Health Information Snippets
Healthy and wise beats wealthy anyday!

Now this is a touchy subject. If only because prostate cancer is just one of those things that you don’t talk about…women are pretty open about cancers relating to their reproductive organs eg breast cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, but somehow, perhaps it’s because it’s embarrassing or taboo, men just don’t talk to their friends about such intimate things. Vasectomies, testicular cancer, prostate cancer, these are all just never something spoken of – even if they did have it, they opt to stay mum about the whole thing (no pun intended).

prostate cancer symptoms

Early on, prostate cancer symptoms aren’t all that obvious which is why a lot of men put up with the early signs only to find that when the cancer is diagnosed, the cancer has already spread to the surrounding organs. If you experience any of the symptoms below or are over 50 and haven’t had your regular screening for prostate cancer, then it’s time to visit your doctor – always better safe than sorry.

• increased urge to urinate – especially at night. If you are waking up regularly at night to go to the toilet, it’s time to visit your doctor for a check up
• difficulty urinating – it could be that you find it hard to start urinating or holding it back when you need to
• painful or burning sensation when urinating
• blood in your urine or semen
• frequent pain in your lower back, hips or thighs
• difficulty having an erection or painful ejaculations

prostate cancer facts

If you are still embarrassed about prostate cancer and are hesitant about visiting your doctor for a check up, consider these facts :

• A new case of prostate cancer occurs every 2.5 minutes and every 17 minutes a man dies from prostate cancer
• Prostate cancer is only second to lung cancer as the biggest disease killer of men in the US
• It is estimated that over 2million men in USA are living with prostate cancer
• Prostate cancer is insidious and the early symptoms are often ignored by men and diagnosis usually only comes from a routine PSA blood test or digital rectal examination

See other medical symptoms

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Legionellosis is an infection caused by the Legionella bacteria. Depending on it’s severity, the ‘disease’ is referred to ‘Pontiac fever’ (the mild respiratory illness) or ‘Legionnaire’s disease’ when it develops into pnemonia. Whilst people with Pontiac fever recover after 5 days without treatment, people with Legionnaire’s disease need rapid treatment as it can be life threatening.

Where are Legionella bacteria found?

These are usually found in stagnant water, evaporative condensers of large air conditioning units (eg in the shopping malls), commonly also in potting mix – which is why there is a warning for those using potting mix to be careful to dish it out in open well ventilated spaces and to wear a dust mask to prevent inhaling the dust. It cannot be spread from one person to another. It can only be caught from inhaling the bacteria in the fine mist of water that contains the bacteria.

Medical symptoms

Early symptoms include :

• headache
• tiredness
• fever
• loss of appetite
• coughing
• cold chills

These can progress to pneumonia which would result in difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, persistent fever.

Predisposing factors

People with pre-existing respiratory conditions eg asthma, smokers, chronic lung disease or diseases that lower their immune system defences eg diabetes, kidney problems are predisposed to developing the more severe form. Which is why a lot of reported cases occur in people over 50.

Treatment for Legionnaire’s disease

Treatment involves courses of antibiotics (erythromycin).

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Diabetes has been called an insidious disease if only because it creeps up on you and for many, it remains undiagnosed for a long time.

Medical symptoms of diabetes include :

• weight loss
• frequent urination
• irritability
• being hungry all the time
• being thirsty all the time
• fatigue
• blurred vision

See other medical symptoms of common diseases

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What is pulmonary hypertension? Pulmonary hypertension is high blood pressure related to your lungs. Most commonly, pulmonary hypertension is arises secondary to some other underlying disease like HIV or COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).

Medical symptoms include :

See medical symptoms of other diseases.