DIABETES-  A GLOBAL CHALLENGE

FACTS TO KNOW & THINGS TO DO AND DON"T DO 

ARE YOU OR FAMILY AFFECTED ?

The diabetes is reaching an epidemic proportion and  is rapidly increasing in many countries, with the documented increase most dramatic in low- and middle-income countries. In 2008 an estimated 350 million people were affected worldwide and in 2016 the figure rose to almost double . An alarming rise, indeed !

Let's look at some factors . What is diabetes? It is the  absence of glucose metabolism by the body and increase in blood sugar levels to damaging heights with many concomitant complications.. Glucose is needed for the functioning of the body and is derived from diet.and Its proper control is done by the Pancreas- an endocrine gland that secretes  insulin for maintaining the normal blood sugar level , Diabetes results when the insulin production is low or the body fails to utilise the insulin proper way. There are two types of diabetes namely type 1 and 2 . In type 1 the insulin not produced at all in the body and is seen in very young children-known as juvenile diabetes and need insulin supply from outside.People with this type of diabetes need daily injections of insulin. They must balance their daily intake of food and activities carefully with their insulin shots to stay alive.

 People with type 2 diabetes, the form that comprises some 90% of cases, usually produce their own insulin, but not enough or they are unable to use it properly. People with type 2 diabetes are typically overweight and sedentary, two conditions that raise a person’s insulin needs. It may also be seen during pregnancy

A large number of diabetic cases are preventable by Simple lifestyle measures .This awareness has shown to be effective in preventing or delaying the onset of type 2 diabetes. Maintaining normal body weight, engaging in regular physical activity, and eating a healthy diet can reduce the risk of diabetes.Diabetes is treatable. Diabetes can be controlled and managed to prevent complications. Increasing access to diagnosis, self-management education and affordable treatment are vital components to achieve the target of reducing premature mortality from diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) to one third by 2030. Many sectors of society have a role to play, including governments, employers, educators, manufacturers, civil society, private sector, the media and individuals themselves.

There are several ways following which you will be successfully able to manage your diabetes. They are as follows

• 1.    Exercise regularly and track your workout patterns. Exercise is the most important lifestyle choice for a diabetic patient, which allows you to maintain a good shape. It boosts your body's metabolism rate and insulin uptake process. By taking notes on your exercising habits, you will be able to make timely and required changes. 
• 2.    Stop consuming fast food. Try to abstain from eating outside food and reduce your intake of sugar, salt and high calorie food. Meal should be prepared at home using light ingredients and less amount of salt and sugar.
• 3.    Quit smoking as it is very harmful, especially if you are a diabetic. Smoking narrows your blood vessels, as a result of which, your blood circulation gets disrupted.
• 4.   High Fiber diet- Increase your fibre intake. Fibre is beneficial for all diabetic patients and helps in smooth functioning of your digestive processes. It also help in reducing your cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
• 5.   Pedicure Take care and pay attention to your feet properly. You should wash your feet in lukewarm water regularly and dry them gently. You should moisturize your feet with a lotion/ coconut oil. Check on your feet for cuts, sores, redness, swelling and blisters and consult a doctor in case of an unusual foot sore.
• 6.   Ophthalmic examination- Get your eyes checked frequently as diabetes affects your vision in serious ways, which may also lead to blindness. Regular eye check-ups will help you to prevent retinopathy.
• 7.    Dental Care.Take proper care of your teeth which includes brushing and flossing at least two times every day. This is because diabetes makes you prone to several serious gum infections. Go for regular dental check-ups if you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes and in case you observe swollen, red gums, consult your doctor immediately.
• 8.    Avoid stress and adapt ways to eliminate stress. Your body hormones, which are produced in relation to intense stress, prevent insulin from working efficiently, which increases your blood sugar levels and stress levels further. Relaxation techniques / meditaion and yoga are effective for dealing with stress. 
• 9.   Small meals- Opt for several small meals instead of a few large meals every day. This helps in keeping your digestive processes active, which in turn increase insulin sensitivity

 The role of diet in diabetes

Meal of diabetic patient is based on calories,which decided by each person's age, weight, gender, height, working etc. Thus different   dietary chart is created for each individual. We must take special care of time and amount of food in diabetes. Here we are giving diet chart for general diabetes patient.

