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CHILD’S HEALTH/SKIN DISORDERS: COLD SORES
Author: admin
Cold sores are quite common in older children as well as in adults. Cause
Cold sores are due to the Herpes simplex virus, which lies dormant in the body until it is activated by illness, sunburn, exposure to strong winds, or stress and fatigue.
Clinical features
Your child may complain of an itching or tingling sensation around the mouth, lips or nose, and tiny blisters may appear soon after. These usually crust over in 2-3 days but can become quite painful and interfere with eating and drinking. Cold sores generally disappear after 7-10 days, although some children tend to have recurrent episodes several times a year.
Treatment
Simple cold sores usually clear up without specific treatment. If your child is miserable, some paracetamol in recommended doses, may help to ease the pain. In general, creams or ointments do not help speed up the disappearance of the cold sores. Encourage your child not to scratch the sores, and to avoid kissing other people.
When to see your doctor
• if the cold sores are weeping or starting to spread. This may indicate
secondary, or bacterial infection, and antibiotic treatment may be necessary;
• if your child has a fever in addition to cold sores and is generally unwell
• if you notice sores inside your child’s mouth. This may be due to an initial herpes infection;
• if the cold sores prevent your child from drinking fluids as this may lead to dehydration, especially in younger children.
Prevention
Cold sores are highly contagious, so avoid having your child kiss other people. Avoid direct sunlight and exposure to strong winds.
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read comments (0)YOUR CHILD’S HEALTH CARE: MAKING YOUR HOME SAFE
Author: admin
Making your house safe has two main advantages. Firstly, it decreases the chances of injury to your child and secondly, it lessens the chances of breakages around the house and subsequent anger and frustration on the part of the parents.
When your child is aged about 6 months, just before the age when he becomes mobile, it is a good idea to work your way through the house consciously and systematically and make sure that it is safe for a young child. The checklist below may be useful. You can check off items with a pen as you do them. Do not wait until there has been an accident or breakage — do it now.
• Electrical outlets: put plugs on power points, and curly cords on electrical appliances; install safety switches.
• Cabinets: check kitchen and bathroom cupboards to make sure that poisons and dangerous materials are out of reach, especially those that are sharp, heavy or breakable. Consider locks for the doors of some cabinets, or the purchase of a medicine chest which can be locked.
• Doors: consider door barriers and latches for doors that restrict the child’s access to the outside or to rooms where he can get into trouble.
• Install fire guards, and check heaters and stoves to prevent burns and scalds.
• Place cigarettes, matches, lighters and ashtrays out of reach.
• Check furniture for sharp angles and corners.
• Consider using table mats instead of tablecloths.
• Re-position things that your child can climb on.
• Put away all fragile, breakable and precious objects.
• Safety barriers: put safety barriers on stairs (at the top and bottom).
• Window latches: consider window latches to prevent your child from fully opening them and falling or climbing out.
• Fire extinguishers: consider purchasing a fire extinguisher and have it handy in the kitchen.
• Smoke detector: install approved smoke detectors at strategic positions throughout the house.
• Swimming pool: make sure that the pool has an approved child-resistant fence all around it.
• Gates: make sure all gates around the house have child-resistant latches and/or locks.
• Poisons: make another trip around the house to make sure that all poisons, detergents, dishwashing powders and liquids, medicines, tablets, are safely out of reach. Check the bathroom, kitchen, laundry, garage and bedrooms especially carefully.
• Keep all plastic bags out of reach.
• Take the doors off old fridges in the garage
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At those times when we are running “hot,” when we are feeling hostile, impatient, competitive, and suffering from “hurry illness, “we are in a phase of what I call maladaptive hyperarousal. My interviews indicated that asking about how people were “running” in this regard led to more information than asking how their genitals were working. In “diagnosing” your sexual relationship, ask first if the two of you seem on a “hot” cycle of personal and marital pressure: excessive responsibilities, and feelings of too much to do in too little time, of hyperreaction and agitation.
