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Health: start with what it is about
Ten lists on this site sort 337 different pages for health and care by what they are about. Start with the part of you, or the worry, that brought you here. Each box below is one list: its name, how many pages it holds, and its own groups. Pick a group and the list opens at that group.
If someone is in danger right now, call 911. If you are thinking about ending your life, or worried that someone is, call or text 988 (in the U.S.).
Our First aid page has the emergency cards, and Get help now is one page for the worst night. This page is a way in, not a doctor: it cannot tell one problem from another or how serious something is.
Type a word or two, like sleep, pain, baby or cough. Nothing you type here is kept or sent.
The ten lists
Mind and mood
What do you feel, or what were you told?
- Thinking about suicide, or worried someone is
- Hurting yourself, or after a suicide attempt
- Low, empty or heavy for weeks (depression)
- Moods that swing from very high to very low (bipolar)
- Worry that won’t switch off, and panic (anxiety)
- Thoughts you don’t want, rituals you can’t stop (OCD)
- Something frightening happened, and it keeps coming back (trauma, PTSD)
- Hearing or seeing things other people don’t (psychosis)
- Feelings that hit hard and fast, or anger that takes over
- When eating has become a fight
- Drinking, drugs or gambling, and an urge right now
- Sleep that won’t come
- When someone has died
- Feeling alone, or finding your people
- The way your brain works: attention, autism, learning, tics
- Memory, or a hit to the head
- Plan ahead, while you are well
- Before you call or go in
- Care or medicine you can’t afford
Heart, blood and hormones
What were you told, or what do you notice?
- Chest pain, a face that droops, or someone who collapsed (heart attack, stroke)
- High blood pressure (hypertension)
- A heart that flutters, races or skips (atrial fibrillation)
- Short of breath, swelling, or heart failure
- High cholesterol
- Blood sugar that goes too low or too high (diabetes)
- Blood sugar higher than normal (prediabetes), the A1C test, diabetes in pregnancy, and diabetes caused by one gene
- Eating better, moving more, and changing a habit
- Tired and cold, or racing and shaky: the thyroid
- Too little or too much cortisol, or coming off steroid pills: the adrenal glands
- High prolactin, or hands, feet and face slowly growing larger: the pituitary gland
- High calcium, weak bones or kidney stones: the parathyroid glands, and MEN1
- A low blood count, low iron, sickle cell, a bone marrow that makes too few blood cells, or porphyria
- Hot flashes, night sweats, and the years around menopause
- Where diabetes and high blood pressure can reach: the kidneys, the eyes, the nerves, the mouth, the heart, sex and the bladder, and the feet
- Medicine or a doctor you can’t afford
- Before you call or go in
A cough, a fever, or trouble breathing
What is going on?
An upset stomach, heartburn or constipation
What is going on?
- Something swallowed, a poisoning, or a reaction to a food, right now
- Belly pain that could be appendicitis
- Throwing up, diarrhea, heartburn, constipation, gallstones or an ulcer
- Diarrhea in an adult or a child: what to drink and eat, the causes, the tests, and the signs of dehydration
- Indigestion: pain, burning or fullness in the upper belly, bloating, nausea or belching
- Gas, bloating and burping: what is normal, the causes, and what helps
- Gastritis: when the stomach lining is inflamed or damaged, by H. pylori, pain relievers, alcohol or other causes
- Barrett’s esophagus: when years of heartburn change the lining of the esophagus
- Ulcers that keep coming back, or diarrhea with heartburn or ulcers: Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, when tumors make the stomach make too much acid
- Getting ready for an upper endoscopy (EGD), an ERCP, or an upper GI series: a camera, or barium and x-rays, look at the esophagus, stomach and duodenum, and ERCP also reaches the bile and pancreatic ducts
- Celiac disease: when gluten damages the small intestine
- IBS: belly pain and bowel changes that keep coming back
- Lactose intolerance: gas, bloating or diarrhea after milk
