- Specific phobia: cognitive therapy may help behavior, especially a treatment process called desensitization or exposure therapy. This technique involves gradually increasing their exposure to the cause of fear, going at their own pace, under controlled conditions. As you expose the object is supposed to manage fear through relaxation, breath control and other strategies to reduce anxiety. For short-term treatment of phobias, your doctor may prescribe an anxiolytic (antianxiety). If you face the phobia only occasionally, as if afraid to fly, you can limit the use of drugs.

- Social phobia: If your social phobia is focused on a particular performance (eg lecture or concert), your doctor may prescribe a medication called Beta-blockers such as propranolol (Inderal). This medicine may be taken just before taking on the cause of the phobia. Absorbs physical effects of anxiety (pounding heartbeat or tremor in the fingers), but usually does not affect mental acuity needed to talk or physical ability required to play an instrument. For more generalized social phobia or prolonged, your doctor may prescribe an antidepressant, usually (selective inhibitors of serotonin reuptake (SSRIs) and sertraline (Zoloft), paroxetine (Paxil) or fluoxetine (Prozac). If the SSRI is not effective, your doctor may prescribe an alternative antidepressant or antianxiety medication. Cognitive behavioral therapy works well in many people with social phobia, both individual and group settings.

- Agoraphobia treatment for this disorder is similar to treatment to treat anxiety disorder. Drug treatment includes antidepressants SSRIs or older antidepressants such as clomipramine (Anafranil) and lamipramina (Tofranil) and benzodiazepine anxiolytics, such as clonazepam (Klonopin), diazepam (Valium) and lorazepam (Ativan). It also helps psychotherapy, particularly cognitive behavioral therapy.

In children, specific phobias can be short-term problems disappear within a few months. In adults, approximately 80% of new phobias become chronic conditions (prolonged) that do not disappear without treatment.

Prevention

There is no way to prevent the onset of a phobia, however, if you have a phobia or other anxiety disorders, may reduce the anxiety level by avoiding stimulants such as caffeine (in coffee, tea and cola drinks ), chocolate and nicotine (in snuff).

When To Call a Professional

Schedule a consultation with your doctor as soon as possible if you are worried about their fears and anxiety that disturb your peace of mind, which interferes with personal relationships or preventing you from leading a normal life at home, school or work.

Forecast

The prognosis is very good for people with specific phobia or social phobia. According to the National Institute of Mental Health United States (U.S. National Institute of Mental Health) approximately 75% of people with specific phobias overcome their fears through cognitive behavioral therapy, while 80% of the observed social phobia improvement with medication, cognitive behavioral therapy or both.

When combined with agoraphobia panic disorder, the prognosis is also good. With proper treatment, between 30 and 40% of patients were free of symptoms for long periods, while another 50% continue to have only mild symptoms that do not significantly affect their daily lives.

The symptoms of phobias are:

- Excessive feelings of fear, unreasonable and persistent or anxiety triggered by an object, activity or situation, these feelings are irrational or disproportionate to the actual threat. For example, while anyone could fear a menacing dog and wild, most do not flee from the presence of a calm and relaxed animal on a leash.

- Physical symptoms related to anxiety, might include tremors, palpitations, sweating, shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea or other symptoms that reflect the response of “fight or flight” of the body to danger.

- Avoid the object, activity or situation that triggers the phobia phobic since they recognize that their fears are exaggerated, often feel ashamed or embarrassed by their symptoms. To prevent symptoms of anxiety or embarrassment, avoid triggers the phobia.

Diagnosis

In addition to routine questions, a health care professional will ask about your current symptoms and family history, especially if other family members suffered from phobias. Ask about any experience or trauma that might have triggered the phobia, such as a dog attack, which caused fear of dogs.

It might help to talk about your reaction, thoughts, feelings and physical symptoms when faced with the fear. Additionally, you should describe what you do to avoid situations that cause fear and phobia affects how their daily activities, including their work and personal relationships.

Your doctor will ask about your depression and substance abuse, because many people with phobias also have these problems.

Specific phobia (simple phobia): In this most common form of phobia, people fear specific animals (dogs, cats, spiders, snakes), people (clowns, dentists, doctors), environments (dark places, thunderstorms, high places) or situations (flying, riding a train or stay in an enclosed area). These are at least partly genetic (inherited) and partly run in families.

