Health News Blog provides coverage of current health news.

One must be alert to the earliest symptoms of stomach cancer that distinguish it from peptic ulcer. These include weight loss with nausea, indigestion, and upper abdominal discomfort or pain right after meals. This timing is important, since simple peptic ulcer pain is usually relieved by food, while cancer pain tends to be brought on by meals, or is suddenly made worse by them.

Early stomach cancer produces pain similar to that of ordinary peptic ulcer, and we must be careful not to delay surgery (which can cure about one case in three) while we continue trying medications. The trap, according to the British Medical Journal (286:149) is that cancer pain may be largely relieved (at least temporarily) by antacids or the drug Cimetid-ine (Tagamet). Also, because so many gastric cancer patients have previously had a peptic ulcer, they may assume that a new bout of pain is merely a recurrence.

Quite apart from the danger that Cimetidine is masking stomach cancer symptons, there is also the possibility that Cimetidine may actually induce stomach cancer by reducing acidity and thereby permitting growth in the stomach of bacteria that form carcinogenic nitrosamines. People who are taking this drug should be aware of these dangers and consult their physicians at once if they have a question about symptoms.

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Signs and symptoms

In a child who has sickle cell disease, almost all the hemoglobin in the child’s bloodstream is hemoglobin S. The child may often show symptoms of anaemia, which include weakness and constant tiredness. In certain circumstances, such as when the child has an infection, a sickle cell crisis may occur. These crises may also occur for no apparent reason, or as a result of flying in an unpressurized airplane or travelling to altitudes over 2,000 meters. Other stresses on the body such as injuries or surgery can also cause a sickle cell crisis. In a crisis, the abnormal red blood cells are destroyed rapidly, causing severe anaemia. At the same time, other sickled cells may lodge in the blood vessels and cause fever, swelling of the joints, and severe pain. Sickle cell crises can damage body organs and such damage can eventually cause death.

To find out if a child has this disease, a blood test called»sickle prep” is first performed to look for sickled cells in the blood. If abnormal cells are found, a more complicated test is done to separate the types of hemoglobin in the blood. The amount of hemoglobin S compared to the amount of normal hemoglobin will tell if the child has the trait or the disease.

Home care

Sickle cell anaemia requires medical treatment.

Precautions

• All black parents, and any other parents who know there have been cases of sickle cell disease in their families, should have their children tested for the problem before they are a year old.

• All infections should be treated immediately, and high fevers should also be reported to the doctor right away.

• A child with this disease should have frequent checkups and may need special treatment before having dental work or surgery.

• A child who has sickle cell trait needs no special treatment.

Medical treatment

Each year, the doctor will carefully examine the child’s liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, nervous system, and eyes. The doctor will probably prescribe antibiotics immediately if the child gets any infection. Blood transfusions may be needed to prevent anaemia, and a vaccination against pneumococcus bacteria will be given as a precaution.

In a sickle cell crisis, the child should be hospitalized. Intravenous fluids and pain medications will be given until the crisis passes.

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What is it?

We all have a drive to have intercourse or some kind of sexual outlet and this drive varies in intensity throughout our lives. Younger people on balance have more drive and at every age what we actually end up doing is the result of the balance between our natural drives and our cultural inhibitions.

Any discussion about ‘poor’ sex drive is difficult because you have to be sure about what you are comparing yourself with. If you are making comparisons with a mythical ‘norm’ you imagine being present in society, you could be in for trouble because the range of normality in sexual matters is so great. If you are comparing yourself with yourself that could be more sensible but even so is difficult because we all experience normal variations in how much we feel like sex.

Males are at the peak of their sex drive in the late teens and women probably in their thirties, but there are many variables that operate in quite normal, healthy people to alter their sex drive, even from day to day.

What causes it?

