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A Minute with Dr Greta, radio spots - 7/31/11 |
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Topic #1 Going to have a new baby in the family, or have you recently had a new bundle of joy? Well, if you fit into either category, get your shot to stop whooping cough! Back in the “olden days” we used to just give adults tetanus shot when they got a cut. But now, we give the Tdap vaccine, instead of getting just a tetanus shot. Tdap stands for Tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis. Whooping Cough is caused by pertussis, and the vaccine we have now for older kids and adults, called acellular pertussis, decreases the chances of us getting whooping cough. Now, when older folks, over age 10 or so, get whooping cough, it just seems like a normal cold, except the cough can last quite a while, and with the cough come the whooping germs that can make our little babies really sick. So for the last few years, it has been recommended that after a baby is born, adults, who will be around the infant, should get the Tdap vaccine. Now, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices from the CDC (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has recommended that pregnant women be vaccinated after their 20th week of pregnancy instead of waiting until after the baby is born. This is, of course if they haven’t had a recent vaccination. Since this just was recommended, it isn’t in practice yet, but this was a good excuse to remind everyone that we can decrease whooping cough if all the adults are protected. Contact your doctor or your health department about getting a Tdap if you haven’t had one recently. Whooping cough in our infants is deadly, so we don’t want adults spreading that little nagging cough. Give that kid a hug, and NOT whooping cough. I’m Dr. Greta McFarland. So, all you college kids out there, one more new article on binge drinking, and how it affects your brain, long term. A study out of the University of California San Diego and Stanford University and to be published in the October issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, shows that binge drinking messes up something called “spatial working memory” of teens; and ‘spatial” has to do with space, not the word, “special”. Teen girls are most affected. So, what is “spatial working memory”? Well, “working memory” means that the brain can use past experiences to help with new situations. So, your brain can find a piece of information to use when needed in a specific situation. The “spatial” part refers to doing things in a certain 3 dimensional type of setting, like doing a sport; for example, where are the arms and legs during that tennis match? or is your balance OK when riding that bicycle? But the “spatial” part also comes into play with driving and with finding your location; in other words can you function in time and space? Can you reliable read a map or remember where Aunt Suzie’s house is? Well, this study found that all sober binge drinkers had less brain functioning while doing “spatial working memory things” than non-binge drinkers, but that it affected the females much more. This is just another study showing that male and female brains are different, which isn’t news to anyone. But, this is just another reminder that binge drinking isn’t good for the brain. So binge drinkers may be lost in their own little world, literally, if they can’t seem to tell where they are, consistently, or find their way to their destination. Kind of scary; that young lady is just going to the next town and ends up in Kansas City. Give that kid a hug, reminding them that binge drinking and college, don’t have to go together. I’m Dr. Greta McFarland. Depression? My goodness, we don’t understand or know much about depression! But it can have a huge impact on us when we are young, and the affect may last into adulthood. A recent study out of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry looked at mothers and their kids over a 9 year time frame. The kids were divided into 2 groups: those whose moms had a history of depression and those whose moms had not had depression. The kids were given certain tasks to bring out positive emotions, then, they were given other tasks to bring out negative emotions. The study found that all the kids had the same amount of emotional response to the jobs or tasks given, but the kids with depressed moms physically showed less positive or happy emotions. In other words, they didn’t seem to be able to show or share positive, happy feelings as easily as the kids whose moms had not had depression. Now, what this means, isn’t known for sure, as this was just an observation. However, depression in kids, we think, can lead to other problems, like trouble sleeping, lack of appetite, inability to concentrate and being irritable, as well as being obviously sad. Now, maybe, just not being able to express joy, or contentment, may be added to the list. For me, the take home message is, we need to be as alert as possible to the moods of those around us, and if anyone in the family seems sad over many days or longer, or everyone’s activities are changed because of one person’s mood or actions, perhaps our children will be more affected than previously thought. We’ve recognized this with both mother and father depression in postpartum, in the baby’s first year of life, so why would it be different later? Give that kid a hug, and call your doctor or mental health setting, if you are worried about depression. I’m Dr. Greta McFarland.
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