Health Information Snippets
Healthy and wise beats wealthy anyday!

What’s an allergy?

We’ve heard it bantered around but what is an allergy? Is it any different from an intolerance? ie When someone says ‘I have a dairy allergy’, is it any different from someone with ‘lactose intolerance’?

Allergies develop as the body’s immune system reacts to different proteins we are exposed to (whether it’s via inhaling them, ingesting them, touching them or being exposed to them inadvertently eg via a bee sting). The triggers (these proteins) are called allergens. What happens in an allergic reaction is that the body reacts to these allergens as potential ‘threats’ and therefore unleashes antibodies (principally IgE – immunoglobulin E) in an attempt to counter them. It’s believed that allergic reactions in the past were reserved primarily for parasitic infections eg like worms, protozoa. However, in our increasingly ‘clean’ society where we’ve pretty much eradicated worms and the like from our system, scientists believe that we’ve therefore rendered that part of the immune system ‘unemployed’ and in so doing it’s started to pick out other protein elements to ‘attack’. Children living in rural communities have a much lower incidence of food and dust allergies – living in less ‘hygienic’ environments seem to be ‘good’. Whilst it’s not as simple as that, it is a likely explanation as to why children and adults living in urban city environments seem more likely to be allergic to something in some form or another. The hypothesis is that if you give the immune system something else to worry about (ie worms, bacteria, protozoa), then it’s less likely to pick on something like a food item or dust mites instead.

Allergy symptoms

Allergy symptoms can be seasonal – if you’re allergic to grass pollens then the symptoms will appear to subside in the cooler months only to be full blown unbearable in the warmer months.

• Sneezing and runny nose
• Runny and itching eyes
• Wheezing, chest tightness and difficulty breathing (asthma type reaction)
• Headaches
• Skin rash, hives, welts (urticaria)
• Swelling
• Difficulty swallowing
• Feeling faint
• Sneezing
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea

Allergy symptoms vary depending on the type of allergic reaction it is – food allergies would result in the vomiting, diarrhea (not always but it is common) which can extend to full blown anaphylactic reactions where the body pretty much shuts down (severe drop in blood pressure), difficulty breathing as the throat swells so much that you can’t breathe, wheezing. Adrenaline is usually administered in these instances and the patient is rushed to hospital.

See other medical symptoms.

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Yeast infections – candidiasis

Yeast infections commonly afflict men, women and children alike. You would hear it spoken of as ‘thrush’. Yeast infections are the result of Candida albicans and the medical symptoms of the disease varies with the site of infection and the individual.

Yeast infection symptoms in women

Vaginal thrush is the most common yeast infection in women, typically women with yeast infections will have :

• a white cheesy discharge from the vagina
• itching around the vagina
• irritation in the vaginal area
• pain during sexual intercourse
• a burning sensation when urinating

Yeast infection symptoms in adults and children (primarily infants)

1. Oral thrush is the one of the ways yeast infection can manifest itself. Often what women will find is that if their breast feeding child has oral thrush, they may find that their nipples may get a dose of it too and they may require treatment as well. Symptoms of oral thrush include :
   • white patches on the tongue and mouth area – a lot of people think that it looks like milk curds but unlike milk curds these cannot be wiped off. If you try to wipe these patches off, the underlying area will start to bleed and painful oral lesions will take their place.
   • irritability and food refusal (more likely in infants and children as their mouth becomes too sore for them to want to eat or drink) – care should be taken to ensure that they receive adequate fluids and soft foods in the meantime to prevent dehydration.
2. Yeast infection in the nappy area or skin folds – typically occuring when the area remains moist for long periods of time eg in nappy rash – these appear as flat red rash spots which cause pain and discomfort. If your baby has these spots or a bright red nappy rash then it’s time to visit your doctor.

Yeast infection symptoms in people with depressed immunity

People with HIV or on immune suppressive drugs often will get yeast infections in their internal organs including the gut resulting in painful ulcers. Dehydration and poor food absorption is common in these circumstances. Candida in some cases can spread via the blood stream into your brain resulting in behavioral changes and other nervous system signs (this isn’t common in people with a healthy immune system but can happen with people who have a depressed immune system).