• Drugs. The most commonly suggested culprit is the contraceptive pill. Research with dummy tablets given to women who thought they were taking the Pill, however, shows that this has been somewhat overstated as a side-effect of the Pill. Having said this, some women feel depressed or sexless on one particular type and yet are perfectly happy on another brand. Sleeping tablets, high doses of steroids, some drugs taken to relieve high blood pressure, diuretics (water tablets) and some angina drugs can all cause a loss of sex drive. Tranquillizers, in even quite moderate doses, produce indifference in some women and as a result they lose interest in sex. Given that so many women are taking tranquillizers this is an important cause of a loss of sex drive.

• Depression is a potent cause of a poor sex drive and given that it is the commonest psychological illness should always be considered in anyone (especially a woman) who goes off sex.

• Serious physical illness such as arthritis, kidney disease, chronic anaeimia and breast disease can all reduce a person’s interest in sex.

• Physical and mental exhaustion can have a disastrous effect on one’s sex drive. After having a baby, after an operation, or after many, even quite trivial, illnesses (such as ‘flu) many people go off sex because they feel generally Tow’ and run down.

• Stress is a common reason for a loss of sex drive. Any life crisis, from moving house to a bereavement, can kill one’s sex drive for a while.

• Bad experiences are a less common cause but an understandable one. A rotten relationship, a bad love-making episode, an abortion, being jilted, and so on, can all make certain people say, ‘To hell with sex-it’s far too much trouble.’ Such individuals go off sex for weeks or months but usually return to sexual activity eventually.

• Serious inhibitions produced in childhood and during growing up. Most of these reside in the person’s unconscious mind yet they restrict the pleasure the individual is able to get out of sex. Often their pleasure is so limited that they end up having very little sex drive at all.

• Falling out of love. One in three marriages goes wrong and possibly at some stage in every marriage there is a time when the couple don’t feel much for each other. At such times either one or both goes off sex.

• During an extramarital affair. This loss of sex drive occurs mainly because of the guilt involved. Some people go off sex with their regular partner during an affair partly out of fear that he or she will be able to detect some small difference in love-making which originated in their love-making with the lover. Sometimes a bad relationship outside the marriage can reflect on the marital one, and produce a loss of sex drive.

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In a highly fluid society such as we now have in the West nothing stays still for long and change is possible. Twenty years ago hardly anyone of influence was talking or writing about lifestyle, but today specialist health magazines, articles in other magazines and newspapers, health food stores, books and self-help groups attract the serious attention of millions of people every year. People are at last starting to realize that they can’t go on abusing themselves and that simple changes can make a real difference to their life-expectancy in the future and their general well-being in the here-and-now.

Things are already changing for the better, especially in the US where change, both for good and evil, happens quickly. Both in the US and in the UK the consumption of tobacco, eggs, butter and cream is down and recreational exercise is greatly in fashion. Non-smokers have been vociferous to assert their right to breathe clean air, and no-smoking areas in public places are now the norm rather than the exception. There is an increasing awareness of the family’s role in promoting health and more effort is being put into the support of families in troubled situations. Of course, it is still a drop in the ocean compared with what could be done but it is a start.

Public views are changing on sexual promiscuity and the ‘anything goes’ attitudes of the sixties and early seventies are now gone. AIDS and genital herpes have made both the homosexual and the heterosexual communities less promiscuous and, given the current falling family size throughout most western countries, the problem for the future in the West looks like being under-population not the reverse. Public criticism of violence on TV and sex and violence on

videos for home consumption has had some effect on programming, and even the rise in violent street crimes associated with drug abuse, prostitution and pornography has slowed, if not reversed, in the US.

These valuable and positive changes have come about mainly for the following reasons. First, there has been a growing disenchantment with the ultra-permissive society which so obviously produced so much disease, and second there has been a slow but steady realization that even a rich country like the US can no longer afford to pick up the pieces of such self-destructive activities. Expenditure on personal and community health care now represents so large a proportion of the total national expenditure that even the ordinary person in the street is getting the message loud and clear. The total ill-health cost of smoking and alcohol abuse alone in the US runs at over 100 billion dollars a year. Such mind-blowing figures impress even the most sceptical. A new development in the US is a refusal by some managements to increase their company’s risk of having to pay out under workmen’s compensation or employer liability laws by declining to employ individuals who have unhealthy lifestyles.

