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But Dance’s mother recognized her daughter’s discomfort as something else, and told her they were going to the emergency room if she didn’t feel better by that evening. Later that day Dance remembers getting a computerized tomography (CT) scan in the ER and someone telling her she was just like her mom, who had also suffered a pulmonary embolism (PE) — a blockage in the pulmonary artery that’s usually caused by a blood clot....

Stress management is important for everyone, but it’s especially crucial for people with ankylosing spondylitis — a type of inflammatory arthritis that primarily affects the spine. That’s because stress can exacerbate ankylosing spondylitis symptoms, including pain, according to the Spondylitis Association of America. Stress may also trigger an ankylosing spondylitis flare, a period of increased inflammation and worsening symptoms. The Link Between Stress and Inflammation According to a review published in June 2017 in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, stress can activate inflammatory responses in the brain, which can lead to excessive inflammation....

Symptoms and Causes of Excess Hair Growth Symptoms besides the excess hair growth can help determine if there’s a medical cause for the hirsutism. You may also have: Abnormal menstrual periods or having no periodA deep voiceAcneIncreased muscle massDecreased breast size About half of all women with hirsutism have elevated levels of male sex hormones, which are known as androgens. Such increases in women’s androgen levels may be due to:...

So, what are you to do when you’re in need of a vacation (from work, personal responsibilities, or just the day-in-day-out routine), but can’t get away because of your budget, a partner’s or other family members’ schedules, or pandemic travel restrictions? Happily, you can still score that vacation feeling without ever leaving your house. “The idea of a staycation is to do all the things you would do if you were to travel somewhere, but finding ways to incorporate those experiences within your own home,” says Catherine A....

When we thought this health crisis might last just a few months, we psyched ourselves up to cope with it, says Paul Nestadt, MD, assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. “Now that we understand there’s no definitive end, that is causing widespread ‘pandemic fatigue.’” By “pandemic fatigue,” Dr. Nestadt is referring to the exhaustion you may be feeling after months of spending extra time and energy dealing with our new pandemic lifestyle and all the struggles it’s brought on....

Depression is one of the most common mental health disorders in the United States, with 17.3 million adults (7.1 percent of the adult population) and approximately 2.3 million teens (9.4 percent of the adolescent population) diagnosed with the disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders identifies depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure as the two primary symptoms of major depressive disorder for adults....

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) defines cardio as those exercises that are rhythmic, continuous, and involve large muscle groups. Cardiovascular exercise comprises several different exercises, explains Jared Rosenberg, an exercise physiologist at Duke Health in Durham, North Carolina. “Think walking, running, swimming, riding a bike, or using the elliptical machine.” RELATED: 10 Amazing Benefits of Exercise As the name suggests, cardiovascular exercise gives your heart muscle a workout, says Alexis S....

Russell remembers his father as a sensitive, caring man. But when his parents got divorced, Russell recalls a change in his father’s behavior. He was more impulsive and reckless. He started drinking too much and misusing drugs, including opioids, that he prescribed to his patients. One morning when Russell was 15, his mother pulled him out of his freshman English class. She told him his father was in the hospital for a self-inflicted gunshot wound....

The good news: From therapy to meditation, there are ways to let go of your negative perspective on yourself so that it no longer rules your life. How Can Psychotherapy Help Treat an Inferiority Complex? Psychotherapy — talking with a supportive mental health professional who is neutral, objective, and nonjudgmental — is often effective at helping people with inferiority complex. With this treatment, therapists work with individuals to reframe negative or damaging thoughts....

You wouldn’t be blamed for thinking you might have cellulitis, a common bacterial infection affecting the soft tissue, particularly the dermis, fat, and other structures below your top layer of skin. (1) But you might be wrong. “Cellulitis is often overdiagnosed or misdiagnosed, and there are many conditions which can mimic it,” says Rachel Bystritsky, MD, an infectious disease specialist and assistant professor of medicine at the University of California in San Francisco....

