Diseases & Conditions Archive

Articles

Laxatives: What to know about choosing the right one

Eating a fiber-rich diet helps to prevent constipation. There are a variety of laxatives for occasional irregularity.

IBD and LGBTQ+: How it can affect sexual health

Inflammatory bowel disease, a condition that causes inflammation along the gastrointestinal tract, has a major impact on daily life. For people who identify as LGBTQ+ there are some specific concerns and issues to understand and consider.

Can vaping damage your lungs? What we do (and don't) know

Reports of severe lung illness experienced by hundreds of people who were using e-cigarettes raise questions again about the safety of vaping. Vaping can help some people stop smoking, but potential health risks likely outweigh any benefit.

How to prevent kidney stones

Drinking water and changing your diet are just some ways to avoid kidney stones. See the full list here.

Harvard Health Ad Watch: An IV treatment for thyroid eye disease

An ad for a medication to treat thyroid eye disease accurately describes the symptoms of the condition, but as is common with such ads it does not discuss other possible treatment options, or other information that people should be aware of.

Living with gout

Adopting healthy self-management strategies that focus on a healthy diet, physical activity, and achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, can improve the quality of life of people with gout. Many of these same strategies can help reduce the risk of developing gout to begin with.

Irregular sleep patterns linked to atherosclerosis

A 2022 study suggests that sleep irregularity—night-to-night variations in sleep duration and timing (when someone falls sleep)—are linked to atherosclerosis (plaque buildup in the arteries).

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