Updated Monday, May 21 2012 at 22:00 GMT+3

By Veronica Kirigo

If you have experienced frequent and persistent cases of heartburn and indigestion, you need to seek medical attention as the problem could be bigger than these symptoms may suggest. Medical experts say such symptoms may point to an endemic condition known as reflux disorder, which if untreated, may lead to serious diseases such as cancer, strictures and ear and teeth complications.

Thus, you should not ignore these symptoms or rush for known over-the-counter medication as you may be treating symptoms as a serious medical disorder worsens, doctors now warn.

At a recent meeting on the effective management of Reflux Disorder, doctors and pharmacists said a majority of Kenyans, who are not aware of the condition, have been treating the symptoms with over-the-counter antacids, which do not treat the illness.

“we have been treating the iceberg, with the patient going to see a specialist when the condition is so severe,” said Prof Godfrey Lule a consultant gastrointestinal.

He observed that there has been a notable increase in the new and recurrent cases of reflux disorder they are handling.

“we see four patients out of 20 with reflux disorder. this cases are severe and in need of specialised treatment,” said Lule.

He attributed the situation to multiple causes owing to the type of lifestyle people are living. “with the changing lifestyles, we have seen more people turning to spicy foods. this, coupled with other factors such as stress, alcohol consumption and smoking, has seen more people suffer from illnesses relating to the digestive system and particularly reflux disorder.”

Lule cautioned that although the main symptoms are heartburn and indigestion, there are other problems that manifest and conceal the diseases.

For those patients who don’t self-medicate or use milk to relive heartburn, they see clinical officers or pharmacists for help.

The health expert says due to the recurrent episodes of discomfort in the stomach, the sufferers have limited productivity at work or in schools.

Lule cautions that failure to seek prompt treatment exposes individuals to the need for prolonged medication or surgery.

People also continue to subject themselves to unnecessary suffering by consuming foods that aggravate the problem.

I fell ill on Friday with a headache, chills, sore throat, cough and high fever. now I am experiencing pain in the abdomen, sudden bouts of dizziness and difficulty catching my breath. I've heard that these are warning signs of severe H1N1. does anyone know anything about this flu? should I be seeking medical attention?

It's my opinion (and I'm not a doctor) that if you could type that question, you're not really that bad. H1N1 gives you a really high temperature, like you'd be burning up.

If your temp goes over 101 Fahrenheit, get to the doctor. Otherwise, no school for joo, lots of orange juice, and sleep, sleep, sleep.

You already know that obvious symptoms, such as chest pain and severe abdominal pain, require immediate medical attention. but the not-so-obvious symptoms may leave you wondering whether you need to seek care. Here’s a list of symptoms that merit at least a call to your doctor. while some of them are more urgent than others, none should be ignored.

1. Unexplained weight loss

Losing weight when you’re not trying to may sound good, but in reality it can signal a health problem. If you’ve lost up 10 percent of your weight during the past six months — for instance, 15 pounds (7 kilograms) if you weigh 150 pounds (68 kilograms) — see your doctor.

An unexplained drop in weight could be caused by a number of conditions, such as an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism), depression, liver disease, cancer or other noncancerous disorders, or disorders that interfere with how your body absorbs nutrients (malabsorption disorders).

2. Persistent or high fever

Fever isn’t an illness, but it is often a sign of one. Most of the time, a fever means your body is fighting a common viral or bacterial infection. However, a persistent low-grade fever — over 102 F (38.9 C) — that lasts for three days or more should be checked by your doctor. Similarly, if you have a high fever — greater than 104 F (40 C) — or if you’re otherwise severely ill, see your doctor as soon as possible.

If you have an immune system problem or take drugs that suppress your immune system, fever may not be a reliable warning sign. Ask your primary doctor or oncologist what would signal a need for an evaluation.

Persistent fever can signal hidden infections, which could be anything from a urinary tract infection to tuberculosis. At other times, malignant conditions — such as lymphomas — cause prolonged or persistent fevers, as can some medications.

3. Shortness of breath

Feeling short of breath — more than that caused by a stuffy nose or exercise — could signal an underlying health problem. If you’re unable to get your breath or you’re gasping for air or wheezing, seek emergency medical care. Feeling breathless when lying down, with or without exertion, also is a symptom that needs to be medically evaluated without delay.

Causes for breathlessness may include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia, a blood clot in the lung (pulmonary embolism), as well as other heart and lung problems. Difficulty breathing can also occur with panic attacks, which are episodes of intense anxiety that cause physical symptoms.

