YOU might assume that diseases which reigned during the Victorian era would have been wiped out by modern medicine But a few have made a worrying resurgence in recent years, one of those being the bone-deforming disease rickets
Think of Charles Dickens’ character Tiny Tim, whose crippled legs may have been caused by the condition, according to modern medics.
Though the disease was common in the past, it mostly disappeared in the western world during the early 20th century after foods like margarine and cereal were fortified with vitamin D.
Now, regions in the UK have reported a startling surge in rickets, with cases in spots such as East Kent increasing sharply over the last five years.
Rickets, once synonymous with poverty and poor diets in Victorian Britain, affects bone development in children, causing bone pain, stunted growth and soft, weak bones that can lead to deformities.
A lack of vitamin D – derived from sunlight and some foods – or calcium is the most common cause of the disease, though in rare cases children can be born with a genetic form of rickets.
Left untreated, the condition can also lead to an abnormally curved spine, dental defects and seizures.
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Trust – one of the largest in England – recorded 122 cases in 2019.
But by 2023, that figure had swelled to more than 580 – a 380 per cent increase – according to a Freedom of Information request.
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Figures released earlier this year show that 28,379 Brits were diagnosed with rickets between 2019 and 2023.
Poverty and malnutrition could be factors fuelling the rise in scurvy cases in East Kent, as some parts of Thanet are among the poorest in England – more than 20 per cent of its population make up the bottom 10 per cent of most deprived Brits, according to KentOnline.
Cases of Victorian disease that causes ‘sandpaper rash and killer complications’ surge 42% in a week – is your area affected
But the surge in cases might also be down to medics getting better at spotting the Victorian disease.
East Kent’s Chief Medical Officer Des Holden said: “We interpret that part of the increase is due to increased recognition and more accurate recording of rickets.
“Our neo-natal teams are robust in recommending vitamin D for babies at risk, including mothers who have low vitamin D.
“There is also increased awareness in our team to screen for vitamin D levels.
“For example, vitamin D screening is now included in our guidance for children with obesity as this group is at increased risk of vitamin D deficiency.
“Children with rickets may previously have been recorded as having vitamin D deficiency and treated appropriately, but we have improved recording in our coding systems that they meet criteria to diagnose rickets.”
NHS England figures show a sharp increase in hospital admissions for a vitamin D deficiency – from 31,576 admissions in 2013/14 to 188,114 last year – which can lead to the skeletal disorder if left untreated.
Sarah Calcutt, chief executive of City Harvest, a charity which wants to reduce food insecurity, said “There is a whole Dickensian list of diseases that come around because key food groups are missing from people’s diets.”
Vitamin D comes from exposing the skin to sunlight but is also found in foods such as oily fish, eggs and some cereals.
Any child who doesn’t get enough vitamin D or calcium – either through their diet, or from sunlight – can develop rickets.
But according to the NHS, it’s more common in children with dark skin, as they need more sunlight to get enough vitamin D, as well as children born prematurely or taking medication that interferes with vitamin D.
Previously, experts said the rising cost of living is likely to be behind the surge in rickets and scurvy – another Victorian era disease – as parents struggle to afford fruit and veg and are instead forced to buy cheaper junk food, which lacks vital vitamins and minerals.
PREVENTING RICKETS
Medway GP Dr Julian Spinks says people of all ages should follow the national guidance and take vitamin D supplements to avoid the entirely preventable condition.
“We thought we’d got rid of it. But it is now back,” he told KentOnline.
“There is a possibility if a pregnant woman is very deficient herself that the baby will be born with a relative lack of vitamin D.
“However in most cases it’s because they’re not actually getting enough vitamin D and the two main ways we get it in the UK are from sunlight – particularly from April to September – and from food.
“Definitely diet plays a part. If children are not eating things like oily fish or eggs or for example – breakfast cereals which are often supplemented with vitamin D – then this will have an effect.
“Whilst it’s a very small proportion of the population, it is worrying that this is making a comeback and it’s because it’s a very preventable condition.”
How to protect your child from rickets
YOU can help prevent rickets in your children by ensuring they:
Eat a healthy, balanced diet rich in vitamin D, with foods like oily fish, red meat, eggs yolks and fortified cereals and spreads
Spend time in the sun between March and September (wearing sun cream prevents vitamin D absorption from the sun, but you should still apply it before skin starts to burn)
Take vitamin D supplements
Babies up to a year old need 8.5 to 10 micrograms (mcg) of vitamin D a day, unless they are fed 500ml or more of infant formula a day.
