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Simple Home Treatment
Influenza, or flu, is a viral illness that commonly occurs in the winter. The flu often affects many people at once (epidemic).
Influenza has symptoms similar to a cold, but they are usually more severe and come on quite suddenly.
The flu is commonly thought of as a respiratory illness, but the whole body can be affected. Symptoms include weakness, fatigue, muscle aches, headaches, fever, chills, sneezing, and runny nose. Symptoms may last five to seven days. Most other viruses, such as colds, have less severe symptoms that don't last as long.
Although a person with flu feels very sick, it seldom leads to more seriuos complications. The illness is usually dangerous only for infants, older adults, and people with chronic diseases.
Prevention
2. Keep up your resistance to infection with a good diet, plenty of rest and regular exercise.
3. Avoid exposure to the virus. Wash you hands away from your nose, eyes, and mouth.
Home Treatment
2. Drink extra fluids, at least one glass of water or juice every waking hour.
3. Take acetaminophen, aspirin, or ibuprofen to relieve fever and head and muscle aches. (Do not give aspirin to children and teens under age 20.)
When to call a doctor
2. If a person seems to get better, then get worse again.
3. If flu-like symptoms or a red rash occur four days to three weeks after being bitten by a tick.
Diziness or lightheadedness is usually not due to a serious problem; in fact, it is common to feel lightheaded ocassionally. It is often due to momentary drop in blood pressure and blood flow to the head that occurs when you get up too quickly from a seated or lying position. This is called orthostatic hypotension and is most often caused by medication or dehydration.
Other causes of dizziness include side effects of medication, stress, anxiety or drinking alcohol. Another less common cause is abnormality in your heart rhythm. This usually causes recurrent spells of ligheadedness over a period of a few days.
Vertigo is a sensation tht your body or the world around you is spinning. It may occur with nausea and vomiting. It may be impossible to walk while you are experiencing severe vertigo. Benign positional vertigo, the most common form, is triggered by changes inthe position of the head such as when you move your head from side to side or lean your head back to look up. Vertigo may also be caused by inflammation in the part of the inner ear that controls balance (called labyrinthitis). Labyrinthitis is usually caused by a viral infection and sometimes occurs following a cold or the flu.
Home treatment
Dizziness is not usually a cause for concern unless it is severe, persistent, or occurs with other symptoms.
1. When you feel dizzy, sit down for a minute or two and take some deep breaths. Stand up again slowly.
2. Sit up or stand up slowly to avoid the changes in blood flow to the head that can make you feel dizzy.
3. Avoid head positions or changes in the position that brings on vertigo.
4. If you have vertigo, avoid lying flat on your back. Prop yourself up slightly to relieve the spinning sensation.
When to call a doctor
2. If you feel like you might faint or if there is a complete loss of consciousness.
3. If you suspect dizziness may be a side effect of a medication.
4. If dizziness last for more than three to five days and interferes with your daily activities.
5. If you experience vertigo that is severe or persists for more than three days, has not been diagnosed, or is significantly different from previous episodes.
6. If you have repeated spells of lightheadedness over a few days.
7. If your pulse when you are feeling lightheaded is less than 50 or more than 130 beats per minutes.
A middle ear infection (otitis media) is caused by bacteria and
requires antibiotic treatment. It usually starts when a cold
causes the eustachian tube between the earr and throat to swell
and close. When the tube closes, fluid seeps into the ear and
bacteria start to grow. As the body fights the infection, pressure
builds up, causing pain. The pressure can cause the eardrum to rupture.A single eardrum rupture is not serious and does not cause hearing loss. Repeated ruptures mau cause hearing loss. Antibiotic treatment stops bacterial growth, relieving pressure and pain.
Young children get more ear infection because their eustachian tube are more easily blocked, and because they get more colds.
Symptoms of a bacterial ear infection include dizziness, ringing or fullness in the ears, hearing loss, fever, headache, and runny nose. In children who can't yet talk, look for tugging on the esr as a sign of pain.
Prevention
1. Teach your children to blow their noses gently. This is a good idea for adults,too.
2. Breast-feed your baby. Breast-fed babies have fewer ear infections.
3. Feed infants in a relatively upright position to prevent milk from getting into the eustachian tubes. Do not allow infants to fall asleep with a bottle.