4. Unexplained changes in bowel habits

People often wonder what “normal” means in terms of bowel movements. it varies widely, but anywhere from three times a day to three times a week is considered normal. Know what is typical for you. call your doctor if you notice unusual or unexplained changes such as:

• Bloody stools
• Diarrhea lasting a week
• Constipation that lasts for more than three weeks
• Unexplained urges to have a bowel movement
• Black or tarry-colored stools

Changes in bowel habits may signal a bacterial infection — such as campylobacter or salmonella — or a viral infection or parasitic infestation. among other possible causes are inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer.

5. Delirium

Delirium is sudden severe confusion and rapid change in mental state, such as from lethargy to agitation. Close friends or family members may be the ones who notice this symptom. immediate medical evaluation is warranted if you have any of the following:

• Sudden confused thinking
• Disorientation — confusion about time or place
• Sudden personality or behavior changes, such as becoming aggressive
• Sudden problems with concentration or memory

Changes in behavior or thinking may be due to many problems, including infection, anemia, low blood sugar, or psychiatric conditions or medications, especially ones you’ve recently started taking.

6. Sudden severe headache

Headaches are common and generally not a cause for concern. However, a sudden severe headache could signal a serious problem. Seek prompt medical attention if you experience:

• Sudden severe headache like a clap of thunder
• Headache accompanied by a fever, stiff neck, rash, confusion or seizures
• New pattern of headaches after age 55

The last item may indicate that you have temporal arteritis — inflammation of the arteries in the scalp, brain and eyes — a rare, but treatable condition that usually begins in middle age. other possible causes of severe headache may include a brain tumor or aneurysm.

7. Sudden weakness, loss of vision or speech

If you have these signs or symptoms, minutes count. They’re warning signs of a stroke or a transient ischemic attack (TIA), sometimes called a ministroke. Seek immediate emergency medical care if you have:

• Sudden weakness or numbness on one side of your body
• Sudden dimness, blurring or loss of vision
• Loss of speech or trouble understanding others
• Unexplained dizziness or unsteadiness, or a sudden fall
• Sudden severe headache, like a “bolt out of the blue”

8. Flashes of light

The sudden sensation of seeing flashing lights may signal retinal detachment. immediate medical care may prevent permanent vision loss.

9. Feeling full after eating very little

Early satiety — feeling full sooner than normal or after eating less than usual — that lasts for more than a week should be checked by your doctor. it may be accompanied by other signs and symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, bloating, fever, and weight loss or gain. If so, tell your doctor about these signs or symptoms too.

Possible causes of early satiety include heartburn and irritable bowel syndrome, as well as more-serious problems such as gastric outlet obstruction or esophageal cancer or stomach problems.

10. Hot, red or swollen joint

If one of your joints is swollen or inflamed, it may signal a joint infection, which requires emergency care. other causes may include gout or some types of arthritis.

Recognizing the symptoms of kidney stones can be a challenge if you’ve never had them before. If you have a mild case of kidney stones you may not realize the symptoms but a more severe case is hard to ignore due to the pain. No matter what type of kidney stones you have it’s always a great idea to know what the potential symptoms are.

If you have a severe case of kidney stones you are more likely to notice the symptoms whereas a less severe or smaller case of kidney stones may not be too noticeable. These symptoms can mimic flu symptoms.

Although these types of symptoms can be different conditions it’s important to consider kidney stones if you’ve had them before or have a family history of kidney stones. there are medical tests that can diagnose the condition if that’s what the mild symptoms seem to indicate.

Treating the symptoms and curing kidney stones are not the same issue If you are having really bad pain you need to get medical attention ASAP although you can take over the counter medications to relieve the pain.

Regardless of the treatment prescribed by your physician it’s important that you keep up your strength and stay hydrated by eating well and drinking plenty of fluids. Pain killing prescription medication may be prescribed by your physician for severe cases although many symptoms can be controlled with conventional over the counter pain relievers.

While women have them less than men, women unfortunately are harder to make an accurate diagnosis for the problem. What happens with women is if they get common menstrual related pains it can look very much like kidney stones. Errors with an accurate diagnosis are sometimes due to the presence of an ovarian cyst. this pain is so unusual and extreme that a call to the doctor is necessary, right away. in conclusion, kidney stones can have many symptoms, and in some cases there may be no symptoms at all. If you have reason to suspect you have kidney stones, you should ask your doctor’s advice to see if you need any type of surgery or other medical intervention. Remember that there can be a variation in what you may experience.

