ENLARGED PROSTATE
Published July 28, 2024 | 
WHAT IS IT?
Unless your prostate gives you trouble, you’re not likely to think much about it. This gland just above your groin does a big job, though: It makes most of the fluid that carries and nourishes your sperm.
A healthy prostate is about the size of a walnut. As a man passes his forties and fifties, the gland tends to start growing larger. It’s a rare man over 60 who doesn’t have an enlarged prostate. The formal term is benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)-benign because it is not cancer Continue reading
OVERWEIGHT
Published July 28, 2024 | WHAT IS IT?
Through most of human history, being fat was good: When food was scarce, anyone with ample body fat had energy reserves stored up for lean times.
Now things are different. We know that if you are obese-that is, if you’re more than 20 percent above the weight most experts agree is healthy for someone of your height because of excess body fat-you have a high risk of many health problems, including heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancer. Even if you’re not obese in the strict sense, some experts think your risk Continue reading
MENSTRUAL DISORDERS
Published July 28, 2024 | WHAT IS IT?
Menstruation is the discharge of the lining of a woman’s uterus when no egg has been fertilized. Also called a period, this discharge occurs at the end of a woman’s monthly fertility cycle and lasts three to eight days.
Many women have problems with their periods: cramps, dull aches, fatigue, or mood swings. Also, a woman may stop having periods or her periods may be more heavy than normal. Continue reading
MENOPAUSE
Published July 28, 2024 | WHAT IS IT?
When a woman goes through menopause, her body stops making eggs, her menstrual cycles end, and she can no longer get pregnant or give birth. Menopause comes to every woman, arriving for most between age 40 and 54.
Strictly speaking, menopause is the time of a woman’s last menstrual cycle. But it has come to mean the months-sometimes years-before her last period when her menstrual flow becomes less regular, or lighter or heavier, as well as the time after her last period Continue reading
KIDNEY STONES
Published July 28, 2024 | WHAT IS IT?
Your kidneys are a pair of apple-sized organs that flank your spine just above the waist. They filter your blood, cleaning about 1,800 quarts a day-more than a quart every minute. Kidneys get rid of excess water and waste products, which become urine in the kidneys before leaving the body. Continue reading
IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME
Published July 28, 2024 | WHAT IS IT?
Irritable bowel syndrome-IBS-shows up in a number of ways that may include gas, bloating, and cramps or pain in your stomach or abdomen. Sometimes you’ll also have changes in bowel movements such as constipation or diarrhea. Continue reading
INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE
Published July 28, 2024 | WHAT IS IT?
Inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, is a general term for chronic diseases that cause the intestines to become inflamed. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are the most common forms of IBD. Both can cause swollen, inflamed intestines, pain, diarrhea, and other symptoms. Continue reading
URINARY INCONTINENCE
Published July 28, 2024 | WHAT IS IT?
About 13 million adults in the United States have trouble controlling the flow of urine from their bladders, a problem called urinary incontinence. Most are older people. But the problem also affects women who have given birth and people who are overweight-both conditions weaken the muscles that control urination. Continue reading