Monthly Archives: August 2011

Bipolar Disorder – An Abnormal Mood Disorder

Bipolar Disorder is a mood disorder characterised by abnormal mood states. More accurately it involves cycling between the high mood state of mania to the incredibly low state of depression. Bipolar disorder affects at least one in every 70 people, greatly impeding the sufferer’s ability to live a normal life, and putting them at a higher risk of personal, relationship and work related issues.

In order to understand this disorder correctly, a discussion about how we actually define mood or abnormality of mood is in order. Our moods include the obvious states of happiness and sadness, but also optimism, pessimism, contentedness or dissatisfaction and they can even cover physical states such as how fatigued one can feel. You could say that mood is like an emotional barometer a set of feelings that expresses our sense of emotional comfort or discomfort.

Generally speaking everyone’s moods vary within a certain range from day to day, people are not constantly in one state or the other and it is quite normal for people to have ups and downs of mood. So what is the difference between these regular ups and downs in mood and the moods of a bipolar disorder sufferer? Do they simply have higher ups and lower downs?

Well yes, in a certain way this is correct. A bipolar sufferers’ moods quite often are so outside the range of normal that it doesn’t take a psychologist to know something is wrong. They can swing from mood to mood like a monkey swings from a tree at a rate that is almost impossible to keep up with and that doesn’t make any rational sense. Therefore, the symptoms of bipolar disorder seem to be caused more by a defect in the brains regulation of mood.

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So for what is essentially a biological condition, the effects are felt both physically and psychologically. Bipolar disorder is accompanied by a range of symptoms that affect not only mood but energy levels, memory, cognitive ability and ones ability to relate and connect to the people around them. Physically one suffers sleep impairments, energy surges or lack thereof, appetite changes and concentration difficulties. Psychologically one might experience changes in thoughts, feelings, choices and actions. As the symptoms are cyclic in nature a sufferer can be left feeling as if they are always losing ground and never quite able to get a handle on their life.

As such the prognosis for bipolar disorder can seem quite dim, however it does not have to be that way. With greater understanding of this disorder and improved medical options over the past 30 years, fortunately today there is much hope for the bipolar sufferer. Through better understanding and management techniques combined with medications such as lithium a bipolar suffer can control the cycling moods and triggers for mania and depression so that one can live an enjoyable life.

Of the treatments necessary for sufferers of bipolar disorder, non is more important than self management strategies. By developing the ability to recognise the triggers and adjusting your life accordingly, a bipolar suffer can lessen the onset and severity of manic and depressive episodes.

 

A mood chart is really helpful in creating a structure for recognising daily changes in moods and emotions and how these changes are related to sleeping patterns,

Recognizing What Is Arthritis And Just How Can It Affect You And Me?

As arthritis has affected plenty of men and women from all over the world irrespective of age, with this it is important to learn what is arthritis and what are the symptoms and what can cause it.

So what is arthritis?

Arthritis is known as inflammation of one or more joints. Most of the time, it is accompanied by joint pain. Arthritis comes in many different kinds, there are over hundred of determined types of arthritis, and then the number keeps growing. This disease can result in pain, stiffness and also swelling in the joints in any parts of your body. Some type of arthritis may impact other areas of the body like bones, muscles and internal organs that might result in incapacitating, even life-threatening problems.

Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are the two most common types of arthritis. Arthritis is a ailment that could affect anyone irrespective of age and this includes children. Arthritis is common in older adults. It can cause pain and may hinder patients from taking pleasure on the things they once enjoyed.

When arthritis remains undiagnosed and without treatment, it may lead to lasting or irreversible injury to the joints, bones, organs, and skin.

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Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is also known as a degenerative joint disease which is prompted by wear and tear. Joints might be actually damaged in addition to its surrounding tissues because of the pressure of gravity and thus triggers: swelling, pain, tenderness and decreased function.