RELATED: What Is Schizoaffective Disorder? ACV: Can This Fermented Product Boost the Brain? Some sources, such as an article titled Schizophrenia & Natural Remedies on the website Jung Circle, list cider vinegar as an ingredient that can be used in a formula to soothe the body when you’re coming off psychiatric medications. Other online articles, such as one on Psycom, highlight evidence suggesting that what happens in the gut may be connected to what happens in the brain....

Luckily, there are a variety of kitchen appliances that can help you tolerate these foods by breaking them down into a form that is easy to digest, won’t worsen irritation, and perhaps most important, tastes good. My blender is the most heavily used appliance in my kitchen. It has both helped me through flares and supported me in maintaining remission. From smoothies to soups, sauces, and dips, it’s extremely versatile and allows me to pack many nutrients into one meal....

Darker skin contains more of the skin pigment melanin, which is believed to protect skin somewhat from UV rays and make skin more likely to tan than burn. (A history of sunburns is a risk factor for skin cancer.) But melanin is not an insurance policy, says Dr. Francis. “I make sure to tell my patients that just because you can tan doesn’t mean you should,” says Francis. “Melanin is a good protection, but the blackest person on Earth probably has an SPF of about 13, which provides some protection, but it’s not enough....

In mid-May, the Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that 27 million Americans may lose employment-based health insurance because of the coronavirus pandemic. Those numbers add up to a bleak reality: Suddenly, more and more of us are facing real fears about paying for everything from care should we contract the novel coronavirus to health insurance premiums to prescription drugs, doctor’s visits, and hospital bills. There’s hope. Consumer advocates interviewed for this guide cite medical assistance resources that many people overlook, think they don’t qualify for, or simply haven’t heard of because they aren’t well advertised to the public....

“We didn’t know the potential mechanisms of how a Mediterranean diet reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. It was like a black box,” says the lead study author, Shafqat Ahmad, PhD, a research fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, both in Boston. “Through this study, we know that a Mediterranean diet reduces or improves a lot of risk factors for cardiovascular disease, which are very important in terms of prevention....

Studies have consistently found people with MS to have markedly different gut microbiomes from those who don’t have the disease, although what this means for people living with MS isn’t fully understood. Here’s what researchers do know. The Link Between Gut Health and MS The relationship between the gut and MS is complex, according to J. William Lindsey, MD, director of the division of multiple sclerosis and neuroimmunology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston....

Currently, doctors tend to use all available endocrine therapies, such as the drug tamoxifen, before switching to chemotherapy to treat metastatic breast cancer, said study author François-Clément Bidard, MD, PhD, a professor of medical oncology at Institut Curie and Versailles Saint-Quentin University in Paris, at a press conference. Circulating tumor cell count, or CTC as it’s also known, has been extensively studied for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer in the past two decades to see whether it can help fine-tune treatment, Dr....

Cronobacter is a germ that can live in very dry places, and it has been found in dry foods, such as infant formula and powdered milk. The bacteria can cause severe bloodstream infections (sepsis) or meningitis, an inflammation of the membranes that protect the brain and spine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Although Cronobacter infections are very rare, they can occur in anyone, and some groups are at higher risk for a serious infection....

The most commonly affected areas include these joints: KneesHipsHands and fingersSpine Osteoarthritis rarely affects the elbows, wrists, and ankles. Most people with osteoarthritis are middle-aged or older because the condition occurs slowly over time, developing as a result of normal wear and tear on the joints. It rarely affects people younger than age 40, and at least 80 percent of people over age 55 have X-ray evidence of the disorder, even if they present no clear symptoms....

To get an idea of what that means, we turned to the experts, including Loren Cordain, PhD, a professor emeritus at Colorado State University in Fort Collins and the author of The Paleo Diet; Erin Holley, RD, of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus; and Lona Sandon, PhD, RD, an associate professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. For starters, to be and stay healthy on the paleo diet, Dr....