Any change in your urine stream is a sign that you should see your doctor or urologist. If you have a kidney stone, your doctor will prescribe painkillers to help decrease the pain without interfering with or prolonging the process of passing the stone. He may also suggest a process called lithotripsy, which uses underwater ultrasound waves to break up the stone.

If you think you’re having prostate problems with an enlarged prostate, you should make an appointment with a urologist, since early treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH, could prevent it from turning into prostate cancer down the road. To treat BPH, your doctor may take a wait-and-see attitude, but since you are already showing a symptom of BPH by a change in your urine stream, he may decide to begin treatment, first with the medication Proscar, which shrinks the prostate. If the medication does not have much effect, he may opt for a surgical procedure called a transurethral prostate resection, in which the parts of the prostate that are constricting the flow of urine are surgically removed to take the pressure off the urethra.

The resection is successful in most cases, but if the prostate continues to grow, there’s a chance the operation may have to be repeated when urination again becomes difficult.

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Most cases of vomiting last for only a day or two. If you are vomiting what looks like coffee grounds, which are actually partially digested blood, you may have a bleeding ulcet and should see your doctor immediately. You may also be sweating and start to go into shock. You or a family member will need to call 911. See “Pain in Upper Midabdomen” above for details about treating a bleeding ulcer.

The medication Compazine in pill form, taken in 10-milligtam doses three times a day, is frequently effective in stopping vomiting episodes. Either Compazine or another medication called Reglan will be prescribed for people who are receiving chemotherapy.

If you tend to become nauseous and vomit due to motion sickness, ask your doctor if you can try a scopolamine patch, which is worn behind the ear. The “scope patch” usually prevents nausea and vomiting when it’s worn before and during a trip to prevent car- and seasickness. Some of my patients swear by a bracelet that places pressure on their wrist that they say helps prevent motion sickness.

To determine the cause of vomiting accurately, your doctor will need to take a complete health history and perform a physical exam and a series of lab tests if the vomiting lasts for more than 24 hours and there is no obvious cause.

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Because many women are afraid of what they might find, or because they don’t think they can get cancer, they may continually postpone doing a breast exam. But it takes less than five minutes to examine your breasts thoroughly. It’s important to check your breasts every month because early lumps and tumors usually cannot be detected just by visual examination. In addition, by the time you notice a lump, it may be too late and the cancer may already have spread to other parts of your body.

When examining your breasts, it will help to ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do I feel a change in the size of one breast, as compared to the other?

2. Do I feel a lump in my breast?

3. Does my partner feel a lump in my breast?

4. Is the lump painful?

5. Is there a discharge from the breast?

6. Has the appearance of the skin of the breast changed?

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Fibromyalgia can sometimes be a DIFFICULT condition to treat because the pain is so generalized and occurs deep in the muscles of the back, making it hard to pinpoint. If you have chronic deep back pain and have trouble sleeping, you should see your doctor. If the pain doesn’t gradually fade after a few days, you may have rheumatoid arthritis and not fibromyalgia. If the diagnosis is indeed fibromyalgia, there are certain things you can do to treat the symptoms yourself.

First, you should try to relax, both physically and emotionally, with exercise, listening to music, and reading. If your body tightens up in response to stress, the connective tissue will tighten up as well, which will just make the pain worse. Unfortunately, fibromyalgia is a chronic condition; the best you can do is try to control your lifestyle, which will help a lot.’

Aspirin or another nonnarcotic painkiller will help whenever the pain flares up. If the pain occasionally becomes severe, your doctor may prescribe a corticosteroid medication such as prednisone, 20 mg. to be taken each day.

Learning how to manage stress with the use of biofeedback and relaxation exercises should help get your pain down to a level where it’s almost unnoticeable. Regular exercise and hot baths will also help and make it easier for you to fall asleep at night. Some people also find it important to maintain good posture, which helps to place less stress on the connective tissue.

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As you get older, the sensitivity of your skin increases. For instance, you may find that you’re able to stay out in the sun for only half the time you could 5 or 10 years ago before you start to burn.

This increase in your skin’s sensitivity also extends to exposure to chemicals, cosmetics, and certain types of plants. If you notice that red patches suddenly appear on your neck, it’s likely that your skin is reacting to a substance to which it is highly allergic. This reaction is a condition called contact dermatitis. Poison ivy is one form of contact dermatitis; so is a rash that forms when you try a new cosmetic.

Within a day or two after you’re exposed to the new allergen, red patches will start to appear in the affected area, and they’ll probably be itchy. In some people, blisters will also form a few days later. The entire episode, from the initial exposure to the allergen to when the rash clears up, usually lasts about a week or two.

A person can also have an allergic reaction due to anxiety or other emotional stresses in her life.

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