The idea of patient helping patient self-help groups has a long history of community involvement typified by various chronic health problems, e.g., Headway (for head injured persons), Alcoholics Anonymous, GROW etc. A Chronic Pain Association was set up in the state of Victoria in 1978 and is still in existence. Other chronic pain support groups [...]

Many recovered cancer sufferers have taken an active role in the promotion of alternative methods of coping with cancer, and fighting cancer. Such a survivor is the Australian veterinarian Ian Gawler who has become renowned for his work in helping other cancer sufferers through a network of personal and group support, and education into the [...]

Peter, 25, was riding a motorbike and in trying to avoid a head-on collision with an overtaking truck on a country highway, he had fallen off his bike, landed heavily on his right arm and then bounced into a concrete highway marker. ‘It’s burning continuously’, was how Peter had described his paralysed right arm when [...]

Physiotherapy techniques include heat treatment (both dry and moist) and ultrasound therapy. The physiotherapist will also assess posture and function of the musculoskeletal system and prescribe and supervise exercise programs. Gentle manipulation is available through physiotherapists working both outside and inside the pain clinic. Many of the simplest methods of physiotherapy have been used successfully [...]

Some well-documented case-histories lend support to the idea that food sensitivity can sometimes be at the root of serious mental illness. But it seems unlikely that it is often so, and it would be a mistake to extrapolate to other cases of mental illness which have been given the same diagnostic labels. There is little [...]

Description and Possible Medical Problems If you notice a discharge from your penis that looks like pus and you also find it difficult to urinate, see your doctor right away. These are the two major signs of a sexually transmitted disease, gonorrhea in particular. Because gonorrhea infects the urethra, which causes it to swell up, [...]

Description and Possible Medical Problems Like a crick in the neck or a headache that won’t go away no matter how many ^aspirins you take, if you become constipated, it tends to affect everything you do. Constipation that appears all of a sudden or over the course of several days is usually due to a [...]

Description and Possible Medical Problems Some elderly people have a condition in which the heart rate alternately speeds up and slows down, and it can vary back and forth several times a day. Sometimes the person may appear to be in normal spirits, but occasionally she may have chest pain, shortness of breath, or fainting. [...]

Description and Possible Medical Problems Sometimes your skin may turn red due to nervousness or stress. The redness may last for a few minutes or a few hours. However, if you develop solid red, scaly plaques on the trunk of your body that are very sharply defined and scaly in appearance, chances are you have [...]

Description and Possible Medical Problems When you accidentally bite your tongue, it may swell up for a few hours before it returns to its normal size. It may leave behind a sore that might last a day or two. But when your tongue becomes enlarged and stays that way without biting it, this could indicate [...]