Older people often claim that they are constipated. It is difficult to define what is “normal” when it comes to bowel habits. Perhaps you were brought up at a time when ideas about bowel movements led to some unhealthy practices, such as the use of cathartics (purges) and laxatives. Many people grew up with the [...]

The body regulates its temperature to maintain a steady state and when it becomes excessively cold or warm damage can occur. We associate fever with illness; usually the illness causing the raised temperature is short-lived and improves with or without medication. In the older individual especially, an elevated temperature may have a number of causes, [...]

To understand the nature of many disorders, physicians often “peek” through the openings such as the mouth, nose, throat, and anus. With technological advances it has become easier and less uncomfortable to insert highly sensitive instruments along these passages. The instruments are called by the name of the orifice that they enter. The name of [...]

Most people at some time in their lives have had a roentgenogram or X-ray. These images of the body allow physicians to see what is happening within the abdomen, chest, bones, and skull. They permit the diagnosis of different kinds of illnesses, and some may have to be repeated to follow the results of treatment. [...]

Antibiotics are used for infections of the respiratory system as well as for infections in other parts of the body. One group of drugs developed to counteract the growth and invasion of bacteria includes the sulfonamides or sulfa drugs, which are not really antibiotics but are often called by this term. Some individuals develop a [...]