Features
Under nutrition, growth failure, overweight and micronutrient deficiencies
Ekow Grimmond Thompson, Emotional Surgeon
Under nutrition, growth failure, overweight, micronutrient deficiencies, and osteopenia (a condition that begins as you lose bone mass and your bones get weaker) happen when the inside of your bones become brittle due to loss of calcium. It is very common as you age.
Total bone mass peaks around age 35. Sometimes, osteopenia is a precursor to osteoporosis (nutritional comorbidities that affect the neurologically impaired child). Monitoring neurologically impaired children for nutritional comorbidities is an integral part of their care.
Early involvement by a multidisciplinary team of emotional surgery specialists, physicians, nurses, dieticians, occupational and speech therapists, psychologists, and social workers is essential to prevent the adverse outcomes associated with feeding difficulties and poor nutritional status.
Careful evaluation and monitoring of severely disabled children for nutritional problems are warranted because of the increased risk of nutrition-related morbidity and mortality. Neurological impairment refers to a broad spectrum of neurological disorders that are characterised primarily by gross and fine motor dysfunction and may be associated with cognitive or speech delay.
Under nutrition and overweight lead to increased health care use, hospitalisation, and physician visits, as well as diminished participation in home and school activities. Adequate nutritional support may restore linear growth, normalise weight, improve health and quality of life, reduce the frequency of hospitalisation, decrease irritability and spasticity (muscle and joint deformities/muscle stiffness causing movement to be less precise and making certain tasks difficult to perform/muscle fatigue/abnormal muscle tightness due to prolonged muscle contraction).
It is a symptom associated with damage to the brain or motor nerves, increase alertness, enhance developmental progress, improve wound healing and peripheral circulation, decrease the frequency of aspiration, and ameliorate gastro esophageal reflux (acid reflux occurs when the stomach contents back up into the esophagus and or mouth) in these children.
Children with neurological disabilities usually have progressive weight deficits due to fat loss, although muscle and visceral proteins are maintained. Some children demonstrate a lack of weight gain in the presence of linear growth, leading to a decreased body mass index (BMI). Others have progressive muscle atrophy (decrease in size and wasting of muscle tissues. With muscle atrophy, your muscles look smaller than normal.
Muscle atrophy can occur due to malnutrition, age, genetics, a lack of physical activity or certain medical conditions unresponsive to nutritional intervention because of their underlying disorder. Although neurologically impaired children usually are shorter and weigh less than unaffected children, a small proportion may be overweight based on weight-for-height or triceps skinfold thickness criteria.
The prevalence of overweight may be underestimated because weight-for-height gains are overlooked in the presence of a small body size or an aberrant distribution of body fat that may be present in some neurological disorders. Weight-for-height comparisons may be monitored less frequently than weight alone because of the difficulty obtaining accurate height measurements.
Non-nutritional factors including the type and severity of neurological disability, ambulatory status, and cognitive ability contribute to growth failure in neurologically impaired children. Children with seizures or spastic quadriplegia (a form of cerebral palsy that affects both arms and legs and often the trunk of the human body and face) and those who are non-ambulatory have lower height Z scores than children who lack these disabilities.
Children with spastic hemiplegia (a type of cerebral palsy that occurs when the condition of muscle stiffness impacts one full side of the body) have smaller measures of breadth and length on the affected side, suggesting that the neurological defect influences growth. Inherent genetic factors may be associated with permanent linear stunting. Height-for-age Z-scores may decrease with advancing age independently of weight-for-age Z-scores, suggesting that the effect of scoliosis (abnormal lateral curvature of the spine). It is most often diagnosed in childhood or early adolescence.
The spine’s normal curves which occur at the cervical, thoracic and lumbar regions in the sagittal plane contractures worsens over time. Height and weight Z-score deficits generally correlate well in neurologically impaired children, suggesting that nutritional factors contribute to their growth failure.
Nutritional status explains 10 to 15 percent of the variability in linear growth in children with cerebral palsy. Nutritional status has a stronger effect on linear growth in younger than in older children, attesting to the irreversible effects of long-term under nutrition on growth.
