Ms. Sneha Jayagopal

Feeling low, having crying spells, sleep and appetite disturbances, and difficulty in concentration and attention are some of the signs of Depression. Consult a Psychiatrist for a detailed assessment. It is likely with medication and counseling the symptoms will improve. If you are feeling suicidal or hopeless consult a Psychiatrist immediately.

Your boyfriend needs professions help. The symptoms he is currentlybsuffering from including self harming behavior, desire to die, pessimistic thoughts like the fear of suffering from some incurable disease etc. May be life threatening if not taken care of immediately. Get him evaluated by a Psychiatrist at the earliest, who will do detailed mental status evaluation & physical examination, & then make the diagnosis. Then will prescribe medication &/or advice counseling sessions accordingly. With treatment he will definitely come out of the present condition. Along with, encourage him to take the following measures: 1)Lead an active life & maintain a healthy lifestyle. Go for a walk, exercise regularly, do some yoga or relaxation techniques daily. 2)Do not let him spend time alone. Encourage him to spend time with friends, family members or well wishers with whom he feels comfortable & positive. Give him support & encourage him. 3)Read motivational books & quotes. 4)Spend some time daily recollecting the good moments in his life. 5)Try to evaluate things practically & rationally. 6)Avoid people who spreads negativity or demoralize him. 7)Avoid watching or reading mind disturbing things like violence, crime, horrors etc. 8)Maintain a daily routine. 9)Motivate him to pursue his hobbies or keep a pet. 10)Every day spend some time with nature & try to feel its beauty. 11)Stay away from substance of abuse like alcohol, cannabis, inhalants, drugs etc. 12)If any problem is there in his life, encourage him to put maximum effort & try to solve it. Work to enhance his problem solving skills & coping skills. If he are not able to solve any problem himself, discuss about it & try to help him or take professional help. 13)Keep reminding him the fact that people with bigger problems exist in this world. 14)Read or watch comedies & make him laugh. 15)Above all, keep reminding him that life is precious & one is gifted with this life for once only. Every moment, every day is precious & life once lost can never be regained back.

Daily exercise of at least half an hour is a must. Even if you go to a gym, ask for aerobic and/or callisthenic exercises with whatever else you are doing. A healthy body harbors a healthy mind. With regard to memory, it is very important that your brain and body is ideally rested to be able to recall whatever is required, rather comfortably. Puzzles pose problems to the brain that help it to use new pathways and neurons, which give the brain considerable exercise. It taxes the left brain to use logic to solve the myriad possibilities which other activities do not stimulate. Crosswords are excellent for vocabulary learning and use. Jigsaws and Rubik cube stimulate different permutations to finally settle on the most likely one. Picture completion and anagrams help approach problem-solving from several angles. Do Sudoku, and memory co-relation activities and skills. Have a good night’s sleep, have a good breakfast of more proteins, meditate often, remain free of stress, eat a lot of fiber (whole grains, fruits and vegetables), nuts, avocado, eat dark chocolate, consume less of fat and use olive oil instead, do Yoga meditation exercises, etc. You need to check out if you are stronger visual or auditory. The visual is a better mode than the auditory. However, if you combine the two modes, you will get the best concentration. Have a special place of learning, which should be well lit, with soft painted walls, well-ventilated, with no distractions. When you get bored, study by writing. If you repeat learning, at least, five to seven times, you will apparently remember for a longer time. Sit comfortably but do not slouch. The reading material should be of a fairly large print. Study at small intervals of about 40 minutes and then take a break or change the subject. Short-term memory is a faculty of the left brain, and long-term memory is a feature of the right brain. When people are stressed, they tend to favor the right brain and abandon the left brain, where short-term memory resides. So, it is really very simple: deal with the stress and activate left brain functions. Here are a few suggestions to activate left brain function: shut your left nostril and breathe, move your eyes from right to left and vice versa for at least half a minute at a time, and do callisthenic exercises with some form of counting, regularly. There is a new exercise called Super Brain Yoga, which is done by holding the right earlobe with your left thumb and index finger, and the left earlobe with your right hand’s thumb and index finger. In this position, you must squat down and rise up and do this for five minutes every day. There is some memory enhancing techniques and study methods that your teacher will be able to guide you with. If your home life is full of distractions and stress, it is likely to affect your memory, adversely. In that case, I suggest that the family goes for counseling too. The following foods do help too: Blueberries, walnuts, turmeric, Spinach, tomatoes, broccoli, acorn squash, green tea, oily fish, boiled egg, turkey, apples, oatmeal, leafy greens, lentils, pumpkin seeds, avocado, cinnamon, thyme, sunflower seeds, and red wine. Avoid sugar and junk food.

