General health
STREP THROAT IN CHILDREN
Signs and symptoms The onset of strep throat is sudden. It begins with a headache, fever up to 40°C, sore and red throat, vomiting, abdominal pain, and swollen lymph nodes in the neck. If the infecting organism is rash-producing and the child is not immune, he or she will develop a rash within 24 to [...]
PREVENTION AND HEALTH: STRESS
Let’s look here at some everyday things that anyone can do to de-stress themselves. Some are preventive, in that they mean that the stress will not continue to plague the individual, and others are more curative. • Have a good cry. According to one research biochemist crying at times of stress helps remove from the [...]
SELF-HELP PREVENTION: AFTERNOON SLUMP
What is it? Many individuals are familiar with this phenomenon but it is one that the medical profession discusses very little. It takes the form of restlessness, lethargy, depression or dullness, or a mixture of them all, after lunch. About an hour after having had lunch is the most common time but it hits some [...]
URINATION, FREQUENT
Description and Possible Medical Problems Not only can an enlarged prostate make it more difficult to urinate, it can have the opposite effect, making you need to urinate more frequently. Since you’re never able to empty your bladder fully, you’ll probably feel the urge to urinate more often because the signals that a full bladder [...]
PAIN IN UPPER RIGHT QUADRANT WITH VOMITING, NAUSEA, AND FEVER: DESCRIPTION AND POSSIBLE MEDICAL PROBLEMS
Like the appendix and the spleen, the gallbladder is one of those organs we’ve all heard of. But whenever I ask a patient to describe its function and location, I always get a blank stare. Okay, function first. The gallbladder is a sac that stores bile, a substance secreted by the liver that helps to [...]
HOW THE BREASTS AGE
Though some of the effects aging has on a woman’s body may largely pass unnoticed, it’s the rare woman who doesn’t measure the passage of time by the noticeable changes in her breasts. Because the breasts lose both fat and glandular tissue as they age, they may begin to sag and flatten a bit when [...]
HUNCHBACK
Description and Possible Medical Problems If you’ve ever visited a public park where a lot of elderly people congregate, you’ve probably noticed that several of the women and a few of the men walk in a stooped manner and have a visible hunchback. It looks as though it must be difficult for them to get [...]
NECK, ENLARGED MASS ON ONE SIDE OF
Description and Possible Medical Problems When any part of the neck swells up—on either the side or the front— the thyroid gland is usually responsible. If you see and feel a lump or mass on one side of your neck but are still able to eat and drink as usual, you’ll probably be tempted to [...]
ACCIDENTS
Accidents are a leading cause of death and disability. They occur mainly in the home, on the streets and highways, and on the job. Now I want to say something about accidents on the highways in order to help eliminate this frightful menace. Highway accidents kill many young people who are just on the threshold [...]
SKIN DISEASES IN CHILDHOOD
Both the infant and the young child are subject to a considerable number of minor and even serious skin diseases. Besides such conditions as napkin rashes, there is one skin disease on which children seem to have a monopoly. This is ringworm of the scalp. Antibiotics effective against the fungus are available. Most of the [...]