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Vital Signs: A Problem of the Heart, Head, or Hands?
12.05.2011 A patient with a history of mental illness claims his hands are possessed. Could his delusional behavior indicate a serious medical condition?
by Dena Rifkin
Vital Signs: Life-or-Death Drive
A boy is rushed to the ER after falling and rupturing his kidney. With no pediatric surgeon on staff, his doctor faces a difficult decision. 10.23.2011
Vital Signs: Far From Oakay
A body scan reveals a lemon-size mass in the chest of a 16-month-old boy. Fearing cancer, surgeons perform a risky operation to save his life. 10.05.2011
Vital Signs: A Stress Case or a Serious Disease?
A dermatologist treats an anxious patient for her stress-induced lesions, but new symptoms signal a more serious, and very real, disease. 09.17.2011
Vital Signs: And Down She Goes
When a woman collapses in the waiting room, a doctor acts swiftly to diagnose and treat a potentially fatal condition. 08.28.2011
Vital Signs: Confusion That Comes and Goes
An old Vital Signs column helps solve the mystery of a man who slipped into and out of strange altered states. 08.03.2011
Vital Signs: Simple Sickness Gone Awry
A woman with mild congestive heart failure takes a drastic turn for the worse. Why is her heart suddenly flagging? 07.10.2011
Vital Signs: Brain Got Your Tongue?
A 6-year-old girl cannot speak outside her home. Is she simply shy, or is some bigger problem keeping her from talking? 06.14.2011
Vital Signs: Those Who Know Us Best
A faint whiff of bad breath tells a worried wife something is seriously wrong with her husband. 03.13.2011
Vital Signs: One Problem, Many Faces
A sharp abdominal pain indicates something far more dire than a routine stomachache. 02.19.2011
Vital Signs: Friendly Fire
When antibiotics kill the wrong bacteria, harmful bugs thrive. 02.09.2011
Vital Signs: Education All Around
A patient’s misconceptions, and a medical student’s naïveté, mask a critical diagnosis. 01.29.2011
Vital Signs: Adding It Up
The young doctor’s complaint—chronic fatigue—was simple. Finding its cause was anything but. 01.11.2011
Vital Signs: A Sleepy Secret
A healthy young man falls into a coma, but there are few other signs that anything else is wrong. Then comes the real surprise. 12.11.2010
Vital Signs: Hiding Harmfulness
A bad choice made at a young age brings about devastating consequences many years later. 09.25.2010
Vital Signs: Cruising Into Trouble
Travelers can come down with life-threatening diseases—even when the trouble begins at home. 09.20.2010
Vital Signs: Saving One Life in the Carnage of the Haitian Earthquake
One woman remains brave in the face of life-threatening injuries, while an urgent medical response swings into action. 06.14.2010
Vital Signs: An Unwelcome Ringing
The young man’s ear pain was constant and debilitating, but doctor after doctor could not find the cure. 06.10.2010
Vital Signs: There's Hyperactivity...and There's Hyperactivity
Most 3-year-olds are hyperactive sometimes. But some cases are a sign of something more serious going on. 04.01.2010
Vital Signs: The Changes of Aging
After 50 years together, it's easy to see changes in your spouse. But what do the changes mean? 02.12.2010
Vital Signs: How Do You Treat a Watermelon in the Belly?
Early diagnosis and a fruit of modern medicine keeps a killer at bay. 02.08.2010
Vital Signs: An Uninvited Guest
The young woman carried a baby that wasn't her own—and wasn't even a human. 12.27.2009
Vital Signs: Confusing Cues
A spreading rash signals something far more dangerous than a skin condition. 11.02.2009
Vital Signs: The Sneaky Pain That Fooled 6 Experts
A sore hip launches a patient on an odyssey through the world of medical care before giving way to a surprisingly simple conclusion. 08.27.2009
Vital Signs: Where's That Infection?
What seems like an ordinary urinary tract infection can sometimes be much worse. 07.15.2009
Vital Signs: Running Out of Life's Blood
A dying patient faces a dropping blood count—and a faith that forbids transfusions. 05.28.2009
Vital Signs: Fishy Food
A tropical vacation goes south when a tourist catches something horrible from the catch of the day. But what exactly is it? 04.28.2009
Vital Signs: A Gland Failure
When adrenal functions go out of whack, the mind and body respond in startling ways. 03.29.2009
When Stubbornness in a Physician Nearly Proves Fatal
03.01.2009
When Modern Medicine Battles Genetics... and Loses
Despite the best care, a patient succumbs to a genetically predisposed disease. 01.14.2009
When Sleep Turns Violent
A strange condition turns a mild-mannered husband into an aggressive assailant. 11.29.2008
Twenty-Nine, Male, and Dangerously Ill
A young man with fevers and groin pain leads E.R. doctors on a race to find the cause. 10.23.2008
One Cure for Vertigo: Playing Pinball Inside Your Head.
