Canker sores, small painful ulcers can occur anywhere in your mouth, making life miserable for several days. Apthous ulcers, the medical term for canker sores, can be confused with cold sores, but the two are not related.
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Elevated liver enzymes generally indicate some abnormality with the organ. Your liver enzymes rise when damage to liver cells releases them into the bloodstream. You often experience itching skin if you have severe jaundice, another indicator of liver disease.
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Thumb and wrist pain can significantly interfere with your daily activities. The bones, joints, ligaments and tendons in the thumb and wrist can all suffer injury or inflammation that leads to pain.
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While drug addiction in pregnant women can affect fetal development, drug addiction in fathers doesn't normally affect the baby at the time of birth. Addiction can affect sperm quality and development, but these defects usually cause early miscarriage rather than birth defects.
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Facial bruising is a common occurrence in small children, whose foreheads often connect with countertops or tables at face height. Toddlers often "take it on the chin"
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Although both high and low calcium levels in the blood can cause muscle symptoms, low levels are typically the culprit behind muscle cramping. Low serum calcium levels, medically termed hypocalcemia, or high calcium levels, called hypercalcemia, most often are related to causes other than dietary intake.
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Breast tenderness in men most often occurs in men with gynecomastia, abnormal enlargement of the breast tissue. Hormonal imbalance between testosterone, the dominant male hormone, and estrogen, the dominant female hormone also produced in small quantities by men, causes gynecomastia, MayoClinic.com reports.
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If your child has croup, she may not feel like eating or drinking. In croup, inflammation in the upper airway, which includes the larynx and trachea, makes breathing difficult. A child with severe croup can't eat at all and needs hospitalization. If your child has mild croup, it's important to keep her hydrated.
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Around 4 percent of women in the United States take illegal drugs while pregnant, the March of Dimes states. A number of pregnant women who take illegal drugs also use legal drugs, such as tobacco and alcohol. All these drugs cross the placenta and can affect the fetus prenatally, causing withdrawal symptoms at birth.
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Approximately 5.9 percent of pregnant women admit to using illicit drugs or nonprescribed narcotics during pregnancy, according to the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Many more women take prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRI, antidepressants.
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For the safety and well-being of both the mother and the baby, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends vaginal delivery unless there is medical reason for a cesarean section.
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The duodenum, the starting point of the small intestine, attaches to the stomach at one end and the jejunum, the middle portion of the intestine, at the other. The first of three sections making up the small intestine, the duodenum is short, only about 8-inches long.
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Most babies survive their vaccinations with just a few tears and a day of irritability. In rare cases, infection at the vaccination site can occur. Anytime you have a break in the skin, bacteria could enter. What looks like an infection could also be nothing more than a local skin reaction.
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Estrogen, the dominant female hormone, fluctuates at different times during your life and at different times during the menstrual cycle. Men produce estrogen, too, although not in the same amounts that women do. If estrogen levels vary from the normal range, you may experience fertility problems.
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Overexposure to temperatures below 32 degrees F can result in frostbite, frozen skin and tissue in areas of cold exposure. Fingers are a common site for frostbite, because blood vessels farthest from the heart constrict in cold weather to conserve blood for major organs.
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Insulin-dependent diabetics take insulin injections because their pancreas no longer produces insulin. Insulin helps cells absorb glucose, the body’s main energy source, from the blood.
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Dark yellow urine while breast-feeding is a concern whether it's you or your baby that's experiencing this symptom. Dark yellow urine can indicate a need to drink more fluids, but could also indicate more serious disorders.
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If you have gluten intolerance, also known as celiac disease, you already know that you need to scrutinize labels of any products that might contain wheat, rye or barley. As little as one-eighth of a tsp. of the gluten protein found in these grains can set off a reaction.
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Reaching for your nebulizer if you have asthma or other respiratory problems becomes as natural as putting on your glasses in the morning if you have vision problems. Nebulizers deliver liquid or aerosol medications that help you breathe to your lungs via a mask or mouthpiece.
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Diarrhea, one of the most common childhood illnesses, has numerous causes in toddlers, from allergy to infection.
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