Articles by Mukul Saxena

Historically, human civilisations growth is punctuated with attention to weight and to diet. Diet fads like low fat diet, low carbohydrate diet, Duke diet, Couch Potato diet, HCG Diet, GM diet, banana breakfast diet, no breakfast diet, fruit diet, salad diet, tomato diet, etc. have evolved over time. In this maze, we have lost sight of what is known as balanced diet.Peer pressure, celebrity endorsement and size-zero concept contributes to diet fads. Some also have the desire to lose a lot of weight, that too very fast!   A balanced diet is a balanced proportion of different components are -…

Eczema in children, is a condition typically characterised by skin lesions associated with itching, sometimes watery discharges,  often complicated by infections, and noted for relapses. The condition has shown a spurt in number of cases recently. In 1972, a  Bihar study revealed prevalence of eczema to be 0.38% of all skin diseases.  38 % of them were reported to be Infantile AD (atopic Dermatitis), a medical term for eczema. Two decades later another study showed the incidence of AD to be 28.46% of total paediatric skin diseases. The reasons for this spurt are not very clear. Some of the causes…

In 19th Century, King George V asked “If preventable why not prevented”, when informed that Tuberculosis is a preventable disease. In 21st century, the question still remains unanswered. The impact in terms of death and disability it causes worldwide is significant. Sample this:Globally,     8.8 million infected with Tuberculosis and 1.2 million deaths in     2010,Over     95% of deaths occur in low and middle income countriesEvery     3rd     person in world carries the infection with him/her. The risk of     developing active TB is 10 % but increases if immunity is compromised due to Diabetes, HIV, or smoking…

Conjunctivitis , is one of the most contagious eye infection. It spreads as an epidemic through schools, families and institutions. Suddenly you would see a large population wearing sunglasses. Sunglasses are no protection against conjunctivitis as is often believed. They only relieve symptoms of pain on exposure to light. Ironically, if proper precautions are not observed they by themselves help in spreading the disease. A meticulous attention to hygiene, hand washing, and treatment can mitigate the symptoms and control the spread of infection. Most cases of conjunctivitis are due to infection either viral or bacterial and allergy or exposure to…

Water is the elixir of life. But according to World Health Organisation, nearly 1.8 million people die every year due to water-borne diseases. What are these diseases that we need to be careful about? The diseases range from gastritis, diarrhoea, jaundice, polio, amoebiasis, tapeworm infest ation, hydatid disease of liver, intestine, and lungs, worms to cholera, typhoid, and so on. Pic: Wikimediacommons Vomiting, and loose motions, if persistent, lead to electrolyte imbalance and can even be fatal. Cholera is another waterborne disease which can lead to epidemics and large number of deaths. The causes of these diseases are unsafe water,…

Ask a person who would have died of an adverse drug reaction if not for steroids, what does S/he thinks of steroids. The answer would be, it is a boon.Ask a man whose wife, suffering from arthritis and on long term steroid medication, dies due to a perforated bleeding peptic ulcer: what does he thinks of steroids. The answer would be - a curse. Steroids or anabolic steroids have been in the news for all the wrong reasons, especially with sports people and doping scandals. Most drugs used in sports are anabolic steroids or their derivatives.Steroids are used in various…

Doctors have a busy schedule, so if you proactively provide them with information about your health, rather than have them fish it out of you, so much the better. Here are some tips: Electronic medical record. Pic: Wikimedia commons Be specific about what brings you to doctor. Explain the symptoms, mention duration of symptoms, any precipitating factor that you think has brought it up, if chronic then for how long it has been persisting. A few examples...Pain in the abdomen: site of pain, whether acute or chronic, whether it shifts from where it started from, or radiates to another region,…

The word ‘antibiotic‘ means a process by which life could be used to destroy life. It comes from the word antibiosis, a term coined in 1889 by Louis Pasteur's pupil Paul Vuillemin. Antibiotics are essentially chemicals secreted by bacteria, fungus and other microorganisms to inhibit the growth of other organisms. Antibiotics are panacea for all diseases.They are effective only against certain infections. I can recover faster from cold and cough with antibiotics.Most cold and cough are viral and antibiotics do not kill viruses.Antibiotics are relatively safe.People have died due to wrongly administered antibiotics.Mild infection: I can buy any antibiotic over…

In mid 1800, it was noted by Ignal Sommeweiss in Vienna that death rates after delivery came down from 17% to 3 %, merely by insisting that doctors wash their hands with chlorinated lime solution , before attending to next patient. (Source:WHO Guidelines). We have moved on from then, to hand sanitisers. These are basically alcohol based rub and have the advantage of easy access , portability, and excellent outcomes in terms of disease prevention.Off late there have been discussions on whether the excessive usage of hand sanitiser adversely affects children's immunity. There has been a report in Canadian Medical…

A person talking about futility of life or inability to face stress should be taken seriously. Steps to prevent suicides have to be taken at different levels. At community level, it includes education, destigmatising psychiatric illness, screening and treatment. Education includes individual and public awareness, professional awareness and counseling. At the family level, love, understanding and support can help people cope.Earliest signs of depression or any other psychiatric disorder should be taken seriously and treated. Any mention of suicidal thought or talk should not be ignored. Teachers, counselors and parents have to join hands to detect earliest signs of childen…