Medical Minute: Autism
We’ve all seen the touching photos of Halle Berry’s 3-year-old daughter Nahla caressing Halle’s face or exploring the handsome features of her father, Gabe Aubry. We all assumed that Nahla was just a very affectionate little girl.
But as a loyal reader pointed out in an email to Sandrarose.com earlier this week, Nahla might be an autistic or special needs child who communicates nonverbally with her hands.
The list of famous celebrities with autistic children includes Toni Braxton, Holly Robinson Peete, Sylvester Stalone, John Travolta, Jenny McCarthy, Dan Marino, Dawn Neufeld (‘Football Wives‘), and more.
Signs of autism begin in babies before they are 12 months old. Most children are diagnosed with autism by age 2 or 3. That’s the age when parents become aware that their toddlers’ communications skills aren’t keeping pace with other toddlers their age.
Autism is a disorder of the nerves in the brain that interferes with the signals sent from the brain to other parts of the body. The disorder is marked by poor communication skills and lack of social interaction. Doctors aren’t sure what causes autism.
Medical Minute: Monistat 7 Does Not Grow Hair
Consider this more of a public service announcement than a Medical Minute.
Yesterday, while perusing my comments section, I noticed a few of my readers discussing the application of vaginal antifungal cream Monistat 7 to the scalp for the purpose of growing hair.
Monistat 7 is the treatment for yeast (fungal) infections of the vagina. (The #7 stands for 7 day treatment).
Today, after reading an email from a reader, I realized that some of my lurkers took my readers’ advice seriously. So I wanted to let you know that applying antifungal cream to your scalp does not stimulate hair growth.
First of all, the so-called matching ingredients in Rogaine hair regrowth treatments and Monistat 7 antifungal cream are inactive ingredients.
I know that all of you are smart enough to understand what the word inactive means.
Medical Minute: Magical Thinking
A Jan. 8 telephone poll conducted by Pollposition.com (as reported by USA Today) found that 59.9% of African Americans believed that God helped Denver Boncos quarterback Tim Tebow win football games.
That same poll showed that a whopping 81% of Hispanics also believed that God ordered Tebow’s steps on the football field. White people, who are the least to believe in magic or superstition, ranked last with just 31% of them believing that God would influence the outcome of a football game in favor of one individual.
Magical thinking is the belief that thinking about something can cause it to occur.
According to Psychology Today, “Magical thinking is defined as believing that one event happens as a result of another without a plausible link of causation.”
Medical Minute: Acute Renal Failure
Last night, singer Mariah Carey tweeted a photo of her husband Nick Cannon laid up in a hospital bed in Aspen, along with the news that he was hospitalized with a “mild” form of kidney failure.
“Please pray for Nick as he’s fighting to recover from a mild kidney failure,” she tweeted early Wednesday morning.
In a subsequent tweet, she added: “We’re trying to be as festive as possible under the circumstances but please keep Nick in your thoughts because this is very painful. They tried to kick me out of the hospital but here I am pon de bed with Mr. C.”
So what is “mild” kidney failure, you ask? Mariah might be referring to Acute Renal Failure, or the beginning stages of kidney failure. But then again, Nick might not be in kidney failure at all (Nick and Mariah are such drama queens).
Medical Minute: Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism
Yesterday, celebrity gossip website TMZ.com reported that legendary rap artist Heavy D died from a blood clot in the lung (Pulmonary embolus or PE) that was caused by Deep leg vein thrombosis. That terminology is incorrect since deep vein thrombosis can occur anywhere in the body, not just the legs. The correct term is Deep Vein Thrombosis or DVT.
DVT has been in the news lately because several high profile figures have been diagnosed with it, or died recently, including Heavy D and reality TV star Tamar Braxton’s husband, Vince Hebert, who survived his bout with DVT and PE.
Pulmonary embolism is usually fatal and involves a blood clot (thrombus) traveling from the legs or arms and into the lungs (PE). People at high risk for DVTs are those who live a sedentary lifestyle (couch potatoes), sit for long periods of time at cubicle desks or travel long distances on planes.
Pulmonary embolisms are often misdiagnosed as something else — such as pneumonia or cardiac arrest. There are law firms that base their entire practice around misdiagnosed pulmonary embolism cases.
Anyone can be diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis. Other risk factors that predispose people to DVTs, include pregnancy, obesity, dehydration, crushing injuries, or people with strokes or heart conditions.
Medical Minute: Male Menopause
Last Friday, Khloe Kardashian’s husband, Lamar Odom, was almost traded to the New Orleans Hornets NBA franchise. Mr. Odom unleashed a series of angry tweets on Twitter.com, before claiming his Twitter page had been hacked into.
Then, during a moment of male bonding between Lamar and uber macho ESPN radio jock Stephen A. Smith, the 6 ft 10 in, 230 lb Odom dissolved into tears. Lamar’s emotional response to this event might be due to the early stages of male menopause.
Emotional changes are one of the signs and symptoms of low testosterone in men that occurs when a male is going through “the change”. Hormonal changes are a natural part of aging for both men and women. Though women experience more changes than men when hormone levels drop due to aging.
What exactly is male menopause?
According to the Mayo Clinic, male menopause is “sometimes used to describe decreasing testosterone levels or a reduction in the bioavailability of testosterone related to aging.”
Male menopause occurs after age 30 on average. By about age 70, the decrease in a man’s testosterone level can be as much as 50 percent. One of the first signs of male menopause in a man is weight gain around the midsection, aka pot belly.
Medical Minute: Body Image Disturbance (BID)
The last post I wrote on Body Image Disturbance (BID) profiled a 23-year-old woman who died of complications related to her sixth breast augmentation surgery.
Despite the increased media focus on botched butt enhancement injections, many women continue to put their lives at risk.
Miami Gardens police have arrested a man (pictured above) who posed as a fake doctor to conduct unauthorized plastic surgery procedures on a woman who required hospitalization afterwards.
Cops say 30-year-old Oneal Ron Harris injected a substance consisting of cement, “fix-a-flat,” mineral oil, and “super glue,” into his victim as a butt enhancement and then sealed the incision with “super glue.”
The injections resulted in what police called a “serious medical condition,” requiring the victim to be hospitalized.
Miami Gardens Police say Morris also performed a similar procedure on himself. Source
Body Image Disturbance (BID), or Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is a mental illness that is on the rise in the black community. Celebrities such as Nicki Minaj and Kim Kardashian help to perpetuate the myth that bizarrely altering a woman’s body parts will bring them riches and fame.
Rather than improve a woman’s low perception of herself, the illegal butt injections often results in depression, serious illness or death.
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