itching, swelling on the area of contact, runny nose, sneezing, peeling of skin and flaking COMMON ALLERGENS IN OUR ENVIRONMENT ARE: 1- POLLEN 2- DANDER  3- MOLD 4- DUST MITES 5- DRUGS 6- FOOD 5- INSECT STINGS 6- LATEX 7- HOUSEHOLD ITEMS AND COSMETICS LIKE SOAPS, DETERGENT, PERFUMES, BODY SPRAYS AND CREAMS.  POLLEN Pollen is a powdery substance produced by plants,

Anaphylaxis is an extreme and severe form of allergy or allergic reaction . It is usually life-threatening.  Not everyone gets allergies but if you have the tendency to get it from genetics of frequent exposure to allergens , you can develop anaphylaxis. This means that allergy is a risk factor for anaphylaxis but not everyone with allergy experience anaphylaxis.  When you get stung by a bee, the area gets inflammed. It becomes painful, red in color, warm and swollen. It may also itch. These reactions are known as inflammatory reactions and they are triggered by chemicals like histamine, prostagladin and bradykinin which are released by cells in that area so as to fight the offending substance and improve healing.  In anaphylaxis, these chemicals are released in large amount into the bloodstream. They flood your bloodstream and the result of this can be fatal as you can go into shock. You may find it difficult breathing and your blood pressure will drop.  SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS 1- Skin rea

INTRODUCTION Edema is the swelling that occurs when your body traps excess fluid especially in the skin. This fluid is known as tissue fluid or interstitial fluid (ISF).  The interstitial fluid is defined as the fluid which fills the spaces between cells. It helps to exchange materials between cells, between blood (plasma) and tissue cells and waste removal.  PLASMA IS THE LIQUID PART OF THE BLOOD. THE SOLID PART OF THE BLOOD IS COMPOSED OF CELLS .  The interstitial fluid and plasma are kept in a physiological balance state to maintain their functions but in some disease conditions this balance is altered and if positive on the interstitial fluid, it results to edema.   NOTABLE CAUSES INCLUDE:  Allergy, inflammation, trauma, sitting or standing for a long time, medications, starvation, malnutrition, pregnancy, organ failures, vascular obstructions, poor drainage of a body area are known to cause edema.  FLUID EXCHANGE The part of your blood vessels r

INTRODUCTION The daily experience of stress in our lives can't be abolished. Stress perhaps can be emotional or physical. A limb supporting the body is said to be on stress. Lifting a load with your hands puts your hands on stress and as you exercise, your muscles are stressed. However there's "good stress" which is usually moderate or described as "low-level". This is a healthy form of stress as it has beneficial impact on us. Bad stress or chronic stress on the other hand is a condition that throws your psychology and physiology in turmoil.  Stressors are conditions or events that stresses and organism and a stresse is an organism under stress.  As living organisms, we are built to adapt to unfavorable environmental conditions, challenges and demands but when these becomes overwhelming, we are said to be stressed and this is evident by some precipitating symptoms.  Furthermore, our daily usage of the word stress usually denotes negativity but t

Introduction As humans, we are equipped with abilities to handle demands and challenging situations. When these demands are overwhelming, we are said to be stressed.  Stress is not anxiety, fear or cause of a disease but contributes to some disease development. It is the body's reaction to demands, a state of severe physiological and psychological tension and preparation for fight-or-flight. Fight-or-flight response is the body's biological response to danger. This simply means "battle it out or run ". During fight-or-flight, your heart rate and blood flow to large muscles increase so you can run faster or fight harder, blood vessels under the skin constricts to prevent blood loss in injury, pupils get dilated to see well. Blood sugar goes up in an attempt to have more energy.   At the same time, body processes not essential to immediate survival are suppressed. The digestive and reproductive systems slow down, growth hormones are inhibited and the immune

Thomas Fuller (1710-1790) born in Africa in "Negro town" between present day Liberia and Benin was shipped to America as a slave at the age of 14 (1724).                                 Picture from postnewsgroup.com He eventually became legal property of Presley and Elizabeth Cox of Alexandria, Virginia, USA. Both Fuller and the Coxes were illiterates and he was most valued among other slaves owned by The Coxes.  Due to Fuller's extraordinary arithmetic ability, he was also called Virginia calculator, mental calculator. He is also known as Negro Tom. Fuller wasn't predisposed to reading or writing but later in his life, he was discovered by antislavery campaign who used him as a demonstration that blacks are not mentally inferior to whites.                                 Photo from reportghana.com  At 70 years of age, William Hartshorne and Samuel Coates from Pennsylvania while traveling through the slave neighborhood heard of his remarkable