Beware of Eye Drops

Many people think that for all eye related problems eye drops are enough to cure the ailment, which is totally wrong. Some people , use the eye drops bought for some one's eye problem. Here we consider three things :

1. There are varieties of eye drops for different diseases. Ocular Antiinfective, Steroid, Antiinflammatories, Antiallergics, Mydriatic, Cycloplegic, Ocular lubricants, Antiglaucoma agent etc.We do not imagine eye drops as a Survayoga Nivarani (Universal Medicine). Leprosy drug should not use for Malaria ; Hypertension drug is not a substitute for diabetes; each one is different. Likewise we should not use the eye drops.

2. Once the eye drops is opened, it should be used within one month. After that we should not use it at any situation. If the eye problem is over , we should discard the remaining eye drops. Otherwise it will tempt others to use.

3. Many eye problems can be treated or controlled in early stage it self. If we take self medication then we lose the chance to get treated properly. Improper treatment leads to severe complications including loss of vision.

Motivate kids

Twenty years back while I was working in Puduruthamanur - a remote village in Trichirappalli District in Tamil Nadu,  most of the staffs who were staying  in the hospital quarters were complaining about the poor eating habits of their kids. It was a big problem for my colleagues. (I was a bachelor at that time). Due to  the nutritional deficiencies almost all kids were suffering from some kind of illness.
 
Those days I was extensively involved in promoting health education in and around the villages of Lalgudi. A good slide projector was available in our health center and I used this projector for my health education activities.
 
During the weekends whenever I was doing health education activities nearby villages I used  to involve all the children who were in the residential quarters. They help me during these  health educational activities and slowly they used to volunteer all such activities willingly. Later on one day I had done a health education program exclusively for all these kids.  I made use of those selective slides such as the  important of  the balanced diet, nutritional values of green leafy vegetables, importance of those curry and coriander leaves which usually not consumed by us, the importance of hand washing with soaps and other personal hygienic habits. etc. Everyone who had attended those programs was very interestingly participated.
 
After some days to my surprise few of my colleagues were wondering and asked me as to 'What you have done? Have you done any magic? Due to the effective health education initiative the food habit of those kids had changed dramatically. The kids were asking their mothers to put more vegetables and leafy vegetables in their food during their meal time with a special reference to my message to those kids . Every one of my colleagues were really very happy about this positive change.
 
 
Moral :  The motivation of the children needs creative and constructive ideas.

An unusual case of a stone grinder

In the recent Pulse Polio campaign when we were camping in and around the villages of Madurai district in T.N, one of the Public Health Official had mentioned that these days Grinding Stones are causing fever. I was wondering about the logic. He continued to add that due to the technology advancement these days everybody is using motorized wet grinder. This is a common sight even in villages. We can't see these manual wet grinder (Stone Grinders) anymore as everyone is switching to motorized version for the convenience.

Motorized Wet Grinders replaced the manual one. In most homes these unused manual grinder stones are simply kept in the backyard and usually no one cares. The pit in the unused grinder is always filled with water especially rain water which acts as the breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Hope you are getting the point!

As many of us know that mosquito is the reason for the outbreak of communicable diseases such as Chikungunya , Dengue and Malaria. The official also suggested a practical solution in case of these unused grinders. Simply keep the grinder stone down wards in case it is not in the usage so that water stagnation in the pit is not possible. Still better option would be to dispose the grinder itself . It is the responsibility of the public to keep their surroundings clean as well as not to allow the stagnation of water anywhere / waste container such as used tyres, coconut shells etc and helps the Government in controlling communicable diseases.

In the interest of the public health and our community everyone should share this valuable information/message one and all when you visit village folks (city folk’s excuse if you have a modern grinder at your home!)

Health Hand Book ' 2010

1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food
that is manufactured in plants..
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Make time to pray.
6. Play more games
7. Read more books than you did in 2009 .
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
9. Sleep for 7 hours..
10.Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

courtesy : Jc.K.Baskar, Vellure.

Self Medication

Last week while I was buying some prescribed medicines at a local chemist, a person who was next to me at the chemist counter asking for some eye drops by showing his eyes with the complaint of redness. Immediately the shop keeper dispensed one vial containing eye drops. Due to curiosity I just noted the content of the eye drops and then I was shocked. Oh my God it was a steroid eye drops!

Redness of the eye or Red Eye/Eyes is caused due to various causes. Common cause being Viral Conjunctivitis (popularly known as 'Madras Eye'). If someone uses steroid eye drops for this condition then it will very much aggravate the situation. Even it may leads to severe complications such as pain, swelling & blurred vision.

Red Eye can also occur in Glaucoma (Glaucoma- a condition caused due to increased Intra Ocular Pressure). Glaucoma needs immediate attention and a proper treatment by the specialists. Treatment delay or the self- medication may cause permanent blindness.

Only an Eye Specialist is able to find out the exact cause for the redness and treat the condition properly.

The chemist apparently unaware of this fact. The sufferer is the innocent common man.

Hence before using any eye drops, make sure that it is prescribed by an Eye Specialist. Please do take sufficient precautions before handling any eye drops/ophthalmic preparations.

We should change the wrong belief that all type of eye ailments can be cured by applying eye drops just like that. Avoid Self medication. Your Sight is precious to you!

Imagine a life without eyesight.

For any eye problems always consult an Eye Specialists/qualified vision care professionals.

Because the 'Sight is Precious'.

Beginning of Thai month

During the search in net while helping my daughter for her project just I have noted 'Aerva lanata' plant and wondered about its medicinal values and other important factors. The plant is commonly seen at waste ground , forests and outside the cities.

The plant was called in different names in different languages. In Tamil – Sirru pulay, Telugu -Pinde conda, Malayalam – Cherula, Marathi – Kapu madhura , Rajasthani – Bhui and in Hindi – Chaya. Normally one doesn't take care of this plant. But in Pongal days the same plant got special status.

As we know Pongal festival is celebrating all over India in different names. In Tamilnadu peoples are cleaning their houses and painted before the pongal. They also decorated with beautiful colourful kolam both inside and outside of the houses. On the day of Pongal after worshiping the God with Pongal they insert the sirru pulay flower on the top of the roof their houses. Hence here this flower is also known as Koorai Poo. Koorai means roof. Poo means Flower.

While talking with Prof.G.Thirumaran one of the Tamil Scholar of Tiruchirappalli says that this is a custom of Tamil people from early days. This flower indicates the joyful beginning of the festival celebration. There is spiritual myth also behind this koorai poo insertion. The flower will protect the people from evil spirit.

One can also wonder after hearing its medicinal values. It is a good medicine for urethral problem and also used in stone formation. Leaf decoction is best for sore throat. In those days people were using this plant as medicine for snake bite.

There is a proverb in Tamil. That is 'there is s good way by the beginning of Tamil month of 'Thai.' So whoever seeing the flower on the top of houses were happy and self motivated . Because Thai month was started and they believe there will be good future for them.