Mens Health Blog. Medical Blog

Heart disease, usually by causing an abnormal rhythm, may lead to sudden loss of consciousness.

Hypotensive drugs, that is those used to control hypertension or high blood pressure, may cause giddiness or even fainting when the person suddenly changes posture from the sitting or lying to the standing position.

No matter what the cause of the syncope or faint, one common factor is the standing position.

Sudden loss of blood, such as may occur from a severed artery in an accident or from a miscarriage, or even with a heavy period or a severe nosebleed may lead to fainting.

Bleeding may occur from a duodenal ulcer and the rapid loss of one or two pints of blood may lead to fainting.

Conversely, reversing this, that is making a person lie flat, will rapidly prevent or lead to recovery from the faint.

Deep breathing, sitting, or putting one’s head between one’s knees, are inadequate means of preventing a fainting attack.

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Any doctor should be able to examine a woman’s breasts looking for lumps and at the same time teach her the technique of self-examination. An internal examination and a Pap smear can be taken.

For most cancers, the earlier they are detected, the better the results of treatment.

This applies to the commonest cancers in women and the means of early detection are available. Mahy women are either unaware of the available facilities or are just not motivated to use them.

Many women suffer discomfort in their bladder. It is usually called cystitis.

Yet it may not be the bladder itself which is involved in this most common of urinary problems.

The kidneys are on the back wall of the abdomen, just below the ribs, and lie one on either side.

They have several related functions concerned with the excretion of waste products and with the salt and water balance in the body. As blood flows through the filters of the kidney, a fluid is collected. As this fluid passes along the collecting tubule in the body of the kidney, some substances are reabsorbed and others are excreted into it.

The resulting fluid, urine, then leaves the kidney by a thin tube, the ureter, and flows down into the bladder, where the urine is stored until passed to the outside through another tube, the urethra.

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Treatments that are found to be active against certain types of cancer are then further tested in Phase III studies. In this phase of research, the aim is to find out whether the new treatment is better than what is already available. Not only completely new treatments but also variations on old treatments are tested—for example, different combinations, dosages or timing of previously available drugs.

No sophisticated research or statistical methods would be necessary if we were looking only for major improvements in treatment. It is a fact that the greatest advances in cancer treatment have been made simply by trying a completely new type of treatment in a series of patients. Here are some examples concerning chemotherapy.

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