The period from March to June is the summer season and it is the warmest of all seasons in a year. Summer brings with it a dry, warm and hot weather in India, when schools and educational institutions take a break from the harsh weather. It is also that period of the year when lot of health issues crop up for children as well as adults.

The scorching heat and the driest of dry weather brings with it a host of diseases if proper precaution is not taken.

Here are some of the more common diseases that tend to occur during the summer season:

Heat Stroke: The rise in body temperature due to prolonged exposure to the summer heat can lead to heat stroke. It is an abnormal rise in body temperature or hyperthermia along with physical and behavioural symptoms like headaches, nausea, dizziness, muscle cramps, faster heart rates and fever.

Food Poisoning: During the season a surge in harmful bacteria and parasites occur causing food-borne disease. The warm and humid weather provide the right environment for bacterial growth leading to food contamination.

Sore Eyes: Conjunctivitis is a disease that is also known as sore eyes which is typical of the summer months. The presence of viral or bacterial infection and allergies lead to the inflammation of the conjunctiva and causes much irritability, redness and pain in the eyes. These are contagious and can affect anyone who comes in contact with an infected person and it lasts for 4-7 days at a time.

Dehydration: This is the most common of summer health problems. It occurs when there is no adequate intake of fluids or water to replace the loss of moisture and salts due to sweating. Replenishing the water content in the body from time to time will help it function properly and prevent any health issues due to dehydration

Headache: Due to dehydration and heat the summer season causes typical headache problems to many people.

Mumps:  This is a contagious and threatening viral disease that tends to spread during summer. It can be transmitted when an infected person sneezes or coughs. It affects the parotid gland in front of the ears, causing severe swelling, pain and fever.

Measles & Chicken pox: Viral infection causes measles and chicken pox especially in young children during summer. The symptoms include skin rashes, high fever, cough and watery eyes.

Sun Burn: The overexposure or going out without proper skin protection can cause exposure to harmful ultra-violet radiation from the sun that leads to painful skin rashes known as sun burn.

Water-Borne Diseases: Summer is a season for water contamination that causes widespread diseases like diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera and typhoid.

Mosquito Infections: The mosquitoes are active and breed during summer giving rise to mosquito bites that spread and cause a great deal of infections in humans.

How to prevent Summer diseases?

The rise in body temperature will lead to dehydration, so replace the water in the body by drinking more fluids and keep the body cooler. Increase the intake of fresh juices and plain water and avoid beverages, alcohol and sugar.

You can also eat small, light and frequent meals instead of larger ones. Include fresh fruits and vegetables with more water content in them like peaches, melons, pumpkin, cucumber and onions as they are also easily digestible. Drink coconut water, lemon juice and fresh fruit juices to fight the summer weather.

Maintain general hygiene, prevent mosquito bites and get proper vaccination against diseases like measles, mumps and rubella. Protect your skin with sunscreen and use loose fitting and lighter clothes all the time as well as protect your eyes with coolers when you go out. Take bath twice daily and wash your hands, face and eyes with fresh water when you return home.

Measles and chicken pox are most common diseases that affect children. Both have certain similarities but actually they are caused by two different viruses – Paramyxo Virus and Varicella Zoster Virus, respectively. The first sign of being affected by either of them is the appearance of rashes on the skin.

Another common aspect is that both measles and chicken pox are contagious and spread through coughing, sneezing or coming in contact with the infected person in one way or the other. A person can get vaccinated from measles but not against chicken pox.

Symptom

When a person is affected with measles there will be splotch rashes, high fever, cough, sore throat, white spots, runny nose, soggy eyes and body ache. The difference in symptoms for chicken pox include high fever, skin rashes, loss of appetite, red or pink bumps on the body, headache and tiredness.

Duration

There is a difference in the duration of measles and chicken pox. A few days after the rashes appear on the body, a person with measles will feel sicker compared to those with chicken pox. Chicken pox patients will have stomach upset, irritability and trouble with itching, but the symptoms gradually reduce along with the fever. But in the case of measles, people will feel sick longer, suffer from fever, fatigue and achiness with running nose, coughing and watery eyes.

Treatment

When it comes to treatment for measles and chicken pox, there are lot of similarities. First of all people suffering from both diseases are suggested to take complete rest, then get properly hydrated with some seasonal juices and most importantly advised against vigorous scratching of the skin which will only aggravate the itching and leading to more rashes developing.

People with measles are usually advised to drink lot of water and ingest Vitamin A rich food substances in their diet. Those with chicken pox are told to take regular baths with lukewarm water, apply unscented lotions on the body and wear as lightweight and softer clothes as possible.

The thyroid is a small gland in front of the neck that makes produces hormones to control the body organs. When there is a deficiency in making these hormones then the body functions get affected. It also affects one’s energy levels, mood and weight.

If the thyroid gets inflamed then the condition is known as thyroiditis. This happens mainly when the body makes antibodies that attack the thyroid by mistake. Such a condition is called as autoimmune thyroiditis, lymphocytic thyroiditis or Hashimoto’s disease.

What are the causes for thyroiditis?

Still it is not very clear why the immune system behaves in such a harmful way. There are possibly many reasons including a defective gene, a virus attack or a combination of many causes.

Who can get affected?