Osteoarthritis is non-inflammatory in the beginning and it has a subtle and gradual onset that normally entails one or only a few joints. The knees, hips, hands and spine are the joints that are predominantly affected. Similar to other kinds of arthritis, the chance of osteoarthritis accelerate with age. Weight problems, joint trauma and repetitive joint use are other risk factors of osteoarthritis.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that is chronic and potentially crippling. It arises when the body’s defense mechanisms is misdirected and incorrectly attacks the cell lining within the joint called synovium. This kind of arthritis could potentially cause stiffness in the joint, pain, swelling and loss of joint function.

Although cause end up being hard to pin down, health experts are convinced genetics play a crucial role. Rheumatoid arthritis can start gradually with subtle symptoms which make it tough to diagnose early.

Juvenile Arthritis

Juvenile arthritis refers to any type of arthritis of which develops in kids. This is common in youngsters and this comes in three main types: polyarticular which impacts many joints, pauciarticular which pertains to just a few joints and systemic which impacts the whole body. The signs or symptoms may differ from one child to another. Mainly because no single test can effectively set up a diagnosis, the Juvenile arthritis ought to be consistently present for six or more successive weeks prior to a accurate diagnosis can be created.

Psoriatic Arthritis

Psoriatic Arthritis can be compared to rheumatoid arthritis. Medical studies report that around 5 percent of people with chronic skin disease for example psoriasis develop psoriatic arthritis. In this sort of arthritis, an individual may suffer

Otitis Media

Otitis media is an infection or inflammation of the middle ear.  This middle ear is farther inside the ear canal and deep behind the eardrum.  The middle ear is the compartment which houses the human structures of hearing and balance.  This infection or accumulation of fluid or pus can either be seurus viral, mycoplasmal, allergic, or bacterial.  Otitis media can occur at any age, although it is more common in young children, particularly from ages 3 months to 6 years of age.  The first complaint is usually a severe painful and persistent earache.  Hearing loss may occur and rarely, could reduce hearing permanently with constant repetitive severe infections.  Fever of up to 105º F, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may occur as well.

The middle ear area is an enclosed cavern in the base of the skull with a round membrane like a drum surface at the end of an external canal.  It is enclosed for safety in the hardest bone of the body.  There is a drain from the lower most inner part of the cavern called the Eustachian tube in the back of the throat.  The tympanic membrane or eardrum is the slightly opaque window through which the physician looks through and evaluates the middle ear.  If healthy, it should appear a light pink and almost clear, with an indentation where one of the tiny ear bones attaches to the inside of the drum.  If the eardrum appears reddened, dull, and bulging, there is an infection or fluid behind it.  If there is a clear fluid in the middle ear causing the eardrum to bulge slightly, this is called serous otitis. This may be due to a virus or allergic condition.  If there is a hole in the eardrum it cannot properly conduct sound waves.  It can let infection into and out of the middle ear.   The semi-circular canals are in the inner ear. These canals control your balance.  Opening and closing the tube by coughing, swallowing, chewing gum, or maneuvering the jaw is often called popping your ears and relieves the pressure of the inner ear chamber.  Inside of this area are your balance and your hearing centers.  Fluids, bacteria, allergens and fluid accumulation due to allergy often affect swelling of this area.  A physician using an otoscope light to look in your ears can see through the translucent curved drum and see fluid, bacteria or pus behind the eardrum and inside this space  

In the middle upper portion of the middle ear cavern are two small holes going up into the brain.  Bad infections rarely can cause leakage along these pathways to these nerves about one-quarter of an inch long.  They can result in encephalitis, meningitis, and possibly death by infection in the brain space.  If a bacterial infection of the middle ear is not treated, it can spread into meningitis, encephalitis or to the mastoid air cells causing Mastoiditis.  Mastoiditis was very common in the pre-antibiotic era. This is the bony air cell formation at the base of the skull below and behind the external ear.  These infections are rare occurrences today due to antibiotics but do happen.  Surgery was performed years ago with a hammer and chisel and it was used to get the infection out of the bone. The most common organisms are staphycoccal pneumonia 30-50%, haemophilus influenzae 10%, moraxella catarrhalis 10%, viral 40%, and respiratory syncytial virus and rhinovirus.  About one third of the infections may have no bacterial pathogens.  Drops cannot get in the canal to the

The Effects Of Alcoholism On The Body – The Dangerous Effects of Alcoholism

The dangerous effects of alcoholism are numerous and potentially fatal, not to mention destructive to the alcoholic’s work, family, goals, and relationships in general. The physical side effects of alcoholism are:

Effect of Alcohol on The Brain

Alcohol acts as a depressant on the brain, most strongly affecting the area that governs inhibitions and judgment. In many cases the alcoholic is seeking just that: liberation from anxiety, shyness, rigidity of thinking, and also the euphoric feeling that accompanies the release of such emotional restrictions.

