Spotlight

Of dehydration and re-hydration

The floodwater is receding gradually. People are going back to their homes only to find it ravaged by the water. Normal life is yet to be reinstated as new crises are developing. Diarrhoea, as we know, the biggest single killer of children around the world is escalating the misery of the suffering people. Awareness program about the disease is a regular issue in the media yet the ailment continues to kill. Here is a little reminder about the symptoms and prevention of the killer disease.

What is Diarrhoea?
Diarrhoea is loose motion occurring more than three times in one day. It usually lasts a day or two and goes away on its own without any special treatment. However, prolonged diarrhoea can be very fatal. Diarrhoea causes dehydration, which means the body lacks enough fluid to function properly. Dehydration is particularly dangerous in children and the elderly, and it must be treated promptly to avoid fatality.

What Causes Diarrhoea?
There are various causes of Diarrhoea but during the flood and aftermath bacterial infection mostly cause the diseases. The water becomes highly contaminated during flood. If used, it can cause diarrhoea. The food also becomes contaminated and intolerance can grow after its consumption causing loose motion. Parasites, another major killer enters the body through contaminated food or water and settles in the digestive system.

Symptoms of dehydration
The degree of dehydration is graded according to signs and symptoms that reflect the amount of fluid lost. In the early stages of dehydration, there are no signs or symptoms. Early features are difficult to detect but include dryness of mouth and thirst. As dehydration increases, signs and symptoms develop. These include: restless or irritable behaviour, flushed face, extreme thirst, inability to drink. Dry and warm skin, inability to pass urine, or reduced amounts of urine, dark and yellow in colour. The body becomes weak, accompanied by drowsiness, with a dry mouth, and a dry tongue with thick saliva. In the case of infants crying with few or no tears.

In severe dehydration…
These effects become more pronounced and the affected person may develop shock, or diminished consciousness. A lack of urine output, cool moist extremities, a rapid and feeble pulse, low or undetectable blood pressure, and peripheral cyanosis. If re-hydration is not started immediately something extreme might take place.

Consult doctor immediately if…
you have diarrhoea for more than 3 days, severe pain in the abdomen, a fever of 102 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, if there is blood in the stool and if you have signs of dehydration.

Tips about food
Until diarrhoea subsides, try to avoid milk products and foods that are greasy, high-fibre, or very sweet. These foods tend to aggravate diarrhoea. As you improve, you can add soft, bland foods to your diet, including bananas, plain rice, boiled potatoes, chicken without skin or fat.

Easy diarrhoea deterrence
If the water is contaminated do not use it. Use only boiled water for drinking, dish washing, cleaning vegetables and other food item and even while brushing teeth. Wash hands every time you eat. Merely pesky they may seem, but flies can be very dangerous. Get rid of all the items that might attract them. Always cover food. Eat food immediately after cooking. Avoid stale food. These are a few easy deterrence of diarrhoea.

Starting re-hydration
The most important prevention of diarrhoea is to keep replacing the fluid and body salts and to do the job perfectly, nothing beats the OR Saline. At the first sign of diarrhoea, one must have oral saline after every loose motion. If you have diarrhoea or vomiting, or if you are not drinking very much, force yourself to drink liquids before you become dehydrated. Same rule applies for children as well, still extra precautions should be taken about them as they become easily dehydrated and can die even within a day. The process of re-hydration is just this simple.

By Shahnaz Parveen

Baskets
Have you ever seen baskets woven from leaves of date trees? Well I myself have never seen such baskets before. But if you stop at the Banani outlet of Banglar Mela right now, you will come across such neatly manufactured baskets. Each set consists of 3 baskets of three different sizes and is priced at tk.200. You can use these baskets to stow jewellery, cutlery, napkins, and even plants; they have appeared to be very useful and pleasing.

Jute Mats
Placing a mat at the entrance of a room has become customary in many households. At Banglar Mela you will come across jute mats of two different size and various colours. The smaller ones will cost you tk.60 and the larger one tk.120. They are handy as well as handsome.

