Reproductive issues and kidney disease

Sexual dysfunction and infertility are common in men and women suffering from chronic kidney disease. These may result in anxiety, loss of self-esteem, marital discord, and depression, contributing to impaired life quality.

Sexual function in men and women is controlled by various neurologic, psychological and hormonal mechanisms, which are all affected in chronic kidney disease. Medications prescribed for various comorbidities may also contribute.

Men with kidney ailments have hormonal alterations in which the prolactin levels are elevated, and various gonadal hormones from the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland are produced at lower levels. About two-thirds of men on dialysis have low testosterone levels and have abnormal sperm production and motility. Poor erectile function and lack of sexual desire may cause further issues. In women, lack of pulsatile Luteinizing Hormone (LH) release often contributes to anovulation. Loss of lubrication in women contributes to sexual dysfunction. Diabetes itself can cause loss of sexual function, and diabetes is the leading cause of chronic kidney disease worldwide.

For those with chronic kidney disease and on hemodialysis, various medications for improving erectile function and sustaining erection can be tried. Women with poor lubrication can use artificial lubricants. Sometimes, hormonal medications may be employed for both women and men in conjunction with the gynaecologist and the urologists to improve sexual function. Regular dialysis up to three times per week will decrease the toxin load, and this is essential for maintaining hormonal balances and general sexual we l l being. Psychiatric counselling to relieve stress and counselling may help tremendously to achieve better sexual function.

Favourable effects have been reported in male fertility after renal transplantation. However, the increase in fertility also depends upon the care after transplantation and close follow up and monitoring of the various parameters by the treating nephrologist. The reduction of the toxin load and the normalisation of the kidney function after renal transplant itself will play a tremendous role in restoring sexual function. An increase in the sexual drive and overall better sexual performance is well known to be restored after transplantation. Further, the age of developing End-stage renal disease also plays a crucial role in determining the recovery of fertility post-transplantation.

The recovery of fertility also depends upon the preservation of vas deferens and testicular blood supply during the surgery, which is done on priority for the patient. Patients who had low levels of sperm before the transplant have an improvement in sperm motility and count in up to 12 months after the procedure.

Many men have fathered children successfully after transplantation. Many women, who lost reproductive function due to chronic kidney disease and are on dialysis will recover reproductive function, have normal menstrual cycles, and bear children after renal transplantation. However, sexual dysfunction due to severe and irreversible damage due to factors like advanced age, longstanding diabetes, various coexisting medical factors and prolonged dialysis may not be completely reversible. A renal transplant hence is an effective option for patients with chronic kidney disease regarding sexual function and childbearing. It has been established that after transplantation, the medications given to men will have minimal effect on procreation, the effects of medicines are more pronounced in women, but they do not usually come in the way of normal childbearing.

 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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Urinary Incontinence Types and Causes

Urinary Incontinence normally happens to the elderly, but can happen at any age.

The problem is more often associated with women, especially during pregnancy or menopause. It arises when there is a lot of internal pressure in the bladder. These are the different types of urinary incontinence:
Urgent Incontinence
Usually accompanied by the urge to urinate, this type of urinary incontinence happens when the sensory impulses in the walls of the bladder don’t react in time.

Overflowing Incontinence
This occurs when the bladder is stretched from being full of urine, which can be caused by a number of factors, such as urethra blockage, prostate enlargement in men or neurological damage to spine caused by a spinal cord injury, surgery or multiple sclerosis.

Psychogenic Incontinence
Feeling fear, anxiety, mania or being exposed to something phobic are all causes of this type of incontinence.
Neurological Incontinence 
Changes to the nervous system caused by a stroke, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries or other ailments result in changes in urinary function, and thus incontinence.
 
Homemade Urinary Incontinence Remedies
Here are four tonic recipes for urinary incontinence that you may try at home:
Recipe 1

• 2 tbsp fennel
• 1 cup water

Directions: Boil the fennel in the water for five minutes and leave to cool. Once cooled, drink the mixture. Do this once a day.

Recipe 2

• 1 handful raspberry leaves
• 1 cup water

Directions: Boil the raspberry leaves in the water for five minutes and leave to cool. Once cooled, drink the mixture. Repeat once per day. This remedy is particularly good for those looking to strengthen their pelvic muscles.

Recipe 3
 1 garlic bulb

• 1 handful white hawthorn flowers
• 2 liters water

Directions: Crush the garlic and combine with the hawthorn flowers in the water. Boil and leave to brew for 15 minutes. Next, strain the mixture, add it to a bathtub filled with warm water, and bathe in it.

