50 Complex Medical Terms for Everyday Moments

Scroll below for an exhaustive list of healthcare terminology translated into everyday people-speak!

  1. Anosognosia : inability to recognize a defect or disorder that is clinically evident
  2. Anxiogenic : producing anxiety
  3. Aphthous stomatitis : canker sores
  4. Borborygmi : stomach growling
  5. Bradykinesia : having slow movement or reflexes
  6. Bruxism : teeth grinding
  7. Cardialgia : heartburn; pain in the heart
  8. Cardiovalvulitis : inflammation of heart valves
  9. Cerumen : earwax
  10. Choledocholithiasis : stones in the gallbladder or common bile duct
  11. Conjunctivitis : pink eye
  12. Costochondritis : chest pain caused by the inflammation of the cartilage that connects the ribs to the breastbone
  13. Crepitus : cracking your joints
  14. Dysphagia : difficulty swallowing
  15. Dyspnea : shortness of breath
  16. Enuresis : peeing yourself; nocturnal enuresis if you wet the bed at night and diurnal enuresis if you have involuntary urination during the day
  17. Epistaxis : nosebleed
  18. Fasciculation : muscle twitch
  19. Formication : the feeling that small insects are crawling on (or under) the skin when there is nothing there
  20. Gossypiboma : an object accidentally left inside of a patient after surgery
  21. Gustatory Rhinitis : runny nose from spicy food
  22. Heloma : having a callus on your foot; heloma molle if it’s soft, and heloma durum if it’s hard
  23. Horripilation : goosebumps
  24. Hyperhidrosis : excessive exercise
  25. Lachrymation : crying or having tears
  26. Levator Labii Superioris Alaeque Nasi : a muscle in your face that widens the nostrils and elevates the upper lip, thus allowing you to "snarl"
  27. Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome : shin splints
  28. Morsicato Buccarum : cheek biting; repetitive chewing, biting, or nibbling the inside of your cheek
  29. Muscae Volitantes : having “eye floaters”; little transparent threads that you see floating across your eyeball that are just little bits of protein in your eye
  30. Obdormition : when a limb falls “asleep”
  31. Onychocryptosis : ingrown toenail
  32. Oophorohysterectomy : surgical removal of ovary and uterus
  33. Orthostatic Hypotension : getting dizzy from standing up too fast
  34. Paresthesia : tingling or prickling of the skin, also known as “pins and needles” or a limb “falling asleep”
  35. Photalgia : when your eyes hurt whenever you step outside because it’s too bright; light-induced pain of the irises
  36. Pneumoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis : lung disease from inhaling very fine ash and sand (or “silica dust”); also known as silicosis or the black lung
  37. Procidentia : the descent of any internal organ (prolapse)
  38. Proctalgia : literal pain in the butt
  39. Prosopagnosia : inability to recognize faces
  40. Pyrexia : fever
  41. Rhinorrhea : runny nose
  42. Sphenopalatine Ganglioneuralgia : brain freeze; having a headache from ice cream
  43. Sternutate : sneeze
  44. Synchronous Diaphragmatic Flutter: hiccup; also known as myoclonic twitches
  45. Transient Lingual Papillitis: “lie bumps”; swollen taste bud on your tongue
  46. Transient Diaphragmatic Spasm: getting the wind knocked out of you
  47. Trichotillomania: hair pulling
  48. Vasovagal Syncope : fainting
  49. Veisalgia : hangover
  50. Xerosis : dry skin

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