| Medical Dictionary |
A Medical Dictionary of Medical Terminology
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The uterus, or womb, is the place where a baby grows when a woman is pregnant. If you have an ectopic pregnancy, the fertilized egg grows in the wrong place, outside the uterus, usually in the fallopian tubes. The result is usually a miscarriage.
Ectopic pregnancy can be a medical emergency if it ruptures. Signs of ectopic pregnancy include:
Get medical care right away if you have these signs. Doctors use drugs or surgery to remove the ectopic tissue so it doesn't damage your organs. Many women who have had ectopic pregnancies go on to have healthy pregnancies later.
Dept. of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health
An arrhythmia is a problem with the rate or rhythm of your heartbeat. Your heart beats too quickly, too slowly, or with an irregular pattern. Changes in the electrical signals that control your heartbeat cause arrhythmias.
There are many types of arrhythmias. Arrhythmias may affect the upper or lower chamber of your heart. The most common type of arrhythmia is atrial fibrillation, which causes an irregular and fast heartbeat.
Some arrhythmias are harmless, such as when your heart rate speeds up during exercise and slows down when you sleep. But if you have a frequent irregular rhythm, it may mean your heart isn't pumping enough blood into your body. Getting treatment and following a heart-healthy lifestyle can help control arrhythmias. It may also help prevent heart damage that can trigger some heart arrhythmias.
What causes an arrhythmia?Many factors can affect your heart's rhythm, such as having had a heart attack, smoking, congenital heart defects, and stress. Other factors that could increase your risk for some types of arrhythmias could include if you:
If you have risk factors, some situations that make your heart work harder, raise your blood pressure, or cause strong emotional stress may trigger an arrhythmia.
What are the symptoms of an arrhythmia?You may not have any noticeable symptoms of an arrhythmia. Your provider may find an arrhythmia during your routine checkup. Symptoms of an arrhythmia can include:
Seek emergency medical care if you have chest pain, shortness of breath, or think you are having a heart attack.
How is an arrhythmia diagnosed?To find out if you have an arrhythmia, your health care provider may order an electrocardiogram (EKG). This test records your heart's electrical activity and is the most common for finding an arrhythmia. Your provider may also:
Treatment may include medicines, an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) or pacemaker, or sometimes surgery. Your provider may also recommend avoiding activities that may trigger your arrhythmia.
The goal of treatment is to restore a normal heart rhythm. If not treated, arrhythmias can damage your heart, brain, and other organs and could be life-threatening.
Can arrhythmias be prevented?To help prevent an arrhythmia, your provider may suggest that you make heart-healthy lifestyle changes and treat health conditions that may cause arrhythmias.
NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Chlamydia is a common sexually transmitted infection (STI). It is caused by bacteria called Chlamydia trachomatis. Anyone can get chlamydia. It often doesn't cause symptoms, so people may not know that they have it. Antibiotics can cure it. But if it's not treated, chlamydia can cause serious health problems.
How is chlamydia spread?You can get chlamydia during oral, vaginal, or anal sex with someone who has chlamydia. Chlamydia can also be passed to the baby during childbirth.
If you've had chlamydia and were treated in the past, you can get re-infected if you have unprotected sex with someone who has it.
Who is more likely to get chlamydia?Chlamydia is more common in young people, especially young women. You are more likely to get infected with chlamydia if you don't consistently use a condom or if you have multiple partners.
What are the symptoms of chlamydia?Chlamydia doesn't usually cause any symptoms. So you may not realize that you have it. But even if you don't have symptoms, you can still pass the infection to others.
If you do have symptoms, they may not appear until several weeks after you have sex with someone who has chlamydia.
Symptoms in women include:
If the infection spreads, you might get lower abdominal (belly) pain, pain during sex, nausea, and fever.
Symptoms in men include:
If the chlamydia infects the rectum (in men or women), it can cause rectal pain, discharge, and bleeding.
How is chlamydia diagnosed?There are lab tests to diagnose chlamydia. Your health care provider may ask you to provide a urine sample. Or your provider may use (or ask you to use) a cotton swab to get a sample from your vagina to test for chlamydia.
Who should be tested for chlamydia?You should go to your provider for a test if you have symptoms of chlamydia or if you have a partner who has an STI. If you are pregnant, you should get a test when you go to your first prenatal visit.
People at higher risk should get checked for chlamydia every year:
In women, an untreated infection can spread to your uterus and fallopian tubes, causing pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). PID can cause permanent damage to your reproductive system. This can lead to long-term pelvic pain, infertility, and ectopic pregnancy. Women who have had chlamydia infections more than once are at higher risk of serious reproductive health complications.
