It is estimated that one in every thousand young people under the age of seventeen has diabetes. How can you tell if your child or teenager might have this disease? Symptoms include: • Sudden, excessive hunger and thirst • Unexplained weight loss • Frequent urination • Fatigue If your teen has these symptoms, seek medical […]
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Your teen has colds, headaches, stomach aches and a host of other physical complaints. You may find yourself wondering if he is becoming a hypochondriac! The unique stresses of adolescence can make some teens appear to be hypochondriacs. • First, the physical and life changes in teens cause stress and heightened body awareness, so aches
The teen years can be a time of special difficulty and risk for a teenager who has diabetes, asthma, or some other chronic disease. The teen with epilepsy fears that he may not be able to get a driver’s license. The teen with diabetes has to eat on a certain schedule. This can also be
Everyone has his or her own normal biological time table for pubertal development. Some boys, for example, show signs of puberty while still in elementary school, while others can get well into high school still looking like little boys. Being different from the average can be especially hard on a boy who’s puberty is delayed.
Many teens who have sex don’t use birth control, initially or ever. Why do they take such risks? Quite often it’s because they believe certain birth control myths. These include: 1. “Birth control is unromantic.” Ask a teen how romantic pregnancy or fears of pregnancy might be. The fact is, using a reliable method of
Breastfeeding or bottle-feeding can be considered prolonged after about 18 months of age. However, most children will eventually give up breastfeeding and bottle-feeding on their own by about 3 years of age. Delayed weaning should be considered abnormal only if it is resulting in your child’s refusal to eat any solids, anemia, tooth decay or
False labor, or prodromal labor, is one of the most frustrating times in your pregnancy. You have been pregnant for nine months now, and you are ready for this baby. False labor may last for a few hours to several days. You probably have not begun labor if: • Your contractions are not regular and
One of the most frightening things in pregnancy is going into premature, or early labor. The severity of the situation depends on how far along you are. If you are only two weeks early, there are rarely any problems. There are numerous factors which may place you at a high risk of going into pre-term
Your blood pressure varies depending on the circumstances. It will be high if you’ve just had an argument at work prior to coming for your visit. At each prenatal visit, you should have your blood pressure checked, preferably while lying on your left side. If you already have high blood pressure, also known as hypertension,
Tension headaches cause a sensation of tightness that completes encircles the head. The neck muscles also become sore and tight. Almost everyone has had a tension headache. Tension headaches can be cause by a prolonged use of video games or a computer, or by excessive reading or typing. About a third of people develop a
