My husband, 73, feels chilly on a regular basis. He wears thermals and at all times wants the home heated — he even feels chilly in summer time. Are you able to assist?
Maralyn Endlar, Salford.
The query right here is whether or not there’s a medical analysis to clarify this fixed chilly feeling — or whether or not it’s merely your husband’s physiology.
Our physique temperature is managed by the hypothalamus, a construction deep within the mind.
It screens the temperature of the bloodstream and makes changes in order that the physique’s core temperature stays inside a slim band, near 37c.
These changes embrace triggering sweating to chill you down, and shivering to heat you up (the mind tells the muscle tissues to maneuver, which generates warmth).
You say in your longer letter that your husband is in good well being, has a secure physique weight and a great urge for food — all good indicators.
The query right here is whether or not there’s a medical analysis to clarify this fixed chilly feeling — or whether or not it’s merely your husband’s physiology. Our physique temperature is managed by the hypothalamus, a construction deep within the mind
However he’s additionally very gentle, weighing 9 st 7 lb, and I believe doesn’t have a lot physique fats. So he’s comparatively under-insulated, and that could possibly be one issue resulting in his oversensitivity.
Some medicines corresponding to these given for angina and hypertension also can result in sensitivity to chilly (by rising blood circulate by the pores and skin and inflicting better warmth loss).
One other potential issue is low temper — I’ve handled sufferers for melancholy who, of their misery, really feel so chilly that they spend all day sitting over an electrical heater. That is presumably the results of the inertia and lethargy, with much less muscle motion, that melancholy may cause.
Some medicines corresponding to these given for angina and hypertension also can result in sensitivity to chilly (by rising blood circulate by the pores and skin and inflicting better warmth loss)
It might even be that the hypothalamus is affected. It’s near the areas within the mind concerned in temper regulation.
It is perhaps useful to strive the next bodily problem to evaluate your husband’s physique temperature management: go for a brisk, one-mile stroll and see how he feels when he will get house.
If he feels hotter than his normal chilly state, attempt to incorporate a few such walks a day — it could assist make a distinction.
I’ve been identified with glaucoma in my proper eye and my imaginative and prescient is barely fuzzy. However checks present my eye strain readings are within the regular vary. What could possibly be the trigger?
Gerry Lester, Oulton, Staffs.
Glaucoma is a standard eye situation the place the optic nerve is broken, inflicting a lack of imaginative and prescient.
We frequently communicate of glaucoma as if it’s a single situation, however in actual fact there are literally 4 sorts. The most typical type of it’s main open-angle glaucoma.
The injury to the optic nerve happens in the primary as a result of the attention isn’t in a position to drain fluid correctly. A key issue is the angle between the iris and the cornea, the clear window on the entrance.
The diploma of this angle, which might be affected by age, harm and different components, determines how nicely the attention is ready to drain.
With the first open-angle kind, which develops very slowly, the drainage angle remains to be open, however different elements of the drainage system will not be working correctly.
There may be additionally angle-closure glaucoma, which is uncommon and will develop quickly. Right here, the angle narrows as a result of the iris has bulged and the attention can’t drain.
The opposite two sorts are congenital glaucoma, normally current at beginning and attributable to an abnormality of the attention, and secondary glaucoma, attributable to an harm or different eye situation.
The standard view is that the injury to the optic nerve is attributable to elevated strain from a build-up of fluid.
Nevertheless it’s now thought that it will also be attributable to a illness affecting the axons, the cells of the optic nerve.
So whereas raised eye strain is related to most circumstances of glaucoma, it’s not at all times so.
In actual fact, as many as 40 per cent of sufferers with open-angle glaucoma have regular eye strain.
Imaginative and prescient loss attributable to glaucoma can’t be reversed, however remedies — together with eye drops and surgical procedure — can forestall it worsening. The aim is to decrease eye strain to 30 per cent under the preliminary studying when identified, even in sufferers corresponding to your self who don’t have raised strain.
It is because decreasing the strain is the one established technique for slowing the progress of the illness and stopping lack of sight. We don’t know why, but it surely helps.
Write to Dr Scurr
Write to Dr Scurr at Good Well being, Each day Mail, 2 Derry Avenue, London, W8 5TT or
e-mail drmartin@dailymail.co.uk — embrace your contact particulars. Replies must be taken in a normal context and at all times seek the advice of your personal GP with any well being worries.
For my part… GPs shouldn’t be working from house
Alarmed by the rising circumstances of strep A, I’m prompted to ask: how can any GP nonetheless be working from house, with consultations on-line or by telephone?
It was just lately reported that one GP works from house in Cornwall, but her follow is greater than 250 miles away in West Sussex. To diagnose scarlet fever, the primary sickness attributable to strep A an infection (the identical micro organism also can trigger tonsillitis, pneumonia, impetigo and cellulitis), you want a throat swab.
That is cultured in a lab to establish whether or not the an infection is attributable to micro organism or a virus. If micro organism are responsible, the kind must be recognized so applicable antibiotics might be prescribed.
A throat swab requires a bodily examination by a physician. Something apart from that’s second-class remedy. Slicing corners can result in avoidable deaths.
Alarmed by the rising circumstances of strep A, I’m prompted to ask: how can any GP nonetheless be working from house, with consultations on-line or by telephone? A inventory picture is used above
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