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LINGAM
MEY SOOR
On
general examination most of the Sindhi patients
are overweight. The commonest musculo-skeletal
symptoms of lingam mey soor is due to a combination
of overweight and lack of exercise. Many of the
patients have got a prominent protuberant abdomen,
in males often due to alcohol and excessive calories
and in females often due to multiple deliveries.
This leads to reduced abdominal tone and appears
to be as one of the factors of chronic constipation
(pet saaf kona acheyto).
Most of the Sindhi
women complain of swelling and oedema of he feet
and slight pitting. On majority of the occasions
it is due salt retention following marked obesity
and deep venous insufficiency. Many of these women
have very fat thighs, buttocks and calves hidden
in their very roomy dresses. Many of them mistake
fat on the legs as oedema.
The gross osteo-arthritis of the knees and hip
joints is possibly familial and some of the most
advanced cases of such osteo-arthritis in our
countries are seen in Sindhi communities.
Most of the Sindhi
women do not take any hormone pills after menopause,
which often occurs around 45-48. Thus after 10-15
years, around the age of 60-65 they start getting
repeated fractures with minimal trauma and most
of the doctors do not make the diagnosis of osteoporosis
which is rampant in elderly Sindhi housewives.
Many Sindhi women
appear anaemic on general examination. Most of
them will say that they have gone to a number
of doctors in their life but their anaemia does
not respond to treatment. This is because they
have thalassaemia minor, which they should be
told to learn to live with and for which there
is no permanent cure.
The incidence of
G6PD deficiency is very high in Sindhis. Off and
on rich Sindhi males come with severe anaemia
from Far East after having an attack of Malaria
for which they are given anti-malarial drugs.
This is because of deficiency of G6PD, which was
missed by clinicians in those countries.
Premature
greying of hair in both sexes is universal in
this community and Sindhis keep on using hair
dyes for years
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