Social phobia (social anxiety disorder): people with social phobia fear social situations where they might be humiliated, embarrassed or judged by others, and become particularly anxious when strangers. Fear could be limited to performance, such as lecture, concert or business presentation. Or it could be generalized, hence avoiding the phobic part in many social settings, such as eating in public or use a public restroom. Social phobia runs in families, the people who were shy or lonely children or who had a history of unhappy or negative social experiences in childhood, seem more likely to have phobia.

Agoraphobia is the fear of being in public places where it would be difficult or uncomfortable to leave suddenly. The person with agoraphobia may avoid going to a movie or concert or travel by bus or train. In many cases, the person has unexpected panic attacks (attacks a group of intense, unpleasant physical symptoms such as tremor, palpitations and sweating).

Phobias in children occur most commonly between 5 and 9 years and tend to last a short time. Most long-term phobias manifest later, especially in people aged 20 years. Phobias in adults tend to last for many years and is unlikely to disappear by themselves. Without proper treatment, the phobia may increase the risk that the adult suffers from other types of psychiatric illness, especially other anxiety disorders, including depression and substance abuse.

Some phobias are very specific and limited. For example, a person may fear only spiders (arachnophobia) or cats (galeofobia). In this case, the person has a relatively free from anxiety but avoids the cause of your fear. Some phobias cause problems in various places and situations. For example, symptoms of acrophobia (fear of heights) may be triggered by looking through the window of an office building or driving on a high bridge.

Fear of enclosed spaces (claustrophobia) can be triggered when boarding an elevator or using a small bathroom. People with these phobias could be obliged to alter their lives dramatically. In extreme cases, the phobia may affect employment, workplace, driving distance, recreation and social or home environment of the person with the phobia.

If diagnosed with a brain tumor, a biopsy may be needed (surgery) as a first step in treatment. Brain tumors can sometimes be a form of laser treatment or radiation and often requires surgery. High blood pressure should be treated as an emergency at the hospital if it causes a papilledema.

The pseudotumor cerebri can be treated with repeated spinal taps to remove excess fluid or medication called acetazolamide (Diamox and other brand names). This medicine makes the body produce less CSF and that the central nervous system pressure back to normal. We recommend weight loss as this may be beneficial.

A few patients require surgery to help drain spinal fluid if no results are achieved with initial treatment. Because pseudotumor cerebri is a chronic (long) and can cause impaired vision, an important part of the treatment plan is the careful control of the ophthalmologist.

Many inflammatory diseases (including multiple sclerosis) can be improved with the use of anti-inflammatory agents, including steroid medication (prednisone or methylprednisolone) or other more specialized medicines.

Once identified and treated the cause of papilledema and that decreased the increased cerebrospinal fluid pressure, optic disc swelling gradually disappears in six to eight weeks. When a pressure increase requires prolonged treatment, as in pseudotumor cerebri, symptoms may take longer to disappear.

Prevention

Many of the causes of papilledema can not be prevented. Steps to prevent some causes of papilledema include:
- follow signs to the doctor to control high blood pressure and never discontinue taking the blood pressure medicine unless your doctor tells you to do so.
- stay physically fit and avoid obesity by exercising and following a diet low in fat.

When To Call a Professional

If you have a headache with nausea and vomiting, and unknown cause, it is essential that you contact your doctor immediately. It is particularly important that a physician evaluate these symptoms, a fever, high blood pressure or has started taking birth control pills or are pregnant.

Forecast

You could have a chronic mild papilledema for months or years and still not lose the vision significantly. However, once you start to lose vision, it can be become permanent within days or weeks and it requires emergency treatment.

Symptoms related to papilledema are caused by increased pressure and include headache and nausea with vomiting and a sound like a machine. Twenty-five percent of people with advanced papilledema also develop visual symptoms. Generally, the visual changes are recurring brief episodes lasting less than 30 seconds during which the vision turns gray or black, sometimes described as a veil which falls over the eyes.

Symptoms usually affect both eyes at the same time. These locks are often visually triggered by a change of position, as standing suddenly or may be caused by coughing or straining the chest or abdomen. Sometimes people may experience papilledema flashing lights, which often are seen as an arch. Over time, other visual changes occur, including decreased visual field with a blind spot over grade and eventually blindness if not treated properly the problem.