If you need to burn fat, I recommend you search for a weight loss diets web page for lose weight blog data.

What happens if swallowed BOR-IC ACID or rubbed on skin? What would the symptoms be before you should get medical attention? Can bor-ic acid kill you? howCan it it be absorbed through the skin and how?

In the case of most serious ulcers, stomach ulcer surgery is the last resort for treatment. This is reserved for bleeding ulcers which will not stop or for perforated ulcers (which result in emergency surgery).

Bleeding Ulcer Surgery

If you have signs or stomach ulcer symptoms that include blood in the stool or vomit (typically black and the appearance of coffee grounds in the vomit or tar in the stool) than you need to seek immediate medical attention.

Most bleeding ulcers do not require surgery and if treatment is received early enough you may be able to prevent surgery. Treatment via proton-pump inhibitors and endoscopic procedures is frequently enough to stop bleeding and promote ulcer healing.

One treatment includes using an endoscope to stop ulcer bleeding, either by using chemicals to enhance blood clotting or “patching” the ulcer from the inside. These are nearly always combined with proton-pump inhibitors (as mentioned) which not only help reduce the production of stomach acid but also promote ulcer healing.

However, in some cases, these treatments fail and surgery is required.

Surgical Procedures

There are two different types of peptic ulcer surgeries: surgeries to repair the ulcer and surgeries to prevent further damage and future ulcers from occurring.

Repairing the ulcer is a relatively straight-forward procedure that involves closing the the wound in the stomach surgically. This is done both with open surgery and laparascopic.

As technology and the skill of surgeons advances, gastric ulcer surgery is moving towards laparascopic over open surgery. However, in the case of a perforated ulcer and subsequent emergency surgery, you will have to “take what you can get” when it comes to the procedure used.

Sometimes other surgeries can be done for ulcers, particularly those with chronic ulcers. one of the more common (but still overall rarely performed) is the vagotomy. This involves snipping the vagus nerve which innervates portions of the stomach and stimulates the production of stomach acid.

The vagotomy is not a procedure used normally to reduce stomach acid. However, in rare cases certain genes can cause the stomach to produce too much acid, making a vagotomy a viable procedure. To reiterate this is quite rare but some are born with congenital abnormalities in the production of stomach acid, making a procedure like a vagotomy a viable option.

A vagotomy is not viable for most of the population. If you had a serious ulcer that resulted from over-reliance on NSAIDs in conjunction with an active H pylori infection and surgical repair was required, the easiest thing to do would be to stop using NSAIDs and get H pylori treatment.

Other surgeries include removing portions of the stomach responsible for stimulating stomach acid as well as modifying the pyloric junction. This can help reduce the amount of stomach acid produced as well as enhance the stomach’s ability empty (which could lead to negative effects in the duodenum in the long term). These surgeries have become less popular over the years due to advances in medicine (i.e. proton pump inhibitors).

by Lucas Jalong Bato. Posted on March 15, 2011, Tuesday

LIMBANG: a wedding feast could be the source of a bout of food poisoning which broke out among its guests in the district.

The wedding took place on March 6.

The Indoor Stadium was turned into a quarantine zone for 43 persons showing symptoms of cholera. They were mostly guests at the wedding.

Out of that, 20 admitted to the district hospital comprised 13 men and seven women.

Meanwhile, Limbang MP Hasbi Habibollah advised the people not to panic as the outbreak was under control.

He said the Medical Department had sent teams to the ground to make sure the disease would not spread.

He said rural areas given focus were Kampung Buang Api, Kampung Pandam, Mengatai, Gadong and Lubuk Piasau.

“We hope the people do not panic as the Medical Department is investigating the cause of the outbreak and conducting an awareness programme,” said Hasbi.

He said though the case seem isolated, the people in the affected area need immediate medical attention. And they might need to be quarantined to stop the disease from spreading.

I'm a bit worried that I overdosed on paracetamol around 20 hours ago. I might have taken in over 4 grams. how long do symptoms take to appear? I've felt nothing at all, except for a bit of pain around where the liver is positioned, nothing major, just ticks of light pain occasionally. should I still be worried if nothing happened in 20 hours?

