Chickenpox is an airborne illness, which spreads effortlessly through sneezes and coughs of an affected individual. The disease is highly contagious and is caused due to an infection by the varicella zoster virus (vzv). The characteristic features are skin rashes that form small, itchy blisters. It may also spread through contact with the person affected with blisters.

Symptoms
The early signs in teenagers and adults (loss of appetite, nausea, pain in muscles and headache) followed by the trademark rash or oral sores and mild fever that indicate the presence of the ailment. In children, there is an absence of the early signs. The rashes begin as red spots on visible areas of the body and thereby increases in severity as time progresses.

At the stage of blister, intense itching occurs. Visible symptoms develop in the oral cavity and tonsil in the form of ulcers, which can be extremely painful. These symptoms appear between 10 to 21 days of contact with the infected person. Since the nasal excretion contains the virus, the infected person becomes infectious around 2 days before the visible symptoms appear. Usually, the condition self resolves in around 2 weeks.

Prevention
Chicken pox can be prevented by:
1. Maintaining proper hygiene standards. The infected person should be kept in isolation. The virus is susceptible to disinfectants, heat and detergents.
2. In most top countries, compulsory vaccination is followed to prevent chicken pox. After the first immunization, the second dosage is recommended after 5 years.

Treatment
Easing the symptoms is the main focus of treatment. The infected are advised to remain at home, in isolation, in order to prevent the spread of the disease. Measures should be taken to avoid scratching so that secondary infections are prevented. Good hygiene and using of warm water to clean the skin daily, is mandatory. Paracetamol might be used to reduce fever. Treatment using antivirals (with 24 to 48 hours of onset) is recommended for adults, but not for children. Water intake to reduce dehydration and headache is advised. 

Since chickenpox is more severe in adults than it is in children, parents usually favour their wards receiving the virus at an early age. This is countered by doctors who believe that children are safer using vaccination, which is the virus in a weakened form, rather than the disease that may prove to be fatal.

All About Chicken Pox

If your doctor ever diagnoses you with chronic kidney disease, he/she will give you two options to choose from. The first option is to undergo dialysis for the rest of your life, while the other option is to undergo a kidney transplant. While you may prefer avoiding a major surgery, such as a transplant, dialysis is not the best solution for your condition.

Here are some reasons why you should consider kidney transplant surgery over dialysis if you are looking for better health for the long-term:

1. Increases your life expectancy: What you may not know is that people on dialysis treatment have a severely reduced life expectancy. For instance, if you are 30 years old when dialysis starts, the treatment will keep you alive at most for 15 more years. Therefore, you may not even survive until your fifties with dialysis treatment for your damaged kidneys.

However, if you transplant a healthy kidney your life expectancy increases by 30 to 40 years. Keep in mind that kidneys from living donors are better and will help you live longer.

2. Eliminates the need for undergoing dialysis: If you choose dialysis over transplant surgery, you will need to undergo the treatment on a daily basis. This is not only costly but also affects your quality of life. For instance, a patient on dialysis will need to make special arrangements if he/she wants to go on a vacation with family so that his treatment continues even during the trip.

With a kidney transplant surgery, once you recover from the operation, you can live a normal life, without the need for daily treatment.

3. Lower cost of treatment: While you may think kidney transplant surgery is the costlier option between it and dialysis, you would be wrong to assume so. In kidney transplantation surgery, you pay a hefty amount at the time of the operation. However, in the case of dialysis, you pay smaller sums over very long periods. When you add up these small sums over 10-15 years of dialysis, you will find that transplantation is the cheaper option.

If you are young and have a long life ahead of you, kidney transplantation should be the first and foremost choice of treatment for chronic kidney disease. You can undergo dialysis while you wait for a donor and then receive a healthy organ.

Why Kidney Transplant Should Be Preferred Over Dialysis?

Chickenpox or varicella is a type of viral infection that causes itchy rashes accompanied by tiny fluid-filled blisters. It is highly communicable to those who have not experienced this disease earlier or have not been immunized against it through vaccination. 

The vaccine against chickenpox is a shot protecting anyone, who has already contracted the disease. It is known as the varicella vaccine since chicken pox is triggered by the virus called varicella-zoster. The vaccine is prepared from a living but a weakened virus.