Diabetes diet chart:

Morning at 6:   teaspoon fenugreek (methi) powder + water.

Morning at 7: 1 cup sugar free tea + 1-2 non sugar biscuits.

Morning at 8.30: 1 plate upma or oatmeal + half bowl sprouted grains + 100ml cream-free milk without sugar

Morning at 10.30: 1 small fruit or 1 cup thin and sugar free buttermilk or lemon water

Lunch at 1: 2 roti of mixed flour, 1 bowl rice, 1 bowl pulse, 1 bowl yogurt, half cup soybean or cheese vegetable, half bowl green vegetable, one plate salad

4 pm: 1 cup tea without sugar + 1-2 less sugar biscuits or toast

6 pm: 1 cup soup

8.30 pm: 2 roti of mixed flour, 1 bowl rice, 1 bowl pulse, half bowl green vegetable, one plate salad

10.30 pm: take 1 cup cream -free milk without sugar.

When you feel hungry intake raw vegetables, salad, black tea, soups, thin buttermilk, lemon water.

Foods you must avoid!

Avoid it: molasses, sugar, honey, sweets, and dry fruits.

I. Salt: salt is the greatest culprit for diabetics. You get enough salt from vegetables in inorganic form, so reduce the intake of inorganic salt.

II. Sugar: sucrose, a table sugar, provides nothing but calories and carbohydrates. Also, you need calcium to digest sucrose. Insufficient sucrose intake might lead to calcium being;leached off the bones. Substitute sucrose;with natural sugar, like honey, jaggery (gur), etc.in small amounts

III. Fat: excessive fat intake is definitely not a good habit. Try and exclude fried items from your diet totally. But, remember, you must have a small quantity of oil to absorb fat-soluble vitamins, especially vitamin E. Avoid potatoes, carrots, breads and;banana as they increase the blood-sugar levels.

IV. For non-vegetarians

Try and stop the intake of red meat completely. Try to go in for a vegetarian diet. If you cannot,decrease the consumption of eggs and poultry.

You can, however, eat lean fish two to three times a week.

V. Whole milk and products

Try to switch to low fat milk and its products like yogurt (curd).

Replace high fat cheese with low fat cottage cheese.

VI. Tea and coffee

Do not have than two cups of the conventional tea or decaffeinated coffee every day.

Try to switch to herbal teas.

VII.Avoid White flour and its products &  Foods with a high glycemic index

Replace these with whole grains, whole wheat or soya breads and unpolished rice.

VIII.

Avoid white rice

 Calorific requirement:

 An obese middle aged or elderly patient with mild diabetes 1000 -1600 kcal.

 An elderly diabetic but not over weight  1400 -1800 kcal.

 A young active diabetic  1800 -3000 kcal.

 Daily intake of carbohydrate: 1/10th of total calories approximately  180gm.

 Daily intake of protein: 60gm to 110gm.

 Daily intake of fat: 50gm to 150gm.

,  

Advice for diabetes patient:

    35-40 minute faster walk every day.

    Diabetic person should eat food between regular intervals

    Avoid oily food.

    Intake more fiber foods in meals. It increases glucose level gradually in blood and keeps control.

    Do not take fast and also don t go much party.

    Diabetic person should eat food slowly.

   

 Calorific requirement:

 An obese middle aged or elderly patient with mild diabetes 1000 -1600 kcal.

 An elderly diabetic but not over weight  1400 -1800 kcal.

 A young active diabetic  1800 -3000 kcal.

 Daily intake of carbohydrate: 1/10th of total calories approximately  180gm.

 Daily intake of protein: 60gm to 110gm.

 Daily intake of fat: 50gm to 150gm.

Preventing DIabetes 

However, here are some suggestions from Ayurveda that can help you in treating your diabetes in a way that it will never return.

1. Food habits: Try avoiding foods that are high on sugar and whatever you eat, do not eat it all at once. Eat in small portions spread over the day. Limit carbohydrate and fat intake in your diet; instead try to consume whole grain foods and vegetables.

1. Lifestyle changes: Avoid alcohol, drugs and smoking. Sleep soundly and sufficiently. Maintain your body weight and take care of your health by getting routine checkups done for sugar and other possible ailments that may be underlying causes of your diabetes.

