Symptoms like weight loss, memory loss, weakness, and fatigue should not be mistaken as a sign of the"normal aging" process. Dr. Shital Patel explains 12 common but misleading symptoms in the elderly and why you should seek a doctor's opinion instead of ignoring them.
Symptoms in the elderly can have very different causes than they may have in a young person. Many symptoms in the geriatric population may be masked by concurrent chronic ailments, injuries, age-related physiological…
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First time mothers are often very stressed about many different things. In one study on Indian women, 70% felt breastfeeding was a challenging experience. We speak to Dr Zinal Unadkat Shah, a Pediatrician and Lactation Consultant from Mumbai on the effect of stress on lactation. How does stress affect lactation physiologically? Whenever a woman takes stress, it increases the hormone cortisol in the body. Cortisol levels in turn work on the pituitary gland thereby reducing the hormones prolactin…
Specialty palliative care, in contrast to standard oncology care, can provide an extra layer of support for patients with lung cancer and their families. Dr Rajam Iyer, a pulmonologist and strong proponent of palliative care, enumerates its benefits for lung cancer patients. What is palliative care for lung cancer? In India, lung cancer constitutes 6.9 per cent of all new cancer cases and 9.3 per cent of all cancer related deaths in both sexes. At the time of…
There is almost 10 times higher risk of developing head and neck cancers in persons consuming both alcohol and tobacco, warns Dr Shaikh Muzammil, consultant medical oncologist, Hinduja Healthcare Surgical, and advises cutting down on risks to stay protected. Head and neck cancers account for more than 5.5 lakh of the total cancer cases reported in India every year, putting India in the sixth place worldwide. What are main types of head and neck cancers? The most common type of head and neck…
Dr Rajam Iyer, pulmonologist and palliative care physician, gives us an overview of Nicotine Replacement Therapy, a treatment to help people quit smoking, and strongly recommends its promotion among smokers and the need to test it for smokeless tobacco (bidi) users. What is Nicotine Replacement Therapy? Nicotine replacement therapy is a treatment that smokers can benefit from. As smokers are addicted to the nicotine in cigarettes, that causes physical dependence, NRT helps in controlling the…
Rebecca D'Souza, clinical psychologist with Nag Foundation, an NGO in Pune working for the welfare of cancer patients, says losing hair due to chemotherapy is one of the biggest fears for women, and suggests ways of dealing with the stress and emotions. Cancer is a much maligned and dreaded disease partly because of the lack of awareness and partly because of our understanding of the disease and its treatment. Lack of awareness is one of the main reasons for late diagnosis and a lack of…
Dementia is recognized as a global health concern. It is a neurocognitive disorder, which is primarily prevalent in the elderly population. The symptoms include significant memory loss with impairments in other cognitive functions and behavioural manifestations. It has been found that certain characteristics of dementia, especially agitation and aggression can cause severe distress to the caregivers. The undesirable and distressing behavioural manifestations have been termed as ‘Challenging…
Dr. Snehil Mishra, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Hinduja Healthcare Surgical Hospital, dispels the fallacy that heart disease is a man's disease. On the contrary, it is the number one killer of women with symptoms in women being different than men. Are women at a higher risk for heart disease than men? The risk of heart disease in women is significantly underappreciated due to under reporting as well as lack of awareness. In most Western countries, the incidence of heart…
You may have heard people refer to a ‘metastatic cancer' or say that ‘cancer has metastasized’ or is ‘in Stage 4’. But what does that really mean. Dr. Shital Raval explains. What is Metastasis? Metastasis is a term for when cancer has spread to a different part of a body from where it first originated. Because metastatic cancer is more difficult to control and treat, it is categorized as the last stage or Stage IV. How does Metastasis happen? This happens when cancer cells break…
