Give your child purified water

QMy son is 10 years old and is suffering from recurrent problems of diarrhoea? What should I do? — Anonymous

It is important that your child only has purified drinking water. Outside food must be stopped for some time to understand the cause of diarrhoea. Ensure that he drinks water at regular intervals and the body is properly hydrated. Keep an Oral Rehydration Salts ( ORS) handy as that is the best way to prevent dehyration in diarrhoea. Children lose small fluids and often it is not realised when they get completely dehydrated.

— Dr Jyothsna, senior paediatrician

QI am a 44- year- old man suffering from type- 2 diabetes. How can I determine the cause of diabetes? I want to know if it is due to less production of insulin or insulin resistance? I have been detected with diabetes recently and have been prescribed insulin injections. I am not sure if that this is the correct treatment. Please advise if I should be injecting insulin or taking medicines that makes body respond to insulin? Also, I have a family history of diabetes. — Anonymous

You have type- 2 diabetes, which is due to insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency. You can confirm it by getting blood sugar, insulin and C- peptide two hours after meals tested. You will find raised levels of insulin and C- peptide. Your doctor has done the best thing by advising you insulin in beginning, which may be for a short time. — Dr Vrinda Agrawal,

consultant endocrinologist