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From pediatric questions to general medical queries, our
panel of experts is here to answer your questions….
Cotton Mouth
Question: Recently I have been waking up in the morning
with an extremely dry mouth. Otherwise I am of normal
health and do not have any health concerns. What could this
be?
Dr. Nageen Murad, General Physician responds:
“Dry
mouth is quite a common symptom, especially in old age. It may be
associated with common conditions like anxiety, reduced drinking
of oral fluids, due to the side effects of certain medications, or some
serious chronic medical illnesses like diabetes mellitus. In your case,
as you have been observing an extremely dry mouth after awakening,
it could be due to mouth breathing possibly due to obstructive sleep
apnea- a disorder of sleep characterized by pauses in breathing
due to physiological collapsing of the upper air ways and mouth
breathing. The most appropriate step for you would be to visit your
physician and discuss your symptoms in detail. He will assess your
history, physical condition, and accordingly, will suggest certain
investigations. He may advise you visit a specialist consultation for
some highly specialized investigations like sleep studies to rule out
sleep apnea syndrome. If you are overweight, it is advisable to reduce
your weight, which may improve your symptoms of mouth breathing
in case obesity is a contributing factor. Some other simple remedies
also include: to sleep on one side, release nasal blockage before going
to bed, relieve daily stressors, elevate your head, and to eat healthy.”
Enlarged Wart
Causing Concern
Question: I have recently developed
a wart on my toe and it’s growing in
size. Are warts contagious? What is
the gold standard treatment?
Dr. Rajiv Singla, Specialist
Dermatology responds:
“A wart
on your toe could be serious issue as it
can cause severe pain while walking or
standing. As it is caused by a virus, warts
are transmitted by direct or indirect
contact. So you need to avoid coming in
direct contact with surfaces like wet floors
and benches in places such as communal
changing rooms, swimming pools and
shower rooms. Also, you should not
share shoes and socks with other people
to avoid transmission of the infection to
others.
There are various treatment options
available from application of salicylic acid
to intra-lesional injections and electric
cautery; and best treatment given depends
on the size of the wart and number of
warts. Since you have the single lesion
on your toe, the best treatment option in
your case will be to give a fair trial of a
daily application of salicylic acid for 12
weeks.
In case there is no response or recurrence,
removal by freezing the lesion with a gas,
which is known as cryotherapy, is advised.
You need a minimum of three sessions of
cryotherapy at an interval of two weeks.
Although the best results are expected
with the above mentioned treatments,
still, in your case and in many cases, if
there is no good response from either of
them and in such recalcitrant cases, laser
therapy with long pulse Nd yag laser is
given or surgical excision can be done.”
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Nov/Dec 2016