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One of the most popular remedies for menopausal symptoms is evening primrose oil, also known as EPO, which is extracted from the seeds of the evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) plant. Evening primrose oil is rich in gamma-linolenic acid, an essential fatty acid involved in the production of hormone-like substances called prostaglandins. By increasing production of prostaglandins, EPO is thought to help counter hormonal changes associated with menopause. Why Do Women Use Evening Primrose Oil?...

Fear of cotton balls is also known as sidonglobophobia. There is not much in the clinical literature about fear of cotton balls, but on message boards and social media groups, people living with this phobia report being afraid of cotton balls and the sound they make when torn apart. A phobia is a fear of a situation, object, or activity that is irrational, outsized, uncontrollable, and persistent. The fear is typically so strong that a person will try to avoid the cause by any means possible....

Langerhans cells (LCs) are located in the skin (the epidermis and the dermis) of the respiratory, digestive, and urogenital tracts. They can also be found in other tissues such as lymph nodes, particularly when the condition Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is involved. LCs, help to protect you by keeping dangerous antigens (any substance that causes the immune system to produce antibodies against it) from entering your body. How Langerhans Cells Work Discovered by a 21-year-old German medical student, Paul Langerhans, in 1868, Langerhans cells are present in all layers of the epidermis and are members of the dendritic family....

Most of us are aware of how important it is to conduct a self-examination of your breasts regularly. What’s less well known is that we should also perform a regular vulvar self-exam. This is an at-home exam that allows you to check for possible abnormalities concerning your vulva (the external area outside of the vagina). This article reviews why a vulvar exam is done, how often it should be done, how to prepare, and how to perform the exam....

Strokes can cause permanent neurological deficits, while TIAs (transient ischemic attacks) or mini strokes, which are very similar to strokes, only cause temporary symptoms. In some instances, TIAs or other forewarning signs precede strokes. If you have experienced a TIA, this is a warning that is it time to actively manage your stroke risk, which is the best way to prevent a stroke. However, in many instances, a stroke can happen suddenly, without any warning at all - often resulting in completely unforeseen life changing consequences and significant disability....

Ever wonder if you can “get” Alzheimer’s disease from spending time with people who have it? Rest assured, holding your grandmother’s hand or giving her a hug will not give you Alzheimer’s disease. Nor will taking a job as a certified nursing assistant at a nursing home and spending daily time dressing, bathing and caring for people in a secure dementia unit. Research About How Alzheimer’s Disease Spreads While Alzheimer’s disease is not spread through contact with others, some research with mice seems to indicate that it could have some type of an infectious component, possibly related to prions (proteins that brain cells need to function)....

Treatment for lymphoma often takes months to complete. At the end of this ordeal, you want to know where you stand. Are you cured? Why do some lymph nodes still feel enlarged? Is your disease still there? Can it come back again? Healthcare providers try to explain the situation by using such terms as “remission,” “relapse,” and “cure,” but what do they really mean? Your First Follow-up Visit The day you receive your last treatment is not the day that the healthcare provider will assess you for a response....

Mountain Dew mouth is a term penned by dentists in reference to a form of tooth decay that is caused by drinking excessive amounts of sugary soda. The term is widely used in poorer areas of the country, especially the Appalachian Mountains. Soda Is a Prime Culprit Soda has been named one of the prime culprits for both obesity and diabetes. Dentists across these areas are seeing an alarmingly high rate of tooth decay across all age groups from preschoolers with tooth decay to the elderly with higher rates of extracted teeth....

You probably already know that breast cancer awareness is an important topic during October. But did you also know that physical therapy (PT) and the specialists who practice it is celebrated during the same month? The goal of National Physical Therapy Month (NPTM) is to raise awareness of the key role that physical therapists and physical therapy assistants can play in helping people find relief from pain, improve mobility and overall functional ability, and live healthier, more physically-able lives....

