All posts by Sumana Rao

Don't worry about the people in your past; There's a reason they didn't make it to your future.
Selena Gomez’s kidney transplant due to Kidney Lupus

Selena Gomez’s kidney transplant due to Kidney Lupus

Recently pop singer Selena Gomez revealed that she went through kidney transplant Salena who was suffering from autoimmune disease namely Lupus received kidney from her good friend Francia Raisa.

Lupus is a disease that affects more women than men. Nine out of 10 patients are women in lupus cases.

What is Lupus?  Lupus is Latin name refers to wolf. It is named after wolf because when the disease did not have any treatment, it would eat the skin away like wolf, leaving scars and damage.

Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease where the body cannot differentiate between its own healthy tissues and body invaders.  Lupus is of two types – Discoid lupus that affects skin. Systemic lupus erythematosus or SLE harms skin, joint, kidney, heart and brain. It can be fatal (Source: NKF)

Skin, joints and kidneys are the commonly affected parts and the chronic condition starts slowly and will be there for many years if there is no treatment. Lupus is common in Asian, Hispanic, dark and brown skin people than in white. There is no cure but the treatments can control the disease.

When lupus is affecting kidney, it is known as Lupus nephritis. In this condition inflammation of the nephrons happens. Nephrons function is filtering the blood to remove waste and thus, helps in balancing amount of fluid in the body.

What are lupus symptoms?

  • Unexplained, sudden swelling of body parts – ankles, feet, legs, gingers, arms, face especially around eyes
  • Blood in the urine
  • High blood pressure
  • Foaminess in the urine
  • Increased urination
  • Joint pain, rashes, fatigue and feeling lousy and lethargic
  • It can also affect bone density, heart, liver, pancreas, and brain

Why Selena had to undergo kidney transplant?

In Selena’s case reports say that she was battling with lupus for many years and she went through chemotherapy too. She took time off to deal with depression and anxiety which is associated with chronic pain. As per Dr. Montgomery, Director of Transplant Institute at NYU Langone Health, sometimes it comes to a point where lupus damages kidneys and either one or both need to be replaced. In Selena’s case, probably this could be the reason. Lupus attacks the own organs and tissues and it can affect the entire body system.

Medications and treatments for lupus:

While there is no permanent cure for this condition, the following drugs are used to treat the inflammation and lupus symptoms: Anti malarial drugs, NSAID, Synthetic steroids – that reduces swelling, reduces muscle and joint pain, Immunosuppressive medications to suppress immune system,  DHEA DHEA – a mild hormone that is used for treating mild to moderate lupus (hair loss, joint pain, fatigue, dysfunction (memory loss, multitasking difficulty etc).

As per John Hopkin’s Lupus center those who receive anti-malarial drugs in early stages of Lupus then they live longer than those who are not.

Treatments for lupus depends on how severe is the condition. In extreme cases patient may have to go through chemotherapy, dialysis and kidney transplant.

Diet for Lupus condition: Many people who has lupus may lead a normal life with some chronic pain. Those who are diagnosed with lupus should stop consuming highly saturated fats. Instead foods that boost kidney health should be consumed – low fat milk, cheese, tofu, beans, calcium rich food, green leafy vegetables such as palak, spinach, fenugreek and broccoli are good. Calcium supplements and Vitamin D helps too.

According to medical science, half of all systemic lupus cases one can see lupus attacking major organs such as lungs, heart, kidneys or brain. In case of kidney lupus person may has to undergo dialysis till he or she gets a kidney donor (for replacement). The wait depends – sometime donor may be lucky with a friend or family member may be willing to be a live donor. In case of Selena it was her friend who came to rescue her life!

References;

  1. https://www.hopkinslupus.org
  2. https://www.forbes.com/
  3. https://resources.lupus.org

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: October 6, 2017
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Contact lenses care tips

Contact lenses care tips

Do you know millions of contact lens wearers have poor contact lens hygiene and it results in eye infections and few visits to eye doctor every year! It is important for those who wear contact lenses to properly clean their lenses and get a checkup once a while with eye doctor.

