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Ankylosing spondylitis and depression often coexist and impact each other. The link is often due to the loss of control that people feel when they have pain they can’t manage. Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic inflammatory disease that causes pain in your back, hips, and other joints. As the illness becomes worse, it can make it hard to drive, work outside your home, or keep up with your social life. There is no cure for the disease, but you can manage it with treatment....

What Is Avandia? Avandia (rosiglitazone) is used to lower blood sugar levels in people who have type 2 diabetes. It is in a class of medications called thiazolidinediones. People with type 2 diabetes have trouble controlling blood sugar (glucose) because their body does not respond to insulin. Insulin is a hormone that brings sugar levels down in your body. Thiazolidinedione medications help lower blood sugar levels by making your body respond to insulin, allowing sugar to enter your tissues instead of staying in the blood....

Like many people, you may be in the habit of asking for the generic equivalent of a medication to save money. But if you take levothyroxine, the main drug used to treat hypothyroidism, whether to use a generic versus a name-brand drug may need to be considered carefully. Levothyroxine is sold under several brand names, including Synthroid, Levoxyl, Unithroid, and Levothroid. A generic version of levothyroxine is also available. But there is some controversy about whether it’s as effective and reliable as the brand-name versions....

There’s no scientific proof that putting Vicks VapoRub on your feet at night will help ease a cough. However, some people use Vicks on their feet to treat foot fungus, relieve foot pain, and smooth cracked heels. There is more support for some of these off-label uses. This article discusses the practice of using Vicks VapoRub on the feet as a cough and cold remedy. It also reviews the research on other uses for the product and the potential dangers of using it in ways that are not recommended by the manufacturer....

Chemotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses medications to treat cancer. It may also be referred to as cytotoxic chemotherapy, as these drugs cause death to cancer cells. While an effective cancer treatment, it is a powerful one that can cause a host of side effects, from fatigue to hair loss. Though chemotherapy can still be challenging, management of many of these issues has improved dramatically in recent years....

Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a mental health condition characterized by two or more distinct personalities. It was once known as multiple personality disorder. People with DID may experience recurrent gaps in remembering daily events, important personal information, or traumatic events that extend beyond ordinary forgetfulness. Mental health conditions like DID should not be self-diagnosed, but this list of questions may help you when talking to your health care provider about your symptoms....

Dry eye—when your eyes don’t make enough tears or the tears they make are of poor quality—affects nearly 16 million Americans. Dry eye is more common in older people, those who wear contact lenses, and people who have certain autoimmune conditions like lupus. However, not everyone with dry eye treats the condition. Some people do not know that they have the condition, while others find it difficult to treat. There are a variety of reasons why it can be challenging to treat dry eye symptoms....

Dysmetria is when someone is moving an arm or leg to a target and aims incorrectly, such as by overreaching. It is a sign of certain neurological problems or vision problems and can be detected during a physical examination. Usually, dysmetria is picked up on a neurological examination done by a healthcare provider. But sometimes, a person may notice dysmetria symptoms as they are going about activities of daily life....

Epilepsy causes recurrent seizures, and most of the time, there are no recognizable signs of epilepsy before the first seizure occurs. However, for some people, there may be some early signs that epilepsy will develop before seizures begin. Additionally, some types of seizures are somewhat subtle and are not always recognized as seizures. Therefore, some people might not realize that they have epilepsy or might not seek medical attention until seizures recur or become more severe....

Most of the time, high triglycerides are caused by a poor diet. Other factors can play a role, however, such as genetics or even the medication you’re taking. Triglycerides can contribute to several health issues and concerns. High levels of triglycerides can play a role in heart disease, stroke, and the complications of diabetes. Fortunately, exercise and good nutrition can help lower your triglycerides. That includes avoiding foods such as sugary drinks and snacks, foods high in saturated fat, and refined grains like white bread and pasta....

