Q What tips do you have for someone with Social Anxiety?

At first, being social when youre feeling anxious is challenging. As difficult or painful as it may seem initially, dont avoid situations that trigger your symptoms. By regularly facing these kinds of situations, youll continue to build and reinforce your coping skills. The following techniques can help you begin to face situations that make you nervous: Prepare for conversation. For instance, read the newspaper to identify an interesting story you can talk about. 1. Focus on personal qualities you like about yourself. 2. Practice relaxation exercises. 3. Adopt stress management techniques. 4. Set realistic goals. 5. Pay attention to how often the embarrassing situations youre afraid of actually take place. You may notice that the scenarios you fear usually dont come to pass. 6. When embarrassing situations do happen, remind yourself that your feelings will pass, and you can handle them until they do. 7. Develop coping skills- Hang out with people whom with you feel comfortable, Joining a group that offers opportunities to improve communication and public speaking skills, remind yourself that you can get through anxious moments, that your anxiety is short-lived. 8. Take good sleep and healthy diet. Psychiatric counselling and medicine helps to deal with anxiety. Finally positive thinking and building self-confidence is the key to fight against your anxiety. Be confident. All the best.

Q Whats causing my palpitations and how can I get rid of them?

The causes for palpitations are - strong emotions such as anxiety, fear, or stress; palpitations often occur during panic attacks; caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, or illegal street drugs such as cocaine; some medical conditions, including thyroid disease, a low blood sugar level, anemia, low blood pressure, fever, and dehydration; hormone changes associated with menstruation, pregnancy or menopause etc. In most cases, palpitations are found to be harmless and often go away on their own. Treatment depends on the cause of your palpitations. Some lifestyle changes like exercise and yoga and quitting smoking and alcohol help a lot.

Q What is a kleptomaniac?

Kleptomania is a complex disorder characterized by repeated attempts of stealing (especially invaluable things). It is often seen in patients who are chemically dependent or who have a swings in mood, anxiety, or eating disorder. Other coexisting mental disorders may include major depression, panic attacks, social phobia, anorexia nervosa and obsessive compulsive disorder. People with this disorder have an overwhelming urge to steal and get a thrill from doing so. The recurrent act of stealing may be restricted to specific objects and settings,

Q How can I help my child avoid and manage stress? and tension headache?

Following measures can help your child to manage stress and tension headache: Identifying and avoiding the known triggers. Taking well balanced diet. Enroll your child in any physical activity like his/her favorite sport. This will help to de-stress. Make sure your child gets good quality 7-9 hours of sleep on regular basis. Try and talk to your child if anything at school or at home is bothering him/her. Lastly ask him/her not to skip medicines prescribed for the headache.

Q Are all STDs link with HIV.

No. There are many other sexually transmitted disease like gonorrhoea, syphilis etc which are not related with HIV. The cause for each of them is different; just the mode of infestion is same the sexual mode of transmission.

Q i m 32 years serving army officer ..had a brain stroke 1 and a half year back..have recoverd a lot..started breathing on my own started eating,i do walk but with support..i remember everythng i write i can do calculations and my speech is slur.will i be alright

Being patient is the key word. Follow your routine and exercise schedule. Take medicine on time. You will definitely recover from this. You can take help of speech therapy for your slurred speech.

Q Is depression common in children? If yes, how common it is?

Yes. Depression in children, though missed many times, is a common childhood condition. Teen age is the most affected age in children. Chances of depression increase as the child ages. It is most commonly found in girls. About 11% children can develop depression. Symptoms and signs of depression may vary in children and hence is commonly get misdiagnosed.

Q Can stress cause weigh gain? How is stress related to weight gain? How to prevent it?

Yes stress is the major cause for weight gain! People turn to food for comfort whenever they feel stressed and tend to overeat. To make it worse, often we choose junk food. So, one, we eat unnecessarily without being hungry and two, junk food means much more added calories than needed.n Over a period, the caloric imbalance leads to weight gain and eventually elevates risk of diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease.n Now that you know, choose healthy alternatives like an apple or roasted almonds next time you feel stressed and are tempted to eat!n Moreover, try alternate ways like going for a walk or dancing to the tunes of some soothing music. This will not only relieve stress but will give bonus benefit by burning excess calories.

Q Does chewing tobacco affect arteries the same way smoking does?

Yes. The tobacco contains nicotine. And it is going to be in the blood whether you smoke or chew it. The effects of nicotine are same in both situation.

Q What is juvenile diabetes?

Type-I diabetes in children is called as juvenile diabetes. Here pancrease fails to produce insulin needed for digesting sugar and thus insulin replacement is required.