Q My brother who is 8 year old having diabetes is there any option instead of taking insulin?

Juvenile diabetes (type 1) can definitely be stressful, however it is possible to live a normal life if proper care is taken. There is no alternative to insulin, he will have to keep taking it. Ensure that he always eats healthy, is physically active, takes his insulin shots on time and checks his blood sugar regularly. He needs to monitored by his physician at regular intervals. The sooner you accept and embrace the situation, the better support your brother will have to live his life normally.

Q Will having sex during pregnancy harm my baby?

If you have an absolutely normal pregnancy, you can safely have sex between the 3rd to 8th month. However, if you have any risk factors or complications like spotting or bleeding in early pregnancy, abdominal pains or cramps, broken waters, a history of cervical weakness, a low-lying placenta ( placenta praevia), a history of miscarriage or a twin pregnancy, its best to avoid intercourse. Your gynaecologist is the right person to advise regarding the safety of intercourse keeping your pregnancy (whether normal or risky) in mind.

Q How to treat an oat allergy?

In an acute episode use of over the counter antihistamines are beneficial. As far as prevention is considered the best way is to avoid eating oats. Cereals, cereal bars, cookies and other similar foods are main sources of oats and hence should be avoided. Rice, potatoes, fruits contain many of the same health benefits as oats and can be substituted for oats.

Q What is histrionic disorder?

Histrionic personality disorder is characterized by a long-standing pattern of attention seeking behavior and extreme emotionality. Someone with histrionic personality disorder wants to be the center of attention in any group of people, and feel uncomfortable when they are not. While often lively, interesting and sometimes dramatic, they have difficulty when people arent focused exclusively on them. People with this disorder may be perceived as being shallow, and may engage in sexually seductive or provocative behavior to draw attention to themselves.

Q Brown discharge after sex?

If you have the discharge immediately after sex, then it might be possible that you are having the sex for the first time. If the discharge is after a few days, then it is suggestive of the pregnancy and the it is the implantation bleeding. When you rule out the two condition, then the probability goes to the any infection of the vaginal tissue. For this you must consult the gynecologist.

Q What can you tell me about Borderline Personality Disorder?

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a Mental Health disorder that generates significant emotional instability. This can lead to a variety of other stressful mental and behavioral problems. When you have borderline personality disorder, you often have an insecure sense of who you are. Your self-image, self-identity or sense of self often rapidly changes. You may view yourself as evil or bad, and sometimes you may feel as if you dont exist at all. An unstable self-image often leads to frequent changes in jobs, friendships, goals and values. This is because people with borderline personality disorder often have difficulty accepting gray areas; things seem to be either black or white. The common symptom of borderline personality disorder are overwhelming feelings of distress, anxiety, worthlessness or anger, difficulty managing such feelings without self-harming, for example by abusing drugs and alcohol or taking overdoses, difficulty maintaining stable and close relationships, sometimes, periods of loss of contact with reality, in some cases, threats of harm to others. Treatment may involve a range of individual and group psychological therapies (psychotherapy) carried out by trained professionals.

Q How is jaggery different from sugar?

Jaggery is much more complex than sugar and takes longer time to digest and provides energy slowly for longer time. It does not have harmful effects on the body; but, this does not qualify jaggery to be safe for diabetics.

Q Is chlamydia only caught through sexual contact?

Chlamydia is sexually transmitted disease. And it can pass from one person to other through vaginal, anal and oral sex. However it can be transmitted to the children by their mothers at the time of birth. The disease can remain insignificant for many years in women having the infection in cervical area.

Q Diagnosis of high cholesterol

The diagnosis of high cholesterol levels is based on a simple blood test. Usually a complete Lipid profile is advised to test the levels of different components of cholesterol and triglycerides. Total cholesterol levels should be less than 200 mg/dl. LDL levels less than 100 mg/dL ( 2.6 mmol/L) are considered optimal. An acceptable HDL range is between 40- 60 mg/dL (1.04-1.56 mmol/L). Triglyceride levels should be maintained less than 150 mg/dl. High levels of HDL have a protective effect against heart disease whereas high levels of LDL and triglycerides increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Q I am 69 year old, my hands start trembling whenever I am writing any thing which medicine should I take? what is parkinsons disease?

Trembling or shaking of hands is called as tremors. There are variety of tremors found and so variety of causes are there for its occurance. If you are suufering from tremors only when you write something, then these can be: Intentional tremors that occur at the end of any purposeful movements, Cerebellar tremors represented as intetional tremors, postural tremor that occur in particular posture of hand or leg against gravity, benign essential tremors occuring at older age and are inherited from family, tremors due to increased thyroid functioning, tremors due to reduced blood sugar levels, tremors as a result of alohol withdrawal or due to alcohol consumption, it can be a side effect of certain medicines, or it can be a task specific tremors. To prescribe you any medicines, it is necessary to evaluate your symptoms in more detailed way including evaluation by physical examination, which will be best achieved if you see your physician or a neurologist. Perkinsons disease is a degenerative disorder of central nervous system, where brain cells and nervous tissue undergo degeneration, resulting in dopamine deficiency in a patient. If you are trying to link your tremors with parkinsons, then the main differentiating point is parkinsons tremors are observed at rest and not at the time of movements. Further evaluation is needed for proper management.