Health A to Z

Narcolepsy

The brain cannot hold the boundary between sleep and waking. Diagnosed on average a decade late.

Nasal polyps

Soft growths in the nose causing permanent blockage and loss of smell. Steroid spray technique is what makes or breaks the treatment.

Necrotising fasciitis

Also called Flesh-eating bacteria, Nec fasc

Infection spreading through tissue in hours. Pain far worse than the skin looks is the sign, and surgery is the only treatment.

Nephrotic syndrome

Massive protein loss in the urine, causing swelling. In children it usually responds to steroids; the clue is puffy eyes in the morning.

Neurofibromatosis

Also called NF1, NF2, Von Recklinghausen disease

Genetic conditions causing tumours to grow on nerves. NF1 is common, variable, and needs lifelong monitoring.

Neuromyelitis optica

Also called NMO, NMOSD, Devic's disease

An MS-like condition that is not MS, and the distinction is critical because some MS drugs make it dramatically worse.

Neutropenia

Also called Low white blood cell count, Neutropenic sepsis

Too few infection-fighting cells. In someone on chemotherapy, a temperature is a 999-level emergency needing antibiotics within an hour.

Non-epileptic seizures

Also called Functional seizures, Dissociative seizures, FND, Functional neurological disorder

Seizures with no abnormal electrical activity. Entirely real, not put on, and consistently treated badly.

Norovirus

Also called Winter vomiting bug, Stomach flu

The commonest cause of gastroenteritis in the UK. Alcohol gel does not kill it, and that single fact drives most outbreaks.

Nosebleeds

Also called Epistaxis

Usually trivial. The first aid most people were taught is wrong, and on blood thinners they are not trivial at all.