Gout is often confused with other conditions, due to similarities in many of the symptoms (i.e., joint pain and inflammation). However, if you think you may have gout, you can expect your doctor to ask you a series of common questions during your initial appointment. With that in mind, here’s the information that you should be prepared to bring along to your medical appointment:

Gout is a form of arthritis that affects a wide range of people for varying reasons. This harmful condition occurs when there are chronically high levels of uric acid in the blood, which results in the hardening and crystallization of the uric acid in the body. Once these crystals are formed, they tend to attach at or around the joint spaces in the body, causing limitations in the affected joints, pain, swelling, and redness.

Dyskinesia takes its name from dystonia, which describes the involuntary muscle contractions or uncontrolled movements, common in patients with parkinson’s disease. Dyskinesias can occur as mild to severe symptoms in those affected by Parkinson’s disease. How does dyskinesia affect parkinson’s patients? Every Parkinson’s patient will experience them to a different degree—for instance, some patients suffer only mild motor complications in isolated muscles, while others may experience random twitching that resembles dance-like, writhing of the entire body, including the face, arms, legs, and torso, and sometimes even facial muscles.

The following are some testing and diagnostic procedures that are used by doctors and medical providers to identify asthma cases. Spirometry The Spirometry test is used to diagnose asthma and identify its severity.  In a spirometry test, you breathe forcefully into a tube and a device measures the amount of airflow passing through it.

Asthma is a condition that affects an estimated 300 million people across the globe. There are a number of complications that can arise for asthma patients. Some of these include- Increased risk of infections such as pneumonia or influenza. Decreased quality of life due to poor management of the condition.

Asthma takes place in two forms; acute and chronic. Acute asthma, known as an asthma attack is an episodic event that occurs due to an asthma trigger. Chronic asthma develops due to the changes that occur from prolonged inflammation over time. Acute Asthma When a patient comes into contact with an asthma trigger, a chain reaction of events occur that leads to an asthma “attack.” The exposure to the trigger will cause the muscles that surround the airways to “clamp down” or contract, thus narrowing the spaces for air to travel through.

According to The Mayo Clinic most treatments for asthma and allergies follow their independent paths, and these treatments don’t always work together even where patients suffer from both. While patients with allergies, asthma, or both are often prescribed medications to treat their specific symptoms, doctors concur that the best and most proactive defense is knowing your symptom triggers and avoiding them as much as possible.

Allergies and asthma are often thought to be unrelated conditions. However, in many cases there is a causal relation between the two. For instance, common allergens (like pet dander, dust, and pollen) trigger allergic inflammation in the lungs followed by more serious asthmatic symptoms. Doctors call this variety of asthma ‘allergy-induced asthma.’ How does an allergic response cause an asthmatic reaction?

There are both modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors associated with lung cancer. Modifiable risks are risks that can be changed, as they are in your control. Examples of modifiable risk factors are smoking and where you work. Non-modifiable risk factors are those that are outside of your control, such as a family history and which sex you are.

The following are the different types of Lung Cancer: Non-small cell lung cancer The most common lung cancer is non-small cell (NSCLC) which accounts for up to eighty-five percent of lung cancer patients. “Non-small cell” is an umbrella term for three types of cancer: adenocarcinomas, large cell carcinomas, and squamous cell carcinomas.

Lung cancer is a devastating disease that causes more deaths per year than colon, breast, and prostate cancer combined. Twenty-five percent of all cancer deaths are from lung cancer. Generally, an individual’s prognosis will depend on the how early the doctors diagnose and begin treating the cancer. There are many different types lung cancer, but doctors have sorted them into three groups based upon various characteristics.

Sadly, most folks still enjoy sunbathing without any concern for proper skin protection, which can be fatal. Recent statistics from the Skin Cancer Foundation estimate 87,110 new cases of melanoma for the year 2017 with approximately 9,730 melanoma deaths. While melanoma is only responsible for roughly 1-percent of reported skin cancer cases, the vast majority of these cases are due to sun exposure.