Dr Baheti TEST TUBE BABY Centre

What is salt and sodium?

Salt is made of sodium (40% by weight) and chloride (60% by weight). Sodium is a crucial electrolyte in the body. Sodium is an essential nutrient necessary for maintenance of plasma volume and blood pressure, acid-base balance, transmission of nerve impulses and normal cell function.

Different types of salt?

• Table salt or common salt
• Sea salt
• Himalayan rock salt (sendha namak and black salt)

The primary advantages of various types of salts other than common salt is having trace minerals (in very small amounts) and lack of processing and additives.

How salt intake normally?

WHO recommends that adults consume less than 5 g (just under a teaspoon) of salt per day. This goes around 2300mg of sodium per day. But, most Indian people consume too much salt - on average 9-12 grams per day.

What are health hazards of high salt intake?

• Hypertension
• Stroke
• Heart disease
• Kidney disease
• Obesity

How high intake of sodium cause kidney disease?

High salt intake is associated with kidney disease by two mechanisms:

Causing hypertension, vascular injury and proteinuria.

FOOD containing high salts?

Fast foods, preserved and packaged foods like:

• Prickles
• Anchovies
• Soups
• Bread products
• Prawns
• Salted and dry-roasted nuts
• Salt fish
• Smoked meat and fish
• Soy sauce
• Stock cubes

Many snack foods - chips, crackers, and pretzels - contain several hundred milligrams of sodium per serving.

Conditions where low salt is beneficial?

Hypertension, Heart Failure, Kidney disease, Nephrotic syndrome, Kidney stones and Patient on diuretics or ACEi or ARB.

How to reduce sodium (salt) intake?

• Not adding salt during the preparation of food
• Not having a salt shaker on the table
• Limiting the consumption of salty snacks
• Choosing products with lower sodium content
• Remove salt from recipes whenever possible
• Use salt substitutes wisely
• Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and low-fat dairy
• Use onions, garlic, herbs, spices, citrus juices and vinegars in place of some or all of the salt to add flavour
• Drain and rinse canned beans (like chickpeas, kidney beans, etc.) and vegetables
• Combine lower-sodium versions of food with regular versions. This will not differ much in taste. This works especially well for broths, soups and tomato-based pasta sauces.
• Cook pasta, rice and hot cereal without salt
• Cook by grilling, braising, roasting, searing and sautéing to bring out natural flavors. This will reduce the need to add salt
• Incorporate foods with potassium like sweet potatoes, potatoes, greens, tomatoes.

Pregnancy is a normal life function that many women go through. Yet, this is a function or a part of life where one has to take special care of one’s health and condition as there are many biological changes that happen in one’s body. Swollen legs and ankles are a common part of one’s pregnancy. This condition is most commonly known as edema and it usually occurs when fluid collects in the tissue. This in turn happens when the blood chemistry changes and the fluid gets routed to the tissue. This is a common occurrence due to the hormonal changes that one goes through during pregnancy. The condition usually troubles pregnant ladies during their third trimester.

Read on to find out the various ways in which one can deal with it.

1. When to call a doctor: Call a doctor or a midwife for a thorough check up if you happen to see any puffiness or swelling in your face and eyes. This could point at a more serious problem like the onset of preeclampsia. Also, if you happen to notice that one leg is more swollen than the other, then you may want to see a doctor about it, as it could mean that there is a blood clot in the leg.
2. Put your feet up: This is especially important if you are at a desk all day. The best way to deal with such swelling is to put your feet up every once in a while, so that the swelling may reduce. You can use a foot stool or even a pile of books for this purpose.
3. Breaks: If you are constantly sitting or lying down, it would be a good idea to give it a break and walk around a little so that there is better blood circulation. This also keeps the blood from pooling into the lower regions of the legs, which can prevent an increase in the swelling.
4. Comfortable footwear: One should stick to flat and comfortable footwear with an even elevation as well as foam soles so that the comfort level while walking and standing is optimum. Choose your shoes so that they can accommodate your swelling instead of pinching your feet. Also, you can choose to wear snug socks and stockings, which will form a band around your feet. This will ensure that the swelling does not increase to a painful level. At the same time, you must avoid socks that have bands, which are too tight as this may lead to blood pooling and subsequent swelling in the legs and ankles.
5. Water: Drinking plenty of water ensures that there is less fluid retention. This is one of the best ways of fighting edema whether or not you are pregnant.

