Sometimes a person has a disability or health problem and you know it right away. Maybe they are missing an arm or a leg, maybe they have their broken arm in a cast, maybe they are taking medicines that cause them to behave or look peculiar. Or, maybe they tell you they are in pain.
Other times, a person can have a medical problem and you don’t even have a clue. That happened recently with a guest at the Naugas. We noticed that she didn’t eat anything at dinner and asked why. She said the food smelled delicious, but she had canker sores (also known as fever blisters) and it hurt her mouth to eat anything. The canker sores were inside her cheeks, on her tongue and even on her gums. She said that cancker sores often result from chemotherapy, but not in her case. The cause of canker sores, she said, is unknown, as is the cure. She said they would heal in a few days, but for now she just would not eat anything.
That reminded me of another guest back in January, during cold weather. She said her dry skin itched due to the dry weather, a malady known as winter itch. Sometimes she had little red dots on her skin that itched, other times she just had a general itching of the skin on parts of her body. The causes of winter itch include cold, dry air, wind, soap, and stress. She said it was not the same as psoriasis, was similar to eczema and was always associated with dry skin.
Some medical conditions are visible, others are known only to their sufferers.