Conditions and illnesses

Dr. Caroline Quach answers your questions

Body image is a struggle for any average teenager, but when concerns about appearance, dieting, exercise and weight loss become all-consuming, they can lead to the development of eating disorders.

All of us, from time to time, have experienced moments in which a little voice inside our head manages to put us down and make us feel less than perfect. For individuals who have eating disorders, that voice is repetitive and all consuming.

False. This is perhaps the most widespread misconception about eating disorders and may be one of the reasons many disordered eating conditions go undiagnosed, according to Dr. Holly Agostino, a specialist in Adolescent Medicine at the Montreal Children’s Hospital.

What can I do to ensure she stops visiting them and that she is not taking the content of these sites as fact?

True. Confusion can arise because the words “tumor” and “cancer” are often regarded as the same thing. A tumor is not necessarily cancer, however.

When we hear the word arthritis, many of us think of adult or elderly patients with joint pain and stiffness. But did you know that arthritis is a condition that affects about one in 1,000 children and teenagers in Canada—a total of 10,000 young people?

Kidneys aren't organs you think about very often, but they are vital to our survival, because they filter waste, extra fluid and salt from the body. When the kidneys stop working properly (known as kidney failure or kidney “injury”), the person may need acute (short-term) or chronic (long-term) dialysis and kidney transplantation.

The kidneys are powerful organs that play a vital role in keeping the human body healthy. What’s more, they perform not just one but three essential functions in our bodies.