Ramesh Sood was a building contractor who used to engage Banta Singh as a petty sub-contractor. At the time of measurement there used to be a big row between the two, and everytime Ramesh Sood swore he would not deal with the other man in future, and yet he repeated the same mistake again and again. When this row occurred between the two for the 4th time, the matter took a serious turn. Ramesh was on the verge of collapse, his body drenched with cold sweat. He was already a heart patient. The doctor warned him against any work which would accelerate his heart beat, and advised complete bed-rest. When Ramesh got the next contract, all his friends advised him to snap his connections with Banta Singh and keep him away from the next contract.

But Ramesh Sood was a confirmed Chestnut Bud Negative type. He engaged Banta Singh. Another row and this time the consequences were more serious. He got a paralytic stroke and had to be bed-ridden for 6 months during which time Chestnut Bud was given 3 times a day along with other medicines for paralysis.

When he finally recovered from the paralytic stroke, he had already learnt to benefit from the past experiences. He never employed Banta Singh again.

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If status epilepticus is the child’s first seizure, then the doctors will probably want to do a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to look for infection. They will study the blood for possible chemical changes and, perhaps, do an EEG then or the next day. They may even do a CT scan.

If the child has had other seizures or has epilepsy, then looking for a cause of the status may be slightly less important.

The most common cause of status epilepticus in a person who has previously had seizures is that the level of medication in the blood is too low. This may be because the child is not taking his medication, or that it has been forgotten, or that an interaction with some other medication has lowered the level. Substitution of a generic drug that is less well absorbed may also result in status epilepticus.

In almost all instances, the status epilepticus can be controlled within one-half hour to one hour from the time the child arrives in the emergency room and treatment is started. Only in an unusual situation, when there is an acute process occurring in the brain such as infection or damage from a head injury, do seizures continue, and are they difficult to control. Treatment of severe prolonged status epilepticus can be enormously challenging for the physician, requiring large doses of medication given in an intensive care unit and sometimes requiring general anesthesia to stop the seizures.

The outcome of status epilepticus, even in these severe episodes, depends more on the cause than on the duration of the seizures. Rest assured that most children who have status recover and are just as normal as they were before the seizures. It appears to be very, very rare for children who have status without a known cause to suffer any permanent damage, even from prolonged seizures.

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Cholesterol and triglycerides have garnered most of the health news headlines in the past few years. Westerners have been told they have to follow a low-cholesterol, low-fat diet to reduce their risks for heart disease.

As a person with diabetes, you are among that very same group of persons who should be watching fat and cholesterol. As with the risk for high blood pressure, you have some strikes against you in the blood fat area, too. You probably have been eating a high-fat diet most of your life, are overweight, and have diabetes. The first line of treatment for above-normal blood fat levels is diet and exercise. Sound familiar? Your diabetes meal plan is designed to lower your overall fat intake. And your exercise programme helps burn kilojoules and fat. In some people, both can work to bring blood fat levels into the normal range.

Other recommendations for treatment of your diabetes apply in the blood fat area too: learn to cope with stress. Stop smoking. Be moderate in your alcohol intake or abstain completely.

When diet and exercise alone are not effective for lowering blood fat levels, your doctor can prescribe drug treatment. There are drugs to reduce both cholesterol and triglycerides, and sometimes these drugs are used in combination to increase effectiveness and reduce the potential for damage, especially to the kidneys.

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