The temporary loss of judgment and inhibitions explain why some people are “happy drunks,” while others become angry and hostile. The happy drunk seems to get along with everyone because he loses his ability to accurately judge others. Everyone becomes his friend, and he is the life of the party. He also loses his inhibitions – which in normal life restrict him and cause him social anxiety.

The angry drunk also loses his inhibitions, which when sober restrict him from expressing his emotions, especially, anger. His loss of inhibition translates into loss of anger management and personal self-control.

So while much study has been undertaken to try and develop a working model of the alcoholic personality, it has not been possible to do so because various personality types become alcoholics for a variety of reasons. It is certain though that alcoholism does the same physiological damage to the individual’s brain, nervous system, and liver, regardless of his personality and behavior.

In spite of the initial euphoria experienced by the drinker, consumption of more alcohol leads to a more depressed state. The circulation and respiratory systems also become depressed, so that a severe consumption of alcohol can lead to stupor, coma and even death.

As the brain suffers from bouts of alcoholism, so does the nervous system.

Effect of Alcoholism on the Nervous System

One of the visible effects of alcoholism is the loss of balance and muscular coordination. As drinkers consume more and more alcohol, their speech is slurred, their movements become clumsy and awkward, and they lose their balance. This is not due to direct effect of alcohol on the muscles, but the direct effect on the brain and its impulses to the peripheral nervous system.

Effect of Alcoholism on the Liver

The liver is responsible for many vital functions in the body and suffers greatly from the effects of alcoholism. One important role of the liver is to destroy and eliminate toxic substances from the bloodstream and send them to other organs for elimination. Under stress, the liver will fail to accomplish this function properly, resulting in toxemia, poor immune function, infection, skin diseases, kidney disease, impaired circulation, tumors, and a while host of disorders.

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Over 90% of the alcohol consumed by the body must be eliminated by the process of oxidation, which takes place in the liver. Oxidation is the breakdown of alcohol into carbon dioxide and water (CO2 and H2O). The rate at which the liver can perform this function is the same regardless of the amount of alcohol consumed by the person. So, the more alcohol consumed, the more the liver’s work backs up because it cannot oxidize any

Carcinoma – Curing the Malignant Skin Tumor

Carcinoma is a cancerous growth. Carcinoma is a skin cancer. Carcinoma occurs in the epithelial tissues. The cells layers are formed by this epithelium tissue. In other words, carcinoma affects those skin tissues that make up the protective inner sheet of all our vital internal organs. However, intensive researches are on to find out the exact clues that can go to prove that these malignant cells can effectively break through the defensive barriers of the cells by breaking the protective epithelium membrane.

The epithelium layer consists of the sentinel cells that not just protect the organs but also do several other vital functions. Among these roles played by the epithelium tissue are transcellular transport, secretion, sensation detection, absorption, and selective permeability.

In most of the unattended cases, carcinoma spreads to other portions of the body like the lymph nodes. Once carcinoma becomes malignant, it is medically termed as carcinoma in situ (CIS). Carcinoma is therefore a tumor that is malignant and invasive as well. Carcinoma is one the four common types of cancers. Carcinoma or for that matter any form of cancer occurs when there is an uninterrupted growth of anomalous (cancerous) cells after they mutate from the normal tissues. The uncontrollable birth of so many irregular cells can be diabolic as they can come in the way of the smooth functioning of the different important organs of the body. Once these mutated cancerous cells spread to other parts of the body they can very well destroy the body’s immune system as well.

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In many cases, the medical experts identify the tumors via the presumptive organs or cell of origin, viz., putative (also known as the renal cell carcinoma or the hepatocellular carcinoma) or the primary (prostate carcinoma).

