Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Congenital Heart Disease

Congenital heart disease occurs as the result of structural defect in the heart. So, it can be detected right after the birth. Unfortunately every year, a wide majority of infants and children die of this ailment. Most of the children die as early as in their first year of life. The heart malfunctions and causes defective flow or circulation of the blood as well. The heart rhythm can also be observed to be defective at times. All these related symptoms lead to untimely death of the poor child.

Congenital heart disease is found to be the major cause of still births. It is not necessary that only infants or children are effected by this. Adults with this defect in the heart are many. This disease in adults is termed as grown-up congenital heart disease (GUCH). A survey has found that the number of GUCH cases is still rising. As a result, more and more babies with this heart abnormality are expected to be born in future. The symptoms associated with this disease are breathlessness, chest pain, infections in the respiratory system, murmur in the heart, blood and fluid accumulation in lungs and many parts of legs. The detection of this malfunctioning of heart is as easy as through a stethoscope and can be made as early as during the infancy period.

This type of heart defect can be minor as well as major. In some patients, it improves with time even without any medical treatment. Few precautions might need to be taken with the patient, especially with infants. But in most of the cases, the defect is corrected by surgical and medicinal treatments. Some cases do not respond well to mere one surgery and might require multiple ones. If ignored, congenital heart disease can take toll even on life. So, special care should be taken till the problem is sorted out treated completely.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Causes Of Diabetes

Diabetes is stated as the condition in which blood sugar increases abnormally in the body. It happens as a result of inability of insulin to work suitably. Causes of diabetes can be many and can be determined according to the type of diabetes. For example, the cause of failure of insulin in type one diabetes is different than that in type two. These causes have been well identified yet many of them are still considered to be mere hypotheses. Diabetes is caused when pancreas is not able to produce enough of insulin or it produces insulin which is not able to work on sugar in the body.

Type one diabetes occurs when cells in the pancreas that are responsible for the production of insulin, get killed by body’s own immune system. So, this automatically leads to lack of insulin in the body. No particular reason for this has been determined till date. Yet the causes of diabetes are guessed to be some kind of viral or bacterial infection, or due to the impact of toxins present in food. This guesses are still to be proved. In type two diabetes, it is believed that the body fails to respond to the activity by insulin or becomes resistant to insulin. The other possible reason is that the insulin produced by the body is incapable to work, as required. Factors like old age, lethargy or obesity can be held responsible for this.

Other causes of diabetes include the intake of very strong drugs and steroids, or suffering from any disease that impacts the working of pancreas and disturbs its ability to produce insulin. Diabetes is neither contagious nor can be inherited. It is a general myth among people that those who are fond of sweets are more likely to develop diabetes. Actually this can be an indirect cause for diabetes since people who intake excess sweets tend to become obese and obesity can result in type two diabetes. One should understand that whatever is the cause of his diabetes, it should be managed seriously.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Constipation And Back Pain

Almost everyone must have experienced back pain at certain point of their lives. Back pain can be associated with many other problems. For example, it can occur along with constipation as well. Doctors while diagnosing the problem often relate the two, you might wonder how. Constipation and back pain can possibly be related. Together they can bother you extremely as both the problems are badly painful. The impact can be higher when they occur simultaneously.

When the passage of motions gets blocked in the lower intestinal tract, it puts pressure on lower back. The pain might become bad if the passage is not cleared since the body keeps producing excreta. So, constipation can cause back pain. Another situation of constipation and back pain is possible where constipation is caused due to back pain. In most of the cases, pain in the back occurs due to sudden jerky movement or lifting of a heavy object. This may happen as the strained muscles of lower back can effect on nerves related to bowel system. Thus, the bowel activity gets hindered, resulting to constipation. These side-by-side problems, in some cases get rectified on their own. Whereas, in some cases one needs to follow a strict regime, that involves intake of fluids in good amounts. The increased amount of fibre in the diet also helps a lot. Also, some exercises and body postures give relief from such problems.

But, when the case is severe and doesn’t resolve by these methods easily, the doctor should be consulted immediately. You might require chiropractic therapy. Other therapies like massage therapy and acupuncture can help you get rid of the situation. Depending upon intensity of the problem, the doctor might also recommend some good medicines that prove to be rescuing drugs. The great relief from constipation and back pain, the two common but painful problems can be beyond imagination as the body starts functioning well again.