Insomnia

What is insomnia?

Insomnia is where a person is not able to sleep at night. Insomnia can happen to everyone, and is not a big issue, but long term insomnia can cause a loss of concentration during the day and weaken the immune system due to lack of sleep. Most people suffer from the minor form of acute insomnia, and it usually only occurs once or twice under stress or travelling, but some people suffer from more severe cases like chronic, comorbid, onset and maintenance insomnia. These kinds of insomnia can be caused by plenty of reasons and can be quite harmful.

5 types of insomnia:

- Acute

    - Caused by stress, time zones or sudden events

- Chronic

    - Long-term insomnia, usually if a person can't sleep more than 3 days in a week consecutively for 3 months.

- Comorbid

   - A symptom of psychological problems such as depression. Can be paired with arrthritis and back pain making it very uncomfortable

- Onset

    - Can't sleep at the beginning of the night

- Maintenance

    - oftenly waking up or just can't fall asleep

Symptoms:

- Back pain

- Tiredness

- Loss of concentration

- Not able to sleep

Treatment:

- Relaxation

- Light therapy

- Electronic restrictions

- Sleep time adjustments

- Meds

Asthma

What is Asthma?

Asthma is a medical condition narrows and swells your airways. It can produce extra mucus, causing the patient to have a shortness of breath because the airways are blocked. Asthma can vary in severity. It can be very dangerous and kill a person in an asthma attack, which it did to my grandfather; but it can also be very minor, maybe just a small cough and skipping a breath. Asthma is not a condition that can be cured, but over time, you can control it and prevent anything serious from happening. If not controlled, it can go out of hand and cause deadly asthma attacks.

What are Airways?

Airways are pipes or tubes that bring the air to the lungs. Asthmatic airways are usually the bronchioles which are connected to the bronchus and brings air to alveolar sacs, exchanging carbon dioxide for oxygen.

4 Categories/Levels of Asthma:

- Mild intermittent

- Mild persistent

- Moderate persistent

- Severe persistent

Causes:

- Allergens (allergic reaction to something)

- Respiratory illnesses (cold/flu)

- Cold

- Irritants (substances in the air that irritate your airways e.g. dust/sawdust/chemicals)

- Medications

- Stress

- Preservatives

- Possibly inherited

Symptoms:

- Coughing

- Difficulty Breathing

- Shortness of Breath

- Wheezing

- Chest Tightness

- Chest Pain

Diagnosis:

- Physical scans (checking how much air is flowing through)

- X-Rays

- Allergy Tests

- Methacholine Tests

Treatment:

- Inhaler

- Oral Medication

- Allergy Medication

Prevention:

- Clean house (prevent dust or mold spores to get into your airways)

- Cover nose and mouth if cold or air quality is bad outside

- Avoid animals that shed a lot of fur

- Use A/C so outside pollen and dirt won't get in

Frostbite

What is frostbite?

Frostbite is an injury in the cold weather. It happens when your skin freezes in the cold and in severe cases, ice crystals gets into your skin cells and they start to die. Frostbite is usually classified into 3 categories, from best case scenario to worst. First, a frostnip is the most common and is a mild form of frostbite. If you live in a place or have been to a place with snow and you get some ice or snow into your glove, you'd probably experience frostnip. The damage of frostnip isn't permanent, although after you go inside and you get warm and cozy, your fingertips will probably heat up, inflame and itch a lot. Then, there's superficial frostbite. This frostbite starts to feel warm and when you get indoors and reheat it, you may get some blisters. Then, the last stage, deep frostbite comes. This is rare if you're just playing in the snow, but can happen for someone trapped in the snow. The skin will now start turning greyish, with probable muscle damage too and definite skin damage. You wouldn't feel cold or pain because your cells are literally dying. After reheating, it would form blisters and the dead skin will turn black and hard. It is possible to die from deep frostbite, but it is really rare and mostly happens when you get infected in the wound. If you die from the cold, it's dying from hypothermia, which is different.

How do you get frostbite?

