Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from January, 2007

Mouth sores anyone?

A 60 year-old male came in for consult the other day because of recurrent mouth sores for 3 months. The condition apparently started 3 months prior after eating a spicy dish. 3-5 burning small sores suddenly appeared on the buccal mucosa and gums. These spontaneously resolved after 5 days thus no consultation was sought. Since then on, he claims that sores appear recurrently in his mouth whenever he eats spicy dishes, even "dinuguan", even after toothbrushing using toothpaste. These sores would spontaneously resolve after 3-5 days. He has no other systemic illness except for a muscle dystrophic disease. He is taking no medicines. Here is what I read about this particular condition. If you've ever had those open, shallow sores in your mouth and taken a gulp of orange juice — ouch! — you know what a pain canker sores can be. You're not alone, either. About one in five people get recurrent canker sores. So what can you do about them? Read on to find out. Canke

Tingling and Numbness in the Fingertips of One Hand

Tingling and numbness has nothing to do with circulation if it is well localized to one hand. A mild stroke is possible but very very unlikely. With the symptom of numbness as well as tingling, it is much more likely to be a nerve entrapment. That means that somewhere along the line of the nerves that supply this part of the hand, there is some pressure on a nerve. There are two likely places. The neck is a possibility because the nerves that go to your hand exit the spine in the neck and travel down the arm into the fingers. A bit of wear and tear, or even a bit if a twist to the ligaments here, like when you carry heavy stuff or when you constantly carry your heavy child, could cause pressure on the nerves that would then be felt as tingling and numbness in the fingers. The other likely possibility is pressure in the wrist. The nerves to the fingers go through a small tunnel at the wrist to get into the hand - called the carpal tunnel. Pressure here will produce similar sympt

A Not So "Common Cold"

Many of us experience on and off nasal congestion and discharge which we often attribute to allergy or change in season. Nonspecific headaches sometimes accompany this problem and we shrug it off as sinusitis. It has become so prevalent that we brand it as "common cold". Here's an account of a patient I recently saw which might change your perspective of the common cold. Read on. This is the case of a 54 year-old male who called me up the day after Christmas due to a sudden onset of diplopia which he noted on the Christmas day itself. I was previously treating him as a case of Allergic Rhinosinusitis. His symptoms previously were on and off nasal congestion with watery to greenish nasal discharge, and occasional mild to moderate frontal headache. Repeated anterior rhinoscopy showed congested turbinates with watery nasal discharge, sometimes greenish. X-ray of the paranasal sinuses were unremarkable. I started him on oral steroid + antihistamine and anti

2007, Year of the Lord!

In this life, if we have faith in God then we should trust HIM and submit all of our being to HIM. By prayer, we present Him our requests and thank HIM for whatever the answer He gives. Couple this faith with perseverance and hardwork, and I am sure our life will be so blessed! I don't believe in astrology and all the related stuff but for purposes of curiosity, let us read on what they say about this new year, 2007. 2007, Year of the Fire Pig 18th February 2007 - 6th February 2008 by Gayle Atherton http://www.astrolog.com.au/pages/year_of_firepig.htm The fat, happy Pig is the 'laughing Buddha' of the Chinese Zodiac signs; naturally pleased, whatever he does. He likes his creature comforts; is sensual in all endeavours. Tolerant, compassionate, generous, - he has difficulty controlling his passions but hides neither faults, mistakes, nor his self-indulgence. Egocentric, chaotic, destructive at times, one of Pig's essential drives is his love for freedom