Harvard Health Content API

Melancholy, an overwhelming and persistent sadness, is one of the most common symptoms of depression.

Having trouble falling asleep and waking up during the night happens commonly in people with depression. Some people with depression have the opposite problem, sleeping too much.

A number of treatments are available to treat vitiligo; however, there is no reliable cure for this chronic skin disease. Some people with vitiligo improve dramatically with treatment while others do not.

Options for treatment include:

• Glucocorticoids (often called “steroids”)

• UV light (called “narrowband ultraviolet B” or “PUVA”, a combination of psoralen plus ultraviolet A)

• Topical (applied to the skin) corticosteroids – this is usually for milder disease and may be recommended for two or three months at a time

• Topical calcineurin inhibitors, such as tacrolimus or pimecrolimus

• Skin grafting

These treatments may be given alone or in combination. For example, for widespread and rapidly progressing vitiligo, the combination of glucocorticoids and narrowband ultraviolet B treatment may be recommended. Other treatments are available if standard therapy isn’t effective and researchers are exploring other novel treatments that may prove useful.

Because of how pain signals travel, referred pain (that is, pain felt in one location due to a problem in another location) is common. A “cervicogenic headache” – a headache due to a problem in the neck – is a good example of referred pain.

Common conditions arising in the neck, such as osteoarthritis involving joints of the upper (cervical) spine, disc disease of the cervical spine or muscle spasm, can cause cervicogenic headaches.

Thus, a cervicogenic headache can be due to arthritis, but there are other causes of cervicogenic headache as well.

Gentle yoga can be helpful for back pain, including pain that is due to arthritis. However, there are many types of arthritis, and there is no evidence that yoga can actually change the course of any of them. That is, yoga has not been shown to decrease inflammation in the spine or protect joints from damage over time.

Diplopia is the medical term for double vision. The prognosis for diplopia depends on whether the problem is monocular or binocular diplopia, the underlying cause and whether or not it is treatable. Examples of effective remedies for monocular diplopia include, corrective lenses for astigmatism can be corrected, removal of a cataract, and dry eye treatment. Binocular diplopia from childhood strabismus is treatable. Damage to a nerve that controls one of the eye muscles may be temporary or permanent. 

Ischemia is the medical term for an insufficient blood supply to the heart, brain or any body part. If the problem is due to a partial fixed obstruction, the symptoms may only occur if the body part is working harder. For example, angina (chest pain) happens when a person exercises putting more demand on the heart that has a partial blockage in one or more of the heart’s coronary arteries. The heart muscle cells need more oxygen than the heart is requesting to meet the higher demand of the faster heart beat and more powerful contractions. When the person rests, the chest pain should resolve.

Hypokalemia is the medical term for a low blood potassium level. A mild to moderately low potassium level can be treated with oral potassium as a liquid or as a tablet or powder dissolved in water. Extremely low potassium levels, especially ones causing symptoms such as weakness and palpitations, need immediate treatment with intravenous potassium.

No, dairy products are not bad for your health and are a good source for calcium. Also milk is often fortified with vitamin D. For many years, low-fat dairy has been promoted as healthier than regular or full fat dairy. However, new research has suggested that if you consume the same amount of calories from dairy, either as normal or low-fat, there may not be any health related differences.

Here are steps to take to lower your blood sugar to prevent or treat diabetes.

• Maintain your ideal body weight.

• Exercising regularly—like a brisk walk of 1-2 miles in 30 minutes—at least five times a week, even if that does not result in you achieving an ideal weight.

• Eat a healthy diet and limit simple sugars.