Dr. Ian Smith Answers Your Most Pressing Health Questions

Our dream team of doctors is in the house today! Dr. Ian Smith is answering your most pressing health questions.

Having a Runny Nose in Cold Weather
Dr. Ian Smith explains this condition as “Cold-Induced Rhinorrhea” which is…you guessed it, a fancy name for a having runny nose. There are two reasons why this happens:

1)    Your nose is in charge of making sure the cold air you breathe in is conditioned before it gets to your lungs, but sometimes your nose can overdo it by creating extra mucus.
2)    When you’re outside your nose may be cold but your breath is warm. When you breathe out through your nose, it creates condensation, causing a runny nose.

Numb Extremities
If your extremities often go numb or you feel a tingling sensation, Dr. Ian Smith explains what’s normal and when it’s time to see your physician. Depending on the position of your extremity, it is normal for your extremity to fall asleep. The numbness and tingling you’re feeling is called paresthesia.

Dr. Ian explains it’s mostly because you slept on it, or you’ve been sitting on it for a long period time.  Your nerves run from your brain, down the spinal cord and out to your extremity. Nerve endings are important because they send the signal back up to your brain. When you are lying on your extremity for a long period of time, you are compressing your nerves that will prevent the normal electrochemical signals that you send from your extremity up to your brain, and that’s when you’ll start feeling numbness and tingling, and then may not feel it at all. When you release the compression, you’ll start to feel numbness and tingling again which is normal, and the feeling will go back to normal.

Blood vessels nourish the nerves. If the nerves aren’t getting blood flow they don’t behave properly, that’s why the extremity will feel as if it’s dead.  Abnormal cases include diabetics have tingling and numbness, in which case is not good for you. If you have a swollen extremity it can be compression syndrome so be careful. If you’re not doing anything to compress it, something may be wrong and you should see your physician.
 

Burping

Dr. Ian Smith says we usually burp 10 to 15 times a day because we are either swallowing air, eating or drinking too quickly, loose dentures, chewing gum or sucking hard candy. The excess air will irritate your stomach and your stomach's natural reaction is to contract and send it back up. 

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