- Diverticulitis: pouches in the colon, and pain low on the left
- Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis or microscopic colitis: weeks of diarrhea, blood or cramps, or living with it
- Short bowel syndrome: after surgery removes part of the small intestine, or when it cannot absorb enough
- An ileostomy, a colostomy or another bowel ostomy: the stoma, the pouch and the skin, and when to get help
- Belly pain after surgery, even years later, or a blocked, twisted or narrowed intestine: abdominal adhesions (scar tissue inside the belly), and anatomic problems of the lower GI tract (intussusception, volvulus, fistulas, rectal prolapse, and birth defects of the colon, rectum and anus)
- A bulge in the groin or scrotum: an inguinal hernia, and when a stuck hernia cannot wait
- Dumping syndrome: diarrhea, a racing heart, sweating or shakiness after meals, often after stomach or weight-loss surgery
- Blood in the stool or the toilet, black stool, blood in vomit, hemorrhoids, or proctitis
- Colon polyps, screening for colon cancer at 45, and getting ready for a colonoscopy, a flexible sigmoidoscopy, a virtual colonoscopy or a lower GI series (barium enema)
- The liver: fatty liver, high liver enzymes, cirrhosis, swelling, yellow skin, too much iron or copper, getting ready for a liver biopsy, a liver transplant, or Alagille syndrome
- The pancreas: pancreatitis, severe pain in the upper belly that spreads to the back, or greasy stools and enzyme pills (EPI)
- A stomach or intestines that move too slowly: gastroparesis, feeling full after a few bites, or intestinal pseudo-obstruction (belly pain, bloating and vomiting with nothing blocking the intestines)
- Vomiting that comes in bouts, with weeks or months of feeling fine in between: cyclic vomiting syndrome
- Leaking stool, or not making it to the toilet in time: bowel control
- A baby or child who is throwing up, has diarrhea (for a few days or for weeks), or is constipated, has reflux (spitting up in a baby; heartburn in a child or teen), Hirschsprung disease, biliary atresia (a baby still yellow after 3 weeks), or fatty liver
- I want to understand how digestion works: the parts, how food moves, and the words in my report
- Nausea in pregnancy, hepatitis, a fight with food, or a sick day with diabetes
- Before you call or go in
Kidneys, bladder and urine
What is going on?
- Burning when you pee, a bladder or kidney infection, or a kidney stone
- A kidney stone in a child or teen
- Pink, red or brown urine, or blood found on a urine test
- Bladder pain that keeps coming back, or needing to go all the time
- Leaking urine, or a sudden need to go, and the exercises for it: bladder leaks and Kegel exercises
- A bulge in the vagina, or a bladder that has dropped (cystocele)
- Cannot pee at all, or a bladder that never feels empty: urinary retention
- A catheter, a nephrostomy tube, a stent, a urostomy or a new bladder: urinary diversion
- A weak stream, trouble starting, getting up at night, or pelvic pain: the prostate, prostatitis, and prostate tests
- Trouble getting or keeping an erection, a penis that curves, or an injury between the legs: erectile dysfunction (ED), Peyronie’s disease, and perineal injury
- Getting ready for a bladder or kidney test: a cystoscopy or ureteroscopy, urodynamic testing, a kidney biopsy, or imaging (an x-ray, ultrasound, MRI, CT or nuclear scan)
- Kidney disease, dialysis, kidneys no one has checked, swelling and protein in the urine (nephrotic syndrome), only one kidney, IgA nephropathy, glomerular disease, polycystic kidney disease (PKD), choosing a treatment for kidney failure, or lupus nephritis
- Hemodialysis: a treatment at a dialysis center or at home, the access in your arm, cramps or low blood pressure, food and liquids, and stopping
- Peritoneal dialysis: dialysis at home through your belly, by hand or with a machine at night, the catheter, and signs of infection
- Kidney transplant: a new kidney from a donor, the tests and the waiting list, the surgery, and rejection
- Paying for kidney failure treatment: Medicare at any age, when it starts and ends, Medicaid, Social Security, and help with medicines
- Kidney disease and your bones: high phosphorus or PTH, bone or joint pain, or a child with kidney disease who is not growing: mineral and bone disorder (CKD-MBD)
