Health A to Z

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease

Also called CMT, Hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy

The most common inherited neurological condition, and one most people have never heard of. Nothing to do with teeth.

Charles Bonnet syndrome

Also called CBS, Visual hallucinations with sight loss

Vivid hallucinations in people losing their sight, with a completely healthy mind. Almost nobody is warned, so most think they are developing dementia.

Chiari malformation

Brain tissue sitting lower than it should. Found on many scans in people with no symptoms, and genuinely disabling in others.

Chickenpox

Also called Varicella

Usually a mild childhood illness. Not mild in newborns, pregnancy, or anybody immunosuppressed.

Chilblains

Also called Perniosis

Painful itchy swellings from cold, damp weather. Warming up too fast is what causes them, not the cold itself.

Cholesteatoma

Skin growing in the middle ear, eroding bone as it goes. A long-standing smelly discharging ear is not something to live with.

High cholesterol

Also called Hyperlipidaemia, Familial hypercholesterolaemia

No symptoms, and one of the largest preventable causes of heart attack and stroke. Statins are the most argued-about safe drug there is.

Chronic kidney disease

Also called CKD, Kidney failure, Renal failure

Kidneys losing function slowly and silently. Most people who have it do not know.

Chronic pain

Also called Persistent pain, Chronic primary pain

Pain lasting beyond three months, often with no ongoing damage to find. Real, measurable, and badly served.

Chronic obstructive nasal and sinus disease

Also called Chronic rhinosinusitis, Sinusitis

Inflammation of the sinuses lasting months. Common, miserable, and antibiotics are usually the wrong answer.