Why would you require a chicken pox virus?

The risk behind the condition aggravating into something life threatening is high among adults, infants and people possessing a weak immunity system as they are prone to developing serious complications as well. There is no way you can predict who would be the next prey.
The illness is extremely contagious and can get transmitted either through air while coughing or sneezing or by direct contact especially with the fluid present in the chicken pox blisters. For this reason, you need to stay segregated until and unless all your blisters have dried up or crusted over. The illness may induce itchy rashes all over your body along with fussiness, cough and headaches.
The vaccine is recommended for all adults and adolescents who have not been infected by chicken pox ever earlier. A vaccine called MMRV offers a combined protection against varicella, rubella, mumps and measles.
The vaccine has to be administered in two shots. However the medicines are not devoid of mild side effects,for instance, swelling in the region where you have been injected alongside mild rashes.
Who should not opt for the vaccine?

Pregnant women, since the effect of the vaccine on your fetus is yet to be unraveled
People who are allergic to neomycin and gelatin ( a gelatin-free varicella vaccine is actually available)
People suffering from diseases caused due to a weak immunity system or taking high dosage of steroids
Cancer patients who have to be treated with chemotherapy, drugs and X-rays
People who have had a blood transfusion in about five months before receiving the shot.

Chicken Pox - Should You be Immunized Against it?

Rhinoplasty is a surgery which is performed to work on and reshape the structure and size of your nose. It is done for various reasons: correction and reconstruction of the nose, restoring functionality and aesthetic enhancement. With the help of this surgery, the size of the nose can be altered, the angle of the nose in relation to the lips can be changed, tip of the nose can be altered and bumps, indentations or other abnormalities can be corrected.

Rhinoplasty is of two types:
Open rhinoplasty: The surgeon makes the incision on the columella.
Closed rhinoplasty: The surgeon makes an incision inside the nose without touching the septum.

The Surgery

The procedure takes 1-2 hours; however, hospital stay may be mandatory, if the procedure is complex. Either general or local anesthesia is used to perform rhinoplasty.
The surgeon will either make an incision outside the nose or inside. The incisions are done to get access to the cartilage and bones supporting the nose. Depending on what the patient requires, cartilage and bone may be added or removed, or tissue could be added.
After the rearrangement and reshaping is done, and the incision is sutured, a splint is put over the nose to support it as it heals. The splint and the nose are carefully bandaged.
The surgeries are either conducted by plastic surgeons or otolaryngologists and maxillofacial surgeons.
Aftercare

You can go home the day the surgery is performed.
Your face and nose will swell up and hurt after the surgery and headaches will be common.
The nasal splint will be removed after 3-5 days. You should feel more comfortable after this.
However, full recovery takes a longer time. The healing process is gradual and slow and there might be some numbness and swelling in your nose for months to come.

Scarless Nose Job - Things You Must Consider!

Hiatal hernia takes place when the upper portion of the stomach pushes itself through an opening in the diaphragm, into the chest cavity. The diaphragm is a wall of thin muscles, which separates the chest cavity and the abdomen. In most cases, a small hiatal hernia doesn't cause problems and you may never know you have a hiatal hernia unless your doctor discovers it when checking for another condition.

But a large hiatal hernia can allow food and acid to back up into your oesophagus, leading to heartburn. Self-care measures or medications can usually relieve these symptoms, although a very large hiatal hernia sometimes requires surgery.

Causes

Hiatal hernia is primarily or most commonly caused due to the increase in pressure in the abdominal cavity. Sometimes, a lot of pressure may be felt around the stomach accompanied by coughing, vomiting, strain during bowel movements. For people born with an abnormal hiatus, the chance of getting hiatal hernia is more.

The two common types of hiatal hernia are:

 Sliding hiatal hernia, which occurs during the sliding out of the stomach and oesophagus into and out of the chest through the hiatus. This type of hiatal hernia is less intense and has no symptoms.
 Fixed hiatal hernia or paraoesophageal hernia is an uncommon type of hernia where a part of the stomach pushes through the diaphragm and stays there.