According to the histopathology scheme, carcinoma has been classified into Adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. In other words, the carcinoma cells can appear as glandular (as in the case of Adenocarcinoma) or squamous. There are then the undifferentiated forms of carcinoma where the tumors are anaplastic and have no fixed or typically identifiable appearances, histologically speaking.

Therefore, carcinoma is divided into five main types. They are adeno, squamous cell, small cell, large undifferentiated cell and Sinonasal. Adenocarcinoma forms structures that are glandular in shape. Adenocarcinoma habitats are the pneumocytes of the type-II category and the goblet cells. Adenocarcinoma takes birth in the epithelial glandular tissue cells. Its primary roosting place is the lung. Such carcinoma are located in the lung in a peripheral manner. Carcinoma of the Squamous cell arises owing to the squamous metaplasia. Such squamous cell carcinoma also lodges in the lung. Smoking leads to the carcinoma of small cell. Such carcinoma cells spread (metastasize) to other parts of the body in the initial stages. They can lower sodium concentration in the patient’s body by secreting ADH. The undifferentiated carcinomas of large cells are rather aggressive. They generally attack the lung’s central portions. Approximately 18 per cent of the neoplasms in the lung take place due to this type of carcinoma.

The medical experts use a typical system used to measure the level of differentiation of the

Supplements for Diabetes – Magnesium for Managing Type 2 Diabetes

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine”, National Institute of Health. People with diabetes take supplements to manage their diabetes and diabetes complications. We have listed articles that discuss supplements and their believed benefits and harm. We suggest you speak with your health care professionals about whether you should take diabetes nutritional supplements.

Magnesium is a mineral. Foods high in magnesium include green leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds, and some whole grains. Glucose supplements and various supplemental forms of magnesium are marketed as tablets, capsules, or liquids.

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Magnesium has many important functions in the body, including in the heart, nerves, muscles, bones, handling glucose, and making proteins. Low levels of magnesium are commonly seen in people with diabetes. Scientists have studied the relationship between magnesium and diabetes for a long time, but it is not yet fully understood.

There have been a handful of studies on magnesium and type 2 diabetes, many of them very small in size and/or short in length and primarily looking at blood glucose control. The results have been mixed, with most finding that magnesium did not affect blood glucose control. Some studies have suggested that low magnesium levels may make glucose control worse in type 2 diabetes (interrupting insulin secretion in the pancreas and increasing insulin resistance) and contribute to diabetes complications. There is evidence that magnesium supplementation may be helpful for insulin resistance. Additional controlled studies are needed to establish firmly whether magnesium supplements have any role or benefit as a CAM therapy for type 2 diabetes.

Magnesium supplements and supplements for diabetes appear to be safe for most adults at low doses. High doses can be unsafe and cause such problems as nausea, diarrhea, loss of appetite, muscle weakness, difficulty breathing, extremely low blood pressure, irregular heart rate, and confusion. Magnesium can interact with and affect the action of certain drugs, including some antibiotics, drugs to prevent osteoporosis, certain high blood pressure medicines (calcium channel blockers), muscle relaxants, and diuretics (“water pills”).

TypeFreeDiabetes.com is the premier source for your diabetic needs on-line. At TypeFreeDiabetes.com, you can enjoy a balanced diabetic lifestyle by learning about – how to control blood sugar, lower body fat, diet to prevent diabetes, reduce diabetes medications and reverse diabetes complications.

For more information, visit: Diabetic supplements

Understanding the Realities of Childhood and Adolescent Depression

By Alan Harper, MA, LLP

Many adults are surprised when told that children and adolescents can and do become clinically depressed. We often think only adults have the type and severity of life stressors that can result in depression. After all, we adults have to deal with careers, financial concerns, marital issues, parenting challenges, tax season, home repairs, health problems, and more. Children and adolescents have little to worry about in their relatively stress-free lives. Children simply have to do their best in their fun classes at school, play with their friends, enjoy all the toys they’ve accumulated, and put up with Mom and Dad when told it’s time to go to bed so they can rest up for another fun-filled, stress-free day.

