Medical Blog, News and Information

As long as you select someone who seems aware of your needs, your physician need not have formal training in geriatrics. If you have several disabling conditions or are in your eighties or beyond and need to change doctors, however, it makes sense to search out a geriatric specialist. If a doctor has been recommended [...]

Increasingly, rather than selecting a private doctor, you may have another choice – joining a health maintenance organization or HMO. Rather than paying a physician for each appointment, if you join an HMO you pay a fixed sum in advance that entitles you to almost all (or all) of your medical care: checkups and routine [...]

The sleeping pattern begins to change in the first 6 months. This is a time of considerable irregularity, as babies’ neurological systems mature at different rates, but in early infancy sleeping patterns tend to coincide with feeding times — that is, babies wake to feed. By 6 weeks of age, babies are awake for longer [...]

Is easily broken. This is a common injury following a fall, for instance from a horse. It is recognised by a swelling and a deformity over the collarbone. Often a grating may be felt or a grating sound may be heard when the arm is moved. Falls on the extended hands of young adults often [...]

The drugs need to be taken for as long as a year and the stones may re-form when they are stopped. The main use, then, of CDC, is in those with cholesterol stones for whom surgery is a considerable risk or who have stones in inaccessible areas such as deep inside the liver. While the [...]

Not all lumps in the breast are due to cancer. A frequent finding, particularly in young women, is that the lump is due to a fibroadenoma. These are benign, that is, non-cancerous tumors which consist of both fibrous and glandular tissue. They are smooth, hard and freely moveable in the surrounding breast tissue and rarely [...]

Have you ever wondered how your tummy system works? When you poke something into your mouth it vanishes. We all know that. But vanish where, and what happens to it? As you probably know, the bowel, or intestinal, system really begins at the mouth. From the mouth is a continuous canal to the far end, [...]

Activity Baby’s actions start to become a little more smooth. If sitting up, the head still tends to flop but there is greater firmness of the neck muscles; the head can be kept erect for longer periods. The baby instinctively realizes the necessity of keeping the head clear and free from being buried in pillows [...]

Although illegal, marijuana (also known as cannabis) is widely smoked and has attained a degree of social acceptability. While many people believe that marijuana is a benign drug which promotes relaxation, there are several known detrimental side effects. Tetrahydracannabinol (THC), which is found in marijuana, is an immunosuppressive substance. Heavy users can suffer from a [...]

Lumbar puncture or spinal tap A lumbar puncture, also known as a spinal tap, is the method used to obtain a sample of cerebrospinal fluid for testing. Cerebrospinal fluid is a clear liquid that surrounds the brain and the spinal cord. In a lumbar puncture, which is usually done in the hospital, a needle is [...]