Category Archives: Guest Posts

Guest Posts

Steps to a Healthier Lifestyle by Ms Agnimitra Chatterjee Mukherjee, Consultant Dietician

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Healthier Lifestyle

Evolvement of science and technology has made our lives much simpler. Automobiles and home appliances doing all our hard work for us, have pushed us more and more towards a sedentary lifestyle. The result – lifestyle disorders, such as obesity, infertility, diabetes, insomnia and so on.

We live in a jet setting world today. Our hectic schedules leave us with no time to think about our health. This probably holds truer for women who are constantly trying to balance their work and home. As a consequence, they end up paying very little attention to their own wellbeing, things like their diet, sleep, levels of stress. Leave alone nutritious, wholesome meals, women often skip meals altogether. And, of course, their health – both physical and mental – suffers.

What we do not understand is that this impacts not just our health, but also that of our family. Our diet is an important part of our health and any imbalance can have long-term health consequences.

The very first step to leading a healthy and active life includes:

  • Giving yourself time
  • Exercising daily to stay active and maintain a healthy body weight
  • Eating a protein-rich diet
  • Eating the right amounts of green salad and vegetables that are high in fibre – women aged between 18 years and 25 years must consume at least 25gm of fibre on a daily basis.
  • Eating foods that are rich in iron, such as nuts and leafy greens – this is all the more essential for women during the menstrual cycle, as heavy bleeding can put you at risk of anemia.
  • Eating citrus fruits, as they are rich in vitamin C and help in the absorption of iron
  • Having milk, soybean, and nuts that are rich in calcium
  • Having sufficient amounts of dry fruits and seeds that are rich in magnesium
  • Drinking enough water and eating shorter, lighter meals throughout the day
  • Cutting down on salt, sugar, tea and coffee
  • Getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep daily

Stay Safe, Stay Healthy

Guest Posts

Thyroid Conditions during Pregnancy by Dr Gaurab Bhaduri, Consultant, Diabetes and Endocrinology

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Pregnancy is a period of physiological stress for the mother and fetus. When endocrine disorders such as hypothyroidism complicate the period of pregnancy it becomes a common soil for maternal and fetal adverse outcomes. Hypothyroidism in pregnancy can be asymptomatic or symptoms such a cold intolerance, dry skin, excessive fatigue, etc may be noticed.

 It is important to remember that absence of symptoms does not exclude the diagnosis of hypothyroidism. Maternal complications of hypothyroidism include increased risk of abortion, gestational hypertension, anemia, abruptio placenta, postpartum hemorrhage, etc. Fetal complications in untreated maternal hypothyroidism include preterm birth, low birth weight, respiratory distress in the newborn. Primary Hypothyroidism can be overt with High

 TSH and low Free T4 values or can be Subclinical with High TSH and Normal Free T4 value. The patient may have a pre-existing diagnosed Hypothyroidism/Subclinical Hypothyroidism before the patient becomes pregnant or it may get diagnosed at the first antenatal visit of pregnancy.

A patient who is already a known patient of Hypothyroidism and on thyroxine (LT4) replacement with TSH in the normal range may require a 30%-50% increase in the dose of thyroxine upon the detection of pregnancy. A patient who gets diagnosed with  Hypothyroidism/Subclinical Hypothyroidism at the first antenatal visit needs to be put on thyroxine (LT4) replacement.  A strict target of TSH less than 2.5 mlU/ml is essential for the first trimester and less than 3mlU for the 2nd and 3rd trimester. TSH and FT4 values can be monitored every month if required.

Guest Posts

The Newer Challenges of COVID 2nd Wave by Dr Nilanjan Dastidar, Public Health Specialist

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COVID 2nd Wave

One of my relatives called me a few days back saying that she lost both taste and smell and was running temperature for the last few days. I suggested immediate home isolation and COVID testing. Her other family members also had fever simultaneously.

After giving nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal samples for RAT and RT-PCR, she was found RAT negative immediately and it took three long days to get the RT-PCR report. In the meantime, an elderly member of her family, who had a fever initially, developed respiratory distress. When they were sure that they were suffering from COVID and preparing to isolate, the report of the pending RT-PCR was available and strangely it was COVID NEGATIVE! Thereafter, the family resumed living normally in society.

This is not an isolated event where a clinically COVID patient is tested negative via both PCR and RAT. To date, in our clinical settings, we do not yet know of any common disease which temporarily causes loss of taste and smell sensations simultaneously other than COVID. And since COVID 2nd wave, we are frequently getting the report of such incidents where patients are having COVID signs and symptoms, but RAT and RT-PCR tests are both negative. This is a grave problem because of the following new challenges:

The patient, until a repeat test of RT-PCR gets a positive COVID report, is treated symptomatically. By that time, we have already lost a significant amount of valuable time for the initiation of treatment. This is detrimental in many cases. Moreover, if clinical suspicion is not intense enough in milder cases, at times, a repeat test is not done and the patient continuously spreads the disease in the hospital settings as well as in the society after an incomplete recovery. As a result, healthcare workers, as well as common people, get infected. And these are among the greatest challenges for controlling the second wave of the pandemic other than the ASYMPTOMATIC COVID positive persons.

2. Once a family member is clinically suspected of having COVID symptoms but got a negative COVID report, the other family members are also reluctant & declining to test for COVID and thus continue spreading it in society. The impact of this is huge.

We know that RAT gets positive only when the SARS-CoV-2 viral load is high enough for its detection and naturally its sensitivity is lower than RT-PCR. This fact is accepted by all and we hugely depend on RT-PCR. But, during this second wave of COVID pandemic, the challenge is because of high RT-PCR negativity among the true COVID patients. Experts have identified two main reasons for it:

1. RT-PCR detects the virus based on a pre-captured genetic picture of the same virus.  As the virus is getting mutated in multiple areas of its genetic format, the original genetic picture may be altered from the genetic sequences of the current SARS-CoV-2 and this false negativity is going to happen frequently.

2. The second reason is more challenging. It has been postulated that during the second ongoing wave of COVID pandemic, more and more people are suffering from COVID. In this wave, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is not harboring at the nasopharynx or oropharynx. As a result, both RAT and RT-PCR are giving negative reports.

3. Add to it the huge burden of testing samples and its Viral Transport Medium (VTM) which needs constant cold chain maintenance. If the chain gets interrupted anytime, RT-PCR results may be negative.

As anticipated, the second wave of the COVID pandemic is causing more challenges and lethality in our country. We need to understand the fact quickly and react as per the situation.

Best wishes to all.

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