- Kidney disease and anemia: low hemoglobin or iron, tired, weak or short of breath, or iron and ESA shots on dialysis: anemia in chronic kidney disease
- A cyst found on a kidney scan, often by chance: what it means, the rare problems, watching it, draining it, and how it differs from PKD: simple kidney cysts
- Peeing large amounts, day and night, and always thirsty while your blood sugar is normal: diabetes insipidus
- Blood that is too acidic, or potassium too low or too high, because the kidneys do not remove acid: renal tubular acidosis (RTA)
- Protein in the urine, swelling, or a rare protein building up in the kidneys, or joint pain after years on dialysis: amyloidosis
- A rash like purple bruises or red dots on the legs, with belly or joint pain, or blood in the urine, most often in a young child: IgA vasculitis (HSP)
- A child with bloody diarrhea, then pale, very tired, bruising, swelling or peeing less: hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS)
- Coughing up blood with pink or cola-colored urine or swelling: anti-GBM (Goodpasture’s) disease
- Kidney stones or urinary tract infections again and again: medullary sponge kidney
- A kidney out of its usual place: an ectopic kidney
- A baby’s kidney filled with cysts: multicystic dysplastic kidney
- What to eat and drink with kidney disease
- Feeding a child with kidney disease
- Helping a child live with kidney disease
- Growth failure in children with kidney disease
- Diabetes and my kidneys: diabetic kidney disease
- High blood pressure and my kidneys
- My medicines and my kidneys
- Care without dialysis
- A narrowed kidney artery
- Urine flowing back up toward a child’s kidneys (vesicoureteral reflux)
- I want to understand how my kidneys work: where they are, what they do, the nephrons, and the words in my report
- A child with a bladder infection, a child who wets the bed, a child with kidney disease, or a baby with a swollen kidney (hydronephrosis)
- An infection that is not getting better, bladder leaks, high blood pressure or diabetes
- Before you call or go in
Pain, bones and joints
Where does it hurt, or what happened?
- A back that hurts
- A stiff, sore lower back that is worse after rest (ankylosing spondylitis)
- Back or neck pain, with legs, arms or hands that burn, tingle, go numb or feel weak (spinal stenosis)
- A child’s back that curves to the side (scoliosis)
- Joints that hurt, or arthritis and gout
- Joints that hurt, with psoriasis, a swollen finger or toe, or pitted nails (psoriatic arthritis)
- Joints that hurt and swell a few weeks after an infection (reactive arthritis)
- Long arms, legs and fingers, loose joints, and a heart to keep watch on (Marfan syndrome)
- Bones that break easily, from a small bump or for no clear reason (osteogenesis imperfecta)
- Bone replaced by scar-like tissue, with bone pain, bowed bones or breaks (fibrous dysplasia)
- Bones that grow too dense and break easily, with low blood counts or infections (osteopetrosis)
- A hand that goes numb, tingles or feels weak, often at night (carpal tunnel syndrome)
- A child or teen still hurting after a fall, a hit or a lot of one sport (growth plate injuries)
- A child’s joints that hurt, swell or are stiff (juvenile arthritis)
- Shoulders and hips that ache and stiffen after 50, or a new headache at the temples (polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis)
- Weak bones (osteoporosis)
- Weak bones in a child or teen (juvenile osteoporosis)
- Bones that grow larger and weaker (Paget’s disease of bone)
- Bone that loses its blood supply (osteonecrosis)
- A hip that hurts and limits what you can do, or a hip replacement ahead (hip replacement surgery)
- Pain that has lasted for months
- Pain all over, with fatigue and trouble sleeping (fibromyalgia)
- Joint pain with fevers, rashes or tiredness that come and go (lupus)
- Dry eyes and a dry mouth, with joint pain or tiredness (Sjögren’s disease)
- Headaches and migraine, or a hit to the head
- A bone that might be broken, a sprain, or a joint out of place
- Pain in the chest, or in the arm, jaw or back
- Pain that comes with something else: sickle cell, shingles, a fall, or a job
- Before you call or go in
Eyes and sight
What is happening with your eyes?
