Symptom Checker

Burns to the Eye

2009-02-07T16:41:00Z

Chemical burns can happen if a solid or liquid chemical or chemical fumes get into the eye. Many substances will not cause damage if they are flushed out of the eye quickly. Acids and alkali substances can damage the eye. It may take 24 hours after the burn occurs to determine the seriousness of an eye burn. Chemical fumes and vapors can also irritate the eyes.

Burns to the eyelid or eye can cause eye problems. Blasts of hot air or steam can burn the face and eyes. Bursts of flames or flash fires from stoves or explosives can also burn the face and eyes.

Eyes that are not protected by a mask or ultraviolet (UV) filtering sunglasses can be burned by exposure to the high-intensity light of a welder's equipment (torch or arc) or to bright sunlight (especially when the sun is reflecting off snow or water). The eyes also may be injured by other bright lights, such as from tanning booths or sunlamps. It may take up to 24 hours for the extent of the eye injury to be known.

After a burn injury to the eye, it is important to watch for symptoms of an eye infection.

Home treatment may relieve your eye symptoms.

First aid for chemical burns to the eye. Immediately flush the eye with cool water. Quickly diluting the chemical reduces the chance of serious eye damage.
First aid for heat burns to the eyes or the area around the eyes. Immediately flush the eye with cool water. Fill a sink or dishpan with water. Put your face in the water, then open and close your eyelids to force water to all parts of your eye.

If your eye symptoms are not 100% better after 24 hours of home treatment, an evaluation by a doctor is needed.

Blurred vision

2009-02-06T16:25:00Z

Blurred vision is an ocular symptom.

Causes

There are many causes of blurred vision, including use of atropine. & Presbyopia -- difficulty focusing on objects that are close. Common in the elderly. Cataracts -- cloudiness over the eye's lens, causing poor nighttime vision, halos around lights, and sensitivity to glare. Daytime vision is eventually affected. Common in the elderly. Glaucoma -- increased pressure in the eye, causing poor night vision, blind spots, and loss of vision to either side. A major cause of blindness. Glaucoma can happen gradually or suddenly -- if sudden, it's a medical emergency. Diabetic retinopathy -- this complication of diabetes can lead to bleeding into the retina. Another common cause of blindness. Macular degeneration -- loss of central vision, blurred vision (especially while reading), distorted vision (like seeing wavy lines), and colors appearing faded. The most common cause of blindness in people over age 60. Eye infection, inflammation, or injury. Floaters -- tiny particles drifting across the eye. Although often brief and harmless, they may be a sign of retinal detachment. Retinal detachment -- symptoms include floaters, flashes of light across your visual field, or a sensation of a shade or curtain hanging on one side of your visual field. Optic neuritis -- inflammation of the optic nerve from infection or multiple sclerosis. You may have pain when you move your eye or touch it through the eyelid. Stroke or TIA. Brain tumor. Bleeding into the eye. Temporal arteritis -- inflammation of an artery in the brain that supplies blood to the optic nerve. Migraine headaches -- spots of light, halos, or zigzag patterns are common symptoms prior to the start of the headache. An ophthalmic migraine is when you have only visual symptoms without a headache.

Nonproductive coughs

2009-02-06T16:19:00Z

A nonproductive cough is dry and does not produce sputum. A dry, hacking cough may develop toward the end of a cold or after exposure to an irritant, such as dust or smoke. There are many causes of a nonproductive cough, such as:

Viral illnesses. After a common cold, a dry cough may last several weeks longer than other symptoms and often gets worse at night.
Bronchospasm. A nonproductive cough, particularly at night, may indicate spasms in the bronchial tubes (bronchospasm) caused by irritation.
Allergies. Frequent sneezing is also a common symptom of allergic rhinitis.
Medicines called ACE inhibitors that are used to control high blood pressure. Examples of ACE inhibitors include captopril (Capoten), enalapril maleate (Vasotec), and lisinopril (Prinivil, Zestril, or Zestoretic).
Exposure to dust, fumes, and chemicals in the work environment.
Asthma. A chronic dry cough may be a sign of mild asthma. Other symptoms may include wheezing, shortness of breath, or a feeling of tightness in the chest. For more information, see the topic Asthma in Teens and Adults.
Blockage of the airway by an inhaled object, such as food or a pill.

