Health A to Z

Most health pages tell you what a condition is. Very few tell you what it is like to sit beside somebody who has one. This library does both. Search by name, or by the name you know it under.

Important: This page is general information, not medical advice, and it is not a diagnosis. If you are worried about your health or someone else's, speak to a GP, pharmacist, or call 111. In an emergency, call 999.

6 conditions filed under U.

U

Ulcerative colitis

Inflammation of the large bowel lining. One of the two main forms of inflammatory bowel disease, and it has its own emergency.

Urethritis

Also called Non-specific urethritis, NSU, Inflamed urethra

Inflammation of the urethra, usually a sexually transmitted infection. Testing at a sexual health clinic finds the cause; a GP dipstick usually does not.

Urinary retention

Being unable to empty the bladder. Acutely it is agonising; chronically it is painless and destroys kidneys quietly.

Urinary tract infection

Also called UTI, Cystitis, Water infection

Common, usually simple, and in older people the single most over-diagnosed and under-recognised infection there is.

Usher syndrome

Deafness from birth with sight that narrows over years. The commonest genetic cause of deafblindness.

Uveitis

Also called Iritis, Inflammation of the eye

Inflammation inside the eye and a leading preventable cause of sight loss. A painful red eye with light sensitivity is a same-day emergency.