Category Archives: Uncategorized

Hi everyone

Thanks for reading this blog

Today, we’ll look at 2 myths:

1.Epilepsy is not treatable and can not be treated in the Hospital.

This belief is a sequel to the belief that Epilepsy is a Spiritual disease. Persons with this belief therefore believe that it can only be treated with alternate medicine. Hence the person is taken to a Spiritual house for prayers or treated with traditional herbs. These are not effective.

Epilepsy is a TREATABLE disease and can be treated in the Hospital. There are medications that can control the convulsions. In fact these medications can control the convulsions in most persons with Epilepsy.

To control means that either the convulsions have stopped or the frequency has reduced or are much less severe.

However, some of the persons will need to be on medications for life.

Epilepsy is a TREATABLE disease and it can be treated in the Hospital!!

Another common but wrong belief is:

Epilepsy is contagious or transferable.

This belief that Epilepsy is contagious or transferable is the reason people do not relate or go near any one with Epilepsy.

Epilepsy is not a contagious, infectious or transferable disease!! It cannot be transmitted by touching the saliva, blood, urine, sweat or faeces of the person.

It cannot be transmitted by eating, drinking, holding hands or even sex with the person.

You can relate with a person with Epilepsy: You will not CONTACT it from the person.

In addition, you can also help or car for anyone who is having convulsions. There is absolutely NO RISK of contacting the disease.

Just like all other human beings, they need help, care, love and compassion.

Please help anybody having convulsions: Epilepsy is not contagious or transferable!!

Thanks for reading

See you tomorrow

Hi everyone

You are Welcome

I started this series on Epilepsy yesterday.

Like I said yesterday, Epilepsy is shrouded in secrecy. There are so many MYTHS and BELIEFS that make it so.

I’m going to take time to debunk most of the myths and beliefs.

The commonest belief is

‘Epilepsy is a Spiritual disease’!

This belief stems from the dramatic presentation of the disease. A person suddenly falls, shakes and is unaware of self within the period.

The truth is that

‘Epilepsy is a brain disease’

It results from seizures.

Seizures occur as a result of scattered irregular electrical discharges in the brain.

The commonest type of seizure is seen as convulsions: the person falls unconscious and shakes uncontrollably.

Please note that there are many other types of seizures where the person does not shake.

It is also interesting to note that ANYBODY can have a seizure (commonly called convulsions) .

In fact as many as 5% of the population have a seizure or convulsions in a lifetime.

You see……….it is not only you or your relative. It is that COMMON.

It is common in children with high fever.

It can be seen in persons with Meningitis or Malaria

It can be seen in pregnant women with elevated Blood Pressure

It can be seen in persons with markedly reduced sugar level caused by Alcohol or some medications

It can happen after a head injury.

It occurs commonly after a Stroke.

It can occur in persons with brain tumour or Dementia.

There are so many other reasons anybody and I mean anybody may have convulsions.

However, for it to be called Epilepsy (by the Doctor), it has to be repeated ( more than twice) without the obvious causes as listed above.

Some of these persons with Epilepsy( PWE) have a minor ailment affecting the brain. This does not mean that they are mad.

Please note that nobody is called ‘epileptic’ anymore. It is wrong to label a human being with a disease!!

The correct terminology is Person with Epilepsy( PWE) and it can be anybody.

In conclusion, EPILEPSY IS A MEDICAL DISEASE!!

Thanks for reading.

See you tomorrow.

Hi everyone

Thanks for reading my blog.

How was your weekend? It’s nice to be here again.

Today, I’m starting a series on Epilepsy.

Epilepsy is a disease which has been shrouded in secrecy for centuries.

In fact, Epilepsy is considered a Spiritual disease in most developing countries.

Therefore persons living with Epilepsy( PWE) are thought to be abnormal, retarded, mentally deranged or even sub normal in many of such societies.

Such persons are generally stigmatized by the society. This makes some of them live their lives in shame, sorrow and loneliness.

In view of this, the World Health Organization launched a campaign in 1997.

The theme was:

‘Out of the Shadows’

The aim of the campaign was to create public awareness and ensure improvements in the quality of care for persons living with Epilepsy.

Regrettably, Epilepsy still remains in the shadows in most developing countries after more than 20 years.

Please join me In this series as I gradually bring Epilepsy out of the Shadows!

You are WELCOME to the journey.

