PDR Family Guide to Prescription Drugs (Chapters) articles from January 22 2007

PDR Family Guide to Prescription Drugs (Chapters) archives from January 22 2007

1. New hope for heart patients.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... Each year heart disease kills more people than the next four leading causes of death combined, including all forms of cancer and all types of accidents. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 40 percent of all...

2. Defusing high blood pressure.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... High Blood Pressure (known medically as hypertension) is the most common chronic illness in America. The American Heart Association estimates that more than 50 million Americans over the age of six suffer from high blood pressure, and that...

3. Coping with arthritis.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... Arthritis has plagued mankind for millennia. Historians have found references to forms of arthritis in Greek and Roman literature, and some even suspect cavemen suffered from it. Today it's so widespread that one in six people and one in...

4. Osteoporosis, low back pain, and other bone disorders.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... The human skeleton is an intricate framework of 206 bones that give the body its structure and shape. These bones serve as armor for vital organs and soft tissue, a storehouse for minerals, and a birthplace for blood cells. Together, the...

5. Digestive disorders, minor and major.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... If we are what we eat, then what we are is only as good as our digestion. When it goes awry, it generally affects our total well-being. Whether it's mild nausea, a nasty virus, or a chronic disorder such as irritable bowel syndrome, a...

6. Defeating the dangers of respiratory disease.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... We can go without water for days and do without food even longer, but without air we will die in a matter of minutes. Breathing, along with the beating of our hearts, is one of the body's most essential functions, and any disruption can be...

7. Cancer: improving the odds of a cure.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... Cancer is the scourge of the late 20th century. Few things raise more fear in our hearts than the diagnosis--or even the mere thought--of this dreaded disease. And though cancer has been claiming more lives each year over the past five...

8. New answers for pain.(Medical condition overview)
January 22, 2007... Pain is the chief reason that people seek medical care. And whether it is a tooth, ear, stomach, head, or back that aches, people all want the same thing--relief. Since ancient times, humanity has been preoccupied with finding ways to relieve...

9. Overcoming emotional and psychological problems.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... Anyone at any time, can develop an emotional problem. You begin to feel sad, angry, alone, or just frustrated by the problems of everyday life. You lose sleep, become irritable, or simply want to "pull the covers over your head." Ordinarily,...

10. OB/GYN disorders: causes and treatments.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... The term OB/GYN stands for obstetrics and gynecology. This is the branch of medicine that deals with pregnancy, childbirth, and women's health problems. "Obstetrics" comes from obstetrix, the Latin word for midwife; "gynecology" comes from...

11. Birth control: more options than ever.(Report)
January 22, 2007... Over the course of a single year, from 60 to 80 percent of the sexually active women who use no form of birth control will get pregnant. To avoid an unwanted pregnancy, some knowledge of birth control is therefore a virtual necessity. A...

12. Handling familiar childhood infections.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... With all the sore throats, runny noses, intestinal disorders, and allergies that plague our kids, childhood must sometimes seem like a constant blur of illnesses--especially to the parent doing the nursing. But even though these ailments are...

13. Ear, nose, and throat disorders.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... Although ear, nose, and throat disorders aren't usually fatal, they still can be quite debilitating. Even a minor stuffed nose can make breathing and talking difficult. Ear disorders can disturb our equilibrium or compromise our hearing,...

14. Relief for common allergies.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... Allergies pose a significant and serious health problem in this country. According to conservative estimates, some 15 million Americans are plagued by hay fever and more than 17 million have asthma. Twelve million more Americans suffer from...

15. Dealing with skin problems.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... The skin is the body's largest and most visible organ. It reflects a person's general health and performs many important bodily functions. An average-sized person has 20 square feet of skin that serves as the body's front-line defense against...

16. Correcting glandular disorders.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... The endocrine system is a complex network of glands that acts in concert with the nervous system to control and coordinate the myriad chemical reactions associated with storage and release of energy, growth, maturation, reproduction, and...

17. Counterattacking major infections.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... Our struggle for survival has always entailed a battle against the countless microbes with which we share the earth. Hostile bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites invade our bodies and go to war with our immune systems. To fight back, we...

18. Overcoming kidney disease.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... Kidney disease is a major health problem in this country, afflicting some eight million Americans. Kidney and urinary tract diseases together affect an estimated 20 million people, causing more than 95,000 deaths a year and contributing to an...

19. Bringing urinary disorders under control.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... When functioning properly, the urinary tract is a marvel of efficiency. Throughout every 24-hour period, it thoroughly cleanses approximately 200 quarts of fluid, returning most of it to the circulatory system and eliminating the remaining...

20. Dealing with liver disease.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... The largest internal organ, the liver literally keeps you alive. It performs over 100 separate bodily functions; and its sheer complexity makes it susceptible to almost as many different diseases. Fortunately, most are rare. But there are a...

21. Facing up to sexually transmitted disease.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... Sexually transmitted disease (STD) constitutes a staggering public health problem in the U.S. According to the government's Centers for Disease Control, 15 million new cases are diagnosed annually. Young people aged 15 to 29 have the highest...

22. The facts about AIDS.(Disease/Disorder overview)
January 22, 2007... No disease is so widely misunderstood or so controversial as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, better known as AIDS. Myth and controversy swirl around AIDS because it is primarily a sexually transmitted disease and seems to target only...

23. Drugs and older adults.(Report)
January 22, 2007... When it comes to medications, seniors are just like everyone else--only more so. They have more health problems, take more medicines, get more side effects, and sustain more deaths from improper use. In fact, some two-thirds of all people...

Poison control centers.(Directory)
January 22, 2007... Across America there's now a single emergency phone number that automatically links callers with their regional poison control center. This toll-free number, 800-222-1222, is being used by every state with the exception of a few local poison...

Safe medication use.
January 22, 2007... Using medications safely is largely a matter of common sense and caution. Remember that the effects of a drug can vary from one person to another, so don't rely on others for drug information. Seek the advice of trained professionals such as...

Recommended vaccinations.(Drug overview)
January 22, 2007... It sometimes seems that modern medicine has all but eliminated many of the infections that plagued our forebears. But don't be deceived. These germs--from mumps and measles to polio and pertussis--are still very much with us, as occasional...