Some girls are first noticed to have scoliosis because their dress does not hang properly on their shoulders. In most cases where scoliosis is developed well before puberty a rapid deterioration may take place in the two to three years before the onset of puberty. But, if a child is first seen at puberty with [...]
There is a lot we have to learn about diabetes. It is a disease where the sufferer needs to know as much as the doctor so he can manage on his own and lead a normal life. To help him in this, he needs an interested and well-informed doctor, and he may obtain help, advice [...]
If you receive a note from the kindergarten teacher telling you some of the children have head lice, don’t shudder and think you have chosen a kindergarten in the wrong neighborhood. I suppose we have grown up with the idea that anyone who has become a home for little bugs must be unclean. Unfortunately, this [...]
If cancer involves the brain, the first signs may just be symptoms of raised pressure within the skull—headache, vomiting and maybe blurred vision. Of course, there are many other possible reasons for these symptoms. Contrary to what many people imagine, cancer in the brain very rarely causes the complete alteration in personality which some people [...]
Skin blooms in the presence of oestrogen. Once you are producing little or no oestrogen, your skin gradually becomes drier and more wrinkled. To counteract this, many of the so-called moisturisers work by introducing moisture into the very top, thin layer of skin (the epidermis), so mat it looks fuller and small wrinkles are eased [...]
The decision whether to have a hysterectomy, try some other treatment, or postpone any intervention and let nature take its course, is of great importance to many women. Hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus, sometimes accompanied by oophorectomy, the removal of the ovaries. Most hysterectomies and oophorectomies performed these days are elective — [...]
Unfortunately the art of hypnosis was used a great deal by the stage hypnotists and magicians to entertain audiences. Hypnosis became a magical act and the magicians liked to let the audience believe that they possessed supernatural powers. Because of this the medical profession distanced itself from it, and hypnosis was not used for medical [...]
For descriptive purposes it is often convenient to consider pain as either organic or functional. But like many things in nature this pigeonholing of ideas is not completely valid. It is not quite as simple as that. Thus pain that is caused in the first place by some disease or injury soon produces a psychological [...]
Q. So many people we know complain about their ulcers. How common are they in the community? A. All kinds of statistics have been quoted over the years. Several studies carried out in Britain show that by the age of 55 years, between 6 and 20% of people have suffered from one. At any given [...]
The human spine – also at times called the spinal column, vertebral column, or just the backbone – is a flexible bony column that extends from the base of the skull to the small of the back. It serves two main purposes: Working together with various muscles and ‘girdles’ – the latter being encircling or [...]