Ringworm Disease In Children

It is very common to find people facing infectious diseases. With medicinal development, curing a disease has been made easy and accessible. Today, it is very easy to find podiatry or foot surgery specialists if you have different foot ailments or ankle problems. However, even though medical advancement is making it easy to cure diseases, there is not much difference seen in the occurrence of the diseases. One such example is of ringworm. Even though doctors emphasize on keeping good hygiene, many children are observed to catch this infection.

The symptoms of ringworm may differ according to the areas of infection. Ringworm on the scalp would start with a small pimple that will grow big with the passage of time. As it becomes larger, it leaves behind hairless patches and makes the hair brittle which eventually breaks off. Yellow crusty patches might also be visible. As for the ringworm on the body, a round and itchy patch may develop on the body other than the head and feet. A ring might also show up and it may clear away hair growth from the area.

Anyone and everyone can be affected by ringworm. However, increasing numbers of children are exhibiting the disease. The main cause of the disease is poor hygiene and contact with any other infected person or animal. Considering the fact that children tend to have much contact with other children at school, this infection may rise. Similarly, children may use different common items at school such as telephones, gym mats, or shower stalls that can lead to infection.

Treatment of ringworm mainly comprises of anti-fungal creams and anti-allergens. However, you must never think about self medication. Consult a doctor and follow his advice. It is better that you rush to the doctor the moment you see the initial signs because it is can get much worse if it is not treated in a timely manner. Do not take the infection lightly and consult a physician. If your child has ringworm, there are a few things you need to be careful about:

• Take the child for regular check ups. The doctor might prescribe the medicine for up to 4 weeks. Make sure you are careful about the daily dosage.

• Over-the-counter creams are ideal for scalp ringworm. Apply them on the infected area and wash your hands.

• Ask your doctor about a shampoo that will be least irritating to children’s skin. Use this shampoo on the child’s hair at least twice or thrice a week. You might also consider using the over-the-counter creams with the shampoo.

• Inform the school teachers of the infection.

• Keep pets away from the child.

• Make sure you regularly clean the common-use items in your house.

• Keep the combs, brushes, hats, caps, hair bows, and clips separate for each member of your family.

• Tell your child to wash his/her hands when he/she combs their hair.

The easiest way to cure any disease is to prevent it. Most fungal infections can be prevented if you emphasize on good personal hygiene. Keep up a good hygiene and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Sep
9

Protect Your Heart From Heart Disease

There is no easy way to say this, but having low HDL cholesterol increases your risk of coronary artery disease, regardless of how good your LDL levels and triglycerides are. And sadly, HDL cholesterol is something people overlook when managing their cholesterol.

The truth is, all aspects of cholesterol are important – HDL, LDL and triglycerides – so therefore, all aspects of it should be treated and managed properly.

The reason having low HDL is dangerous is because of the protective function it performs. HDL cleans the walls of your blood vessels, removing excess cholesterol, which would have been used to make plaque, causing coronary artery disease.

HDL then brings the excess cholesterol to your liver, where it is processed and removed from your system.

So as you can see, having low HDL levels would interfere with this required function, and impact negatively on your heart health and your health in general.

What is considered a low HDL level? Well a HDL level of under 40 mg/dL results in increased risk of coronary artery disease. A normal HDL level would be between 40 and 60 mg/dL.

However, HDL levels greater than 60 mg/dL can actually protect you from heart disease. The higher your HDL levels the better basically.

There is no prescription medication available that can solely increase low HDL cholesterol. In fact, the majority of cholesterol prescription medications, while very effective at lowering LDL cholesterol, albeit with the risk of dangerous side effects, fail to have a significant impact on HDL levels.

The alternative then to treating low HDL is to increase HDL levels naturally. And there are a number of ways of successfully doing this:

Increase Exercise
Now while exercise is not everyone’s cup of tea, it is without doubt one of the most successful ways of increasing low HDL naturally. The key is to exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes each day.

Lose Weight
If you have any excess weight, then shedding a few pounds will definitely increase HDL cholesterol.

Change Your Diet
Reducing or eliminating foods high in saturated fats and trans fats (animal and dairy products, processed and deep fried foods etc.) will not only lower LDL cholesterol but will raise HDL levels also. Adding more foods high in monounsaturated fats (nuts, olive oil, avocados etc.) will increase HDL too.

