Dear Doctor;I was diagnosed with a strange disease whereby I was told that I have water in my legs and so it has to be removed. However, I really had never had of such a thing before. What could have been the cause? How can other people prevent this disease?

Gilbert, Musanze.Dear Gilbert, You have not stated your age and the duration of water being filled in your legs (called edema). Usually, water tends to get accumulated in legs along with salt due to failure in the functioning of organs such as liver, kidney, heart or protein malnutrition. It can also be due to some local infection draining in lymphatics of legs. People can avoid this by eating right kind of food, doing regular physical exercise, avoiding alcohol and tobacco, drinking adequate quantity of water, if hypertensive and or diabetic, taking medication regularly. You need to get investigations done to know the cause for edema. My husband is always in massage parlours, claims on doctor’s adviceDear Doctor;My husband is always in massage parlours and claims that a doctor recommended he goes for massage at least thrice a week although he won’t tell me which disease he has yet he hasn’t had any accident. Are there any diseases where the remedy is a massage or he could be lying? Josephine, Kimironko.Dear Josephine, Massage is useful for some chronic musculoskeletal pains and other problems. Maybe your husband has had a muscle pull or soft tissue injury sometimes in the past.  This can happen even while playing vigorous games like football, basketball, e.t.c or lifting and or pushing heavy weights. . Instead of casting a doubt on your husband, you can ask him as a concerned wife as to where he has pain and does he feel good after massage. Good general body massage done by skilled hands also provides relief from physical and mental stress as it relaxes the body completely. Maybe your husband goes to the massage parlor for this reason. Be his friend and he shall let you know the exact reason why he goes there.Should I stop junk food completely?Dear Doctor;I am a newly-married man and I am a junk food person and love fatty foods. However, I recently heard that eating so many fats leads to low sperm count which I find a bit scary. Is this true and should I stop eating junk completely? Nelson, 31. Dear Nelson,You have got the correct information. Eating junk fatty foods is not healthy. It tends to increase obesity. Even if you are not yet obese, there is increased risk for malnutrition, hypertension, diabetes and heart diseases. Junk foods and fatty foods can also affect sperm count. You can relish it for the good taste but restrict fatty food to few times in a month and stick to healthy balanced diet.My mother is ill but only wants to take herbsDear Doctor;My mother has of late been falling sick all the time. She is very conservative and can’t take modern medicine and prefers herbs. Should I go ahead and just let her take the herbs? What could be the side effects of the herbs? Concerned daughter.Dear Concerned Daughter, I appreciate your concern. Modern medicine has its limitations but has been put to test scientifically. Medicines do have side effects but they are well known and can be monitored and managed. Herbs are definitely useful in their own way but authentic people skilled in their use can’t be readily found. Moreover, although many herbs are being researched into, not all have been studied scientifically in detail. So it is better to adopt a known scientific form of medicine unless you find a person who is skilled and knowledgeable about herbs.Should I worry if baby never falls sick?Dear Doctor;My one-year-old daughter has not fallen sick since birth. I only take her to hospital for vaccination. Do I need to see a medic about this? Sharifa 26. Dear Sharifa,You should consider yourself lucky that your daughter has never been sick. It also reflects on your good care and child management. As you have given all vaccinations, there is no need for any anxiety regarding her health. Continue the same care.  There is no need to worry or consult anybody on this issue.Pregnancy test: What dot hree these pink lines mean? Dear Doctor;I took a pregnancy test and it showed three pink lines, which is abnormal since it’s supposed to show one, none or two. Does this mean I am pregnant with triplets? Confused Student.Dear Confused Student, Your results are certainly confusing but certainly there are no triplets. Even pregnant status can be doubtful. The pregnancy test kits available usually use HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin a hormone passed in urine of pregnant women) for testing pregnancy.

Different kits available have slightly different ways of testing, like some give a container to collect urine and then dip the test strip in it, some advise to use the midstream urine directly. Basic things remain the same. Usually test can give false negatives when done early immediately within a day or so of missing their period. 

It is better to do the test at least 10 days after missing your period and strictly follow the instructions given on the kit. If you have seen the results later, then the time prescribed or the kit has expired, you may get confusing results. Taking fertility drugs can also affect the results. It is better if you repeat the test and if still in doubt, consult a gynaecologist for confirmation of pregnancy by ultrasound test.