1. Must Do's: Practice a healthy lifestyle by undertaking regular exercise and yoga. Practice medication and go out for a walk at least once in the day. Also, make it a habit to mix half a tablespoon of turmeric powder, 1 tablespoon of amla powder with half a tablespoon of methi seeds and consume it every day. Incorporating these habits in your lifestyle would definitely help you in getting rid of diabetes.

You can consult me online by going to www.lybrate.com/drsajeev

FROZEN SHOULDER - ARE YOU AWARE ???

Simple exercise for painful shoulder 

Frozen shoulder canbe very painful and restrict your activities. It is most common in diabetics  and also those keep their arms immobilized for a long time from any causes like plastered aram for broken bone and inactivity from any cause.This painful condition is also seen in cases of hormonal imbalances and weakened immunity leading to inflammation of joint capsule,which predisposes to formation of fibrous bands that restrict movements causing pain in its wake. More than Ten Million cases /year are reported from india, approximately.The painful restriction may last for a year or two. And treatment ranges from stretching and  injection of steroids into the joint and surgery is rare  cases . I am going to explain simple exercises that can be practised at home by yourself .

Let's go in detail  

*Frozen shoulder (also known as adhesive capsulitis) is a condition in which the shoulder is stiff, painful, and has limited motion in all directions. A person suffering from a frozen shoulder can be pretty uncomfortable.

*Treatment

Frozen shoulder treatment should be done immediately once it has been detected. Stretching exercises are considered as the best-frozen shoulder treatment exercises. A proper warm up becomes very necessary before any exercise.

Making the area warm by using a heating pad is one of the warm-up methods. However, a warm shower covers it all.

*Physiotherapy for frozen shoulder includes various exercises that should be first confirmed by a doctor. There are a number of exercises for frozen shoulder. Some very important frozen shoulder exercises are listed below:

1. 1.    Pendulum Stretch: To start with, you can do the pendulum stretch. This dictates that the shoulders should be in a state of relaxation, initially, following which the arm which is affected should be allowed to hang down slightly. Once this is done, the arm is to be swung in a small circle i.e. about a foot in diameter. This is to be done consistently so that there can be a gradual improvement in the condition. As there is an improvement, the size of the circle can be increased and once the shoulder can take sufficient weight again, minor weights (up to five pounds) can be used.
2. 
   
3. 2.    Finger Walk: A simple exercise which can be done almost anywhere is the finger walk. What this exercise entails is that the person stands about three-fourths of an arm’s length away from a wall and then places his or her fingers on the wall itself, at around the level of the waist. The fingers are to crawl or walk up the wall till the point that it becomes a little uncomfortable. While this is just one repetition, after the fingers have been lowered, it is to be done again. In order to have the best results in combating frozen shoulder, the finger walk exercise is to be repeated about twenty times in a day.
4. 
   
5. 3.    Towel Stretches: Towels do not serve a greater role apart from drying up post a bath or over the course of a visit to the spa, right? Well, this is not really true due to the fact that they can be used to even help with frozen shoulder! Indeed, towel stretches done by holding the towel with each hand across one’s back. The arm which is normal should then pull the affected arm so it is stretched. As is the case with the finger walk, about 20 repetitions a day is ideal for good results.

If you go a step forward and follow a regime of with all these exercises, you can  mitigate suffering due to frozen shoulder will be back to normal in almost no time at all!

ARE YOU DIETING?  & On A Crash diet??

Do you know CRASH DIET can be FATAL?

ARE YOU AWARE what a Crash Diet is?

The most important thing about all crash diets is that they are the most restrictive means of weight loss that you can follow. Obviously, they involve severely cutting back on calories, and allow only 1,000 or even 500 calories per day. They are even paired with other "quick fixes" like juice cleanses, diuretics or diet pills. Even as the length of time varies from diet to diet, crash diets are meant for quick, short-term weight loss.

How Do They Work?

Crash diet fads shock the body, sending it into starvation mode. The severe restriction in calories often appear to be working after only a few days, however, despite the rapid weight loss, the body is not solely burning fat as fuel. First of all, it utilizes the stored up supply of carbohydrates, in the form of glycogen. And as your body utilizes glycogen, you lose water as well, creating what seems like great weight loss within the first few days of the diet.

