Medical Terminology has forever been considered much too difficult and complex for the average person to understand. Well, no more! The author of Doctor Talk - Made Easy Home Version uses simple explanations and comic relief to lighten an otherwise very serious subject. Doctor Talk is a must-read!

Doctor Talk - Made Easy

Home (Watercooled) VersionBy Tammy J. Zimmerman

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 Tammy J. Zimmerman
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4520-4982-3

Contents

Chapter 1: Structure of the human body...............................iChapter 2: Introduction to medical word analysis.....................18Chapter 3: General Medical Vocabulary................................26Chapter 4: The respiratory system....................................40Chapter 5: The cardiovascular system (CVS)...........................60Chapter 6: The urinary system........................................81Chapter 7: The digestive system......................................94Chapter 8: The reproductive systems..................................112Chapter 9: The musculoskeletal system................................134Chapter 10: The sensory system.......................................151Chapter 11: The nervous system.......................................166Chapter 12: Psychiatry and psychology................................178Puzzle answer keys...................................................199Glossary of Word Parts...............................................209Index................................................................217

Chapter One

Structure of the human body

To understand what a doctor says, one must first understand about the human body. Learning medical terms is much easier once you know the names of the organs in the body and some of the words used to describe an area of pain or discomfort. It also helps to have some understanding of how the organs work together to perform a function for the body.

When you have finished this chapter you will be familiar with:

* The major body systems * Briefly how each body system works * Simple clinical terms

1.1 The major body systems

The human body works like a machine. For a car to work properly, for example, there are different parts that work together to take gas to the motor, move the oil, keep the motor cool and so on. A group of parts working together is called a system.

There is always more than one organ involved in a body system. A body system is a group of organs that work together to do a job for the body. We have a body system that supplies energy to the body, like the gas in a car, one that moves blood, like oil in a car, and one that keeps our bodies cool like coolant in a car. As we will go into more detail with the body systems in later chapters, the systems mentioned here include only the main organs and simple descriptions of the functions they perform.

Anatomy:

The word anatomy can be broken down (analyzed) into smaller parts and means "to cut up". Some common sense must be used when analyzing many medical words. Anatomy is not cutting up the body with a knife, but instead is cutting up the body into systems that can be understood more easily.

The following table explains the main body systems, the organs involved in each system, and the function which each system performs.

1.2 Briefly how each body system works

The following pages describe each of the systems mentioned above in more detail. The names of more of the organs in each system are provided as well as very basic physiology.

Physiology:

The word physiology can be analyzed into smaller parts and means the study of the natural order of the body. Physiology refers to the function of each system

The Respiratory System:

The respiratory (res-per-a-tor-e) system is about breathing. We must breathe to live. When we breathe in, we take in oxygen. When we breathe out, we breathe out carbon dioxide (waste products from the cells). The oxygen that we breathe into our lungs is taken into the blood stream and carried by red blood cells to the body tissues so the cells can live.

Oxygen enters the mouth and nose, passes through the trachea (windpipe), into two bronchi and then into the lung tissue through smaller and smaller vessels resembling a tree. The tiniest vessels, where the oxygen is released into the cells, and carbon dioxide is picked up, are called capillaries.

The Cardiovascular System:

The cardiovascular (kar-de-o-vask-u-ler) system includes the heart, arteries, veins and blood. The heart pumps blood around the body. Veins are tubes that carry blood to the heart, and arteries are tubes that carry blood away from the heart. Blood carries oxygen and nutrients to all of the body cells. Without blood to carry oxygen, our cells would die - and so would we.

The heart pumps blood to the lungs through the pulmonary veins, where the blood lets go of carbon dioxide and picks up oxygen. The blood is then returned to the heart through the pulmonary arteries to be pumped to the body tissues and cells through smaller and smaller arteries. After the blood has released the oxygen to the cells, at the capillaries, it picks up carbon dioxide (which is waste product from the cells) and travels through the veins back to the heart. From the heart, the blood is pumped back to the lungs, where the cycle repeats itself, with the red blood cells releasing carbon dioxide and picking up oxygen.

The Urinary System:

The urinary (u-rin-ar-e) system also removes waste products from the blood. This system includes the kidneys, urinary bladder and tubes. The kidneys take waste products out of the blood and remove them from the body in urine (as of now, not called pee).

Blood enters the left and right kidneys from arteries which branch off of the aorta. The aorta is the largest artery in the body. The kidneys filter the blood through tubes and capillaries. The waste products are moved to the central holding area of the kidney called the renal pelvis. From the renal pelvis, the urine moves down a ureter from each kidney to the urinary bladder. As the bladder fills up, pressure causes the need to urinate (pee). When you find a place to relieve yourself, the urine moves from the bladder to the outside of the body through the urethra.

