Fibromyalgia is a misunderstood, misdiagnosed disease whose symptoms include severe muscle pain, fatigue, sleep problems, and depression. The sufferers, mostly middle-aged women, don’t get much respect, and in the past, patients were often told the disease was in their heads.
We’ve all heard that you can’t judge a book by its cover, and that is certainly true of Trichotillomania. The Medusa-like figure on the jacket suggests that patients with trichotillomania are evil, mythical creatures, rather than real people with a troublesome disorder. Fortunately, the authors are well aware of the difficulties faced by these patients; they do a superb job of characterizing the clinical aspects of the disorder and providing a careful review of its pathophysiologic features and treatment. Francois Hallopeau, a French dermatologist, coined the term trichotillomania by combining the Greek words trichos (meaning hair), tillein (meaning to pull), and mania (meaning madness, or an abnormal penchant or morbid impulse). Although mania has since come to be regarded as a form of psychosis, the term accurately describes the compulsive nature of hair pulling.
Results from the largest study of chronic fatigue syndrome to date suggests that there are specific genes and gene activity patterns that make some people more prone to develop the disorder.
While the Women’s Health Initiative Estrogen plus Progestin Trial findings previously reported an increase in breast cancer among those taking combined hormone therapy, the updated analysis reveals that estrogen-alone hormone therapy does not increase the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.
Periodontal therapy may help diabetic patients improve sugar control, according to a new study.
Preliminary research reports improvements with N-acetyl glucosamine as an added therapy in inflammatory bowel disease.
Men and women with elevated blood pressure who make healthy lifestyle changes and sustain them for up to a year and a half can substantially reduce their rates of high blood pressure and potentially decrease their heart disease risk. With behavioral counseling, increases in physical activity, and adoption of a healthy eating plan called DASH, rates of high blood pressure dropped from 37 to 22 percent among participants in a study conducted by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health.
New research supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health, indicates that people who are trying to end their addiction to marijuana can benefit from a treatment program that combines motivational incentives with cognitive-behavioral therapy. The study is published in the April 2006 issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
There are potential anticancer benefits of aloe vera. The potential for natural cancer therapy with supplements like aloe vera and melatonin has been suggested and these substances, called immunomodulants, may benefit certain forms of cancer.
In mucositis the epithelial cells of the oral mucosa are destroyed, causing an inflammatory response and denudation of the oral mucosa by the following mechanisms (1) cytotoxic effects of chemotherapy drugs on the rapidly dividing epithelial cells of oral mucosa (2) indirectly by bone marrow suppression.