By manipulating your head just so, a doctor can sometimes cure chronic dizziness. 09.10.2008
Battling the Worms Inside You
An infectious disease specialist must tackle her patient's parasites head-on. 08.22.2008
Treating Disease in the Big Easy
A patient’s abdominal pain challenges doctors in post-Katrina New Orleans. 07.09.2008
The Race to Treat a Seizing Child
A toddler's neurological outburst leads to a clinical guessing game. 06.12.2008
The White Urine That Held the Key
A housewife's unusual bathroom trips lead her doctor to diagnose a rare tropical disease. 05.22.2008
What Happens When an Ovary Dies?
An unusual condition pulls a woman in the ER—and doctors into a guessing game. 05.01.2008
The Blood Pressure Mystery
A patient's low blood pressure tipped his doctors off to a potentially fatal condition. 04.16.2008
Eating Paper in Search of Missing Nutrients
Sometimes the body makes a bad diagnosis, too. 03.31.2008
The Cancer That Itches
A "deep" itch can signal that something's really wrong. 02.15.2008
Date-Rape Drug To the Rescue!
The infamous sedative GHB provides the cure for unstoppable sleepiness. 01.03.2008
The Perfect Storm of Health Risk
In some situations, rare illnesses become downright probable. 12.19.2007
Instant Paralysis with an Instant Cure
Time to inject some mind vitamins. 11.28.2007
Vital Signs: Misdiagnosing ADHD
Just because it's in vogue doesn't mean it's accurate. 08.22.2007
Vital Signs: The Great Outdoors Bites Back
Go breathe in the fresh air, but be selective about it. 08.07.2007
Danger from the Belly Button
The navel gives a fetus life, but can bring a newborn death. 06.26.2007
Vital Signs: Attacked from Within
A woman battles a disease so diverse that it eludes diagnosis. 05.21.2007
Vital Signs: A Dangerous Pregnancy
An embryo that lands short of the womb can cause fatal complications. 04.16.2007
Vital Signs: Potassium Overload
Funky fruit can be fatal. 03.13.2007
Vital Signs: High Head Pressure
An infant's rapidly growing skull provides a clue to a life-threatening condition. 01.31.2007
Vital Signs: An Antibiotic Runs Amok
A woman's terrible stomach pain turns deadly. 01.13.2007
Vital Signs: Bugs Are Crawling In My Skin
Skin eruptions mystify both doctor and patient. 11.20.2006
Vital Signs: Why is He Fainting?
Mysterious fainting spells signal a deadly emergency for a middle-aged man. 11.16.2006
Vital Signs: Why Is He Limping?
The injury seemed recent, but its origins were not. 10.18.2006
Vital Signs: Trouble in the Nursery
The dog provides a clue to a family's puzzling seizures. 09.01.2006
Vital Signs: Why is Grandpa Falling?
A seemingly simple stumble provides clues to serious injury. 08.01.2006
Vital Signs: A Parent's Nightmare
Why has the baby become so listless? 07.29.2006
Vital Signs: Can She Survive The Cure?
A dread old disease tests a modern gynecologist. 06.14.2006
Vital Signs: Why Is She Getting Thinner?
Linking stomach pain, diabetes, and weight loss saves a life 05.29.2006
Vital Signs: The Boy Who Stopped Talking
A toddler's behavior gives away his disease 04.02.2006
Vital Signs: Why Does Her Belly Hurt?
Complications from surgery provide an important lesson for ER doctors 03.10.2006
Vital Signs: Why Is Her Vision Hazy?
The warning signs become more ominous as a patient's symptoms come and go 02.20.2006
Vital Signs: What's That Noise In Her?
