Health & Wellness Archives - Page 15 of 50

What You Need To Know About Vitamin D Deficiency And How To Prevent It

A voluntary blood testing was performed among 369 randomly selected Metro Manila office workers and the results revealed that 58% were vitamin D- deficient while 30% shown to have insufficient levels of vitamin D – Philippine College of Occupational Medicine (PCOM) director Dr. Marilou Renales

It was surprising to know that there is such a thing as Vitamin D Deficiency.

Vitamin D is an essential vitamin that can be manufactured by our own body with sunlight exposure. The sunlight exposure required to get the enough Vitamin D needed by our body depends on the time of the day, geographical location and your skin pigmentation. Dark skinned people needs more sun exposure since eumelanin (the most common type of Melanin) acts as natural sun screen protection. But we all know how sun exposure can be damaging to the skin, nyaks! So where to get Vitamin D?

Vitamin D can also be found in food, such as milk, but you need to consume a lot. An 8 ounce glass of milk contains 100 IUs of vitamin D, our body needs 800 IU of Vitamin D, do the math.

Can you drink that much milk in one day? Wait! Why do we need Vitamin D? What are the effects of having less Vitamin D?

Our body needs Vitamin D for calcium absorption and promote bone growth. Other benefits that we can get from Vitamin D:

What happens when we have Vitamin D deficiency?

With the above mentioned benefits from Vitamin D, I guess you now have an idea what happens when you don’t have enough Vitamin D in your body. Since Vitamin D aides in the absorption of Calcium, Vitamin D deficiency has a great effect on our bones. Rickets and osteomalacia are some vitamin D deficiency diseases.

Aside from sunlight and food, another way to get the enough Vitamin D our body needs is through supplement. The newest product from Unilab, a Vitamin D supplement, was recently launched:

Forti- D, the latest vitamin D supplement in the market, is a single- dose supplement that contains 800 IU of Vitamin D. “Taking one capsule of Forti- D every day helps reduce the rick of getting chronic diseases by unlocking the proper function of organs typically affected by such illnesses,” said Alex Panlilio, Unilab VP for consumer health.

Forti- D is now available in the market, sold at P6.50 (SRP).

The Top Leading Causes of Death Among Filipino Children: Pneumonia and Diarrhea

Do you know that the top leading causes of death among Filipino children less than 5 years of age is Pneumonia and Diarrhea? Everyday, 37 Filipino children die of Pneumonia and more than 13 children dying due to diarrhea.

What is Pneumonia and Diarrhea? Why it is one of the top 2 leading causes of mortalty and morbidity here in our country? What are the symptoms? treatments? Can Pneumonia and Diarrhea be prevented?

During the launch of GSK’s “No Lost Hope” `campaign, Dr Sally Gatchailan, Philippine Foundation for Vaccination Director, discuss these two top leading causes of death among Filipino children less than 5 years of age and how it can be prevented.

PNEUMONIA

What is Pneumonia? It is an infection of the lungs which is primarily characterized by inflammation of the microscopic air sacs known as alveoli. These tiny air sacs are responsible for the oxygen exchange in our body during breathing. If there is pneumonia, these tiny sacs are inflamed and is filled with pus, thus making it hard for oxygen to reach our blood. If there is little oxygen in our blood, the cells won’t function well and that is how deadly Pneumonia can be.

What are the causes of Pneumonia? Pneumococcal disease is an infection caused by the bacterium S. pneumoniae (also known as pneumococcus). It can also result to acute otitis media (AOM), an ear infection, a common and highly prevalent disease. It also includes severe diseases such as meningitis, complicated pneumonia, and sepsis (blood poisoning), which occur when the pneumococcus “invades” the blood. The invasive forms of the pneumococcal disease are a category called Invasive Pneumococcal Disease (IPD).

What are the symptoms of Pneumonia? Symptoms of Pneumonia includes cough, chest pain, fever and difficulty in breathing. Pneumonia can be diagnosed through physical exam and diagnostic tests such as X Ray and Blood Test.

Can Pneumonia be prevented? Yes, Pneumonia can be prevented through hand washing, preventing air pollution, and adequate nutrition and through vaccination. Ask your pediatrician about pneumococcal disease and the vaccine to prevent it.