The Facts about Nutritional Deficiency

Low calorie diets tend to be very restrictive, and during a period of crash dieting, your body will not be able to get the key nutrients that it needs for optimal health. If long term deficiencies persist, a number of things can occur, including loss of minerals from your bones, leading to osteoporosis and fractures or the depletion of iron from the blood, leading to anaemia. Things apart, low calorie diets can lead to a deficiency in particular nutrients such as sodium and potassium. These electrolytes are used in nerve and muscle function, and play an important role in regulating heart beats. Low levels of sodium and potassium can lead to increased danger of heart attack.

What is The Yo-Yo Effect

When you go for extended periods of time depriving your body of its nutritional needs, your body switches into starvation mode to conserve energy until adequate nutrition is restored. In order to conserve as much energy as possible, the body's natural metabolism will slow down in order to burn fewer calories, and fat conservation will be preserved. In practical effect, eventually you will find yourself hitting a weight loss plateau, during which time it will become more and more difficult to lose weight. For the majority of the crash dieters, the plateau is followed by a period of weight gain. It is like the up and down motion of a yo-yo, and crash dieters often find that their weight constantly fluctuates with each diet that they go on.

Emotional Side Effects

Not only can crash diets impact your physical health and well-being, but they also have a harsh effect on mental and emotional health. As your body is deprived of the nutrients that it needs to make energy, restricted calories often leave dieters feeling irritable, tired and lethargic. Crash dieting can also lead to more serious emotional consequences such as depression and eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia.

As among the different diets be it a grapefruit a day, cabbage soup or a fancy juice cleanse - there is a reason why "crash" is in the title of these diets. The truth is, there is no quick fix for weight loss. Instead, it requires hard work and dedication to find a weight loss program that works for you. Finding a method to achieving slow and gradual weight loss will not only be sustainable for long-term weight loss goals, but will also have no negative impacts on your health, leaving you succeeding, rather than crashing.

Studies show that rapid weight loss can slow your metabolism, leading to future weight gain, and deprive your body of essential nutrients. What's more, crash diets can weaken your immune system and increase your risk of dehydration, heart palpitations, and cardiac stress. Experts have found that extended crash diets can be dangerous -- especially when the diets become a fad.

FDA-(USA) The Food and Drug Administration found in a study that as many as 60 deaths occurred among liquid dieters. Although some of these deaths occurred in people with underlying diseases such as atherosclerosis (and therefore could have been coincidental), government researchers who examined otherwise healthy dieters who died of ventricular arrhythmias found that the pattern of deaths suggested "the effects of protein-calorie malnutrition on the heart," including atrophy of the heart muscle. The experts have since tried to pinpoint the dangers of crash diets (technically known as "very low calorie" diets). - Shortages of potassium, magnesium, and copper have been suggested as possible causes of the arrhythmias (irregular heart beats) seen in crash dieters, and studies have also found that the diets can cause a drastic/dangerous drop in blood pressure and sodium depletion.

The real extent of death caused by crash diets is not clear. However, much of the research has been conducted in obese people (who can actually benefit from these extreme diets) and in most studies the health of the participants was carefully monitored.

It is stressed by experts that very-low-calorie diets should only be followed with a doctor's supervision. But crash dieters are more likely to consult their friends than a doctor -- which can get them into trouble.

How to lose weight -- safely

If you're overweight, slimming down is critical for your overall health. Even moderate weight loss can lower your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancer.

But it's important to lose weight safely, which usually means slowly: Most experts recommend dropping just 1 to 2 pounds a week. And despite what some brand-name diets claim, the best way to do so is to exercise regularly and stick to a diet that limits saturated fat and sugars and emphasizes fruits and vegetables, lean meats and fish, and whole grains.

"The key to losing weight is a combination of diet and exercise," says. "One alone will not do it."

As a method to lose a significant amount of weight within a limited time period, extreme diet or crash diet, is resorted to by many health / weight conscious people. But crash diets are not meant for long term weight loss plans, as crash diets usually cut down on one or more food groups to reach a desired weight level, and these diets skip out on important nutrients that your body needs.

