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.

500 conditions, showing 151–160 (page 16 of 50).

E

Ehlers-Danlos syndromes

Also called EDS, hEDS, Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome

Faulty connective tissue, so joints, skin and blood vessels are too stretchy. Frequently dismissed for years.

Encephalitis

Also called Inflammation of the brain, Autoimmune encephalitis

Inflammation of the brain itself. Fever with confusion or personality change is the pattern, and treatment within hours changes the outcome.

Endocarditis

Also called Infective endocarditis, Heart valve infection

Infection on a heart valve, presenting as weeks of feeling vaguely unwell. Blood cultures before antibiotics is the step that gets missed.

Endometriosis

Tissue like the womb lining growing where it should not. Around 1.5 million people in the UK, and an average eight-year wait for diagnosis.

Epididymitis

Also called Epididymo-orchitis, Inflamed testicle

Infection or inflammation behind the testicle. The job of the first assessment is to exclude torsion, which is a surgical emergency.

Epiglottitis

Swelling that can close the airway within hours. Do not look in the throat, do not lie them down, call 999.

Epilepsy

A tendency to recurrent seizures. Around 630,000 people in the UK, and a significant number of deaths that were preventable.

Erectile dysfunction

Also called Impotence, ED

Extremely common, treatable, and one of the earliest warning signs of heart disease.

Erythema nodosum

Painful red lumps on the shins. Not a diagnosis in itself but a signal, and finding what triggered it is the point.

Essential tremor

A shaking that happens during movement, not at rest. Eight times commoner than Parkinson's, and constantly confused with it.