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Ailments: A guide for everybody
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Welcome to Ailments: a guide for everybody, this series of articles is designed to give advice on common ailments that we can all suffer from.
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There were 25 articles found in this category:
 Chilblains
Chilblains are caused by cooling of the hands and feet and/or the whole of the body in susceptible individuals. They affect mainly toes and fingers and are caused by constriction of the small arteries in the fingers and toes on exposure to cold, followed by dilatation of the arteries that resu ...
- Chickenpox and Shingles
Chickenpox Chickenpox (varicella) and shingles (herpes zoster) are caused by the same virus (varicella-zoster virus) which spreads by droplets from the nose and mouth and from contact with chickenpox sores. Chickenpox is highly infectious and mainly affects children under the age of 10 years. I ...
- Acne
Acne is a general term used to describe inflammation of the oil-producing glands that surround hair roots. These glands – sebaceous glands – produce the skin’s natural oil (or sebum) which acts as a water repellent. Acne vulgaris (usually referred to just as acne) is the comm ...
- Dandruff
Dandruff is the term that is usually applied to ordinary scaling of the skin of the scalp. It is not a disease; it is part of a normal process of shedding cells from the surface of the skin. However, cells shed from the body cannot be seen, whereas in the hair they can and therefore they are ...
- Colds
The nose, sinuses, throat and air passages are lined by a membrane of mucus-producing cells (a mucous membrane) which is very richly supplied with blood vessels which ensure that the air we breathe is warm and moist. The blood supply increases when the air is cold and decreases when the air is ...
- Constipation
Constipation can mean different things to different people. Some people think they are constipated if they do not have their bowels opened every day. Other people only have their bowels opened two or three times a week and they consider this to be normal for them. In a way, being ‘normal& ...
- Corns
A Corn is a painful pea-sized swelling of the skin due to an over-growth of the surface cells caused by pressure and friction. They are found principally on the toes over bony areas. The term callus also refers to a small defined swelling of the skin due to an over-growth of the surface cells ...
- Cough
Some coughs serve a useful purpose, for example to get rid of something that has ‘gone down the wrong way’ or to cough up phlegm. Common causes of coughing include infection of the bronchial tubes (bronchitis), inflammation of the air passages that occurs in asthma and breathing ir ...
- Worms
Threadworms Threadworm (Enterobius vermicularis) infections are widespread throughout the world. The worm affects children particularly. Its life follows a cycle - eggs are swallowed and, as they pass into the intestine, they develop and mate. The pregnant females move down into the bowel an ...
- Insomnia
The Functions of Sleep We really know very little about sleep and its function. It may be related to various anatomical structures in the brain and to certain chemical changes. It produces electrical charges in the brain, eyes and muscles. These can be measured by electrical tracings of muscles ...
- Warts & Verrucas
There are many types of viruses that cause warts. Warts may appear at any age but are more common in children. They may be single or multiple. They may disappear without treatment in months or years, and they may recur at the same site or at different sites. Patients who are immune deficien ...
- Vitamins
Vitamins are the constituents of the diet that are essential in small amounts for the maintenance of normal growth and function in the body, but they are not made within the body. They are present in the tissues of plants and animals, and a well balanced diet consisting of meats, dairy produce, ...
- Vertigo
The main nerve to the ear (the auditory nerve) has two components – one concerned with hearing and one concerned with balance. Any damage to the latter will produce vertigo, which is a feeling of movement of the head or of things around you. The movement may be rotatory (you feel as if th ...
- Sweating and Body odour
The ecrine sweat glands are distributed all over the skin surface but particularly on the palms, soles, face and armpits. They produce sweat, which consists of water, various salts and some waste products, and play an important role in maintaining the body’s temperature. A rise in body te ...
- Scabies
Scabies is due to an invasion of the outer layer of skin (the epidermis) by a mite calledSarcoptes scabiei. The infection is spread from person to person by close skin contact such as holding hands or sleeping together. Successful infection is caused by a fertilized female burrowing into the sk ...
- Pain
We all experience pain at some time or another, and each of us varies in the amount of pain we can tolerate. Severe, continuous or unusual pain needs explaining and relief. If we have sprained an ankle, we can understand the cause of the pain and it is reasonable to take a pain reliever. But al ...
- Osteoporosis
What is osteoporosis? If you have osteoporosis it means your bones have become weaker, more brittle. Bones are made of a thick outer shell and a strong inner mesh which looks like honeycomb. Osteoporosis occurs when the holes between this bony mesh become bigger. This leads to the skeleton b ...
- Motion Sickness
Motion sickness may be produced by all kinds of motion, including travelling in cars, trains, aeroplanes and boats. It develops when the brain is confused by various messages coming from the organ of balance, the eyes and the body. These confused messages stimulate the vomiting centre. Anyone m ...
- Menstrual Problems
Menorrhagia (Heavy periods) One cause of heavy periods is a hormonal imbalance between oestrogen and progestogens which may occur in young girls when they are starting their periods (menarche) and particularly in menopausal women as their ovaries stop functioning. In these individuals there is ...
- Hayfever
Hayfever (allergic rhinitis) is either seasonal - caused by an allergic reaction to, for example, grass pollens or perennial (all the year round) - caused by an allergic reaction to, for example, house dust mites or animal fur. Exposure to grass pollen, house dust mites and other antigens trigg ...
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