Hi there,

Could I suggest a trip to your local a&e hospital (or emergency room) and make it urgent. Paracetamol poisoning can take 3 or 4 DAYS to hit the liver, so as yet you are definitely NOT out of danger.

Please please go to the hospital and get medical attention.

I wish you good luck and a beautiful and happy future.

PS let me know that you are ok when you have seen the docs

Some babies with acid reflux do experience is more symptoms after 12 to 18 months, even if it is normal to worry, there is no place for alarm. However, there are some babies who continue to show symptoms even after one year, and the case as it is in need of immediate medical attention. this article will discuss some symptoms of acid reflux in baby and how to check for their severity.Sweet baby SymptomsA spitting does not necessarily mean that he has acid reflux. to check for mild symptoms of acid reflux, take note of what happened before, during and after your baby poster behaviours: – food before – is your baby constantly refusing to feed every time your try to feed him? Naturally, a baby can refuse to feed because it is simply full. However, if your baby is constantly refusing to feed, it is a clear sign that he or she may experience mild symptoms of acid reflux. -in the course of food – spitting and vomiting while food is very normal. But if you find your baby spit consistently each time that feed you him, he or she may have acid reflux. However, your baby may spit while crying. So take note of certain behaviours and find when these behaviors occur. If they occur (spitting, vomiting, or cough), while feeding your baby or crying, then he or she may have mild symptoms of acid reflux. -After Feeding – take note of what happens after your baby shows strange behavior. If your baby is spitting or coughing during eating and asleep right after the meal, then he or she may have acid reflux. The reason is that, when a baby or an adult is down right after eating acid tends to go to the esophagus. Of course, babies tend to sleep much, that is why the condition is so widespread among them. Babies who tend to make vigorous after food is also a higher risk of reflux.Severe SymptomsOther that spitting, vomiting, and cough, there are other symptoms of acid reflux in baby may be even worse. to identify potentially serious symptoms, take note of: – the persistence of symptoms – if your baby has been displaying symptoms for more than 18 months, then the condition could never disappear unless treatment is applied. -the emergence of other Complications – if it came to a point as your baby develops more slowly that a healthy baby should, then it is almost a sure sign that acid reflux is getting worse. due to discomfort or pain, a baby with acid reflux will continue to feed evil even after several months. this makes things even worse that the digestive system can be seriously affected. Your baby may have a bloody stool and blood loss. Generally, a baby can win or lose weight suddenly with the worst case of acid reflux.

Prevent acid reflux in baby before it gets worse. More information on reflux acid symptom of baby.

Incoming search terms:Baby Acid Reflux SymptomsShare and enjoy:

question: is it possible to have a heart attack without any warning signs beforehand?

answer: Unfortunately, the answer is yes. a certain percentage of patients will not have chest pain or other symptoms until the time of their heart attack. some patients will suffer "silent" heart attacks (called myocardial infarctions or MI's). also, patients sometimes ignore their warning signs or attribute them to other causes. the classic signs of a heart attack (chest pain or pressure, sweating, shortness of breath) may not be present in all cases. Even an electrocardiogram may not show the classic electrical findings initially. Once symptoms occur, however, a delay in seeking medical attention and treatment for a heart attack can be very serious and in some cases, deadly. Heart disease remains the number one killer of adults in the United States. Any suspicious symptoms, especially in patients with risk factors for heart disease, should be discussed immediately with a qualified medical provider.

Chris Thompson, MD, Cardiologist

question: I am ‘prediabetic’. what does this mean? Are my chances of having full-blown diabetes increased?

answer: Early signs of diabetes are so prevalent that it now has its own label of prediabetes. It’s also known as impaired glucose tolerance. when blood sugar is higher than normal, it puts people at serious risk of complications but not quite high enough to fit into the category of type 2 diabetes.

There are about 20 to 30 million Americans who have prediabetes.

You’re risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases by 50 percent over 10 years once you’ve been diagnosed with prediabetes. it doubles the risk of heart disease and triples the risk of high blood pressure.

Treat it as a red flag and make changes now in your lifestyle to include regular exercise and eat a healthy diet.

Jason Ramm, MD, Family Practice Physician

questions may be submitted to: Healthy Advice, 716 E. Napoleon St., Sulphur, LA 70663 or by emailing . questions cannot be answered individually, but will be considered for publication. please check with your physician for specific recommendations concerning your health concerns. This information is not intended to treat, cure or diagnose your condition. Healthy Advice is a weekly column from West Calcasieu Cameron Hospital.