Author: Sameed Chaudhary

Growing up in Pakistan means growing up with an audience. Family gatherings, university presentations, rishta visits, neighbourhood chit-chat — social performance is woven into daily life from a young age. For most people, a little nervousness in those moments is normal. For a significant number of young Pakistanis, however, that nervousness is something far heavier. Social anxiety disorder (SAD), also called social phobia, is an intense, persistent fear of being judged or embarrassed in social situations. It goes well beyond ordinary shyness. A student who skips an entire semester of seminars to avoid speaking in front of classmates, or a…

Loud snoring is one of those things Pakistani families tend to laugh off. A heavy sleeper in the next room, a father who rattles the windows — it becomes part of the household background noise. But snoring is not always harmless, and knowing the difference between ordinary snoring and something more serious can genuinely protect your health. A cross-sectional study conducted at Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi found that roughly 12% of participants screened were at high risk for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a condition where breathing repeatedly stops during sleep. Pakistan also has a high prevalence of the…

Many Pakistani families notice it gradually. An older parent starts repeating the same question at the dinner table, forgets a grandchild’s name, or gets confused about whether they have taken their morning dawa. It feels uncomfortable to name it, and in many households it gets quietly dismissed as just getting old. But not all forgetfulness in old age is the same. Some of it is a normal slowing of recall that comes with aging. Some of it is a sign of something treatable, like a vitamin deficiency or an underactive thyroid. And some of it is early dementia, a condition…

Quick Answer Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a nerve condition caused by pressure on the median nerve inside your wrist. It produces numbness, tingling, and pain in the thumb, index, middle, and part of the ring finger — often worsening at night or after long hours of typing. Early treatment with wrist splints, physiotherapy, or a specialist consultation can prevent permanent nerve damage. If your fingers go numb halfway through a workday or your wrist aches after hours on a laptop, you’re not alone. Across Lahore’s and Karachi’s busy office districts, this complaint has become one of the most common…

Most Pakistani men who feel chronically tired, irritable, or notice their strength fading quietly blame stress, long work hours, or getting older. Those explanations are sometimes right. But when these feelings cluster together and don’t improve with rest, low testosterone is worth considering. Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone, produced mainly in the testes under signals from the brain’s hypothalamus and pituitary gland. It regulates muscle mass, bone density, sex drive, mood, and energy. Levels peak around age 19 and then decline gradually — roughly 1% to 2% each year after age 30. That slow decline is normal. The…

Chest pain is one of the most alarming things a person can feel. Whether it happens after a heavy biryani dinner in Lahore or during a stressful morning commute in Karachi, the first question most Pakistanis ask themselves is the same: is this my heart, or is it just gas? The honest answer is that even doctors can’t always tell from symptoms alone. According to cardiologists at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) in Karachi, nine in ten of their heart attack patients reported only heaviness or acidity-like discomfort — not the dramatic crushing pain most people expect. That…

Feeling exhausted after a long day is normal. But when constant tiredness and weakness follow you from morning to night, even after a full night’s sleep, something more is usually going on. Pakistan has its own set of triggers that global health sites rarely mention. Vitamin D deficiency affects an estimated 60 to 80% of Pakistanis, according to a cross-sectional study published on PubMed by researchers at Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi. Add to that the widespread iron deficiency anemia in women, a desi diet often heavy on chai and refined carbs, and the draining heat of a Lahore…

Every May and June, parts of Pakistan turn into some of the hottest places on Earth. Multan, Jacobabad, Nawabshah, and Dadu regularly hit 45°C or above, and the Pakistan Meteorological Department has issued red-level heatwave alerts for southern Punjab and Sindh during these months. This isn’t uncomfortable weather. At this temperature, the risk of serious heat-related illness rises sharply for anyone spending time outdoors. The 2015 Karachi heatwave is a stark reminder of what can happen without awareness. According to a study published in the Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association (2025), over 500 lives were lost within six days…

That fluttering sensation in your left eyelid is one of those things that hits at the worst possible moment — during a meeting at work, in the middle of a long university lecture, or after a third cup of chai in one afternoon. It feels more obvious to you than it looks to anyone else, and it usually disappears before you can even describe it to someone. In Pakistan, the left eye twitching carries a lot of cultural weight. Many people still associate baayi aankh pharakna with bad luck or an impending event, and the question comes up frequently on…

Most people in Pakistan get an LFT done and then stare at a page full of abbreviations — SGPT, SGOT, ALP, GGT, bilirubin — with no idea what any of it means. The report lands in your hands, and the next appointment is three days away. That gap between getting results and understanding them causes a lot of unnecessary worry. Pakistan carries one of the highest burdens of viral hepatitis in the world. Research published in NCBI estimates that roughly 10 million Pakistanis (~5% of the population) are living with hepatitis C, and hepatitis B rates add considerably to that…