Adolescent boys and girls have lives filled with Friday night football games, sleepovers at friends’ houses, weekends at the mall, movie dates with their exciting new boyfriend or girlfriend. They enjoy group outings at local fast food restaurants where talk is friendly and no one is teased or ostracized. Life is good as a child and adolescent. School is fun, home is stable, friends are true, and bodies are healthy. Depression can wait until the real stressors of adulthood. Right? Well…not exactly.

As much as we may want the above scenarios to be true, the fact is the time of our lives from childhood through adolescence can be an emotionally tumultuous time. It can be filled with uncertainty, insecurity and confusion caused by difficult peer-relational issues, heart-breaking dating experiences, academic stressors, health problems and conflictual home environments. This is a time of transition from the relative protection of young childhood to the significant challenges of adulthood. The demands placed on children and adolescents by society, parents, peers, and the girls and boys themselves can be staggering.

Depression can and does occur in children and adolescents and is more prevalent in our culture than previously thought. The U.S. Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) reports as many as one in every 33 children and one in every eight adolescents may be experiencing depression at some level. Two-thirds of children with mental health problems do not get the help they need. CMHS also reports that once a young person has experienced a major depression, he or she is at risk for developing another depression within the next five years. Plus, children or adolescents who have a family history of depression are more likely to struggle with it. Depression can significantly impact the life of a child or adolescent (and their families) through the disruption of peer relationships, academic performance and development, self-image and selfesteem. Thoughts of suicide or other self-destructive behaviors can occur with depression, which places further stress on the child or adolescent and increases the risk of physical harm or even death.

There is help for the depressed child or adolescent. Before help can be provided, however, the signs and symptoms of depression within the child and adolescent age range must be understood so parents and other caregivers can better determine when outside intervention is needed.

There are a number of signs and symptoms of childhood and adolescent depression, some of which are readily observable by others. Some others require questioning of the child or adolescent and/or deliberate monitoring of his or her

How To Win Battle Against Cancer

As per WHO 33% women and 25% men are likely to get cancer in their life time. Incidence of cancer is increasing with every passing day. Cancer is global problem and has to be tackled globally.Battleagainst cancer can not be won by doctors and scientists alone. The entire community has to be involved. It is possible to prevent 40 – 50% cancer by adopting healthy life styles, to detect 10 – 20% cancers by self examination and 40 – 50% cancers by Annual Cancer Check ups. Cancer is curable, if detected early and treated promptly at good cancer centers.

 

 

Stop smoking (active and passive) and alcohol to prevent lung, head and neck cancers.
Avoid high fat and rich foods; eat whole grains, fruits and fresh vegetables to prevent cancer of breast, prostate and colon.
Exercise to stay healthy
Avoid exposure to – household solvent cleaners, cleaning fluids, and paint thinners, pesticides, fungicides and other chemicals to avoid lung cancer.
Avoid multiple sex partners to avoid cancer cervix.
Avoid direct sunlight in summers to avoid skin cancers.
Get screening tests like the Pap smears, mammograms, Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) and Digital Rectal Examinations (Dress) for secondary prevention.

 

 

Each and every individual should do self examination once a month.
Each and every individual visiting his / her doctor for any ailment should be screened for cancer.
Annual cancer check up should be done at cancer hospitals.
Suspected cancer cases should be investigated urgently to confirm or rule out cancer.

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Tissue diagnosis to confirm / rule out cancer by FNAC / Biopsy.
Staging work up to confirm stage of the disease.
Tumour Board Evaluation to chart out custom made treatment plan for each individual, as per standard treatment guidelines.
Choosing NABH Accredited cancer hospitals, offering quality cancer treatment.

 

 

A panel of cancer experts i.e. Medical Oncologists, Radiation Oncologists, Surgical Oncologists, Gynae Oncologists, Paediatric Oncologists, Onco-pathologists, Radiologists and Imaging experts, get together to review and plan suitable modality or modalities of treatment.
Treatment is need driven and not doctor driven.
Patients get the choice of surgery or radiotherapy, if the results are same by both modalities.
Patients are saved from unnecessary surgeries, if the surgeries cannot be performed.
Patients get complete treatment. This prevents recurrence due to incomplete treatment.
Chances of cure / improvement in quality of life are much higher because of right and optimum treatment.
Patients are saved from Medical shopping and get expert opinion under one roof by spending one consultation fee only.

