Do we need a new word for "disease?"?
A “disease” can refer to Ebola, or cancer. A cold can even be considered a “disease,” as can poison ivy. I think there should be different terms for something you can catch from someone else, like a cold, and something that is specific to your own body, like cancer, or diabetes.
For the last two weeks my daughter has been suffering from severe headaches. She can’t stand light or sounds. She’s been off work, per doctor’s orders, this whole time. We’ve been kind of worried that she was dying!
Anyway, the headaches and pain is what I imagine a migraine would be like, but neither I, nor my kids, ever have headaches.
So, several Dr’s visits and and an MRI and $1,500 later, they called today with the results. The nurse said she has a sinus disease that is causing her sinuses to swell (she just can’t feel it,) and antibiotics will take care of the swelling.
This has left me very confused.
To me, antibiotics=bacteria, and infection, which can be eliminated.
Disease=possibly permanent.
So what is your take on this, and do we need a new word?
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No, we do not. “Disease” works just fine. If one needs more specific detail than that then such detail is easily added.
Would be nice but I will leave it up to you to convince the medical world we need a new word, good luck.
So, would you call a cut on your hand a “disease?”
My question is, why did the nurse use the word “disease,” rather than “infection?”
If they are saying that she has a disease, I would ask what is the name of the disease. If there is no name, I would take the nurse’s words with a grain of salt and speak to the doctor for clarity. I would also ask for the diagnosis. That may make things clearer.
It’s a bad word, I agree. I prefer precision, and “disease” is not precise.
“Disease: A disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, especially one that produces specific symptoms or that affects a specific location and is not simply a direct result of physical injury.”
A sinus infection would be a disease, a cut to your hand would not.
We already have one. Two to be exact. “Death sentence.”
There are already other terms and important modifiers. And to say that a ‘disease’ is possibly permanent, I’m not sure where you got that. Disease can indeed refer to both cancer and ebola, both of which can be cured. Poison Ivy is also not typically referred to as a disease. It can be, but that’s unusual. Are you thinking ‘disorder’? That’s a little more general but tends to more often refer to things that are permanent, though again only tends so (and as @El_Cadejo mentioned, disease is a subset of disorder, though disorder is used more for those things that don’t fit under ‘disease’). They’re both large blanket terms, and as mentioned if you are confused you could ask for a more specific diagnosis.
Also, long-term and/or incurable disorders and diseases are typically referred to as ‘chronic’. Most things that are not long-term aren’t given that label and thus assumed not to be. Again, always exceptions, but an infection that is long-term would usually specifically be termed a chronic disease.
Also also, as per the question, things caught from other people are typically ‘infections’, as there are almost always infection agents such as viruses or bacteria. Again, disease is a blanket term. You can say people should be more specific, but blanket terms absolutely have their purpose.
For me, disease means a long term health issue that may never be completely resolved. For a sinus infection like your daughter’s, I would use the word illness.
My question of the word disease in this case, has something affected your daughter’s sinuses such that they will always be susceptible to infections? Has something caused her sinuses to swell so that they are infection prone? Or did the infection cause the swelling?
Well, as I said, the confusion is coming in because the nurse told my daughter that she had a nasal “disease,” and antibiotics would take care of it. The question is, is it a “disease” or an infection? And can an infection be considered a disease?
We have:
diseases; disorders; morbidities; illness, syndromes, pre-diseases; chronical diseases; infections; infectious diseases; contagious diseases; food borne illnesses; food poisonings, intoxications; cancers; communicable diseases; non-communicable diseases; airborne diseases; lifestyle diseases; terminal diseases; mental disordders.
To name just a few…
If you define “disease” in terms of the “permanence” of the affliction, then you have misunderstood the term. We don’t need a new word; we just need for people to use it correctly.
And as @BhacSsylan said, the modifiers are also important. One rarely uses the word “disease” alone, even in casual conversation.
Well, this nurse did @dappled_leaves. Maybe she was trying to sound important.
You can start a museum with your collection, then. :-)
A “Disease Museum.” Bleh!
@Dutchess_III I’m seeing lots of modifiers in what the nurse told you. She did not simply say, “She has a disease”.
Infections are diseases, yes. Diseases are, well, dis-eases. Things that remove your ease. It’s been specified to not be physical injuries generally, but it still covers most things that affect the functioning of your body. It’s perfectly cogent to say she has a disease that can be cured by antibiotics.
