Sommeil et médecine générale

Chest and sleep

2007-12-22T23:42:40Z

The elimination diagnosis of a thoracic pain (which remains unexplained) must take notions of sleep and tiredness into account.

- Chest and sleep

Tonsillitis or sore throat ?

2007-11-19T12:00:31Z

The popular set phrase "it takes some swallowing" shows that "stressing" life circumstances are sometimes associated with a sore throat.
What's an tonsillitis ? A sore throat is a frequent cause of consultation which often evokes a diagnosis of « tonsillitis » in people's minds.
In medicine, the throat is easy to examinate. An tonsillitis is an inflammation which is visible with bare eyes, and strictly limited to the tonsils. In its typical forms, that painful inflammation is a reaction of (...)

- Head and Sleep

Head and Sleep

2007-11-18T14:14:09Z

The « hypo-sleep syndrome » expresses itself, at the head's level, through a various range of symptoms which possess all characteristics of the functional disorders.
In some subjects, the repetition or the intensity of the attacks gives cause to numerous complementary explorations (blood balance, scanner...) at the issue of which the absence of an organic cause is asserted. Thus, the attention only focuses on the treatment of the symptoms but tiredness is rarely gone into.
The great (...)

- Head and Sleep

Migraine and headache

2007-11-18T10:19:07Z

The link between sleep and migraine is often better understood by the sick people than by their doctor.
In the absence of chronobiological considerations, migraine gives way to often useless complementary explorations and sometimes to far too simplistic psychological theories.
Who never suffers from headache» ?
That ordinary symptom often disappears spontaneously (or with a simple pain killer) and rarely gives cause to consultation.
Elsewhere, migraine induces a total (but reversible) (...)

- Head and Sleep

Ocular fatigue

2007-11-15T15:42:44Z

The eye is a self-regulated neurological tool. Its functioning is very sensitive to tiredness.

- Head and Sleep

Eyelids and tiredness

2007-11-15T10:28:45Z

Blepharospasm (spasm of the eyelids) is, in our opinion, an early sign of a sleep disorder which can lead to errors of diagnosis.

- Head and Sleep

Stiff neck

2007-11-13T21:11:19Z

Introduction.
The neck is essentially made of a network of small muscles which work together in order to manage to support the skull's weight (1 to 2 kg).
That synergy does not depend from will, there exists an automatic system which purpose is to harmonize those muscles' contractions with the head's movements.
Just like shrouds supporting a bridge, the system depends on a good distribution of the forces. In the context of the hypo-sleep syndrome, it all looks as though tiredness was (...)

- Head and Sleep

False True-sick

2007-09-13T19:41:33Z

The "False True-sick" is a badly taken care of sick person ... who, often, remains sick.
He/she suffers from symptoms which are worrying enough to motivate a series of consultations with the (very legitimate) purpose of giving a name and a remedy to his/her health problem.
The failure of these investigations introduces a bias which leads to making another illness, discovered at that occasion, responsible for the symptoms. The treatment that is offered is, of course, not really satisfying (...)

- Functional disorders

True False-sick

2007-09-09T15:19:15Z

The "True False-sick" 'really' suffers. But, since no explanation can be found for the sickness, the medical profession and, sometimes, the subject him/herself, agree to think that "it's in the head".
We belive, that misunderstood sick person presents symptoms of an onsetting hyposleep syndrome.
At that stage, sleep disorders are not visible and the spontaneous improvement is the rule. But if the cause persists, a new symptom will show up and the patient will have to consult again. (...)

- Functional disorders

Functional disorders

2007-07-20T15:48:33Z

The term "functional disorders" gathers together the set of symptoms that have no clearly identifiable medical cause (on the opposite of lesional disorders which express an "organic" disease).
That diagnosis, called "eliminatory", is difficult because it is only carried out at the issue of expensive check-ups imposed by the "obligation of means" (stated in the deontological code).
Here, despite the pain and handicap, the complementary examinations are not contributive and the (...)

- Functional disorders