- An eye that is hurt, or something got in it
- A pink, red or sticky eye in a child (pink eye)
- Losing side vision, high eye pressure, or glaucoma in the family (glaucoma)
- Vision getting cloudy, faded or full of glare (cataracts)
- Diabetes and your eyes (diabetic retinopathy)
- Straight lines that look wavy, or a blurry spot in the middle (age-related macular degeneration)
- Straight lines that look bent, or a blurry spot in the middle, from a hole or wrinkle in the macula (macular hole, macular pucker)
- Suddenly a lot of new floaters, flashes of light, or a curtain over your vision (retinal detachment)
- Spots, threads or little cobwebs drifting across your vision (floaters)
- Eyes that burn, sting or feel scratchy (dry eye)
- Eyelids that are red, itchy, swollen or crusty (blepharitis)
- An eyelid that keeps twitching, or eyes that squeeze shut on their own (blepharospasm)
- An eye that is suddenly red, painful, blurry or bothered by light (uveitis)
- Blurry far away or up close, squinting, or needing glasses (refractive errors)
- A child who squints, shuts one eye, or has an eye that drifts (lazy eye)
- Blurry or double vision up close, or words that move when reading (convergence insufficiency)
- A baby born early: the eye exams (retinopathy of prematurity)
- A pupil that looks white in a photo, or another sign in a young child’s eye (retinoblastoma)
- Mixing up colors, like red and green (color blindness)
- Trouble seeing at night or in the dark, and side vision slowly closing in (retinitis pigmentosa)
- Hearing loss and fading sight together (Usher syndrome)
- Central vision fading in a child or young adult, with dark or hazy spots in the middle (Stargardt disease)
- Sight that is fading, and living with low vision
- Glasses or an eye exam you can’t afford
- Eyes that come with something else: dryness, a rash, a red face, sore joints, a headache at the temples, a thyroid
- Before you call or go in
A rash, an itch, or something going around at home
What is going on?
- Something is happening right now
- A rash, blisters, an itch or head lice
- Other sick days, each with a part on keeping it from spreading
- Painful lumps or boils that keep coming back
- Patches of skin that lose their color
- Pimples, blackheads, or deep, painful lumps (acne)
- Blisters or sores in the mouth or on the skin that will not go away (pemphigus)
- Skin that blisters or tears at the slightest rub, often from birth (epidermolysis bullosa)
- Skin that is dry, thick and scaly all over, often from birth or the first year (ichthyosis)
- Thick nails and painful calluses on the soles, often from birth (pachyonychia congenita)
- A red face, flushing, or bumps on the cheeks and nose
- Hair falling out in round patches
- Fingers or toes that turn white, then blue, in the cold
- Skin getting tight, hard or thick
- Before you call or go in
Medical tests
What is the test for?
- A test of the colon (the large intestine)
- A test of the esophagus, the stomach or the bile ducts
- A test of the bladder, the kidneys or the prostate
- A biopsy of the liver or a kidney
- A blood test: blood sugar, the thyroid, cholesterol or lead
- A home pregnancy test, or a sleep study
- Before you go: your questions, your symptoms and your medicines
- A test or a bill you can’t afford
Looking after a baby or child
What is going on?
- Something is happening right now
- Fever, coughs, sore throats, pink eye, hand-foot-and-mouth, tummy, ears, UTIs, wet beds, head lice, eczema, chickenpox, scabies, flu, RSV, COVID-19, whooping cough and measles
- Bitten, stung, or a rash from a plant
- A health problem that lasts: a child’s joints (juvenile arthritis)
- A health problem that lasts: a child’s back that curves (scoliosis)
- A health problem that lasts: a child’s weak bones (juvenile osteoporosis)
- A health problem that lasts: a child’s kidneys (kidney disease)
- A health problem that lasts: a child’s acid reflux (heartburn, GERD)
- A health problem that lasts: a child’s bowels (Hirschsprung disease)
- A health problem that lasts: a child’s liver (fatty liver disease, NAFLD or NASH)
- Eating well, moving more and screen time
- The first year with a baby
- At school
- Child care, custody and keeping a child safe
- Before you call or go in
No group matches those words. Try one word, press Show all, or search the whole site.
Other ways in
- Search this site: type what is going on, in your own words.
- Start here: a few questions that lead to the right page, for more than health.
- The phone list: the helplines the guides lead with, on one page.
- Low-cost care: when you need care and cannot afford it.
- All the free tools.
Good to know
- A page can be on more than one list, so the 461 pages on the lists add up to more than 337.
- The names, counts and groups here are read from the lists themselves each time this page is built. This page adds no health facts of its own.
- The order of the lists is not an order of how serious anything is.
- Everything here was written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast. It is not medical advice, and no doctor has reviewed it. The pages are for the United States.
A way to find a page, not a doctor. General information for the United States. It is not medical, legal or financial advice.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The list names, counts and groups are read from the ten lists when this page is built. The page was checked by programs, not yet used by people. It runs no analytics or tracking (privacy). Also in Spanish: Salud: empieza por el tema.