Recent Articles
Jaw Pain
By Dr. Shihab Kappan on July 1st, 2018 in Anatomy and Body, Pain Management
Causes of Jaw Pain There are many causes of jaw pain. Those that cause pain on either one side or both sides of the jaw are: TMJ Disorders It is the most common cause of jaw pain, and it is more common among women. Signs and symptoms include pain or tenderness in the jaw, pain […]
Gallbladder Attack
By Dr. Shihab Kappan on March 1st, 2018 in Pain Management
Most of the people have heard the term ‘heart-attack’ which occurs due to issues in blood supply of the heart muscles. But what is a ‘gallbladder attack’?. A sudden pain in the abdomen due to disease of the gallbladder is commonly referred to as gallbladder attack (1). This pain can be really scary due to […]
Murphy’s Sign
By Dr. Shihab Kappan on February 8th, 2018 in Anatomy and Body
What is Murphy’s sign? It is a finding for differentiating the cause, by physical examination of a patient having pain in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen (1). This test is positive if the patient is having acute cholecystitis (inflammation of the gallbladder) (1). John Benjamin Murphy was the American Surgeon who described the […]
Hypervolemia
By Dr. Shihab Kappan on February 6th, 2018 in Diseases and Conditions
What is Hypervolemia/ Fluid overload? When the blood vessels in our body carry abnormally high volume of blood, the condition is called hypervolemia (1). In fact, the fluid portion of the blood is higher in this state. Further in this article, we would be looking at what maintains the fluid balance, how hypervolemia occurs, their […]
Odynophagia
By Dr. Shihab Kappan on February 2nd, 2018 in Diseases and Conditions
What is Odynophagia ? Origin of the word ‘Odynophagia’ is from Greek (1). Odyno- Pain (1) Phagia- (phagein)- to eat. (1) So the word meaning can be considered as ‘Pain to eat’ or pain while eating. Definition of Odynophagia Painful swallowing is called as odynophagia (2). The pain may be related to particular food item […]
HIV Rash
By Dr. Shihab Kappan on February 2nd, 2018 in Skin
Rashes itself is not a diagnosis or a disease but indicate an underlying condition, infection or drug reactions (1). Most of them are non-infectious or self-limiting. They may appear throughout the body or may be limited to different body parts. The name HIV rash itself is scary. Here the term ‘rash’ is not what scares, […]
Lichenification
By Dr. Shihab Kappan on February 1st, 2018 in Skin
What is Lichenification of skin? Definition: Skin ‘Lichenification’ occurs when there is chronic irritation or itching of the skin that leads to thickening of the skin at the site due to repeated scratching (1, 2, 3, 4). It looks thick and leathery with prominent skin cracks and scales. Picture 1 : Image shows an area […]
Sepsis and Septicemia
By Dr. Shihab Kappan on January 16th, 2018 in Diseases and Conditions
What is Sepsis and Septicemia? Definitions: Septicemia in simple terms can be said as infection in blood. This is the reason why it has been used with interchangeable terms such as ‘Blood Poisoning’, ‘Bacteremia’ and ‘Sepsis’. The infection in blood can be due to the organism itself being in the blood or may be due […]
Red Blood Cell Indices
By Dr. Shihab Kappan on January 15th, 2018 in Uncategorized
Most of us have seen blood check reports which show various values indicating changes in many health conditions. Though it is difficult for a non-medical person to understand their implications, most are able to compare the results with the normal values. Certain indices of red blood cells had always been a part of the report […]
Anasarca
By Dr. Shihab Kappan on December 31st, 2017 in Diseases and Conditions
What is Anasarca? Definition : Anasarca is a medical condition in which the whole body swells up. This is due to accumulation of fluid in the extracellular space (1). In general, doctors call it in different names such as generalized edema, massive edema or dropsy (2). The rapid gain of weight due to bloating of […]