Nociceptive pain is a type of pain caused by an injury, physical pressure, or inflammation of some part of the body. There are two types of nociceptive pain: Somatic, which originates in your arms, legs, face, muscles, tendons, and superficial areas of your body, and visceral, which originates from your internal organs (for example, a stomachache or pain from a kidney stone). Unlike neuropathic pain, which is caused by nerve hypersensitivity or dysfunction (for example, diabetic neuropathy or phantom limb pain), nociceptive pain involves the activation of pain receptors by a stimulus that normally causes pain (think, bumping your arm on a table, breaking a bone, or feeling pain from an inflamed appendix)....

When you’re expecting, some pregnancy weight gain is normal. To support your developing baby or babies, it’s important to maintain or adopt healthy habits, including a nutritious diet and regular exercise, under the guidance of your healthcare professional. Depending on your pre-pregnancy weight and body mass index (BMI)—an indicator of your body fat mass based on your weight and height—you may need to make certain lifestyle changes to support or slow weight gain for you and your child’s well-being....

Propofol, which is sold under the brand name Diprivan, contains both egg lecithin and soybean oil. Therefore, many healthcare providers have been concerned that it might not be safe for people with allergies to those foods, especially egg allergy. Studies have shown that propofol does appear to be safe in the majority of people who are allergic to eggs. However, there have been isolated case reports of severe allergic reactions that have occurred following use of the drug in people with potentially anaphylactic allergies....

My wedding day was the day that changed my life, but not for the reason many people would think. While it was undoubtedly the happiest day of my life, and I got to marry the love of my life, it was also the day that brought everything into sharp focus and I finally had to own up to something I’d been refusing to acknowledge for a long time: I was an alcoholic, and I had to get sober....

If you’ve had a brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), you may be alarmed to hear that it shows small white spots. These white spots may indicate a cause for concern, including strokes or multiple sclerosis (MS). However, there are also a variety of explanations that are not alarming, such as vitamin deficiencies or migraines. If you have white spots, or white matter hyperintensities, on your brain MRI, your healthcare provider will determine the cause based on your medical history and doing an exam....

Synovial sarcoma is a type of cancer that affects soft tissues in the body. These tumors are often found near joints in the arms and legs, but they can also grow in organs found in the chest and abdomen. This article will give an overview of the symptoms, causes, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis for synovial sarcoma. What Is Synovial Sarcoma? Synovial sarcoma is part of a larger group of cancers called soft tissue sarcomas....

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection that can spread through intimate contact, such as sex. The infection is caused by a bacteria called Treponema pallidum. In the early stages of the infection in people with penises, sores may appear on or around the penis, anus, rectum, mouth, or lips. Learn more about the symptoms of syphilis in people with penises, syphilis sores, diagnosis, treatment, how to tell a partner, and when to see a healthcare provider....

Would it help to drink tea for fibromyalgia (FMS) or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)? It just might. Tea is one of the most popular drinks in the world, but it’s way down on the list in the U.S., coming in behind coffee and soda. In the past few years, however, studies suggesting health benefits of tea have certainly raised its profile and popularity here. Behind the Hype According to research, it looks like tea has several things to offer, both for the public in general and for those of us with fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome....

Night terrors are a common sleep problem among children. By some estimates, around 30 percent of children have occasional night terrors. Although they are most common in children between the ages of 3 to 7 years, they can occur at almost any age. Night terrors are usually considered to be normal or benign. Still, they are often very scary and distressing to parents who get anxious, especially during a child’s first night terror....

As part of treatment for breast cancer, surgical removal of the cancer is often required. To remove the tumor, two types of surgery may be done—a mastectomy, in which the entire breast is removed, or a lumpectomy, in which the tumor and some surrounding tissue are removed. If you require a lumpectomy for breast cancer, your surgeon will remove the tumor and a border of normal tissue around it. This border is called the surgical margin....

Politicians and pundits may toss out terms like universal health care and socialized medicine as if they were synonyms, but the terms represent fundamentally different political and economic approaches to providing for health services. Universal Health Care Universal health care simply means that every citizen has a realistic ability to access basic health care services. It does not mean that only the government pays for that access. In fact, most of the countries around the world that guarantee universal health care use a combination of public and private coverage....