DIARRHEA

What is Diarrhea? Diarrhea is characterized by loose bowel movement and when left untreated it can lead to dehydration. We know that our body is 70% water, so just imagine if we lose water in our body, that can be very deadly. Diarrhea is most severe and frequent in infants aged 3-24 months.

What are the causes of Diarrhea? Rotavirus Gastroentitis (RVGE) is the most common cause of diarrhea. RVGE is contagious and the most common way of transmission is fecal-oral route. It is when an infected stool is passed to a mouth of another child, also touching a surface that has been contaminated by the virus and touching the mouth can lead to infection.

What are the symptoms of Diarrhea? The symptoms of this deadly disease includes watery stool, vomiting, fever and sometimes abdominal pain. Diarrhea if left untreated can lead to dehydration and symptoms of dehydration includes dry mouth, absence of tears when crying, sunken eyes and extreme thirst.

Can Diarrhea be prevented? Prevention will always be better than treatment, no doubt about that. As how diarrhea can be prevented, frequent proper hand washing is necessary. A vaccine is also available to protect children from Rotavirus, ask your pediatrician about it.

GSK’s SUPPORT IN THIS CRUSADE

GSK’s “NO HOPE LOST” is an awareness campaign on the heavy burden of pneumonia and diarrhea as the top leading causes of mortality and morbidity in the Philippines, specifically among children 5 years old and below, and if left unchecked can potentially lead to devastating consequences.

“With the help of our dear pediatricians, and the Department of Health, we are committed to the reduction of pneumonia and diarrhea cases nationwide by supplying high quality vaccines. These diseases account for an alarming almost 50 mortalities per day in the Philippines. GSK is here to support the Filipino medical community and the government’s drive to make health services accessible to everyone,” said Philip Cruz, GSK medical director.

THE GOVERNMENT’S ROLE IN FIGHTING THESE KILLER DISEASES

In 2012, the Philippine government acknowledged this burden and addressed it by introducing rotavirus vaccine (RV) in the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) where 700,000 Filipino children aged six weeks to six months were given free rotavirus vaccines.

In 2013, the Department of Health (DOH) leveled up the fight against the top killer of Filipino children by including another novel vaccine called pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) in the EPI.

This combined effort to protect Filipino children against pneumonia and diarrhea contributes to the achievement of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 of reducing infant and child mortality by 2/3 by 2015.

Now that you know about Pneumonia and Diarrhea, will you let your child be one of the 37 or 13? Help us spread the word about these two deadly disease so that those numbers will decrease.

Tooth Extraction With Abscess, Is It Safe?

First born complained of tooth ache.. err no.. he was not just complaining, he’s wailing! He asked for tooth extraction.. he said he can’t bear the pain anymore..poor kid 🙁

Before we went to the dentist, I asked a few friends kung safe ba magpabunot ng ngipin kahit masakit or kung may maga?

Most of the answered no and the dentist said the same thing. Why? according to the dentist, the anesthesia won’t work if the patient is experiencing pain.. eh kung mataas ang pain tolerance? Hindi pa rin safe.. why?

The dentist explained that when an abscessed tooth is pulled out, the pus in the infection can go inside the root and can lead to a more serious infection. The dentist advised that my son take antibiotics for the infection and pain killer for the pain.

She prescribed Amoxicillin and Dolfenal for pain. She said to continue taking Dolfenal for 2 days even if there is no more pain since the med is also anti inflammatory.

Dolfenal contains mefenamic acid and is used for: (from Unilab website)

For the symptomatic relief of mild to moderately severe pain including headache, dental pain, post-operative and postpartum pain, primary dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia, and pain associated with cancer;
For the symptomatic relief of musculoskeletal and joint disorders including osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis;
For the treatment of soft tissue rheumatism, sprain/swelling of tendons (tendonitis) and low back pain

Still, he can’t have tooth extraction when the pain and the infection subsides.. according to the dentist, he needs to wait until he’s 12 before an extraction can be done. And to prevent tooth ache from happening again, the dentist advised the use of Mouthwash often and of course proper care of teeth such as brushing after eating.