Women are more likely to get autoimmune thyroiditis and especially if they are in the middle age group. Those having other autoimmune disorders like lupus, type 1 diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis are also likely to be affected. Those exposed to environmental radiation is also susceptible to get the disorder.

What are its symptoms?

As the disease progresses, the thyroid may become enlarged and lead to goitre formation. The front of the neck will be swollen, which makes the throat feel always full. It usually does not give any pain and if left alone will shrink on its own, though it does not mean the patient is cured.

Since the thyroid is damaged it leads to hypothyroidism or too little of thyroid hormones leading to major symptoms like  tiredness, puffy face, sensitivity to cold, trouble in passing stools, enlarged tongue, pale and brittle nails, hair loss, weight gain, muscle aches and joint pains, depression, memory lapse and irregular menstruation.

What is the treatment for autoimmune thyroiditis?

The doctor will treat an autoimmune thyroiditis patient with prescription medicines like levothyroxine or Unithyroid which is human made thyroid substitute. The dosage of the medicine will be adjusted frequently to suit your progress and medicines are for life. The diet is important during the therapy and so foods like high-fibre diet and soy products are best avoided.

The doctor should also know whether you are taking iron supplements, cholesterol medicines, antacids that have aluminium hydroxide, ulcer medicines or calcium substitutes.

Asthma treatment is basically a way to help a patient lead a normal and healthy lifestyle instead of suffering from the effects of the disease. This is done by undertaking a regime of exercise and other physical activities,regular medications, avoiding allergic triggers and monitoring lung function etc. If the asthma symptoms do not allow you to fully participate in physical activities then you may need a small change in the asthma action plan. This will provide the required asthma relief during any exercise or activity.

THE MOST SUITABLE EXERCISES FOR ASTHMA

The exercise plan for an asthma patient can involve short, intermittent periods of exertion by taking activities like volleyball, gymnastics, baseball, and wrestling. These activities are found to be fairly well tolerated by asthma patients.

Activities that require long periods of exertion like distance running, basketball or field hockey may not be so well tolerated. Similarly sports in cold weather like skating, ice-hockey etc may pose serious problems. Though swimming which is an endurance sport is well tolerated by many asthma patients. This is because it is performed while breathing warm moist air and it is a good physical fitness activity. Other activities like cycling, aerobics, walking, running on treadmill are also beneficial for people with asthma.

HOW TO CONTROL ASTHMA DURING AN ACTIVITY?

First and foremost consult your doctor and chalk out an action plan for your activity or exercise and then only indulge in it.
Take care to use the pre exercise asthma medicine like bronchodilators if it is required into the action plan.

Do the necessary warm ups and cool down before and after the exercise

In cold weather wear a mask or scarf over the mouth and nose or exercise indoors

If prone to allergies do not exercise outside when the pollution count is high

Restrict exercise when there is an attack of cold or some infection

Keep the exercise well within the levels already planned

An active life ensures mental and physical health and asthma need not come in the way of a healthy lifestyle.

WHAT IF THERE IS AN ASTHMA ATTACK DURING ACTIVITY?

If there is a sudden appearance of asthma symptoms during exercise, then immediately stop and follow the instructions as given in the action plan. It is safe to keep the inhaler handy and use it as instructed by your physician. If you still feel the symptoms are not stopping then reach for the nearest medical centre or hospital.

When there is excess sweating during night and your sleep gets disturbed due to it, then it’s called a night sweating. Better be sure that you are not sleeping in a bedroom that is unusually hot or you are not wearing too many bedclothes, since they also cause you to sweat. Whereas true night sweats are hot flashes occurring during night that drenches the clothes and sheets and not related to an overheated environment or thick layer of clothing.

There are umpteen reasons for a night sweat and the doctor will have to study the health history in detail to come to a conclusion or find a relevant cause. Sometimes proper tests are done to decide if you have any underlying health conditions that are causing the night sweat.

Here are few of the more common reasons for a night sweat:

MENOPAUSE

Women undergoing the menopause stage in life will experience hot flashes during their sleep and this will cause the night sweat. This is a very common cause of night sweat.

INFECTIONS

Conditions like tuberculosis infection is a common reason associated with night sweats. Sometime bacterial infections like endocarditis which causes inflammation of the heart valves, osteomyelitis (bone inflammation) and abscesses can be the reason for night sweats. Those affected with HIV will also experience night sweats.

CANCER

Many medical researchers infer that a person suffering from cancer can experience night sweating. The most common of them all is Lymphoma which is sure to cause night sweats. People with undiagnosed cancer will also have other symptoms like unexplained weight loss and fever.

HYPOGLYCEMIA

Those with low blood sugar can also suffer from night sweats. Patients taking insulin or oral diabetes medications may at times get hypoglycaemic at night and this will be accompanied by severe night sweating.

HORMONE DISORDER

A person suffering from hormone disorder including carcinoid syndrome and hyperthyroidism. Sweating or flushing is a common occurrence for such people.

NEUROLOGICAL CONDITION

Health conditions like autonomic dysreflexia, posttraumatic synriongomygelia, stroke and autonomic neuoropathy can cause increased sweating and this will continue in to the night to give night sweats.

Some other reasons for night sweat include medications and diseases affecting the sweat glands.