Productive coughs

2009-02-06T16:17:00Z

A productive cough produces phlegm or mucus (sputum). The mucus may have drained down the back of the throat from the nose or sinuses (postnasal drainage) or may have come up from the lungs. A productive cough generally should not be suppressed; it clears mucus from the lungs. There are many causes of a productive cough, such as:

Viral illnesses. It is normal to have a productive cough when you have a common cold. Coughing is often triggered by mucus that drains down the back of the throat.
Infections. An infection of the lungs or upper airway passages can cause a cough. A productive cough may be a symptom of pneumonia, bronchitis, sinusitis, or tuberculosis.
Chronic lung disease. A productive cough could be a sign that a disease such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is getting worse or that you have an infection.
Stomach acid backing up into the esophagus. This type of coughing may be a symptom of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and may awaken you from sleep.
Nasal discharge draining down the back of the throat (postnasal drip syndrome). This can cause a productive cough or the feeling that you constantly need to clear your throat. Experts disagree about whether a postnasal drip or the viral illness that caused it is responsible for the cough.
Smoking or other tobacco use. Productive coughs in a person who smokes or uses other forms of tobacco is often a sign of lung damage or irritation of the throat or esophagus.

Cough

2009-02-06T16:02:00Z

A cough, in medicine, is a sudden and often repetitively occurring defence reflex which helps to clear the large breathing passages from excess secretions, irritants, foreign particles and microbes. The cough reflex consists of three phases: an inhalation, a forced exhalation against a closed glottis (the complex of the vocal folds), and a violent release of air from the lungs following opening of the glottis, usually accompanied by a distinctive sound. Coughing can happen voluntarily as well as involuntarily, though for the most part, involuntarily.

Frequent or severe coughing usually indicates the presence of a disease. Many viruses and bacteria benefit by causing their host to cough, which helps to spread the disease to new hosts. Coughing is classified as acute (of sudden onset) if it is present less than three weeks, subacute if it is present between three and eight weeks, and chronic when lasting longer than eight weeks. A cough can be dry or productive, depending on whether sputum is coughed up. Most of the time, coughing is acute and caused by a respiratory tract infection. Coughing can be triggered by food entering the windpipe rather than the esophagus due to a failure of the epiglottis in patients who have difficulties swallowing. Smoking and air pollution are common causes of coughing. Provided the patient is a non-smoker and has a normal chest X-ray, the three most common causes of chronic cough are asthma, gastroesophageal reflux disease and post-nasal drip. Other causes of chronic cough include chronic bronchitis, heart failure and medications such as ACE inhibitors.

Since cough is a natural protective reflex, suppressing the cough reflex might have deleterious effects, especially if the cough is productive. Nonetheless, coughing might be severe enough (in terms of psychological, physical and social distress) to warrant treatment. This should be targeted towards the cause as much as possible, for example by smoking cessation and discontinuing ACE inhibitors. Some patients may only be worried about serious illnesses, and reassurance may suffice. Cough suppressants (or antitussives) such as codeine or dextromethorphan are frequently prescribed although scientific evidence supporting their use is often of poor quality. Other treatment options may target airway inflammation or may promote mucus expectoration.

Causes

Cough can be a sign of respiratory tract infections such as tracheobronchitis, pneumonia, pertussis and tuberculosis. In patients with a normal chest X-ray, tuberculosis is a rare finding. Pertussis is increasingly being recognised as a cause of troublesome coughing in adults. Cough can also worsen in an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The common causes of chronic dry coughing include post-nasal drip, gastroesophageal reflux disease, asthma, post viral cough and ACE inhibitors. When coughing is the only complaint of a person who meets the criteria for asthma (bronchial hyperresponsiveness and reversibility), this is termed cough-variant asthma. Two related conditions are atopic cough and eosinophilic bronchitis. Atopic cough occurs in individuals with a family history of atopy, abundant eosinophils in the sputum, but with normal airway function and responsiveness. Eosinophilic bronchitis is also characterized by eosinophilia in the sputum, without airway hyperresponsiveness or an atopic background. This condition responds to treatment with corticosteroids.

Individuals who smoke often have a smoker's cough, a loud, hacking cough which often results in the expiration of phlegm. Coughing has also been linked to air pollution.

A foreign body can sometimes be suspected, for example if the cough started suddenly when the patient was eating. Rarely, sutures left behind inside the airway branches can cause coughing. A cough can be triggered by dryness from mouth breathing or recurrent aspiration of food intro the windpipe in people with swallowing difficulties.

Cough may also be caused by conditions affecting the lung tissue such as bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, interstitial lung diseases and sarcoidosis. Coughing can also be triggered by benign or malignant lung tumors or mediastinal masses. Through irritation of the nerve, diseases of the external auditory canal (wax, for example) can also cause cough. Cardiovascular diseases associated with cough are heart failure, pulmonary infarction and aortic aneurysm.

Coughing may also be used for social reasons, such as the coughing before giving a speech. Cough may also be psychogenic, which is different from habit coughing and tic coughing. Coughing may occur in tic disorders such as Tourette's syndrome, although it should be distinguished from throat-clearing in this disorder.

Given its irritant nature to mammal tissues, capsaicin is widely used to determine the cough threshold and as a tussive stimulant in clinical research of cough suppressants. Capsaicin is what makes chilli peppers spicy, and might explain why workers in factories with these vegetables can develop a cough.