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Bipolar Disorder Clinical Features

Bipolar Disorder Clinical Features

Bipolar Disorder Clinical Features, psychiatric illness involving recurrent episodes of depression and mania/hypomania. Basically these people have periods of extreme sadness or euphoria.It affects up to 4 percent of the population. Generally people with bipolar disorder are at risk of attempting suicide 20 to 20 times greater than the general population. So it is an illness that requires careful monitoring, care and treatment. It is a leading cause of disability across the world. It is the 7th leading cause of disability in males and 8th leading cause of disability in females, giving that it affects 1 to 4 percent of the population.

Bipolar Depressive Disorder

Bipolar disorder has two kinds of mood states, one is mood elevation and the other is depression. You can diagnose bipolar disorder when someone is experiencing any of these states. The depressive episode is characterized by at least two consecutive weeks of sadness or loss of interest in usual activities or loss of enjoyment of things that were normally enjoyed by that person. Moreover there is a change in physical aspects like loss of appetite or increased eating, loss of sleep or oversleeping and the feeling of being tired. Muscular fatigue is also a symptom of this disorder. However, there are symptoms that have got to do with psychic aspect. There is difficulty in concentration and sluggishness of the brain. One feels guilty and has decreased self esteem. In severe depression suicidal thoughts also come in mind. So there are some cognitive changes as well.

Manic or Hypo manic Phase

In addition to depressive episodes there are at least 1 week of mania and 4 days of hypomania that prevail in a person with bipolar disorder. This makes the person be in a state of euphoria with increased energy. Or else the person can be irritable for no reason. These moods often occur in combination with each other and they often are. Beyond these one has to be experiencing being more grandiose, needing less sleep, have racing thoughts, multitasking in a way that is not productive, cleaning the house, feel restless in wanting to walk or exercise excessively. There is also an urge of spending money and acting impulsively. Some severe consequences may be losing a job, getting bankrupt, being divorce and also getting into jail.

Treatment

People with manic episode with major depressive disorder are categorize as bipolar one whereas people with bipolar two have severe manic episode with some depressive episodes too. It is not easy to diagnose bipolar disorder because it is often confused with unipolar depression. It is mainly genetic and if you get any symptom of bipolar disorder by the age of 25 you are likely to develop this disorder. If you have a first degree relative with this disorder there is risk is having this disorder. However there is more than just genes involved in developing the disease. Sometimes environmental factor like extreme stress may lead to this illness. Drug that work the best to cure or manage this disease is Lithium.

Lung Cancer Symptoms Causes Treatment

Lung Cancer Symptoms Causes Treatment

Lung cancer Symptoms is important because it is the leading cause of death in many countries. The wind pipe descends into the chest and the wind pipe splits into a right side a left side. There are three branches of the right side of the wind pipe and two of the left. Of each branch of the wind pipe comes the lung. There is an upper lobe, a middle lobe and a lower lobe on the right side of the lung. So there are three lobes of the lung on the right side and two eminent on the left side. Right in between the two lungs is the heart.

 Symptoms of Lung Cancer

The most common symptoms of lung cancer is cough that often lasts for more than three weeks, coughing up blood, feeling breathless or having a severe pain in the chest. In addition to this sometimes the patients of lung cancer have the feeling of loss of appetite, because of which they can lose a considerable amount of weight. It is important to know however that it is possible to have a lung cancer without having any of these symptoms at all.

Causes of Lung Cancer

In the UK about 80 percent of the cases of lung cancer are directly linked with consumption of tobacco, so smoking happens to be the chief cause of lung cancer. In addition also exposure to dust such as asbestos, which causes shortness of breath or inhaling radon gas can cause this disease. However there are people who have never neither smoked nor been exposed to any of these gasses yet they develop lung cancer and this proportion of lung cancer is unfortunately increasing.

Identification of Lung Cancer

Lung cancer mostly starts by a spot in the upper part of the lung. This is the most common representation and identification of lung cancer. The problem is that shortly after its beginning, a cancer in the lung has access to a variety of lymph glands. Or lymph nodes that happen to sit very close to the wind pipe. These lymph glands extent all the way up. Generally this is the first mode of lymph glad extend. Lung cancer unfortunately because of the high blood flow to the lungs. It has access to spread outside of the lung to other parts of the body. The most common places are the liver, bones and the brain.

Treatment

Lung cancer is however not a death sentence and can be treated. It can be cured with surgery as well as high doses of radiotherapy. However this can be done if the disease is detected at early stage. When we think about treatments for lung cancer, what matters is what is the stage of cancer is at the time of its diagnosis. If we just have a cancer that is presenting as a spot in the lung. Without any evidence of spreading on the lymph nodes or anywhere in the body. This would call a stage 1 lung cancer and the most common treatment for this. Stage of lung cancer is to remove that segment of the lung where the cancer has spread. Called the lobectomy, which is the surgical removal of a lobe of an organ such as lung, liver or brain.

Knee Joint Osteoarthritis Causes

Knee Joint Osteoarthritis Causes Prevention and Treatment

Causes & risk factors, prevention and treatment options for knee joint Osteoarthritis

Knee Osteoarthritis is defined as inflammation of knee joint, affecting articular cartilage, synovium, margins of bones therefore causing pain on walking, swelling and stiffness of joints.

