FEET, PAINFUL GROWTHS ON SOLES OF

Description and Possible Medical Problems

As we grow older, we become attuned to the little aches and pains that, although they may not totally restrict our movement are nevertheless there—and they weren’t before. A creak in the knee during a walk or a knuckle that begins to swell the second you type for more than a certain number of minutes—these things are annoying, but we can still carry on.

When a pain occurs on the bottom of your foot, however, and makes it difficult to walk, it’s probably not just any old ache or pain but a plantar wart, also called a verruca plantaris. A plantar wart is caused by the same virus that’s responsible for the warts that appear on your hands, and it has a characteristic dark spot in the middle. One way in which it differs from the wart on your finger is that it is usually level with the surface of skin because of the pressure of walking, which makes it recede into the skin.

Treatment

You can usually let an ordinary wart clear up by itself or use an over-the-counter preparation to freeze it so it falls off. With a plantar wart, however, you usually don’t have the luxury of time, since it hurts with every step.

If you have a plantar wart, you should see your doctor. He will use cryotherapy to freeze it off, lasers to burn it off, or topical medication such as an aspirin derivative or a mild acid, which will cause the wart to eventually dry up and fall off. Whatever removal method is used, it is not painful, and the wart should fall off in about four days.

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BODY SIGNAL ALERT VAGINAL DISCHARGE WITH BLOATING AND GENERAL MALAISE: TREATMENT

If your doctor suspects you have ovarian cancer, he will use a sonogram, a CAT scan of the pelvis, and a physical examination to make a positive diagnosis. There is also a blood test that can detect the presence of ovarian cancer and also track its progression. However, this test isn’t a standard part of a regular gynecological exam because it is very expensive. In addition, the test is not 100% accurate: in other words, a negative result does not mean you are free from cancer, and a positive doesn’t necessarily mean you have cancer.

If you do have ovarian cancer, you will need surgery to remove the cancer and help determine whether the cancer is in an early or advanced stage. In addition to your ovaries, your fallopian tubes, uterus, and lymph glands will also probably be removed to make sure that the cancer has not spread. After surgery, you will likely be treated with radiation or chemotherapy to keep the cancer in check.

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BELCHING WITH HEARTBURN, AN ACID TASTE IN THE MOUTH, AND A SORE THROAT: DESCRIPTION AND POSSIBLE MEDICAL PROBLEMS

Heartburn is probably the most common digestive complaint among people in their 40s and 50s—witness the sizable industry that offers pills and liquids in all shapes, sizes, and colors that profess to treat the condition. Most often, heartburn is a sign of stress and/or culinary overindulgence. To help determine the cause of your heartburn, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do I have heartburn after every meal?

2. Do I sometimes find it difficult to sleep?

3. Does the pain occur in the middle of my abdomen between the upper left and right quadrants?

4. Do I frequently take over-the-counter heartburn remedies?

5. Is the heartburn painful?

Fortunately, heartburn is rarely a sign of a serious underlying illness. If you have persistent heartburn with a bad taste in your mouth and bad breath, then you may have a hiatal hernia, a physiological condition in which the valve between the esophagus and the stomach is not working

right. With a faulty valve, the stomach breaches the area directly below the diaphragm and actually rises up into the chest area. This allows stomach acids to enter the esophagus and the mouth. The high acid content of the stomach juices can irritate the esophagus, and this is known as heartburn.

If you have a hiatal hernia, it’s probably a by-product of too many years of eating rich food and leading a sedentary lifestyle. The obesity that usually results can also cause the stomach to push up into the esophagus. In addition, eating heavy meals just before you lie down to go to sleep can cause the valve to malfunction. And alcohol, cigarettes, spicy foods, and antibiotics can aggravate heartburn even more. When belching occurs in combination with sweating and a general malaise, it can be a sign of heart disease.

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BODY SIGNAL ALERT COUGH, PRODUCTIVE AND ACUTE: DESCRIPTION AND POSSIBLE MEDICAL PROBLEMS

The first thing you should realize with a cough that has appeared suddenly and brings up mucus or phlegm is that this is the body’s way of getting rid of an irritant that has entered the lungs. With an acute, nonproductive cough, the cause is usually an inhaled irritant, like dust. A productive cough, however, is probably caused by an underlying illness that is irritating the lungs and causing them to produce more phlegm than usual.

If you have an acute, productive cough, ask yourself the following questions:

1. What color is the secretion: grey, brown, green, red, yellow, or clear?

2. Am I coughing up a lot of phlegm or mucus—more than about a teaspoon—and is it thick or thin?

3. Am I coughing only at night or all day long?

4. Do I have a fever, chills, body aches, or lethargy?

5. If an elderly relative has an acute, productive cough, has there been a change in his or her consciousness and mental acuity?

6. Have I recently lost weight?

7. Was I a heavy smoker in the past?

8. Do I have night sweats?

If you have thick, copious secretions that are grey, yellow, brown, or green, you probably have a bacterial infection, which means you could have pneumonia. Some other symptoms could be fever, chills, or fatigue. If you have these symptoms, you should see your doctor.

If you’ve recently lost weight and have night sweats along with an acute, productive cough, you may actually have tuberculosis.

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PIMPLES: DESCRIPTION AND POSSIBLE MEDICAL PROBLEMS

I bet you thought you left acne and the occasional pimple behind in your 20s.

Guess again. Though acne flare-ups in adults do not occur to the degree they do in teenagers, midlife and older adults can indeed get pimples on their faces—and elsewhere on the body.

A pimple forms when an oil gland that sutrounds a hair follicle becomes plugged by sebum, the oil produced by the gland. The male hormone androgen, which is produced by both men and women, plays a role in sebum production because an increase in the amount of androgen in the body means an increase in sebum.

There are several reasons why pimples may suddenly make an appearance in an adult. Androgen levels, for one, can be affected by medications such as birth control pills. But acne can also be aggravated by the use of certain cosmetics, especially heavy moisturizing creams, which can block the oil glands and produce a buildup of sebum or encourage an allergic reaction that produces pimples. Creams can also aggravate preexisting acne. Heredity can also play a role.

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