How can I beat the hangover?

Waking up nauseous, irritable, with an unbearably dry mouth and a pounding headache. It’s a scene familiar to most people who have indulged in a heavy night’s drinking.

Dear Doctor: I take panadol to cure hangovers. Can I get a better alternative because even when I take 10 of these tablets, they do not help my headache and muscle pain. Please help.

Byankabya.P

Hangovers are likely to happen when one takes a lot of alcohol but for some people this can happen with only one drink.
Hangover symptoms include early morning with thirst, headache, dizziness, nausea, fatigue rapid heartbeat, mood disturbance, blood shot eyes and muscle aches among others.
The best way to prevent hangovers is not to drink at all but if one has to do so, drinking a lot of water or fruit juices, before, during or after drinking is the best prevention. Also eating a greasy meal before (eggs contain cysteine, which may help combat hangover symptoms) can also help. Exercise raises ones metabolic rate, which helps clear toxins associated with metabolizing alcohol apart from availing oxygen which can increase the speed at which the body detoxifies harmful compounds. Vitamin B1 or Thiamine or B complex vitamins help prevent the buildup of substances in the brain, which may be associated with part of the headache.

Many Ugandans take more alcohol to cure a hangover. This creates a numbing effect but much more water will be lost and creating a bigger hangover.
Paracetamol or Panadol in big doses can damage the liver and this may be worse when one has taken alcohol requiring that it should not be used in treating hangovers. Aspirin, Brufen and Diclofenac can also damage the stomach. In case one has severe headache or other pains and cannot do without a painkiller Brufen in small doses may be preferred to paracetamol. Better a peptic ulcer than a damaged liver.

Dear Doctor:I pass smelly gas these days. I even fear to go to church because people will know I fart excessively. I have taken drugs such as Double Colour and Charcoal but nothing has worked.
Martin S.

Dear Martin, the gas you are talking about is formed as a byproduct of food digestion. However some of the gas in got through swallowing but most is produced from the remains of food digestion which are fermented by intestinal bacteria. To avoid painfully distending the abdomen, this gas has to be passed out by farting normally at a rate of about 18-22 times per day.

The gas mostly does not smell except if one has stool in the rectum or has eaten foods from which gaseous smelly products are formed (such as eggs, meats and cauliflower). Double colour capsules, usually antibiotics, are taken with a belief that the stomach is getting rotten due to germs. Unfortunately, antibiotics and “washing of the stomach” done these days can worsen imbalance of bacteria in the intestines and worsen the problem. That said, the presence of bacteria called microflora in the intestines may lead to bad gas odour. It is important to note that diseases that interfere with food digestion also present much undigested food to the intestinal bacteria whose feasting may lead to smelly gas.

Much as everyone passes gas, this process carries embarrassment when one is noticed in public to have passed gas. You need to reduce on foods such as those mentioned above that are likely to cause smelly gas but if this persists, visit a doctor to rule out medical problems. In the meantime, you may consider wearing anti-fart pants which have activated carbon.

Dear Doctor: Whenever I use public transport, we keep running into men especially the old ones urinating in nearby bushes. I was told urine is manufactured by kidneys. So, does this mean they have better performing kidneys? How come old women do not pass as much urine as the men?

Bwire.L

Anybody who takes lots of fluids is bound to pass lots of urine and more frequently. As such, one may be advised to limit fluid intake during travel and yet lots of fluids help stem travel associated blood clot formation in calf muscles due to sitting for long with bended knees.
Signs of urinary tract infections include a hurried need to pass urine (urgency) and passing small amounts of urine often (urinary frequency).
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are more common in women and older men (as prostate enlarges).Prostate enlargement may be due to benign or cancerous reasons.

An enlarged prostate on its own can lead to a poor urine stream and lots of urine remaining after initial passage creating a feeling of need to keep passing urine. Women do not have prostates but after menopause, atrophy of urinary tract tissues risks more infections with urinary problems.
Old age in both men and women causes bladder control problems with the bladder being unable to store urine and the urgency to pass urine (overactive bladder). As one grows older, there is more likelihood of diabetes, bladder stones, bladder cancer, bladder nerve problems all of which create special need to quickly and frequently pass urine.
That said, the urge to pass urine frequently does not necessarily indicate kidney efficiency.

Dear Doctor:I am 16-years-old and in school. What bothers me is that one of my testicles is below the other. Is this dangerous?

S.N.O

Usually in babies the testes may not easily be seen to be hanging at different levels. At puberty (around your age), boys will notice, their scrotum becoming longer and the testes bigger among other features that thrust a boy into adulthood. The scrotum, which carries the testes away from the main body, helps the testes achieve a good sperm yield at a temperature lower than that of the main body. In order for the testes not crush each other, the left testicle hangs lower than the right in more than 85 per cent of men.
Puberty is a time when children get concerned about their unexplained body changes and as such you are right to ask about your queer observation about what is normal.