A nicotine test is a way for some employers, insurance companies, and other institutions to test for nicotine, which is the active ingredient in tobacco products.

If you’ve ever applied for a new job, you may have had to take a drug test. Many federal, state, and private employers require this testing to ensure employees can be trusted to protect important information or even the health and safety of others.

Condoms make oral, vaginal, and anal sex safer. Condoms are a reliable form of contraceptive that helps prevent infections and pregnancies. But sometimes a condom may break, exposing you to the risk of getting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), or the chance of becoming pregnant.

Keeping your weight in check sometimes can be a lifelong challenge. Following a healthy diet and staying physically active can help. So can prescription drugs.

Calcium channel blockers are prescription medications that relax blood vessels and increase the supply of blood and oxygen to your heart while also reducing your heart’s workload.

Asthma medication plays a key role in how well you control your condition. There are two main types of treatment, each geared toward a specific goal.

Having treatment‐resistant depression – depression that doesn't get better, even with multiple interventions – can be challenging. Around 30% of people with depression have this type and are still searching for treatment that works for them.

When you or your child has atopic dermatitis, your doctor might prescribe a topical medication (the kind you apply to your skin). Topical steroids are widely used. But sometimes these don’t work well enough. Or maybe you’re discouraged by the side effects.

GLP-1 agonists are popular medications used to manage serious weight loss. They've been around for years and were originally prescribed to treat type 2 diabetes. Doctors realized that the medicines also reduce your appetite, so GLP-1 drugs like semaglutide and tirzepatide are now often used to treat obesity. Because these meds are everywhere, there are many myths about what they can and can't do.

Overactive bladder (OAB) treatment has many approaches, from medication to behavioral changes (or a combination of both). Visiting your doctor for a thorough evaluation and following their instructions carefully can help you get the OAB treatment you need to get back into your old routine.

About half of kids get at least one ear infection, also known as acute otitis media, before their second birthday. Here’s why this condition is so common, and what you can do to help keep your child healthy.

Mnemonic devices — a set of letters or associations that help you remember things — are certainly helpful. But did you know that sometimes, they could also save your life?

Monk fruit sweetener is a calorie-free sugar alternative. It’s made from monk fruit,also called lo han guo, whichis native to southern China. People have used this fruit for centuries in traditional medicine for constipation, sore throat, and coughing.

Monk fruit is about the size of a lime and looks similar to a kiwi. This fruit is naturally very sweet. Sweeteners made from monk fruit are usually 100-250 times sweeter than sugar, so only a small amount is needed when used as a sugar alternative.

Nettle leaf — also called stinging nettle or Urtica dioica — is a tall weed that grows all over the world. The name comes from the sting you get when you brush against the plant’s hairy stem and leaves. People have used it as an herbal remedy for thousands of years. It’s native to Europe, North Africa, and Asia.

Morning wood is a slang term for nocturnal penile tumescence, which means waking up with an erection. It can happen in the middle of the night or the early morning hours while you’re sleeping. If you have morning wood, you may wake up with an erection often. It’s completely normal.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a type of pulmonary hypertension. It means that you have high blood pressure in the arteries that go from your heart to your lungs. But it’s different from having regular high blood pressure.

With PAH, the tiny arteries in your lungs become narrow or blocked. It’s harder for blood to flow through them, and that raises the blood pressure in your lungs. Your heart has to work harder to pump blood through those arteries.

PAH is a progressive condition that gets worse as time goes on. After a while, the heart muscle gets weak. Eventually, it can lead to heart failure.

If you have bipolar disorder , the highs and lows of your mood may feel more intense and last longer. Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition that involves periods of intense emotion called episodes. These episodes can last for days or weeks and interfere with your normal life. During a manic episode, you might feel extremely agitated, excited, happy, or energized. You may feel like you need much less sleep. During a depressive episode, you could feel deeply sad, hopeless, or irritable, and may not be able to experience pleasure.

There are many methods people use to remove ticks, from burning the tick with a hot match to smothering it in petroleum jelly or painting it with nail polish. But those methods aren’t very effective.

To safely remove a tick, all you need is a pair of pointy, fine-tip tweezers and a good eye.

About 2 in 3 women with breast cancer have tumors that have hormone receptors. This means a tumor has receptors for the hormone estrogen (called ER-positive) or the hormone progesterone (PR-positive) or both. Hormone therapy blocks these hormones and fights the cancer’s growth.

When your breast cancer is hormone receptor-positive, hormone therapy is an option. But it doesn’t help when the tumors don’t have hormone receptors.

Male birth control is a way to prevent unplanned pregnancy. When you think about birth control, you may think of the birth control pill for women. That’s because the responsibility of birth control is often placed on women instead of men. Although researchers are working on a birth control pill for men, it’s not a reality yet. Still, there are options.

To determine the cause of your wheezing, your doctor will ask questions about your symptoms and what triggers them. For example, if you have no history of lung disease and you always wheeze after eating a certain food or at a certain time of year, the doctor may suspect that you have a food or respiratory allergy.

Sickle cell disease changes the shape of the oxygen-carrying molecules (called hemoglobin) found inside red blood cells. Red blood cells are usually round and flexible. This allows them to glide smoothly through your bloodstream. But when you have sickle cell disease, the abnormal hemoglobin creates stiff, sickle-shaped red blood cells.

Urticaria pigmentosa — also known as maculopapular cutaneous mastocytosis (MPCM) — is an itchy rash that shows up most often in children and young adults. The rash may look reddish-brown, gray, purplish, or tan, depending on your skin tone. It may turn into hives or blisters when you rub or scratch it. This reaction is called Darier’s sign.

Prostate cancer happens when a tumor grows in the prostate gland, which makes the liquid portion of semen. Cancer that spreads outside the prostate gland to the lymph nodes, bones, or other areas is called metastatic prostate cancer. Currently, no treatments can cure advanced prostate cancer. But there are ways to help control its spread and related symptoms.

Usually, your uterus tips forward at the cervix (a cylinder-shaped neck of tissue that connects the vagina and uterus). A tilted or tipped uterus tips backward instead of forward. It’s a fairly common difference in how a uterus is positioned.

The key treatments for asthma are steroids and other anti-inflammatory drugs. These asthma drugs both help to control asthma and prevent asthma attacks.

Steroids and other anti-inflammatory drugs work by reducing inflammation, swelling, and mucus in the airways of a person with asthma. As a result, the airways are less inflamed and less likely to react to asthma triggers, allowing people with symptoms of asthma to have better control over their condition.

If you or a loved one has asthma, you should know about the best treatments for short-term relief and long-term control. This will help you and your doctor manage the symptoms. If you have symptoms or an asthma attack, it’s important to know when to call your doctor to prevent an emergency.

Orexins are chemicals in your brain that help your body stay awake. Orexins also make sure that rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep — sleep with intense dreams that happens about an hour after you fall asleep — doesn’t happen at the wrong times.

You might also hear orexins called hypocretins, but they’re the same thing.

If you’re thinking about using emergency contraception, you may wonder: What will I feel like afterward?

The pill forms are safe. That’s why you can buy some of them without a prescription. They have the same hormones that are in birth control pills, which people have been using for decades. The copper-T IUD (intrauterine device) is also a very effective, safe way to prevent a pregnancy after sex.

You have a lot of choices for birth control, from condoms to caps to pills. Find one that you’re confident with — and that you can commit to using every time you have sex.