One of the issues we have been grappling with as a nation is corruption, and it has had such a devastating effect on our national development. I have been convinced that until morality becomes the foundation upon which our governance system is built, we can never go forward as a nation.
Our traditional practices, which have shaped our cultural beliefs, have always espoused values that have kept us along the straight and the narrow and have preserved our societies since ancient times.
These are values that frown on negative habits like stealing, cheating, greediness, selfishness, etc. Our grandparents have told us stories of societies where stealing was regarded as so shameful that offenders, when caught, have on a number of instances committed suicide.
In fact, my mother told me of a story where a man who was living in the same village as her mother (my grandmother), after having been caught stealing a neighbour’s cockerel, out of shame committed suicide on a mango tree. Those were the days that shameful acts were an abomination.
Tegare worship, a traditional spiritual worship during which the spirit possesses the Tegare Priest and begins to reveal secrets, was one of the means by which the society upheld African values in the days of my grandmother and the early childhood days of my mother.
Those were the days when the fear of being killed by Tegare prevented people from engaging in anti-social vices. These days, people sleeping with other people’s wives are not uncommon.
These wrongful behaviour was not countenanced at all by Tegare. One was likely going to lose his life on days that Tegare operates, and so unhealthy habits like coveting your neighbour’s wife was a taboo.
Stealing of other people’s farm produce, for instance, could mean certain death or incapacitation of the whole or part of the body in the full glare of everybody. People realised that there were consequences for wrongdoing, and this went a long way to motivate the society to adhere to right values.
Imagine a President being sworn into office and whoever administers the oath says, “Please say this after me: I, Mr. …., do solemnly swear by God, the spirits of my ancestors and the spirits ruling in Ghana, that should I engage in corrupt acts, may I and my family become crippled, may madness become entrenched in my family, may incurable sicknesses and diseases be my portion and that of my family, both immediate and extended.”
Can you imagine a situation where a few weeks afterwards the President goes to engage in corrupt acts and we hear of his sudden demise or incapacitation and confessing that he engaged in corrupt acts before passing or before the incapacitation—and the effect it will have on his successor? I believe we have to critically examine this option to curb corruption.
My grandmother gave me an eyewitness account of one such encounter where a woman died instantly after the Tegare Priest had revealed a wrong attitude she had displayed during the performance on one of the days scheduled for Tegare spirit manifestation.
According to her story, the Priest, after he had been possessed by the spirit, declared that for what the woman had done, he would not forgive her and that he would kill. Instantly, according to my grandmother, the lady fell down suddenly and she died—just like what happened to Ananias and his wife Sapphira in Acts Chapter 5.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
Join our WhatsApp Channel now!
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBElzjInlqHhl1aTU27
Emotional distortions can indeed have a profound impact on an individual’s mental health and well-being. These distortions can lead to a range of negative consequences, including anxiety, depression, and impaired relationships.
Emotional surgery is a therapeutic approach that aims to address and heal emotional wounds, traumas, and blockages. This approach recognises that emotional pain can have a profound impact on an individual’s quality of life and seeks to provide a comprehensive and compassionate approach to healing.
How emotional surgery can help
Emotional surgery can help individuals:
Identify and challenge negative thought patterns: By becoming aware of emotional distortions, individuals can learn to challenge and reframe negative thoughts.
Develop greater emotional resilience: Emotional surgery can help individuals develop the skills and strategies needed to manage their emotions and respond to challenging situations.
Improve relationships: By addressing emotional wounds and promoting emotional well-being, individuals can develop more positive and healthy relationships with others.
The benefits of emotional surgery
The benefits of emotional surgery can include:
Improved mental health outcomes: Emotional surgery can help individuals reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Enhanced relationships: Emotional surgery can help individuals develop more positive and healthy relationships with others.
Increased self-awareness: Emotional surgery can help individuals develop a deeper understanding of themselves and their emotions.
A path towards healing
Emotional surgery offers a promising approach to addressing emotional distortions and promoting emotional well-being. By acknowledging the impact of emotional pain and seeking to provide a comprehensive and compassionate approach to healing, individuals can take the first step towards recovery and improved mental health.
Join our WhatsApp Channel now!
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBElzjInlqHhl1aTU27
BY ROBERT EKOW GRIMMOND-THOMPSON
