Ask Doctor Michael

FOOD POISONING (FOODBORNE ILLNESS)  It is the illness that occures when you take in food or drink that is contaminated with parasites, viruses, harmful chemicals, bacteria and/or their toxins.  When you take in these contaminated foods, your intestine becomes infected and irritated producing the discomfort you may feel. The exposed garden eggs, vegetables, cucumber, pineapple you buy can easily get contaminated, requiring proper washing before eating because you don't cook them.  CONTAMINATION OF FOOD CAN OCCUR DURING: Production Growing Harvesting Processing Storage Shipping Preparation and eating SYMPTOMS: Symptoms can start within hours or days after you have eaten the food. The symptoms can resolve on its own but sometimes you may need medical attention.  Some of the symptoms are: Diarrhea which may be bloody Nausea Vomiting Abdominal cramps  Fever Headache  Muscle pain  Joint pain  Painful and urgent need to pass little or no stoo...

GYMNASTICS Gymnastics is a form of physical exercise that involves series of movements which requires mental energy, physical strength, balance, endurance and coordination to achieve a desirable physique or body state. BENEFITS: Increases your flexibility and agility Promotes good bone health Builds your self-esteem Builds your confidence Prevent diseases like diabetes Builds endurance Promotes self discipline Builds your strength Helps in learning and improves concentration Motor skill development Promotes healthy lifestyle Builds your focus If you find this post useful, kindly comment below and share. Thanks for reading

Headache is simply a painful sensation inside the head or the face.  Generally, pain can be: 1- Sharp 2- Dull 3- Pulling 4- Stabbing 5- Pricking 6- Burning 7- Throbbing (Pounding or pulsating)  Headache is usually throbbing, sharp or dull.  COMMON CAUSES: 1- Stress /anxiety 2- Dehydration 3- Starvation/hunger 4- Light 5- Caffeine (in coffee)  6- Lack of sleep/sleep disturbances 7- Poor posture 8- Infections  9- Tumor inside the skull cavity( inside the head)  10- Head Injury 11- some medications TYPES OF HEADACHE:   1- Primary 2- Secondary   PRIMARY HEADACHES 1- Tension-type headache 2- Migraine 3- Cluster headache 4- Exertional SECONDARY HEADACHES 1- Systemic infection 2- Head Injury 3- Vascular disorders (Bleeding/ ischemia as in stroke)  4-  Brain tumors REMEDY : 1- Paracetamol 2- Aspirin (Not for people with heart or kidney failure)  3- Ibuprofen (Not for people with heart or kidney failure)  4- Dim lights 5- Sleep  6-...

Dysmenorrhea (Menstrual or period pain)  Dysmenorrhea is a painful sensation felt usually at the lower abdomen by females in reproductive age before and/or during a menstrual period.  It is the cramping pain you feel when you are on your period.  It usually begin after your ovulation and can be mild or severe.  4 out of 5 ladies in reproductive age are said to have cramps.  How does it happen?  Your uterus (womb) releases a hormone-like substance called prostaglandin from it's lining.  During your menstruation, the prostaglandin mediates the contraction and relaxation of the muscles of your uterus so that it will expel unwanted tissues and blood from it's lining.  Excess of prostaglandin causes a more serious contraction which will reduce blood flow to that area of your uterus. By doing this, oxygen (which is carried in the blood) to that area is reduced causing pain.  When cramps is from menstruation, it is called primary dysmenorrhea. When ...

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID's)  These are group of drugs that provide analgesic (Pain relieve), antipyretic (Fever reduction), and in high doses, anti-inflammatory effects.  Commonly used ones are: Aspirin (Ace ty salicylic acid)  Ibuprofen Napoxen Indomethacin Piroxicam Diclofenac Meloxicam Celecoxib Indications (medical uses): Dymenorrhoea (menstrual pain)  Migraine and headache Acute gout Metastatic bone pain Osteoarthritis Rheumatoid arthritis Pyrexia (fever)  Ileus Renal colic Coagulation disorders - Aspirin is used in this condition  Tennis elbow  Post operative pain Inflammatory arthropaties like ankylosing spondylitis, reactive arthritis etc In neonates to close a patent doctus arteriosus Contraindications: They should be avoided by ; Pregnant women especially those in third trimester  People with peptic ulcer People with uncontrolled hypertension  People who have had  a history of stroke or transient ischaemic at...

