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Understanding the hormonal cycles of the female reproductive system and how they affect your body can be helpful when trying to become pregnant or avoid pregnancy. Hormones play a big role by helping the brain, ovaries, and uterus communicate. Basal body temperature (BBT) is one outward sign to predict when your body is most fertile. This article discusses the basics of the female menstrual cycle, the fertile window, and how checking BBT can provide useful information for women trying to conceive or avoid pregnancy....

Bile is a sticky, yellow-green digestive fluid made by the liver. Its main job is to break down fats into fatty acids so that they can be absorbed by your body through the digestive tract. Bile is stored in the gallbladder and is sometimes also called gall. Bile also gets rid of certain waste products from your body, such as hemoglobin, a protein that comes from destroyed red blood cells and excess cholesterol....

You may have been diagnosed with or are worried about breast cancer. If so, you may wonder how fast it develops, grows, and spreads. The concern comes with questions like when the cancer started, how fast it will double in size, and how quickly it might spread to lymph nodes, bones, or other regions of the body. The answers vary based on your own genetic makeup, the type of cancer, and how far it may have advanced already....

Inflammatory arthritis conditions affect more than the joints. Among the complications faced by people living with these conditions are heart disease, osteoporosis, kidney problems, and hearing loss. Hearing loss is an important concern for people living with inflammatory arthritis conditions. The auditory system—the body system responsible for hearing—is affected by inflammation in the same way other body systems are. Medications used to treat inflammatory arthritis are another reason people with these conditions are at a higher risk for hearing loss, as are lifestyle and environmental factors....

Colitis is when the inner lining of the colon (large intestine) is inflamed due to infection or disease. The inflammation can cause swelling and ulcers as well as other symptoms, depending on the cause. Some common conditions that cause colitis include inflammatory bowel disease (which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis), Clostridioides difficile colitis, microscopic colitis, ischemic colitis, and allergic colitis. The colon is part of the digestive tract and the biggest part of the large intestine....

Over 25 million people in the United States have allergies to pollen from trees, grass, or weeds. Coping with allergies can be a challenge any time of year, but particularly in the spring for many people. Spring allergies are one way to describe hay fever, allergic rhinitis (inflammation of the mucous membranes of the nose) is another such term. But no matter how a person refers to the spring allergy season, it can be a miserable time for those coping with allergies....

There are many reasons to exercise more, whether you want to improve your health, increase your fitness, or participate in a social activity, such as a race. You may want to exercise because it simply makes you feel good. While most adults could benefit from more physical activity, it’s also common for exercise to become an addiction that is harmful to your physical and mental health. Learn more about the signs of exercise addiction, causes and risk factors, and treatment....

If you’re one of the estimated 85% of adults who have experienced low back pain, you know how challenging it can be to get relief. Depending on the nature of the discomfort, foam rolling may be worth trying. This approach relies on a technique called self-myofascial release (SMR) to work on fascia, the connective tissue that encases muscles, muscle fibers, and the entire musculoskeletal system. Fascia can become stiff, restricting your range of motion and causing muscle soreness....

Friedreich’s ataxia is a rare disease that affects your central nervous system. It impacts your spinal cord and the nerves that transmit and receive messages between your brain and the rest of your body. It also affects your cerebellum, the part of your brain that controls movement and balance. This disease causes gradual muscle stiffness and loss of strength and feeling in your limbs. Speech, hearing, and vision are also affected....

Fungal sinusitis, or fungal sinus infection, refers to an infection that causes inflammation of the sinuses (hollow, air-filled spaces between your eyes, near your eyes, nose, cheeks, and forehead). It occurs when you inhale microscopic fungi that thrive in warm and damp environments. These include outdoors (on plants and in the soil), indoors (in the air and on surfaces), and within the human body (on skin or internally). Of the 1....