At 0 to -15 degrees celsius, you get frostbite on the part of the skin exposed in about 30 minutes and under that, it can happen within 15 minutes or quicker. For example, if some snow went into your glove, and you didn't dry the glove and then proceeded to play for 30 more minutes, you would get a frostnip, which would itch and heat up or even inflame a bit.

Symptoms:

- Numbness

- Itch

- Hot and inflamed

- Muscle and joint stiffness

- Hard skin (severe)

- Blisters (severe)

Risks:

Everyone can get a frostbite, but just be careful and try to leave your skin on something cold for a long time.

What if left untreated:

Infection can be caused by bad treatment.

Diagnosis:

- By looking at the skin

- If muscle or bone damage is possible, doctors may do MRI scan or X-Ray

Treatments:

- Painkillers

- Rewarming

- Treating from infection

- Antibiotics (fight infections)

- Amputation (extreme cases)

- TPA (extreme cases)

- Removal of dead tissue

Hypothermia

What is hypothermia?

Hypothermia is a medical condition that happens when your body loses temperature too quickly and falls under the temperature of 35 Degrees Celsius. This is a very dangerous situation and if you stay in hypothermia for a long time, you can possibly die, if not sustain permanent damages to your different organs. It can cause your organs like your heart, lungs, nervous system and brain to fail. 1500 people die from hypothermia in the US every year with the mortality rate from 38% to 84%. The older you are, the more vulnerable you are from hypothermia because your systems are weaker than when you're younger.

How do you get into the state of hypothermia?

You get into hypothermia when your body temperature drops below 35 Degrees Celsius, which when normal, should be 37. It is usually caused by a person spending too much time in the cold, being trapped during winter sports and no one can see them or help them or falling into cold water.

Symptoms:

- Shivering (body trying to heat you up by tightening and relaxing your muscles)

- Confusion (brain not functioning properly)

- Slurring (nervous system not working properly)

- Weak pulse (heart slowing down)

- Weak breath (lungs not functioning properly)

- Shock (blood pressure drop suddenly)

- Unconscious (your organs shut down)

Risks:

- Elderly

- Young babies

- Taking medications

- Alcohol usage

- Sick people

Diagnosis:

- Symptoms

- Blood tests

What if left untreated:

You can die from the complications.

Treatment:

- Warm drinks

- Take some rest

- Keep warm (Don't directly be blown by heat)

Preventions:

- Keep clothes dry

- Wear more clothes

- Wear face coverings

- Don't over work yourself

- Don't stay out for long

- Get back to warmth when you feel too cold

Meningitis

What is Meningitis?

Meningitis is an extremely dangerous disease which causes your meninges, or the membrane surrounding your brain and spinal cord to inflame. There are many types of meningitis, because the inflammation can be caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites and more. Typically if given treatment, 5-10% of people die, but if untreated, about 50% of patients die. Meningitis can even kill a person within 4 hours! Even if treated, the patient can be left with permanent damage to their brains and ears. Patients between 16-23 and younger than 1 are more likely to get meningitis.

Types of Meningitis:

1. Bacterial Meningitis - deadly, caused by bacteria, vaccines available

2. Viral Meningitis - most common, less severe than bacterial, caused by viruses, vaccines available

3. Fungal Meningitis - very rare, caused by fungi, can be caused by inhalation of spores

4. Parasitic Meningitis - rare, caused by parasites

5. PAM - rare, caused by amoeba

6. Non-infectious Meningitis - caused by non-infectious diseases (eg. cancer/drugs)

How do you contract Meningitis?

Bacterial and Viral:

    Coughing, sneezing and in rare occasions, through contact of feces. The bacteria can go into your sinus system and go into a bloodstream, which brings it to the brain.

Fungal: 

    Can be caused by breathing fungal spores in

Parasitic and PAM:

    Consumed parasitic eggs or amoeba in water

Non-infectious:

    Caused by diseases, injuries or some medications

Symptoms:

- Headaches

- Fever

- Stiff neck

- Nausea

- Sensitivity to brightness

- Seizures

- Confusion

Diagnosis needed:

- Lumbar puncture

- Eye examinations

- Ear examinations

- Blood examinations

- CT

- MRI

- EEG 

What if you don't treat it?

It can cause your brain to be damaged permanently or even cause death.

