These four symptoms could indicate a serious issueFollowing a festive period full of booze, you might have decided to take part in Dry January to give your body a chance to detox.
After all, drinking excessively can lead to a whole host of health problems including an increased risk of cancer, heart disease and strokes.
And, in severe cases, alcohol can cause inflammation of the liver, as well as ARLD (alcohol-related liver disease).
According to the NHS, common symptoms of ARLD include jaundice, loss of appetite (which may lead to weight loss), feeling sick, swelling in the ankles and stomach, and confusion or drowsiness. However, these symptoms don’t usually occur until the liver has already been severely damaged.
Now, one doctor has shared four ways you can check your liver health at home.
Gastroenterologist, Dr Saurabh Sethi, shared his advice with his 475,000 TikTok followers in a video captioned: “Liver Specialist: 4 simple at-home tests to check your liver health.”
A doctor has shared how you can test your liver health at home (TikTok/@doctorsethimd)
Yellowing of the eyes and skin
The medic first explained that you should look out for ‘yellowing of your skin and eyes, especially in natural light’.
“This could indicate liver dysfunction,” the doc explained.
Dark yellow or amber urine
Normal urine should be a pale yellow, the doc says, explaining ‘dark yellow or amber urine might signal liver issues’.
Swelling around your midsection
Swelling around your midsection is a red flag that can indicate fluid buildup caused by liver problems.
Pale or clay-coloured stools
It’s important to keep an eye on your number twos, as the colour could indicate whether there’s something going on with your liver.
The doc explained that pale or clay-coloured poo is a key warning sign that something isn’t right.
While some types of liver disease are unpreventable, you can lower your risks of developing others by maintaining a health weight and limiting the amount of alcohol you drink.
If you’re worried about how much you drink, a doctor has revealed the one question to ask yourself to help determine if you have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol.
Dr Donald Grant, GP and Senior Clinical Advisor at The Independent Pharmacy told LADbible: “Typically, it takes a while before people notice their own dependence, but spotting it early can limit long-term health risks and help people take control of their lives.
“One of the main questions people should ask themselves is ‘Do I generally end up drinking more than I originally planned?’ As this can be a massive indicator of unhealthy dependence.
“Struggling to have only one drink can suggest a mental dependence on drinking and is a major symptom experienced by many alcoholics.”
Please drink responsibly. If you want to discuss any issues relating to alcohol in confidence, contact Drinkline on 0300 123 1110, 9am–8pm weekdays and 11am–4pm weekends for advice and support.
There’s a simple finger test you can do at home to see if you could be suffering from a serious health issue – and it couldn’t be easier.
It can be difficult to spot the signs of a serious health condition, which is why it’s so important that if you do notice anything unusual for you, it’s discussed with a doctor.
Of course, most of us know to look for the more noticeable signs, such as lumps, pain or changes in appetite, but there are other, more subtle changes that can sometimes indicate something isn’t quite right.
In fact, there’s one test you can do yourself at home – and it’s super simple.
You can do the check yourself at home (Getty Stock Photo)
Dr. Ahmed, who also goes by @dra_says on TikTok, explained how to perform the Schamroth Window test, which detects finger clubbing.
‘Clubbed fingers’ refers to the way the ends of your fingers appear.
In clubbed fingers, the tips bulge and may become warm and discoloured, meanwhile the nail also curves down and appears like an upside-down spoon.
The change can indicate serious problems with the lungs or heart, so if you notice it, it’s important to seek medical advice.
The test takes seconds to complete (Getty Stock Photo)
“You can all do this one test at home to see if you’ve got any serious heart or lung problems,” said Dr. Ahmed, before showing an image of normal fingers, compared to clubbed fingers.
“With clubbed fingers, you get a very round, bulb like fingertip.
“They can be very white and the base of the nails can be very shiny.
“The exact pathophysiology of a cause of finger clubbing is not fully known, however, the consensus at the moment is generally that it is down to some sort of chronically low oxygen levels.