Recipe 4

• 1 tbsp. bearberry leaves 
• 1 liter tea

Directions: Combine the tea and bearberry leaves. Drink a cup once every three hours, no more than five times each day. Note that those who have kidney inflammation should not try this remedy. 

Urinary Incontinence Tips and Techniques
In addition to the recipes outlined above, there are various things you can do to ease your urinary incontinence:
Take Warm Sitz Baths
While taking a sitz bath, try sitting down, contracting your pelvic muscles and holding for five seconds. Relax for 10 seconds, and then repeat. Do this exercise 10 times in succession each day.
Do Kegel Exercises
When you are urinating, try contracting your pubococcygeus muscle by stemming the flow of urine. Repeat this process several times until your bladder is empty. Limit yourself to doing this exercise a maximum of three times per month.
Do Hypopressure Exercises
Stand with your leg a hip’s width apart, bringing your pelvis forward. Then, bend your knees slightly and raise your palms. Contract your abdomen three times using short breaths. Exhale each breath slowly. Repeat this process twice.
Figure Out What’s Causing Your Incontinence
If you’re stressed out, anxious, or happen to have a urinary tract infection, you need to remedy those things first in order for your incontinence to be treated in turn.
Avoid These Foods
Tomato sauce, chocolate, corn syrup, sugars, honey, chili pepper, curry, and other very sweet or spicy foods should be avoided, as they can irritate your bladder. Also avoid tea, coffee, and soft drinks.
 Don’t Reduce Your Fluid Intake
Although it might seem to make sense to reduce the amount of water you’re drinking, it isn’t such a good idea, because doing so could lead to dehydration and kidney problems.
Lose Weight
Obesity is associated with many different health problems, and incontinence is one of them. Its relation to incontinence is that it does not allow a person’s muscles, including the pelvis, to contract properly.

Prevention
Take preventative measures, such as going to the bathroom before sleeping at night. If you’re also sneezing, coughing or have to lift something heavy, try tightening your pubococcygeus muscle to prevent urine leaking out.
Furthermore, make sure you use the bathroom before you leave home, and wear underwear that’s easy to take off. Keep a spare pair with you.
Last but not least, if you need to go, go – don’t hold your bladder, as this may lead to an infection or weakened sphincter muscle.

this is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations

https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes 

https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement

Why we suffer from chronic mountain sickness

Researchers have decoded the genetic basis of chronic mountain sickness (CMS) or Monge's disease.

Their study provides important information that validates the genetic basis of adaptation to high altitudes, and provides potential targets for CMS treatment.

More than 140 million people have permanently settled on high-altitude regions, on continents ranging from African and Asia to South America. The low-oxygen conditions at such high altitudes present a challenge for survival, and these geographically distinct populations have adapted to cope with hypoxia, or low levels of oxygen in the blood.

Interestingly, many humans living at high elevations, particularly in the Andes mountain region of South America, are maladapted and suffer CMS. The disease is characterized by an array of neurologic symptoms, including headache, fatigue, sleepiness and depression.

Often, people with CMS suffer from strokes or heart attacks in early adulthood because of increased blood viscosity (resistance to blood flow that can result in decreased oxygen delivery to organs and tissues).

Past studies of various populations show that CMS is common in Andeans, occasionally found in Tibetans and absent from Ethiopians living on the East African high-altitude plateau.

Therefore, the researchers dissected the genetic mechanisms underlying high-altitude adaptation by comparing genetic variation between Peruvian individuals from the Andes region with CMS and adapted subjects without CMS, using whole genome sequencing.

They identified two genes, ANP32D and SENP1, with significantly increased expression in the CMS individuals when compared to the non-CMS individuals, and hypothesized that down-regulating these genes could be beneficial in coping with hypoxia.

Aresearcher said that while a number of published articles have described an association between certain genes and the ability for humans to withstand low oxygen at high levels, it was very hard to be sure if the association was causal.

The researchers therefore looked at genetic orthologs - corresponding gene sequences from another species, in this case the fruit fly - to assess the impact of observed genetic changes on function under conditions of hypoxia.

ps- this is only for information, always consult you physician before having any particular food/ medication/exercise/other remedies.

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Arthritis and Lyme Disease

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted by a tick. Lyme disease was first recognized in 1975, after researchers investigated why unusually large numbers of children were being diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in Lyme, Conn., and two neighbouring towns.

The investigators discovered that most of the affected children lived near wooded areas likely to harbor ticks. They also found that the children's first symptoms typically started in the summer months coinciding with the height of the tick season.

