How do you treat ear infections in babies?

In my village, when a baby gets an ear infection that causes a milk-like substance in the ears, it is treated with urine. Is this right?

Latima

Dear Latima,
Eyes are organs that help us see while ears help us to hear. The two are delicate organs which require proper treatment when sick and this should be after proper diagnosis by a doctor.
Much as there could be traditional treatments that may be effective in treating both the eyes and ears, use of urine is likely to not only delay proper treatment but damage the already ailing irreplaceable organs.
A number of mothers believe that this milk-like discharge in the ears is caused by the mother accidentally pouring breast milk in the child’s ears.
However, what you are calling ear milk is usually due to infection in the ears mostly following a nasal, chest infection or an allergy. Ironically, this usually affects children who are not breastfed more than those who are breastfed. The treatment here requires antibiotics prescribed by a doctor and addressing the associated cause such as a respiratory tract infection.
There are a number of eye disease conditions and these require proper diagnosis for proper treatment.
The use of urine will not help the eyes heal but there will be a likelihood of causing blindness, especially if the urine unknowingly has germs such as those that cause gonorrhoea.
It is, therefore, important to embrace annual eye examinations instead of visiting a doctor only when you have a problem with your eyes since some eye conditions such as glaucumo are silent and may lead to blindness which cannot be corrected.

I suffer from diabetes and hypertension and was told not to eat eggs, meat or fried food. I also cannot take sugar or salt. What can I take instead?

What is safe for a diabetic to eat?

Seith

Dear Seith
Diabetes and high blood pressure are today considered lifestyle disease conditions whose management apart from drugs, requires lifestyle modifications with dietary changes being important.
For diabetics, a healthy-eating plan that is low in fat (fatty foods include eggs, red meat, fast foods and cooking oils or butters) and sugars (table sugar, sugary drinks such as sodas) is very important. For hypertension, use of caffeine, alcohol and salt restriction are all important.
Red meat, eggs and milk contain a fatty substance called cholesterol which is needed by the body to build cell membranes, to make vitamin D and steroid hormones such as testosterone among other important body substances.
If one has a condition such as diabetes or when one consumes too much cholesterol from fatty foods, depending on genetics and other factors, there may be too much accumulation of cholesterol in the blood.
This cholesterol may easily coat the inside of arteries narrowing them, risking heart disease and stroke among others.
Whereas humans require about 300 mg of cholesterol daily, one boiled egg contributes only about 186mg making it safe to eat at least one boiled egg per day.
Frying the egg, however, will raise the cholesterol levels. It is therefore recommended to eat a boiled egg. In case one cannot eat a whole boiled egg, eating the egg white may also provide most of the nutrients needed.

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