Little Bits of Stuff

Every now and then, you make this resolution that you will lose weight, who are you kidding? Just a few days in and you are back to eating junks and cream.

There is an ultimate weight loss idea you've not heard, and it is right here in this podcast episode.

There are age old rumors about diabetes mellitus, some of them true, vast majority however are misconceptions.

This episode is a knowledge base for all things diabetes facts.

In this final part of the Ask Dr Nick Series which happened on Facebook Live, we revisit several common medical questions and even those questions you never thought existed.

Highlights of this episode includes talk on erectile dysfunction, who to blame for female children only, Can you influence the sex of your child before birth and so on. This intriguing episode is all you need for a relaxing thoughts-filled free time.

This episodes highlights questions you wished you could ask your doctor but couldn't. This is one of such efforts put in place to ensure help is always within reach for everybody.

It also aired on facebook live and you can head on there to watch a replay.

share this, it might help others, even people you do not know.

What's that one pressing question you wished you could ask your doctor?

So many ladies out there have this experience once in a while; a left or right sided lower abdominal pain right in the middle of their cycle. Some wonder what it is, others know it is ovulation pain but don't know the reason why.

In this episode, I took a quick look into why you have ovulation pain and bounced of a friend's question in a bid to shed more light on it.

Would you like a "AskDrNick" live episode where you can call in and ask that funny question you wish you could ask your doctor but naahhh you let it pass? Indicate in the comments and I can make that happen this weekend.

Enjoy this episode.

This episode on why patients and their relatives beat up health workers is a recurring problem in the Nigerian health sector that needs to be addressed even at the highest level.

Why do patients and relatives alike feel beating up a health professional is the only way out of resolving grievances?

Have you assaulted a health professional before either physically or verbally? Let us know in the comments.

Heartburn during pregnancy is a common issue pregnant mothers complain of during their antenatal visits. What are the causes of heartburn in pregnancy? What are the common home remedies? When do you see your doctor? This episode discusses all these issues and more!

When you go to the hospital for medical care do you pay out of pocket or you let your Health Maintenance Organisation sort it out for you?

This episode dives in to this matter to give you a brief overview for a start, on what you should get out of your HMO.

What HMO do you use and which plan are you on? Do you know what your plan can get you or you are just cruising till you get the shocker of your life?

Lets talk about Canker sores. Also known as aphthous ulcers, yorubas call them majata. Don't know what other tribes in Nigeria call them. But majata directly translates to "don't eat pepper", don't know the origin, don't know why it's called that but it is what it is.

They are open, painful, discomforting and irritating. They are called canker sores.

Palm oil, that sweet savoury oil that adds taste to that melon soup, that flavour it gives to the native okro soup, not to mention, the role it plays in the making of beans, the ewa goin that goes with that agege bread... I can go on and on and on. But do you also know, it can be a fast way to death for kids?

From time immemorial, parents and the elders gave palm oil as antidote for everything poison that has been injested. Did it work for them? Is it some kind of myth? Is it real?

The doctors in the pediatrics emergency will disagree though as it has caused more deaths than good in the Emergency dept.

First things first, why would you keep bleach in an eva water bottle and place it on the floor?

Why would you feel the need to put sniper in an open container? When you have kids crawling around?

So a child gets burnt in fire, the next thing is rub palm oil on it. Rob it on.

A child splashes hot water on self, rob it on.

A child drinks kerosene, guess what, force feed with palm oil.

Who else remembers palm oil as an antidote to cough? You know how to do it, mix palm oil with a lot of sugar, stir and drink with the sugar, believed to help resolve it. Truth is, all the times I was given this treatment when i was a kid, I continued to cough like never before. Till morning. My conclusion right now, looking back, it simply doesn't work.

Now the myth is this, palm oil is believed to either induce vomiting so the child can be rid of the poison or secondly, that it helps to neutralise the poison ingested.

What they forget is, inducing vomiting does not work for all poisons. In fact, inducing vomiting may worsen the problem and the child can die from that.

What's worse is this, while trying to feed the child a lot of palm oil, or while the child is trying to vomit the palm oil and poison, it can pass into the longs and trust me, palm oil is very bad for the lungs, so bad a child can die within hours to days. I always say this, good for the stomach, bad for lungs.

Palm oil seals off spaces meant for respiration in the lungs, apart from causing a direct injury to the lungs and Inflammation with progression to some form of severe pneumonia, child needs oxygen to survive and what not. It's just all shades of bad, bad bad.

What should you do?