       6. Freqent bp monitoring is required in these patients.

Children may run around having fun and growing in the process. Some children may be more active than the others and some may be more attentive at school. All children go through some sort of trouble while growing up. This is because of the drastic changes that the bodies of little children constantly go through. One such problem commonly faced by the children is bedwetting. This problem may be a common one, but it should be brought under control as soon as possible so that the children do not have to face social embarrassment as they grow older.

Apart from providing a healthy and happy living to the children, it may be essential to find a way of treatment that may not leave the child affected by the harmful ingredients of the regular allopathic medication. One of the safest and the most effective ways to be able to treat bedwetting is homeopathy. Homeopathy is a branch of medicine and treatment that works on the body of the user with the most natural ways. The medicines in homeopathy are made using basic ingredients from plants and other organic materials.

Homeopathy for children:
The use of homeopathy for problems that affect the children in particular is essential because of the fact that they have growing systems and the growth may get adversely affect with the strong and highly potent allopathic drugs. It is also important to understand the nuances of controlling the bedwetting issue in children and also know what the causes of the problem may be:

1. When the children are highly fatigued, they may wet the bed due to the deep sleep that they may be experiencing after a tiring time.
2. In times of winter when the cold is uncontrollable or much more than usual, it may be natural for some children to not be able to control their bladder.
3. In a lot of cases, the children may also wet the bed when they have had a scary or traumatic experience.

Just as the causes of the problem are varied, it must be realized that the medications are also supposed to be administered according to the issue.

Homepathic medication for betwetting
Homeopathy is a stream of medicine that treats the body in the most delicate manner, which is why it is a safe alternative for children. However, it must also be ensured that proper medical intervention is attained to start a course of homeopathic medication as well, so that bedwetting may be treated within a desired amount of time and the child may feel free from the embarrassment of wetting the bed.

There are diseases which affect us in spite of us trying to keep them away as far as possible and then there are lifestyle diseases, for which we are largely to blame. It can be said that lifestyle diseases are those, which occur on account of the decisions we make and the actions we commit. Having said that, would it not be interesting to know more about lifestyle diseases?

There are various kinds of lifestyle diseases, which affect various parts of the body. For instance, if a person drinks a significant amount of alcohol, more than what he or she should, then he may soon be affected by a lifestyle disease in the form of liver cirrhosis. Apart from just the alcohol, this condition can also be caused on account of chronic hepatitis.

1. Stroke: A lot of people are of the opinion that a stroke is something, which only strikes old people. However, this is not correct. In fact, there is quite a bit of trouble can be caused if this opinion is held and people allow themselves to not care enough about their health using this as justification. Statistically, up to 15% of the cases of stroke in a country such as India occur to people who have not even reached the age of 40. Surprising and scary at the same time, isn’t it?
2. Kidney problems: When people think of lifestyle diseases, they most likely think of problems, which are related to the heart. While it can be said that a heart attack on account of bad lifestyle choices has the highest visibility, even parts of the body, which are rarely thought of like the kidneys, can kick up trouble in the form of nephritis. So, what exactly happens when a person has nephritis? Simply put, the kidneys swell up and this causes a lot of pain, which could have been avoided with a reasonable amount of foresight and effort. When this occurs, kidneys create trouble when they need to perform their primary function of purifying blood and complications related to the kidneys can really have a magnified impact on other parts of the body.
3. Heart disease: Finally, addressing the elephant in the room, when it comes to lifestyle diseases - heart disease. Around 31% of people who die every year worldwide fall prey to it and the main culprits behind heart failures include smoking, diabetes, and very high cholesterol levels.

Pregnancy brings with it the need to be extra careful about the overall well-being of the mother-to-be. Extreme caution has to be taken in managing health, as antibiotics and a lot of other treatment modalities are best avoided during pregnancy. With diabetes becoming common in the younger ages and women choosing to delay pregnancy, there are multiple women who are diabetic and choose to get pregnant later in life.

With diabetes being a chronic and a lifestyle condition, it definitely has its effects on pregnancy. However, the key is to manage diabetes cautiously in such a way that its effects on pregnancy, both the mother and the developing baby, are minimal. The increased blood sugar levels from the mother pass on to the baby, so keeping a close watch on the blood sugar levels is very important.

