Conditions | Nemours Blog | Expert Guidance on Children's Health and Wellness

CONDITIONS

8 Common Running Injuries

Running is a sport that can be done all year long. For many young athletes, running is their after school sport of choice. Runners can compete in the fall, winter and spring in cross country, run indoor/outdoor track, and train in the summer. Whether a student is running throughout the year or during a specific season, all are prone to running-specific injuries. Shin Splints One of the most common injuries for runners are shin splints, caused by inflammation in the tissues, tendons, and bones in the shin (tibia). This overuse injury can be due to new or increased training. Pain along the tibia is associated with shin splints, as well as sharp or dull and throbbing pain and mild swelling. The pain can last both during and after running, and the area hurts to touch. People with flat feet or worn-out or improper footwear are more prone to shin splints. […]

CONDITIONS

Dining out with Diabetes

Dining out is a fun, cultural and social affair that everyone should be able to take part in, including people with diabetes. It can seem daunting for those who need to count carbohydrates and administer insulin. But with preparation, guidance, and practice, dining out with diabetes can become a smooth process! Below are tips for before, during, and after dining to help ensure an enjoyable experience. Before: There is no need to change the types of restaurants frequented. Continue visiting your favorite ones and do not feel limited to ones that offer “healthier” options. In time, you may develop a list of preferred locations due to the helpfulness of staff and information made available by the restaurant. Search for the restaurant’s website online and see if the menu and nutritional information are available. If there is no restaurant website, try calling the restaurant and asking for the same information. If […]

ADHD

Digital Screen Time and Links to ADHD

Too much screen time has long been linked to an increased risk of emotional and behavioral problems, especially when kids engage for long stretches — like watching TV for hours or playing too many video games. The long-term health effects of being constantly connected to smart devices isn’t as well understood. But several recent studies show that these screens can have a negative impact on social behavior, sleep quality, and mood. And one study links attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to teen use of digital devices. Understanding ADHD According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ADHD is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood, affecting 8%‒10% of children and teens. The causes of ADHD are still unclear. Research does not show a link with eating too much sugar, parenting, or social and environmental factors like poverty. But these factors, and many others, can make symptoms […]

12-18 YEARS: TEEN

Know About CHS: Vomiting Syndrome Linked to Marijuana

Your teenager is sick to his stomach. Really sick, throwing up as much as four or five times in an hour. If your teen is a heavy marijuana user, he might have cannabinoid hyperemesis (CHS). What Is CHS? Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome is a scientific way of describing the body’s reaction when someone uses a lot of marijuana (cannabis) over a long period of time. Emesis means vomiting. Hyper means excessive. It’s a clinical way of saying that people with CHS throw up a lot because of heavy marijuana use. Some people take years to develop CHS. But 1 in 3 people with CHS have used marijuana for less than a year. The only way to stop CHS is to stop using marijuana. Why has CHS become a problem in recent years? A blog post published in The Lancet suggests it might be because marijuana produced today is much stronger than in […]

CONDITIONS

Autism Rates: Understanding the Rise

Autism diagnoses are on the rise, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says in a new report. Autism rates have gone up since 2016, and 1 in 59 U.S. kids have some form of autism (also called “autism spectrum disorder” or “ASD”). Many parents are asking why — and wondering if they should worry. What Does the Rise in Autism Rates Mean? Experts say that the higher autism rates do not mean more and more kids are developing autism. Rather, ways to recognize, diagnose, and treat autism spectrum disorders have greatly improved. Ideally, doctors should look for signs of autism in babies and toddlers at every routine well visit, and perform an autism screening at the 18- and 24-month checkups. However, this may be challenging to accomplish in a busy practice. The CDC also reports that some groups were previously underdiagnosed. Black and Hispanic populations, for instance, have often […]

Taking Lessons from Crohn's Disease | Promise, powered by Nemours Children's Health System

CONDITIONS

Taking Life Lessons from Crohn’s Disease

Contributed by Darcy Galnor, whose daughter is a patient of Nemours Children’s Specialty Care, Jacksonville. The morning our daughter was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease started like any other. We woke up as just a regular young(ish) couple with two kids, jobs and life’s typical stressors. (I guess maybe not entirely typical, unless taking our 5-year-old daughter for a colonoscopy is considered an everyday event). We’d been chasing the cause of her diarrhea for months, maybe even years. Dairy? Nope. Gluten? Nope. Strawberries (her favorite food)? Nope. As we sat in the waiting room, anxiously watching for the doctor to tell us the results, we attempted to distract ourselves with work. Both of us had tablets rested on our thighs, cell phones on the arms of our chaisr. My husband downing coffee. Me biting my nails. Then, the doctor appeared. “She has inflammation throughout most of her GI tract. We’ll wait […]

