Some medical topics do not fit easily into a category. Fatigue and generalized weight loss are nonspecific symptoms that could be a manifestation of a number of diseases that span many specialties. In addition, people with chronic fatigue syndrome or idiopathic environmental intolerance are often not treated by doctors specializing in a specific organ system. This section provides a home for topics that do not fit easily elsewhere.
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Special Subjects
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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
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Common Imaging Tests
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Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
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Overview of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
- Types of Alternative Medicine
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- Biologically Based Therapies
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- Energy Therapies
- Guided Imagery
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Manipulative and Body-Based Therapies
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- Naturopathy
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- Reiki
- Relaxation Techniques
- Therapeutic Touch
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Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
- Whole Medical Systems
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Recreational Drugs and Intoxicants
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Hospital Care
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Being Admitted to the Hospital
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- Attending physician
- Residents, interns, and medical students (house staff)
- Specialists
- Registered nurses
- Licensed practical nurses
- Nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants
- Patient advocate
- Patient care technicians
- Physical therapists
- Occupational therapists
- Speech pathologists
- Hospital pharmacists
- Social workers
- Dieticians
- Interpreter services
- Rapid response team
- Other team members
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- Problems Due to Hospitalization
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Hospital Care for Older People
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Undernutrition Due to Hospitalization
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Confusion and Mental Decline Due to Hospitalization
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Incontinence Due to Hospitalization
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Inability to Urinate Due to Hospitalization
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Lack of Sleep Due to Hospitalization
- Errors in Hospital Care
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Being Discharged From the Hospital
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Idiopathic Environmental Intolerance
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Limb Prosthetics
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Medical Decision Making
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Medicinal Herbs and Nutraceuticals
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Nonspecific Symptoms
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The Science of Medicine and Clinical Trials
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Surgery
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Tobacco Use
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Travel and Health
Special Subjects Sections (A-Z)
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Common Imaging Tests
Imaging tests provide a picture of the body’s interior—of the whole body or part of it. Imaging helps doctors diagnose a disorder, determine how severe the disorder is, and monitor people after the disorder is diagnosed. Most imaging tests are painless, relatively safe, and noninvasive (that is, they do not require an incision in the skin or the insertion of an instrument into the body).
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) includes a variety of healing approaches and therapies that are taken from around the world and that historically have not been included in conventional Western medicine. Many aspects of CAM are rooted in ancient, indigenous systems of healing, such as those of China, India, Tibet, Africa, and the Americas.
Hospital Care
Idiopathic Environmental Intolerance
Limb Prosthetics
Medical Decision Making
People and their doctors must make many decisions about medical issues. People must decide whether and when to see a doctor. Doctors must decide what to advise people to do in order to stay well or become well. They both must make decisions about which tests, if any, should be done and which treatment, if any, should be done.
Medicinal Herbs and Nutraceuticals
Medicinal herbs are plant parts, sometimes ground, extracted, or otherwise prepared, used for health benefits. Nutraceuticals, a more recent and more general term, are a group of natural substances that includes certain herbs and such products as cholesterol-lowering margarines and psyllium-fortified products that are used as dietary supplements and regulated as foods.
Nonspecific Symptoms
Fatigue is when a person feels a strong need to rest and has so little energy that starting and sustaining activity is difficult. Fatigue is normal after physical exertion, prolonged stress, and sleep deprivation. However, fatigue that increases and develops after activities that previously did not cause it may be one of the symptoms, or, occasionally, the first symptom of a disorder.
Recreational Drugs and Intoxicants
Surgery
Surgery is the term traditionally used to describe procedures (called surgical procedures) that involve manually cutting or stitching tissue to treat diseases, injuries, or deformities. However, advances in surgical techniques have made the definition more complicated. Sometimes lasers, radiation, or other techniques (other than scalpels) are used to cut tissue, and wounds may be closed without stitches.
The Science of Medicine and Clinical Trials
Doctors have been treating people for many thousands of years. The earliest written description of medical treatment is from ancient Egypt and is over 3,500 years old. Even before that, healers and shamans were likely providing herbal and other remedies to the ill and injured. A few remedies, such as those used for some simple fractures and minor injuries, were effective. However, until very recently, many medical treatments did not work and some were actually harmful.
Tobacco Use
Travel and Health
Also of Interest
Test your knowledge
Which of the following imaging tests does NOT use radiation?
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