|
Are You Wasting Time and Money at Doctor Visits?
Tips for a Better Doctor Visit
1. Have as many medical records as possible with you to document
your medical condition, especially for a new visit or a consult.
Go by the hospital, lab or other doctor's office and get copies.
This saves the...
Sensitive Skin - How to Take Care of Sensitive Skin, Naturally
Sensitive Skin - How to Take Care of Sensitive Skin, Naturally
By Danny
Siegenthaler
Sufferers of sensitive skin do not have to go without make-up or
skin care products. On the contrary, a good quality natural skin
care...
Three Amigos
Direct Answers - Column for the week of February 23, 2004
I feel rather foolish writing this letter, but I need help. I am a 67-year-old man living on social security. My wife and I divorced, but I never lost my love for her. One day we...
Understanding New Psoriasis Treatments Like Enbrel
The majority of the biologic therapies involve changing the
amount of Tumor Necrosis Factor - Alpha (TNF-Alpha). TNF-alpha
is involved in regulating abnormal responses like inflammation,
increased blood vessel formaton (angiogenesis), and...
What’s causing my Depression and Fatigue?
Chronic Fatigue and Chronic Depression are absolutely systemic in our society today. Recent studies done by the AMA and CMA purport one in four people in North America are suffering from some form of chronic fatigue or depression and it’s...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
HIV/AIDS
Contrary to popular belief not only is HIV/AIDS still around, but it is actually on the increase. According to figures published by the United Nations AIDS program, there are now 42 million people living with HIV world wide, and 3.2 million are children.
In Britain, around 41,200 people are thought to be infected with HIV, and a third of them do not know. The highest rate of new cases ever was recorded as recently as 2001. The number of people infected in the UK is expected to rise by 50% over the next five years. Fifteen thousand people have died of HIV-related diseases so far.
HIV
HIV stands for "Human Immunodeficiency Virus". This virus gets inside our body and then stops our immune system from working properly. This happens over a period of time and the length of time taken is different for each person. When the immune system is disrupted, we are more prone to infections.
Normally when infections get inside us, our own immune system knows about it. There are a lot of different "cells" spread around inside us that have different roles to play in fighting infection. They move around the body where ever they are needed. The two main types are red blood cells and white blood cells. The white blood cells are split into two main camps
"B cells" identify foreign organisms and signal other cells to attack it.
"T cells" are split into types:
CD4 cells organise the immune system's response to infection.
CD8 cells attack and destroy infected cells.
HIV is different from other viruses in that it attacks the CD4 cells and makes them produce more HIV virus.
How does it get inside our bodies?
It is
mainly passed on through body fluids. The main fluids are:
Breast milk
Blood
Semen
Vaginal fluids.
The most common ways that HIV gets inside our bodies include:
Penetrative sex (without a condom)
Drug equipment (if it's already been used by an infected person)
Getting blood infected with HIV inside us, such as sharing razors, or tatooing or body/ear piercing equipment.
A woman to her baby during birth, or breast feeding.
What is AIDS?
Although with careful medical interventions such as various drugs and treatments, many people with HIV can stay well for many years. Some people will still have times of illness, and people still die of AIDS-related illness.
If someone with HIV does become ill with one or more of a number of particular illnesses, they may be diagnosed medically as having "Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome" (AIDS).
AIDS itself is not a virus or a single illness. It is a term used to describe certain illnesses connected with HIV.
Help & Support
One place to go is the Department of Genito-Urinary Medicine (GU) clinic at a large hospital. The clinics are free and confidential. Anyone can go; doctors do not need to refer you.
There may be a specialist agency offering information, emotional support and practical help in your area.
National AIDS help line (24 hours) Call: 0800 567 123
About the Author
Copyright Andrea Sheehy 2005. All rights reserved. Andrea Sheehy is qualified and experienecd couple and relationship counsellor. For more information about couple counselling visit her website:http://www.andrea-sheehy.com/
|
|
|
|
|
| National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health |
| Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Library of Medicine offers access to health information for consumer, patient, and physicians ... |
| www.nlm.nih.gov |
|
| Health and Medical Information produced by doctors - MedicineNet.com |
| Doctor-produced health and medical information written for you to make informed decisions about your health concerns. |
| www.medicinenet.com |
|
| Medicine in the Yahoo! Directory |
| Collection of sites for health professionals, with sections on specific disciplines, organizations, continuing education, conferences, publications, ... |
| dir.yahoo.com |
|
| MedlinePlus Health Information from the National Library of Medicine |
| Health information from the National Library of Medicine. Easy access to Medline and Health topics, medical dictionaries, directories and publications. |
| medlineplus.gov |
|
| Medicine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Medicine is a branch of health science and the sector of public life ... The practice of medicine combines both science as the evidence base and art in the ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
|
| Journal Home - Nature Medicine |
| Nature Medicine has a vacancy for a Locum Assistant Editor for six months. The position involves working in all aspects of the editorial process, ... |
| www.nature.com |
|
| The New England Journal of Medicine: Research & Review Articles on ... |
| The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a weekly general medical journal that publishes new medical research findings, review articles, and editorial ... |
| content.nejm.org |
|
| eMedicine Clinical Knowledge Base |
| eMedicine features up-to-date, searchable, peer-reviewed medical journals, online physician reference textbooks, and a full-text article database in 62 ... |
| www.emedicine.com |
|
| Open Directory - Health: Medicine |
| the entire directory, only in Health/Medicine. Top: Health: Medicine (11429). Description · Medical Specialties (4888); Surgery (2265) ... |
| dmoz.org |
|
| the www virtual library biosciences medicine |
| www.ohsu.edu/cliniweb/wwwvl/ - Similar pages |
|
|
| Medicine - home |
| Bimonthly journal covering the latest results in clinical investigation relevant to hospital and office practice. |
| www.md-journal.com |
|
| Institute of Medicine |
| The Institute of Medicine serves as adviser to the nation to improve health. |
| www.iom.edu |
|
| ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News |
| Medical Research News. Health news on everything from cancer to nutrition. Full-text, images, updated daily. |
| www.sciencedaily.com |
|
| Google Directory - Health > Medicine |
| Search only in Medicine Search the Web. Medicine. Health > Medicine, Go to Directory Home. Categories. Alternative Medicine (6308) Basic Sciences (66) ... |
| www.google.com |
|
| the world wide web virtual library biosciences medicine |
| www.mcb.harvard.edu/biopages/medicine.html - Similar pages |
|
|
| PLoS Medicine - A Peer-Reviewed Open-Access Journal |
| PLoS Medicine is a peer-reviewed, international, open-access journal published ... Every issue of PLoS Medicine contains a selection of readers' responses. ... |
| medicine.plosjournals.org |
|
| Medicine On-Line - Medicine Online -The International Medical Journal |
| Medicine Online - independent and peer reviewed journal published by Priory Medical Journals - priory.com. |
| www.priory.com |
|
| Entrez PubMed |
| PubMed is a service of the US National Library of Medicine that includes over 16 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for ... |
| www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov |
|
| Stanford University School of Medicine |
| Home Page of the Stanford University School of Medicine. |
| med.stanford.edu |
|
| Medicine OnLine |
| Meds.com offers medical information and education on cancer (lung cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, leukemia) and HIV / AIDS for patients, ... |
| www.meds.com |
|