General Health Conditions, Diagnosis and Treatment

General Health Conditions:

General Health Conditions can be diagnosed by fatigue, fever, malaise, unexplained weight loss, cognition, numbness, nausea, sweats, chills.

Fatigue:

Fatigue is defined as a term used to describe feeling of tiredness or lack of energy caused by fluctuating stress.

Symptoms:

• Headache 
• Dizziness
• Aching muscle
• Irritability
• Sleepiness

How to fix fatigue?

• Eat to beat tiredness
• Sleep well
• Get moving
• Reduce stress
• Drink less alcohol
• Talking therapy beats fatigue
• Cut out caffeine

Drug therapy: Drug therapies bupropion, sertraline are used to treat extreme fatigue, however some used Adderall, Modafinil off label & duloxetine.

Malaise:

A general feeling of discomfort, illness or unease whose exact cause is difficult to identify being tired or under the weather.

• Feeling of overall weakness
• Feel of discomfort
• Feeling of illness
• Not feeling well

Onset: Malaise may happen suddenly or may develop gradually and might persist for a long time.
Causes: Acute viral disorders may cause malaise like:

• Fibromyalgia
• Lyme disease
• Hepatitis
• Severe Anemia
• Diabetes

Mental health conditions like depression and anxiety can lead to malaise.

 Medications causing Malaise:

Medications that put you at at risk for malaise include:

• Anticonvulsants
• Beta-blockers

Fever:

Human body temperature goes above normal range of 36-37 degrees Celsius (98-100 F) that is a common medical sign also known as pyrexia and controlled hyperthermia.
Symptoms: Initially shivering, feeling cold and later on flushed, sweating.
Complications: Complications may include febrile seizure.
Causes: Increase in body’s temperature set point.
Treatment: Based on underlying cause not necessarily required for itself.

Medications:

• Paracetamol
• Ibuprofen

Diagnostic Method: Temperature> between 37.2 & 38.3Degree Celsius (99.0 & 100.9F).

Chills:

That is feeling of coldness accompanied by shivering might get rise with or without fever. Without fever chills typically arise after exposure to cold environment. 

Symptoms:

• Fever
• Fatigue
• Tremor

Causes:

• Bacterial infection
• Cold environment
• Parasite infection
• Viral infection

Treating Chills:

• Drink lots of fluids.
• Sponge with lukewarm water.
• Take acetaminophen to fight chills.
• Don’t bundle up in blankets.

Sweats:

Moisture exuded through pores of skin, typically in profuse quantities  as a reaction to heat, physical exertion or fever.

Types of glands:

• Eccrine glands: Present almost throughout the body.
• Apocrine glands: Present in Axilla, Groin.

Nausea:

Nausea is a sensation of vomiting it can be acute or short lived or prolonged.It can be psychological or physical in origin.

Causes:

• Causes might include:
• Food poisoning
• Motion sickness
• Pregnancy

Symptoms:

• Often accompanied by:
• Gastrointestinal distress
• Diarrhea
• Intense Pain
• Lethargy
• Rapid Pulse
• Excessive sweating

How to relieve nausea:

• Take in plenty of fluids
• Avoid greasy or fried stuff.

Vomiting:

Vomiting describes the forceful expulsion of contents of stomach through mouth also known as emesis.

Causes:

• Food poisoning
• Gastritis
• Brain cancer
• Bowel Obstruction
• Noxious stimuli
• Cholecystitis

Dizziness:

Used to describe a wide variety of sensations such as feeling faint, weak & lazy or inactive.

Causes:

• Migraine
• Medications
• Alcohol

How to Relieve dizziness:

• Acupuncture
• Drinking plenty of water
• Reducing stress

VITAMIN DEFICIENCY: Low vitamins B12 levels can cause dizziness.

Numbness:

Lost,reduced or altered sensation and an odd prickling sensation. These sensations commonly occur after sitting or standing in particular position or even wearing tight clothing for too long.

Causes:

• Pressure on nerves
• Pressure on blood vessels
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Tumor & infection

How to relieve numbness?

• To relieve numbness we use :
• Ice therapy
• Heat therapy
• Massage
• Exercise
• Epsom salt bath
• Supportive devices

Unexplained weight loss:

Noticeable drop in body weight that occurs even if person is not trying to lose weight.

Causes:

• Addison’s disease
• Celiac disease
• COPD
• Cancer
• Change in diet
• Crohn’s disease
• Dementia

Weakness:

Weakness is decrease in strenth in one or more muscles, loss of muscle strength.

Causes:

• Metabolic disease
• Injuries
• Toxins
• Congenital Myopathies
• Electrolyte imbalance
• Malnutrition
• Muscular dystrophy

Symptoms:

• Fatigue
• Fever
• Muscle cramps

Cognition:

The mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience and senses.

Types of Cognition:

Following are the types of cognitive processes:

1. Attention
2. Perception
3. Memory
4. Learning
5. Language
6. Reasoning

Example:

Study of mind.