Disorder

This story is part of CBC Health's Second Opinion, a weekly analysis of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers on Saturday mornings. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do that by clicking here.Shift workers sleeping at erratic hours. Students pulling all-nighters. Menopausal women tossing and turning in bed from hot flashes.There are a host of reasons why people have periods of poor sleep. And anyone who's endured back-to-back nights of sub-par slumber likely knows the result: Feelings of brain fog,…

As a child of no more than seven or eight, Christopher Eccleston saw an animated version of A Christmas Carol. It was his introduction to the Dickens classic and he was so taken with it, he says, that he started to draw it “quite obsessively. The scene where Scrooge arrives home and passes the Scrooge & Marley sign.” What was it that grabbed him? “The unpleasantness of him. I presume that all of us are aware of our duality. I think, from an early age, I was very aware of it. I thought I could be very good or I could…

Fragile X syndrome is a genetic disorder caused by a mutation in a gene that lies at the tip of the X chromosome. It is linked to autism spectrum disorders.People with fragile X experience a range of symptoms that include cognitive impairment, developmental and speech delays and hyperactivity. They may also have some physical features such as large ears and foreheads, flabby muscles and poor coordination.Along with our colleagues Jonathan Watts and Elizabeth Berry-Kravis, we are a team of scientists with expertise in…

When Bowen Yang recently announced that he was pausing production on his “Las Culturistas” podcast, he didn’t offer the usual reason that celebrities give when they talk about needing to take time off due to stress or “exhaustion.” Instead, the “Saturday Night Live” star was more specific and said on Instagram Story that he was suffering from “bad bouts of depersonalization,” as Rolling Stone and other outlets reported. Yang, 32, said the bouts were causing deep distress and that he was “doing my best to get better!”…

New research indicates that only 25% of U.S. adolescent addiction treatment facilities offer buprenorphine, the only approved medication for treating opioid addiction in 16-18 year olds. The study, pointing out a stark gap in evidence-based addiction treatment access among young people, calls for enhanced education, funding, and public awareness.NIH-funded study indicates a substantial need to expand access to evidence-based treatment among young people.Only 1 in 4 residential addiction treatment facilities caring for…

For people who find themselves unable to control their cannabis consumption, treatment options are limited. The Food and Drug Administration has not approved any medications for cannabis use disorder, even as legal reforms are steadily making the substance more widely available. But a new drug that aims to safely stem cravings is being developed by a French biopharmaceutical company and shows promise in animal and initial human trials. In the trials, the new drug effectively reduced the perceived pleasant effects, or…

A Danish study involving over six million participants found that cannabis use disorder significantly increases the risk of developing depression and bipolar disorder. Despite the link, researchers stress that the study doesn’t conclusively prove that cannabis use causes these mental health conditions, advising caution in use and consideration in legalization debates.A new study suggests that cannabis use disorder leads to an increased risk of developing bipolar disorder and depression.Cannabis is one of the world’s most…

The 40,000-year-old genetic inheritance bestowed on us by the Neanderthals has been highlighted by a new study.The new findings suggest that the risk of developing Dupuytren's disease, sometimes called "Viking disease," increases when a person has inherited DNA from Neanderthal ancestors.Researchers analyzed more than 7,000 people with Dupuytren's disease – a common condition particularly in northern Europe where people's fingers are permanently bent – to examine genetic risk factors.Also called Dupuytren's contracture,…

When Ella time traveled in my office for the first time, I did not realize what was happening right away. She was sitting comfortably in a chair, her hands folded, her back straight and her feet flat on the floor. There was no dramatic change, no shuddering or twitching. But then I saw it: a slight shift in how she held her body. Her face softened almost imperceptibly. I heard it, too: her voice sounded different, pitched just a teeny bit higher than usual, with a new singsong quality. At first I found it curious. As it…

Danny Bonaduce revealed that he’s set to undergo brain surgery after being recently diagnosed with a neurological disorder. During an interview with TMZ, posted online Friday, The Partridge Family star said he was diagnosed in March with hydrocephalus – a build-up of fluid in the cavities deep within the brain – after seeing hundreds of doctors regarding a mystery illness. “My life was talking to doctors,” he recalled. “I had meetings with five doctors on one single Tuesday, and nobody could…