The Digestive System:

The digestive system is also called the gastrointestinal (gast-ro-in-test-in-el) system. It allows us to absorb nutrients from the food we eat and gets rid of the waste products which result from eating.

Food enters the mouth then moves to the pharynx (throat) when you swallow. From the pharynx, food travels down the esophagus then enters the stomach. After stomach acid has helped break the chewed food into smaller parts, the food moves to the small intestine, where it mixes with juices from the liver and pancreas. Nutrients are taken out of the food and are absorbed into the blood in the small intestine. The solid waste is taken into the large intestine and then out of the body at the anus.

The Reproductive Systems: FEMALE

The female reproductive system is mostly about making babies. This is called reproduction. A woman's reproductive organs are inside the pelvis. The vagina is the entrance to the reproductive organs.

Women have two ovaries, one on each side of the uterus. An ovum (egg cell) leaves one of the ovaries approximately every 28 days and travels down the fallopian tube toward the uterus. An ovum fertilized by a male sex cell attaches itself to the lining of the uterus and pregnancy occurs. An ovum that is not fertilized by a male sex cell leaves the body during menstruation. Menstruation is the monthly shedding of blood from the lining of the uterus.

The Reproductive systems: MALE

Inside of the male scrotum (the sac that hangs down between a man's legs) are two testicles. The testicles contain small tubes which make a man's sex cell. A man's sex cell is called sperm. The scrotum hangs outside of the body to keep the sperm at a low temperature which they need to live. There are tubes that go from the testicles, up over the bladder and to the penis. Along these tubes, fluids are mixed with the sperm and the mixture becomes semen. Semen is the fluid that is released from a man's body during intercourse, masturbation, or any other sexual activity.

The Musculoskeletal System:

The main functions of this system are to support the body and allow movement.

The musculoskeletal (musk-u-lo-skel-it-el) system is made up of muscles, bones, ligaments and tendons. Ligaments are bands of tissue that connect bones to bones. Tendons are bands of tissue that connect bones to muscle. The bones and muscles have many jobs which will be described in more detail in Chapter 9. Try to imagine what people might look like without bones to support them! We'd all be slithering around ... just blobs ...

The Sensory System: THE EYE

The function of the eye is to enable us to see.

The cornea is a clear tissue on the surface of the eye where one would put a contact lens. The cornea covers the iris, which is the colored part of the eye, and the pupil. The pupil is the black center of the iris. The pupil is actually a hole that allows light into the back of the eye. The light energy focuses on a spot in the back of the eyeball which sends a message to the brain through nerves and the brain tells you what you are seeing.

The Sensory System: THE EAR

The function of the ear is to allow us to hear.

Your ears, as you know them, are only the outer ears. The purpose of the outer ear is to catch sound waves and guide them to the inner ear where hearing takes place.

Sound waves travel down the auditory canal to the eardrum. As the eardrum vibrates from sound waves, it moves three small bones on the other side of the eardrum in the middle ear. This causes movement of the sound waves to the inner ear through fluids inside a snail-shaped structure. The auditory nerves then send a message to the brain, where the sound is interpreted.

The Sensory System: THE SKIN

The skin has many functions. It is a covering that protects the inner organs. The average human body has approximately 1.86 square meters of skin and is the largest organ in the body. The skin also helps to control body temperature through sweat glands, and lubrication through oil glands. The skin also contains nerves which help us to feel pain, touch, and hot and cold. The diagram below is a section of the skin showing where the glands and nerves are.

The Nervous system:

The brain controls almost everything that happens in the body. It is made up of many parts which control different things.

The nervous system includes the brain, the spinal cord, and the nerves. The spinal cord goes from the brain, down the middle of the bones of the spine, to the low back area. The nerves come off the spinal cord and send messages to the brain. The brain also sends messages to the nerves. The brain and the spinal cord are surrounded by a layer of tissues which contain fluid for protection.

1.3 Simple clinical terms

Clinical terms are words used to explain where specific organs are, where a pain might be, or in what area of the body something is happening. For example, when a person has a "tummy pain" a doctor will need to be more specific than just writing in his notes that the patient was complaining of pain in the tummy area. The "tummy area" is unclear. In another example, a doctor needs to be more specific than writing in a letter to a surgeon that his patient has back pain. Even lower back pain isn't clear enough for a back surgeon to know where the problem is. For this reason, the areas of the back are separated into more accurate sections, using five areas of the bones in the back (spine). The spine is made up of 26 small bones called vertebrae (the "e" makes it plural) that go from the base of the head to the end of the tailbone.