There can be a number of reasons of this disease for example any trauma, autoimmune diseases, hemochromatosis, increasing age, obesity, previous joint injury, overuse or disuse of the joint, weak thigh muscle, genetic factors, acromegaly and rheumatoid arthritis. Whereas, some of these causes and risk factors are not possible to convert like genetics, age, race etc

Prevention

A variety of confounding factors may place an individual at potential risk for creating OA. However, making modifications may not avoid this condition, but an individual may still be able to decrease their potential risk or stop OA from progression. For instance:

Maintaining your body weight

As extra weight brings undue stress on the knees so with time, it accelerates to wear the cartilage down.
Excess fat can often trigger the body to release cytokines, which is a form of protein. It can contribute to extensive inflammation and can alter the process by which cartilage cells function.

Maintaining blood sugar level

Certainly, High concentrations of glucose can influence cartilage composition and function, and diabetes raises the likelihood of damage & inflammation of cartilage.

Exercising routinely

Truly, moderate workout can assist the joints remain flexible, strengthen the muscles that hold the knees, and decrease the danger of several health problems. Therefore, if one has not exercised for a lengthy interval of time, should consult a physician for guidance on how to do this.

Eliminating the danger of injury

In fact, cartilage that assists to prevent accidental injury is more probable to create arthritis subsequently. Decrease the risk of slipping, carry well-fitting shoes, and use protective equipment when practicing athletics to avoid any accident.

Conducting posture and bone alignment tests

Surprisingly, gait evaluation as well as other examinations can assist doctors to assess bone alignment and posture. Some reports indicate that these may influence a person’s risk of increasing OA.

Knee Joint Osteoarthritis Causes Preventing overuse

Several athletics or tasks require repeated knee joint movements, including running or squatting. Individuals who lift more than 55 pounds frequently can have an exaggerated likelihood of OA. Occupations that place individuals at risk may include the fixing carpets and loading trucks or trains. Changing tasks and having enough breaks between times of job or workout may benefit.

Treatment options

Depending on the stage of disease, we have different treatment options like anti-inflammatory drugs, pain killers, injections like steroid and hyaluronic acid, Physical therapy, TENS, Electrotherapy, hydrotherapy and surgery which is the last option for grade 4 OA.

Knee Joint Osteoarthritis Causes Prevention and Treatment Conclusion

Hence, Osteoarthritis of knee is an inflammation of the joint causing pain, swelling and stiffness of joint. We can prevent it by managing certain risk factors that include, weight maintenance, blood sugar level maintenance, exercising daily and preventing disuse and misuse. As there is various treatment options so one must go to physician to prevent the disease progression.

Knee Osteoarthritis

All about Knee Osteoarthritis, Stages & Symptoms

All about Knee osteoarthritis, Stages & symptoms

Are you having pain in your knee joint? If yes, then pay attention it can be a sign of Osteoarthritis.
So, what is osteoarthritis of knee?
Usually Osteoarthritis is referred to as wear and tear joint cartilage. It is a disorder in which the normal padding mostly between joints & cartilage is diminished away. Once it occurs, the articular bones of joint rubs against each other. The fluid in the joint act like grease between bones, so when this fluid starts to lessen, bones produce friction and articular cartilage is damaged. The friction ends in pain, inflammation, tightness, reduced ability to walk and sometimes bony spurs are formed.

Stages

So depending upon the damage and severity of symptoms, it is divided into 4 stages that are:

Stage 1

Small bone growths called osteophytes may develop in the knee joint. As well as, the cartilage may become slightly damaged. Also there would be no evident shrinking of the gap between both the bones.
Individuals mostly with stage 1 OA are probable to experience discomfort or pain. But the joint appears normal in X-ray scan.

Stage 2

During this phase, physicians may see some indications of wear. As well as X-rays and other knee joint tests will obviously indicate more osteophytes development, and the cartilage will start to shrink.
The gap between the bones will still look normal, but the region where the bones and tissues join will begin to tighten. Hence this causes the bone thicker and denser near joint. The individual may develop stiffness or pain in the joint.

Stage 3

The cartilage damage becomes advanced, the space in between the bones reduce, and X-rays will demonstrate cartilage damage. Soreness and discomfort can happen when performing regular tasks including running, walking, kneeling, and twisting. Furthermore synovitis and early indications of joint swelling may occur.

Stage 4

As this is the most advanced level of OA, so the signs are highly noticeable. So well as the gap in between the bones in the joint progressed to reduce further, allowing the cartilage to dissolve even more. As a consequence, the joint will have stiffness, continuous inflammation, and have less fluid in the joint. Hence there is even more friction between bones, more disabling pain and distress during movement. X-rays shows closed approximation of bones, which depict that either the cartilage might have totally worn away or there’s very little left. So the individual is prone to develop further bone lumps and feel pain that is quite severe even during basic tasks including walking. In extreme cases, deformation or angulation of bones occurs.

Conclusion

To conclude all, osteoarthritis is a disease affecting mostly larger joints like knee joint. So the signs and symptoms of this disease vary from person to person depending upon the stage of progression, starting from mild degeneration of cartilage to completely worn away. Hence, the individual feels pain, stiffness, tissue tightness, sounds during movement, decrease ROM and inability to walk because of pain etc.