Even among the general public concern is growing along these lines. Non-smoking life-insurance policyholders, for example, are starting to ask why they should pay increased life-insurance premiums to cover the other policy-holders who choose to smoke. Forward-thinking insurance companies are now offering reduced premiums to non-smoking and non-drinking individuals to take into account their reduced health risks and car-crash potentials.

With a growing realization that we have finite resources; with the slowly dawning truth that fossil fuels will run out in our grandchildren’s lifetime; and with a greater reluctance to generate wealth simply to squander it on insatiable ‘health-care’ systems, people all over the westernized world are beginning to question the old notions of absolute freedom and are starting to think more about social responsibility. Just as a heart-attack patient reaches his or her ‘teachable moment’ in the coronary care unit (the realization dawns that he or she has just missed knocking on the pearly gates), so too society is starting to realize that its ‘teachable moment’ is close.

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If you feel pain during intercourse, it may be because your partner isn’t sufficiently lubricated. A lubricant such as K-Y Jelly will usually help.

If you have priapism, you need to treat it immediately by calling your doctor. Placing a cold compress on your penis will help while you drive to the emergency room. Your doctor may choose to perform bypass surgery to remove the clot or use medication to reduce your blood pressure to allow the blood to leave your engorged penis. If priapism is not treated within several hours of its onset, permanent erectile problems can result.

If you have prostatitis, your doctor may prescribe antibiotics and a combination of massage and sitz baths. He may also suggest that you just leave it alone to clear up on its own. With a broken blood vessel, the blood usually appears only once; the small blood vessels that are located around the male reproductive system usually heal within a day or so.

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If you think you have irritable bowel syndrome, your doctor will want to make a positive diagnosis with a battery of tests, which may include a GI series, a barium enema, and, in some cases, a colonoscopy to rule out a possible lesion on or polyp of the bowel. If you do have irritable bowel syndrome, you should know that your condition will improve as time goes on. The treatment for irritable bowel syndrome will start with you keeping a record of everything you eat in order to identify any foods that might be causing the problem, such as dairy products and high-fat foods—especially chocolate—and caffeine. You can experiment by limiting these foods to see if your irritable bowel syndrome clears up. Next, your doctor will recommend that you increase your intake of fiber with a product such as Metamucil or Fibercon. This increase in fiber will help regulate the water content of the stool. If the stool is loose, the increase in fiber will help make it more solid, and if your bowel is acting slowly and sluggishly, it will help regulate the transit time of your bowel movements. The amount needed will vary from one person to the next, but a good start is to take one to two tablespoons of Metamucil four times a day—at breakfast, lunch, and dinner and an hour before going to sleep at night. Exercise is also very effective, as it will help reduce your stress and regulate the bowel.

If you have diarrhea, I don’t suggest you treat it with an antidiarrheal medication, since this will cause you to become constipated. Some of my patients have used Kaopectate alternating with Metamucil, which I feel is unhealthy since your intestine never really has a chance to work on its own and creates a chronic condition of constipation alternating with diarrhea.

There are certain prescription medications you can take for irritable bowel syndrome. These include Donnatal, Levsin, and Levsinex in pill or liquid form. Levsin is also available in a sublingual pill that’s placed under the tongue to provide you with immediate relief. For most people, increasing the amount of high-fiber foods they eat as well as the amount of exercise they get, while reducing stress, can be very helpful.

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Description and Possible Medical Problems

Heart palpitations are common in people of all ages. Whether the palpitations are described as a skipped or extra heartbeat, a rapid heartbeat, or a rapid flutter, palpitations are usually nothing to worry about when they occur without other symptoms. If you have heart palpitations, either frequent ones—every day—or only occasionally, once or twice a year, it’s a good idea to answer these questions so you can monitor your palpitations.

