Praxis Dr. med. Bludau

Durchfall, Bauchschmerzen und/ oder Blähungen, Übelkeit und Erbrechen – diese Symptome können auf eine Infektion mit „Giardia lamblia“ hinweisen, einem Parasiten, der sowohl Menschen als auch viele Tierarten befällt und fäkal-oral übertragen wird.

Das heißt, die Zysten (widerstandsfähige Dauerformen) der einzelligen Giardien, auch Lamblien genannt, werden mit dem Stuhl ausgeschieden. Die Übertragung von Mensch zu Mensch geschieht durch unzureichende Hygiene, zum Beispiel, wenn die Hände nach der Toilettenbenutzung nicht ausreichend gereinigt werden. Indirekt steckt man sich durch verunreinigtes Trinkwasser und Lebensmittel, wie Rohkost aus Freilandanbau, sowie durch schwimmen in verschmutzten Gewässern an. 

Although we leave it for later and don’t want to think about it: bowel cancer prevention must be a preoccupation for all of us. The medical examination is obviously a sensitive and intimate subject, but it can save lives.

For bowel cancer there is no rule as there can be many kinds of symptoms, often it is not diagnosed and detected too late. For early detection, it is important for patients of 50 years old and over to have preventive check-ups. This allows for an evaluation of the risk of bowel cancer and in case of doubt, more tests are carried out. The preventive check-up consists of a manual examination of the rectum and a stool sample analysis for blood. Every 5 years a complete colonoscopy must be done.

According to the current knowledge from science, having a healthy lifestyle can help reduce the risks of bowel cancer. Some of those are:

• A wholegrain diet with a lot of vegetables, some fruits, fish and biological poultry, oils without saturated fats such as thistle, linen, olive or sunflower oil.
• Very little animal fat such as red meat.
• Regular bowel transit.
• Normal body weight.
• Moving a lot and regular sports’ activities.
• No smoking and avoid excessive alcohol consumption.

With those measures, it is not possible to avoid the risk of bowel cancer because apart from genetic predisposition, there can be unknown factors. Therefore, a preventive check is also important for people who have a healthy lifestyle.

published in the Fuerteventura Magazine HOY

The adipose fatty cells are not pretty even at their best, but for our health, a fat belly is more dangerous and doesn’t look nice either. Our body contains two type of fatty tissue. We can see the subcutaneous tissue of the bottom and on the hips. This is passive tissue that is used as energy storage for hard times and it also keeps our body warm.

The visceral fat is produced in the abdominal cavity and around the organs. Excess of this type of fat increases the risks of high blood pressure, diabetes and can cause a heart attack or a stroke. In order to check the state of our body, there is the famous Body Mass Index (BMI) test, but it is not ideal because it doesn’t take into account the location of the body fat. People with a normal weight but have a large abdominal perimeter are still at risk even though their BMI is under 25. A simple method is to measure it with a tape measure: if the abdominal perimeter of a man is above 102cm and above 88cm for a woman, the abdominal fat has reached critical level.

The good news: when the body needs energy, it first burns visceral fat. Sports, a balanced diet and daily active lifestyle can help lose weight. When we lose 100 grammes of visceral fat and our waist is one centimetre thinner, we are getting healthier.

 published in the Fuerteventura Magazine HOY

You won’t loose weight with fruits!

A smoothie for breakfast is good, but this fruit cocktail cannot help you loose weight ...
Sweet fruits have a high content in fructose, especially dried fruit. They can look healthier than sugar, but fructose is, like glucose, a monosaccharide (our table sugar is a 1:1 mix of both). 

But it gets worse: while glucose gets quickly through the digestive system and through the circulatory system to the points where it is required, like the brain, muscle tissue and then adipose tissue, fructose on the other hand, goes in an irregular manner to the points where the concentration is the lowest at the time, even if not required. 

90% of fructose in food go to the liver, where they are broken down. Some of its components, the triglycerides (that are also derivates from the sugar in alcohol), are deposited as fat in the liver and in the muscle system in order to stock up energy for times of scarcity. As nowadays we don’t carry out extremely physical work and we don’t have to endure hard winters, those deposits of fat accumulate and become excess weight. 

People who want to loose weight can have a diet of salads and seasonal fruits, but not fruit smoothies!

published in the Fuerteventura Magazine HOY

Diabetes is spreading all over the world. In the same way as infectious diseases used to, nowadays, this metabolic disorder is spreading in industrialised countries. If people put a lot of weight on, it is probably because they develop type 2 diabetes. But the genetic variation of diabetes type 1 is also increasing.

Diabetes is a disorder of the insulin production and, therefore, it is a sugar metabolism problem and this causes a level of blood sugar that is too high. The limit for diabetes is a blood sugar level of ≧ 200mg/dl, when fasting the limit is 126 mg/dl.

When we talk about diabetes, normally we mean type 2 diabetes, the most common type. In the case of elderly people or pregnant women, the pancreas produces less insulin than what is required, which means that there is a lack of insulin.

In the late stage of type 2 diabetes and in the case of the metabolic syndrome — a lot of excess weight, sugar metabolic and lipidic metabolism problems and high blood pressure – there is enough insulin, but it does not have any effect. This is called resistance to insulin. Often, symptoms are ambiguous such as tiredness, weakness or hunger sensation, but often it is detected by coincidence during a random blood test.

Typical risk factors to develop this disease are excess weight, sedentism and smoking.

With a careful diet and regular physical activity, we can improve the disease, reduce medicine and better regulate the level of blood sugar. The feared drops of sugar – that come with fainting, convulsions, palpitations, anxiety, sweating, confusion and problems with coordination of movements, orientation and concentration – are reduced.

published in the Fuerteventura Magazine HOY

Approximately 210 million patients worldwide suffer from COPD. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) it is the third cause of death worldwide. 
The abbreviation COPD stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Signs such as respiratory problems and persistent cough are the first symptoms of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. 

The causes are harmful substances such as those contained in cigarette smoke and the fine dust that sticks to the lungs and cause inflammations. While those symptoms may appear sporadically, alterations can recede if the cause is eliminated. The consequence is the progressive reduction of lung functions. If it is not chronic bronchitis, it can become  Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. The consequence is the progressive reduction of lung alveolus (pulmonary emphysema). This also causes pulmonary hyper-inflammation. Lungs lose slowly their capacity to work. People affected have problems breathing and the lack of air reduces their capacity. At the beginning, the disease is noticeable during efforts and when it is more advanced it is also noticeable at rest. 

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease cannot be cured completely, but for each phase of the disease, there are therapies to stop it. 
The first and most important is to stop smoking immediately. If not, treatment is useless. Therapy consists in medicines, physical activities, breathing therapy, adapting the diet and various preventive measures. If patients respect those medical instructions, they will stand good chances of maintaining or even improving their lungs' health.

published in the Fuerteventura Magazine HOY