Fibromyalgia is a baffling illness. No one is sure what causes it. Some doctors even question whether it’s real. But fibromyalgia is distressingly real to the estimated 4 million Americans who suffer it.
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Fibroids are masses of noncancerous tissue that may grow in your uterus. Some women have one one. Others have several. They can be as small as a pea or as large as an orange.
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That old schoolyard ditty, “Sticks and stones can break my bones…” got it all wrong. Names can hurt you, especially if they cause undue anxiety about a medical condition. Take the term “heart failure.” To many people, it implies that your heart is on the verge of calling it quits, a vision that can be very scary. Actually, in medical lingo, “failure” really means “fatigue.” The vast majority of the 5 million Americans who have congestive heart failure (CHF) are not in imminent danger of dying.
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Some 2 million Americans have emphysema. It’s a terrible disease of slow suffocation, overwhelmingly caused by decades of smoking. Everyone knows that smoking causes the vast majority of the nation’s 160,000 annual lung cancer deaths. Most people know that smoking contributes to many of the 740,000 deaths from heart disease. But few know that emphysema and its sister condition, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are the nation’s fourth leading cause of death, killing 106,000 Americans each year.
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Fibroids are benign tissue growths on the uterus. About 30 percent of women have fibroids, though fewer than half ever show symptoms. Fibroids, also called uterine leiomyoma, are the main cause of hysterectomy.
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We’ve all heard it before: “Bundle up or you’ll catch cold.” “Don’t kiss me, I have a cold.” Or “Feed a fever, starve a cold.”
While many old adages have truth to them, not all are entirely accurate. Read about some of the common myths and misconceptions about the common cold.
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The common cold is caused by any of about 200 viruses. Viruses are baffling bundles of genetic material. They’re so tiny that if a human throat cell were the size of the typical house, a cold virus would be about the size of a door or window. Using the common definition of “life,” viruses are barely even alive. Technically, each cold virus causes a “different” cold, but because all colds produce pretty much the same symptoms, we consider the common cold a single illness.
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Studies show that at some point in life, 80 percent of Americans suffer back pain bad enough to require medication or a visit to a health professional. For about 85 percent of people who lament, “Oh, my aching back,” lower back pain strikes once, slowly goes away over a few months, and returns only occasionally, if ever. But around 15 percent suffer chronic lower back pain that persists or recurrs for years.
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Home treatment and complementary therapies may be all you need to manage mild-to-moderate heart failure. However, Seattle naturopath Donald Brown, N.D., warns that in moderate-to-severe CHF, which is life-threatening, they are no substitute for more aggressive mainstream drugs.
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According to the American Association for Cancer Research, while genetics and environment are major contributors to cancer risk, the simple decisions made each day often matter too. Whether you are picking up a pack of cigarettes, exercising, or eating lots of fresh vegetables, studies show the power to influence cancer risk is in your hands.
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