Several of the patients reported having a peculiar skin rash just before developing arthritis symptoms, and many also recalled being bitten by a tick at the rash site.

Further investigations resulted in the discovery that tiny deer ticks infected with a spiral-shaped bacterium or spirochete (which was later named Borrelia burgdorferi) were responsible for the outbreak of arthritis in Lyme. Ordinary "wood ticks" and "dog ticks" do not carry the infection.

In addition to causing arthritis, Lyme disease can also cause heart, brain, and nerve problems.

How Is Lyme Disease Transmitted?

Lyme disease is transmitted through a bite from a specific type of tick. The animals that most often carry these insects are white-footed field mice, deer, raccoons, opossums, skunks, weasels, foxes, shrews, moles, chipmunks, squirrels, and horses. 

 the Symptoms of Lyme Disease

In the early stages of Lyme disease, one may experience flu-like symptoms that can include a stiff neck, chills, fever, swollen lymph nodes, headaches, fatigue,muscle aches, and joint pain. You also may experience a large, expanding skin rash around the area of the tick bite. In more advanced disease, nerve problems and arthritis, especially in the knees, may occur.

Here are some more details:

• Erythma migrans. Erythema migrans is the telltale rash which occurs in about 70% to 80% of cases and starts as a small red spot that expands over a period of days or weeks, forming a circular, triangular, or oval-shaped rash. Sometimes the rash resembles a bull's-eye because it appears as a red ring surrounding a central clear area. The rash, which can range in size from that of a dime to the entire width of a person's back, appears between three days and a few weeks of a tick bite, usually occurring at the site of a bite. As infection spreads, several rashes can appear at different sites on the body.
  Erythema migrans is often accompanied by symptoms such as fever, headache, stiff neck, body aches, and fatigue. These flu-like symptoms may resemble those of common viral infections and usually resolve within days or a few weeks.
• Arthritis. After several weeks of being infected with Lyme disease, approximately 60% of those people not treated with antibiotics develop recurrent attacks of painful and swollen joints that last a few days to a few months. The arthritis can shift from one joint to another; the knee is most commonly affected and usually one or a few joints are affected at any given time. About 10% to 20% of untreated patients will go on to develop lasting arthritis. The knuckle joints of the hands are only very rarely affected.
• Neurological symptoms. Lyme disease can also affect the nervous system, causing symptoms such as stiff neck and severe headache (meningitis), temporary paralysis of facial muscles (Bell's palsy), numbness, pain or weakness in the limbs, or poor coordination. More subtle changes such as memory loss, difficulty with concentration, and a change in mood or sleeping habits have also been associated with Lyme disease. People with these latter symptoms alone usually don't have Lyme disease as their cause.
  Nervous system abnormalities usually develop several weeks, months, or even years following an untreated infection. These symptoms often last for weeks or months and may recur. These features of Lyme disease usually start to resolve even before antibiotics are started. Patients with neurologic disease usually have a total return to normal function.
• Heart problems. Fewer than one out of 10 Lyme disease patients develops heart problems, such as an irregular, slow heartbeat, which can be signaled bydizziness or shortness of breath. These symptoms rarely last more than a few days or weeks. Such heart abnormalities generally appear several weeks after infection, and usually begin to resolve even before treatment.
• Other symptoms. Less commonly, Lyme disease can result in eye inflammation and severe fatigue, although none of these problems is likely to appear without other Lyme disease symptoms being present.

.

Diagnosis of Lyme Disease 

Lyme disease may be difficult to diagnose because many of its symptoms mimic those of other disorders. Although a tick bite is an important clue for diagnosis, many patients cannot recall having been bitten by a tick. This is not surprising because the tick is tiny, and a tick bite is usually painless.

The easiest way for a doctor to diagnose Lyme disease is to see the unique bull's-eye rash. If there is no visible rash (as is the case in about one-fourth of those infected), the doctor might order a blood test three to four weeks after the onset of the suspected infection to look for antibodies against the bacteria. Unfortunately, the Lyme disease bacterium itself is difficult to isolate or culture from body tissues or fluids. 

Other tests. Some patients experiencing nervous system symptoms may also undergo a spinal tap. A spinal tap is a procedure in which spinal fluid is removed from the spinal canal for the purpose of diagnosis in a laboratory. Through this procedure, doctors can detect brain and spinal cord inflammation and can look for antibodies against the Lyme disease bacterium in the spinal fluid.

