Category: A

Progressive liver damage due to excessive alcohol consumption. Alcoholic liver disease progresses through three stages of rising severity; a fatty liver (in which fat accumulates inside liver cells), alcoholic hepatitis (inflammation of the liver due to excessive alcohol use), and finally cirrhosis (a severe liver disease in which healthy cells are destroyed and re¬ placed…

A rapidly progressing cancer that causes overproduction of immature white blood cells known as blasts. If the leukemia were not present, the blasts would go on to develop into the white blood cells known as granulocytes. The blasts multiply rapidly and replace the granulocytes, crowding out normal cells and causing the bone marrow to fail…

A process of exposing the body to small, injected amounts of a particular allergen in gradually increasing doses until the body builds up immunity to the allergen.  

The use of natural alternatives to hormone replacement therapy for symptoms associated with menopause. Some plant compounds can produce estrogenlike and progestinlike effects in humans and are used to treat menopausal symptoms by women who do not wish to take traditional hormone therapy.  

A pathological inability to suppress the impulse to gamble that results in severe personal, domestic, and vocational consequences, sometimes ending in financial ruin or divorce. Addictive gambling, which typically begins in adolescence, is considered an addiction because the attraction to the gambling behavior has the same characteristics as addiction to alcohol or a drug: loss…

A sign of a disorder in the digestive system. There are many types of abnormal feces. Infrequent bowel movements that are hard and dry are the symptoms of constipation. Three or more loose bowel movements a day are considered diarrhea. Chalk- colored feces may be a symptom of hepatitis (inflammation of the liver). Loose, greasy,…

An uncommon cancer that can occur in any part of the esophagus (the tube that connects the throat and stomach). As a tumor grows, dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) is often the first symptom of cancer. Difficulty in swallowing requires a physician’s attention. Other symptoms of cancer of the esophagus include coughing, hoarseness, choking on food, indigestion,…

A therapy that involves repeatedly, and in a controlled manner, exposing a person’s body to small amounts of extract from a substance (called an allergen) that causes allergies in the person, with the goal of eventually building up a tolerance to the allergy and reducing the allergic reaction in that person. More commonly known as…

A sign of a disorder in the digestive system. Normal frequency of bowel movements can range from as many as three a day to as few as three a week. Although changes in bowel habits may be due to a harmless condition, a sudden and sustained change may be a symptom of an underlying disease.…