Nulife Hospital

Hello friends, I am Dr Shakuntala Kumar I am practising obstetrician and gynaecologist at New Life Hospital, North Delhi, I am also a visiting consultant at Fortis Hospital Shalimar Bagh. Friends we get a lot of enquiries about unwanted pregnancy, how to avoid unwanted pregnancy. Well, we have a lot of options available in the market but I believe there are a lot of myths surrounding those options that are available to you. First of all, I will be briefly talking about emergency contraception, what is emergency contraception? Initially, contraceptive was devised in cases where women had an emergency situation like if there was an intercourse against their will or if there was rape. Friends the purpose of emergency contraception is to avoid an emergency situation please remember that, that means ideally speaking there should not be an emergency they should not be seeking contraception in emergency, there should not be intake of more than twice in a year of an emergency contraception please remember that, that emergency contraception is not a regular contraceptive. It is effective if taken within 72 hours of an unwanted situation if there is unprotected intercourse or a woman is planning to protect herself, then if taken within 72 hours she will be protected. It is quite effective but please remember it is not hundred percent effective. When taken a woman may face some unwarranted bleeding within few days of intake of this particular pill and if she is facing any other problem or if she is not getting her period despite her waiting adequately say for example more than one week of the arrival of her last period, then it is advisable to seek help of a doctor and if we be briefly talking about oral contraceptive pills are normally started from the first day of the menstrual cycle and they are taken regularly almost same time every day for 21 days, as soon as the pill is over within 4 to 5 days the lady will experience some bleeding. The oral contraceptive pills ideally should not be forgotten but if forgotten as soon as the woman remembers she should take that pill and the next pill should be taken as per the schedule. So oral contraceptive is a great choice than the other choices are copper-containing devices or medicine containing devices called the long active reversible contraceptives. These are basically devices which are kept in the uterine cavity and you have to seek the help of your healthcare provider or your doctor for use of these devices. They can be copper-t or non-copper containing medicinal devices, then there are so many other choices available like the depo drug which is given as in the form of an injection which is effective for 3 months from the day of intake but so this depo injection which I just talked about can have some side effects like the lady may experience irregular bleeding or she may have the weakness of the bones if it is taken for long. Friends the contraceptive choices which I just enumerated that temporary contraceptive choices, if a woman has completed her family and she no longer wants any more children then there are permanent methods of sterilization also available. They can be done laparoscopic early or by opening a small hole in the abdomen and doing sterilization call tubectomy, that is there in the women, in men they can undergo vasectomy which is a very very easy procedure it is called a No-Scalpel vasectomy and or NSV. This is a very simple procedure than on an OPD basis and the man who has undergone this procedure can very soon after resume his normal daily life activities. So friends I briefly enumerated to you about the contraceptive choices that are available to you. In case you have any more query you are free to ask us on our regular working days or you can approach me through Lybrate and ask your questions. Dear friends, whatever method of contraceptive choices you are taking do not forget to visit your health care provider or on regular basis or if you have any queries feel free to ask us, thank you.

