June is Scoliosis Awareness Month. Scoliosis causes a sideways curvature of the spine, taking in the shape of a C or S. It is most common among children, mainly girls.

Some of the symptoms or signs that someone is suffering from Scoliosis are:

• Uneven shoulders
• Uneven waist
• One hip higher than the other
• Back pain
• Rotating spine

Although the causes are unknown for most of the types of scoliosis, genetics can play a role because it tends to run in families. Another factor can be age since it starts appearing during the growth spurt. Other causes of scoliosis can be neuromuscular conditions, such as cerebral palsy, infections or injuries in the spine, or birth defects.

The treatment can include a brace, to stop the progression, therapy, and surgery to prevent the spinal curve from getting worse. If you or someone you know suffers from scoliosis and would like to get a second opinion to see what the best treatment option is, contact us and we will connect you with one of our American board-certified doctors.

National Scleroderma Awareness Month is June. During this month it is important to bring awareness of this rare autoimmune disease that affects thousands of people in the United States, being more common in women than men. Scleroderma is a group of rare diseases in which the skin and connective tissues become hard and tight, in which not only the skin is affected, but also the internal organs.

There are two main types of scleroderma, localized scleroderma and systemic. Localized scleroderma affects the skin only, unlike systemic scleroderma which affects the skin, joints, lungs, and other organs. The symptoms vary but some of them are hardening and tightening on the skin, toes or fingers becoming numb or changing color in response to things such as change in temperature. Someone with scleroderma can experience problems with the digestive system due to having problems with absorbing the nutrients. The heart, lungs, and kidneys can also be affected. The cause of scleroderma is due to overproduction and accumulation of collagen in the body tissues.

There is no cure but there are treatments to help you deal with this disease. Some of the treatments are medications, therapy, and sometimes surgery in a severe circumstance. It is important to stay active, not smoke, manage heartburn, and protecting self from the cold. If you would like a second opinion on what is the best treatment for you, contact us at SecondOpinions.com.

June is National Aphasia Awareness Month. It is a disorder that affects the side of your brain which is responsible for language. It can affect the way people speak, read, write, and listen. It affects about 2 million people in the United States. It usually takes place after a stroke, head injury, or other neurological causes.

Someone with aphasia might have difficulty with using language and communicating in their day to day activities. There are different types of aphasia, the most common are Wernicke’s and Broca’s Aphasia. If you suffer from Wernicke’s Aphasia, you might say words that don’t make sense, use the wrong words, or put together sentences that don’t make sense. Broca’s Aphasia on which you might have trouble forming complete sentences, understanding sentences, following directions, and other language problems.

A treatment for Aphasia can be therapy. Usually after a head injury the brain starts changing on its own which helps it recover and start having improvements within a few months, even without therapy. If you or someone you know suffers from Aphasia contact us and get a second opinion to help you recover faster and better.

Myasthenia Gravis, a serious muscle weakness is a rare chronic autoimmune disease that affects your muscle movement. There is weakness and fatigue of the muscles that are under voluntary control. It is caused by a failure in communication between your nerves and muscles. In the United States, this is such a rare disease that only 14 to 20 people for every 100,000 are affected by it.

Two of the causes of myasthenia gravis can be antibodies or the thymus gland. The antibodies of someone with myasthenia gravis blocks or destroys the muscles’ receptor sites for acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter, which receives nerve signals. With the receptors being blocked or destroyed the muscles receive fewer signals which lead to weakness. Antibodies also can block tyrosine kinase, which is a protein that helps form the nerve-muscular junction. The thymus gland is located in the upper chest under the breastbone, which is believed to be what begins or continues to have the antibodies blocking or destroying acetylcholine. The symptoms vary because it can affect different muscle groups. In your eye muscles, you can suffer from drooping eyelids or double vision. When your face and throat muscles are affected you can suffer from difficulty swallowing, hard time chewing, and altered speaking. You will feel too tired to use arms and hands, too tired to hold up neck if your neck and limb muscles are affected. This disease has no cure but there are treatments to help you live a normal life.

Treatment includes medications, therapies, and in some cases surgery. For someone with this disease it is important to sleep well, rest, stress less, and adjust daily routines to help you have more energy. If you’d like a second opinion on the treatment you are receiving, contact us for your peace of mind and the peace of mind of your loved ones.

Every 65 seconds someone in the United States develops Alzheimer’s disease, making it the 6th leading cause of death in the country. Alzheimer affects the functions of your brain because the brain shrinks dramatically over time, leading to nerve cell death and tissue loss.

It is a continuous and permanent disorder that damages your brain. The cortex in your brain shrivels up making it difficult to think, plan, and remember. The most severe shrinkage is in the hippocampus, where memories form. The ventricles in the brain grow larger. These all impair memory, thinking skills, and the ability to carry out simple tasks.
For most people the symptoms for Alzheimer’s disease appear in the mid-60s. Some of the ones you might experience are memory loss, confusion of time and place, problems with speaking or writing words, misplacing things, and poor judgment. Unfortunately, there is no cure yet but some ways to help you cope with it are treatments to maintain a healthy mental function, manage the behavioral symptoms, and slow down the growth of symptoms.

If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, contact us for a second opinion that can help you have peace of mind.