Forums → The Tavern → Your medical questions answered!
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In an effort to procrastinate doing everything...okay, really simply to revise my material for next semester when I start working at hospitals (but the first one sounds less dorky D
...anyway...
In an effort to revise my material, I'm inviting each and every one of you to ask any questions you had on the human body (and mind). As long as it's medical, it can be pretty much anything- and I'll attempt to answer it as quickly as possible, hopefully off the top of my head.
HAVE AT IT
- 327 Replies
What is it that happens when you see spots in front of your eyes?
Okay, sometimes, well, more than sometimes, i sit up or stand up, and then all of a sudden i get a rapid head rush and cannot see anything. Sometimes i end up fainting or passing out. What is this from? Also, i take some ADD meds dos this affect my heart? Because sometimes when i am laying in bed or on my hammock, i swear i can almost feel my heart murmur. And i feel it in my blood veins and everywhere! Dude, my doctor doesn't believe me and won't take the time to take an ultrasound.
A) NO im not pregnant! Yes men can get an ultrasound! It's called a Transthoracic Echocardiogram.
B) youngins dont read this! Is the fainting caused by usage cannabis.
Thanks man!
try the term...vertigo, or head rush...and i hope he answers my question.....i'd really like to know what those bumps on my leg are
^Dude ya, i think it has to do with blood flow. Like when all the blood rushes to your face lol. i mean head!
Turret asked:
what do depression pills do to make you not depressed?
I believe I gave a basic answer on this in the Emo thread. I also remember telling you the question ought to go here, so maybe that's what you were doing.
Is the answer I linked to in enough detail? I could go further into the history and the various classes of anti-depressants and mood medications but that would include a lot of terms that most people wouldn't possibly be expected to know ever.
Steevo15 asked:
I have these little tiny bumps on my lower leg (shin), its not all over my leg, but just in like a patch about 3 inches by 2 inches, there is no hair growing where the bumps are and also the area is a tad bit paler than the rest of my leg, the bumps aren't red and they don't itch or anything they are just there...can you please tell me what these annoying little bumps are???
Right, let's see the cardinal signs for skin conditions:
Color: Not red...the area itself is a bit paler. Strange!
Pain: None
Itching: None
Size: Tiny (I assume like maybe a couple of millimeters or less)
Given that I can't see your leg and I'm no dermatologist, I'd like a photo but otherwise, I can ask the other questions:
What shape are these dots?
What is the distribution of these bumps? Are there heaps of them? Do they happen to be where you'd expect hair instead?
Are you currently taking any medications/drugs or putting anything on it?
How long ago did they turn up?
Do they get any worse or better with any activity or any time?
Can you think of anything that may have caused it yourself?
I have known other people who report similar patches of bumps and local discolorations without ever figuring out what they are. But maybe more information will help us shed light on this mystery!
Divinedarkness asked:
Why does out hair turn gray? (thats meedical isnt it?)
Well, it sure has a medical explanation for it!
Hair coloration, just like skin, depends on the pigment injected into the hair. The pigment is derived from types of melanin, produced by stem cells at the root of the hair. Different amounts of each type of melanin (eumelanin and phaeomelanin) will result in different hair colors.
Hair turns grey, and white in some cases when the pigment production lessens or even stops entirely because the melanin-producing stem cells die off. There are a number of factors that influence when and if this happens, generally specific genetic factors and diet/health.
Generally, people in their middle-ages will report that their hair is greying 'from the root'. This is because hair grows from the root- only the part immediate to the hair root is actually alive, and hair is in fact dead. So when the pigment is no longer in the hair, that part of the hair will emerge from the root. Eventually, provided one isn't naturally bald or suffering from receding hair, new hairs will grow without the pigment.
My sister had hyper-parathyroidism and had a calcium deficiency.
I had a blood test a while back to see if I had a calcium deficiency too. I didn't, but now I seem to have white spots on my fingernails. However, they are quite strong, and don't break easily.
Do I need to have another blood test to check if I am calcium deficient?
Bigbowla532 said:
Lol ok Strop, I'm gonna go yell at my mom for never letting me play with toads while I was young
Well, there's the chance that you could stress the toad, it'd urinate on you and that'd stain your skin and clothes and smell nasty :P Also, toad urine is apparently full of infectious bacteria but I didn't think warts was on the list!
Carlie asked:
What is it that happens when you see spots in front of your eyes?
Well, there are actually many possible reasons for this (most of which I won't mention), depending on the context. I'm going to assume you're referring to only the most common and also the most harmless of these, and that is 'floaters'.