The ways crash diets can affect your body include:

1.    Dehydration: You realise you are losing weight after implementing the crash diet, but this is just an illusion. All the weight lost isn’t fat, but water. When you restrict calories, your body first burns glycogen—not fat, for energy. Glycogen is a form of carbohydrate stored in the muscles and liver, and water is attached to every gram of glycogen. So when your body burns glycogen, you end up losing water, which causes dehydration.

2.    Unstable blood sugar: When your body doesn’t get a steady supply of fibre, fat, protein and carbohydrates, your insulin and blood sugar levels run amok. Some diets, such as the detox diet, can lead to type II diabetes.

3.    Muscle break down: Energy comes from calories and restricting calories adversely affects your muscles. When you start losing weight, your body starts harnessing muscle proteins for energy. This leads to muscle loss and your physique deteriorates. For instance, liquid diets (that have low calories) cause rapid muscle loss and can lead to ventricular arrhythmias.

4.    Slow metabolism: Your metabolic rate crashes automatically when you lose muscles. This implies that you burn less calories when you talk, exercise and walk. You start feeling sluggish, and even after you get back to your normal diet, your metabolism won’t change back to how it was before.

5.    Malnutrition: A lot of crash diets recommend eating less than 700 calories a day, which will help you lose weight, but it harms your body. The body needs calories, since they are an important energy source. Soon your body adapts to the lack of calories and becomes malnourished.

6.    Intellectual problems: Some crash diets cut down carbohydrate consumption, and this ends up affecting your brain. The brain needs carbs to function properly. So, when there is a severe carbohydrate deficiency, the level of corticosteroids (the stress hormone) increases in your brain, making you vulnerable to stress, depression and binge-eating behaviours. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a dietician-nutritionist or consult me by going to www.lybrate.com/drsajeev.

COUGH - DOES IT BOTHER YOU / FAMILY !!??

Cough is a common problem of the respiratory tract and often indicates a deeper problem. It can be very irritating and can affect eating habits and socialization. A cough which persists for more than 4 weeks is believed to be chronic in nature. Tuberculosis (TB) is the most common cause of chronic cough in India. TB is an airborne bacterial infection caused by the organism, 'Mycobacterium tuberculosis’ that primarily affects the lungs, although other organs and tissues may be involved. 

Cardinal features are: 

• 1.    Chronic cough with or without sputum.
• 2.    Fever more in the night time. 
• 3.    Poor appetite. 
• 4.    Unintentional weight loss. 

Let's see the other common causes of chronic cough and how to manage them.

 Asthma: 

This is a very common chronic condition, caused by inflammation and swelling of the lungs, in addition to wheezing and shortness of breath. Asthma patients often suffer from a chronic cough. An asthma attack usually happens during the night or early morning, and is triggered by colds, cigarette smoke, air pollutants or allergens, which can even include certain foods. Most asthmatics usually carry their steroids, inhalers, and bronchodilators, as the onset of attack can be unpredictable.

 Bronchitis: 

This condition of inflammation of the bronchial region is very common among smokers and among the elderly. There is excessive mucus accumulation, which the body tries to clear via coughing. The lungs are weakened and therefore, the coughing is painful.

 Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD): 

This is a problem of the digestive system, but regurgitation of food into the airway induces cough. GERD is a chronic issue and so most people also end up with a chronic cough. It is worse with sitting up than with sitting down. Treatment includes H2 blockers to suppress acid production and dietary changes including small, frequent meals and avoiding spicy food items.

 Upper airway cough syndrome: 

There could be multiple problems in the upper airway, which leads to a constant postnasal drip. Here, there is constant dripping of the sputum into the air passage, which can lead to a chronic cough whenever there is impaired air flow. This can be caused by various forms of chronic sinusitis and rhinitis. People diagnosed with this condition usually resort to antihistamines and decongestants for relief.

Other causes: 

There are a number of other causes as noted below. Smoking, tuberculosis, congestive heart failure, pertussis or whooping cough, foreign body in the airway, cancer in the airway passage, chronic aspiration of foods, etc. can all lead to chronic cough.

