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 61–70 (page 7 of 50).

B

Brain tumours

Also called Brain tumour, Glioma, Meningioma

Non-cancerous does not mean harmless when it is inside the skull. Headache alone is rarely the sign; headache with something else usually is.

Breast cancer

The commonest cancer in the UK. Survival has roughly doubled in fifty years, and men get it too.

Breath-holding attacks

Also called Breath-holding spells, Reflex anoxic seizures

A toddler who stops breathing, goes blue or white, and sometimes stiffens or jerks. Terrifying, involuntary, and harmless.

Bronchiectasis

Airways permanently widened and scarred, so mucus pools and infects. Often mistaken for asthma for years.

Bronchiolitis

A chest infection of babies, usually RSV. Most are managed at home; the thing to watch is feeding and breathing, not the cough.

Bulimia nervosa

Also called Bulimia

Binge eating followed by compensating. Usually hidden behind a completely ordinary body weight.

Bullous pemphigoid

Also called Pemphigoid, Blistering skin disease

Large tense blisters in older people, usually starting as an intense itch weeks earlier. Frequently mistaken for eczema or scabies.

Burns and scalds

Twenty minutes of cool running water, up to three hours after the burn. It is the single most effective first aid there is, and it is rarely done for long enough.

Bursitis

Also called Housemaid's knee, Student's elbow, Trochanteric pain

Inflammation of a cushioning sac at a joint. Usually settles with rest from the aggravating activity, and the hot painful ones need ruling out first.

C

Cancer

One in two of us will get it. Half now survive ten years or more, and how early it is found decides most of that.