1. The maximum effect of diabetes on the baby is during the first few weeks of pregnancy. It is when the vital organs (brain, heart, lungs and kidneys) are forming, and high blood sugar levels can be harmful. This is slightly tricky as most women realise they could be pregnant only after about 6 weeks. If pregnancy is planned, it is best advisable to keep a check on sugar levels much ahead of the pregnancy.
2. The baby could be used to high levels of sugar while in the womb, and once delivered, it could have too low sugar levels. This needs to be monitored.
3. Preeclampsia, which is increased protein in the urine and high blood pressure, can happen during the second trimester. This may require the baby to be delivered prematurely.
4. Babies born to diabetic mothers are often bigger. The baby’s pancreas is used to higher sugar levels and so the extra sugar gets converted to fat, which is the reason for the bigger babies. This may also necessitate C-sections.
5. Pregnancy can induce the development of diabetic retinopathy, which may prevent vaginal delivery, as the woman may not be able to exert the required pressure.
6. Abnormal calcium and magnesium levels, which need to be monitored for a while after birth
7. Most diabetic women reach full term if the sugar levels have been under good control.

Diabetic pregnant women are high at risk. However, with advanced medical care, these risks and complications are managed very well producing healthy babies from normal deliveries with effectively no harm to the mother’s health.

Once a diabetic woman tests positive, it is advisable to seek medical help to plan diet/meal plan, physical activities, exercise regimen, lifestyle changes, and medication dose adjustments. This is not a one-time activity, but needs to be closely monitored with daily blood sugar levels throughout the pregnancy.

Laparoscopic surgery is also called minimally invasive surgery. It leads to a lesser amount of pain after the surgery, and therefore requires less medication also. It reduces the possibility of hemorrhage, thereby the lowering the possibility of requiring blood transfusion. The smaller length and depth of the incision also means that the patient recovers from the surgery faster than usual. There is also a lesser chance of contracting infections because a larger number of organs remain unexposed and therefore uncontaminated. Laparoscopic surgeries also cause smaller, lighter scars once the surgery wound heals completely.

However, as with any surgery, complications may occur during the course of laparoscopic surgery.

1. Wound infection: Even though laparoscopic surgery is minimally invasive and the possibility of contracting infections is considerably less, the wound is capable of getting infected. Hence it is essential to maintain the cleanliness and hygiene recommendations provided by the concerned medical staff. It is also assumed that the surgeons would prevent this possibility by maintaining strict protocols regarding this issue on their part.

2. Bruising: After surgery, depending on the type and duration of the procedure, the patient is always advised to follow certain restrictions regarding mobility and restriction of normal day to day functioning. These rules must be followed in order to prevent the possibility of bruising after a laparoscopic surgery.

3. Hematoma formation: A hematoma is an accumulation of blood outside the blood vessel. This is not normal at all and requires urgent inspection and treatment. This is a relatively common complication that happens after a laparoscopic surgical procedure. Precautions are taken by surgeons to avoid this but it may still occur. It needs to be diagnosed early, and then the bleeding vessel needs to be emobilized selectively in order to reduce any further complication of this type.

4. Anesthesia-related complications: To prevent anesthesia related complications during laparoscopic surgery, it is essential that procedures related to the airways, ventilation, analgesia, antimetics are followed in the preoperative state.

5. Any injury that may be inflicted on the blood vessels present in the walls of the abdomen or on the sidewall in the pelvic region, as well as injuries in the bowel area and the urinary tract: Proper protocol must be followed by the doctor to avoid such complications as much as possible.

Prenatal care includes general health advice for mums and dads-to-be as well as some simple do's and don'ts to try and ensure a healthy pregnancy. Antenatal care ensures that mum and baby are regularly monitored throughout the pregnancy making sure the pregnancy progresses smoothly and that specialist intervention is sought early if required.

Bladder prolapse is a condition wherein a woman’s vaginal wall ceases to adequately support the urinary bladder. The front wall of the vagina gives support to the bladder under normal circumstances but when this wall weakens, it allows the bladder to droop and become prolapsed. This can lead to a wide range of medical problems such as urinary difficulties, stress incontinence (leakage of urine while coughing or sneezing), pain and discomfort, etc.