The key is to identify the reason that is causing the chronic cough. Most people who are diagnosed are educated to handle it and carry the required medications including steroids, bronchodilators, and inhalers. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult me

 Allergies: People with allergies usually have a chronic cough, which gets aggravated when exposed to the allergens such as pollen or environmental dust. Staying away from allergen provides relief. 

Antihistamines are also useful, which most people detected with allergies keep in handy. Inhalers might be required, if there is associated congestion or shortness of breath.

DO YOU IMMUNISE YOUR CHILDREN ? 

( DID YOU GIVE VACCINES TO YOUR BABY ) 

Immunisation is referred to as vaccination by some people 

In today’s post I bring to you the vaccination schedule in India, basics of vaccination, common myths, FREE printable vaccination schedule and catch up charts which you can download and keep with you for reference.

Also we will be discussing on what to do if you miss a vaccine shot at the recommended scheduled time.

We all know that prevention is better than cure and vaccination is one way to prevent diseases from attacking our children.

What is a vaccine and how does it work?

A vaccine is usually made from the weakened or killed form of a disease-causing microbe or products or substances obtained from that microbe.

A vaccine when injected into human body stimulates the production of antibodies (substances produced by our body to fight diseases) and thus it makes our body to develop an active acquired immunity to a particular disease.

By active acquired immunity we mean that after getting vaccinated, our body’s immune system develops the ability to identify and destroy that disease-causing microbe whenever our immune system comes in contact with it.

Why getting vaccinated is important for your child?

Those who are still in doubt or fear of vaccinating your child, please do read the below benefits you get by immunizing your child.

• Vaccination saves your child’s life

By vaccinating your child you are providing a life long protection for him/her from a range of potentially dangerous or fatal diseases. Once your child has been vaccinated against a disease, his/her immune system can fight that disease more effectively.

• Vaccinations can be trusted

Scientists, doctors and health care professionals test and review vaccines for their safety and efficiency and after that only they are given to your child. Serious life threatening side effects following a vaccination are very very rare.

• Side effects of vaccinations are negligible than actual disease

The side effects following a vaccination are very very mild compared to the symptoms of the actual disease.  Side effects of vaccination can include pain, redness or itching at the injection site, fever or dizziness and fatigue. All these are temporary and usually go away in a day or two.

• Helps to completely eliminate diseases

India is now polio free, thanks to the mass pulse polio campaigns conducted by our government.  Polio was a very common disease in India. As a result of the mass pulse polio campaigns no new polio cases has been reported in India for the past few years. So polio virus is completely eradicated from our country.

• Provides peace of mind

Once you are vaccinated you no longer have to worry about getting caught with that disease. So peace of mind is guaranteed.

• Saves money and time

Getting vaccinated against particular diseases is a good investment. If you are not vaccinated and later in life if you get any of these diseases it can cost heavily on your wallet and take a lot of your valuable time.

• Good for the community

Yes, by vaccinating you are also taking a step to ensure that the other people in the community are also protected from the disease. By protecting your family with vaccination you are also helping to prevent the spread of these diseases to your friends and loved ones.

• Provides protection for the future generation

As a result of the mass immunization programs many diseases that killed or severely disabled people just a few generations ago are no longer to be seen now. For example, smallpox vaccination eradicated that disease and now children in this generation are longer under the treat of smallpox. So by vaccinating your child you are helping to eliminate some diseases and providing a protection for future generation too.

Common myths and the actual facts about vaccination:

There are so many myths spreading about vaccination and this puts many parents in confusion. Let me help you to burst some of these myths.

Myth -1 Too many vaccines can overload my child’s immune system

Fact: A child’s immune system has the capacity to handle the antigens in the vaccines. No evidence suggests that vaccinations can “overload” a child’s immune system.

Myth -2 Combination vaccines or more than one vaccine at a time can be risky

Fact: Vaccines are equally effective when given in combination as they are given individually.

When vaccines for more than one disease is combined to form a single shot, we can complete the recommended vaccinations on schedule with fewer clinical visits and also it is money and time saving.

Example: In MMR vaccine Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccines are combined to form a single vaccine as MMR and that means fewer injections for your little one.

Myth -3 Vaccines are one of the reasons for autism and other disorders

Fact: There is no association with vaccines and autism. All these controversy started due to a fraudulent research paper that was published in 1998 in the medical journal The Lancet. The author of the paper Mr. Andrew Wakefield was accused of producing claims that were unsupported by scientific evidence. Many serious studies were conducted after this and all failed to find any connection between MMR vaccine and autism.

