UAE: Are you getting enough vitamin D to fight Covid-19?
SM Ayaz Zakir/Dubai
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Health experts and researchers have reiterated that getting enough vitamin D bolsters one’s immunity and keeps Covid-19 at bay
With a UAE study confirming that vitamin D deficiency can put one at increased risk of severe Covid-19, doctors have highlighted the importance of getting enough of the sunshine vitamin. But how will you know if your vitamin D levels need a boost?
Healthcare specialists said that a vitamin D test can be taken if one experiences pain in the joints, bones and muscles, and if he or she often gets sick or experiences fatigue.
Dubai: Are you a victim of White Coat Syndrome? The condition seems to have received renewed focus during the pandemic when a number of UAE residents have reported a spike in their blood pressure during a visit to the hospital or primary health-care centre for either a PCR test or for their vaccination jab.
Dr Dirar Abdallah, Chair of Medicine and Consultant of Internal Medicine at Prime Hospital, said: “White Coat Hypertension (WCH) or White Coat Syndrome (WCS) are conditions that have been there for a long time and have been diagnosed as a disorder in which patients develop high blood pressure as soon as they enter a health-care facility and see a person (doctor or nurse) attired in a white coat.”
UAE: Strict Covid protocols are silently fighting other viruses
SM Ayaz Zakir/Dubai
KT file photo
Researchers have noted a sudden drop in flu cases
Strict adherence to Covid-19 protocols have had one positive spinoff - a significant decline in influenza cases, healthcare experts in the UAE say.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic last year, healthcare specialists and researchers have noted a sudden drop in flu cases, even as SARS COV 2 has been dominating all the headlines.
Dr Shakeel Ahmed Shah , General Practitioner at Aster Clinics, Al Qusais said, “Since the Covid-19 pandemic, we have observed a significant drop in flu cases in our facility. Before the pandemic, around 10 per cent of my patients would be flu cases, but it has dropped to 2 per cent now. The UK and USA are also reporting a similar trend.”
Dubai: It has been more than eight months since Frances Narte Feliciano, 46, a Filipino expatriate returned home from a-long haul stay at a hospital ICU. But to this day, he experiences many weird symptoms.
A technical storekeeper at a Dubai firm, who had COVID-19 in April 2020, was in the Intensive Care Unit of Canadian Specialist Hospital for over 72 days, breathing through a mechanical ventilator. He was discharged from hospital in August and continued physiotherapy at home. However, he was only able to join back at work in November.
“I walk in to a room and don’t remember why I came there in the first place; I am unable to recall some of my computer transactions on SAP. I experienced a lot of fuzziness, fatigue, dizziness etc in the first few months after discharge. Even to this day, I am fatigued, am unable to work for long hours, require short breaks and do not feel one hundred per cent fine like before,” Narte Felicino told Gulf News.
Dubai: Fasting can be therapeutic for diabetics and endocrinologists say it is possible for Type II diabetics to observe the day-long fast during Ramadan under guidance and advise from their doctors.
With widespread incidence of Type II diabetes in the UAE, the condition poses a challenge for Emiratis and expatriates intending to observe the Ramadan fast. According to Diabetes Household Survey of 2017 conducted in Dubai, more than 19.2 per cent of Emiratis have diabetes and approximately 14.6 per cent of the expatriate population is dealing with the condition with a high percentage of undiagnosed diabetics and a wide section of pre-diabetics (with borderline impaired glucose metabolism).