1. Do I also have shortness of breath?

2. Do I have chest pain?

3. Can I tap out the rhythm of the palpitations with my finger?

4. Which activities tend to bring on the irregularity?

If you sometimes feel as though you have an extra heartbeat, you probably shouldn’t worry. An occasional extra beat is very common in people under 50. The most common cause is anxiety, caffeine, or smoking. If there are no other symptoms but the extra beat is appearing with greater frequency, you may be hospitalized for a few days and put under observation. A Holtor monitor, an electronic device that checks your heartbeat for irregularities, will record every heartbeat for 24 hours or more. Your doctor will also use an echocardiogram to see if you have any problems with the valves in your heart. He will check for mitral valve prolapse, which is a congenital condition in which blood leaks slowly through the mitral valve. The condition can cause a variety of symptoms; besides palpitations, they can include headaches and a vague chest pain. This condition is more common in women than men.

If you have mitral valve prolapse, your doctor’s number one concern will be that you take antibiotics before any dental, urological, or gastrointestinal procedure, which will help to prevent infection of the heart valve by any bacteria that are loosened during these procedures.

Treatment

If you notice an extra heartbeat only once in a while and have no other symptoms, you don’t need to do anything. If the palpitations occasionally become strong and upset you, your doctor may prescribe beta-blockers to help prevent the more severe episodes. If your doctor determines that you have a mitral valve prolapse, a medication such as Inderal or another beta-blocker may be prescribed to limit the episodes. I also recommend you increase your activity and go easy on caffeine.

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Description and Possible Medical Problems

The fickle dictates of fashion tell us sometimes that it’s in to be tan, while at other times it’s better to be pale. In response, many people learn to manipulate the color of their skin with natural or artificial light and with tanning gels and lotions.

However, if the color of your skin disappears, it could be a loss of melanin or skin pigment known as vetiligo, a condition in which the melanocytes—the pigment-producing cells of your skin—lose their ability to produce pigment. The condition usually starts as a small patch and gradually grows larger. In recent years, it’s come to be known as the Michael Jackson disease.

In addition to losing the color in the skin, some people with this condition also lose the color in their hair. They may begin to lose some of their hair, as well.

Treatment

While the depigmentation of your skin is not a health problem, it can be unaesthetic. Unfortunately, there is no satisfactory treatment for the condition, but many people use cosmetics and cover-up creams to make it less noticeable.

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While a benign tumor of the tongue is certainly a nuisance, it’s easy to treat and doesn’t pose a threat to your health.

A benign tumor can be removed with laser surgery. If a tumor of the tongue is caught early, it can be successfully removed. A malignant tumor will be treated like any other cancer, with surgery, medication, and/or radiation. As with any other cancer, the earlier it is detected, the better your chances are of beating it.

If the removal of the tumor hampers your ability to talk in some way, you will need to work with a speech pathologist to improve your speech. Your sense of taste may be affected, depending on the area in which the tumor appeared, and so may your ability to swallow.

However, even though a portion of the tongue will have to be removed along with the tumor, with therapy most people are able to function as they did before the surgery.

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If you think you have conjunctivitis, you should see your doctor. If the infection is caused by bacteria, your doctor will prescribe an antibiotic ointment or eyedrops for you to apply to your eyes several times a day. Viral conjunctivitis will clear up without treatment, though your doctor may prescribe eyedrops that contain the antibiotic Neosporin or the corticosteroid prednisone to help soothe the inflamed eye. However, if you have glaucoma, your doctor will advise against these preparations because they can make the glaucoma worse. You should also refrain from wearing contact lenses until the infection is cleared up, which will take only a couple of days. If it lasts longer, you should see your ophthalmologist. During the period of infection, you should take precautions to avoid both contagion and reinfecting yourself. Wash your hands after you touch your eyes, and use a clean towel and washcloth each time. Don’t use makeup, and stay out of swimming pools. It’s also a good idea to make sure that other people keep their distance while your infection is active.

Tips and Precautions

To prevent future bouts with conjunctivitis, I always advise women to throw their eye makeup away after a few months of use. And you should never use mascara or eye shadow that belongs to someone else.

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