Frozen hip, also called adhesive capsulitis (AC) of the hip, is a painful condition that causes restriction of motion in the hip joint. The connective tissues surrounding and within the hip joint become inflamed and scar tissue forms inside the capsule, causing extreme pain and stiffness in the buttocks and groin. Little is known about why or how frozen hip occurs, although trauma to the hip and prior surgery are two scenarios that have been associated with the disease....

Gallbladder surgery is one of the most common surgical procedures performed in the United States, and it is most frequently performed to treat gallstone disease (cholelithiasis). The type of surgical procedure performed on the gallbladder is most often a cholecystectomy (the removal of the gallbladder). More than 600,000 gallbladder removal procedures are performed each year in the U.S., most of which are for symptomatic gallstone disease. But gallstones are not the only purpose of gallbladder surgery....

Sometimes people think of estrogen as a female hormone, but all human bodies require estrogen to function. It is normal for estrogen levels to rise and fall to a certain extent. However, if a person has consistently high estrogen for an extended period, this increases their risk of high blood pressure, blood clots, hypocalcemia (low calcium), and some types of cancer. Read on to find out the function of estrogen in the body, why it fluctuates, what high estrogen levels can do to the body, and what you can do to achieve a balance of estrogen....

People with arthritis should always discuss their exercise plans with a healthcare provider. The amount and form of exercise recommended for you will vary depending on: Which joints are involvedThe amount of inflammationHow stable the joints areWhether a joint replacement procedure has been done You should work with a skilled healthcare provider who is knowledgeable about the medical and rehabilitation needs of people with arthritis, and/or a physical therapist who can design an exercise plan for your specific needs....

Your thyroid is a butterfly-shaped organ that sits at the base of your neck. It produces hormones that regulate body functions. When your thyroid gland is underactive (called hypothyroidism), it makes too little hormone. When that occurs, your metabolism slows down, and your thyroid may not function normally. This process may lead to various symptoms, including weight gain, fatigue, depression, dry skin, brain fog, cold intolerance, muscle cramps, and constipation. In addition, without treatment, a goiter (an enlarged thyroid gland) may develop....

Currently, there is no specific test for gluten intolerance or sensitivity. There are ways to test for celiac disease (CD), which is a gluten-related autoimmune condition, but celiac tests cannot determine whether a person is sensitive to gluten. Seeking a diagnosis for gluten intolerance can be confusing in part because people often mistake gluten intolerance for celiac disease and vice versa. Both conditions are caused by an adverse reaction to gluten (a protein found in cereal grains like wheat, rye, and barley), causing symptoms like diarrhea, fatigue, nausea, stomach pain, and gas....

LASIK surgery is a type of refractive surgery used to correct vision problems like myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), and astigmatism. These issues arise due to changes in the shape of the eye’s lens and cornea, which prevent a focused image from hitting the retina, the sensory apparatus that transmits visual images to the brain. In this treatment, healthcare providers use a specialized laser to reshape the cornea to completely or partially correct the problem....

Lateral rhinotomy surgery is designed to give healthcare providers a better look inside the nose to surgically remove tumors or other masses within the nasal cavity. During the surgery, the majority of the nasal cavity is exposed. The anterior skull base, which is the wall at the top of the sinuses, can also be partially exposed during lateral rhinotomy. This article discusses the surgical process, potential risks, and what to expect when undergoing this surgery....

Diagnosis of leukemia involves a number of steps. It often begins with a complete blood count (CBC) and peripheral blood smear. A bone marrow aspiration and biopsy are also done with most types of leukemia. After diagnosis, the cancer is staged based on factors such as symptoms, the subtype of leukemia, and the number of abnormal cells in the blood or bone marrow. Additional tests might identify surface markers on the cells (flow cytometry) as well as genetic changes (cytogenetic testing....

Lockjaw, also known as trismus, is painful muscle contractions of the jaw and neck that restrict the range of motion of the jaw, causing it to “lock.” Often used as another name for tetanus, a serious bacterial infection, it’s now defined as the sustained locking of the jaw by any cause. This could include trauma, surgery, medication side effects, mouth infections, dental problems, and cancer or cancer treatment, Lockjaw can be extremely painful and, in some cases, life threatening....