“Clubbing is something we assess for very carefully on a physical examination.
“But it can have some serious causes. One of the causes is lung cancer… bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis or a lung abscess.”
Dr. Ahmed went on to explain that a number of heart conditions can also cause the fingers to appear clubbed.
Clubbed fingers can indicate heart or lung issues (Getty Stock Photo)
How to check for clubbed fingers
To perform the simple test, Dr. Ahmed advised people to bring the fingertips of their two index fingers together so both nails are touching.
Kind of like if you’re making a love heart sign with your fingers.
There should be a small window at the base of both the fingernails.
“If you think you’ve got finger clubbing, especially if it’s new, you must get it checked out,” said Dr. Ahmed.
You’ve heard the cliché before, drink six to eight glasses of water a day to keep healthy.
But it turns out that there’s a quick way that can tell you if you’re hydrated or not, that you could carry out yourself at home.
In theory then, you can stop counting the glasses of water you pour yourself in a day and just carry out this test a few times a day, though we don’t recommend it.
Was that five or six glasses today? (Getty Stock Photo)
According to the NHS, water is the healthier, cheaper choice to keep you hydrated – though some other drinks can help to contribute to your fluid intake, as well as some foods.
If you don’t get enough fluids, you will become dehydrated.
The goal is to drink enough during the day so that your urine is a pale yellow colour, and the NHS Eatwell Guide recommends that people drink six to eight glasses of fluid a day (about 1.2 litres). No surprises there.
As well as water, low-fat milk and sugar-free drinks such as tea and coffee count to your intake.
It is also necessary to drink more fluids if you are pregnant, in a hot place, if you’ve exercised for a long period, or if you’re ill.
However, there’s an easy way to tell if you’re hydrated or not, as health expert Dr Myro Figura took to his 812,000 TikTok followers to explain how to carry it out.
Known as the Turgor pinch test, it is a simple, painless test that he says is done in hospitals.
Dr Figura explains that your skin loses some elasticity when you’re dehydrated, so pinching your skin and seeing if it goes straight down or not is an indicator of the fluid level in your body.
“When you’re dehydrated, your extra cellular space contracts, and that reduces your skin elasticity,” he pointed out.
“So when you pinch your skin like this, it’ll stay up if you’re dehydrated.”
He pointed out though, that the video he was narrating over was actually carrying the test out incorrectly, as you are meant to do it on the back of your hand, not on your finger.
The simple Tugor pinch test can tell you if you’re dehydrated within seconds (Getty Stock Photo)
So, what do you do if your skin stays up for a while?
Well, the simple answer here is to fill up your bottle and drink more, though there are other signs that can reveal if you’re dehydrated, such as the following:
- Feeling thirsty
- Dark yellow pee with a strong scent
- Peeing less than normal
- A dizzy or lightheaded feeling
- Tiredness
- Sunken eyes
- Dry mouth, lips and tongue
Dehydration for long periods of time can lead to larger health issues, such as urinary tract infections, kidney stones or kidney failure, if you’re not careful.
It is recommended that you speak to a pharmacist if you’re struggling to retain fluids through illness.
The human body is a complex machine which we’re all still learning about as we go – and it turns out checking in with your pals about the abilities of your skin suit might lead to some interesting revelations.
Social media users have been left shocked after Dr Sermed Mezher stitched a TikTok video of a bloke who explained he thought ‘everyone’ could carry out a strange phenomenon with their eyes to let him in on a secret…that we can’t all do it.
The medic, better known online as @drsermedmezherexplains, often shares useful health advice to educate his followers, such as common signs of ADHD, why you can never feel a mosquito bite and why we should forget the ‘five second rule’.
And in one of his recent videos, he revealed that about half of the population have a secret ‘superpower’ – before adding that unfortunately, it’s ‘less useful than a bottle flip’.
However, it’s still pretty cool and Dr Mezher reckons it is ‘neurological curiosity that showcases the variability in human motor control and sensory perception’.
So, what is this strange, but apparently useless, skill?