Treatment

In its early stages, Lyme disease can be effectively treated with antibiotics. In general, the sooner such therapy is begun following infection, the quicker and more complete the recovery. Antibiotics, such as doxycycline or amoxicillin taken orally for two to four weeks, can speed the healing of the rash and can usually prevent subsequent symptoms such as arthritis or neurological problems. There is no compelling evidence that prolonged antibiotic therapy is more effective than two weeks of therapy. Prolonged antibiotic use may have serious side effects.

Intravenous (IV) antibiotics may be used for more serious cases and for someone whose nervous system has been affected. Lyme disease with arthritis also can be treated with antibiotics. Most patients experience full recovery.

Patients younger than 9 years or pregnant or lactating women with Lyme disease are treated with amoxicillin or penicillin because doxycycline can stain the permanent teeth developing in young children or unborn babies. Patients allergic to penicillin are given erythromycin or related antibiotics.

Doctors prefer to treat Lyme disease patients experiencing heart symptoms with antibiotics such as Rocephin, Claforan, or penicillin given intravenously for about two weeks. If these symptoms persist or are severe enough, patients may also be treated with corticosteroids or given a temporary internal cardiac pacemaker. People with Lyme disease rarely experience long-term heart damage.

Following treatment for Lyme disease, some people still have persistent fatigue and achiness. This general malaise can take months to slowly disappear, although it generally does so spontaneously without the use of additional antibiotic therapy. There is no evidence that the Borrelia infection causes chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia. Although some patients with Lyme disease may develop these problems, as with other patients who get chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia, long-term antibiotics will not hasten recovery.

Prevention-

Try these tips to prevent tick bites:

• Wear long sleeves and tightly woven clothing that is light in color when walking in wooded areas so the ticks can be seen more easily.
• Wear your shirt tucked into your pants, and your pants tucked into your socks or boots.
• Walk in the center of trails through the woods to avoid picking up ticks from overhanging grass and brush.
• Keep grass trimmed as short as possible.
• Apply tick repellents with DEET to your clothing, shoes and socks before going out. Another tick repellent called permethrin, designed to be placed on the clothing can be used alone or in combination with DEET. (Although highly effective, these repellents can cause some serious side effects, particularly when high concentrations are used repeatedly on the skin. Infants and children may be especially at risk for adverse reactions.)
• Check yourself, your family, and your pets routinely for ticks, especially after a trip outdoors.
• Shower and shampoo your hair if you think you may have been exposed to ticks.
• Check your clothes for ticks and wash them immediately in order to remove any ticks.

If an infected tick bites, it will not transmit the infection until it has had the opportunity to have its blood meal. This takes time, thus there is value in inspecting your body after outdoor activities in areas where Lyme disease is known to occur. Newly attached ticks can be easily removed before they transmit the infection.

Pregnant women should be especially careful to avoid ticks in Lyme disease areas because the infection can be transferred to the unborn child. Such a prenatal infection can make the woman more likely to miscarry.

Preventative antibiotics are not generally used following all tick bites, but may be used in some special circumstances; a recent study showed that such preventive use of antibiotics is very effective.

If you are bitten by a tick, the best way to remove it is by taking the following steps:

• Tug gently but firmly with blunt tweezers near the "head" of the tick until it releases its hold on the skin
• To lessen the chance of contact with the bacterium, try not to crush the tick's body or handle the tick with bare fingers
• Swab the bite area thoroughly with an antiseptic to prevent infection
• DO NOT use kerosene, Vaseline, fingernail polish, or a cigarette butt
• DO NOT squeeze the tick's body with your fingers or tweezers.

Care for People With Lyme Disease

Most people with Lyme disease respond well to antibiotic therapy and recover fully. Some people may have persistent symptoms or symptoms that recur, making further antibiotic treatment necessary. If left untreated, Lyme disease can cause permanent damage to the heart, nervous system, and joints.

A bout with Lyme disease and successful treatment are no guarantee that the illness will be prevented in the future. The disease can strike more than once in the same individual if he or she is bitten by another tick and re-infected with the Lyme disease bacterium. The antibody test usually remains positive for months to many years after an infection. The presence of antibodies in the blood is not sufficient reason for continued or re-treatment with antibiotics.

ps- this is only for information, always consult you physician before having any particular food/ medication/exercise/other remedies.

ps- those interested in recipes are free to view my blog-

http://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/

for info about knee replacement, you can view my blog-

http://Knee replacement-stick club.blogspot.com/

for crochet designs

http://My Crochet Creations.blogspot.com/

I've not given details about designs, but those interested are free to mail me for the same.