Head to Toe

Your thyroid, your breasts, your bladder -- what should you be doing to guard your health right now and for years to come? Find out.

Thyroid Health
1. Thyroid Problems Thyroid disorders can range from a small, harmless goiter (enlarged gland) that needs no treatment to life-threatening cancer.
2. Fatigued or Full Throttle: Is Your Thyroid to Blame? Feeling all revved up, even at bedtime? Or maybe your throttle's on idle with symptoms of depression, fatigue, and weight gain. In both cases, the root cause may be your thyroid.
3. What's Causing My Low Thyroid Level? Autoimmune disease, surgery, and radiation treatment are possible reasons why your thyroid gland isn't making enough thyroid hormone to meet your body's needs.
4. Symptoms of Hypothyroidism When you have hypothyroidism, you might not realize it at first. The symptoms come on slowly, and some of them, like fatigue, are similar to other conditions. You might mistake them for signs of aging or stress.
5. Hypothyroidism and Depression Although they're two separate diseases, depression is sometimes a symptom of hypothyroidism, which happens when your thyroid gland doesn't make enough of the thyroid hormone.
6. How Hypothyroidism Is Treated Hypothyroidism is easy to treat with medicine that boosts your low levels of thyroid hormone. It's not a cure, but it can keep your condition under control for the rest of your life.
Breast Health
1. Anatomy of the Breast Each breast contains blood vessels, as well as vessels that carry a fluid called lymph. The lymph vessels lead to the lymph nodes. One group of lymph nodes is located in the armpits, above the collarbone and in the chest. Lymph nodes are also found in many other parts of the body.
2. Why Do My Breasts Hurt? Soreness, swelling, heaviness, shooting or burning pangs, tightness -- whatever the feeling, breast pain hurts. It can be troubling, too -- it’s very common to wonder if what you’re feeling might be a sign of breast cancer.
3. Breast Problems Overview Most changes in your breasts are perfectly normal and no cause for concern. However, you may experience any of several conditions that require medical attention.
4. Diagnosing and Treating Breast Problems You may have mammogram or ultrasound done to look for tiny lumps or other things that can’t be found in an exam. For breast lumps, treatment and diagnosis are often related.
5. Healthy Breasts for a Lifetime A guide to keeping your breasts healthy now and in the years to come.
6. Fibrocystic Breast Changes Fibrocystic breast changes -- once called fibrocystic breast disease -- is a common noncancerous breast condition. More than half of all women have fibrocystic breasts at some point.
7. Breast Calcifications Breast calcifications are small calcium deposits that develop in a woman's breast tissue. They are very common and are usually benign (noncancerous).
8. Breast Infection Find out about infections that affect the breasts and how to treat and prevent them.
9. Breast and Nipple Discharge While nipple discharge can be serious, in most cases, it's either normal or due to a minor condition.
10. How Babies Change Your Breasts When you’re going to have a baby, you expect your body to go through some pretty big changes.You may be surprised to know that your breasts will go through many changes, too, even beyond after your little one arrives.
Bladder and Urinary Health
1. Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs): Symptoms, Causes You've coped with cramps, tampons, and padded bras, but being a woman can also mean having to cope with urinary tract infections, or UTIs.
2. Pregnancy and Urinary Tract Infections UTIs are more common in pregnancy. Hormones are one reason. In pregnancy, they cause changes in the urinary tract, and that makes women more likely to get infections.
3. Best Ways to Help Prevent UTIs To say goodbye to burning, frequent urination, and other unpleasant symptoms, start with these changes today. The key is to keep bacteria out of your system.
4. Prolapsed Bladder In women, the front wall of the vagina supports the bladder. This wall can weaken or loosen with age. Childbirth can also damage this part of the vaginal wall. If it deteriorates enough, the bladder can prolapse.
Other Conditions
1. Hirsutism If you're a woman and you have a lot of hair growing in places where it normally does just for men, like your upper lip, chin, chest, stomach, or back, that’s a condition called hirsutism.
2. Hormone Replacement Therapy Q&A Questions about hormone replacement therapy (HRT)? Get answers here.
3. Lipedema Learn the symptoms of lipedema, a disorder that occurs in some women, as well as causes, treatments, and other lipedema facts.

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