Dear Dr, I have been ill for roughly 2 years now and all efforts to get lasting treatment have proved abortive. Symptoms are recurrent waist pain, internal body heat sometimes at the sole of the feet, stomach rumbling [sometimes noisy], recurrent sore throat, catarrh and cough with chest congestion and sometimes pain in scrotum after a prolonged erection. All this is always accompanied with persistent fever and sometimes dizziness. Once or twice noticed sperm [like] fluid come out of the penis. I have treated malaria and typhoid more than 10 times ever since after tests confirmed their presence. Also two HIV tests have been negative.
Murebo Takoto, Taraba
Dear Murebo, Looking at all your symptoms, my educated, experienced and professional guess is, you are looking for the answer in the wrong place. Malaria and typhoid? I don’t think so. I think you had sex with a certain girl. And this sex you had got you into trouble. You contacted a disease called Chronic Prostatitis. It is what is responsible for your pain in the scrotum after a prolonged erection and sperm-like fluid coming out of the penis; stomach rumbling and waist pain. I will not be surprised if the germ causing your problems is Staphylococcus. The way to find out and authenticate or deny all this is to do a laboratory test of both your semen and your urine called microscopy, culture and sensitivity. Because of the many complications of Staphylococcus including a generalized depression of the sufferer’s immunity, your malaria and typhoid and other diseases got at you and you have not been able to cure them. The internal body heat and a times at the sole of the feet are symptoms of what is called Somatisation Syndrome; a function of anxiety neurosis which generally may follow problems with the genitals for men, seeing that such challenges can be very stressful for men. You can get fully well, but you must look for doctors who understand what is going on. Specialists called urologists and very good doctors are the category I am talking about. Chronic Prostatitis never goes away without treatment–adequate ones at that. So get to work to treat yourself. You can call the help-lines.
Cheers
Menses, fertility problems
Dear Dr, I have learnt a lot from your column. I appreciate the way you handle problems. My first question relate to one of the answers you gave in one edition titled `Can I Have a Baby?’ In the last paragraph you asked some question that will be relevant to determine if a lady is fertile or not. My question is, if my answer to those questions you asked is yes, does that mean am fertile or not? OR which of them should be yes and which one should be no for me to know if am fertile or not? Secondly, for the first time in my life I saw my period twice in one month. This is how it happened – normally I see my period towards the end of the month, suddenly it shifted to be coming on the 10th but by August I saw it on the 1st and on the 30th of August which extended to September. Is this a bad sign? What should I do to correct it?
Estella Eromonsele, Benin City
Dear Estella, Women generally bleed once a month on average. That month is not 30 days or 31. It is 28 days as in February. Meaning a woman has her visitor/ her flower/her menses/her period once every 28 days. The bleeding itself lasts anywhere from 2 to 5 days. She will begin to bleed after the cycle of 28 days has been exhausted. Many times, however, a woman discovers that her cycle is not exactly 28 days. There is nothing wrong with that as long as a) it is a number, x, within 22-45 days. And b) It must be that same x number of days regularly from month to month. Having said that, you will agree with me that if a woman bleeds every 33 days for example, she will see her periods once a month but the dates will be shifting. If it is 30 days, it will be once a month and the dates will be like the same every month. If however, it is say, 28 days or 25 days, for example, it will come twice in some months. This is simply what happened to you.
Your other question is best answered by saying that fertility is not a one – gender matter. It involves two people, both male and female together and so, interfacing with a doctor who interviews both people, examines them and does the necessary ancillary tests is the best way to know if the individual is fertile or not and whether the couple are fertile together or not.
Protruded anus
Dear Sir, Well done. I’m a regular reader of your page in Daily Sun and I really love it. I have the problem of a protruded anus and I used to have some severe pains on my back. I am a boy of age 20 please help me out.
Ade Tobitomi, Maryland, Lagos
Dear Ade Too many folks think anything coming out of their backsides is their anus protruding. Not so. It generally is not the anus but the blood vessels (veins) of the rectum. This is called pile or haemorrhoids. The rectum is the room above the anus where stool is stored until it is ready to exit. The anus is simply the passageway from the rectum to the outside where the stool must pass through. The haemorrhoidal veins in the rectum have a tendency in some folks to become too large (varicose) and as a consequence of this oversize begin to prolapse (fall out). Varicosity of veins can be seen at the back of the hands/palms of the fully grown human adult male (usually).
The falling out is in three stages; first stage is when the falling out is not yet apparent but is getting ready; it can be confirmed when the anus and rectum is examined digitally (with a finger) or with a ano/rectoscope (a machine that uses a camera/video device to do a look-see of the rectum and anus).The second stage is when the falling out happens but goes back by itself after stooling. The third stage is when there is a permanent prolapse when after stooling the veins do not return but stay put outside; the patient having to force them in by sitting on them or other means. So most likely, you have a pile, at your age, Ade. If you were under 5 years of age, I would say it could be a falling out of your actual anus, called anal prolapse, very common in that age group and usually amenable to treatment with a nutritional approach.
What is the common-sense approach to managing pile? Knowledge is important.