A fever isn’t a disease.  It is a symptom that indicates the presence of a disease such as an infection, typically caused by a cold or the flu.  When you have a cold, for instance, your immune system signals to your brain that it needs more body heat to attack infectious cells, and your body temperature rises.  This defense mechanism of the body acts to destroy foreign microbes....

Fibrocystic breast disease, also known as cystic mastitis, is a mildly uncomfortable to severely painful swelling of the breasts.  Typically, it is cyclic and usually worse just before a woman’s period.  It is the most frequent disease of the breast, is a common component of the premenstrual syndrome, and is considered a risk factor for breast cancer....

The word fibromyalgia comes from the Latin term for fibrous tissue (fibro-) and the Greek ones for muscle (-myo-) and pain (-algia). It is also known as fibrositis.  It is a syndrome characterized by chronic pain, stiffness, and tenderness of muscles, tendons, and joints without detectable inflammation.  Fibromyalgia does not cause body damage or deformity.  However, undue fatigue plagues the large majority of patients with fibromyalgia and sleep disorders are common in fibromyalgia....

Are you feeling a splitting headache, muscle aches, extreme fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and a fever that makes you shiver and sweat?  Chances are that influenza, also known as the “flu,” has got a hold of you.  The flu is a highly contagious viral infection of the respiratory tract.  Because this illness can be spread easily by coughing and sneezing, outbreaks of influenza are very common.  Individual strains of the virus are constantly changing, so vaccinations against influenza have been only partly successful....