Dr Sermed Mezher revealed that not everyone has the ability to blur their eyes on command (TikTok/@drsermedmezher)
Blurring your vision on command or unfocusing your eyes at will, of course.
Dr Mezher explained this ‘rare and intriguing ability’ is a similar phenomenon to how some people can only raise one eyebrow, whereas others are only able to wiggle both at once.
He told baffled social media users: “This phenomenon involves consciously relaxing the eye muscles that control focus, allowing individuals to defocus their vision at will.
“The ability to blur vision is typically achieved by relaxing the ciliary muscles, which control the shape of the lens, and thus the focus of the eye. When these muscles relax, the lens becomes less curved, causing the image on the retina to blur.”
Who knew? I certainly didn’t, as I’m sadly not a member of the blurry eyed brigade.
The doctor said that people who possess the ability to unfocus their vision whenever they like often compare it to daydreaming, staring into space or zoning out.
He explained that artists often speak of benefiting from it, as they ‘use it to gain extra perspective on an image’.
The medic explained that there isn’t any real benefit to doing it (Getty Stock Photo)
“It’s a skill that can be learned and refined with practice, though it may come more naturally to some individuals than others,” Dr Mezher continued.
“This ability can be useful in certain situations, such as when trying to reduce visual strain during prolonged periods of close-up work or reading.
“However, the capacity to blur vision voluntarily doesn’t appear to be related to any specific visual or health advantages.
“The ability to defocus your eyes on command is a natural one, but not everyone can do it.”
But the social media medic reckons that those who can’t do this instinctively can ‘achieve a similar effect’ by changing their focus from an object nearby to a distant one, or crossing their eyes.
Dr Mezher’s followers were left stunned by the revelation – although some were quick to brag that they could do it – and flooded the comment section with their thoughts.
Another added: “It’s like moving your ears. Some people just can’t find the muscle to move it.”
A third chimed in: “I can’t do it!”
While a fourth joked: “I can immediately blur my vision by taking off my glasses.”
A psychiatrist has shared some simple things that people can do to help to push back against brain fog.
Many of us have likely experienced brain fog, a feeling that we are unable to engage or pay attention to our surroundings.
Dr Kanojia shared some advice for reducing brain fog (YouTube / HealthyGamerGG)
It might seem like a relatively small thing, but brain fog can make it difficult to get things done as we find it difficult to maintain our focus.
You know the feeling, when you can’t quite put your finger on the word you need, or have to ask someone to repeat something because your mind feels ‘cloudy’ or unfocussed.
Maybe you pick up a book and are unable to read more than a few pages.
Psychiatrist Dr Alok Kanojia, known on YouTube as Dr K, is an instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an assistant psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital.
On top of that, he features on the YouTube platform Healthy Gamer, a mental health channel directed towards gamers.
And in one episode Dr Kanojia shared some simple things we can do to help reduce brain fog.
Spoiler alert – as is often the case they are not so much simple tricks so much as the boring every day good habits that it’s probably wise to develop.
Sorry folks, there’s no silver bullet, that’s not how it works.
So what these two things you can do to help reduce brain fog?
The first that Dr Kanojia shared was making sure that you are sleeping properly.
He said: “Just about every person that I’ve worked with with brain fog has needed to have some kind of improvement in their sleep.
“Sleep is just the general time that our brain uses to heal itself right, so if we’re not sleeping properly or our sleep is disturbed or if we have too many substances on board.”
Getting your head down is a great way to keep your mind clear (Guido Mieth / Getty)
He added that when we sleep we should also avoid substances such as marijuana or alcohol as these can impact sleep quality, adding: “I think good sleep is huge for brain fog.”
The other thing is making sure you’re drinking enough fluid during the day, with Dr Kanojia saying: “The last thing to consider is once again hydration.”
Keeping an eye on your hydration is making sure you always drink when you’re thirsty, and keeping an eye on your pee.
If it looks like water then you’re drinking too much, and if it’s dark in colour then you’re not drinking enough.
