Dr Heap Yong Seah

To answer the question, I have to explain how cervical cancer forms and how does HPV gets involved. Let's imagine a scenario, where a young girl is exposed to one of the HPV viruses. The virus will attack the cervix and cause some low grade inflammation, and during this time, if this lady goes on to get herself a Pap smear, it will come back as inflammatory yield. The doctor will ask the patient to return 6 months later for repeat smear, and sure enough many times her body's immunity will fight the virus and the inflammation will resolve.

Hi. Glad to meet another coffee lover. I am personally addicted to coffee myself, and I am glad to share with you the current research findings about drinking coffee. Firstly, drinking excessive amounts of coffee can lead to plenty of gastric problems, such as gastritis or gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. So if you have been diagnosed with a condition and your doctor specifically asked you to cut down or quit drinking coffee, please listen to him. He knows you and your condition personally and his advice will take precedence over what I write here.

Hi Gout is a very painful condition, and I am sure you can see it in your boyfriend when he is having an attack. It is caused when the uric acid levels in the blood rises too high and start to crystalise within the joint, causing inflammation of the said joint. The good news is that each attack is easily treated with a trip to your family doctor, who will prescribe him either some oral tablets (colchicine works very well), or in some cases, an injection. With the medications and some rest, the attack will usually go away. The tricky part is to control the gout for the long term.

Hi AmyAllergic rhinitis is a very common condition in Singapore, and a study even suggests that up to 30% of Singaporeans has some form of allergy. There are many different treatments for allergic rhinitis, and what your GP prescribed to you sounds like a nasal steroid spray. Please do not be alarmed by the word steroid. Nasal steroid sprays are largely safe when administered as instructed. It is however, very slow acting, and you will only feel better after using it for a period of time, usually 2 to 4 weeks, of continuous daily use.

There are many causes of painful anus when passing motion, and I agree that an anal fissure is a rather high possibility. To answer your question, anal fissures are usually treated with a topical ointment (the one I prescribe in my clinic is Proctosedyl, although i have heard of some other doctors preferring Rectogesic. On top of that, you will need to keep your stools soft, so as to avoid additional trauma when you pass motion. Sometimes I will have to give a stool softening agent (like Lactulose syrup) to soften the stools.

Hi CharlotteSorry to hear about your Thalassaemia minor, but on the whole, you can still lead a reasonably normal lifestyle. There are many different types of Thalassaemias, but Thalassaemia minor usually means that one of your haemoglobin genes is mutated and is therefore not functioning.

Hi Rong Shan Congratulation on your blood donation. We need more civic minded and selfless people to donate blood so other patients could live. For that, I salute you. Before your blood donation, your doctor would have done a basic blood count test and make sure your haemoglobin level is above 12 g/dl before sending you to the blood donation room. After donating 1 unit of blood (which can vary from 300mls for a small size donor to 450mls for a bigger size one), the general rule is that your haemoglobin level will drop about 1 g/dl, so it may go down to about 11 g/dl.

I can understand how hard it is to have heartburn. I am glad you are seeking treatment for it, and even went through a scope. Finding H. pylori is routinely done in gastroscopy, and it may or may not contribute to your heartburn. Another purpose of the scope is to look for other problems which can lead to heartburn, such as a stomach cancer (leading to a gastric outlet obstruction), or a hiatal hernia. If your specialist did not inform you about these findings after he had done the scope, you probably did not have it, which is good news.

Hi LiwenOur mouth produces saliva all the time, and we unknowningly will swallow these saliva automatically. Drooling (dripping of the saliva out of the mouth) can be due to increased saliva production, or loss of control of the swallowing muscles. Does your mom ONLY drool when she is watching television? And at other times she is fine? Perhaps she is watching a very engrossing TV drama and she forgotten to swallow the saliva, or perhaps the TV show features literally mouth watering dishes and that simulates her digestive system running.

Hi Mr Kon Hepatitis B vaccination uses dead or inactivated Hepatitis B viruses to trigger the immune system to mount a response against it, and in doing so, producing immunity against the virus. It triggers two types of responses: 1. Humeral Response (measured by the antibody level) as well as the 2. Cellular Response (not measurable with any blood tests). When a vaccine is introduced, most patient will mount a response and produce antibodies. Slowly, the antibody levels will decrease (usual recommendation is to check the levels after 5 years).

Sorry to hear about your incontinence problem. Urinary incontinence is a socially embarrassing problem, with many patients not seeking help for it. There are many different types of urinary incontinence. Here are 3 types that I learnt as a medical student 1. Stress incontinence - Stress incontinence is the leakage of urine when you cough or sneeze or laugh. This is due to decrease muscle control over the bladder neck (which in turn is due to various reasons) resulting in urine leaking whenever the abdominal pressure increases. 2.

Hi Riddy The TCM that's being sold in Singapore are generally safe, and usually do not interact with the most western medications. However, it is still safer to separate them by 2 hours apart. There are special occasions where western medicine will interact with food, like Digoxin interacting with Ginseng and St John's Wort, and statins interacting with liver toxins like alcohol. Always tell your prescribing physician what other TCMs you are taking and he'll advise whether they can be taken together. Cheers!

Hi Thanu There is always a reason for your body to develop a fever. The important thing is to find out what is the cause of the fever and treat the underlying cause, rather than just the fever itself. A very high fever on its own can also cause other problems like brain damage (especially in very young children). That is why I recommend seeing a doctor and let the doctor examine you to find out what is the reason you are having the fever, and treat you accordingly. He may even have to run some blood tests if he suspects diseases like Dengue or Zika.