“Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver. When the liver is inflamed or damaged, its function can be affected. Heavy alcohol use, toxins, some medications, and certain medical conditions can all cause hepatitis. However, hepatitis is often caused by a virus. In the United States, the most common hepatitis viruses are hepatitis A virus, hepatitis B virus, and hepatitis C virus.

Hepatitis C is a liver infection caused by the hepatitis C virus. Hepatitis C can range from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a serious, long-term illness. Hepatitis C is often described as “acute,” meaning a new infection, or “chronic,” meaning long-term infection.

Hepatitis C can range from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a serious, long-term illness. Hepatitis C is often described as “acute,” meaning a new infection, or “chronic,” meaning long-term infection.

• Acute hepatitis C occurs within the first 6 months after someone is exposed to the hepatitis C virus. Hepatitis C can be a short-term illness, but for most people, acute infection leads to chronic infection.
• Chronic hepatitis C can be a lifelong infection if left untreated. Chronic hepatitis C can cause serious health problems, including liver damage, cirrhosis (scarring of the liver), liver cancer, and even death.

There are vaccines to prevent hepatitis A and hepatitis B; however, there is no vaccine for hepatitis C.  Cirrhosis due to chronic hepatitis C is the leading indication for liver transplantation in Europe, United States and Japan.”

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/hcv/cfaq.htm)

“With five different types of viral hepatitis, it can be difficult to understand the differences between them. Some forms of hepatitis get more attention than others, but it is still important to know how they are transmitted, what they do, and the steps that you can take to protect yourself and your liver!

While hepatitis A and B both impact the liver, the two viruses differ greatly from one another. Hepatitis B is a blood-borne pathogen; its primary mode of transmission is through direct blood-to-blood contact with an infected person. In contrast, hepatitis A can be spread by fecal-oral transmission or by consuming food or water that has been contaminated. It is important to note that a person cannot contract hepatitis B through casual interactions such as holding hands, sharing a meal with, or eating foods prepared by someone who is infected. There is no need to keep plates and utensils separate. However, hepatitis A can be spread through food that is prepared by an infected person. Hepatitis A is primarily caused by poor sanitation and personal hygiene. Poor sanitation and hygiene can be the result of a lack of essential infrastructure like waste management or clean water systems. It can also result from a lack of education.”

Hepatitis B Foundation (https://www.hepb.org/blog/whats-difference-hepatitis-vs-hepatitis-b/)

“Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a mental health condition marked by extreme mood fluctuations, instability in interpersonal relationships and impulsivity.

People with BPD have an intense fear of abandonment and have trouble regulating their emotions, especially anger. They also tend to show impulsive and dangerous behaviors, such as reckless driving and threatening self-harm. All of these behaviors make it difficult for them to maintain relationships.

Borderline personality disorder is one of a group of conditions called “Cluster B” personality disorders, which involve dramatic and erratic behaviors. Personality disorders are chronic (long-term) dysfunctional behavior patterns that are inflexible, prevalent and lead to social issues and distress.

Many people who live with borderline personality disorder don’t know they have it and may not realize there’s a healthier way to behave and relate to others.”

Cleveland Clinic (https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9762-borderline-personality-disorder-bpd)

What is borderline personality disorder?

Borderline personality disorder is a mental health condition that affects the way people feel about themselves and others, making it hard to function in everyday life. It includes a pattern of unstable, intense relationships, as well as impulsiveness and an unhealthy way of seeing themselves. Impulsiveness involves having extreme emotions and acting or doing things without thinking about them first.

People with borderline personality disorder have a strong fear of abandonment or being left alone. Even though they want to have loving and lasting relationships, the fear of being abandoned often leads to mood swings and anger. It also leads to impulsiveness and self-injury that may push others away.

Borderline personality disorder usually begins by early adulthood. The condition is most serious in young adulthood. Mood swings, anger and impulsiveness often get better with age. But the main issues of self-image and fear of being abandoned, as well as relationship issues, go on.

If you have borderline personality disorder, know that many people with this condition get better with treatment. They can learn to live stabler, more-fulfilling lives.

The signs and symptoms of the borderline personality disorder:

Borderline personality disorder affects how you feel about yourself, relate to others and behave.

