What is Dyspnea? Dyspnea is the medical term for difficulty breathing, typically presenting as shortness of breath or labored breathing. The term dyspnea encompasses a number of different breathing difficulties, which may be vary in sensation and experience among patients. Despite the differences, the sensation is usually >> Read More ...
A headache, nausea and vomiting are three symptoms that are difficult to contend with individually but the experience is significantly worse if two or all three occur simultaneously. While some of the causes of head pain, nausea and vomiting may be obvious, at other times it may be difficult to isolate the cause or system >> Read More ...
Diagnosing vaginal bleeding with the presence of clots first depends on whether the bleeding is normal or abnormal. Normal vaginal bleeding relates to the periods (menstruation) and while any other bleeding may be considered abnormal, there may be a little blood after surgery to the vagina, cervix or uterus, or after an >> Read More ...
What is an analgesic? An analgesic is any type of drug that relieves pain although this may only be a partial relief at times. It should not be confused with anesthetics that block pain and other impulses in the nerves to a degree that there is numbness. Analgesics are commonly referred to as painkillers or pain-killers >> Read More ...
Head pain or cephalgia refers to pain in any part of the head or of the entire head. This differs from a headache which is traditionally accepted as only referring to pain on the upper part of the head including the temples (sides), frontal (front), parietal (top) and occipital (back of the head) regions. Despite this >> Read More ...
A popping or cracking noise emanating from the sternum (breastbone) is usually associated with the joints between the breastbone and ribs. These bones are connected to each other by a length of cartilage (costal cartilage) that extends from the rib and attaches to the sternum. The cartilage of the first seven ribs >> Read More ...
Bad breath in the morning is not unusual and can vary from a stale odor to a slightly smelly breath. However in some cases the odor may be so offensive that the breath may resemble the smell of feces, flatus, fish or even rotting or decaying organic matter (similar to a garbage can or dead animal). Despite good oral >> Read More ...
Approach to Chest Pain Upon presenting to your doctor with chest pain, a rational and step-by-step approach to diagnosing the cause of the pain will be followed. This will include a thorough case taking and physical examination which may be followed by tests and investigations to exclude or confirm differential diagnoses. >> Read More ...
Stress chest pain is among the more disturbing symptoms that one will experience in life. The first thought is that of a heart attack and in high risk patients, this should always be a consideration. However in many cases of chest pain which is triggered or exacerbated by stress, a host of other physiological processes >> Read More ...
Nerve pain or neuralgia can occur for various reasons and may occur on its own or be accompanied by other signs and symptoms related to the cause. This type of pain does not always indicate nerve damage and may be due to injury, pressure, inflammation, chemical irritation or infection. When the cause of the pain is >> Read More ...
