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SELF CARE IN UNCERTAIN TIMES The current world climate of living through a pandemic has all of us feeling a like a ship lost at sea. The feeling of uncertainty can often give rise to feelings of worry, fear, anxiety and even anger. These are normal emotional reactions, but how do we keep them at bay? How do we stem them from taking over our mind and our emotional well-being? The

Dear Doc, In the old-time days, people used to purge with Epsom Salts. Is this harmful doing it all the time? - Marston Dear Marston, Epsom salts consists of magnesium and sulfate and obtained its name from a town called Epsom, in Surrey, England where it is found naturally occurring in sulphur springs. Interestingly, it is not actually a salt but has a similar appearance, of a white crystalline

Dear Doc, Hair styles and trends always seem to involve putting chemicals or false hair on the head. It’s so great to see women with natural hair, and styled in so many creative ways, especially the cornrows. The new trends now seem to be these very long plaits with beads at the end. Some of the plaits look very tight on some people’s heads. What are the longterm effects of tight hair

Dear Doc I have varicose veins and recently they seem to be getting bigger. I sit at my job all day and I wonder how I can help my problem.- Stephanie. Dear Stephanie, Thank you for your question as this is a frequent issue. Varicose veins also known as Chronic Venous Insufficiency is when the blood in the veins has a difficult time returning to the heart and therefore tends to pool in the legs.

Dear Doc, There seemed to be an upswing in bed bugs recently. What are the harmful effects of bed bug bites? I’ve had them and I notice they itch and cause welts where they bite, but this goes away gradually.- Tim Dear Tim, The increase in individuals having bed bugs I can only speculate as to why. Some possibilities include many people being home, or many individuals in a bed making transmission

Dear Helen, I have been wondering about this for a long time, but have never seen anything about it in anything I have read. I’m not really a computer and Internet person, so I have not looked there. But I read Better Health, and you usually have good answers. So, here’s my question: Do people with Down’s Syndrome have sex? I mean how do they cope with it? Forgive me if my question sounds ignorant,

ENDO METRI OSIS: MORE THAN A REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH ISSUE Endometriosis is one of the most enigmatic diseases1 which is characterized by debilitating pain for many of those who have been diagnosed with it2. While endometriosis derives its name from the endometrium (tissue that lines the uterus), it is defined as the presence of endometrial-like deposits (lesions or implants) outside of

“ In the midst of this pandemic, the uncertainties of local vs community spread, the vaccines, quarantine, tests and long wait for results, it’s good to know that some normal things remain normal. A great example is a father’s angst and anxiety about becoming a father for the first time.This month we continue The Dad-to-be Chronicles with a funny recount of medical visits and nosy people.

Maternity Matters by Midwife Andrea Jordan THEY SAID I NEEDED A CAESAREANGOOD THING I WAS PREPARED! Caesarean births are now one of the most common surgeries in the world, with worldwide totals showing that we now perform approximately 18.5 million yearly (WHO 2010). Some mothers are choosing this method of delivery, even where there is no significant medical reason, but the majority

THE NEW DAD TO-BE CHRONICLES by Philip Garnes It’s not every day you go into a room, find the love of your life sprawled out on a bed pretty much naked, with some shiny foreign substance rubbed all over her belly. Oh, and the lights were dimmed to an intimate setting. “What in the name of cou cou and flying fish going on here?” Welcome back to the chronicles of a dad to