Diabetes

Diabetes (Diabetes mellitus) is a chronic health disorder in which the body either doesn’t produce enough or doesn’t respond to the insulin produced by the pancreas. Insulin is a hormone which converts glucose into energy and as a result of diabetes, the glucose get accumulated in the blood, leading into complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney failure and blindness.

Though many types of diabetes are identified, the principle types include Type 1, Type 2 and Gestational diabetes. Type 1 diabetes results from body’s failure to produce insulin and Type 2 results as a result of cells failing to accept the insulin to use the insulin produced within the body. Gestational diabetes occurs in pregnant women who have high blood sugar levels during pregnancy.

Arthritis

Arthritis is a condition that describes pain, stiffness and inflammation in one or more joints or muscles of the body. Different forms of arthritis are identified and the most common form is known as the osteoarthritis, which happens as a result of pain to the joint, age or infection of the joint.

Though there is no cure for arthritis, many techniques are available to manage the condition, which includes physiotherapy, medication and exercise.

GERD

GERD, also known as Gastro Esophageal reflux disease, gastric reflux disease or acid reflux disease, is a digestive disorder which affects the muscle connecting the esophagus with the stomach causing stomach’s contents to back up into the esophagus.

The backwash of the stomach contents into the esophagus occurs when the lower esophageal sphincter is very weak or when it inappropriately relaxes causing heartburn, which is a burning sensation in throat or chest. Gastro Esophageal reflux disease is an extremely common condition while up to ten percent of all adults complain of daily symptoms.

Heart Failure

Heart failure, also referred as Congestive Heart Failure does not mean that the organ has failed to function. This refers to a structural or functional disease of the heart which impairs the ability of the organ to supply sufficient blood to the body to meet its needs.
Though this develops slowly, heart disease is chronic and long term condition which gradually results in heart failure.

Common causes of heart failure include forms of ischemic heart disease, myocardial infarction, cardiomyopathy and hypertension.

Heart Disease

Heart disease includes a range of illnesses that affect the efficiency and normal functioning of the heart.

Heart acts as the muscular pump in the chest that pumps blood with oxygen and nutrients to the whole body tissues and organs. Ultimately this results in disrupting the pumping action of heart, resulting in vital organs like brain and kidneys to suffer. The whole body itself is depending on the operation of the heart and seizure of the organ would result in death within minutes.

Cholesterol

Cholesterol, which is commonly referred to as high blood cholesterol is a major health problem in many countries. High levels of cholesterol in your blood lead to the disease, which is partly determined by the genetic factor and the amount of cholesterol in your diet.

The condition is related to the vital human organ heart, and has been identified as one of the four major risks for coronary heart disease. Therefore it is very important to monitor the blood cholesterol level every five years over the age of 20.

Chronic Cough

Chronic cough refers to the mysterious dry cough that doesn’t go away and is not regarded as a disease. This condition is generally considered to be a symptom of other disorders such as asthma, allergic rhinitis, sinus problems and esophageal reflex of stomach contents. Also there are few rare occasions in which aspiration of foreign objects into lungs would result in chronic coughs.

Also certain medicines are known to cause chronic cough as a side effect. In most instance medications doesn’t seem improve this disease and eventually some cases are cured with surgical treatments.

Shortness of Breath

Shortness of breath, also known as dypnea is a feeling of difficulty in breathing or uncomfortable breathing which results in insufficient airflow for your daily respiration needs. Dypnea is considered as a worrisome symptom of a range of sensitive or continual diseases and disorders.

Severity of this condition depends on the underlying causes including obstruction of the air passages, heart diseases, and emotional distress such as anxiety. Specific causes of shortness of breath include disorders such as lung disease, asthma, coronary heart disease, pneumonia, inhalation of foreign objects, allergies, obesity, compression of the chest wall, panic attacks and gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD).

COPD

COPD stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, which is a chronic and obstructive disease of the lower respiratory tract in the lungs, making the lungs harder to breath. In Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease the airways that transfer air in and out of your lungs are partly obstructed, resulting in breathing difficulties.

There are two forms of the disease, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Common symptoms of the disease include shortness of breath, cough and increased mucus. Though the common cause of is smoking, long term inhalation of other irritants into the lungs would also result in COPD. This is identified as the fourth leading cause of death in United States affecting more than a million of population and resulting in 100000 deaths annually.

