Unfortunately, almost every individual in the world will experience at least one traumatic event, such as a car crash, assault, exposure to war combat or a natural disaster during their lifetime. Many will endure more than one. Although the majority of individuals recover from a traumatic incident, a substantial proportion will develop chronic problems, including post-traumatic stress symptoms, depression and chronic pain.
We’ve all been there, you’re desperate for the loo, and frantically hunting for a toilet, only to find when you get there, that the seat is covered with “droplets” from the previous user.
Everyone has had the unpleasant experience of a rash on the skin – pink, red or purple, flat or bumpy, itchy, scaly, pus-filled, or just plain unsightly. This variety isn’t surprising, because the skin is a complicated organ.
- By Cameron Webb
Insect repellents can be safe and effective but many people are reluctant to rub what they perceive to be smelly or sticky on their skin.
Asked what they know about attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, many people will likely tell you that it mostly affects children, and mostly boys. However, recent research has shown that neither of these perceptions is entirely true.
- By Jim Dryden
A new study involved nearly 600 patients with depression that taking four or more antidepressants, taken either separately or in combination could not be alleviate. Researchers evaluated vagus nerve stimulators, which send regular, mild pulses of electrical energy to the brain via the vagus nerve. The nerve originates in the brain, passes through the neck and travels down into the chest and abdomen.
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the lungs where the airways become so obstructed the sufferer struggles to breathe. It’s vastly more prevalent in Western societies, and usually develops in childhood. But what do we know about what causes it?
“I felt a sense of dissolving, disappearing completely.” “My body and mind melted and merged with the universe.” “I ceased to exist.” These are excerpts of what I occasionally hear from the students who come to my yoga and meditation classes. For most, these “mind-expanding” experiences are very positive and this is precisely what my students are seeking. However, there are always a few who have a difficult time with “ceasing to exist.”
Picture two different families, each dealing with a diagnosis of dementia in one of its members. In one case, the patient is a retired executive, whose family tries as long as possible to keep the diagnosis secret, relying primarily on professional caregivers and eventually a nursing home. In another case, the patient is a grandmother. As soon as the diagnosis is suspected, her family pulls together, bringing her into their home and surrounding her with affection.
People who develop abnormally frequent cases of a skin cancer known as basal cell carcinoma appear to be at significantly increased risk for the development of other cancers, including blood, breast, colon, and prostate cancers, according to a new, preliminary study. “Skin is the best organ to detect genetic problems that could lead to cancers.”
By facing pain, listening to it, and allowing it the room it was demanding anyway, my body began to relax a bit around the pain. I stopped clenching quite so much, I stopped saying no, no, no, and I began to accept. I learned that constantly saying no to pain locks things in place. Relaxing into acceptance allows the possibility for the body to regenerate.
Alcohol is a depressant, a diuretic, and a disinfectant. These generally aren’t pleasant attributes, but people have been drinking alcohol for thousands of years...
- By Hannah Kirk
The new JAMA study, from researchers at the University of Southern California, investigated the link between digital media use and the development of ADHD-related behaviours among 15- and 16-year-olds.
Since Richard Nixon famously called for an ‘all-out offensive’ on the war on drugs in 1971, the US government has funnelled a trillion dollars into the effort.
A visit to family in Glasgow for Christmas in 2015 nearly had a tragic ending for me. Two days earlier I had been repairing the lock on my garden gate, when I scratched my hand on a nail. By the time I arrived in Glasgow I was feeling unwell. Twenty-four hours later I was in University Hospital Hairmyres in a coma.
People with autoimmune disorders, a collection of diseases where the body’s immune system attacks its own cells, are more likely to have psychosis, according to our latest research.
At a hearing on Capitol Hill earlier this year, U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander asked an important question: Why is most of the treatment for opioid addiction more opioids?
Many people have an appearance of dark circles on the lower eyelids, and they have many different causes.
We’d all dearly like to see a cure for the common cold, but it never quite seems to arrive. So what’s the hold up
- By Adam Moeser
Stress affects most of us to one degree or another, and that even includes animals. Pigs, whose GI tracts are extremely similar to those of humans, may be one of the clearest windows we have into researching stress, disease, and new therapies and preventatives – both in livestock and people.
Ever since Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin growing naturally on a petri dish, we have been aware of the power of chemicals produced by microbes.
Around 200,000 people in Australia suffer from a debilitating illness often branded with the unfortunate name of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). I say “unfortunate” because this implies patients are simply tired, run-down, burnt-out or overly stressed.
There is a widespread belief that sugar is the sole cause of diabetes. After all, the disease is characterized by high levels of sugar in the blood.