What are your contact lenses made of? To keep it clean and infection free, understand what your contact lenses are made of.  There are two types of contact lenses – Soft and hard. Hard contact lenses that are used today are made of plastics and silicone or fluoropolymers. They hold their shape well.

Soft contact lenses are more comfortable and are preferred ones. Based on the materials that they are made of Soft contact lenses are three types:

  • Soft contacts – made of pliable hydrophilic or water loving plastics called hydrogels. They absorb water to keep the lenses soft and supple
  • Rigid gas permeable contacts – also called GP lenses are made of gas permeable material and are like hydrogels. These allow oxygen to pass through the lenses to the cornea. They do not contain much water but are porous.
  • Hybrid contact lenses -these are rigid GP central optical zone surrounded by a peripheral fitting zone mad of soft contact lens material.

Depending on how one wants to wear soft lenses are – Daily wear, extended wear (remove once a week or so), disposable (expensive and convenient), colored contact lenses (change one’s eye color).

Whatever the choice is, millions of people who wear contact lenses carry a risk of eye infections. Reasons for this is:

  • Use of extended wear lenses
  • Damage or tear under the lens
  • Poor hygiene
  • Environmental factors – dust, heat etc.

Take care of lenses

  1. Before handling contact lenses, wash hand using soap and water. Dry hands with a lint free cloth/towel
  2. Remove lenses before going for swimming or in a hot tub – means minimize contact with water
  3. Do not rinse lenses in water or store in water
  4. Do not put lenses in mouth to moisturize, saliva is not sterile.
  5. Do not use saline solution and rewetting drops to disinfect lenses
  6. Change or replace and wearing contact lenses should be as directed by your eye care doctor
  7. Use specific cleaning and storage guidelines as described your eye care professional.
  8. Rub and rinse: While cleaning rub contact lenses using your fingers and rinse with solution before soaking them. Rub and rinse method is considered as the best method over no rub method.
  9. Keep contact lens clean and replace every 3 months. Rinse the contact lens case with fresh solution. Dry the case. As cases can be a source of infection and contamination. Throw away damaged lenses case.

Contact lens solution:

  1. Do not re use old solution or top off the solution
  2. Do not transfer the solution to a different bottle
  3. Do not allow the tip of the bottle meet any surface – keep it sterile
  4. Understand, how long you can store lenses in the solution and how often you should change the solution.

Lenses and eyes care:

  • Stop smoking – it can only harm your eye sight
  • Do not use false or decorative lenses – not good for your eyes- eyes can be damaged permanently
  • If you are wearing lenses, go for regular checkups – annual examination is a must.
  • Get appropriate prescription after the expiry of the lenses as contact lens prescription do expire.

Remove contact lenses if you have any symptoms of redness, pain, tearing, blurry vision or any sort of discomfort and see your eye doctor immediately.

References:

  1. https://www.aao.org
  2. http://www.allaboutvision.com
  3. https://www.fda.gov/
  4. Image credit: Image by Martin Slavoljubovski from Pixabay
Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: October 5, 2017
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Relaxing during menstrual cycle

How to relax during menstrual cycle

Bloating, body pain, head ache and cramping all are associated with menstrual cycle.

These are classic pre-and menstrual cycle or period issues.  Busy and hectic life makes it tough to take rest on these days.

Sometimes it is even hard to get sleep with such body conditions. How to handle yourself to feel positive and energetic during this time?

How to take it easy during menstrual cycle?