 

 

 

Cancer is treated by giving external radiation with linear accelerators and internal radiation i.e. brachytherapy. The newer techniques of Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy ensures that healthy tissues surrounding the tumour are not exposed to radiation to prevent side effects of radiotherapy. Radiation oncologists and physicists work together as a team to give radiation.

 

Cancer Surgeries are very complex lasting 2 – 12 hours. A dedicated team of surgical oncologists and Anaesthesiologists, supported by other allied specialists is a must. Surgical oncologists are best suited to

Have you seen this missing woman?

Have you seen this missing woman?
Police are asking for the public's help in finding a woman who suffers from bipolar disorder and narcolepsy and has been without her medication since at least Friday. Jillian Walsh-Ezzidio, 26, was last seen around 3 am Friday in a residential area on
Read more on WPEC

Woman found beaten to death in NH is identified
Mead's father tells the New Haven Register (http://bit.ly/omRfuY ) that his daughter suffered from bipolar disorder and had a drug addiction, and had begun "hanging out with the wrong people." The medical examiner has not released a cause of death.
Read more on Houston Chronicle

State tries to rein in psychiatric drugs
Her daughter had been taking them since an emergency-room doctor, treating her for sleeplessness, had suggested she was suffering from mania due to bipolar disorder. "This is not how it should be," said the mother, whose first name is Nancy and who
Read more on Minneapolis Star Tribune

Leave Depression Behind Quickly and Easily with Hypnotherapy and Self-Hypnosis

Getting depression is not a sign of weakness. There are no particular ‘personality types’ that are more at risk than others. However, some risk factors have been identified; these include inherited (genetic) factors, such as having parents or grandparents who have suffered from depression and non-genetic factors such as the death of a parent when you were young or suffering a trauma of some kind..

It is often impossible to identify a ’cause’ in many people, and this can be distressing for people who want to understand the reasons why they are ill. However depression, like any illness, can strike for no apparent reason. There are drugs on the market that can really help, but many people are reluctant to take these, as the side effects can almost be as unpleasant as the depression, but there are alternatives, and Hypnotherapy is one of them. 

Self-Hypnosis is designed to combat the most common symptoms of depression, and lift that dark shadow of misery, anguish, gloom, and despondency.
Only a qualified doctor or health practitioner can formally diagnose you with clinical depression. However, how they reach this diagnosis gives an incredibly important insight into how to treat depression.

Depression Screening and Tests for Depression
Screening for depression is becoming more common, as we begin to realize how much is left undiagnosed. So let’s look now at how clinical depression is normally diagnosed.

Common Signs of Depression
The 5 most common signs of depression, according to research published in The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine (1998) are as follows:

These five signs of depression were reported by at least 90% of those in the study.
Reduced enjoyment from usual activities
Disappointment with self
Hopelessness
Irritability
Difficulty sleeping

If you are experiencing some or all of these, it still doesn’t mean that you would necessarily be diagnosed with depression. There are of course many more symptoms of depression, both physical and mental.

Diagnosing Depression

According to the definitions of most medical, psychological, and psychiatric bodies, there is a commonality in the diagnosis of depression. Most depression tests have a very similar framework. Almost without exception, clinical depression will be diagnosed if a certain number of feelings, that are signs of depression, are present over a certain period of time.

Below is the ‘official’ guide for diagnosing clinical depression:

A person can be diagnosed as suffering from clinical depression if:

(A) Five (or more) of the following symptoms have been present during the same 2-week period and represent a change from previous functioning; at least one of the symptoms is either (1) depressed mood or (2) loss of interest or pleasure.

(1) Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day, as indicated by either subjective report (e.g., feels sad or empty) or observation made by others (e.g., appears tearful). Note: In children and adolescents, can be irritable mood.

(2) Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities most of the day, nearly every day (as indicated by either subjective account or observation made by others)

(3) Significant weight loss when not dieting or weight gain (e.g., a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month), or decrease or increase in appetite

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