Waking up Gasping for Air: Heart Problem, Cancer or Apnea?
You abruptly wake up from sleep gasping, feeling like you haven’t taken a breath for a whole minute. Is this your heart? Could it be cancer or sleep apnea? […]
What’ll Happen if You Don’t Treat LPR? Can You Get Cancer?
Not treating GERD can lead to cancer, but what could happen if you neglect to treat LPR? LPR is common, and it’s common for people to seek treatment, as its symptoms are often not easy [...]
Knee Is Swollen and Hurts 8 Weeks After Replacement Surgery?
You had your knee replacement surgery eight weeks ago yet the knee is still pretty swollen and hurts. How normal – or abnormal – is this? […]
Swollen Stiff Knees after Basketball, Hurt When Bending
Whether you’re a younger adult or a middle-ager, it is never normal to get swollen stiff knees that hurt when you bend them after playing basketball. […]
Can the Need for Hip Replacement Surgery Be Prevented?
Is there anything one can do to prevent the actual need for a hip replacement surgery? This isn’t about avoiding surgery with conservative treatment for a bad hip. It’s about outright preventing the cartilage in [...]
Pain Under Kneecap When Rising from Sitting: Cause, Solutions
An orthopedic surgeon has simple and smart solutions for men and women who have pain under their kneecap upon rising from a seated position. […]
Housework Guidelines Following Hip Replacement Surgery
Here are the complete guidelines specifically for housework following a hip replacement surgery – from an orthopedic surgeon. “After a joint replacement, you can return to almost any reasonable activity of daily living,” begins Barbara [...]
Can Treadmill Walking Cause Stress Fractures to the Foot?
Who’d ever think that walking on a treadmill can cause stress fractures to the feet, but it actually can. Does this mean that if you’ve never had a stress fracture in your foot, that you [...]
What’s this Random Thumping in My Ear Like a Moth Flying Around?
Do you hear something thumping or fluttering around inside your ear, like a tiny moth flapping its wings? The good news is that you probably don’t have an actual moth inside your ear, if for [...]
Why Your Heart Races and You Feel Anxiety After a Big Meal
It may happen soon after a big meal or a few hours after: a racing heart well over 100 beats per minute and lots of anxiety. You may have connected the dots early on, or [...]
Different Kinds of Spasticity in Multiple Sclerosis
The spasticity of multiple sclerosis doesn’t come in just one flavor. MS is an autuimmune disease involving the damage of the protective myelin sheath around nerve fibers and cells in the spinal cord and brain. [...]
Why Don’t All People with Long QT Syndrome Have an ICD?
An ICD is implanted into patients with long QT syndrome to recharge the heart should it go into sudden cardiac arrest. So why aren’t ALL people with long QT syndrome given this implantable cardioverter device? [...]
Why Playing Computer Video Games Makes Your Heart Pound
Do you find that nearly every time you sit down to play a video game on your computer, it isn’t long before you can feel the pounding of your heart? […]
Feeling Pulse in Finger Wherever You Press It: Is this Normal?
Have you noticed that sometimes, when your index or middle finger is against ANY part of your body, you feel a pulse—and you realize that this heartbeat is emanating from your fingertip? […]
Can Sleep Apnea Cause Chest Pain at Night?
If you’re having chest pain at night in bed, it sure would be more reassuring to know it’s from sleep apnea than a heart attack or heart disease. Those who’ve never been tested for sleep [...]
Can the “Good Cholesterol” HDL Ever Be Too High?
Can too much of a great thing ever be bad – at least when it comes to HDL cholesterol? This is the “good” cholesterol that’s supposed to be high. But if it’s as high as [...]
Can the Pain of a DVT Come and Go or Is It Constant?
Can that pain in your calf that keeps coming and going, on and off, possibly be a DVT? A deep vein thrombosis classically causes calf pain that’s hard to ignore. […]
Left or Right Temple Pain Waking You Almost Every Night?
Can waking nearly every night with left or right temple pain mean an aneurysm or a brain tumor? […]
Weakness & Fatigue of Chronic Heart Failure vs. ALS: Comparison
Both chronic heart failure and ALS cause weakness and fatigue. For both conditions, here is a detailed rundown of the differences and maybe some similarities between fatigue vs. weakness. […]
Does Elevated Troponin Always Mean a Heart Attack?
