Diagnosis

I sat in an uncomfortable flower-print chair in my neurologist's office. The nurses in the front office were talking to each other about what type of sandwich they would order for lunch. The background was filled with traces of annoying soft-rock music and an overpowering smell of coffee. It was apparent that someone put much effort into creating a calm and relaxing environment, but at the moment it felt as irritating as wearing an itchy sweater in the desert. Hearing the diagnosis — "You have Parkinson's disease.

Life comes at you fast and it comes at you hard. There's no point pretending you aren't vulnerable, baby, because you are. And when the fates deliver a blow right between the eyes and you sag to the floor, you either stay down or you get back up. Rich and Andrea Dunn have been staggered about as badly as parents can be. Their son Julian's bouts last year with weight loss, vomiting and headaches didn't subside. They couldn't be wished away and they didn't go away. Then on Dec.

Anastacia, an American pop star who made it big in Europe and Australia, has announced that she will be canceling her European tour because of a second breast cancer diagnosis. Anastacia, 44, made her way to international fame with her 2000 dance track "I'm Outta Love" and successfully battled breast cancer in 2003. Her "It's a Man's World Tour" was set to kick off in London on April 6 but has been canceled until further notice. "I feel so awful to be letting down all my amazing fans who were looking forward to 'It's A Man's World Tour.' It just breaks my heart to disappoint them," the singer said on her website.

One of the first things we were taught in medical school was the pivotal role of thresholds in governing the human body. To trigger a nerve to fire or a muscle to contract, there must be a stimulus of electrical activity that exceeds a threshold value. If the threshold value is too low, muscles go into spasm and deadly rhythms develop in the heart. Low thresholds, however, aren't just a problem for an individual's health. They are increasingly a problem for the health of our medical care system.

Getting an early diagnosis of dementia could lead to finding ways to cope - and it could mean feeling bereft at what the future holds. So do you want to know? The early diagnosis of and intervention for Alzheimer's and other dementia has become an increasing priority, but that means the patients and their informal caregivers are left facing many issues regarding their futures that need to be considered, researchers said Tuesday. The researchers, from several British universities, reviewed 102 studies from 14 countries to consider the ramifications on patients and caregivers of a dementia diagnosis.

It may soon be possible to obtain a highly accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease by analyzing a sample of spinal fluid. A study released Monday found that a constellation of three substances in the cerebrospinal fluid was present in 90% of people who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. The test also showed the same markers were found in 72% of people with mild cognitive impairment, considered an early stage of the disease, and in one-third of adults who had no cognitive problems.

Childbirth can trigger psychiatric illnesses in some women, including depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and even psychosis. A study published Monday, however, draws the first connection ever between postpartum mental illness and later bipolar disorder. Researchers searched a Danish registry of more than 120,000 women receiving treatment for a first episode of a psychiatric illness other than bipolar disorder. They found 3,062 women who had a first episode of a mental disorder other than bipolar disorder but who were later diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Sharon Osbourne delivered an emotional response Monday to news of her son Jack's multiple sclerosis diagnosis. The Osbourne matriarch addressed her fellow panel members on "The Talk," thanking friends and fans for the outpouring of support over the revelation. "Sharon, you have always been an open book with your life, with your family's life. And right now there's something going on with Jack," co-host Julie Chen said at the top of the CBS chat show (watch below). Osbourne struggled with tears, saying, "Jack will be here on Wednesday to talk about his diagnosis, but he's great.

The vaunted protection that intellectually active adults get from Alzheimer’s disease has a dark downside, a study released Wednesday has found. Once dementia symptoms become evident and Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed in such patients, their mental decline can come with frightening speed.      That finding, published in the journal Neurology , comes from a study of 1,157 Chicago-based seniors who were followed for an average of just over 11 years. Six years after gauging the extent to which the study participants engaged in activities that challenged their mental capacities, researchers from Rush University Medical Center Alzheimer’s Disease Center made periodic assessments of the study participants’ cognitive health and traced the trajectories of their brain health.

Re: ["Her Self-diagnosis: Too Much Googling," April 16], I can relate to the article. I recently diagnosed myself with stomach cancer -- until it passed as gas. WENDY BECKENDORF Santa Monica