Symptoms

Usually, no symptoms are experienced during hiatal hernia. Some symptoms are experienced that happen due to stomach acids, bile or air, which enters the oesophagus. Some common symptoms include:

 Heartburns which become worse when a person lies down
 Chest pain, better called epigastric pain
 Problem in swallowing food
 Belching

Tests for diagnosis

Several tests can be carried out for the diagnosis of hiatal hernia. They include:

 Barium x-ray, where a person is made to drink a liquid filled with barium before the x-ray. The x-ray provides a clear image of the upper digestive tract region and the location of the stomach can be seen. If it is protruded out, hiatal hernia is signified.
 Endoscopy is another test for detection of hiatal hernia. A thin tube slides down the throat, which reaches up to the oesophagus and stomach. This will determine whether the stomach is pushing through the diaphragm or not.

Treatment

Medicines, which are used to cure a hiatal hernia may include antacids for neutralizing stomach acid, h2 receptor blockers to lower acid production and proton pump inhibitors. Sometimes fundoplication surgery is required for the treatment of hiatal hernia, although it is rare. Some common surgical techniques are rebuilding of oesophageal muscles or a surgery to put the stomach back in its actual place. Laparoscopic surgery methods are used. Hiatal hernia may reoccur even after surgery; so general precautions should be taken. You should:

 Exercise regularly and maintain a healthy weight
 Avoid lifting heavy objects and ask for help
 Avoid any kind of strain on the abdominal muscles

Hiatal hernia is a disorder, which is more common among people over the age of fifty. Necessary precautions and treatment should be adopted in case of hiatal hernia.


All About Hiatal Hernia

There are various neurodegenerative disorders and Huntington Disease is one of them. It is characterized by loss of thinking ability, chorea or uncontrolled writhing and jerking movements, and psychiatric difficulties. 

Nerve cells in the brain are impaired in this disease. This leads to loss of coordination and involuntary movements. As the disease progresses, patients slowly fail to control their throat and mouth muscles and simple tasks like eating, swallowing, and speaking becomes challenging.

Huntington's Disease may also affect the reasoning and thinking abilities of an individual and makes communication and conversations more challenging. The problem of swallowing food can lead to choking as food can go down the wrong way or a lung infection in more severe cases. 

Speech-Language Pathologist or Speech Therapist helps the patients with speaking and swallowing problems with the help of various therapies.

Visiting a Speech-Language Pathologist in the initial stage of Huntington's Disease is advised. This helps in planning in advance about the ways to handle changes as the disease progresses. The therapist can help the patients when they begin showing an inability to speak or understand and swallowing problems. The symptoms showing swallowing difficulties may include choking, coughing and altered eating habits of the patient and loss of weight.

Symptoms

Dysarthria, in which the ability to remember words, understanding and forming a sentence is not lost but clear speech becomes difficult.

Stammering.

Slow or imprecise speech.

Aphasia, inability to understand what is being said and inability to remember grammar and vocabulary, and the pattern of losing a word in between the sentences.

Weak voice or low volume because of respiration issues.

Scanned Speech or unusual lengthy pauses between words.

Problem with pitch control and resonance.

Treatment

The progression of Huntington s disease varies from patient to patient and the therapy also varies as per the needs and challenges of the patients. The therapy usually starts with the discussion of problems and symptoms faced by the patients. 

For swallowing difficulties, patients may be recommended to maintain a journal of swallowing problems and fixing a time for meal intake every day. He/she may be recommended to eat soft food items, and eat slowly and chew the food properly.

As for speech therapy, one may be recommended breathing exercises. The therapist may demonstrate the patients how to overemphasize certain mouth movements to make the words easier to understand. The family of the patient is advised to reduce distraction while communicating with the patient. 

Assistive devices can also help with communication such as computers, smartphones or tablets. Other low-tech objects from everyday life, such as calendars, picture boards with a depiction of daily life activities, and object images and notebooks can also be helpful.

Take Away
Huntington Disease is a brain disorder where it becomes difficult for a person to control mouth muscles. In this, speaking, swallowing, and eating becomes a task for them. There are speech therapies that can help the patients to gather control over their words and communication problems.

 Huntington's Disease - How Effective Is Speech Therapy In It?

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