Category: A

Intermittent attacks of prolonged and intense upper abdominal pain, often associated with nausea or vomiting. The condition is considered a variant of migraine headache. It is also known as cyclic vomiting syndrome. There exists a distinctive variation of a migraine headache, characterized by moderate to severe abdominal pain concentrated along the midline. This particular affliction…

The intolerance or avoidance of drugs or chemicals.  

A treatment for scoliosis that is no longer used, in which a series of plaster jackets were applied to straighten the spine.  

Abasia caused by trembling and sudden stiffening of the legs on standing, making walking impossible. It may be related to hysteria.  

A rare disorder marked by loss of the ability to gauge the weight of objects held in the hand.  

An intravenous barbiturate whose main use is for inducing anaesthesia, which it does rapidly and painlessly.  

These have almost completely replaced bone marrow transplant, used to treat malignancies such as leukaemia and lymphoma for the past 20 years. The high doses of chemotherapy or radiotherapy used to treat these diseases destroy the bone marrow, which contains stem cells from which all the blood cells derive. In 1989 stem cells were found…

Also known as laughing gas, this is (at ordinary pressures) a colourless, sweetish-smelling gas. It is used with oxygen to provide relief of pain and mild anaesthesia during childbirth, during painful dental procedures, and at the site of major accidents. It has a rapid action and the effects do not last for long.  

A persistent or recurring condition or group of symptoms. Chronic disorders are customarily contrasted with acute diseases, which start suddenly and last a short time. The symptoms of acute disease often include breathlessness, fever, severe pain and malaise, with the patient’s condition changing from day to day or even hour to hour. Those suffering from…

A self-induced receptive, hypnotic state which is believed to improve the body’s ability to help itself. Doctors have long realised that if they suggested to a patient that a particular treatment would work, it often did — a type of placebo effect. Some techniques now make use of this idea. For instance, people can be…