One half of the American population has trouble sleeping, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Sleep is vital to health and well-being, and sleeping enough hours and obtaining deep enough sleep enable the body to heal itself and better...
Withdrawal from narcotics is a severe and challenging process, and its severity is proportional to the duration of use and dosage level. Symptoms usually start within 24 hours of the last dose and can last up to three to four weeks. Withdrawal...
Exhaustion---also referred to as extreme fatigue---is a severe lack of energy that affects a person's ability to perform mental or physical tasks. While the possible causes of exhaustion are virtually endless, the most common include excessive...
Celexa is the brand name of an antidepressant medication made of citalopram, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). Drugs.com explains that Celexa works by balancing the levels of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin occurs naturally in the...
Diabetes is a disease that is becoming more and more common around the world. Type 1 diabetes is rare and occurs when your pancreas can't produce insulin. Type 2 diabetes is more common. It occurs when your pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin...
Cymbalta, or duloxetine hydrochloride, is a drug used to treat certain medical conditions. These conditions include depression, GAD or generalized anxiety disorder, fibromyalgia and diabetic neuropathy. The drug targets the chemicals in the brain...
Tiredness---also referred to as fatigue or exhaustion---is a symptom involving low energy and increased need for sleep. In children, excessive tiredness can lead to academic, social and mood-related problems that affect overall quality of life....
The effects of morphine withdrawal are caused by physical dependence, and happen when use of the drug is stopped. Physical dependence should not be confused with addiction, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or NIDA. On its own, it...
Yawning is involuntary -- just try not doing it -- and is even somewhat contagious. Ever see someone else yawn and then found yourself yawning, as well? But yawning during exercise can occur for a variety of reasons, including fatigue or level of...
Yawning is a natural and involuntary bodily function that can be caused by fatigue, boredom or even a response to someone else yawning. But excessive yawning---which DiagnoseMe.com describes as one to four a minute---can be a sign that your diet...
The teenage years are a time of rapid physical and emotional development. Puberty, hormonal fluctuations and rapid growth of bone and muscle can take a toll on energy levels, causing many teens to feel fatigued from time to time. When sleep...
Your body's pancreas naturally produces insulin, a hormone that helps in the processing and metabolism of the energy you derive from food. After you eat, the food is converted into a simple form of sugar called glucose. Insulin is instrumental in...
The body's biological clock, also known as its circadian rhythm, is a system regulated by the brain structures of the suprachiasmatic nucleus, also known as the SCN, which is in the brain's hypothalamus. The SCN is a center of nearly 20,000...
The old saying, "If you snooze, you lose," may not always be true after all. In fact, it may be good for your to enjoy a guilt-free siesta on a regular basis. The Mayo Clinic says a brief 10- to 20-minute nap can have restorative effects for...
Women who are addicted to heroin are often given methadone, a synthetic narcotic, to take instead of heroin. Methadone withdrawal is probably the most common withdrawal seen in newborns, according to Marvin Wang, M.D. Mothers who take methadone...
Bags under your eyes and frequent yawns are the hallmarks of your life as a new parent. While some babies may not yet be old enough to sleep through the night due to a smaller bladder, about 70 percent of babies older than nine months of age are...
According to the American Sleep Association, sleepwalking is much more common in kids than it is in adults, affecting anywhere between 3 and 17 percent of children. Sleepwalking peaks at 10 to 12 years of age, with most kids growing out of the...
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that 14.3 million Americans experienced at least one major depressive episode in 2008. One drug prescribed for the treatment of depression is Effexor, which is made by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals....
Seasonal affective disorder refers to a type of depression that occurs at the same time annually. The Mayo Clinic says that most people with affective disorder display symptoms from the fall to the winter months. In the fall to winter months,...
Pristiq, also known as desvenlafaxine, is an antidepressant that belongs to a family of drugs referred to as serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs). This drug is used to treat mood disorders and does so by restoring balance to...
When your infant wakes up from the slightest squeak of your rocking chair, you can thank his middle ear for his quick reaction to sound. Although the ear seems like a relatively simple body part, a complex system actually lies behind the floppy...
Whether you have a cold or you've just stepped off a cross-country flight, you feel one symptom--your ears are plugged. While this is not a serious condition, it is uncomfortable and it makes it inconvenient when you need to hear what others are...
A heart attack, called a myocardial infarction, occurs when there is inadequate blood flow to part of the heart muscle. Lack of blood flow is typically caused by atherosclerosis, which is plaque buildup in the coronary arteries. Heart tissue dies...
Effexor (venlafaxine) is a prescription antidepressant medication indicated for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder, depression, social anxiety disorder and panic disorder. This medication is a type of serotonin and norepinephrine...
The term "barometric pressure" is often used interchangeably with the terms "air pressure" and "atmospheric pressure," and refers to the force exerted on you by the weight of tiny air particles, according to NASA. If you're in a low-pressure area,...
