Doctorshealthsystems

Despite the availability of vaccines that effectively protect children against diseases that can be killers, surveys repeatedly indicate that many Australian children are inadequately protected against these diseases.

The seven potentially devastating diseases against which all children can and should be properly immunized are: diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough (pertussis), polio, measles, mumps, and German measles (rubella).

There are two reasons why so many children go unprotected against these diseases. First, many parents believe that polio, diphtheria, and whooping cough no longer exist. Second, people don’t realize how dangerous these and the other four diseases are. Children die or are permanently disabled each year as a result of these preventable diseases. The statistics prove that children are in danger from these diseases, and without immunization your child is also at risk.

Doctors use two types of immunization:

Active (live) immunization is done by injecting a weakened or killed virus or bacterium into the body. This stimulates the body’s natural defense system. The body produces substances known as antibodies, carried in the bloodstream, which are tailor-made to fight the invading organisms. The antibodies remain in the body for years, sometimes a lifetime, to protect it against that particular disease.

Passive (dead) immunization involves injecting ready-made antibodies – usually extracted from the blood of animals that have been immunized for the purpose of producing antibodies to be used in passive immunization. Passive immunization is only temporary but serves to protect a person who may already be infected until the body has time to create its own antibodies.

The following sections explain how you can protect your child against these diseases.

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Home care

An anorexic child should be under a doctor’s care. The doctor will tell you how to take care of the child at home.

Precaution

If the condition is not controlled, the anorexic may starve herself to death.

Medical treatment

The doctor will first attempt to rule out any physical cause of the child’s extreme weight loss, such as cancer, infectious disease, disorders in the digestive organs, or problems in absorbing the nutrients from food. If the patient has lost more than 25 percent of her original body weight, if she displays the classic behavior, and if the onset of symptoms occurs before the age of 25, a diagnosis of anorexia is usually warranted.

An anorexic may require hospitalization and forced feeding if her disease has led to severe malnutrition. However, most anorexics can be treated on an outpatient basis by a family physician, a psychiatrist, or a specialist in eating disorders.

The psychological problems that underlie the anorexic behavior should be exposed and resolved. In the meantime, however, the youngster must be convinced that she must gain weight and reassured that her doctor and parents will not allow her to become overweight. Healthy attitudes toward body weight and normal eating patterns must be restored.

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Does diabetes affect your sex life?

The short answer to this is no, it need not do so, and certainly not when you are young. Sex development in both boys and girls, men and women, is not affected by diabetes. Sexual feelings are just the same whether you have diabetes or not. The ability to enjoy sexual relationships and to have children is the same for people with diabetes also. The risk of pregnancy after intercourse is just the same as for people without diabetes, and those with diabetes need to take the same responsibility and precautions to prevent unwanted pregnancy as other people.

Young men may hear that impotence can be a problem for people with diabetes in later life. Impotence means difficulty or inability for a man to have or to maintain an erection. This may occur in some people after many years and may be a greater risk if diabetic control is poor. There are a number of possible causes for this apart from it being a complication of diabetes, and there are forms of treatment that may help if it does occur. It is another good reason of course to aim for careful control of your diabetes if you are a boy.

Can I have the pill?

Yes, but you should of course discuss this with your physician. There is no evidence that the contraceptive pill causes more problems in women with diabetes than in others, and the pill should not upset diabetic control. You will of course have a low-dose pill and have regular checks with your doctor while you are having it.

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