Prolapsed bladders are generally associated with menopause. Also known as cystoceles or fallen bladders, they are categorized into four different types depending on the extent to which the bladder has prolapsed.
Grade 1: This is the mild stage wherein a small portion of the bladder droops into the vagina.
Grade 2: This is the moderate stage in which the bladder droops far enough to reach the opening of the vagina.
Grade 3: This is when the condition becomes severe and the bladder protrudes from the body through the opening of the vagina.
Grade 4: This occurs when the bladder has completely prolapsed. The entire bladder protrudes outside the vagina and is normally associated with other forms of pelvic organ prolapse such as uterine prolapse (the sagging of the uterus from its normal spot) and rectocele (prolapse of the wall between the vagina and the rectum).

What are the causes of prolapsed bladders?

Following are the factors that lead to the condition of prolapsed bladders:

1. Menopause: The vaginal walls are known to become weak upon the onset of menopause. This occurs because the body inhibits the production of oestrogen, the hormone that renders strength to the muscles of the vagina. As a result, the bladder is no longer supported by the vagina.
2. Childbirth: The process of childbirth puts a tremendous amount of stress on the vagina and often leads to deterioration of the muscles of the vaginal wall. This in turn leads to the condition of prolapsed bladder.
3. Straining: Anything that puts strain on the walls of the vagina can lead to this condition. This includes lifting heavy objects, chronic constipation, obesity, excessive coughing and sneezing or any other factor that damages the pelvic floor.

What are the symptoms of a prolapsed bladder?

Symptoms of a prolapsed bladder vary from case to case, depending on the category and extent of the condition. Some of the most commonly experienced symptoms of the condition are as follows:

Tissue sticking out of the vagina (that may be tender and/or bleeding)

1. Frequent urge to urinate
2. Urinary incontinence (unwanted leakage of urine)
3. Pain during urination
4. Pain during sex
5. Frequent urinary tract and bladder infections
6. Pain in the vagina, pelvis, lower abdomen or lower back
7. Incomplete urination

Detoxification is a physiological and medical process of blood cleansing by removing impurities from the blood. It is a means of cleaning and nourishing the body from inside and it is done at least once in a year. It includes one or more of the following: dieting, fasting, colon cleansing, removal of dental fillings or cutting out specific foods from your diet.

Benefits of detoxifying your body

1.        Gets rid of excess waste
2.        Boosts up your energy
3.        Strengthens your immune system
4.        Improves your respiration process
5.        Reduces weight
6.        Provides anti-aging benefits

Majority of the detoxification of your body is carried out by these 4 systems; Digestive, Respiratory, Urinary and Dermal. Any disturbance in these 4 systems results in accumulation of toxins in your body and may cause serious medical illnesses.
Homeopathy approach helps in maintaining the proper functioning and balance of the 4 systems. It is a gentle, natural and one of the safest ways of removing toxins.

Homeopathic remedies for treating detoxification are as follows:

1.        Berberis Vulgaris
It acts as a stimulator of liver, gall bladder and kidneys. It is best suited for people who face rapid change of symptoms, pain all over the body, repeated diarrhea and stone in the kidney.

2.        Chelidonium tincture
 It is a reliable liver and gall bladder drainer. It supports liver in removing toxin from your body due to heavy usage of drugs and antibiotics. 

3.        Senega
It is an effective detoxification remedy for people exposed to respiratory issues with allergies.

4.        Nux Vomica
It acts as an intestine and liver stimulator. It is mostly used for symptoms linked with a sedentary lifestyle and excessive consumption of alcohol, drugs, caffeine, and tobacco.

5.        Taraxacum Officinale
It is used by people having stomach and digestion issues.

6.        Fumaria Officinalis
 It detoxifies your body by purifying the blood and leading to enhanced functioning of the liver.

7.        Uva Ursi
It is an effective urinary antiseptic that supports the functioning of kidneys and reproductive system.

8.        Saponaria
It is used for skin draining purpose.

9.        Aloe
It is used for detoxification of the rectum.

Apart from the homeopathy remedies, other self care measures such as drinking lots of water, healthy eating, exercising regularly, minimizing stress and avoiding alcohol and drugs can help in detoxifying.