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Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder that occurs in the later years of life. People with it develop progressive loss of memory and gradually lose the ability to function and to take care of themselves. The cause of this disorder is not known, although the problem appears to involve abnormal breakdown of acetylcholine (an important neurotransmitter in the brain). Some studies suggest it may be related to an accumulation of aluminum in the brain. Despite this suggestion, aluminum toxicity has been studied in humans, and it is quite distinct from Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, the importance of aluminum in causing Alzheimer’s disease remains an unresolved issue.
What are the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease?
Symptoms of Alzheimer’s include a pattern of forgetfulness, short attention span, difficulty in performing routine tasks, language problems, disorientation, poor judgment, problems with thinking, misplacing things, depression, irritability, paranoia, hostility, and lack of initiative.
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Amenorrhea
Amenorrhea is the absence of menstrual cycles. Amenorrhea is called primary when a woman has not started to menstruate by the age of 16 years, while secondary amenorrhea refers to the abnormal cessation of menstruation in a woman who previously has had menstrual cycles. In amenorrheic women, the levels of female reproductive hormones are not sufficient to stimulate menstruation. This condition is sometimes associated with malnutrition, such as that which occurs in anorexia nervosa, or with extreme exercise, which puts excessive nutritional and other demands on the body. Amenorrhea may also result from potentially serious disorders of the ovaries, the hypothalamus, or the pituitary gland; therefore, a physician should always evaluate chronic absence of menstrual cycles. Prolonged amenorrhea can result in early bone loss and increased risk of osteoporosis. Amenorrhea occurs naturally in women who are breast-feeding, but in these circumstances it does not put the bones at risk.
What are the symptoms of amenorrhea?
Women with amenorrhea may have symptoms of absent periods, increased facial hair, decreased pubic and armpit hair, deeper voice, decreased breast size, and secretions from the breast.
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Anemia
Anemia is a general term for a category of blood conditions that affects the red blood cells or the oxygen-carrying hemoglobin they contain. In anemia, there is either a reduction in the number of red blood cells in circulation or a decrease in the amount or quality of hemoglobin. There are many causes of anemia, including severe blood loss, genetic disorders, and serious diseases. Anyone with unexplained anemia should have the cause determined by a qualified doctor.
Some athletes appear to have anemia when their blood is tested, but this may be a normal adaptation to the stress of exercise, which does not need treatment. Further evaluation by a qualified doctor is necessary.
What are the symptoms of anemia?
Some common symptoms of anemia include fatigue, lethargy, weakness, poor concentration, and frequent colds. A peculiar symptom of iron-deficiency anemia, called pica, is the desire to eat unusual things, such as ice, clay, cardboard, paint, or starch. Advanced anemia may also result in lightheadedness, headaches, ringing in the ears (tinnitus), irritability, pale skin, unpleasant sensations in the legs with an uncontrollable urge to move them, and getting out of breath easily.
How is it treated?
Conventional therapy for anemia involves treating the cause of anemia and may include blood transfusions or supplementation with iron, vitamin B12, folic acid, or erythropoietin (EPO), a blood-building hormone.
Dietary changes that may be helpful:
Severe protein deficiency can cause anemia because protein is required for normal production of hemoglobin and red blood cells. However, this deficiency is uncommon in healthy people living in developed countries.
Thalassemia is an inherited type of anemia that is most common in people of Mediterranean descent. Children with severe thalassemia often have reduced growth rates that may be partially due to inadequate diets. This problem is primarily found in developing countries.
Nutritional supplements that may be helpful:
Deficiencies of iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid are the most common nutritional causes of anemia. Although rare, severe deficiencies of several other vitamins and minerals, including vitamin A, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin C, and copper, can also cause anemia by various mechanisms. Rare genetic disorders can cause anemias that may improve with large amounts of supplements such as vitamin B1.
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Vitamin B12 Deficiency
Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) deficiency is a factor in many disorders. The absorption of dietary vitamin B12 occurs in the small intestine and requires a secretion from the stomach known as intrinsic factor. If intrinsic factor is deficient, absorption of vitamin B12 is severely diminished. Vitamin B12 deficiency impairs the body’s ability to make blood, accelerates blood cell destruction, and damages the nervous system. The result is pernicious anemia (PA). In the classical definition, PA refers only to B12 deficiency anemia caused by a lack of intrinsic factor.
True PA is probably an autoimmune disease. The immune system destroys cells in the stomach that secrete intrinsic factor. Many people with PA have both chronic inflammation of the stomach lining, called atrophic gastritis, and antibodies that fight their intrinsic factor-secreting cells.
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Anemia (Iron Deficiency)
Anemia is a reduction in the number of red blood cells (RBCs); in the amount of hemoglobin in the blood (hemoglobin is the iron-containing pigment of the red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues); and in another related index called hematocrit (the volume of RBCs after they have been spun in a centrifuge). All three values are measured on a complete blood count, which doctors shorten to “CBC.” Iron-deficiency anemia is unique and can be distinguished from other forms of anemia by the fact that it causes RBCs to be abnormally small and pale, an observation easily appreciated by viewing a blood sample through a microscope.
To rule out an iron deficiency in the absence of anemia, a doctor needs to run one or several group of special lab tests (such as serum ferritin, which measures the body’s iron stores). People should never be told their body has sufficient iron simply because they are not anemic.
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