Diseases & conditions A-Z List
Diseases & Conditions A-Z List - «E»:
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ESR
ESR stands for erythrocyte sedimentation rate. It is a test that indirectly measures how much inflammation is in the body. However, it rarely leads directly to a specific diagnosis.
How the Test is Performed
Blood is drawn from a vein, usually from the inside of the elbow or the back of the hand. T...
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Essential hypertension
Essential hypertension refers to high blood pressure with no identifiable cause.
Causes
As blood is pumped through your body, it exerts pressure on the walls of your arteries. The systolic blood pressure is the pressure against these walls when the heart contracts, and the diastolic blood pressure ...
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Essential tremor
Essential tremor is a type of involuntary shaking movement in which no cause can be identified. Involuntary means you shake without trying to do so.
See also:
Drug-induced tremor
Tremor
Causes
Essential tremor is the most common type of tremor. In general, tremors occur when there is a proble...
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Estradiol test
An estradiol test measures the amount of a hormone called estradiol in the blood. Estradiol is the most important form of estrogen found in the body. Most of it is made in and released from the ovaries, adrenal cortex, and the placenta, which forms during pregnancy to feed a developing baby.
Estradi...
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Estrogen overdose
Estrogen is a female hormone. Estrogen overdose occurs when someone accidentally or intentionally takes more than the normal or recommended amount of a product containing the hormone.
This is for information only and not for use in the treatment or management of an actual poison exposure. If you hav...
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Ethanol poisoning
Ethanol poisoning is caused by drinking too much alcohol.
This is for information only and not for use in the treatment or management of an actual poison exposure. If you have an exposure, you should call your local emergency number (such as 911) or the National Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-12...
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Ethmoiditis
Ethmoiditis is an inflammation of the ethmoidal cells in the sinuses, the air-filled cavities behind the nose and between the eyes.
See also: Sinusitis
Symptoms
Symptoms usually include a headache between the eyes and a runny nose.
...
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Ethylene glycol intoxication
Ethylene glycol is a colorless, odorless, sweet-tasting chemical found in many household products, including antifreeze, deicing products, detergents, paints, and cosmetics. It is poisonous if swallowed.
This is for information only and not for use in the treatment or management of an actual poison ...
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Ethylene glycol test
Ethylene glycol is a colorless, odorless, sweet-tasting but poisonous type of alcohol found in many household products. People sometimes drink ethylene glycol mistakenly or on purpose as a substitute for alcohol.
A test can be done to check for ethylene glycol in your blood.
See also: Ethylene glyco...
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Euglobulin lysis time
Euglobulin lysis time (ELT) is a blood test that looks at how fast clots breakdown in the blood.
How the Test is Performed
The health care provider uses a needle to take blood from one of your veins. For information on giving a blood sample from a vein, see venipuncture.
The laboratory specialist w...
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Eustachian tube patency
Eustachian tube patency refers to how much the eustachian tube is open. The eustachian tube runs between the middle ear and the throat. This tube controls the pressure behind the eardrum and middle ear space.
Patency is the normal state of the eustachian tube. Ear infections or altitude changes can ...
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Ewing’s sarcoma
Ewing's sarcoma is a malignant (cancerous) bone tumor that affects children.
Causes
Ewing's sarcoma can occur any time during childhood and young adulthood, but usually develops during puberty, when bones are growing rapidly. It is 10 times as common in Caucasian children as in African-American,...
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Excessive or unwanted hair in women
The normal amount of body hair varies widely among women. Usually, a woman will only grow fine hair (peach fuzz) on her lips, chin, chest, abdomen, or back. When women grow coarse, dark hairs in these areas, the condition is called hirsutism. This pattern of hair growth is more typical of men.
Caus...
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Exchange transfusion
Exchange transfusion is a potentially life-saving procedure that is done to counteract the effects of serious jaundice or changes in the blood due to diseases such as sickle cell anemia.
The procedure involves slowly removing the patient's blood and replacing it with fresh donor blood or plasma.
See...
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Exercise - colds and flu
Question:
Can exercise help you avoid colds and flus?
Answer:
Yes. At least one study suggests that regular exercise can cut in half the number of days a person suffers from colds and the flu. Exercise helps the disease-fighting white blood cells in the body to move from the organs into the bloodstr...