A diagnostician facing his own medical troubles tracks down a killer defect. 01.17.2006
Vital Signs: Struggling to Inhale
The same symptoms for an infant and an older man have separate causes and different consequences 12.01.2005
Vital Signs
Benign but irritating skin eruptions signal much more serious internal troubles 11.22.2005
Vital Signs
A young man's surprising collapse has a complex cause. 10.24.2005
Vital Signs
A puzzling weakness leads to an unexpected diagnosis 09.09.2005
Vital Signs
A song from Shrek helps a 5-year-old boy recover from difficult surgery 08.06.2005
Vital Signs
Appendicitis? Or something else? 07.24.2005
Vital Signs
A swollen area grows larger and larger 06.05.2005
Vital Signs
End-of-term complications in a difficult pregnancy almost kill a mother 05.01.2005
Vital Signs
A patient's history evokes dread as a physician begins to probe 04.28.2005
Vital Signs
Over-the-counter drugs can be risky 03.31.2005
Vital Signs
The cause of a teenage athlete's fever and pain takes a doctor by surprise 02.06.2005
Vital Signs
An elderly man's puzzling symptoms are as old as humanity itself 01.02.2005
Vital Signs
Though seemingly healthy at birth, this boy was in big trouble within 48 hours 12.03.2004
Vital Signs
Could an aching chest and pain in the belly have a common cause? 11.25.2004
Vital Signs
An otherwise healthy woman suddenly develops a drunken stagger 10.01.2004
Vital Signs
Evaluating fussiness in a baby is tricky, but a heart rate of 220 is not ambiguous 08.02.2004
Vital Signs
What do you do when a live patient declares that he is, in fact, dead? 07.25.2004
Vital Signs
Why can't this woman breathe? 06.27.2004
Vital Signs
A young athlete stumbles around the emergency room like an old man 05.29.2004
Vital Signs
Will a young mother bleed to death after giving birth? 04.21.2004
Vital Signs
Was it pneumonia, asthma, or something his mother drank? 03.28.2004
Vital Signs
A young woman's on-again, off-again pain has an unexpected origin 02.05.2004
Vital Signs
A surgeon must carefully reposition a thighbone after a motorcycle injury 01.02.2004
Vital Signs
A young man in perfect health lies paralyzed by an unknown pathogen 12.03.2003
Vital Signs
A child's disease rears up against adults as their vaccinations wear thin 11.08.2003
Vital Signs
What could be tormenting a woman who lives such a sheltered life? 10.01.2003
Vital Signs
A boy is gasping for his life, and the medics' rescue measures have failed 09.01.2003
Vital Signs
New thinking about an old disease 08.01.2003
Vital Signs
An unfamiliar pathogen attacks unsuspecting passengers on a jetliner 07.01.2003
Vital Signs
What's the connection between mental illness and cornea color? 06.01.2003
Vital Signs
She looked healthy, yet the X ray suggested she would soon die 05.01.2003
Vital Signs
I could tell from the infant's unusually high-pitched cry and disturbed vision that he needed immediate attention and treatment to survive 04.01.2003
Vital Signs
Did this writhing, choking child really have to die? 03.01.2003
Vital Signs
Was this a simple case of pneumonia or something much worse? 02.01.2003
Vital Signs
Why does this young woman's head pound when she puts on her shoes? 01.01.2003
Vital Signs
Why can't this baby hold down her formula? 12.01.2002
Vital Signs
A vague, frustrating symptom gets a precise explanation 11.01.2002
Vital Signs
Where did it go? 10.01.2002
Vital Signs
A sore marks the telltale path of a troublesome parasite 09.01.2002
Vital Signs
Strange things can happen when the brain runs low on sugar 08.01.2002
Vital Signs
It wasn't pregnancy and it wasn't cancer. What was it? 07.01.2002
Vital Signs: Tropical Nightmare
A fearsome infection spoils perfect honeymoon. 06.01.2002
Vital Signs
The disease that shows us how we are what we eat 05.01.2002
Vital Signs
Uncovering a rare but age-old disease of pain and madness 04.01.2002
Vital Signs
Ultrasound uncovers a lethal choke hold on the heart 03.01.2002
Vital Signs
A legendary but surprisingly docile pathogen takes hold in a young man 02.01.2002
Vital Signs
Yet another mysterious disease that masquerades as the flu 01.01.2002
Vital Signs
Sometimes the immune system turns on its host 12.01.2001
Vital Signs
A dizzy spell provides the key to a little girl's developmental delay 11.01.2001
