Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest in things and activities you once enjoyed. It can also cause difficulty with thinking, memory, eating and sleeping. It’s normal to feel sad about or grieve over difficult life situations, such as losing your job or a divorce. But depression is different in that it persists practically …

A cleft lip and cleft palate are openings in a baby’s upper lip or roof of their mouth (palate). They’re congenital abnormalities (birth defects) that form while a fetus develops in the uterus. Cleft lips and cleft palates happen when tissues of the upper lip and roof of the mouth don’t join together properly during fetal development. Surgery can repair a …

Claudication is the name for muscle pain that happens when you’re active and stops when you rest. This usually happens in your legs. You may be walking along and have to stop. But the pain gets better when you stand still for two to five minutes. Vascular claudication is usually a symptom of serious blood flow problems, especially peripheral artery disease (PAD). …

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rare disease that causes fast deterioration of an affected person’s brain. As this condition worsens and damages your brain, it causes dementia-like symptoms. With CJD, faulty proteins, known as prions, build up in your brain cells, damaging and destroying those cells. The condition is very severe, and its effects develop and worsen quickly. It’s ultimately fatal, …

Cirrhosis of the liver is late stage liver disease, in which healthy liver tissue has been gradually replaced with scar tissue. This is a result of long-term, chronic hepatitis. Hepatitis is inflammation in your liver, which has many causes. When inflammation is ongoing, your liver attempts to repair itself by scarring. But too much scar tissue prevents your liver from working properly. The end …

Vulvodynia (pronounced vul-vo-DIN-ee-a) is chronic pain in your vulva, and or vagina or genitals, with no apparent cause. Vulvar and vaginal pain are common symptoms of various conditions, including infections and skin disorders. Vulvodynia is different. Vulvodynia is pain lasting three or more months that isn’t an obvious symptom of a specific condition. The pain can be so draining that it keeps …

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a brain condition that can develop due to repeated head impacts and concussions. This condition affects how areas of your brain function, communicate and work with each other. Depending on the extent of the damage and the affected brain areas, this condition can have severe effects. CTE is best known for affecting professional athletes in …

Chronic sinusitis is long-lasting swelling or infection in your sinuses. Unlike acute sinusitis, which typically goes away within 10 days, chronic sinusitis may last 12 weeks or more. Healthcare providers can help cure it, but you may need several different kinds of treatment to make it go away for good.

Chronic pelvic pain is pain in the area below the bellybutton and between the hips that lasts six months or longer. Chronic pelvic pain can have more than one cause. It may be a symptom of another disease, or it can be a condition in its own right. If chronic pelvic pain seems to be caused by another health condition, …

“Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease” (COPD) is a term for certain types of irreversible lung and airway damage that block (obstruct) your airways and make it hard to breathe. If you’re diagnosed with either emphysema or chronic bronchitis, you have COPD. Changes in your lungs and airways in COPD include: Loss of elasticity in your airways and air sacs in your lungs (alveoli). Inflammation, scarring (fibrosis) and narrowing …