COMMON CAUSES OF CHEST PAIN. The feeling of pain on your chest can have various possible causes. Medically, these causes can be called "differential diagnosis". You may have experienced pain on your chest many a time and sometime it disappears on it's own.  However, chest pain can be so disturbing that it is referred to another area of your body. It can as well be troubling in a way that limits your usual activities.  These are the common causes of chest pain; Cardiac (Heart) origin: Myocardial ischemia (Angina pectoris)  Myocardial infarction Pericarditis  Heart valves dysfunction  Respiratory (lungs) rigin: Pneumonia Bronchospasm Pulmonary infarction Tuberculosis Pulmonary embolism Pneumotborax Tracheitis Cancer  (Malignancy)  Musculoskeletal origin: Rib injury/ fracture  Osteoarthritis Exercise like weight lifting  Costochondritis  Epidermic myalgia  Chest muscle injury Neurological origin Herpes zoster Intervatebral disc prolaps...

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 ...

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 S...

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...

MGBEOKWERE CHIBUIKE MICHAEL You might be wondering how obesity really causes diabetes, the relationship between the two. Obesity is just excess fat and diabetes is as a result of excess sugar so what could be the relationship. Why is it that people who have obesity are always advised to exercise, burn those fats and remain healthy?  Well, in this article you'll understand what obesity really is, what overweight is, how to check them and their role in diabetes.  At least 2.8 million people die each year as a result of being overweight or obese and in 2008, over 40 million preschool children were overweight worldwide.  In 2016,more than 1.9 billion adults were overweight and 650 million were obese.  WHAT IS OBESITY?  Obesity is accumulation of fat in your body at a level that exposes you to health and psychosocial problems. Similar definition is given to "overweight " but the difference is gotten from checking the body mass index(BMI).  Body mass index (BMI) ...

INTRODUCTION: Wound debridement is a medical procedure in which dead, damaged and infected tissues as well as foreign bodies in a wound is removed to facilitate healing.  It is a very important procedure because presence of necrotic or dead tissues in a wound prevents the physiological process of wound healing whereby granulation tissue formation is limited if not stoped.   Organisms can colonize the wound through these necrotic tissues which generally can result in infection of the wound therefore debridement reduces risk of infection and facilitates healing.  Not all wounds may require debridement. Mainly wound which requires debridement are old or severe wounds which aren't getting better or is at risk of infection. Examples are Chronic ulcers, severe burns, etc. TYPES OF DEBRIDEMENT   Biological debridement  Enzymatic debridement  Conservative sharp or surgical sharp debridement  Mechanical debridement  Autolytic debridement...

DIGITAL RECTAL EXAMINATION ( DRE).     Digital rectal examination is an examination in which a doctor inserts a lubricated, gloved finger into the rectum to feel for abnormalities. It is a part of abdominal examination. The abnormalities in question include: prostate complications, cancer, pile/hemorrhoid, fistula and fecal impaction in which hardened feces are collected in the rectum or colon obstructing normal movement of feces. It is done mainly by inspection and palpation. In inspection, the clinical can check for swellings,  inflammation, ulceration, blood stains, rashes, encopresis( fecal soiling) which can denote valvular incompetence, tumour, etc around the anal region. In palpation, the clinician gently inserts a lubricated gloved finger into the rectum from the anus. In insertion,  the pulp of the finger and not the tip goes in followed by the whole finger. The lubricant must not be harmful. The finger is gently brushed around th...