A glimpse of Jakarta

11:39 local time, flight PR 535 landed the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at Jakarta Indonesia.

Dwindling drops of rain welcomed us as we touch down the SHIA in Jakarta. My tita texted me to turn right as we exit the Customs area. There she was in her usual skimpy sexy outfit, which by the way befitted her very slim physique (call her blessed, she has a 15 year old good looking son and a 12 year old equally gorgeous young lady). She said in disbelief "Ï cannot believe you are absolutely here flesh and blood".

As a backgrounder, we were supposed to have this much awaited Bali honeymoon days after our wedding however, due to my husbands expired passport we were forced to move the honeymoon a month after to give way for the renewal of passport and all that. And that trip we are talking about is a wedding gift all expense paid, including the tix from MNL to JKT. Isn't that marvelous?

Al right where do we start then, lets start at the NAIA Terminal 2. We were there as usual 3 hours prior to out international flight. This is indeed exciting. Our first trip out of the country together as husband and wife. My name ain't changed yet, though. But that was beside the point. I am in for the ride. Now as we enter the Airport, an unfamiliar face waved a hand to me, I don't know him! Okay fine he wasn't waving at me. He was frantically waving at my husband. Fine! Then after 5 minutes after check in. Another lady came in rushing from the farthest part of the airport yelling my husbands name! What in the world is that lady doing! Okay then, he was calling my hubby's name and then whats next?

The girls was my husband's ex flame. Dated her and flirted with her. Good. Then, they did the same thing in front of me... This is what I said, "You know what, my brother flirted with you too. And tell you what I still have a nephew wanna try and flirt him some time?" My husband tugged me. And I tugged harder.

What flares my reaction more were the following:
1. He (my husband), did not even formally introduce me as a wife. Hello here w-i-f-e-y.
2. My husband even asked for free lounge dine from her.
3. They chatted as if I do not exist.
4. Wow I was filling up your form Eugene, aren't you suppose to have your own 2 hands with some 10 fingers on it!

After which, I fumed out! I was really mad. I said in a rather loud and irritated voice (with some unfamilair heads turning around) "You can flirt but not when I am around understand! Do you want me to get her number or what!"

And that was the last conversation of the night! That's is for tonight. Till tomorrow.

Off to Bali

It is indeed our most awaited day, our much anticipated Bali Honeymoon.
I had the following stuffs checked:

1. Clothes - good for 7 days
2. shoes and slippers
3. 2 sets of gimmick clothes
4. sun tan and sunblock plus our mosquito repellant lotion
5. medicines: anti pyretic, anti spasmodics, anti histamine, decongestants and antacids
6. full charged camera batts, will try to look for an extra battery later
7. The pauwe of my tita: corned beef and kraft cheese whiz
8. All cellular phone chargers
9. Map to JKT and DPS
10. Tickets and passports

Yup, i would say I am really looking forward to this one!
Hope my gastritis will just visit me some other time!

Till my next post as I enter the Airport of JKT and stay at my Tita's place.

YUCKult and Eugene

"Diba hun meron lactobacilli shirota strain ang yakult oh galing pa ito sa Japan".

My hubby's favorite is the most commercialized cultured milk drink (marketed as Yakult) which has that same tag line, 'with lactobacilli shirota strain', and 'okay ka ba tiyan'.

I fervently told him that Lactobacilli is a normal flora of the human body (normal flora means common and harmless bacteria that dwell in the human body provided that a balance is constant and undistubed). In fact, (knowing his most gullible nature) The vagina is but the best place to find them. He literally almost threw up as I said this.

"So ibig sabihin ang dami dami pe*-pe* pinanggaling ng isang bote ng yakult! Yuck! Ayoko na! Nakakadire pala ito, bakit pinapainom mo pa sa akin!"

To clear things up, Lactobacilli are bacteria that normally lives in the GUT (Gastrointestinal tract) and the Vagina. The scientific name is Lactobacillus acidophilus. As the name implies, acidophilus meaning it produces a lot of acid. Lactobacillus acidophilus is generally considered to be beneficial because it produces vitamin K, lactase, and anti-microbial substances such as acidolin, acidolphilin, lactocidin, and bacteriocin. What are these craps? Vitamin K is needless to say a vitamin, that produces blood clotting factors; we need these bloot clotting factors to stop bleeding from a cut or any wound. Lactose is a form of complex sugar that cannot be used by the human body unless broken down into simplest forms as done by the enzyme lactase; all the rest mentioned are antibacterial that help our body to guard against infection.