  1. Boost your mood: During the period time most women feel depressed, lethargic and anxious. To boost mood, go out and spend time with your best friends. Go for light exercise, don’t skip gym. Do such exercise which you feel comfortable to do – certain yoga or Pilates poses you might not able to do. But going for walk, meditation, breathing, playing simple games to move the body all are healthy and bring back energy.
  2. What to eat? During period time one can feel nausea, indigestion, constipation, diarrhea etc. Avoid fatty foods and heavy snack items. Instead eat fruits, small amount of cheese, butter, brown rice, yogurt, freshly cooked vegetables with less spice. Drink milk or butter milk. These foods fill stomach and same time controls those symptoms that are bothering you.
  3. Taking hot shower: A morning and evening bath /shower will hep to relax the aching muscle. Apply little coconut oil on your tummy and legs. This reduces inflammation and aches in the system.
  4. Maintain hygiene: Wear fresh clothes – change your clothes twice a day. This gives fresh odor and you will not feel dirty. Chane your menstrual pad as often as possible. Don’t allow it to overflow.
  5. Get enough rest: Get good sleep. Some people suggest staying home and resting till you get over with the cramp and body ache. A good night sleep and an afternoon nap should help body to recover and energize. Maintain a consistent sleep timings – this helps body to recover faster than you think. Lack of sleep only increases body pain and aches.
  6. Keep yourself cool: Due to hormonal changes, body will heat during menstrual cycle. Keep yourself cool by drinking plenty of water and if you have AC at home, turn it on or use fans to calm down the system.
  7. Avoid heavy work: Avoid lifting heavy items and heavy work at home. Sometimes, doing heavy lifting during period time, can only increase risk of harming your body. Avoid sitting for longer hours as it can only worsen flow, increase aches and back pain.
  8. Drink plenty of fluid: To get good sleep, drink plenty of fluid including water, cumin water, buttermilk, coconut water, milk, turmeric milk, coriander water, chamomile tea – all these helps body to relax and keeps it anxious free.
  9. Essential oils: Find out the essential oils that can help you to relax – like mixture of lavender, roman chamomile, St John’s wort, ginger and marjoram essential oils with castor oil massage on the body parts that ache will help. Period is a blessing and not a curse. It only helps the body to get rid of unwanted stuffs. To keep body calm and relaxed these above suggestions might help.

Reference: Healthylife.werindia.com 

Image credit: Photo by Max Vertsanov on Unsplash

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: October 4, 2017
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Mosquitoes bite, three big threats!

Mosquitoes Bite, Three big threats!

In recent years the three illnesses are spreading throughout the world. Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika – all are due to viruses transmitted by mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes are dangerous to people and animals than any other insects in the world. They are the reason for many infectious diseases such as encephalitis, malaria, dengue, chikungunya, Zika virus, and yellow fever.

There has been recent spread of even more arboviral (Arthropod Borne Viral) diseases to new areas in the world over the last few months.

The Arbovirus that causes dengue, transmitted via Aedes spp. mosquitoes but recently other arboviral diseases have jumped geographic boundaries to infect new areas.

Although dengue is probably the most dangerous of these three viruses chikungunya and Zika are new to countries like America and many people are unaware of these illnesses. Aedes egypti and Aedes albopictus are the two main species of mosquitoes that carry these diseases.

Understanding the symptoms to cure the illnesses, preventing mosquitoes growth and taking other proper precautions like traveling to countries where these three illnesses are spreading – are necessary today.

Image credit: www.cdc.gov, Agrilifeextension.gov

Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya – What are the differences?: Click here to read more

Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya – what are the differences?

Zika Infections: Click here to read more

Zika Infections

Dengue Fever: Click here to read more

Dengue Infections

Chikungunya: Click here to read more

Chikungunya

Prevention Efforts for arboviral illnesses: Click here to read more

Prevention Efforts for Arboviral Illnesses

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Read more here:

Image courtesy and information also collected from: www.cdc.gov

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: September 29, 2017
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Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya – what are the differences?

Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya – What are the differences?

  • Chikungunya – an alphavirus that in the same family with Eastern and Western Equine Encephalitis viruses. Not related to dengue or Zika virus.
  • Dengue – a flavivirus, is in the same family with numerous pathogens including Yellow Fever, Japanese encephalitis, St Louis encephalitis, tick borne encephalitis, West Nile and Zika viruses
  • Zika – another flavivirus that is closely related to dengue and often misdiagnosed as dengue or chikungunya.

The illnesses caused by these three diseases have very similar/overlapping clinical presentation with prominent fever, headache, rash, myalgias (muscle aches) and arthralgias (joint aches).

In fact, serologic (antibodies in blood) surveys have demonstrated that outbreaks attributed to dengue in the past have turned out to be chikungunya or Zika infections.

Dengue and chikungunya are genetically distant relatives but Zika virus is closely related to dengue and often cross reacts (i.e. gives a false positive dengue test) on dengue serology or on some rapid assays that are available at some posts.