Fanconi anemia (FA) is a rare genetic disorder that affects young children, but often they are asymptomatic early in life. Clinical manifestations of FA can develop over time and involve many organ systems. Clinical suspicion of FA is mostly based on physical defects at birth (such as a heart defect or malformed hands or arms), as well as delays in growth. Later in life, between 5 and 10 years of age, children with FA often develop life-threatening bone marrow failure, which may cause symptoms that include fatigue, easy bruising, frequent infections, and bleeding from the gums or nose....

Diagnosing lymphoma can often be challenging. It not only involves surgery to check for cancer in the lymph nodes but also requires additional tests to determine which type and stage of cancer you have. The road to a definitive diagnosis may involve a variety of specialists, including a surgical oncologist, a hematologist-oncologist (a specialist in blood cancers), and a hematopathologist (a specialist in the diagnosis of blood diseases). Self-Checks Lymphoma is a form of cancer that starts in the type of white blood cell called a lymphocyte....

Talking to friends and family about your cancer diagnosis is not an easy task. The emotions you are feeling are most likely new and coping with the reaction of the person you are telling can add stress and anxiety about the diagnosis. This article helps ease you through the process by discussing who to tell and finding the right words when you tell your partner, children, friends, coworkers, and employer. If you are supporting a loved one with cancer, there is a section for you as well....

Wet wrapping combats the itching and discomfort of eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis (AD). Though there is no cure for eczema, wrapping the skin with layers of wet and dry cloths has been done for centuries to help calm flare-ups and relieve eczema symptoms. In this article, you will learn what research says about wet wrapping, how it’s done, and what materials should be used. Wet Wraps: A Complementary Eczema Treatment Eczema is an inflammatory skin condition that can’t be cured....

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is a vital body system. The parts of the HPA axis include the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, and the adrenal glands. The HPA axis is connected to the central nervous system and the endocrine system. Together they work to adjust the balance of hormones in the body and affect the stress response. The stress response is how the body reacts to a stressful event, which can include raising the heart rate or sweating....

Going to the bathroom is a necessity for everyone, but that doesn’t mean a place “to go" is always available. In most cases, holding it for a short time when you feel the urge to go is not going to be harmful. However, holding pee for a long period of time and ignoring the urge to go might increase the risk of certain problems, such as urinary tract infections. For those reasons, it’s important to not hold it for any longer than is necessary....

Sleep apnea is a common medical condition that causes breathing interruptions, called “apnea events,” during sleep. The most common type is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which happens when something partially or completely blocks the upper airway during sleep. About 22 million Americans have sleep apnea. Untreated sleep apnea can lead to serious health complications, such as stroke, heart disease, heart failure, dementia, and diabetes. It can also cause brain damage and memory loss due to a lack of oxygen to the brain during sleep....

Methotrexate is a common prescription medication for rheumatoid arthritis, other inflammatory types of arthritis and autoimmune disease, several types of cancer, and more. Methotrexate dosage is different from that of other medications in that you only take it once a week. That can be confusing, especially if your healthcare provider or pharmacist haven’t explained it. It’s not uncommon for someone to overdose on methotrexate because they take it every day. Too much methotrexate can cause severe toxic effects, especially liver toxicity....

Your immune system normally defends your body against harmful substances to prevent infection and illness. When your immune system malfunctions, harmful substances like cancer cells may be able to escape detection and elimination. In multiple sclerosis (MS), a person’s immune system malfunctions and attacks nerve fibers and their protective myelin covering in the brain and spinal cord. Due to this abnormal immune system response, it’s reasonable to think that MS may be associated with increased cancer risk....

Women want natural remedies to treat common menopause symptoms, such as mood swings, hot flashes, and insomnia. In fact, many turn to herbs, food, and lifestyle changes instead of potentially risky hormone therapy. Because there’s a dearth of solid research about treating menopause symptoms, sifting through advice from friends and advertisers about treatments can be overwhelming. If you’re at a loss about how to manage your symptoms, review the tips that follow....