How does it help us in digesting the food we just ate? Lactobacillus are considered to be probiotics. Probiotics are products aimed at delivering living bacterial cells to the gut ecosystem of humans and other animals. As these probiotics are delivered into the gut, they help bring the gut into the its best functioning. Thus we normally performs the mass movements of absorption and excretion helping us rid ourselves of unecessary wastes.

In the same light, in the vagina, the pH is maintained at low levels by these microorganisms. This acidic environment creates a good barrier from infection such as bacterial vaginosis. This is also the same rationale behind those vaginal wash such ast lactic acid (marketed as lactacyd) heavily commercialized in our country to date. Needless to say, we really don't need this vaginal wash because we already have a built in normal flora to assists us in our needs.

I was laughing so hard, I almost fell from where I was. I even told a friend and fellow doctor of our encounter. He remarked "Go make fun of me, I'll have my sweet revenge".

Let us wait for my hubby's sweet revenge. ( I really love him, and his imperfections makes me wanna fall in love with him again, one day after another).

Rid The House of Falling Hair

Cleaning day thursdays. Not a dreaded day for me, but indeed a feared day for all the dust and the craps in and out of the house. Dust is manageable. Dirt is tolerable. But what I cower so much about is when I started sweeping the floor, and would battle against the strands of hair lazily hatched on every corner of my crib. Indeed all these hair came from my head, but is it really natural to have such a number of plummeted hair?

Here are the facts:

• Alopecia is the medical term use for "baldness"

• Hair Growth in human goes through 3 different phases
  

1. Anagen Phase: Growing stage of the hair. This happens every 2-5 years. Almost 90% of the hair is in this stage. The length of thie anagen phase determines how long you may possibly grow your hair.
2. Catagen Phase: Transition stage. It happens around 2-3 weeks and about 1% of the hair is in this phase.
3. Telogen Phase: Resting Phase. Occurs for around 3-4 months and approximately 10-15% of the hair is in this stage.

• The average normal hair follicle in a human head is about 100,000. Still varies on the ethnicity. On average, blondes have the highest density of hair: 140,000 hair follicles, redheads the lowest at 90,000 follicles, and those with black hair have on average 110,000 follicles.

• It is normal to lose hair through our daily hair care, but what is "normal" varies from person to person, and therefore so does what is "excessive". The denser your hair, and the shorter your anagen cycle the more hair you will normally lose per day.

• So in computation: for example you are an average indiviual having 100,000 hair follicle, divide it by 3 phases for 3 years (100,000/3). This means, 33,000 hair is replaced every year, and roughly 33,000/365 around 91 hairs falling everyday is but normal.
  

• Common Forms of Hair Loss: Androgenetic alopecia, Traumatic Alopecia, Drug-induced alpecia and Alopecia Areata.
  

• Hair thinning that could have been caused by androgenetic alopecia is a gene train that is inherited from both parents.

• Hair loss typically begins between the ages of 12 and 40.

• The only drug approved for promoting hair growth in women is Minoxidil

Thus, if you are worried about the hair fall you get, start counting all the strands you see on the floor each time you sweep, and from there reconcile if you are still normal or you need urgent consultation with a physician.

On another note, on cleaning the ridding your house of this unstoppable stubborn hair strands, it is best to always use a rag that has the capacity to cause the excessive static friction between dirt, dust and the cloth. It is best to use a cloth that is of cotton flannel quality. The fabric type will ensure that you get all the strands there exist. Plus the flannel characterisitc, will allow all the electron charges from the hair+dust+dirt to not oppose, but to attract each other. In addition, the use of apple cider vinegar plus detergent will prove to ease the pain of having to deal with all these implacable excrement scattered around the house.