If you are running hot, your neurohormonal system runs hot too, and the biochemistry of your sexual system interferes with your natural sexual reflex system. These are the hot problems that might result:
MALE
Seminal seepage (losing ejaculate without contractions)
Hyperarousal
Ejaculatory urgency (feelings of not being able to control pelvic contractions)
Shortening of refractory period
Absence of psychasms
Diminished afterglow
Hypersensitivity of F- and/or and R-area response
Diminished contemplation
Pelvic reflex addiction or maladaptive hypersexuality (loss of intimacy)
Skene’s glands or urinary emission without contractions
Hyperarousal
“Emission” urgency (feeling of not being able to control pelvic contractions)
Shortening of refractory period
Absence of psychasms
Diminished afterglow
Hypersensitivity of G- and/or C-area response
Diminished contemplation
Pelvic reflex addiction or maladaptive hypersexuality (loss of intimacy)
All of these “hot” problems are natural responses to daily living styles. There is no reference to lack of orgasm or psychasm in intercourse because the couples reported that coital orgasm was not a major concern. They learned to focus on their feelings and interactions in the general sexual relationship and the interaction between sex and living. They were trying to learn “who,” not “what” was the matter with their sexual life.
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You’d think it would be great for us in bed. But somehow we just don’t mesh. It doesn’t work out. It’s not a Dr. Ruth problem, jusi that something is missing.
WIFE
As a review of this chapter and to get ready for the following lessons in super marital sex, I have provided a brief quiz for you and your spouse. Discuss each item together and score your marriage on a 0-to-10 scale. Scoring 100 points could mean two things. First, you are completely free of the pressures on American marriage I have discussed. Second, you are cheating on this test! We all have these pressures. The idea is to begin to reduce them to make way for a super marriage.
This test and others you will be taking in this book are based on a scoring system of degrees, not yes or no. All systems, particularly marital systems, change. Just the fact that you are taking a test on your marriage changes your marriage. Score and discuss each item in degrees, trends, indications, not absolutes. It will take some time for you to get used to this type of scoring, but learning to see your relationship as an adapting system is a major step in strengthening your marriage and helping it function in harmony with the rules of all world systems.
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PNEUMONIA – CONCLUSION
Author: admin
Acute bronchitis, like most of the other respiratory infections, may be due to either viruses or bacteria. It usually involves the trachea or windpipe first and then moves down to involve larger and then smaller bronchi. It may follow such illnesses as measles, influenza, whooping cough or typhoid fever.
There is a moderate fever with a cough, initially dry and then productive of sputum and sometimes, a wheeze. The condition can worsen and lead to bronchopneumonia.
Chronic bronchitis is not an infective disease. It is a condition where there is a marked and chronic increase in the amount of secretion by the bronchial tubes. Sputum is coughed up continuously. The illness is caused mainly by smoking and atmospheric pollution.
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CORONARY – MAINLY TREATMENT
Author: admin
Coronary artery disease has reached epidemic proportions in most of the highly developed countries. The risk factors are well known, but we have not accepted them nor taken steps to reduce their influence.
Once this disease is established, the treatment is mainly medical. Over the past 15 years, a surgical technique to improve the outlook has been developed. This is coronary bypass surgery.
In the past, operations to transplant arteries from the chest wall into the heart were tried and then abandoned as of no value.
There are three main coronary arteries and any, or all, may be involved in the atheromatous changes and narrowed.
What is done is that a vein, usually the long saphenous vein from the leg, is taken and implanted into the aorta. The other end is joined to the coronary artery below the narrowed portion.
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CIRCUMCISION – EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE
Author: admin
Circumcision just before or during puberty may produce considerable emotional disturbance.
Some psychiatrists talk of the psychological shock to the infant circumcised without anaesthetic but this is difficult to prove.
Your doctor is not being irresponsible if he carries out your request to circumcise your son. Many doctors still consider this a necessary procedure. Others have no strong feeling either way and will agree to operate if the parents wish, but will not recommend it. Others are strongly opposed to circumcision and will not accede to the parents’ wishes. As in other areas of medicine, there are different views on what is correct treatment.
If circumcision has been the habit in your family, discuss with your doctor whether you should go ahead and have your son circumcised. You have the right to request it but your doctor also has the right to refuse if he does not think it necessary.
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CHILDREN’S HEALTH: RINGWORM
Author: admin
Symptom
Scaly, red rash
Home care
Apply a nonprescription antifungal ointment to the infected area until the skin is clear. If you do not know which preparation to use, ask your doctor.
Precautions
- If a rash does not improve with home treatment, see the doctor. The rash may not be ringworm at all.
- If home treatment seems to make the rash worse, discontinue treatment and see the doctor. The child’s skin may be sensitive to the medication you’re using.
Ringworm is actually a skin infection caused by a fungus. Ringworm spreads by direct contact with an infected person or pet animal, or by indirect contact with contaminated objects such as combs, pillows, towels, clothing, even the floor.