Hi everyone
How’s the weekend?
Once again, Thanks for reading my blog
Today I’ll be rounding up on Lifestyle Modifications.
We have heard all our lives that ‘Smoking is dangerous for your Health’!!
The new cliche currently is ‘Sitting is the new Smoking’. This is because studies have shown that ‘Sitting is DANGEROUS for your Health’.
Sitting for long periods leads to reduced blood flow to the vital organs, weight gain and poor health on the long run.

I have personally noticed remarkable weight gain once I attend a conference or workshop. This is because my job description involves a lot of standing: Ward rounds, lectures, teaching by the bedside ETC.
On the other hand, while in a conference or workshop, my periods of standing reduce remarkably. The resultant effects include weight gain, sluggishness, poor sleep and all.
Please get up from the chair if you want a healthy life.

Some of the steps are as follows:
Stand while casting News: you’ll notice this on International networks
Stand after a while when working on your laptop
Stand while cooking
Stand while watching television
Do some domestic work like gardening,mowing the lawn, mopping the floor, cleaning Windows ETC
As often as possible please STAND.

In fact, there are standing tables for administrators, accountants and all persons who SIT all day. However, even if you don’t have one, incorporate standing while at work.

Please get UP from your CHAIR for a much healthier YOU!!.

See you on Monday

Are you there?
Thanks, You are Welcome
Yesterday we started talking about exercise. I can virtually hear some of you sighing: Hmmm where is the time?
I totally agree that time is a huge Challenge when it comes to exercise only second to lack of Discipline.

Hence we may not all have the time to jog, swim, cycle or register in a Gym or the wherewithal in some cases.
However there is so much you and I can do. This is called NEAT: forget the full name.
NEAT simply means incorporating activity and exercise into our daily lives.
Have you ever seen a FAT Newspaper vendor before? Not Likely!!!

They do not jog or register in a Gym. However there job entails walking all day.

When they get to any establishment, they walk round the whole compound, climb the stair cases as they deliver to all offices. Thereafter, they walk down several streets as they deliver the papers. The activity looks effortless, doesn’t seem to involve exercise or sweating but on the long on, they have covered long distances.
All of them are physically FIT if you notice. That is the profit of NEAT: ensuring physical activities in your daily duties.

Steps in NEAT include:
Using the staircase instead of the elevator
Parking some distance to walk to your office
Seeing off your visitor: walk him/ to the junction or bus stop
bus steps away then walk the remaining distance
Doing some house work like cleaning, laundry, dishes( all the jobs considered menial)
Walking to the market, church, school or office about 15 to 20 minutes away

These steps will increase your physical activities as you carry out your everyday activities.

You will be healthier.
See you tomorrow as we conclude on Lifestyle Modifications

Thanks once again

Hi everyone
Are you there
Have you started readjusting to ‘ The Healthy West African Diet’?
Please do readjust. The sooner the better.
Also remember to eat all the foods in moderation. No matter how healthy the meal is, excess quantity will make it unhealthy and also lead to obesity.
It is also great to drink plenty of water. Actually, I’m guilty of taking small volumes of water but I’m learning to increase my water intake. So let’s learn together.

Taking about drinking, please reduce Alcohol intake significantly. The less you drink, the better for you.

Please quit Cigarette smoking or taking Nicotine in other forms like Snuff, piping ETC.

The last but not the least is Exercise.
Exercise is of paramount importance in ensuring a healthy life style.

It’s great if you can exercise three times a week as recommended. Aerobic exercises like walking, swimming, jogging, cycling are great.

Register in a gym if you can.
These however may not be very practicable in our busy lives. Hence, we’ll talk about incorporating exercises into our daily activities. Let’s do that tomorrow.
Good night

Hi everyone

Eating a healthy diet is of paramount importance in maintaining a healthy body.

Interestingly, literature written about 100 years ago reports that there’s no Hypertension, Diabetes Mellitus Stroke and Dementia in Africa.
Regrettably, we IMPORTED these diseases. The problem of Africa was mainly infectious diseases.
Currently we have these non communicable diseases superimposed on the infectious diseases.
We imported these diseases by changing our lifestyle especially our food.
The whole world is saying ‘Africans go back to your food.’
Our food is referred to as
‘ The Healthy West African Diet’
The characteristics of our food are

We eat fresh unprocessed food. We cook our meat bleeding and fresh. In order to preserve, we may roast the meat or fish. We also dry under the Sun or hot fire like melon seeds, pepper,beans, garri.