Men often don't have health problems from chlamydia. Sometimes it can infect the epididymis (the tube that carries sperm). This can cause pain, fever, and, rarely, infertility.
Both men and women can develop reactive arthritis because of a chlamydia infection. Reactive arthritis is a type of arthritis that happens as a "reaction" to an infection in the body.
Babies born to infected mothers can get eye infections and pneumonia from chlamydia. It may also make it more likely for your baby to be born too early.
Untreated chlamydia may also increase your chances of getting or giving HIV.
What are the treatments for chlamydia?Antibiotics will cure the infection. You may get a one-time dose of the antibiotics, or you may need to take medicine every day for 7 days. It is important to take all the medicine that your provider prescribed for you. Antibiotics cannot repair any permanent damage that the disease has caused.
To prevent spreading the disease to your partner, you should not have sex until the infection has cleared up. If you got a one-time dose of antibiotics, you should wait 7 days after taking the medicine to have sex again. If you have to take medicine every day for 7 days, you should not have sex again until you have finished taking all of the doses of your medicine.
It is common to get a repeat infection, so you need to get tested again about three months after treatment.
Can chlamydia be prevented?The only sure way to prevent chlamydia is to not have vaginal, anal, or oral sex.
Correct usage of latex condoms greatly reduces, but does not eliminate, the risk of catching or spreading chlamydia. If your or your partner is allergic to latex, you can use polyurethane condoms.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Cushing's syndrome is a hormonal disorder. The cause is long-term exposure to too much cortisol, a hormone that your adrenal gland makes. Sometimes, taking synthetic hormone medicine to treat an inflammatory disease leads to Cushing's. Some kinds of tumors produce a hormone that can cause your body to make too much cortisol.
Cushing's syndrome is rare. Some symptoms are:
Lab tests can show if you have it and find the cause. Your treatment will depend on why you have too much cortisol. If it is because you have been taking synthetic hormones, a lower dose may control your symptoms. If the cause is a tumor, surgery and other therapies may be needed.
NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
You have two kidneys, each about the size of your fist. They are near the middle of your back, just below the rib cage. Inside each kidney there are about a million tiny structures called nephrons. They filter your blood. They remove wastes and extra water, which become urine. The urine flows through tubes called ureters. It goes to your bladder, which stores the urine until you go to the bathroom.
Most kidney diseases attack the nephrons. This damage may leave kidneys unable to remove wastes. Causes can include genetic problems, injuries, or medicines. You have a higher risk of kidney disease if you have diabetes, high blood pressure, or a close family member with kidney disease. Chronic kidney disease damages the nephrons slowly over several years. Other kidney problems include:
Your doctor can do blood and urine tests to check if you have kidney disease. If your kidneys fail, you will need dialysis or a kidney transplant.
NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is an infection and inflammation of the uterus, ovaries, and other female reproductive organs. It causes scarring in these organs. This can lead to infertility, ectopic pregnancy, pelvic pain, abscesses, and other serious problems. PID is the most common preventable cause of infertility in the United States.
Gonorrhea and chlamydia, two sexually transmitted infections (STIs), are the most common causes of PID. Other bacteria can also cause it. You are at greater risk if you:
Some women have no symptoms. Others have pain in the lower abdomen, fever, smelly vaginal discharge, irregular bleeding, and pain during intercourse or urination. Doctors diagnose PID with a physical exam, lab tests, and imaging tests. Antibiotics can cure PID. Early treatment is important. Waiting too long increases the risk of infertility.
NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
A miscarriage is an unexpected loss of pregnancy before the 20th week of pregnancy. Most miscarriages happen very early in the pregnancy, often before a woman even knows she is pregnant.
Factors that may contribute to miscarriage include:
Signs of a miscarriage include vaginal spotting, abdominal pain or cramping, and fluid or tissue passing from the vagina. Bleeding can be a symptom of miscarriage, but many women also have it in early pregnancy and don't miscarry. To be sure, contact your health care provider right away if you have bleeding.
Women who miscarry early in their pregnancy usually do not need any treatment. In some cases, there is tissue left in the uterus. Doctors use a procedure called a dilatation and curettage (D&C) or medicines to remove the tissue.
Counseling may help you cope with your grief. Later, if you do decide to try again, work closely with your health care provider to lower the risks. Many women who have a miscarriage go on to have healthy babies.
NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
You're going to have a baby! It's an exciting time, but it can also feel a bit overwhelming. You may have a lot of questions, including what you can do to give your baby a healthy start. To keep you and your baby healthy during pregnancy, it is important to:
Your body will keep changing as your baby grows. It can be hard to know whether a new symptom is normal or could be a sign of a problem. Check with your provider if something is bothering or worrying you.