Diagnosis

The front end of the optic nerve is seen from the back of the eye area when your doctor or eye specialist look through the pupil with an ophthalmoscope. The rounded front end is just over 1.5 centimeters (just over half an inch). Normally, the front end of the nerve called the optic disc, has a rough outline and slightly dented. If the optical disc seems high and has an outer edge blur, your doctor can diagnose papilledema. The pressure inside the nerve can cause congestion of the draining vein. In addition, the minimum pulse usually seen in the veins of the eyes tend to disappear. When papilledema is severe, small reddish spots could be observed due to local bleeding or spots of color change on the retina due to the accumulation of particles or damaged retinal cells.

The physical examination will also include a visual field control. Papilledema causes enlargement of the blind spot in each eye near the nose and reduced peripheral vision (the edges). To control your field of vision, your doctor may compare your vision with it sitting in front of you and move your fingers in and out of your visual field. An ophthalmologist can examine more formally the visual fields using a grid to measure vision.

The findings show that you have a papilledema should be treated urgently. It is appropriate to an x-ray of the brain within 24 hours so you can quickly diagnose a brain tumor if it exists. These tests include a computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

If the radiograph shows no abnormality in the brain, most patients need a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to measure cerebrospinal fluid pressure. The pseudotumor cerebri is a common cause of papilledema when the brain scan is normal.

The anatomy of the optic nerve is a sensitive indicator of problems within the brain. This nerve is a thick cord that connects the posterior of the eyeball and the retina to the brain. In this short journey between the brain and eye, cerebrospinal fluid bathes the entire surface of the optic nerve. This fluid protects the nerve from sudden movement. However, even slight increases in pressure of this fluid, due to brain swelling, can compress the optic nerve around its entire circumference. When this nerve is exposed to high blood pressure or swelling develops by itself, may protrude through the rear wall of the eyeball, causing papilledema.

Some important causes of increased pressure due to cerebrospinal fluid and brain tumors brain infections, such as brain abscess, meningitis or encephalitis. A significant proportion of people who are diagnosed with brain tumors have some signs of papilledema. An increase in pressure as a result of hemorrhage (bleeding) for high blood pressure can also cause papilledema.

A condition can raise blood pressure in the cerebrospinal fluid without associated swelling of the brain or ventricles. This condition, called pseudotumor cerebri or benign intracranial hypertension, occurs when the body produces too much cerebrospinal fluid. It is more common in obese women of childbearing age. The condition appears to be triggered when the body must adjust to hormonal changes such as pregnancy, the beginning of taking contraceptive tablet, the first menstrual period or menopause.

- Women who have had more than one pregnancy and that, despite diet and exercise fail to improve muscle tone.
- Very obese people who have lost much weight, whose skin and muscle can not regain its normal tone.
- Older people who, due to age, heredity, significant weight fluctuations and/or previous surgery, abdominal tone fail they want.

And when it is not recommended? Abdominoplasty are not recommended for women who want more children or people who plan to lose more weight yet. In such cases it is expected. We must also take into account other factors before surgery, the doctor will ask, for example, if you smoke or have diabetes, among other things.

Overcome all these difficulties, abdominoplasty generally improves the appearance of the muscles and skin of the belly, which are flabby, stretched, and can show amazing results and success. Still, keep in mind that you may regain the fat again you’ve lost. It is therefore important that along with this intervention also change your habits and adopt healthy behaviors, including healthy eating and regular exercise routine.

Remember that a tummy tuck is not a weight-loss method does not replace a good diet and an appropriate routine of physical activity. Nor can correct stretch marks, although these can be removed or improved if they are located in areas of skin that will be eliminated.

If you have evaluated all the possibilities and you’re determined to get a tummy tuck, then you should get a specialist (plastic surgeon) with experience working with a qualified anesthesiologist to do the procedure in a hospital that has everything you need in an emergency. Be sure to ask your professional license and verify if you have legal permission to perform this operation (each country may have its own regulations). Looking for references and do not stay with any question to ask about both the risks you run, the chances of success of the procedure as the recovery time and all that you generate concerns.