Chest pain due to stress: a daily dose of remedy

Two days ago, my dear sister opened up her new foodcart business. This was a biz long been dreamed of and a product of long hours of overtime and "on the side rackets". She encountered a lot of problems alongside, but what the heck, this is the moment we are all waiting for. The soft opening day. Come the 8th of January, she chose this date because of the significance of the number. Both feng shui and all the stars in the heavens agreed that it was a good day to start up anything new. She and her boyfriend was up early to man the stall on its opening day. My dad geared up the place with enough sound system and blinking lights to draw more attention to the passersby. We would have hired a mascot but that was too much to ask. 2pm hit the clock and there it was. Long piles of customers were waiting for their turn just to get a taste of what this food cart has to offer. We were all happy to see satisfied customers burping their heart out. But what we were more inquisitive about is how much my sister earned on her first day. It was practically 6 hours after when she declared "Quota". She was forced to close her stall because she ran out of raw stocks. So thats is for the day folks. She earned more than what she prayed for to Our Lady. She is hoping to get just the same everyday onwards.

The dreadful days come, the following day, then the next day and the next day...There were no more piles of people lining, no more satisfied customers. What seems to be wrong? I got a text from my sister the 5th day after first soft opening. She just texted an icon and its the crying icon. I did not know what to do. Until, she called me crying saying she has been having the chest pain all day. That pain kept her from working well on her office, and caused her to ask a rest hour from her office clinic. I was indeed worried. As an older sister and the physician in the house, a lot of things pan around my head. What if she is having real anginal pain? What if she is suffering from a heart attack or some valvular heart problem. Man she is only 26!

Alright enough worries. I doodled the scenario in my head. She is a very young professional, medium built, eats all the food she wants without gaining weight, she does not exercise but frequently walk the roads of Ayala Ave end to end everyday, she does not smoke nor drink. So what is her predisposition of getting a heart problem when she is not at all prone to get it? Hmmm then I remembered, she has been having a lot of trouble saving the little biz she started some 5 or 6 days ago. What can this do to you and your health? Studies have shown that, stress nowadays is the number one cause of heart attacks both in mid adult to adult age range. Can this be real chest pain? What could be the possible causes of Chest Pain?

Here are a lengthy lists (terms are often very technical if not explained)

1. Angina Pectoris/Myocardial Infarction - simply put is heart attack

2. Other Cardiovascular Causes

a. Possibly Ischemic Pain

1) Aortic Stenosis - the biggest artery of the heart is not opening well to let go off its content
2) Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy - the unusual enlargement of the muscles of the heart living behind a rather small hollow concavity inside the heart.
3) Severe Systemic Hypertension - severe high blood pressure
4) Severe Right Ventricular Hypertension - another type of high blood pressure
5) Aortic Regurgitation - again dealing with the largest artery of the heart not properly ejecting its content out
6) Severe Anemia/hypoxia - deficiency of oxygen supply in the body

b. Non Ischemic in Origin

1) Aortic Dissection
2) Pericarditis
3) Mitral Valve Prolapse

3. Gastrointestinal

a. Esophageal Spasm
b. Esophageal Reflux
c. Esophageal Rupture
d. Peptic Ulcer Disease

4. Psychogenic

a. Anxiety
b. Depression
c. Cardiac Psychosis
d. Self Gain

5. Neuromusculoskeletal

a. Thoracic Outlet syndrome
b. Lesions of Cervical/Thoracic Spine
c. Costochondritis[Tietze�s Syndrome]
d. Herpes Zoster
e. Chest wall pain

6. Pulmonary

a. Pulmonary Embolus/Infarction
b. Pneumothorax
c. Pneumonia with pleural involvement

7. Pleurisy

(this is updated list of differential diagnosis is lifted from the article of Dr. Apurva C Madia. Consultant Cardiologist. Ahmedabad, India.)

What then is the simple daily dose of remedy for Chest Pain? Pain tolerance is individualized. What could be painful to me, may not be painful to another. So, the mainstay of remedy for this is to free the patient off the pain. After which we should advise and educate the patient about the different causes of the chest pain. It is best to always ask your doctor ,if a total cardiologic laboratory work-up is necessary. Is is also pertient to ask if the pain is most likely caused by an organ (heart) or an organ other than the heart, i.e. muscle, tendons or simply by stress.

To put this all astride, my sisters symptoms were all due to mixed up stress and muscle and tendon inflammation. She is all well now thanks to a very good and effective pain reliever.