Children from the age of one to four should be given a daily supplement containing 10mcg of vitamin D.
Adults – including pregnant and breastfeeding women – also need 10mcg of vitamin D a day, at least between October and March.
How do I know id my child has rickets
The signs and symptoms of rickets can include:
Pain – the bones affected by rickets can be sore and painful, so the child may be reluctant to walk or may tire easily; the child’s walk may look different (waddling)
Skeletal deformities – thickening of the ankles, wrists and knees, bowed legs, soft skull bones and, rarely, bending of the spine
Dental problems – including weak tooth enamel, delay in teeth coming through and increased risk of cavities
Poor growth and development – if the skeleton doesn’t grow and develop properly, the child will be shorter than average
Fragile bones – in severe cases, the bones become weaker and more prone to fractures
Source: NHS
For most children, rickets can be successfully treated by ensuring they eat foods that contain calcium and vitamin D, or by taking vitamin supplements.
Some families are eligible for free vitamin supplements from the government’s Healthy Start scheme.
The scheme can also support cash-strapped households with buying healthy food and milk.
For those who are more than 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under four, and are eligible, a benefit card is topped up every four weeks to help with the purchase of fresh food.
The card can also be used to collect Healthy Start vitamins for pregnant and breastfeeding mums, as well as vitamin drops for babies and young children up to four years old.
The delight of each couple might be entire if the female takes in and awards after the marriage organization regardless while this doesn’t occur, there might be a way of thinking in ready as stand-separated solicitations can be introduced. As a female, how is it that it could be possible that you would understanding while you can’t hold after your wedding organization by ethicalness of a destroyed belly? Such endless associations have fallen thusly and this is the clarification I shaped this article.
Incredibly, such an immense heap of more young ladies have broken their stomach considering the sort of vulgarities they have participation in. Indecencies containing child ejection and utilization of being pregnant control tablets can pass a somewhat long way to deal with hurt the uterus. A few reliable conditions in addition can impact the uterus (stomach), which wires polyps, endometriosis, fibroids, adenomyosis, and hurtful turn of events.
Right when your stomach is impacted, there are positive coincidental impacts and signs your edge will begin to pass on you. Some of them intertwine;
.Trouble withinside the uterine region.
.Amazing or critical vaginal passing on.
.Unpredictable month to month cycle.
.Astonishing vaginal conveyance.
.Trouble withinside the pelvis, decline stomach or rectal area.
Certain lead can accomplish gut hurt. Some of them solidify;
1. Alcohol
Drinking liquor senselessly can hurt the stomach of a woman considering the pointless proportion of ethanol found in it. Studies have other than shown that solid ingesting in young ladies can reason changes in ovulation, cycle law and ovarian save. It additionally can save you right implantation withinside the uterus, achieving a sped up cost of early deficit of the being pregnant or resorption. This can emerge on a very basic level sooner than a woman remembers she is pregnant. Liquor likewise can hurt specific crucial organs withinside the bundling consequently avoid it.
2. Maltreatment of pills
is is the most extraordinarily horrendous exercise to have correspondence considering reality over the top cases can hurt the stomach to a huge volume expressly while battered. This other than will wind up being extra risky while a lady is pregnant. Maltreatment of medication finally of being pregnant can accomplish transport deserts, off-kilter kids, underweight infant kids, and stillborn births. Interminably conform to the docs course of action while killing compartments to keep from waist hurt.
3. Diverse sexual mates
A couple of sexual colleagues isn’t strong and might shoot the danger of your midriff being broken. Precisely when you have a couple of sexual accomplices, your shot at getting a STD furthermore increments. Aftermaths of STDs can cause vanity in youths particularly chlamydia and gonorrhea. The surprising strategy to avoid contamination of STDs is to limition the proportion of sexual accomplices and exercise secure sex. These disorders can assault your fallopian chambers and uterus until the end of time.
Dear women, you have been unequivocally and magnificently made and this is the clarification you should remain mindful of your self standard for marriage. Keep from those three matters above for your stomach.
A commitment of appreciation is all together for investigating.
Sometimes you wait every day for that moment when you can get home and go to sleep, but then when that moment comes.. you lie awake for hours unable to fall asleep.
