A disease is rare if fewer than 200,000 people in the United States have it. There are close to 7,000 rare diseases and about 25 million people in the U.S. have one. Many rare diseases are caused by changes in genes and are called genetic diseases.
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Also called: Low vision
Vision impairment, or low vision, means that even with eyeglasses, contact lenses, medicine or surgery, you don’t see well. Vision impairment can range from mild to severe. The leading causes of vision impairment and blindness in the United States are age-related eye diseases: macular degeneration, cataract and glaucoma. Other eye disorders, eye injuries and birth defects can also cause vision loss.
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Dietary supplements are vitamins, minerals, herbs and other substances meant to improve your diet. They can come as pills, capsules, powders and liquids. Supplements do not have to go through the testing that drugs do.
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Also called: Discoid lupus, SLE, Subacute cutaneous lupus, Systemic lupus erythematosus
If you have lupus, your immune system attacks healthy cells and tissues by mistake. This can damage your joints, skin, blood vessels and organs. There are many kinds of lupus. The most common type, systemic lupus erythematosus, affects many parts of the body. Discoid lupus causes a rash that doesn’t go away. Subacute cutaneous lupus causes sores after being out in the sun. Another type can be caused by medication. Neonatal lupus, which is rare, affects newborns.
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Your mind works a lot like a computer. Your brain puts information it judges to be important into “files.” When you remember something, you pull up a file. Memory doesn’t always work perfectly. As people grow older, it may take longer to retrieve those files. Some adults joke about having a “senior moment.”
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Brain tumors are growths inside your skull. They are among the most common types of childhood cancers. Some are benign tumors, which aren’t cancer. They can still be serious. Malignant tumors are cancerous.
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When you are ready to have your baby, you’ll go through labor. Contractions let you know labor is starting. When contractions are five minutes apart, your body is ready to push the baby out.
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A genetic disorder is a disease caused by a different form of a gene called a variation, or an alteration of a gene called a mutation. Many diseases have a genetic aspect. Some, including many cancers, are caused by a mutation in a gene or group of genes in a person’s cells. These mutations can occur randomly or because of an environmental exposure such as cigarette smoke.
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Also called: Sexual assault
Rape happens when a person has sex that he or she didn’t agree to. It includes intercourse in the vagina, anus or mouth. Sometimes it happens when one person forces another to have sex. Sometimes this involves violence. It can also happen when the victim can’t think clearly due to drugs or alcohol.
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Also called: GI bleeding
Your digestive or gastrointestinal (GI) tract includes the espophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine or colon, rectum and anus. Bleeding can come from one or more of these areas. The amount of bleeding can be so small that only a lab test can find it.
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