Your either seem to suffer from grief reaction or depressive illness. Kindly consult a Psychotherapist and or a Psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist trained in psychotherapy for appropriate resolution of your distress.

Sperms are regularly formed in testes and are ejected during sleep when one has erotic dreams, its normal. If you feeling great weakness then consult a local doctor for medication for weakness.

If it is Hans and gutkha products, they are both very dangerous. I am so glad that your intention is to quit this habit. There are no guarantees about stopping one’s addiction. But that does not mean we should not keep at it, over and over again until we succeed. It is a tobacco product and will therefore have addictive components to it. It may feel like you can’t stop but that it really not true. If you do not try, then it will never happen. You must try and try again until you succeed. The problem with addiction is that you have this product which is conditioned to various events in your daily life and as such it will make it difficult but not impossible. You could work with an addiction counselor to help you process the rehabilitation. It is important to first find out about the ill-effects of tobacco use to have a reason that alarms you about continuing in the habit. The information is really scary and true. The nicotine in tobacco stimulates the heart beat to raise the blood pressure in no time at all. So you must avoid it like the plague: it is just very bad medicine for you. In fact it is highly toxic too. You will need to stop consuming any tobacco related items with immediate effect. Nicotine also reduces the erectile capacity of your penis to hamper satisfying sex. You should start vigorous exercises, gradually increasing it over a period of time. You need to replace the oral urge with some healthy food substitute to satiate the need. You may also take hard candy or chewing gum. If the urge is too strong, then use nicotine chewing gum or nicotine patches, for a little while until the tobacco drive reduces, substantially. Both will help but I am inclined to favor the gum because it is an oral habit and it will occupy the mouth just as though you were still chewing tobacco. When you want it will be easier to give up the gum. Keep yourself occupied or engaged with interesting activities during the times when it is most tempting. Keep the company of non-users for some time i.e. at least for the first 21 days. Above all announce it to everyone that you have quit consuming it. You must persevere with the best support until you defeat this addiction. Counseling is very useful in the initial stages and when temptations are at their highest.

Hi lybrate-user, Yes it is curable with the right kind of treatment. Some people get fine after a year or two some have to take for a longer period. Consider it like any other disorder- hypertension etc. So don't bother about medicines your health needs to get better. Stick to one doctor and complete full course eventually the dosage will be reduced. Apart from that for negative thoughts practice Mindful Breathing The primary goal of mindful breathing is simply a calm, nonjudging awareness, allowing thoughts and feelings to come and go without getting caught up in them. Sit comfortably, with your eyes closed and your spine reasonably straight. Bring your attention to your breathing. Imagine that you have a balloon in your tummy. Every time you breathe in, the balloon inflates. Each time you breathe out, the balloon deflates. Notice the sensations in your abdomen as the balloon inflates and deflates. Your abdomen rising with the in-breath, and falling with the out-breath. Thoughts will come into your mind, and that’s okay, because that’s just what the human mind does. Simply notice those thoughts, then bring your attention back to your breathing. Likewise, you can notice sounds, physical feelings, and emotions, and again, just bring your attention back to your breathing. You don’t have to follow those thoughts or feelings, don’t judge yourself for having them, or analyse them in any way. It’s okay for the thoughts to be there. Just notice those thoughts, and let them drift on by, bringing your attention back to your breathing. Whenever you notice that your attention has drifted off and is becoming caught up in thoughts or feelings, simply note that the attention has drifted, and then gently bring the attention back to your breathing. It's okay and natural for thoughts to enter into your awareness, and for your attention to follow them. No matter how many times this happens, just keep bringing your attention back to your breathing. Consult a psychologist for therapy and need not worry. All the best.

Dear lybrate-user. I can understand. Negative thoughts arise out of lack of self esteem and self confidence. This arise out of exam related tension and stress. Tension during and before examination is called performance anxiety. To overcome exam related performance anxiety, you should know yourself, your subject, exams and your study patterns. Once you study systematically and to the point, there is no need to be panic before or during the exams. “Effective learning” techniques should help you. Take care.

Dear Lybarteuser, I think you must have read the advice of my eteemed Psychologist & Neurologist Colleagues, request you to understand & follow them. I will answer regarding your TB Lymphadenitis, it is a common disorder in India. Though it is TB but it is not infectious to anyone around you, so do not fear for anyones health. Lastly you are receiving treatment in form of ATT therapy, have faith & give it time, the disease is completely curable. Wishing you speedy recovery.