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Having a pain in your chest can be scary. It does not always mean that you are having a heart attack. There can be many other causes, including:
Some of these problems can be serious. Get immediate medical care if you have chest pain that does not go away, crushing pain or pressure in the chest, or chest pain along with nausea, sweating, dizziness or shortness of breath. Treatment depends on the cause of the pain.
What is chlamydia?
Chlamydia is a common sexually transmitted infection (STI). It is caused by bacteria called Chlamydia trachomatis. Anyone can get chlamydia. It often doesn't cause symptoms, so people may not know that they have it. Antibiotics can cure it. But if it's not treated, chlamydia can cause serious health problems.
How is chlamydia spread?You can get chlamydia during oral, vaginal, or anal sex with someone who has chlamydia. A pregnant person can also pass chlamydia to the baby during childbirth.
If you've had chlamydia and were treated in the past, you can get re-infected if you have unprotected sex with someone who has it.
Who is more likely to get chlamydia?Chlamydia is more common in young people, especially young women. You are more likely to get infected with chlamydia if you don't consistently use a condom or if you have multiple partners.
What are the symptoms of chlamydia?Chlamydia doesn't usually cause any symptoms. So you may not realize that you have it. But even if you don't have symptoms, you can still pass the infection to others.
If you do have symptoms, they may not appear until several weeks after you have sex with someone who has chlamydia.
Symptoms in women include:
If the infection spreads, you might get lower abdominal (belly) pain, pain during sex, nausea, and fever.
Symptoms in men include:
If the chlamydia infects the rectum (in men or women), it can cause rectal pain, discharge, and bleeding.
How is chlamydia diagnosed?There are lab tests to diagnose chlamydia. Your health care provider may ask you to provide a urine sample. Or your provider may use (or ask you to use) a cotton swab to get a sample from your vagina to test for chlamydia.
Who should be tested for chlamydia?You should go to your provider for a test if you have symptoms of chlamydia or if you have a partner who has an STI. Pregnant people should get a test when they go to their first prenatal visit.
People at higher risk should get checked for chlamydia every year:
In women, an untreated infection can spread to your uterus and fallopian tubes, causing pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). PID can cause permanent damage to your reproductive system. This can lead to long-term pelvic pain, infertility, and ectopic pregnancy. Women who have had chlamydia infections more than once are at higher risk of serious reproductive health complications.
Men often don't have health problems from chlamydia. Sometimes it can infect the epididymis (the tube that carries sperm). This can cause pain, fever, and, rarely, infertility.
Both men and women can develop reactive arthritis because of a chlamydia infection. Reactive arthritis is a type of arthritis that happens as a "reaction" to an infection in the body.
Babies born to infected mothers can get eye infections and pneumonia from chlamydia. It may also make it more likely for your baby to be born too early.
Untreated chlamydia may also increase your chances of getting or giving HIV.
What are the treatments for chlamydia?Antibiotics will cure the infection. You may get a one-time dose of the antibiotics, or you may need to take medicine every day for 7 days. It is important to take all the medicine that your provider prescribed for you. Antibiotics cannot repair any permanent damage that the disease has caused.
To prevent spreading the disease to your partner, you should not have sex until the infection has cleared up. If you got a one-time dose of antibiotics, you should wait 7 days after taking the medicine to have sex again. If you have to take medicine every day for 7 days, you should not have sex again until you have finished taking all of the doses of your medicine.
It is common to get a repeat infection, so you need to get tested again about three months after treatment.
Can chlamydia be prevented?The only sure way to prevent chlamydia is to not have vaginal, anal, or oral sex.
Correct usage of latex condoms greatly reduces, but does not eliminate, the risk of catching or spreading chlamydia. If your or your partner is allergic to latex, you can use polyurethane condoms.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
What is chronic bronchitis?
Chronic bronchitis is a type of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). COPD is a group of lung diseases that make it hard to breathe and get worse over time. The other main type of COPD is emphysema. Most people with COPD have both emphysema and chronic bronchitis, but how severe each type is can be different from person to person.
Chronic bronchitis is inflammation (swelling) and irritation of the bronchial tubes. These tubes are the airways that carry air to and from the air sacs in your lungs. The irritation of the tubes causes mucus to build up. This mucus and the swelling of the tubes make it harder for your lungs to move oxygen in and carbon dioxide out of your body.
What causes chronic bronchitis?The cause of chronic bronchitis is usually long-term exposure to irritants that damage your lungs and airways. In the United States, cigarette smoke is the main cause. Pipe, cigar, and other types of tobacco smoke can also cause chronic bronchitis, especially if you inhale them.