Vital Signs
A simple excursion brings home a sleeping giant 10.01.2001
Vital Signs
Our intestines do a lot of work without complaint. When they do complain, what does it mean? 09.01.2001
Vital Signs
For more than a century, the key to cancer therapy has always been, Wait for the pathology report 08.01.2001
Vital Signs
A killer masquerades as back, heart, and leg pain 07.01.2001
Vital Signs
Sick kids show up in the ER every day-but they're rarely this sick 06.01.2001
Vital Signs
Headache, fever, and vomiting-a simple viral infection, right? 05.01.2001
Vital Signs
When a sick stomach won't go away, a good patient history can help 04.01.2001
Vital Signs
This time it showed up as dizziness and shortness of breath. But it could have appeared as fever, weight loss, or joint pains 03.01.2001
Vital Signs
A teenager's stomachache proves a diagnostic puzzle—and a cautionary tale 02.01.2001
Vital Signs
The patient's symptoms resembled a backache, but their cause might prove far more deadly 01.01.2001
Vital Signs
Why are so many women in this family unable to conceive? 12.01.2000
Vital Signs
Sometimes when a seizure hits, even the doctor doesn't know whether it's real 11.01.2000
Vital Signs
Mr. Post's escalating fever after a monthlong trip into the bush was not a good sign 10.01.2000
Vital Signs
A wonderful vacation puts newlyweds in a tailspin 09.01.2000
Vital Signs
This pump's electrical system is as finely crafted as a microchip 08.01.2000
Vital Signs
The patient's stitches were in place, but her wound would be slow to heal 07.01.2000
Vital Signs
An insidious--and often undiagnosed--sleep disorder robs a woman of her ability to take in oxygen 05.01.2000
Vital Signs
Parents learn that it doesn't take much to start a biological storm in a toddler's brain 04.01.2000
Vital Signs
When is a cardiac patient's abnormality perfectly normal after all? 03.01.2000
Vital Signs
Why was my patient suddenly falling apart after decades of healthy living? 02.01.2000
Vital Signs
Are you psychotic, overdosing, or did you just forget your booster shot? 01.01.2000
Vital Signs
Mr. Chang can't move his legs, and if something isn't done, his lungs will go next 12.01.1999
Vital Signs
A couple with HIV who long for their own child muster the courage to face the consequences 11.01.1999
Vital Signs
A neglected tooth infection runs amok and threatens to choke off a young inmate's throat 10.01.1999
Vital Signs
The wrong diagnosis tears a family apart 09.01.1999
Vital Signs
Her pulse was close to stopping. Was it the drugs she was taking? 08.01.1999
Vital Signs
Mr. Ervin didn't know what hit him, and neither did his doctor 07.01.1999
Vital Signs
What did Mr. Leonard's back have to do with his eyesight? 06.01.1999
Vital Signs
One of Gaby's legs was short; the problem had to be her hip 03.01.1999
Vital Signs
Mary Grove was suddenly shedding skin in large red patches. The loss was a threat to her life. 02.01.1999
Vital Signs: Dr. Daiquiri
Marilyn Baker was hurting. But her doctor's prescriptions only kept her in thrall to her pain. 07.01.1998
Vital Signs: Heart Smarts
I knew just the right drug to calm my patient's racing heart. I just had no proof it would work. 06.01.1998
Vital Signs:Locked in Place
Andrea's accident had imprisoned her mind in a lifeless body. But how was anyone to know? 05.01.1998
Vital Signs: Sounds of Silence
An accident threatened Mr. Sinclair's poor hearing. Could microsurgery save his fragile world? 04.01.1998
Vital Signs: Sounds of Silence
An accident threatened Mr. Sinclair's poor hearing. Could microsurgery save his fragile world? 03.01.1998
Vital Signs: Final Battles
Mrs. Chang's life had not been easy. Now she was afraid her death wouldn't be, either. 03.01.1998
Vital Signs: A Lethal Scratch
Mrs. Anders didn't seem sick. But the fiery streak up her ankle was a poisonous calling card. 02.01.1998
Vital Signs: A Passion for Painting
Suddenly, at 52, Mr. Carter changed. Now he cared only for art and scorned the world he knew 01.01.1998
Vital Signs: The Shrinking Deficit
02.01.1996
Vital Signs: A Deadly Cry
12.01.1995
Vital Signs: No Surrender
11.01.1995
Vital Signs: The Aretha Franklin Test
03.02.1995
Vital Signs: A Deadly Masquerade
06.01.1994
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