I think the real issue here is that the nurse used overly general language for you, not that the language itself is an issue. Which is fine, if you want to know she should give you the details. But then you should ask for clarification from her.
She said, “You have a nasal disease and antibiotics will help the swelling.”
As I said, this leaves me wondering if it’s a disease, or, more precisely, a bacterial infection.
Unless it was incorrectly prescribed, then yes, it’s a bacteria sinus infection.
I told my daughter to call them back for clarification @BhacSsylan. I’ll let you guys know.
Well disease covers a pretty good chunk of things. A sexually transmitted good time doesn’t have the same connotation.
It’s not hard to understand. I’m just wondering why the nurse wasn’t more precise. “Disease” is so vague. “Infection” isn’t. And she didn’t give the name of the disease. Diseases have to have a name.
But it has to be more than anything that simply causes dis-ease. I mean, I have an entrapped ulnar nerve that causes me constant dis-ease, and has for almost a year, but it isn’t a “disease” per se.
@Dutchess_III Of course, “disease” is vague. It is a general term. It sounds like you have read the many responses here explaining this to you, but you refuse to budge your own, quite personal definition – which is incorrect.
I think part of the problem may be that you have heard of many specific diseases which happen to have the word disease in their names, like “Lou Gehrig’s disease” or “Alzheimer’s disease”, so you think that the word disease must refer to a specific ailment. This is not true. Again, the word disease is a general term, a catchall. It is purposefully vague. That’s the point of having such a word – that it can be used in a sentence without having to be specific.
You might as well ask if we need a different term for the words ailment, condition, disorder, illness… etc., etc., etc. These words do not mean the same thing, but they are all alike in that they are general. If you want to refer to one that is specific, you need to start adding modifiers, as your nurse did. Saying “a disorder” is not as specific as saying “a chromosomal disorder”. And the fact that there is such a thing as “borderline personality disorder” does not imply that if we use the word “disorder” as a general term, we need a new word for it.
I always thought disease involved microbes, but addiction was put into that category not long ago.
How about a “congressman”?
As in:
“I made a mistake of drinking the water when I went to Cuidad Acuna and now I have a wicked case of congressman! I haven’t been able to get more than three feet from the toilet all day and my ass is burning!”
@rojo let’s just go with politician, that would say so much more and cover it world wide.
You have a bad case of politician type1(not terminal) or type 2 you only have 6months to go or at least till the next election.
Disease, illness, syndrome, are all like umbrella terms I guess. You can get more specific if you want clarification. Even illness that are described with the suffix itis is vague. Laryngitis, bronchitis, conjunctivitis. Basically, itis is just saying the area is inflamed, but it doesn’t say why. Does it need an antibiotic? Just time? Further testing?
Medical terms are thrown around in vague ways all the time.
Some things are classified as disease for medical insurance reasons like alcohol, someone mentioned that above, and obesity is another.
@JLeslie: I used to have Guillain Barre Syndrome, which is called a syndrome and not a disease because it does not come from a specific source. I guess that’s technically the difference between syndrome and disease.
@jca I think of syndrome and disease as two different things. I didn’t mean they were synonymous just both broad terms. I wasn’t clear in my answer, I understand why you thought I was saying they mean the same thing.
Regardless of who calls it what, I think you’re missing the main point.
You need to find out from the MD in charge whether this sinus infection is a one-time isolated incident or is there something which would make it likely to recur.
The MRI or X-Rays should show whether or not her sinus passages are normal or too narrow or small. If it’s the latter, then this will likely recur because of poor drainage which makes it a seedbed of infection.
I had repeat sinus and bronchial infection approx every month to six weeks for years and years until my Dr. sent me to a Pulmonoligist who eventually got to the root of the matter.
He showed me by tracing on the X-Ray how narrow my upper sinus passages were with the succinct comment “you don’t drain very well”; hence the repeated infections.
Once my medications were changed to include a Decongestant (Sudafed) that basically ended the revolving door of repeated infections. So do I have Sinus disease because of narrow passages? I don’t know and don’t care what its called. The bottom line is what that does and what can be done to correct it.
Your daughter needs to find out from her Dr. exactly what’s going on. Who knows why the nurse chose the word disease? Who cares?
It’s what the Dr. says which is important here. What precisely did all the tests show. What’s the bottom line?
Maybe we should start at the top with a new word for “doctor”. Or go to the top and re-name “medicine”.
They’re all useless without qualifiers.