Hello friends, I am Dr Shakuntala Kumar, I am practising obstetrician and gynaecologist at New Life Hospital in North Delhi, I am also visiting consultant at Fortis Hospital Shalimar Bagh. Today I will be highlighting about some points about nutrition in pregnancy, why it is important to eat right during pregnancy. Eating right helps a woman gain weight during pregnancy, depending on the pre-pregnant weight of a lady, she is required to gain something like 9 to 14 kilograms during pregnancy, during the whole pregnancy. If she is underweight then she is allowed to gain something like 14 to 15 kilograms also but if she is grossly overweight then gaining not more than 8 to 9 kgs will be apt for this woman. So eating right will help her gain weight which is very-very imperative for the development of the child. If she is eating right then she stays energize throughout pregnancy and that is very important because problems like lethargy, fatigability are very-very common during pregnancy and they can be avoided if a woman is eating right. Thirdly, if she is eating right then she can avoid a lot of pregnancy-related problems like constipation, heartburn, mood swings and fatigability. So eating right friends is important during the whole of the pregnancy. Now the second of the aspect of nutrition which I wanted to highlight was how we should eat during pregnancy. Now in the first trimester, the lady suffering from nausea, vomiting, fatigability and tiredness so to avoid that she is required to eat smaller helping several times a day. So these are some very small-small tips which we must remember about nutrition in pregnancy, number 1, she should be eating smaller helpings of foods several times a day. She should remain well hydrated so drinking lot of fluids which are non-caffeinated and which are not very high in sugar and salt are encouraged. Natural drinks like lemon water, coconut water may be buttermilk are recommended. Now thirdly, if she has food cravings then she can have snacks like salted crackers, a bland diet like boiled rice, bananas etc. which help avoid nausea and vomiting in the first three months of pregnancy. So if she is having several, the food is eaten in small quantities several times a day that is always recommended. What are the foods to be avoided during pregnancy? Uncooked poultry or raw meat should be avoided caffeine and alcohol are a big no-no and pasteurized milk then food which is stale and kept in refrigerator for long is a very big no, then junk food should be totally avoided if possible, please avoid food from outside home cooked fresh food is what a pregnant lady should be taken. Friend’s diet in pregnancy is mainly about nutrition which is holistic and healthy for the baby. Please remember diet should not just be containing necessary requisites but it should be wholesome, it should be healthy and it should be good for the women, it should be palatable and it should be easily digestible. Vegetarian food which is freshly cooked, which is easily available and seasonal is what is recommended during pregnancy because vegetarian food is mostly low in calories, less condensed it does not contain items which are difficult to digest by a pregnant lady is what a recommended during pregnancy. My request to all my friends who are pregnant is to have a diet which is holistic and which is seasonal and readily available, preferably home cooked food. Friends in case you have any queries regarding pregnancy-related problems or if you want to know anything about pregnancy or anything in obstetrics and gynaecology, I am available we are here to answer all your queries. Thank you very much.

Hi friends!

I am Dr. Shakuntla Kumar. I am practicing obstetrician and gynecologist at new life hospital Delhi, and fortress hospital Shalimar bagh.

Today we will be discussing a very commonly encountered problem named Polycystic ovarian syndrome. Are you suffering from problems like hair fall, excess facial and body hair, very very oily skin along with acne, frequently encountered menstrual abnormalities or problems in periods or difficulty in becoming pregnant. Chances are you may be suffering from Polycystic ovarian syndrome. Polycystic ovarian syndrome is because of a hormonal imbalance. Mainly the female hormones like estrogen and progestogen imbalanced between the excess of male hormone happening in these women. These women also has insulin resistance in their body leading on to several other disorders like high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol levels in their body. Friends, the cause of Polycystic ovarian syndrome is at interplay of hormonal disbalance compounded with environmental factors like lifestyle of the person. Because of this there is development of multiple eggs in the ovary rather than formation of one single egg. These small small eggs coming up in the ovary do not allow a dominant egg to form because of which there is an ovulation or non-development of eggs. This is the main reason why these women face difficulty in conceiving and are facing several hormonal imbalances. Now let us talk about the diagnosis of polycystic ovarian syndrome. So friends, just an ultrasound finding of multiple cists in the ovary of these women is not the sole criteria. We have certain criteria because of which we diagnose polycystic ovarian syndrome. A women may be having normal ovaries but suffering from PCOS, on the other hand she may be having Polycystic ovaries but she is a normal lady. So the diagnosis depends on certain clinical and investigational and certain ultrasound findings of the women. It is not one single criteria of polycystic ovarian coming from the ultrasound. Coming to the treatment part of these women. The treatment depends on the problems that these women’s are facing but in the root cause of these problems like the obesity part of these women. So the most important part of the treatment is weight loss and lifestyle management. So please listen to your doctor when she is saying and requesting you to lose weight, that is possible through a healthy lifestyle, a healthy diet and workout plans. Secondly, if this woman is suffering from menstrual irregularities we will correct that by improving her lifestyle and by giving her certain drugs. If she is suffering from acne or excess body hair we will be giving certain drugs to tackle that. If she is suffering from anovulation or, by that I mean difficulty in conceiving or becoming pregnant, we will be giving certain drugs to induce ovulation. This may require intake of tablets or sometimes intake of certain injections. So friends Polycystic ovarian syndrome is no longer an enigma. It can be very much cured. The only thing that is required is you, helping your doctor curing it by managing a very healthy lifestyle and through the drugs that we prescribe you taking them diligently.

Thank you very much.