Almost everyone has had muscle cramps when a calf muscle goes into spasm and forms a hard painful lump. The other common muscle cramp involves the foot being pulled downward into spasm. These usually happen during sleep. They can also occur during swimming or other sports. The cause is overuse of that muscle. There is […]
Problem
Fatigue is a common symptom in teenagers. These youngsters also complain of being tired, exhausted, or sleepy all the time. Fatigue caused by disease usually gets worse as the day wears on. Fatigue from stress is not relieved by sleep and, in fact, is often described as worse in the morning. Although fatigue rarely has
Dandruff is the normal shedding of the scalp. Skin is constantly regenerating. On most of the body’s surface, the flakes of dead skin fall to the ground without fanfare, but in the hair, they may accumulate. Some children shed faster than others, and that makes it more noticeable. • The key to fighting dandruff is
By age 12, 3% of youngsters still wet the bed. Most of them have a small bladder, one that can’t hold all the urine produced at night. By this age, I have my patients go directly to a bed wetting alarm. Modern alarms are portable, lightweight and respond to a few drops of urine. If
Many fat teenagers have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, in addition to emotional problems. Being a fat adolescent can have a devastating effect on self-esteem and self-confidence. If your teenager is on her way towards being fat, or is already fat, she needs help. She doesn’t need your criticism or ridicule, but rather your
Does your teen seem unusually tired lately? Does he have a lower than usual level of energy? Some parents immediately think that a teen sleeping much of the weekend, or lying around, is simply lazy or bored. This may be true in your teen’s case, but it’s also important to look beyond your first impression
Many people thing of infectious mononucleosis as the “kissing disease” but this is something of a misnomer. This disease, caused by a virus, is most likely to strike young people who are already fatigued and exhausted. That may explain why it is so common among high school and college students around exam time. Symptoms vary,
Traditionally, the dangers of early sex have been regarded as emotional and social. Certainly becoming involved in a sexual relationship and then losing that relationship can cause intense pain to a young, inexperienced adolescent. Getting pregnant at a young age and deciding to keep the baby can seriously threaten a young woman’s health, and limit
Chlamydia is one of the most common venereal diseases in the U.S. and is found most often in sexually active adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19. Chlamydia is a disease that most teenagers know very little about, and don’t think to try to prevent. Second, it often has no symptoms at all, either
Does your teenager have swelling and tenderness around the knees and pain in the lower leg? He or she may have Osgood Schlatters’ disease, a disorder of the mineralization of the leg bones, that is quite common in active young people between the ages of ten and fifteen. This condition, which is caused by irregular