Inside your eye is a vitreous jelly, and floating among these are clumps of various cells that have, for some reason, broken off from the cell walls or somehow found their way in. These are known as 'floaters'. Sometimes, it is possible to see them when the light shining into the eye refracts off them, disturbing the path to the retina. Shortsighted people (like me) tend to see them more often than not. Sometimes they can cause the photoreceptors to fire randomly causing flashes, which is a feature of migraine and also when you get smacked upside the head ('seeing stars'.
Additionally, this is a common pathological sign of retinal detachment, which generally happens in your middle ages or older. However for the most part, they're harmless and while sometimes curious, sometimes irritating, unless it's fairly extreme, one shouldn't worry about them.
Arax_Nirasu asked:
Okay, sometimes, well, more than sometimes, i sit up or stand up, and then all of a sudden i get a rapid head rush and cannot see anything. Sometimes i end up fainting or passing out. What is this from? Also, i take some ADD meds dos this affect my heart? Because sometimes when i am laying in bed or on my hammock, i swear i can almost feel my heart murmur. And i feel it in my blood veins and everywhere!
Okay, the term for the cause of feeling dizzy when you stand up is postural hypotension. What happens is that your blood flows around different parts of the body at different pressures such that everything is perfused (i.e. adequate flow and coverage through the area). When you stand up, your blood levels are all like whoa! because the way it gets around the body suddenly changes and the heart and blood vessels don't have time to react, so you mightn't get as much blood going to the head. The lack of perfusion of the brain causes a temporary loss of oxygen delivery to the brain, which in turn causes blackout type symptoms. This is what frequently happens when jet pilots do loops!
Things that can make the effects of postural hypotension worse are lowered blood volume due to dehydration, and also affected heart function (lowered ability to raise output).
I'm not that familiar with ADD medications but looking around various sources, it seems that some uncommon side-effects of ADD medications include heart palpitations, dizziness and restlessness. Seeing as I'm not your doctor, I'm not sure if this directly relates to what you're reporting (it may not!), but if your doctor is saying there's nothing to be worried about, I'd want to know whether he's aware of your full story.
kingryan asked:
My sister had hyper-parathyroidism and had a calcium deficiency.
I had a blood test a while back to see if I had a calcium deficiency too. I didn't, but now I seem to have white spots on my fingernails. However, they are quite strong, and don't break easily.
Hm, first, are you sure your sister suffered from hyperparathyroidism? Or hypoparathyroidism? Because the sign for hyperparathyroidism is actually too much calcium.
Since you specifically mentioned a calcium deficiency I'm going to assume that your sister had hypoparathyroidism. Given that you were tested for calcium deficiency, the cause of your sister's hypoparathyroidism wasn't anything external, like neck surgery, was it? Because a family history of hypoparathyroidism is a risk factor, but familial cases usually come with other endocrine disorders.
Either way, that your test showed you didn't have a calcium deficiency is a good indication that you don't have hypoparathyroidism (gosh, what a bloody mouthful!) That your fingernails aren't brittle is another good sign.
The most likely cause for those white spots on your fingernails (leukonychia) is calcium deposits where you may have dinged your nails. On occasion I've noticed they seem to spontaeneously appear without any provocation, but this is certainly not an indication you have a calcium deficiency. That there are several independent sources ready to make the same claim shows also that this appears to be quite a common question!
It is perhaps possible that unexplained spots might be due more to a zinc deficiency- in certain parts of the world this is quite common due to low zinc in diet (meaning eat more seafood and also root vegetables!)
@Strop: I just copied your question and i'll answer them
What shape are these dots? - circular...i guess they are more of tiny bumps than dots
What is the distribution of these bumps? - they are kind of in rows but not very organized rows
Are there heaps of them? - what do you mean by heaps? like...as in the bumps are on top of each other? in that case, no
Do they happen to be where you'd expect hair instead? - yes, on my lower leg there is hair...except where the dots are.
Are you currently taking any medications/drugs or putting anything on it? - no, only allergy shots
How long ago did they turn up? - a long time ago maybe a year, i have just have ignored them
Do they get any worse or better with any activity or any time? - no
Can you think of anything that may have caused it yourself? - no, i haven't been putting anything on it, the only thing i can think of is that I am outside alot, but if it was anything i got outside, i'd think that it would be gone by now
@ steevo15
It's possible that what you've got is the aftermath of some kind of inflammation, be it the result of a mild localised allergic reaction or folliculitis or even eczema, though I honestly couldn't say that with any degree of certainty. That you said 'in rows but not very organised rows' indicates to me that these bumps happen to be where hair follicles are, and by 'aler skin' I assume that some degree of depigmentation has occurred. I can't think of any other reasonable explanation or any specific conditions that explain this better.
If this is the case, then ordinarily it will go away with time. But just to clarify: this is just a single patch on one leg? It hasn't changed at all over the past year? And does the skin in the area feel any different- harder or scaly, for example?
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