I had severe pain last night and went to the ER. I had an ultrasound test. It showed my gallbladder was slightly distended (no stones) and the common bile duct was enlarged. My white blood cell count was 11,000. But my other blood tests were normal. Could this explain my severe pain?
Should an 83-year-old female get cortisone (for bursitis)? Or can this influence memory?
I had a CT scan for abdominal pain. I was told I have a fairly large cyst on my right kidney. The CT scan was otherwise normal. The doctor wasn’t sure what caused the pain. The pain is gone. Does a kidney cyst cause pain that comes and goes?
I keep getting a nosebleed from an area in my nostril that won’t heal completely. The scab does form, but then it comes off and bleeds easily. What type of doctor should I visit for this? What causes it? Can it be treated?
I have heel spurs. The pain is under control, but I worry about this getting worse. What causes heel spurs? Is it caused by ingesting too much calcium? How about a vitamin deficiency?
Spinal manipulation and home exercise may relieve neck pain better than medicines, new research suggests. The study included 272 people. They had felt neck pain for 2 to 12 weeks before the study began. They were randomly divided into 3 groups. One group received spinal manipulation treatments. The second group took over-the-counter pain medicines, or prescription drugs if needed. The third group was trained to do home exercises for the neck. The study lasted 12 weeks. By the end, 82% of the spinal manipulation group reported that their pain was reduced by at least half. This compares with 69% of those on medicines and 77% of those who did home exercises. At least 30% of the spinal manipulation and exercise groups said all of their pain was gone. About 13% of the medicine group reported no pain.
Only about 3% of cochlear implants in children fail and need to be replaced, a new study finds. But failure is more likely among children who had meningitis before their first implant. That’s what researchers concluded based on medical records for 738 children. All of them received a cochlear implant in the last 20 years. In all, 34 needed to have the implant replaced. Seven of the children with implant failure had meningitis before they got their first implant. On average, failure occurred about 5 years after the first implant. Most of the children heard and spoke at least as well with the second implant as with the first. The journal Archives of OtolaryngologyâHead and Neck Surgery published the study. HealthDay News wrote about it December 22.
What is considered the first day of a woman’s menstrual cycle? Is it the day some spotting has shown up, or the day of a regular flow?
Parts of the brain’s outer layer, the cortex, may become thinner before people develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, a new study suggests. Researchers were able to see the difference on a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. The study included 159 people. Their average age was 76. They were given MRIs as the study began. They also took tests of brain functions such as memory and problem solving. About 12% of the people showed thinning of the cortex. This was seen in areas that also become thinner in people with Alzheimer’s disease. Most people had a cortex of average thickness. About 15% had a thicker cortex than average. People in these 3 groups did not differ in their results on brain function tests. But about 3 years later, 21% of the group with the thin cortex had lower scores on brain function tests.