Health Information

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that affects the hyaline cartilage lining the bone surface called synovial joints (knee, hip, joints of hands ...). Far from being a static process, osteoarthritis is caused by an imbalance between the mechanisms of regeneration and degeneration of the cartilage.

As a result of a heterogeneous group of factors, is an alteration of chondrocyte metabolism that leads to a thinning of cartilage, bone changes associated with regenerative, which together will determine the clinical manifestations of the disease to be discussed later.

What are its causes?

The main symptom is pain, of insidious onset, deep and poorly localized, which typically increases with movement and improves with rest. As the disease progresses, pain becomes continuous and can occur even at rest. You may receive further aggravated stiffness after rest.

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Growth retardation in children and babies is an issue that can get really worried parents. If the child does not grow at a pace that, if in school compared with other children their age is the shortest in his class. These are situations that create uncertainty. In pregnancy 10 speaks of stunting of children and babies.

There are few benchmarks to measure the growth of infants and children consistent with their age and sex. These are called percentiles. But what happens when a child has a stunting?  Not all children have an exact pace of growth, it is somewhat difficult at first to diagnose that there is a stunted and may have a lack of growth hormone or GH.

When we have to suspect a deficit of growth hormone (GH?)

*Children who lack growth hormone have a characteristic pattern of their growth rate is below 4 cm / year from the 2 years. The size at birth is usually normal except in exceptional cases. The child’s growth is usually normal for a variable period of time as may be 1 or 2 years.

*Gradually, the growth rate slows down. The carving is gradually deteriorating and yet there is a delay in bone maturation.

Other names: Care during pregnancy
Prenatal care is more than just health care during pregnancy. It is possible that your health care provider talk with you about many issues, such as nutrition and physical activity, what to expect during the birth process and basic skills for newborn care.

The doctor or midwife will give you a calendar with the schedule of your prenatal visits. Surely you will see your health care provider more frequently as you near your due date. A typical scheme includes visiting your doctor or midwife:
* About once a month during the first six months of pregnancy
* Every two weeks during the seventh and eighth month of pregnancy
* Weekly for the ninth month of pregnancy

If you are over 35 or your pregnancy is high risk because you have certain health problems, like diabetes or hypertension, your doctor or midwife will probably want to see you more often.

Did you know more how to treat acne?

Visual Problems

When the glucose level is high, it can develop an error of refraction, which causes blurred vision. This blurring of vision may become worse when the treatment causes a very rapid decrease in blood glucose. The glasses should not be adapted until the values of blood sugar has stabilized for 6 to 8 weeks. Diabetics also develop long-term vision problems as a result of impaired circulation in the retina.

At the root of the vision problems of diabetics are changes in the small arteries that carry blood to the retina (the retina of the eye is sensitive to light). About half of diabetics experiencing eye problems after suffering from the disease for more than 10 years. These problems are safe for those suffering from diabetes for 30 or 40 years.

Diabetic retinopathy is the most common, although cataracts and glaucoma are much more common in diabetics. How diabetic retinopathy often show a progression of the disease, it is important to make regular eye exams if you have diabetes. If diabetic retinopathy is the laser treatment can slow its progression.

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Hypertension, Arteriosclerosis and Diseases of The Coronary Arteries

In people with hypertension, the blood circulates through the veins of the body with abnormally high pressure. This can damage the veins, tissues and organs through which blood passes. Atherosclerosis is characterized by intimal thickening and lipid deposition and is a morphological variant that falls under the broad term of arteriosclerosis. Atherosclerosis causes fatty deposits that thicken the walls of arteries and as a result, they shrink and become less flexible in blood flow. The coronary artery disease worsen atherosclerosis in the veins that bring oxygen and nutrients required by the heart. Atherosclerosis is a disease of elastic arteries (eg aorta, carotid and iliac) and large and medium muscular arteries (eg coronary and popliteal arteries). The formation of atheroma, or fibrofatty plaque contributes to narrowing of the lumen and reduced blood flow in distal tissues.

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The cumulative increase in blood glucose and the amount of ketones in the urine makes this more acidic. Appears in the course of several hours with increased urination and thirst (more rapidly in children). We are weakness and numbness, including vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. Sometimes you notice an odor on the breath or fresh fruit that can be confused with the smell of alcohol. Is acetone, a waste product that is expelled through the lungs. In a later stage breathing becomes deeper and faster and, if he loses consciousness, the call goes into diabetic coma.

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Is anesthesia safe?
The anesthetics are almost completely safe, but every operation carries a very slight risk. A recent poll in Britain showed that for every million anesthesia practice occurs about five deaths. Patients with poor health have a greater risk than those who are healthy.

What is a “premedication”?
While waiting for surgery, patients are given a treatment called “Premedication” to feel slightly numb and not be nervous. It may not even remember being taken to surgery or been anesthetized.

Where and how a patient is anesthetized?
The patient is injected with anesthesia usually in the hand, and in the operating room. In some patients, usually children, are a numbing cream on the skin in advance so that not even feel the injection. Others are given to breathe a gas mixture through a mask to sleep quickly. A parent is allowed to stay with their child until the anesthesia.

How and where the patient wakes up?
After surgery, the anesthesiologist stopped the administration of anesthesia and the patient is taken to a resuscitation area where there is specially trained nurses. The longer the operation, the longer it takes to awaken the patient. Once they are fully awake, he was taken to his room. Sometimes the patient regained consciousness in the operating room once the operation has finished, without this entailing any risk.

How do patients feel when they wake up?
They often feel cold and slightly confusing. They may feel pain or nausea, but these symptoms can be treated when the anesthesiologist visits patients to check that everything is in order.

What happens after surgery?
Recovery depends on the type of intervention. After minor surgery, the patient is encouraged to get up as soon as possible and generally be allowed to eat and drink within hours.

Credit to: Dr Gordon F. N. Smith.

What is anesthesia?
Anesthesia is defined generically by a series of drugs that temporarily reduce feelings, or eliminate them so that they can carry out surgical operations or procedures that otherwise would be painful.

There are two types of anesthesia:
* General: which the patient falls asleep.
* Local: in which the patient is awake, sleeping only body part on which to operate.

The anesthesia induced sleep is not the same as the ordinary or natural sleep, but a form of temporary unconsciousness carefully monitored by the anesthesiologist by administering the correct amount of anesthesia for each type of operation and the patient.

In some operations, combines a local anesthetic, as the cord (or spinal) or epidural, drugs that numb the patient. The anesthesiologist will explain this in detail before surgery.

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