Different funguses prefer different areas of the body. Ringworm of the scalp (tinea capitis) appears as scaly patches with stubs of broken-off hairs on the scalp. Ringworm of the body (tinea corporis) shows up as round or oval red, scaly patches that enlarge while healing proceeds from the center. Ringworm of the groin (tinea cruris) is characterized by a red or brown scaly rash on the crotch and the genital area and has a sharply defined margin of spread. Ringworm of the feet (athlete’s foot, or tinea pedis) affects the feet and sometimes the ankles and legs. The diagnosis of ringworm is based on your child’s history and close inspection of the rash. The diagnosis is confirmed by laboratory tests.
Home care
Antifungal ointments such as haloprogin, chlortrimazole, tolnaftate, and undecylenic acid ointments can be applied to the infected area until the skin clears.
Precautions
• Several other common rashes resemble ringworm. If a rash does not improve after several days of home treatment see your doctor.
• The preparations used to treat ringworm may cause another rash on sensitive skin. If the rash worsens or changes in any way, stop home treatment and see your doctor.
Medical treatment
Your doctor can confirm a home diagnosis of ringworm by examining your child’s rash under ultraviolet light, and by culturing a skin scraping and examining the results under the microscope. The doctor may prescribe an antifungal ointment to be applied to the skin, or a medication such as griseofulvin fungicide for the child to take by mouth.
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Nail brittleness
Nails so soft that they split into layers or split very easily once they grow beyond the fingertips.
What causes it?
No one knows for certain. Possibilities are:
• Circulatory disturbances causing poor nutrition to the nail bed, but there are usually other signs of this and it is not common in the fingers.
• An inherited tendency.
• Psoriasis. Usually the nails are also pitted.
• Iron-deficiency-the nails are usually spoon-shaped.
• Zinc-deficiency.
Prevention
• See a doctor for the treatment of any circulatory disorder you have.
• Get psoriasis treated.
• Take iron supplements or eat more iron-containing foods.
• Use nail hardeners or nail polish to prevent the ends from splitting.
• Increase the whole foods you eat and cut down on refined foods.
• Take a zinc supplement (up to 20 mg daily).
Nappy rash
It is a reddened area of skin in the nappy area of a baby. This can develop into tight, papery skin with some peeling. The common rash tends to spare the folds and creases, but babies with sensitive skins and those prone to seborrhea (cradle cap) may get a rash that extends into the folds and creases. A monilial rash (caused by thrush) has features of both and also has some spots elsewhere. It is also possible to have a rash that is purely monilial and consists just of isolated spots.
If a nappy rash is very severe there may be raised, red pustules which turn into raw, ulcerated areas. Undoubtedly a baby with this severity of rash will be irritable and will cry a lot.
What causes it?
• Common nappy rash is caused by urine irritating the skin in places where the nappy chafes. Plastic pants increase the humidity by preventing evaporation and so make this kind of nappy rash worse. It is thought that ammonia released from the urine is not the cause of this kind of rash but it can make the rash worse if the skin is already damaged.
• Diarrhea of any cause can make a nappy rash worse.
• Allergies are rarely a cause but some babies appear to be allergic to certain chemicals used in the manufacture of paper nappy liners.
• Airtight and watertight plasticized disposable nappies provide little or no ventilation and may promote nappy rashes.
• Occasionally a nappy rash is the earliest sign of atopic eczema.
• One in two nappy rashes is caused by monilia (thrush). Any rash that has been present for three days or more is likely to have monilia in it.
Prevention
Preventing the common kind of nappy rash is simple:
• Change your baby’s nappies frequently, never allowing him or her to stay for long in a wet or soiled nappy.
• Leave your baby without a nappy for as much of the time as possible-this is easier in the summer.
• Wash the bottom well and dry it thoroughly, and only then apply a barrier cream. Do this every time you change the nappy.
• Soak nappies in a sterilizing solution before washing.
• Ensure that nappies are thoroughly rinsed to remove all the soap and detergent.
• A one-way fabric nappy liner works wonders but paper ones can actually make rashes worse.
• Ideally, avoid using plastic pants, though this is the counsel of perfection because it often means soaked clothing, bedding, etc.
• If you think a particular brand of disposable nappy is the cause of your baby’s problem it could be the plastic or the deodorizer used. Try the baby in terry nappies for a few days to see if this will cure the condition. Once a culprit has been found, avoid it in the future.
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