Symptoms may include:

• A strong fear of abandonment. This includes going to extreme measures so you’re not separated or rejected, even if these fears are made up.
• A pattern of unstable, intense relationships, such as believing someone is perfect one moment and then suddenly believing the person doesn’t care enough or is cruel.
• Quick changes in how you see yourself. This includes shifting goals and values, as well as seeing yourself as bad or as if you don’t exist.
• Periods of stress-related paranoia and loss of contact with reality. These periods can last from a few minutes to a few hours.
• Impulsive and risky behavior, such as gambling, dangerous driving, unsafe sex, spending sprees, binge eating, drug misuse, or sabotaging success by suddenly quitting a good job or ending a positive relationship.
• Threats of suicide or self-injury, often in response to fears of separation or rejection.
• Wide mood swings that last from a few hours to a few days. These mood swings can include periods of being very happy, irritable or anxious, or feeling shame.
• Ongoing feelings of emptiness.
• Inappropriate, strong anger, such as losing your temper often, being sarcastic or bitter, or physically fighting.

How borderline personality disorder is diagnosed:

Personality disorders, including borderline personality disorder, are diagnosed based on a:

• Detailed interview with your doctor or a mental health professional.
• Mental health evaluation that may include completing a series of questions.
• Medical history and exam.
• Discussion of your symptoms.

A diagnosis of borderline personality disorder usually is made in adults — not in children or teenagers. That’s because what may appear to be symptoms of borderline personality disorder in children or teenagers may go away as they get older and mature.

When to see a doctor:

If you’re aware that you have any of the symptoms above, talk to your doctor or other regular healthcare professional or see a mental health professional.

If you have thoughts about suicide

If you have fantasies or mental images about hurting yourself, or you have thoughts about suicide, get help right away by taking one of these actions:

• Call 911 or your local emergency number right away.
• Contact a suicide hotline. In the U.S., call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Or use the Lifeline Chat. Services are free and confidential.
• U.S. veterans or service members who are in crisis can call 988 and then press “1” for the Veterans Crisis Line. Or text 838255. Or chat online.
• The Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the U.S. has a Spanish language phone line at 1-888-628-9454 (toll-free).
• Call your mental health professional, doctor or another member of your healthcare team.
• Reach out to a loved one, close friend, trusted peer or co-worker.
• Contact someone from your faith community.

If you notice symptoms in a family member or friend, talk to that person about seeing a doctor or mental health professional. But you can’t force someone to change. If the relationship causes you a lot of stress, you may find it helpful to see a therapist.

Treatments for borderline personality disorder patients:

Borderline personality disorder is mainly treated using psychotherapy, which also is known as talk therapy. But medicine may be added. Your doctor also may recommend that you stay in the hospital if your safety is at risk.

Treatment can help you learn skills to manage and cope with your condition. You also should be treated for any other mental health conditions that often occur along with borderline personality disorder, such as depression or substance misuse. With treatment, you can feel better about yourself and have a stabler, more fulfilling life.

Talk therapy

Talk therapy is a basic treatment approach for borderline personality disorder. Your mental health professional may adjust the type of therapy to best meet your needs.

Talk therapy seeks to help you:

• Focus on your ability to function.
• Learn to manage emotions that feel uncomfortable.
• Reduce your impulsiveness by helping you note feelings rather than act on them.
• Work on making relationships better by being aware of your feelings and those of others.
• Learn about borderline personality disorder.

Management of borderline personality disorder mainly focuses on making sense of moments that are emotionally hard by thinking about what happened in your relationships that led to those moments. Good mental health management tends to include a combination of individual therapy, group therapy, family education and medicines for related conditions.

Types of talk therapy that have been found to be effective include:

• Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). DBT includes group and individual therapy designed to treat borderline personality disorder. DBT uses a skills-based approach to teach you how to manage your emotions, handle distress and understand relationships better.
• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT helps you change your beliefs that come from distorted ways of seeing things. It also can help with relationship issues. The goal is to learn to pinpoint negative thoughts and cope with those thoughts. This treatment can reduce mood swings and make you less anxious. It also can make it less likely that you’ll harm yourself or attempt suicide.
• Schema-focused therapy. Schema-focused therapy focuses on changing negative thought patterns.
• Mentalization-based therapy (MBT). MBT helps you note your thoughts and feelings and see things differently. MBT stresses thinking before reacting.
• Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem-Solving (STEPPS). STEPPS is a 20-week treatment program where you work in groups that include your family members, caregivers, friends or significant others. STEPPS is used in addition to other types of talk therapy.
• Transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP). Also called psychodynamic psychotherapy, TFP aims to help you learn about your emotions and issues relating to others by creating a relationship between you and your therapist. You then apply what you learn to other situations.

Medicines

The Food and Drug Administration hasn’t approved any drugs specifically to treat borderline personality disorder. But some medicines may help with symptoms. And some medicines can help with conditions that occur with borderline personality disorder, such as depression, impulsiveness, aggression or anxiety. Medicines used to treat these conditions may include antidepressants, antipsychotics or mood-stabilizing drugs.

Talk to your doctor or mental health professional about the benefits and side effects of medicines.