Natural Nutrients
There are certain natural nutrients that not only increase low HDL cholesterol, but lower LDL and triglycerides as well. The thing is though, it is not possible to get them in sufficient quantities through food, so a natural supplement is required. The nutrients you want to look out for are lecithin oil and policosanol, as they have an amazing track record and incredible success rate at raising low HDL cholesterol, lowering high LDL cholesterol and lowering triglycerides.

Remember, it is vital that you treat all aspects of cholesterol – LDL, HDL and triglycerides – and leave nothing to chance.

If you are really serious about having great cholesterol levels, and protecting yourself from heart disease, then visit my website today, where I share what I personally used, and continue to use, for amazing cholesterol levels and spectacular heart health!

Sep
9

Myths About Sexually Transmitted Diseases

One of the main ways to prevent STDs is knowledge of the facts about the causes, symptoms and treatment available for these diseases. It is highly recommended that your partner and you get tested for STDs together before engaging in any sexual activity. With this, both of you will know that you are or not STD-free. Also, here are a few common myths associated with STDs:

* Oral sex does not cause STDs. The fact is when you engage in any form of sex – oral, anal, vaginal, or even just sexual contact you are susceptible to STDs. Infact the viruses or bacteria can make their way into your body through tiny cuts or tears in the mouth, anus and your genitals. Don’t believe that you are on the safer side because you just had oral sex.
* No signs of infection, so no worries. Did you know that most STDs don’t show any signs of infection, sometimes for years? Also you might mistake some symptoms for various other less serious diseases. For example, gonorrhea might be mistaken to be a bladder infection until tested.
* You cannot get STDs more than once. Although STDs like chlamydia and gonorrhea can be treated when diagnosed early, you are prone to infection if you share sexual relations with someone who has them. Also STDs like HIV are for life and you can only reduce the infection with medication.
* Condoms offer complete protection from STDs. It is true that condoms protect you from STDs. However it might not be enough to protect you from STDs which spread even with the use of condoms. For example, Human Papilloma Virus or HPV is spread by skin-to-skin contact.

Also, many believe that oral contraception can protect you from STD. This is not true as oral contraceptives cannot reduce the risk of STDs. You can read more about STDs and the importance of HIV testing online.

Intown Primary care offers confidential testing for a number of sexually transmitted diseases including Herpes types 1 & 2, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Syphilis, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and Genital Warts (HPV). They also offer HIV Testing and assure you complete confidentiality.

Sep
9

Eliminating Migraine Headaches

Migraine headache sufferers can reduce or eliminate their migraine headaches by getting the proper amount of quality sleep. The chemical serotonin produced by the body is dependent on sleep and has been called the “feel good” chemical of the brain. Many people who have poor sleeping patterns will find that the body cannot produce this chemical without it and thus could end up suffering from a migraine attack.

Sleep quality is depended on certain factors being controlled or eliminated and they are stress, drugs and medications and noise. These things when under control can allow one to get the proper quality of rest that they need.

Lighting can also affect sleep quality and one cannot get good quality sleep with the lights on even if they think that this does not affect them. Turn off all the lights including the TV for a good quality night’s sleep.

There are those who have slept by having the TV on for many years and it is a hard habit to break. If one must have the TV on to fall asleep they should make sure to set the timer so that it goes off after about an hour. Once asleep the subconscious mind is aware of sounds and lights and when these things are eliminated the body can get the proper rest that it needs.

Stress is an element in our lives than can be difficult to eliminate but it can be reduced tremendously with the proper amount of exercise. Exercise has been known to be a great stress reducer.

If you get the right amount of exercise before sunset each day you can get a good quality of sleep at night. Do not, however, exercise just before bedtime as you may have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep.

Certain medications can have their effects on our sleeping patterns. If you must take medication consult with your doctor about its effects on your sleep and if necessary the doctor will have you take them earlier in the day to reduce their effect on sleep. Caffeine is common drug that affects our sleep as well.

Reducing or eliminating caffeine consumption can greatly improve sleeping patterns. Do not consume caffeinated beverages after dinner and if you suffer from migraine headaches, caffeine has been known to trigger them, so eliminating or lessening consumption of it can help.

Sep
9