AIDS, or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, is the potentially terminal disease caused by HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus. MedlinePlus reports that AIDS is the sixth leading cause of death among people ages 25 to 44 in the U.S. People...
Being told that you suffer from an incurable form of cancer or a terminal disease can be quite devastating. Medications and treatments may not be able to completely remove affected tissue or reverse the progression of disease. Medical advancements...
Chronic and debilitating knee pain limits activity and can have a significant impact on a person's life. Arthritis is often the cause of knee pain and deterioration. Knee joint replacement may be the right approach for those whose arthritis does...
Chronic lymphatic leukemia, also known as chronic lymphocytic leukemia or CLL, is a white cell cancer that causes white B or T cells to multiply without dying, eventually overcoming the body's red cells. CLL is most often diagnosed in later life,...
Nutrition and hydration are vital to life. Some conditions prevent a person from being able to take adequate nutrition by mouth. In these cases, a feeding tube can be inserted to provide 100 percent of nutritional needs. In some instances, such as...
Obsessive compulsive disorder refers to a specific type of anxiety that can affect children. Kids have normal worries and doubts but children with OCD struggle to stop their worries and are often taken over by them, which leads to certain...
Grief is a normal and necessary response to the loss of a loved one or the loss of control over your own life. Everyone experiences grief differently, and the amount of time it takes to recover from grief, and accept the loss, is different for...
Chemotherapy, which many refer to simply as chemo, involves taking certain medications to treat cancer. Chemo may be performed before surgery and may actually allow patients to avoid surgery by killing all the cancer cells. Chemotherapy cancer...
The good news about chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is that it typically progresses very slowly. The bad news is that it is a terminal disease with no cure. During the 1970s to 1990s the median survival rate was eight to 12 years. The National...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 1.4 million Americans suffer from inflammatory bowel disease. This term primarily refers to Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Both diseases affect the intestines, and...
Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease that involves all of the layers of the small and large intestines. The affected areas do not run contiguously. Instead, the inflammation skips: there is inflammation between areas of normal...
Crohn's disease affects the small and large intestines, causing inflammation within the intestines, fistulas, abscesses, abdominal pain, fever, weight loss and diarrhea. There is no cure for this disease, but there is medication and surgery to...
Every minute of every day, at least one person in the United States dies of heart disease. More than 616,000 Americans died of heart disease in 2007, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For most patients, heart disease is...
Oxycontin is an opiate akin to methadone and morphine. Like morphine, doctors prescribe Oxycontin as an anesthetic, primarily to patients with terminal diseases that cause persistent pain, like cancer, according to Sandra Alters and Wendy Schiff,...
Food plays a large role in your health. You may have heard people say, "You are what you eat." Although this is not literally true, to an extent the foods you eat have a direct impact on whether you are in good or bad health. People go on diets...
A cancer diagnosis can cause a range of emotions in the patient herself as well as in those who care about her. While each individual's experience is unique and depends upon multiple factors, several themes emerge in the stages people go through...
Signs and symptoms of cirrhosis vary between the different stages and may be undetected until after the initial stage. Biological factors may play a part in inheriting cirrhosis, but that is rare. Behavioral factors play the biggest role. Knowing...
Most (66 to 90 percent) of elderly suicide victims had at least one psychiatric diagnosis. The most common (two-thirds of the diagnosed individuals) diagnosis was clinical depression. It is estimated that over 75 percent of depressed Americans do...
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is a rapidly growing component of Western medicine. Some holistic treatments can be at least partially covered by insurance, and previously ignored treatments are now offered in major hospitals,...
Everyone wants to reap the benefits of a healthy lifestyle: fewer illnesses and doctor visits, a lowered risk of chronic and terminal diseases, even less mental stress and a greater enjoyment of life. But if your current lifestyle isn't so healthy...
Crohn's disease causes a "cobblestone appearance" in the intestines, as a result of the inflammation and swelling. It is also associated with skin diseases, inflammation in the spine and pelvis, inflammation in the bile duct, arthritis, gallstones...
The skin, which is the largest organ of the body, weighing between 6 and 9 pounds, protects the inside of the body from external bacteria and viruses, senses heat and cold and regulates the temperature of the body. Many skin disorders affect the...
The Ornish diet recommends that only 10% of your calories come from fat. In a five-year follow-up study on Ornish diet participants, they reduced the fat content from an average of 35% to 30%. This probably happens because fat is more than twice...
If you have stage IV colon cancer, whether exercise is beneficial at this time depends on your personal expectations. The benefits of exercise are well-documented in all populations, including those with cancer. However, exercise therapy goals...
If you're looking for a way to tone up for a special event or to become more fit overall, there are many exercises that can help. According to the American Heart Association, exercise offers toning benefits and boosts your immune system and...
AIDS is the terminal stage of disease caused by HIV. Those with AIDS have severely damaged immune systems, making it more difficult for them to fight off disease. As a result, patients are more vulnerable to developing life-threatening...
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is caused by the human inmmunodefiiciency virus (HIV). AIDS severely damages the immune system, and the Mayo Clinic states it is ultimately a terminal illness. This disease strikes people of all...
North Austin, Texas has many home health care agencies to choose from and people rely on them to remain independent and stay in their homes. These agencies provide emotional, physical and spiritual wellness to their clients, and in many cases they...
The term "throat cancer" describes cancers that arise from any of the structures in the throat, mainly the pharynx, the larynx or voice box and the epiglottis. The American Cancer Society lists radiotherapy or radiation therapy as one of...