Hospitalization

At times, you may need to be treated in a psychiatric hospital or clinic. Staying in the hospital also may keep you safe from harming yourself or help you talk about thoughts or behaviors related to suicide.

Recovery takes time

Learning to manage your emotions, thoughts and behaviors takes time. Most people improve greatly, but some people always struggle with some symptoms of borderline personality disorder. You may have times when your symptoms are better or worse. But treatment can make it easier to function and help you feel better about yourself.

You have the best chance for success when you work with a mental health professional who has experience treating borderline personality disorder.

“Bladder Cancer. These two words deliver a devastating impact. Every year, over 610,000 people are diagnosed with bladder cancer, and 1.9m people find themselves living with the condition. It is the 9^th most commonly diagnosed cancer and the 13^th cause of death from cancer globally. But, a timely diagnosis significantly increases the chance of long-term survival and quality of life.

Blood in the urine is the most important warning sign of bladder cancer to watch out for.

Yet bladder cancer is the forgotten cancer and what many don’t know is early diagnosis offers people a higher chance of successful treatment and long-term survival. We need to get people talking about this important statistic and we need them to share this fact. World Bladder Cancer Awareness month in May 2024 is a chance for us to do exactly that.”

World Bladder Cancer Patient Coalition (https://worldbladdercancer.org/awareness-month/)

“Bladder cancer makes up about 4% of cancers in the US. It is the fourth most common cancer in men, but it’s less common in women.

The American Cancer Society’s estimates for bladder cancer in the United States for 2024 are:

• About 83,190 new cases of bladder cancer (about 63,070 in men and 20,120 in women)
• About 16,840 deaths from bladder cancer (about 12,290 in men and 4,550 in women)

The rates of both new bladder cancers and deaths from bladder cancer have been dropping in recent years.

Bladder cancer occurs mainly in older people. About 9 out of 10 people with this cancer are over the age of 55. The average age of people when they are diagnosed with bladder cancer is 73.

Overall, the chance men will develop this cancer during their lifetime is about 1 in 28. For women, the chance is about 1 in 89. However, each person’s chances of getting bladder cancer might be higher or lower than this, depending on their risk factors.”

American Cancer Society (https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/bladder-cancer/about/key-statistics.html)

“Arthritis includes approximately 100 conditions that affect the joints and surrounding tissues. It is a leading cause of activity limitations, disability, and chronic pain, and is associated with dispensed opioid prescriptions, substantially contributing to health care costs.

Combined 2019–2021 National Health Interview Survey data were analyzed to update national prevalence estimates of self-reported diagnosed arthritis. An estimated 21.2% (18.7% age-standardized) of U.S. adults aged ≥18 years (53.2 million) had diagnosed arthritis during this time frame. Age-standardized arthritis prevalences were higher among women (20.9%) than men (16.3%), among veterans (24.2%) than nonveterans (18.5%), and among non-Hispanic White (20.1%) than among Hispanic or Latino (14.7%) or non-Hispanic Asian adults (10.3%). Adults aged ≥45 years represent 88.3% of all U.S. adults with arthritis. Unadjusted arthritis prevalence was high among adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (57.6%), dementia (55.9%), a disability (54.8%), stroke (52.6%), heart disease (51.5%), diabetes (43.1%), or cancer (43.1%).

Approximately one half of adults aged ≥65 years with COPD, dementia, stroke, heart disease, diabetes, or cancer also had a diagnosis of arthritis. These prevalence estimates can be used to guide public health policies and activities to increase equitable access to physical activity opportunities within the built environment and other arthritis-appropriate, evidence-based interventions.”

National Library of Medicine (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10578950/)

”More than 100 million people in the United States have asthma and/or allergies. Some people may have more than one of these conditions.

• More than 27 million people in the U.S. have asthma (more than 22 million adults and 4.5 million children).^1,2
• About 20 million people in the U.S. have food allergies (16 million adults and 4 million children).^3,4
• About 81 million people in the U.S. have rhinitis due to nasal allergies, also called “hay fever” (67 million adults and 114 million children).^3,4
• There is no cure for asthma or allergies.”

Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (https://aafa.org/get-involved/asthma-and-allergy-awareness-month/)

“There is no treatment to reverse damage to motor neurons or cure ALS at this time. However, some treatments may slow progression of the disease, improve quality of life, and extend survival. New treatments have become available in the past several years, and researchers continue to explore diverse avenues to slow or stop progression of ALS.

Supportive health care is best provided by integrated, multi-disciplinary teams of professionals.  Doctors may use the medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to support a treatment plan for ALS.”

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke – NIH (https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/disorders/amyotrophic-lateral-sclerosis-als)