STORIES & COMMUNITY

After 27 Years With Type 1 Diabetes, Here’s What I’ve Learned

I celebrated my first National Diabetes Awareness Month in 1990. I was twelve years old, had just started seventh grade, and was very aware of Type 1 diabetes – I’d just been diagnosed with it. Aside from the distinctive smells of insulin and alcohol swabs, I don’t remember much about the time I spent in the hospital after my diagnosis, or about those first few months at home. I do, however, remember the sense of bewilderment that accompanied my family home from the hospital, and how uncertain we were about how our lives would proceed with a chronic condition to manage. If I could go back to that November, there’s so much I would tell my younger self about the reality of living with diabetes. Unfortunately, I can’t – so I’m sharing what I’ve learned here. Don’t panic. It’s true that diabetes can (and will) infiltrate every part of your […]

PREGNANCY

Gestational Diabetes and Diet: How the Right Foods Can Help

You probably know someone who’s had gestational diabetes mellitus, or may have been diagnosed yourself. By any measure, it’s not rare. It’s estimated that about 200,000 cases of gestational diabetes—a condition that’s marked by glucose intolerance in pregnancy—occur every year. In fact, gestational diabetes may be present in up to 9.2% of all pregnancies. But the fact that gestational diabetes is pretty common doesn’t make it any easier to live with—especially when you’re dealing with all the other challenges of pregnancy. Gestational diabetes occurs when hormones from the placenta block the action of the insulin that the mother’s body produces. Insulin’s job is to help the body transform glucose in the bloodstream into useable energy. When the body can’t make or use insulin properly, glucose builds up in the blood, causing higher blood glucose levels that can be dangerous for a mother with diabetes and her baby. Women with gestational diabetes mellitus […]

Asthma Flare-Ups and Kids: What They Are, What You Can Do, Powered by Nemours Children's Health System

CONDITIONS

Asthma Flare-Up and Kids: What They Are, What You Can Do

A recent survey by Nemours Children’s Health System, the Delaware Survey of Children’s Health (DSCH), showed that parents of 88 percent of children with asthma were educated by health professionals on how to recognize early signs or symptoms of asthma episodes in their child. Understanding what an asthma flare-up is and how to recognize the early signs or symptoms are key steps in improving the health of your child. Increasing the percentage of parents who are taught how to recognize their child’s early signs or symptoms of an asthma flare-up (also called an asthma attack) can help reduce the number of asthma-related hospital visits and improve the overall health of their child. What is an Asthma Flare-Up? During an asthma flare-up, the breathing tubes (also called bronchial tubes) in the lungs constrict — like a straw being squeezed — which triggers wheezing, coughing and tightness in the chest. Some kids […]

CONDITIONS

Heart Murmurs in Kids: They’re Common and Usually Harmless

You might worry if you’re told your child has a heart murmur. But lots of kids are found to have heart murmurs at some point. And most won’t affect a child’s health at all. So What Is a Heart Murmur? The term “heart murmur” isn’t a diagnosis of an illness or disorder. The doctor might hear an extra sound in addition to the “lub-dub” we recognize as the heartbeat. A heart murmur is an abnormal sound (like a blowing or whooshing) that’s usually detected by a doctor who’s listening to the heart with a stethoscope during a routine examination. What’s an “Innocent” Heart Murmur? The most common type of heart murmur is an “innocent murmur” (also called a “benign” or “functional” murmur). This type of murmur is harmless. An innocent heart murmur is the sound of blood moving through a normal, healthy heart in a normal way. Just as you might hear air moving through an […]

CONDITIONS

6 Common Pneumonia Questions Answered

Pneumonia is a very common illness in kids. In fact, an estimated 156 million cases of pneumonia are diagnosed worldwide each year — and that’s just in children younger than 5 years old, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). So here’s what you need to know about this infection that’s all too common around this time of year. 1. What is pneumonia, anyway? Simply put, pneumonia is an infection of the lungs. It causes fever, coughing and sometimes trouble breathing. The good news is that most kids with pneumonia can be treated at home, and they usually get better in 1 to 2 weeks. However, in some cases, babies and children with certain other medical problems can get sicker and may need to be admitted to a hospital while they get better. 2. Is there a pneumonia “season?” Your child may be more likely to get pneumonia after having a […]

Osgood-Schlatter Disease, Powered by Nemours Children's Health System

CONDITIONS

Kids’ Knee Pain: Is It Osgood-Schlatter Disease?

I remember when my son was 12 years old, he would wake up in the middle of the night crying and complaining of knee pain. He had started to run track in middle school, and he started to get a little bump just below his knee cap at the top of his shin bone. Our pediatrician called it “growing pains” and said it would go away. He recommended that he do some stretches and ice after track practice. Eventually it did resolve once track season was over, and he didn’t have any problems after that. What I found out later is that this wasn’t growing pains at all – it was a common sports injury known as “Osgood-Schlatter disease.” What is Osgood-Schlatter disease? Although it sounds scary because of the word “disease,” Osgood-Schlatter is one of the most common causes of knee pain in adolescents. It’s an overuse injury that […]

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