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Tetanus often begins with mild spasms in the jaw muscles (lockjaw). The spasms can also affect the chest, neck, back, and abdominal muscles. Back muscle spasms often cause arching, called opisthotonos.
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Tetanus is caused by a bacteria called Clostridium tetani, whose spores (the dormant form) are found in soil, street dust, and animal (or even human) feces. Tetanus spores germinate in the body, producing a highly poisonous neurotoxin in the blood...
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Since the incubation period can range from several days to many weeks, individuals often do not associate their initial symptoms with wound infection. The first sign of tetanus is a tightening of the jaw muscles that gives the disease its common n...
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Pain is a universal human experience. The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage...
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Pain, medically termed "nociception," is a response to noxious stimuli that is conveyed to the brain by sensory neurons . The discomfort signals actual or impending injury to the body. However, pain is more than a sensation, or the physical awaren...
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Pain is an unpleasant feeling that is conveyed to the brain by sensory neurons. The discomfort signals actual or potential injury to the body. However, pain is more than a sensation, or the physical awareness of pain; it also includes perception, ...
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Pain is an unpleasant feeling that is conveyed to the brain by nerves in the body.
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Pain is an unpleasant feeling that is conveyed to the brain by sensory neurons. The discomfort signals actual or potential injury to the body. However, pain is more than a sensation, or the physical awareness of pain; it also includes perception, ...
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A charley horse is the common name for a muscle spasm, especially in the leg. Muscle spasms can occur in any muscle in the body. When a muscle is in spasm, it contracts without your control and does not relax.
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Muscle spasms and cramps are spontaneous, often painful muscle contractions.
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Trismus-pseudocamptodactyly syndrome is a rare genetic condition characterized by the inability to completely open the mouth (trismus), difficulty chewing, short stature, and abnormally short muscle-tendon units in the fingers that cause the finge...
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Neck pain may begin in any of the structures in the neck. These include muscles and nerves as well as spinal vertebrae and the cushioning disks in between. Neck pain may also come from regions near the neck, like the shoulder, jaw, head, and upper...
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Muscle rigidity is an alteration of muscle tone in which the muscles are in an involuntary state of continual tension. Muscle rigidity can be a manifestation of neurological damage (basal ganglia diseases) or a side effect of certain medications.
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Uncontrollable movements are slow, twisting, continuous, and involuntary movements of the arms, legs, face, neck, or other parts of the body. See also: Tardive dyskinesia
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Movement disorders are a group of diseases and syndromes affecting the ability to produce and control bodily movements.
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Spasticity is stiff or rigid muscles with exaggerated, deep tendon reflexes (for example, a knee-jerk reflex. The condition can interfere with walking, movement, or speech. See also: Muscle cramps
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Spasticity is a form of muscle overactivity. A spastic muscle is one in which a muscle resists being stretched out, and the resistance to stretch is greater the faster the muscle is moved. Spasticity is often used as an umbrella term for other for...
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Spasticity is an abnormal increase in muscle tone. It may be associated with involuntary muscle spasms , sustained muscle contractions (dystonia), and exaggerated deep tendon reflexes that make movement difficult or uncontrollable. Although it mos...
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Opisthotonos is a condition in which the body is held in an abnormal posture. It usually involves rigidity and severe arching of the back, with the head thrown backward. If a person with opisthotonos lays on his or her back, only the back of the h...
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Fever is the temporary increase in the body's temperature, in response to some disease or illness. A child has a fever when their temperature is at or above one of these levels: 100.4 F (38 C) measured in the bottom (rectally; 99.5 F(37.5 C) measu...
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A fever is any body temperature elevation over 100.4°F (38°C).
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Fever is defined as an abnormally high body temperature or a regulated rise to a new set point of body temperature. While a body temperature above 100°F(37.8°C) is considered to be a fever by some clinicians, a significant fever is usually defined...
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Normal body temperature varies somewhat from one individual to another but displays a general range and pattern around the "normal" temperature of 98.6°F. Early morning body temperature may be as low as 97°F, and as high as 99.3°F in the afternoon...
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A fever is any body temperature elevation over 100°F (37.8°C).
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An elevated body temperature. While the standard for normal body temperature is 98.6°F (37°C), normal body temperatures actually fluctuate within a range of one to two degrees, making it impossible to formulate a precise definition of fever based ...
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Hyperthermia is the use of therapeutic heat to treat various cancers on and inside the body.
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Hyperthermia involves raising the body's core temperature as a means of eradicating tumors. The treatment simulates fever . Some therapies actually bring on fever through the introduction of fever-causing organisms, while others raise body tempera...
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Abdominal pain is pain that you feel anywhere between your chest and groin. This is often referred to as the stomach region or belly.
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Irritability is an excessive response to stimuli.
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Breathing difficulty involves a sensation of difficult or uncomfortable breathing or a feeling of not getting enough air. See also: Difficulty breathing - first aid
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Shortness of breath, or dyspnea, is a feeling of difficult or labored breathing that is out of proportion to the patient's level of physical activity. It is a symptom of a variety of different diseases or disorders and may be either acute or chronic.
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Urinary (or bladder) incontinence is when you are not able to keep urine from leaking from your urethra, the tube that carries urine out of your body from your bladder. It can range from an occasional leakage of urine, to a complete inability to h...
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Urinary incontinence is unintentional loss of urine that is sufficient enough in frequency and amount to cause physical and/or emotional distress in the person experiencing it.
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Collagen implants are injections done to help control urine leakage that is caused by weak sphincters. Sphincters are muscles that allow your body to hold in urine. If your sphincter muscles stop working well you will have urine leakage. See also:...
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Placement of tension-free vaginal tape is a procedure to help control stress incontinence, urine leakage that can happen when you laugh, cough, sneeze, lift things, or exercise. The procedure helps close your urethra (the tube that carries urine f...
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Vaginal sling procedures help control stress incontinence, urine leakage that can happen when you laugh, cough, sneeze, lift things, or exercise. They help close your urethra (the tube that carries urine from the bladder to the outside) and the bl...
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Urinary incontinence is unintentional loss of urine that is sufficient enough in frequency and amount to cause physical and/or emotional distress in the person experiencing it.
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Drooling is saliva flowing outside the mouth.
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Bowel incontinence is the loss of bowel control, leading to an involuntary passage of stool. This can range from occasionally leaking a small amount of stool and passing gas, to completely losing control of bowel movements. Urinary incontinence, a...
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Fecal incontinence is the inability to control the passage of gas or stools (feces) through the anus. For some people, fecal incontinence is a relatively minor problem that is limited to a slight occasional soiling of underwear, but for others it ...
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Fecal incontinence is the inability to control the passage of gas or stools (feces) through the anus. For some people fecal incontinence is a relatively minor problem, as when it is limited to a slight occasional soiling of underwear, but for othe...
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Abdominal rigidity is stiffness of the muscles in the belly area, which can be felt when touched or pressed.
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Breathing that slows down or stops from any cause is called apnea.
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Antispasmodic drugs relieve cramps or spasms of the stomach, intestines, and bladder.
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Dysphagia is a disorder of swallowing.
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Sometimes a person feels hot to touch due to illness or environmental situation that causes elevated core temperature. A compounding factor can be dehydration (lack of fluids.
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Aimless movements can be a symptom of a primary or secondary movement disorder, side effect of a medication, psychiatric disturbance or dementia. Aimless or purposeless movement is therefore a significant symptom requiring evaluation by a physician to determine the origin of the problem.
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