See other medical symptoms

To what extent would you go to prove a point? Well, Nobel Prize winners in Medicine for 2005 Barry Marshall and Robbin Warren drank a concoction of bacteria causing stomach ulcers to prove to the scientific world that it was indeed a bacteria called Helicobacter which caused stomach ulcers and not the level of stress that you had in your life which resulted in it. And as if to have set a trend in live human testing, Dr Speers and his colleague did the same with hookworms. They wanted to see how the body reacted to an hookworm infection and so they placed hookworms on their skin – which then migrated into the lungs and then into their stomach – they also swallowed a little pill camera to monitor the worm’s activity and the body’s responses to the hookworm. What they discovered was that hookworms actually results in an allergic reaction in the body which is similar to that of asthma and other allergic conditions. All this in their pursuit of a better understanding of Crohn’s disease. In the meantime however, whilst a simple pill would’ve eradicated the hookworm from their system, the 2 doctors have reportedly said that they’ve grown rather fond of their parasites and have opted to ‘keep’ them – what some people will do for their science and to prove a point will never cease to amaze me…

What is HIV AIDS?

The very word sends a chill into every person’s heart. But what exactly is HIV? HIV is short for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and the disease it causes is called Acquired ImmunoDeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The virus itself is sneaky. Upon exposure to the virus, it will rapidly enter your white blood cells and stay there hidden from view.

HIV symptoms – the early signs

Most people report having flu- like symptoms ie

• swollen glands – which is why it is sometimes confused with mono
• fatigue
• fever
• cold chills

As the body tries to combat the virus, it produces antibodies against HIV and these are the people who will test positive in the AIDS blood tests. It can take up to 3 months for these antibodies to develop which is why sometimes doctors will require that you perform multiple blood tests if you’ve had previous exposure in order to confirm that you are ‘free’ from the HIV infection.

As the body produces antibodies, the person will usually start to ‘recover’ from the initial illness and most report saying that they feel perfectly ‘fine’ after about a week. In the meantime, HIV remains ‘latent’ (sleeping) in the person’s body living in large numbers in the person’s white blood cells which primarily congregate in the person’s spleen, lymph nodes, tonsils.

HIV symptoms – full blown AIDS

HIV affects the individual by knocking out the person’s immune system so that the person is suddenly defenceless against diseases and bugs that a healthy person’s immune system would be likely to take down easily. So the symptoms associated with late stage HIV (AIDS) is different for different people. The fact is, it is impossible to predict when the virus will choose to start to emerge from the latent stage to start attacking the white cells and therefore result in full blown AIDS. The estimates are that half of the people infected with HIV will start to show signs of AIDS within 10 years of infection. Commonly reported symptoms of people starting to develop AIDS include :

• thrush – in the mouth and genital areas
• warts or boils that appear all over the body
• re-emergence of Shingles
• re-emergence of Herpesvirus – cold sores and/or genital herpes
• chronic diarrhea
• respiratory and chest infections
• nervous system signs eg coordination problems, behavior problems, difficulty in problem solving

See other medical symptoms

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What is mono

If you haven’t already guessed. Mono is the abbreviation for the medical term ‘mononucleosis’. It is caused by the infamous Epstein-Barr virus.

Symptoms of mono

The medical symptoms of mono are vague but the most significant one is enlarged lymph nodes – particularly visible on your neck area (which is also why it is commonly called ‘glandular fever’). Other symptoms include :

• fever
• headaches
• sore throat
• fatigue
• inappetance
• aching muscles
• white patches in the back of your throat

How is mono transmitted?

It’s not an easy disease to catch – it is usually transmitted via close contact particularly with the infected individual’s saliva and mucous secretions. It’s not as easily spread as say the common cold which you can catch from someone sneezing on you. Which is also why mono is affectionately known as the ‘kissing disease’ because it’s commonly spread from one person to another through the act of kissing. You will usually start to show symptoms of mono anywhere from 1-2 months after exposure to the bug. The age group which it commonly shows up in ranges from 15-35 years of age. Generally, once you’ve had mono, you can’t ‘catch’ it again.

Is mono dangerous?

It can be. Most people with mono will start to feel better after a month but there are others who seem to have a sustained chronic fatigue syndrome type illness that waxes and wanes and can last for months and some even years. However the main concern with mono is that the spleen of some people will become enlarged and is in danger of rupturing which will result in a massive internal bleed and is potentially life threatening. Most people with mono would report having intense and debilitating fatigue – not wanting to get out of bed all day, and complain that performing the simplest of tasks would just wipe them out for the rest of the day.

How is mono treated?

Because it’s a virus, antibiotics are of no use and most doctors will suggest rest, to limit your exercise, drink lots of fluids, tylenol or aspirin for pain and fever (NOTE : not for young children because of the dangers of developing Reye’s syndrome) .

How is mono diagnosed?

There is a simple test called the Monospot test which can be done but most doctors will also do a simple blood test to determine if you have mono or not.

See other medical symptoms