Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS)

Thank to Marry I'll try to explain this term :) Acute Coronary Syndrome is state in which heart receives not enough blood and oxygen and suffers causing symptoms such as pain in chest and shortness of breath. This is a severe condition that needs to be treated in hospital. The treatment is based on further examinations such as ECG, blood test and coronary catheterization. Generally patient should rest and take drugs prescribed by doctor: aspirin, nitroglicerin and call an ambulance. ACS is divided into 3 groups: unstable angina and miocardial infarction (without or with ST-elevation in ECG). Please ask if sth is unclear or want to know more. I'll be happy to explain :)

New Epidemic?

Yesterday my friend asked me in a bus if he could "catch sepsis" by touch. The question was due to couple cases of sepsis that were lately reported in newspapers. First of all, by definition, sepsis (or septicaemia) is a condition that is caused by response of your immune system to a severe infection. So, you can NOT get sepsis by touching someone (and any different way), but you can catch an infection causing sepsis even from someone that suffers from a very mild one, because it's the response of the body to the infection that leads to this very severe state including shock and multiple organ dysfunction.

Grandfather's Day

Prostate is a name for a gland that every male has. Sometimes, especially when you are over 50 it can grow a bit bigger and cause difficulties with urination. It is usually a benign process (not dangerous or likely to cause death) but requires drugs or surgery to remove part of the organ. Other diseases are prostatitis (mainly infections) and prostate cancer. One of the first examinations performed is DRE (digital rectal examination) in which a physician puts finger (gloved nad lubricated;) into your anus and touches the insides; apart from prostate this examination can also reveal rectum cancer or other tumours, so you shouldn't be against it.

Additionally I can say, that prostate massage can be used for sexual stimulation, palpation itself can lead to an orgasm.

WHY???

I strongly belive in modern medicine. I belive people can help other people. That was my aim, when I decided on studying medicine, as it is now. Some time ago I noticed a fact that people often want to understand different medical problems, but doctors have no time, no will or simply no communicative skills to explain ordinary people what their disease is, what the result of examination mean etc. So I'll try and put in simple words all the difficult terms you may encounter, I'll try to help YOU understanding your problems. Even if you are perfectly healthy there can be something you would like to know. So please, ASK!