Aging puts you at risk for more health issues, particularly if you're overweight or obese. One such issue that has become more common as the U.S. obesity rate increases is hiatal hernia pain. Estimates suggest that up to half of adults age 60 and older have this type of hernia. … Read More
An impacted bowel is one of the more unpleasant digestive issues you can experience. Bowel obstruction symptoms occur when a mass of dry, hard stool will not pass out of the colon or rectum. Bowel impaction can become a serious issue if not treated, and in extreme cases may even … Read More
Being constipated stinks—your bowel movements are dry, almost painful to pass, with little relief. Worse yet, you can manage to push something through only a couple of days a week. You feel bloated, fatigued, and just plain uncomfortable. It’s all you can think about. And, after a week or so, … Read More
Salt and vinegar, barbecue, kettle-cooked, ruffled — to me, all potato chips are delicious. If there's a bag on the counter, I’ll polish it off easily. Are potato chips bad for you? I know the answer, so I’ve tried to replace my chip craving with healthy options like carrot sticks … Read More
PSA is prostate specific antigen, a protein made by prostate cells that shows up in your blood with a PSA blood test. PSA levels increase with prostate cancer, so PSA has been used as a screening test for prostate cancer for many years. A cancer screening test is a test … Read More
High blood pressure – hypertension – used to be when your blood pressure was consistently 140 over 90 or higher. In 2017, the American Heart Association (AHA) lowered the number to 130 over 80 and changed the blood pressure chart categories. [1] The only way to know if you have … Read More
Medical dictionaries describe lockjaw as a tightness or spasm of the jaw muscles due to a bacterial infection from Clostridium tetani, commonly called tetanus. [1] Tetanus has become very rare in the United States with only about 30 reported cases per year. Almost everyone who gets tetanus today has not … Read More
There are many types of heart disease, but the most common in the United Sates is coronary artery disease (CAD) which is decreased blood flow to your heart. Heart attack, abnormal heartbeats (arrhythmias), and heart failure are other common heart disease conditions. [1] Common warning signs for these conditions include … Read More
Almost everyone gets back pain at some point. People may say they have a backache or back spasm, or that they threw their back out. These are all descriptions of acute low back pain, back pain that starts suddenly. A muscle spasm is another word for a muscle cramp. It … Read More
Leptin is a hormone that was only discovered in 1994. A hormone is a chemical messenger that carries instructions from one part of your body to another. Leptin is produced in fat cells. Fat cells release leptin when they have gathered enough energy from calories in your diet. Leptin then … Read More