Myth - 4 Some diseases are already eradicated from my country, so no need to vaccinate my child for that disease

Fact: Although certain diseases are completely eradicated from your country, the bacteria/viruses that cause these diseases are still there in some other parts of the world. If you are not protected by immunization, chances are there that you can get infected with these diseases while you travel outside your country or from people who are foreign to your country.

Myth -5 The mercury in vaccines can cause health hazards

Fact: Thiomersal (also known as thimerosal) is a mercury based preservative used in some vaccines to prevent bacterial and fungal growth, to inactivate certain organisms and toxins and to maintain a sterile production line. The amount of mercury in these vaccines is well below the recommended mercury level that can be there in a human body. So the amount of mercury you get from vaccinations doesn’t cause any harm to your body.

Myth -6 Don’t vaccinate if a child is having fever/common cold or is sick

Fact: Vaccinations can be administered even if children are having mild fever or common cold during the time of vaccination.

Researches show that even if a child has a mild illness during the time of vaccination it will not lower the child’s ability to react appropriately to the vaccine injected. However always inform your doctor if your child is sick.

IAP recommended vaccines and vaccination schedule in India:

IAP (Indian Association of Paediatrics) has recommended some vaccines for routine use and are supposed to be taken by all children in the country.

S.no	Vaccine	Disease
1	BCG	Tuberculosis
2	HiB	Haemophilus influenzae type B
3	HB	Hepatitis B
4	OPV	Polio
5	IPV	Polio
6	DPT	Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus (For children under 7 years)
7	PCV	Pneumococcal pneumonia
8	MMR	Measles, mumps and rubella
9	Hepatitis A	Hepatitis A
10	Varicella	Chickenpox
11	Rotavirus Vaccine	Rotavirus
12	HPV	Human papillomavirus
13	Typhoid vaccine	Typhoid
14	Tdap	Booster dose against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis for children above 11 yrs.

Talk with your doctor to know whether your child falls under the category of high-risk children and take these vaccines as directed by your doctor.

Vaccines for high risk children given under special circumstances

1	Influenza Vaccine
2	Meningococcal Vaccine
3	Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine
4	Cholera Vaccine
5	Rabies Vaccine
6	Yellow Fever Vaccine
7	Pneumococcal Polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV 23)

High-risk children are children who are perceived with higher treat of being infected by a particular disease due to their physical, medical, environmental or social conditions.

Below is the recommended Immunization Schedule for routine vaccines as per Indian Academy of Pediatrics.

Always try to follow the recommended Immunization schedule and try to get your baby vaccinated on time.

What to do if your baby misses a shot during the scheduled time?

Vaccinations work best when they are given at the scheduled time. But you don’t have to worry if you missed certain vaccines due to various reasons.

For most vaccines a catch-up dose can be given if you missed giving the vaccines as per the actual schedule. 

Things to do when you visit your paediatrician for vaccinating your child: 

• Always tell your doctor if your child is having any illness at the time of vaccination. Let your doctor decide whether it is safe to give the shot if your baby is sick

• Have an immunization record to keep track of your vaccinations

• Always update your child’s immunization record and make sure you get it filled up each time your child is vaccinated

• Ask your doctor/nurse about the common side effects of each vaccine

• Ask your doctor what to do when you see any of the side effects be it a fever, swelling, redness or the common papule (a lesion at the site of injection) that develops after a BCG injection

• Call your doctor immediately if you notice any side effects that are not common or if you are in any ways concerned about the child’s health condition after immunization

• Ask for the vaccine manufacture’s name and lot number

• Do ask your doctor about the next vaccine scheduled for your child

Hope this article on vaccination schedule in India has helped in erasing at least some of the common doubts you had regarding immunizations and vaccines.

Kindly share this article in Facebook, Twitter and pin the images in Pinterest. Remember sharing is caring!

Reference:

• http://www.indianpediatrics.net/oct2014/785.pdf
• http://vaccinebox.com/vaccines/immunization-chart/
• http://vaccineindia.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=155
• http://www.ima-india.org/page.php?page_id=42