Treatment: 

- Antibiotics (B)

- Treating symptoms (P)

- Antifungal (F)

- Treated by body/anti-viral (V)

Prevention:

PLEASE GET VACCINES! The most risked from meningitis are teenagers without vaccines. But also, stay away from smoking, drinking as much as possible and get more rest.

Tetanus

What is Tetanus?
Tetanus is a disease commonly known as lockjaw, is caused by the bacteria Clostridium Tetani. Just like rabies, Tetanus is quite rare in modern cities and urban areas such as the US, because we have medicines and vaccines for it. Only about 30 people contract tetanus per year in the US, and 2 people die, as shown in 2017, and almost all cases were in people that refused to take the recommended vaccines. However, in the world, about 38000 die yearly of this bacteria, mostly in Africa, and some parts of South America and South Asia.

How do you contract Tetanus?
Tetanus is contracted by spores getting into wounds and the body. It can easily enter your body if you puncture yourself with a nail, or have your wound touch soil, dead leaves, faeces or saliva. If needles are unclean with tetanus spores on it and you inject substances into your body with it, you may get it too. Insect bites can transmit the disease too.

Symptoms:
- Lockjaw
- Muscle spasms and contractions (affect brain and nervous system with neurotoxins)
- Fever and sweating
- Muscle stiffness
- Cannot breath

Diagnosis:
- Physical examination

What if you don't treat it?
Tetanus is fatal because it can cause you to suffocate.

Treatment
- Antibiotics
- Antitoxin
- Cleaning wound properly to prevent anymore tetanus spores from growing

Prevention:
- GET THE TETANUS VACCINE! DON'T DESTROY THE WORLD BY PROMOTE ANTI-VAXXING!
- MOST OF THE 30 PEOPLE WHO GET TETANUS IS BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T LISTEN TO RECOMMENDATIONS AND DIDN'T GET THE VACCINE
- 3 doses of DTaP 2/4/6 months, 15-18 months, 4-6 years old
- 1 dose of Tdap at 7-10 years old (booster)
- 1 dose of Tdap at 11-18 (booster)
- After being in accident with a big cut or wound (hospitalized), vaccine recommended to prevent catching tetanus
- The vaccines also protect you from Whooping Cough and Diphtheria

Rabies

What is Rabies?
Rabies is a lyssavirus which is extremely severe. It comes from animals. If you don't get treatment after getting symptoms caused by rabies, you have less than 1% chance of surviving. More than 59000 people die per year of rabies, according to the CDC. Only 8 to 10 people are known to have survived rabies without a vaccine, such as the 15-year-old Jeanna Giese. However, the numbers of rabies in developed countries are extremely low. 1-3 people are admitted to the hospital with rabies a year in the United States. Lots of deaths still remain in developing and third-world countries. This is because rabies comes from bats and bats are rarely found in developing countries.

How do you contract Rabies?
Rabies is transmitted when an infected animal's saliva gets into an open wound of a human. The most common way of transmission is after a household pet gets the virus from another infected animal from outside and bites or scratch its victim because animals can get really aggressive with the rabies virus. There is also another method, which when an infected animals saliva touches an open wound or into the person's eyes, nose or mouth, which can be by licking as well.

Symptoms:
Stage 1.  Headache, Heat, Coughing and Runny Nose, Diarrhoea, Tiredness, Loss of Appetite
Stage 2. Aggression, Cramping, Fear, Light sensitivity, Hallucinations
Stage 3. Paralysis, Lock-jaw, Scared of water

Diagnosis needed:
- Direct Fluorescent Antibody test - check for the virus on the brain tissue
- If you show similar symptoms and you've been bitten or scratched by an animal, go to a doctor for a check

What if you don't treat it?
You DIE unless you are EXTREMELY LUCKY.

Treatment:
A rabies vaccine. The rabies vaccine is usually for people who contracted the virus. The only people who get it before being infected are people with health conditions or weaker immune systems.

Prevention:
-Vaccinate your pet
-Stay away from wild animals (especially bats)
-Keep your pets away from wild animals
-Call the vet if you see your pet acting weird or have symptoms of rabies