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Ambien

Short action is the design: it starts working quickly and clears before morning, which is also why it does little for staying asleep.

amitriptyline

Better known today for nerve pain, migraine and sleep than for depression, this older antidepressant acts on a wide range of receptors.

anesthesia

General anesthesia is not deep sleep, since a sleeping person can be roused by noise or touch and an anesthetized one cannot.

anesthesiologist

Much of the work is not putting a person to sleep but keeping breathing, circulation and body chemistry steady while the surgery proceeds.

anthracycline

A family of red-colored chemotherapy drugs, among the most effective available and among the hardest on the heart.

antidepressant

Blood levels rise within a day yet mood shifts take weeks, a gap suggesting slower brain adaptation rather than a simple chemical top-up.

anxiolytic

An anxiolytic is a medication used to relieve anxiety symptoms, most familiarly a benzodiazepine that enhances a calming brain chemical's effect.

apnea

/ AP-nee-uh /

A temporary cessation of breathing.

aromatherapy

Aromatherapy applies concentrated plant oils, typically through inhalation or the skin, to promote relaxation and general well being rather than to cure disease.

asthma

Two problems run together here: inflammation that smolders between attacks and muscle spasm that closes the airway during one.

bacteria

Vastly more of them live on a person harmlessly than will ever cause illness, which is why killing them indiscriminately has costs.

basal cell

A basal cell is one of the small, round cells forming the deepest layer of the epidermis, where new skin cells are continuously produced.

basal cell cancer

Basal cell cancer is the most common skin cancer, growing slowly on sun exposed skin and rarely spreading to distant parts of the body.

basal cell carcinoma

Common, local and slow: this skin cancer damages the tissue around it far more often than it travels anywhere else.

blood sugar

Blood sugar level shifts throughout the day depending on food intake, physical activity, and hormones that raise or lower it.

BMS-247550

A drug used to treat metastatic or locally advanced breast cancer that has not improved after treatment with certain other anticancer drugs.

Bowen disease

Bowen disease is an early, noninvasive skin cancer confined to the epidermis, most often linked to sun exposure rather than a single cause.

bronchial

Bronchial describes anything relating to the bronchi, the large airways connecting the windpipe to the lungs, as in bronchial asthma or bronchial breath sounds.

bupivacaine

Bupivacaine is a long acting local anesthetic widely used for regional nerve blocks, epidurals, and pain control after surgery.

bupropion

Chosen as often for what it does not do, since weight gain and sexual side effects are less common than with serotonin antidepressants.