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Did you know that women are six times more like­ly to expe­ri­ence irri­ta­ble bow­el syn­drome (IBS), a dis­or­der char­ac­ter­ized by symp­toms includ­ing stom­ach pain, gas, bloat­ing and diar­rhea or con­sti­pa­tion, than men? Learn about the dif­fer­ent fac­tors that put women at a high­er risk for cer­tain gut conditions.

Veins are blood ves­sels that car­ry blood back to the heart. To keep blood mov­ing toward the heart, veins have one way valves. When the valves break­down, blood does not flow well and can cause Chron­ic Venous Insuf­fi­cien­cy (CVI) and vari­cose veins. The abnor­mal flow of blood is typ­i­cal­ly referred to as ​‘reflux’ since the blood moves back­wards and for­wards. Venous reflux occurs most often in veins clos­est to the skin (super­fi­cial veins) and vari­cose veins can be blue, red, or flesh-col­ored. They typ­i­cal­ly look like cords under the skin and can be twist­ed or bulging. Spi­der veins are like vari­cose veins, but much small­er. The look like small tree branch­es on the sur­face of the skin.

The DMG urol­o­gists offer vasec­to­my con­sul­ta­tions and pro­ce­dures on select Sat­ur­days through the Men’s Health Clin­ic at the Lisle Med­ical Office Build­ing. These appoint­ments, offered in addi­tion to week­day appoint­ments, are avail­able to ease the has­sle of tak­ing off work for the con­sul­ta­tion and procedure.

Irri­ta­ble bow­el syn­drome (IBS) is a func­tion­al dis­or­der of the colon that caus­es a vari­ety of uncom­fort­able gas­troin­testi­nal symp­toms. In addi­tion to affect­ing between 25 – 55 mil­lion peo­ple in the Unit­ed States, IBS is the sec­ond high­est cause of ill­ness-relat­ed work absences. Dur­ing nor­mal diges­tion, your brain and gut work togeth­er to send sig­nals to your hor­mones, nerves and the good bac­te­ria found in your gut to acti­vate the mus­cles of your colon. When you are expe­ri­enc­ing an IBS episode, these sig­nals become jum­bled, caus­ing the mus­cles of your diges­tive tract to become tense. This leads to symp­toms such as con­sti­pa­tion or diar­rhea, gas and stom­ach cramp­ing. IBS symp­toms and their sever­i­ty vary by per­son, but often include:

Did you know that there are dif­fer­ent types of ear infec­tions? Each have their own symp­toms and treat­ments. Take a look below to explore the inner ear.

Flu­o­roscopy, or flu­o­ro, is made up of ​“live” X‑ray images that when they are put togeth­er look like a movie. A flu­o­ro­scope allows med­ical staff to see bones and also helps physi­cians to iden­ti­fy soft tis­sue pathology.

Pul­monary func­tion tests (PFTs) are a series of non-inva­sive diag­nos­tic tests that mea­sure how well your lungs work and can be used to help diag­nose cer­tain lung dis­or­ders. ​‘Pul­monary func­tion tests’ is an inclu­sive term that refers to many dif­fer­ent pro­ce­dures that mea­sure how your lungs work in dif­fer­ent ways. Specif­i­cal­ly these tests mea­sure how well you are able to breathe and how well your lungs are able to sup­ply oxy­gen to your body by mea­sur­ing your lung vol­umes, capac­i­ties, rates of flow and gas exchange.

Prostate can­cer affects the prostate gland and may spread to sur­round­ing struc­tures. While most men with prostate can­cer have no symp­toms, physi­cian can find prostate can­cer dur­ing a reg­u­lar check­up, using a com­bi­na­tion of a blood test called a PSA and a dig­i­tal rec­tal exam (DRE).

Radi­ol­o­gy imag­ing is a crit­i­cal com­po­nent of health­care used as a tool in med­i­cine to show parts of the body. But have you ever won­dered why your physi­cian referred you for a CT scan instead of an MRI, or what Nuclear Med­i­cine is used for? If so, this info­graph­ic is an easy ref­er­ence chart that high­lights the dif­fer­ent types of diag­nos­tic imag­ing and what they’re used for.

Trav­el­ing is a great way to expe­ri­ence new things and make last­ing mem­o­ries. Devel­op­ing an ill­ness while you’re away from home can be stress­ful and have a sig­nif­i­cant impact on your plans. Whether you’re trav­el­ing local­ly or out­side of the Unit­ed States (U.S.), it’s impor­tant to be aware of the pos­si­ble health risks you may encounter on your trip and have a plan to min­i­mize them and address any symp­toms that may devel­op, should you become ill. Infec­tious Dis­ease and Trav­el Med­i­cine physi­cian, Noziana Aftab, MD, shares tips to keep you healthy while you’re on-the-go.