Exposure to other inhaled irritants can contribute to chronic bronchitis. These include secondhand smoke, air pollution, and chemical fumes or dusts from the environment or workplace.
Rarely, a genetic condition called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency can play a role in causing chronic bronchitis.
Who is at risk for chronic bronchitis?The risk factors for chronic bronchitis include:
At first, you may have no symptoms or only mild symptoms. As the disease gets worse, your symptoms usually become more severe. They can include:
Some people with chronic bronchitis get frequent respiratory infections such as colds and the flu. In severe cases, chronic bronchitis can cause weight loss, weakness in your lower muscles, and swelling in your ankles, feet, or legs.
How is chronic bronchitis diagnosed?Your health care provider may use many tools to make a diagnosis:
There is no cure for chronic bronchitis. However, treatments can help with symptoms, slow the progress of the disease, and improve your ability to stay active. There are also treatments to prevent or treat complications of the disease. Treatments include:
If you have chronic bronchitis, it's important to know when and where to get help for your symptoms. You should get emergency care if you have severe symptoms, such as trouble catching your breath or talking. Call your health care provider if your symptoms are getting worse or if you have signs of an infection, such as a fever.
Can chronic bronchitis be prevented?Since smoking causes most cases of chronic bronchitis, the best way to prevent it is to not smoke. It's also important to try to avoid lung irritants such as secondhand smoke, air pollution, chemical fumes, and dusts.
NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
What is cocaine?
Cocaine is a very addictive drug that is made from leaves of the coca plant found in South America. It is mostly available as an illegal drug that some people use to get high. In rare cases, it is also used as a prescription drug for for anesthesia during certain surgeries.
As a street (illegal) drug, cocaine is usually a fine, white, crystal powder. Street dealers sometimes mix it with cornstarch, talcum powder, or flour to make it look like they have more cocaine. That way they can make more money. They may also mix it with other illegal drugs. Another form of the drug is crack cocaine. Crack cocaine has been heated to make it into a rock crystal.
How do people use cocaine?People snort cocaine powder through the nose or rub it into their gums. Others dissolve the powder and inject it into the bloodstream. Some people inject a combination of cocaine and heroin, called a "speedball." Crack cocaine is smoked.
What are the short-term effects of cocaine?Cocaine is a stimulant that can make people feel like they have more energy and are extra alert. But it can also make people feel restless, irritable, anxious, and paranoid. Large amounts of cocaine can lead to bizarre, unpredictable, and violent behavior.
Cocaine's effects appear almost immediately and disappear within a few minutes to an hour. How long the effects last and how intense they are will depend on how the person used it.
In some cases, cocaine can cause very serious health problems such as a heart attack, stroke, or coma.
What are the long-term effects of cocaine?People who use cocaine over the long term may develop health problems. Which problems they have will depend on how they used the cocaine:
Other long-term effects of cocaine use may include malnutrition and movement disorders, including Parkinson's disease.
Repeated use of cocaine can lead to tolerance. This means users need more and more of the drug to have the same effect. At higher doses over time, the body becomes dependent on cocaine. If someone who is dependent on cocaine stops using it, they will have withdrawal symptoms. These symptoms can include:
Repeated use of cocaine can also lead to cocaine use disorder, also called addiction. This is more than physical dependence. It's a chronic (long-lasting) brain disorder. When someone has it, they continue to use cocaine even though it causes problems in their life. Some examples include health problems and not being able to meet responsibilities at work, school, or home. Getting and using cocaine becomes their main purpose in life.
Can a person overdose on cocaine?It's possible to overdose on cocaine. This happens when a person uses so much cocaine that it causes a life-threatening reaction or death. Some people use cocaine along with other drugs or alcohol. This can increase the risk of an overdose.
A cocaine overdose can cause health problems such as:
There is no specific medicine to treat an overdose. Health care providers will focus on treating the specific health problems caused by the overdose.
What are the treatments for cocaine use disorder?The treatments for cocaine use disorder are different types of behavioral therapies. There are no medicines which can treat it.
NIH: National Institute on Drug Abuse
A collapsed lung happens when air enters the pleural space, the area between the lung and the chest wall. If it is a total collapse, it is called pneumothorax. If only part of the lung is affected, it is called atelectasis.
Causes of a collapsed lung include:
If only a small area of the lung is affected, you may not have symptoms. If a large area is affected, you may feel short of breath and have a rapid heart rate.
A chest x-ray can tell if you have it. Treatment depends on the underlying cause.
NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
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