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on:
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Zika Infections

Zika Infections

Zika virus is another African arboviral illness first seen in monkeys in Uganda in 1947 but has moved onto the front pages recently as it is becoming established in the Americas.

  1. Zika rarely causes serious illness or death.
  2. Four of five people who get Zika virus won’t even know they are sick
  3. Common symptoms of Zika include: fever, rash, joint pain, red eyes, muscle pain, headache
  4. If you are pregnant and contract Zika, you do not have to feel sick to pass the virus to your unborn baby.
  5. Contact your doctor if you have: fever, joint pain, red or itchy eyes, rash
  6. Symptoms typically occur 2–7 days after a bite from an infected mosquito.
  7. There is no specific medicine or vaccine for Zika virus. Treat the symptoms.
  8. Clinical symptoms of Zika disease appear after an incubation period ranging between 3 and 12 days. The disease symptoms are usually mild and short lasting (2–7 days), and infection may go unrecognized or be misdiagnosed as dengue.

Zika is a disease spread by:

  • Bite of an infected mosquito
  • Infected woman to child during pregnancy
  • Infected male to partner during sex

If you are pregnant when or soon after you contract Zika, your unborn baby may develop a severe birth defect known as microcephaly.  Microcephaly causes an unusually small head, brain damage, and often death.

 

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on:
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Dengue Fever

Dengue Fever

Virus serovars are widespread in the tropics and have caused massive outbreaks, it is considered the most rapidly spreading arboviral disease in the world with a 30 fold increase in cases in the last 50 years. It is clearly related to the prevalence of Aedes aegypti in most areas but is carried by other Aedes spp in other areas.

Dengue appeared severely in recent years in: The Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Southern China, Taiwan, The Pacific Islands, The Caribbean, Mexico, Africa, Central and South America.

  1. Dengue virus is a leading cause of illness and death in the tropics and subtropics.
  2. As many as 400 million people are infected yearly.
  3. Dengue is caused by any one of four related viruses transmitted by mosquitoes.
  4. There are not yet any vaccines to prevent infection with dengue virus and the most effective protective measures are those that avoid mosquito bites.
  5. Symptoms: Symptoms, which usually begin four to six days after infection and last for up to 10 days, may include Sudden, high fever, Severe headaches, pain behind eyes, joint and muscle pain, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, skin rash (2 to 5 days after onset of fever, bleeding in nose, gums and easy bruising.
  6. When infected, early recognition and prompt supportive treatment can substantially lower the risk of medical complications and death.
  • Dengue has emerged as a worldwide problem only since the 1950s. Although dengue rarely occurs in the continental United States, it is endemic in Puerto Rico and in many popular tourist destinations in Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands.

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on:
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Chikungunya

Chikungunya

Chikungunya virus was originally an African illness and means ‘that which bends up” in the Makonde language of East Africa. For many years chikungunya was confined mainly to Africa but in the last decade has exploded through Asia and is now moving thru from the Caribbean to Central and South America.

  1. The incubation period of chikungunya disease ranges from 2-12 days, typically 3-7days.
  2. Symptoms include sudden onset of a fever, typically lasting from a few days to a week, sometimes up to ten days, usually above 39°C and sometimes reaching 40°C (104°F).
  3. The fever is associated with severe joint pain or stiffness. A maculopapular (red bumps) rash, muscle pain, headache, fatigue, nausea or vomiting may also be present. Inflammation of the eyes occurs in some.
  4. Typically, fever lasts for two days and then ends abruptly but may be biphasic (resolves and then returns later). Headache, insomnia and an extreme degree of prostration (feeling wiped out and requiring bedrest) last for a variable period, usually about 5-7 days.
  5. The severity of joint complaints in chikungunya may be severe and may persist for weeks, months or years in some individuals. The French have found that 80-90% of patients have some joint complaints at 3 months and 5% develop chronic joint complaints that persist for years.

Deaths from chikungunya mainly occur in elderly individuals with comorbid illness. The one group to be concerned about are pregnant women who may transmit chikungunya to their infant if they become infected just before giving birth, this has caused a small number of deaths in infected neonates.

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on:
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