If you’ve experienced this yourself, try the ideas listed below. Each of them works great and will help you sleep perfectly at night and the next morning you wake up feeling full of energy. Good night for tiredness!
Eat foods with magnesium. Researchers have found that magnesium plays a major role in our ability to sleep through the night. Try to chew foods rich in magnesium such as pumpkin seeds, spinach, and swiss chard. Or take a
magnesium supplement about half an hour before bed…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>
A short nap in the middle of the day. A 10 to 30 minute nap in the middle of the day is great for ensuring you get a good night’s sleep. Sleep longer and you risk falling asleep late at night.
Use the bedroom only for sleeping and relaxing. Keep your bed only for sleeping so that the brain associates the bedroom with sleep and relaxation. Sleep and sex, yes. Work and bills – not really.
Keep a cool bedroom. Between 15-23 degrees celius is the ideal temperature. A warmer room leads to more awakenings in the middle of the night.
Take a hot shower or bath before bed. This can help the brain to relax, while the rise and fall of body temperature leads to poor sleep.
Wake up at a fixed time. Just as it’s best to go to bed at a fixed time every night. It would be a good idea to wake up at a fixed time in the morning – even on weekends. Irregular sleep, and getting up at irregular hours
leads to poor sleep.
Make up for missing hours of sleep. Have you stayed up late the last few nights? Go to bed an hour earlier today to make up for the missing hours.
Don’t turn around in bed. Can’t fall asleep? If you lie awake for more than 20 minutes, get out of bed and try to do a relaxing activity such as reading a book or listening to relaxing music. Thinking that you don’t fall
asleep only causes you not to fall asleep – it’s a vicious circle.
Check the medicine cabinet. You may be taking medication that prevents you from falling asleep. Think one of the medications is the cause of poor sleep? Talk to your doctor about side effects and how to treat them.
Place the alarm clock away from your face. Watching time ticking by can cause more stress and difficulty falling asleep. Additionally, artificial skin from an electronic device disrupts the biological clock, making our body
think it’s time to get up and party.
Smell lavender. The smell can be an antidote to insomnia. Try burning lavender scented candles or dripping some lavender essential oil.
Relax the muscles. Start with the feet. Stretch the muscles, hold for a few seconds and release. Repeat for each muscle group in the body. from the feet to the head.
Dim the light. Bright light, especially ‘blue light’ (TV, mobile phone, etc.) causes sleeping problems. Try not to watch TV or browse your mobile phone about an hour or two before going to bed.
Clean air. Exposure to daylight helps balance the biological clock, as well as bedtime. Sunlight always keeps fatigue away during the day, and leads to fatigue when sleeping at night.
Drink something hot. A glass of warm milk may not be scientifically proven to induce sleep, but the sense of calm that comes with it definitely makes the eyes close.
Put a clove of garlic under the pillow. Yes, you read that right. The sulfur in garlic and the strong aroma have a calming effect that can help the quality of your sleep. The aroma can be strong and harsh: but after a few
days, you will get used to it and sleep like babies.
High arterial blood pressure, or hypertension, raises the risk of cardiovascular disease in a way analogous to that of coronary artery disease.
A lot of things, from the efficiency of your heart’s pump to your level of optimism about the stock market, might alter your heart rate. The more nervously and slowly you trade, the more cardiovascular stress you’ll experience.
Some persons with hypertension experience symptoms like headaches, shortness of breath, and nosebleeds. However, these symptoms are by no means ubiquitous, and they normally manifest only when the disease has progressed to a potentially fatal level.
The Amish were the first to adopt this special remedy, and it has been used to heal many other diseases ever since. Important for many reasons, but especially for keeping the system secure and helping society thrive.
It is strongly advised that you include the nutritious trimmings in this dish.
1 teaspoon honey and 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Trimmings:
One teaspoon of ground ginger
1 tsp of organic, unfiltered apple cider vinegar
You only need a single clove of garlic (ground)
1 teaspoon honey and 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Instructions: Combine the garnishes so that they are uniform. If you prefer to make a double batch, simply keep in mind that it will need to be refrigerated for at least 5 days.
The foregoing amount is adequate for a single application, and it is recommended that it be applied several times a day. Stay in earlier than it is suggested.
Within a short period of time, you’ll see the most benefits. Both your blood pressure and cholesterol levels will decrease substantially.
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