Symptoms Sudden abdominal pain; cramping pain; diarrhea; vomiting Home care Apply mild heat to the abdomen. Treat constipation by changing the child’s diet or with a glycerin suppository. Precautions -    Do not try to relieve stomach pain by giving a laxative or placing ice on the stomach. -    If you cannot diagnose the child’s pain as [...]

Smoking diseases are diseases caused directly or indirectly by smoking tobacco. The best known is lung cancer but this is only the tip of the iceberg, as we shall see. Smoking is the single greatest cause of death in the UK, and the World Health Organization has said that the control of smoking would do [...]

Poisoning Over half the fatal poisoning cases amongst elderly people involve drugs and medications. This is not surprising as people receiving a variety of treatments may become confused as to which medicines to take, when, and in what quantities. Gases and vapours are responsible for a third of the deaths by poison amongst the elderly. [...]

If you’re like most men, you know that a blow to your testicles can be excruciatingly painful, even if the same strike to another part of your body wouldn’t even warrant a bruise. The pain usually lasts for no more than an hour, and no permanent damage is caused. If, however, you feel a sudden, [...]

Description and Possible Medical Problems With many medical problems, we never notice that anything’s wrong until it’s too late. It can flare up—either a new condition or a familiar one we thought we were all through with—and then it’s all we think about. A problem with the intestine called diverticulitis is like that. If you [...]

Description and Possible Medical Problems If you exercise regularly and are in relatively good shape, and you feel a sharp pain in your sternum, or breastbone, which runs from just below your chin to a few inches above your navel, you may jump to the conclusion that you’re having a heart attack. Don’t worry. Tenderness [...]

More than one observer has wryly noted that the moment we as a species stood up and began to walk on two legs instead of all fours, the need for back surgeons was born. Truthfully, from the moment we learn to walk, we ask a lot of our backs. As children, we learn that it’s [...]

If you think you have mononucleosis or chronic fatigue syndrome, see your doctor, who will do a physical exam that includes a throat culture. If you have mononucleosis, she will advise you to rest and drink plenty of fluids; antibiotics are not effective with mononucleosis since it is a viral infection. I also tell my [...]

These, in themselves, are harmless changes in the tissues of the body. Their danger lies in the fact that they have a tendency to become cancerous. They include leukoplakia of the mouth and tongue, thickened white patches (not ordinary canker sores); some moles; any chronically irritated spot on the skin or the mucous membranes of [...]

Every child should be immunized early and completely against diphtheria. Diphtheria is caused by a bacillus type of germ that usually grows on the tonsils and throat and can infect the nose and larynx. The throat is sore and swollen and there may be a greyish membrane covering the tissue. This membrane may get so [...]