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Building Up a Tolerance to Pain Medication

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Welcome to blistering headache, day two. My whopper of a headache hung around for most of the day, and came back for a second visit this morning. Nothing says “great start to a day” like a headache. I did get some relief last night when I switched from ibuprofen to aspirin, and I think it was the change in medications that made the difference. I do tend to switch pain relievers every so often. Maybe the ibuprofen wasn’t helping because my body was too used to it? With some pain relievers, your body can build up a tolerance — meaning … Continue reading →

Treating Chronic Pelvic Pain

Chronic pelvic pain is often a result of more than one health issue. Treating just one problem may not relieve your chronic pelvic pain. Dealing with your chronic pelvic pain starts with finding the right doctor. Chronic pelvic pain involves several body systems: the bladder, the colon, the uterus, and more. It may be difficult to find a pelvic pain specialist in your area. Ask your regular doctor or gynecologist for a referral, look into local teaching hospitals, or do some research online. If you don’t have a specific diagnosis yet, try starting with the International Pelvic Pain Society. If … Continue reading →

Dealing with Growing Pains

It’s not just a television sitcom from the 1980s! (I won’t mention my crush on Kirk Cameron, either!) Growing pains are actually a quite common phenomenon in children. I don’t remember suffering from them when I was a child — did you? Growing pains occur most often in the legs. They are often felt after strenuous play or exercise (maybe that’s why I didn’t have them — I wasn’t much of an athlete as a kid). A child may experience growing pains during two periods of development: between the ages of three and five and between the ages of eight … Continue reading →

Painkiller Basics

Not all over the counter pain medicines work exactly the same way. Here are some tips to make sure you take the right medicine for your body aches, headaches, and other pains. For sore muscles, sunburn, and arthritis pain, your best bet is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (also known as an NSAID). Ibuprofen, naproxen, and aspirin are all NSAIDs. These types of painkiller block the body’s production of chemicals that cause swelling — and swelling is really the culprit for your sore muscles, sunburn, and arthritis pain. Fighting a headache? Look for pain pills that contain caffeine. Many people find … Continue reading →

Pain Medicine: Ibuprofen

Ibuprofen is another over-the-counter painkiller that can be classified as a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs). It has been used for pain relief, fever, and inflammation since the 1970s — the FDA approved ibuprofen in 1974. You may know ibuprofen as: Advil, Medipren, Motrin, Nuprin, and more. How it works: ibuprofen helps block the enzyme in the body that makes the chemicals (prostaglandins) that cause pain, fever, and inflammation. By blocking the enzyme that makes the prostaglandins, swelling, pain, and fever are reduced. Ibuprofen is available in a variety of forms, including liquid suspension, oral drops, and chewable tablets (for children … Continue reading →

New Labels For Familiar Painkillers

By the end of 2007, you can expect to see new labels and stricter safety warnings on your over the counter pain relievers. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed the new warnings in December, which would affect hundreds of prescription and nonprescription products. What will the warnings address? Acetaminophen (the pain reliever in Tylenol) will come with a warning about the potential for “severe liver damage” if they take more than the maximum daily dose, combine the pills with other drugs, or drink alcohol while taking the drug. NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like Advil’s ibuprofen, aspirin, and Aleve’s naproxen) … Continue reading →

Contact Lens Cases and Old Nylons- Oh My!

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Another day of finding uses for things that tend to pile up around the house. Do you wear contacts? If you do you probably have more than a handful of the little lens cases. What can you do with them besides toss them out? Time to think outside of the box again. Here are a few things you can do with old contact lens cases. You can store small earrings in them when you are traveling or even just to keep them from getting lost in your jewelry box. Keep your ear plugs clean and close at hand in a … Continue reading →

Pet First Aid: Safe Household Treatments

At various vet trips we’ve received advice to treat our pets with doses of Benadryl, Zyrtec, and Neosporin. That’s right: medicines we think are for people can also be for pets. There are actually a number of household items or medications we can employ if our animals are having problems. The trick is knowing exactly what medicines, and how much of them, are safe for our pets. For example: most dogs should only have one Benadryl a day. If giving the pet Zyrtec, it should only receive the normal kind – make sure it doesn’t have any decongestants or other … Continue reading →

The Headache that Just Won’t Quit

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I’m no stranger to headaches. When I was in high school and college, I had one sinus infection after another — and a sinus headache just about all the time. Once I had sinus surgery to cut away the infected tissue (and fix a deviated septum), the first morning I woke up without a headache was like a miracle. My problems with sinus infections have been few and far between since then. Alas, sinus headaches aren’t the only type of headaches I get. Every once in a while, I wake up with a real whopper. When I was still in … Continue reading →

What Is Cystic Fibrosis?

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a progressive disorder that affects many systems throughout your body, namely the respiratory system and the digestive system. This is an inherited disease of the mucus glands. You know what mucus is, right? That slippery stuff that lubricates (and protects) your airways, digestive system, reproductive system, and other organs and tissues. For people with cystic fibrosis, the mucus the body produces is extra thick and sticky. It can obstruct airways, causing serious breathing problems and potential for bacterial infections in the lungs. The infections cause coughing, wheezing, and inflammation; the infections and the mucus buildup can … Continue reading →