Lung Disease

Lung disease includes a range of disorder or disease that affects the efficiency of the lungs, causing the organ not to work properly. These disorders can be grouped based on the area it affects as follows:

• Air way diseases (including asthma, chronic bronchitis and emphysema) which affect the airways that carries oxygen and other gases to and from the lungs, causing a narrowing or blockage

• Lung tissue diseases (including sarcoidosis and pulmonary fibrosis) which affects the structure of the lung tissue and makes it unable to expand fully

• Pulmonary circulation diseases which affects the blood vessels in the lungs by clotting or inflammation of the vessels. These diseases will have an impact on the function of heart

Lung Cancer

Being the leading cause of cancer death from cancer in United States, lung cancer is caused by uncontrolled division and growth of abnormal cells lining the airways and other lung regions. Lung is the main organ of the respiratory system that exchanges gases to and from the environment. Generally many other cancers of the body also migrate to the lung, like breast cancer and prostate cancer.

Smoking tobacco is the most important cause for developing lung cancer, which includes both active and passive smoking. Lung cancer is usually found in mature population and rare among small children. Two types of lung cancer are recognized, primary lung cancer which starts in the lungs and the secondary lung cancer which starts somewhere else and spreads to the lungs and infects.

Pleurisy

Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis is an inflammation of the pleural membrane that surrounds and protects the lungs. This condition generally arises from an existing respiratory infection or disease, such as pneumonia or viral infections.

There are two types of Pleurisy, dry pleurisy where the inflamed pleural membranes rub each other and wet pleurisy in which the fluid oozes from the membranes. Wet pleurisy may compress the lungs and result in difficulty in breathing.

Asbestosis

Asbestosis (also known as asbestos exposure) refers to the lung fibrosis that is caused due to the inhalation of asbestos that causes scarring in the lungs and pleural membrane surrounding your lungs. Heavy exposure to asbestos would result in significant asbestosis within the lifespan of an individual.

People with asbestosis are subject to severe breathlessness, chest pains, general weakness and in severe cases have enlarged heart. Lung cancer has also been identified as an outcome of asbestos exposure, even at a lower level.

Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder which is also the second leading cause of excessive daytime sleepiness. The disorder is also accompanied by a series of auxiliary symptoms.

Primary symptoms of narcolepsy include excessive daytime sleepiness, hallucination, sleep attacks and sleep paralysis. People with narcolepsy tend to fall asleep suddenly anywhere; anytime, in which the sleep attack could last for few seconds to more than an hour. Some people tend to function outwardly, such as continuing a conversation or putting things away, which will not be in their memory once they wake up.

Periodic Leg Movement Syndrome

Periodic leg movement syndrome, also known as periodic limb movement disorder, PLM and PLMD is a sleeping disorder that involves involuntary leg twitching or jerking movements during sleep, typically occurring every ten to sixty seconds and sometimes throughout the night. This may also occur along with other sleep disorders and at least 80% of people with restless legs syndrome have PLMD.

Symptoms of the disease include repeated awakening, severely disrupted poor sleep and subsequent daytime somnolence.

Snoring

Snoring is a loud and rough breathing sound that occurs during sleep when the airways collapse occasionally during sleep. The sound is caused as a result of vibrations in the pharynx. This is a common condition in adults and is considered as a symptom for the sleeping disorder, apnea.

Though snoring is regarded as a common disorder, it is an important social problem as it develops sleeping difficulties to the persons you share the bed with. Snoring results in sleep deprivation, daytime drowsiness, irritability, lack of focus and decreased libido to the snorers.

Insomnia

Insomnia is a very common sleeping disorder and the most common in the United States, where around one-third of the adult population has experienced it.

Insomnia tends to occur more often in women and older adults and arises as a result of not able to get enough or enough restorative sleep because of varying factors. Common symptoms of insomnia include daytime sleepiness, fatigue and decreased mental clarity.

Insomnia is categorized into transient, short and long term insomnia, where the transient and short term doesn’t last for more than few days while the long term or chronic insomnia lasts for than three weeks. Despite of the transient insomnia, short term insomnia requires a greater disturbance.

For information on treatment of Insomnia: www.sleepfoundation.org/insomnia/diagnoses-treatments/

Excessive Daytime Sleepiness

Excessive daytime sleepiness, also known as EDS is a neurological disorder in which there is a sudden recurrent uncontrollable compulsion to sleep. The disorder is also accompanied with lack of energy even after an adequate sound sleep. Excessive daytime sleepiness is considered as a symptom for one of the two forms of sleep disorders, hypersomnia and prolonged nighttime sleep.

Symptoms of excessive daytime sleepiness generally appear in a person’s teens and early twenties, which could vary significantly. Over 100000 Americans are affected by excessive daytime sleepiness, which strikes both genders and people of all races.