A doctor told me once that nurses are glorified waitresses. Of course, I have more respect for them then that. You seem to have put a lot of weight into this nurse’s words. I suggested from the beginning that you should speak to the doctor for clarification and get a diagnosis. You could wonder until the cows come home what the nurse meant by her choice of wording, and it doesn’t really matter.
It’s not my place to talk to the doctor. I told you I would pass other information on as I get it.
And I’m not worrying. I’m just glad it didn’t turn out to be a brain tumor.
Perspective on that seemingly arrogant doctor, @jca. He would have been largely accurate to say, “If I was a chef, the nurses would be waitresses.” In that there is a vast difference in being trained in the culinary arts and pleasing a customer by knowing the taste and major ingredients in a dish.
Trying to head off derailment.
Those of us in the medical community should know how to use the term properly, but also have sensitivity for how it may be interpreted by others. If I were in that nurse’s position, I would’ve used a more precise term, such as “sinus inflammation”, or “sinus infection” (of course whatever is the most appropriate applicable term – I’m not familiar enough with the case to define it).
To use the word “disease” is so vague as to tell you nothing at all. As others have pointed out above, the term is so broad that it can be used to describe a huge range of issues. It is equivalent to saying “poor health”. If the nurse had said to you “poor sinus health”, maybe it would’ve been clearer that she really wasn’t telling you anything more than that the issues are stemming from the sinuses.
Are you really interested in getting answers to the question that you asked? Or is the question just a vehicle to share some personal news?
I’m glad to hear it’s not a brain tumor. Hooray! But not so glad to read lots of good answers seemingly dismissed though. Boo.
I think the nurse should have been more vague actually if she is an idiot and doesn’t really know technically what is going on with her sinuses. There are good nurses and bad nurses like any profession. The nurses with 4 year degrees take quite a bit of science. But, hey, you know me, I am critical of a lot of doctors who have 8+ years of education.
Back to this particular nurse, I think she should have said it’s a sinus problem and antibiotics should clear it up. Or, substitute infection for problem would be better, but I think the main thing is disease makes it sound worse than it might be.
I’m not dismissing any answers! What is wrong with you guys? Where have I dismissed any answers?
@JLeslie so that’s what we’re trying to find out…if it’s a simple “problem,” that can be fixed and we’re done, or if it’s chronic and will be re-occurring.
If it’s chronic, but caused because of the way her sinuses are formed, which would be just the way she was born, is that a “disease?”
My feeling is your daughter is an adult and any sudden “problems” don’t have to do with her sinus structure, or she would have been sick the last ten years. At the same time, sometimes people develop sinus trouble that becomes chronic. Personally, I think that is science not knowing what they are really fighting when it comes to some of these infections. If she is being given an antibiotic for 5–10 days that means the doctor hopes that will cure it. Time will tell.
Well, she also had a pretty severe head injury about 6 years ago, so we were worried about that, too. It’s been a pretty awful 2 weeks! She just got engaged and she was worried about how this was going to affect her relationship if it turned out to be chronic and incurable. So the news she got yesterday was actually relieving, in a way.
The only other thing she said the nurse told her is that her sinuses are really stuffed up. she just can’t feel it.
I’ll call her after work, see if she learned anything new.
I feel very optimistic the antibiotics will help. Has she been coughing?
Did they give her a zpack? Augmentin? Levoquin? What did the doctor pick to kill it off?
Uh, don’t know specifically, but she did finally go back to work, even though she really wasn’t ready. She had to. The place falls apart without her.
Doctor said it was the beginning of sinusitis. Don’t know why some people get it and some don’t. She said Jen’s case was unusual because it usually manifests as a sinus infection. Her’s on the other hand, just swelled up badly and the infection never really manifested itself.
I asked Jen what causes it. She said she didn’t ask. (I always ask that question!)
As far as the antibiotics, she says she can feel that the swelling has gone down, but the headaches today were as bad as ever. But that could have just been from walking into a Godawful mess.
I think the end of day three of the antibiotics will tell us a lot if they are working. When did she start the meds? Monday/yesterday?
I’m checking back with you Thursday morning.
I left a message for my daughter this morning, asking how she was. She just texted me that she was much better! :).
So yay. That was a pretty hairy two weeks. And now, with Kale coming down with the flu, or whatever it is. I’m sure Savannah will be following.
Kale… like the vegetable? Oy.
I know. And Savannah…also leafy and grassy!
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