Cataracts Overview and Treatment Options

Cataracts don’t get much press, but they should. They’re a major cause of vision loss. In the United States, more than 4 million people have vision-impairing cataracts, and some 500,000 people have cataract surgery every year. Those operations cost a lot of money—about $3 billion a year. In fact, cataract surgery is one of the […]

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Rabies Overview

Rabies is a preventable viral disease of mammals most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal. The vast majority of rabies cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) each year occur in wild animals like raccoons, skunks, bats, and foxes. Domestic animals account for less than 10% of the […]

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Bronchitis Symptoms and Treatments

After a cold or flu, the two main branches of your respiratory tract, your bronchi, often become irritated and inflamed, says Alan Brauer, M.D., director of TotalCare Medical Center in Palo Alto, California, one of the nation’s oldest clinics to combine mainstream and complementary medicine. That, in turn, impairs the ability of the tiny hairs […]

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Eczema Overview

Eczema, also known as “atopic dermatitis,” is a catch-all term for conditions that cause recurring itching, and red, scaly, thickened skin, with possibly coin-size welts or small, fluid-filled blisters. Dermatologists recognize many types of eczema (among them: allergic/atopic, nummular, and seborrheic), but they all pretty much boil down to the same affliction, and have the […]

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Cirrhosis (Liver Disease) Overview

When liver cells die, your body normally replaces them. But if your liver has had to contend with years of alcohol or drug abuse, hepatitis B or C, or long-term exposure to noxious occupational chemicals, your liver cells stop regenerating, and scar tissue and fatty deposits form instead and spread. That’s cirrhosis. As it progresses, […]

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Reversing Heart Disease with Complementary Medicine

When Dean Ornish entered Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in 1975, it was a leading center of what, at the time, was the hottest new high-tech treatment for heart disease, coronary artery bypass surgery. Surgeons there were winning acclaim for crafting detours around blockages in the arteries that supplied blood to people’s hearts. But […]

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Back Pain and Exercise

Many back-pain sufferers stop exercising for fear of aggravating their pain. But avoiding exercise is one of the worst things you can do for your back, according to a consensus of experts assembled by the federal Agency for Health Care Policy (AHCPR) and Research. The Agency’s national treatment guidelines call for as much exercise as […]

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Influenza (Flu) Overview

Every winter, flu infects some 40 million Americans, costing the nation $928 million in medical expenses and $10.5 billion in lost school and work days. The worst cold might lead to bronchitis or a sinus infection. But for the elderly or those with asthma and other chronic respiratory conditions, flu can be fatal, progressing to […]

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Alternative (Complementary) Medicine for the Common Cold

In addition to home remedies for the common cold, such as getting plenty of rest and sipping hot chicken soup, there are a number of natural alternative (complementary) therapies for treating cold symptoms. Try taking echinacea preventively when those close to you—family or coworkers—are infected.

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Lyme Disease Symptoms

Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, and it can infect various areas of the body. Because of this, lyme disease can cause different symptoms at different times. Not all people exhibit all the symptoms of lyme disease, but the first sign of lyme disease infection is often a circular rash called erythema […]

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