Do you blow your nose and rub your itchy eyes more than usual in the spring? Chances are you have hay fever, also called allergic rhinitis, an allergic response that has absolutely nothing to do with hay and everything to do with teeny tiny particles wafting through the air.

According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, substance use disorders cost the U.S. more than $740 billion annually due to the crime, lost work productivity and health care expenses associated with addiction. At Rush, clinicians, researchers and faculty tackle the problem of addiction from multiple angles, embracing a practical, nonstigmatizing, person-based approach to prevention, screening and intervention.

Have you said, or thought, "I look fat" hundreds of times? And despite reassurances from your friends, spouse and maybe even your doctor, do you still feel flabby? If you're hung up on some aspect of your physical appearance, you're not alone.

Babies and children with failure to thrive do not grow and develop at the same pace as children their same age. That’s because they aren’t getting enough nutrients to be healthy.

Not long ago, Joe Gale responded to life-threatening situations as an emergency medicine technician. Before that, he fought wildland fires in the Pacific Northwest. And today, he is a first-year student in the Generalist Entry Master’s, or GEM, program at Rush University’s College of Nursing.

A video showcasing a state-of-the-art NICU within the Rush Family Birth Center. and the health care specialists who work there.

Creepy costumes can be scary. But you know what’s really frightening at Halloween? Trying to maintain healthy habits and a healthy diet. But don’t fear, there are plenty of ways to put healthy into Halloween.

Rush Oak Park Hospital has a long and rich history of promoting healthy living in its community. For years, its community wellness program was known as Age-WISE, which primarily served older adults. To better meet the needs of the diverse community Rush Oak Park Hospital calls home, we reimagined this program and renamed it Healthy Motivations.

Last year, Wanda Williams-Harrell had the mother of all headaches — a headache that hurt so overwhelmingly that no over-the-counter pain reliever would help. “I felt like my head was about to explode from my body,” Wanda says. And then she experienced a strange spasm in the nape of her neck. Wanda told her husband to call 9-1-1.

As health care providers and researchers, we long for that “aha” moment — and relish the pursuit of it. While that one puzzle piece may not offer a cure, it may spare patients the burden of unnecessary treatments; it may inspire colleagues to ask — and answer — more revealing questions; it may play a vital role in unraveling mysteries behind cancer development and treatment.

Is your current living situation still working, or is it time to make a move? While you may want to avoid it, it’s a conversation that — at some point — you should have with yourself, your family and your doctor.

My 5-year-old daughter reminds me a lot of my dad: She charms both friends and strangers with her warmth and humor, she considers pickles the perfect complement to any meal and she gleefully listens to the same songs over and over again. While I love seeing my father’s wonderful, quirky qualities in my daughter, I also worry. Along with the good, I fear she may inherit the bad.

Stress can trigger insomnia, exacerbate digestive problems and cause muscle tension that leads to body aches. But can stress cause a heart attack? Or is it just a dire, unsubstantiated warning offered by concerned family and friends along the lines of “You’ll catch pneumonia if you go outside with your hair wet”?