Words: Dr Rajgopal NIDAMBOOR Depression is no pleasant feeling, much less an agreeable expression. It affects millions of people to varying degrees. It has a tendency, in a manner born, to ‘attack’ without a clear reason, albeit contemporary research supports the view that complex psychological, environmental and biochemical factors may trigger, or ‘engender,’ our initial

Words: Dr Rajgopal NIDAMBOOR All of us have ‘good’ and ‘bad’ bacteria in our gut. This is nature’s balancing act. Besides, it’s not just eating, but also what goes on in your mind — for example, emotional stress — that may trigger irritable bowel syndrome [IBS]. That IBS has no known, or established, cause is

Words: Dr Rajgopal NIDAMBOOR Constipation defies precise definition. It usually implies a reduced stool frequency and the passage of hard small stools. It may also be considered, on empirical terms, as occurring when defaecation is inadequate and infrequent to cause the sufferer both discomfort and alarm, or induce recourse to self-medication, not to speak of

Words: Dr Rajgopal NIDAMBOOR Sadness and other negative feelings are all normal reactions to a serious loss and/or tragic event. Also, everyone suffers, now and then, from a mild case of ‘blues.’ Medical research says that there may be a biochemical foundation to such responses. Or, depression, the topic in question, may be ‘biologically- or

Words: Dr Narayan C DESHPANDE One of my good, old teachers of clinical medicine would often articulate, in his impeccable Queen’s English, that the abdomen is a ‘temple of surprises.’ The abdomen is unquestionably a difficult-to-fathom ‘customer’ — it is not just the abdominal pain, or colic, which starts and ends that matters. The whole

Words: Dr Rajgopal NIDAMBOOR Anxiety, in simple terms, is related to changes that occur in the body when the mind sees a threat, or challenge. The threat can be real, or imaginary — also, most changes that occur in the body, are primarily due to anxiety, or stressful disquiet. They are caused by the release

Words: Dr Rajgopal NIDAMBOOR Dementia is the loss of cognitive functioning — thinking, remembering, and reasoning — and, behavioural abilities to such an extent that it interferes with a person’s daily life and activities. These include memory, language skills, visual perception, problem solving, self-management, and the ability to focus and pay attention. Some people with

Words: Dr Rajgopal NIDAMBOOR Hair loss is not just a cosmetic problem; it is actually a medical disorder. It not only affects one’s self-confidence, it can also ‘hijack’ one’s career. Research suggests that people with hair loss don’t get promotions on time. Studies suggest that certain cells [stem cells] that can send molecular signals to

Words: Dr Narayan C DESHPANDE A 2014 report, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, was primarily intended to better inform doctors about obsessive-compulsive disorder [OCD]. The report  quoted Dr Jon E Grant, MD, a psychiatrist at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine, US, illustrating the case of a nineteen-year-old man who