A person who’s diagnosed with a heart attack in the ER based on an elevated troponin result may not have had a heart attack after all. The European Heart Journal has a 2018 study (Thygesen [...]
Undigested Red Food in Poops vs. Drops of Blood: Comparison
Red food clumps or particles in your poops can mimic the appearance of blood smears or clots from a disease. Here’s how to tell whether the red you see is food vs. blood. [...]
Symptoms of Heart Disease in Men Different from Women
Heart disease, not heart attack, is what we’re talking about here, and the symptoms of the disease itself in women are quite different than in men, says Momina Mastoor, MD, a board certified cardiologist in [...]
Can Very Physically Fit Middle Agers Still Have Heart Disease?
A surprising study shows that even hardcore exercisers in middle age could have severe degrees of coronary heart disease: very blocked arteries. This is especially true if the athlete has other risk factors for CHD [...]
Can Tingly Numb Fingers Be Caused by Heart Trouble?
If you suddenly have tingling and numbness in your fingers and have risk factors for a heart attack, there may be more to what’s going on than just some pinched nerve somewhere. […]
Can Chest Tightness Be the ONLY Symptom of a Heart Attack?
Is it true that if you have only the one symptom of chest tightness, and no other symptoms, that you could still be having a heart attack? You probably already know at least a few [...]
Skin Cancer Risk from Wearing a Bikini to Feel Confident
It's not about self-love. Perhaps some plus-size women want to be covered up at the beach to protect against skin cancer. Maybe the next full size woman you see covered up at the beach already [...]
Does Posing for IG Photos Mean Plus Size Women Are Confident?
“I wish I had your confidence!” Now wait a minute here. Do you really think you can tell that a plus size woman is confident simply because she posted an Instagram image showing a lot [...]
Do Beach Cover-ups Mean a Plus Size Woman Lacks Confidence?
Is it fair to assume that when a plus size woman wears cover-ups at the beach, that she lacks confidence? Should how much confidence a plus size woman has be measured by how much skin [...]
Can Chronic Heart Failure Lead to Liver Failure?
The kidneys get all the attention as the organ that fails secondary to chronic heart failure. However, the liver, which the heart pumps 25 percent of its blood flow to, will also decline with chronic [...]
BPPV Dizziness vs. Heart Attack Is Coming Dizziness
BPPV dizziness can strike out of the blue, but so can the dizziness of a looming heart attack. Is there a way to tell the difference? BPPV stands for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. It’s caused [...]
Heart Rate Over 100 a Few Hours After Intense Exercise Normal?
If your heart rate is still over 100 even after intense exercise, you need to find out why this is happening, because it shouldn’t be. […]
Can Early MS Cause Tingling & Numbness Below the Waist?
“Early MS can often cause numbness and tingling below the waist,” says Mitzi J. Williams, MD, clinical neurologist with Morehouse School of Medicine, an MS specialist and clinical advisor for the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation. [...]
How Hip Pain from MS Feels Different from Other Causes
There are so many causes of hip pain, from bursitis to strained muscles to cancer to multiple sclerosis. […]
Can Multiple Sclerosis Cause a Completely Numb Scalp?
Numbness in the scalp has quite a few causes, including some very surprising ones – as well as multiple sclerosis. […]
Can You Have ALS Without Weakness in the Early Stage?
Can ALS be in progress before it starts causing weakness? This question looms before people who are scared that their twitching muscles means the onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – an incurable disease that is [...]
Causes of Twitching Muscles in the Back
Does the same kind of twitching that occurs in your eyelid ever occur in the muscles of your back? […]
Would ALS or MS Foot Drop Make Driving Difficult?
Would any degree of foot drop from ALS or MS be detected when driving and using the gas and brake pedals? […]
Can MS Cause Excruciating Back Pain?
Multiple sclerosis is known for causing pain, but can it cause excruciating or severe pain – in one’s back? If back pain isn’t the No. 1 non-fatal health problem in the U.S., then it certainly [...]
Can Multiple Sclerosis Cause Toe Pain? What Really Is MS Pain?
If you have multiple sclerosis and toe pain, or if you have unexplained toe pain but have not yet seen a neurologist, there are several important factors that you need to understand. […]
Can MS Be Caused by a Car Accident?
Why does multiple sclerosis seem to develop soon after a car accident? Does the car crash directly cause MS or does it trigger something that’s already there and just make it more noticeable? [...]