Toy cars
If you have little children at home, then it must be true for you that your kids are a diehard fan of toy cars. The interest of the children mounts when they are presented those sleek toy cars that come with remote control. On the birthdays of young boys and girls, these cars could be considered ideal gifts. At Ohiba, you will find shiny and dashing toy cars of numerous sizes, shapes and prices. All of these cars come from China and cost between tk.350 to tk.4000. Ohiba is located at Metro Shopping Mall.

For neat hair
A day without a comb or a hairbrush is somewhat meaningless. Most of us start our day with a comb running through our hair. In Dhaka, combs are available at almost any store. Most of these hairbrushes and combs originate in China, Thailand and even India. Stores of New Market, Elephant Road and shops like Almas and Priyo have comb or hairbrush kits in their collection. Prices usually vary from store to store but within tk.150 to tk.200, you can purchase a pack with assorted combs and brushes for you and your family.

Anklets
Wearing a chain around the ankle often enhances the beauty of the feet. If you are looking froward to buy some truly fashionable anklets, pay a visit to the branches of Prime Collection. The outlets of Prime Collection display stylish anklets of a variety of designs and shapes; some of them even come along with cute, little charms and bells. Each of these anklets will cost you between tk.100 to tk.120 at the branches of Prime Collection.

By Wara Karim

 

 

Essentials Special

Lose it without Liposuction
Fighting a weighty battle against fat? Does the idea of a diet make you break out in hives, or the thought of exercise give you nightmares? Wallet too skinny for surgical measures? What you need to do, to lose some pounds fast and forever, is to make a few simple adjustments to your lifestyle, and you can kiss the lipids goodbye.

Stop skipping meals
Sure, passing up a meal or too might seem like a nifty way to knock off a block of calories, but your body's going to make you over-compensate for it in the meals you don't skip. Studies have shown that breakfast-skippers tend to binge on high-caloric foods at other meals. Also, skipping meals lowers your metabolism, which normally speeds up to help you digest food. So, by not missing that lunch, you are actually burning more calories!

Turn Veggie twice a week
Mommy probably made you eat your greens as a kid, telling you that it was healthy, and she was right. Broccoli, as un-tasty as it might be, is far less fattening than beef bhuna. If the thought of giving up those mouth-watering meats forever breaks your heart, there's reason to hope yet. If you could make a sacrifice and turn vegetarian for two meals per week, you're saving at least 550 calories per week.

Smart substitutes
The first thing people do when changing their diets to replace certain foods with less-fattening alternatives, like switching from butter to margarine. However, don't take this as a license to binge. Replace that regular ice cream with fat free ice cream, but don't go for an extra scoop. This way, you save calories with every item you replace.

Snip the snacks
While you're going about eating smart meals with lots of greens and less fatty stuff, inter-meal snacks can totally reverse all that hard work. Avoid the temptation to eat between meals. If you simply must, then opt for low-fat foods like carrot sticks, instead of those sinfully sumptuous brownies from Hot Breads. Also, cut down on the midnight munchies. Make sure you've had enough to eat at dinner, so that you don't need to raid the fridge in the dark of night. With physical activity being lower at night, there are less chances of burning the fat you put on from those nocturnal treats.

Don't starve yourself…
Remember the phrase 'too much of a good thing'. If you go overboard with the calorie cutting, your body senses an impending 'starvation' and slows down metabolism by functioning on fewer calories. When it is in this 'fuel efficient' mode, it becomes harder to lose weight, and thus you defeat your purpose.

No escape from exercise
No matter what else you do, dieting or calorie-cutting, nothing helps you shed pounds faster than regular exercise. Does this mean that you are doomed to hours of torture in a gym? Not necessarily. A few hours of walking, jogging, or cycling in a week can work wonders. If space and time is a concern, just lock yourself in your room for an hour everyday, turn on your favourite dance music and boogie away, and you'll not only feel lighter in a few weeks, dancing's also a great stress-buster and mood picker-upper.
So here's to a slimmer, trimmer, and healthier you!

 

By Sabrina F Ahmad