Also called: Intensive care
People with life-threatening injuries and illnesses need critical care. Critical care involves close, constant attention by a team of specially-trained health professionals. It usually takes place in an intensive care unit (ICU) or trauma center. Problems that might need critical care treatment include complications from surgery, accidents, infections and severe breathing problems.
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Also called: HD, Huntington’s chorea
Huntington’s disease (HD) is an inherited disease that causes certain nerve cells in the brain to waste away. People are born with the defective gene, but symptoms usually don’t appear until middle age. Early symptoms of HD may include uncontrolled movements, clumsiness or balance problems. Later, HD can take away the ability to walk, talk or swallow. Some people stop recognizing family members. Others are aware of their environment and are able to express emotions.
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After any type of disaster, people feel relieved to be alive. But then they often feel stress, fear and anger. Most people will also find that they can’t stop thinking about what happened. These feelings and memories aren’t a sign of personal weakness. Most trauma survivors have stress reactions for days or weeks. But some people have long-term problems, including
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Also called: Huffing
If you’re a parent, you may fear that your kids will use drugs such as marijuana or LSD. But you may not realize the dangers of substances in your own home. Household products such as glues, hair sprays, paints and lighter fluid can be drugs for kids in search of a quick high. Many young people inhale vapors from these not knowing that serious health problems can result.
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Also called: Little person
A dwarf is a person of short stature – under 4’ 10” as an adult. More than 200 different conditions can cause dwarfism. A single type, called achondroplasia, causes about 70 percent of all dwarfism. Achondroplasia is a genetic condition that affects about 1 in 25,000 people. It makes your arms and legs short in comparison to your head and trunk. Other genetic conditions, kidney disease and problems with metabolism or hormones can also cause short stature.
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Also called: C-section
A Cesarean section (C-section) is surgery to deliver a baby. The baby is taken out through the mother’s abdomen. In the United States, about one in four women have their babies this way. Most C-sections are done when unexpected problems happen during delivery. These include
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Also called: Cooley’s anemia, Mediterranean anemia
If you have thalassemia, your body has problems making hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen through your body. When your blood does not carry enough oxygen to the rest of your body, you have anemia.
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Heel problems are common and can be painful. Often, they result from too much stress on your heel bone and the tissues that surround it. That stress can come from
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Also called: Environmental tobacco smoke, Passive smoking, Tobacco smoke pollution
You don’t have to be a smoker for smoking to harm you. You can also have health problems from breathing in other people’s smoke. Secondhand smoke is the combination of smoke that comes from the burning end of a cigarette, cigar or pipe and the smoke exhaled by the smoker. Secondhand smoke contains more than 50 substances that can cause cancer. Health effects of exposure to secondhand smoke include lung cancer, nasal sinus cancer, respiratory tract infections and heart disease.
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Poor health can contribute to being homeless, and being homeless can lead to poor health. Limited access to health care can make it worse. That’s why the health of homeless people in the United States is worse than that of the general population. Common health problems include
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