The divisions of the back

The cervical area of the spine refers to 7 vertebrae at the neck. The first of these vertebrae, closest to the head, is called C1 (cervical vertebra #1). The cervical vertebrae are C1, C2, C3, etc until C7.

The thoracic area of the spine follows C7 and begins T1, T2, T3, etc. There are 12 thoracic vertebrae, each connected to a rib.

Below T12 is the lumbar region of the back. Many people are familiar with this area, because it's the waist area of the back, down low, where so many people suffer from back pain and require surgery. There are five lumbar vertebrae from L1-L5.

The five sacral vertebrae are fused together but are still considered S1-S5.

The coccyx (cox-ix) is the proper medical term for the tailbone and is made up of four small, fused vertebrae. See diagram on next page.

Did you know?

In the spaces between the vertebrae of the spine are cushions called intervertebral (inter-means between) discs. These discs flatten and squeeze down over the years and are responsible for people getting shorter as they get older. Some people can become much shorter when these discs get flat. The disc space between L5 and S1 (the last lumbar vertebra and the first sacral vertebra) is the most common area for a damaged disc.

The four quadrants of the abdomen

As mentioned before, the areas of the tummy, also called the abdomen, also need to be made clear. The abdomen is divided into four areas with an imaginary "+" that centers on the navel. Some of the organs in each quadrant (one-fourth) are mentioned below, but there are many more than those mentioned here.

These quadrants are named for the right and left sides, as well as upper and lower. It is the patient's right and left sides that tell which is left and which is right.

The right upper quadrant (RUQ) is on the patient's right side, above the navel and up to the chest. The liver and gallbladder are in the RUQ.

The right lower quadrant (RLQ) is on the patient's right side, below the navel and down to the area where the leg meets the body, called the groin area. Part of the intestine, the appendix, and the right ovary (in women) are in the RLQ.

The left lower quadrant (LLQ) is on the patient's left side, below the navel and down to the groin area. The LLQ also contains an important part of the large intestine, some small intestine, and the left ovary (in women).

The left upper quadrant (LUQ) contains most of the stomach and parts of several other organs.

Common positional and directional terms

The terms here are used to explain the location of organs and directions related to those organs.

These words are opposites and are used often to describe position. A doctor might say the patient has a superficial bruise (purple color of the skin because of an injury) of the anterior lateral surface on the distal aspect of the right thigh.

This would mean the patient's bruise is only on the surface, on the front outside area of the thigh away from the center of the body (towards the knee). These terms make everything more precise.

Chapter 1 Fun Stuff

Find the words in the puzzle from the list below. Make a circle around the words when you have found them. Words can be found in any direction. The first one has been done for you.

Chapter 2: Introduction to medical word analysis

To understand medical words, analysis (breaking the words into parts) is necessary. No one simply memorizes the long, complicated words used by doctors - not even the doctors. Analysis of medical words means to break down the words into smaller parts so they can be more easily understood.

You know what a photograph is. It's also called a picture. The words photograph, photography and photographic can be broken down into parts exactly the same way as medical words.

* photo means light

* graph means written record

The art of photography is about light on the lens of the camera. The word photograph means written record of light.

When the letter "y" is added to the end of the word, it means process. Photography is the process of making a written record of light. Taking photographs.

"ic" is a word ending that means refers to. When "ic" is added to the word photograph it becomes photographic and means refers to making a written record of light. When a refers to ending is used, the word must be followed by another. For example: photographic equipment; or photographic features. All of this information can be put more simply like this:

photograph means written record of light - the actual picture (noun) photography means the process of making a written record of light - taking pictures photographic means refers to a written record of light - ie, photographic equipment

This example can be used to break down the medical word radiograph. radi- means X-ray. So....

radiograph means written record of an X-ray - the actual X-ray (noun) radiography means the process of making a written record of an X-ray - taking X-rays radiographic means refers to a written record of an X-ray - ie, radiographic equipment

As mentioned above, a photograph is also known as a picture. In the same way, a radiograph is also known as an X-ray.

Now that you understand how this works, it is time to learn some word parts!

When you have finished this chapter you will be familiar with:

Analysis technique Common root words Common suffixes Common prefixes

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Doctor Talk - Made Easyby Tammy J. Zimmerman Copyright © 2010 by Tammy J. Zimmerman. Excerpted by permission.
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