When food enters the lungs instead of the esophagus, it affects breathing and can cause choking and other problems. The structures inside the mouth and neck each have a distinct role in breathing, speaking and swallowing. The swallowing mechanism...
Most theorists agree that the human life can be divided into stages and that these stages proceed from simple to complex. There is disagreement, however, on how these stages are broken down and what the milestone of each stage is. In general,...
Swallowing disorders, which are called dysphagia, occur in children anywhere from the mouth down through the throat. Any type of swallowing problem has the potential to cause serious problems with your child's overall health and development. If...
After a laryngectomy, a swallowing evaluation performed by a speech pathologist will determine the presence and level of dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing. This difficulty can have a notable impact on eating habits, social participation, and...
According the National Headache Foundation, 29.5 million Americans suffer from migraine headaches. In addition to the medical care costs of migraine sufferers, there are also the costs of missed days at work and reduced productivity. Although the...
Silibinin, derived from the milk thistle plant, is widely used for self-treatment of liver diseases, including hepatitis C. Medical research on constituents of milk thistle has not fully confirmed beneficial and protective effects for the...
The liver, the largest organ inside the body, detoxifies nearly everything you ingest. In the process of detoxifying potentially harmful substances like alcohol and medications, the liver itself can become damaged. Viruses such as hepatitis C can...
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease that affects the central nervous system. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society estimates there about 400,000 MS patients in the U.S, with a further 200 people diagnosed each week. According to the National...
Dysphagia is defined as difficulty swallowing. There are four phases of swallowing include the oral preparatory, oral, pharyngeal and esophageal. Depending on which phase of swallowing is affected, your doctor may prescribe one of the three...
The HCG Diet combines daily doses of the drug human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG, with a three-phase diet plan. The HCG is taken either as injections or oral drops. The three phases of the HCG diet are the Loading Phase, the Maintenance Phase,...
COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is a progressive disease, meaning it gets worse over time. According to a March 2009 article published in "Medical News Today," it is the fourth major cause of death in the United States. More than...
Human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG for short, is a natural hormone that women produce during pregnancy. Proponents of the HCG diet claim that consuming oral HCG supplements helps boost your metabolism, resulting in rapid weight loss. Since HCG...
Training a horse to perform using ground cues requires some patience along with an understanding of the animal's nature. With either a green horse or one that already responds to the basic saddle and bridal cues, the approach to this type of...
Oral herpes, according to the American Social Health Association, is a mild and usually recurrent infection of the mouth and surrounding skin caused by the herpes simplex virus. The infection is, in fact, so mild that many of the estimated 50 to...
Oral herpes labialis, better known as cold sores or fever blisters, most often comes from the herpes simplex 1 virus. It is possible for the virus that causes genital warts, herpes simplex 2 virus, to cause oral sores as well, though it is rare....
Leukemia is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow. The main characteristic of leukemia is the production of too many leukocytes, or white blood cells. Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is one of four types of leukemia. While all forms involve the...
The plantar fascia plays an important role with arch support for your foot. You feel pain if it is sprained or shorted for a long time. Inflammation and swelling of the facia is what leads to the faciitis and can start without any injury. The most...
Opiates are relatively powerful drugs that act on the central and peripheral nervous systems to dull pain, and in higher doses can be used as anesthetics. Examples include morphine, fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, meperidine and...
Turmeric, a spice that has been used in India for centuries, has many anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties that may be beneficial to those who suffer from allergies. The University of Maryland Medical Center recommends taking 1.5 to 3...
The popular HCG diet is a weight loss program that combines extreme calorie restriction with hormone injections or oral supplements. The pricey injections that accompany the early phases of the diet consist of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), a...
Oral herpes, also known as cold sores or fever blisters, is an incurable infection caused by herpes simplex virus type 1. According to the American Social Health Association, 50 percent of Americans are infected by the age of 20. Oral herpes is...
Bioidentical hormones continue to gain popularity among people seeking an alternative to traditional medications, according to a 2006 paper in the "Harvard Women's Health Watch." Many commercial products contain these synthetic drugs that are...
Breast cancer usually occurs in the milk ducts or in the tubes that supply milk to the milk ducts of the breast. Breast cancer is a complex disease caused by a number of factors. One has to do with the way genes mutate and interact with hormones...
Hair loss affects men and women around the world and there are many reasons for it. No one likes when it begins to happen and some do everything to stop it. Hair loss may be temporary or permanent, partial or complete but there are treatments,...
Fertility treatments have evolved considerably over the years. A couple of generations ago, if a couple wasn't able to have children, little could be done for them. Today, we have numerous options available to aid in the process of conception....
Drinking green tea offers many health benefits, including cancer prevention and decreasing the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. There is another important benefit of green tea. In some research studies, green tea extract alters body...
Progesterone plays an important role in women's health. Natural levels of this hormone change across the menstrual cycle, and they dramatically increase during pregnancy. Older women often experience a reduction in circulating progesterone. This...
If your child has an upset stomach, especially one accompanied by vomiting and a high fever, you may be looking at a case of stomach flu. While you can't give your child medication to make the stomach flu go away -- your child's immune system has...
Candida is a form of yeast that occurs naturally in the body and is generally commensal, meaning that it has little or no effect on the host. There are many kinds of candida, many of which inhabit the digestive tract. In medicine, the most...