We eat plant oils like Palm oil, groundnut oil, coconut oil, olive oil ,Avocado pear, ordinary pear etc. We imported animal oils like butter,margarine, milk, butter, cheese, salad cream etc
We eat Unrefined sugar in fresh fruits. We borrowed refined sugars like table sugar, sweets, chocolates, ice cream, minerals etc

We drink lots of water.
Our cooking methods are roasting, boiling, and steaming. We borrowed frying in oil or fat,baking, grilling ETC

Please go back to our African food for a healthier YOU.

Have a great day

Hi there

I’m rounding up on Hypertension in a few days.

Thanks for reading.

Other issues in controlling your Blood Pressure include weight reduction. I am shaking as I write this because I know how difficult it is: I’ve worked on my weight all my life.

Excess weight (Obesity) is not only a risk factor for Hypertension but all also a risk for a barrage of other conditions.

The first step is a Healthy Diet.

There are many types of diets but the main issue on weight control is this:

Weight is dependent on Input and Output.

Increase your Input and decrease your Output, you are in a positive balance: the weight piles UP.

Decrease your Input and increase your Output, you are in a negative balance: the weight goes DOWN.

Weight reduction has a lot of additional benefits. However, it requires a lot of DISCIPLINE!!

In addition, people are discouraged because of the prolonged time that it takes.

You didn’t add the weight in one day, it will not go in one day.

I’m trying to loose weight: let’s do it together.

Have a great day

Hi everyone
How was your weekend?

Were you able to reduce your salt?
If you could, that’s GREAT!
If you couldn’t, please give it a try.

Actually, I’ve had people contest this principle of reduction of Salt intake.
One common reason is that they believe that our grandparents ate a lot more salt than us: they used salt to dry meat and fish. This is very true because salt is a great preservative.

However, consider the following facts on their salt intake:

They didn’t eat sweetened cubes which have become the norm in our meal preparation today. They didn’t eat much of processed food( foods in tins and packets). They also ate a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables: unsalted.
Moreover, they were more involved in physical activities like walking long distances, farming, tilling, fishing, hunting etc. These activities involve sweating. Have you tasted your sweat before? I have . It is SALTY!!!! In essence, they ate considerably salt in fewer forms. In addition, they lost a lot from the skin: sweating.Sweating is a desirable healthy process: Believe you me.
In recent times, most of us do not SWEAT! In fact sweating is consider sweating a ‘sign of Suffering’ We therefore move from air conditioned homes to air conditioned cars to air conditioned offices and so on and so on. It is therefore pertinent to markedly reduce the Salt in our diet.
Try it for a HEALTHIER YOU.
See you tomorrow

Hi everyone
Thanks for reading
We have started our steps to ‘Taking Charge’ in Hypertension
It is wise to totally cut off salt and and food sweetened cubes. However, this is not very practicable because the food becomes bland and tasteless.

The following practical steps will reduce salt by more than 70% with marked reduction in Blood pressure.

Step 1 Avoid all UNNECESSARY salt
This will include sprinkling salt on boiled white rice, yam, beans, plantain, potatoes. Any dish that is eaten with stew, sauce, pepper soup etc does not need added salt. Any amount of salt sprinkled on the dish during preparation is already excess since there is salt in the sauce or stew.For Nigerians, you remember that we do not add salt to garri ( eba), semovita, pounded yam, amala, tuwo etc. It is the same principle.

Step 2 Avoid salt in natural fruits and vegetables
Some of us add salt to fruits like paw paw, pineapple, avocado pear , local pear, coconut, garden egg, cucumber etc. We eat salted groundnuts and boil our maize with salt.This is excess also. Eat these natural fruits and vegetables without salt.

Step 3 Avoid processed foods. Salt is a great preservative. Any food in a packet or tin like noodles, salad creams, margarine, baked beans, canned meat and fish etc already has a lot of salt.Limit the consumption of such foods remarkably

Step 4 Thereafter, reduce the salt and sweetened cubes used in cooking. Do not have salt containers or extra sauces on the dinning table. Do not add further salt after cooking.

Step 5 Cook your own meals as often as possible. This is the best way to have control over your diet.
YOU ONLY KNOW WHAT YOU ARE EATEN WHEN IT WAS PREPARED BY YOU!!!
You just try these steps for one week. It may not be easy but it can be done.
I did it and so can you
Take Charge and have a great weekend!!!