4. Avoid exposing children to cigarette smoke, which is associated with more frequent ear infections.
5. Limit your child's contact with other children who have colds.
Home Treatment
1. Apply heat to the ear to ease the pain. Use a warm washcloth or a heating pad set on low. Don't leave a child alone with a heating pad.
2. Rest. Let your energy go to fighting the infection.
3. Increase clear liquids.
4. Aspirin or acetaminophen will help relieve earache. Do not give aspirin to a child or a teen under 20 who has symptoms of flu or chickenpox.
5. Oral nasal decongestants may help relieve earache pain. Avoid products that contain antihistamines.
When to call a doctor
1. Anytime an ear infection is suspected.
2. If a severe earache last longer than one hour or any earache last longer than 12 to 24 hours. If pain is severe at night, call the next morning even if the pain has stopped.
3. If an infant repeatedly rubs or pulls on the ear and appears to be in pain.
4. If a headache, fever, and stiff neck are also present, which may be signs of meningitis.
5. If home otoscope exam shows redness in the ear of a small child who cannot describe ear pain.
6. If you suspect an eardrum rupture. Look for white, yellow, or bloody discharge from the ear.
7. If there is no improvement after three to four days of antibiotics.
8. If stuffy ears or hearing loss persist without other symptoms more than 10 days after a cold had cleared up. Some infections are painless.
Acne is a term for pimples or blackheads that form on the face, chest, upper back, or shoulders. A pimple forms when an oil gland in the skin is blocked and secretions and bacteria build up under the skin. Acne occurs most often in adolescence, but often persists in adulthood.
Many woman get fewer pimples just before their menstrual period. Stress and some oral contraceptives may make acne worse. Fatty foods such as chocolate and nuts are generally no longer considered a cause of acne.
Most cases of acne will respond to home treatment. For severe or persistent cases, your doctor can prescribe stronger topical medication, antibiotic, or other drugs.
Prevention
1. Wash your face with mild soap, such as Dove, or one that contains benzoyl peroxide, such as Oxy-5. Wash as often as necessary to keep it clean, but do not scrub.
2. While foods are no longer considered a significant cause of acne, avoid any food that seems to cause pimples.
Home Treatment
1. Cleanliness is essential. Wash your face, shoulders, chest, and back with soapy water. Use a very gentle soap such as Aveeno, Neutrogena, or Basis. Avoid drying soaps such as Ivory. Always rinse very well.
2. Keep long hair off the face and shoulders, wash it daily.
3. Don't pop pimples and blackheads. This can cause infection and scarring.
4. Benzoyl peroxide gel or cream, an over-the-counter medication, is one of the best treatment for acne. Start with the lowest strength and apply once a day one-half hour after washing. You may experience mild redness and dryness as a side effect. It may take several weeks to work. Never use more than 5 percent strength benzoyl peroxide except on the advice of a doctor.
5. Use only non-comedogenic, water based lotions and cosmetics, and only if they don't aggravate the acne.
When to call a doctor
1. If acne cannot be controlled with the above home treatment.
2. If there are severe red or purple inflamation, cyst, or nodules under the skin.
A boil is a red, swollen, painful bump under the skin, similar to an overgrown pimple. Boils are often caused by an infected hair follicle. Bacteria from the infection will form an abscess or pocket pus. The abscess can become larger than a ping-pong ball and be extremely painful.
Boils occur most often in areas where there is hair chafing. The face, neck, armpits, breast, groin, and buttocks are common boil sites.
Prevention
1. Wash boil-prone areas often with soapy water. An antibacterial soap may help. Dry thoroughly.
2. Avoid clothing that is too tight.
Home Treatment
1. Do not squeeze, scratch, drain, or lance the boil. Squeezingcan push the infection deeper into the skin. Scratching can spread the bacteria and form new boils.
2. Wash yourself well with antibacterial soap to prevent the boil from spreading.
3. Use moist heat often. Apply hot, wet washcloths to boil for 20 to 30 minutes, three to four times a day. Do this as soon as you notice a boil. The heat and moisture can help bring the boil to a head, but it may take five to seven days. A hot water bottle or heating pad applied over a damp towel may also help.
4. Continue using warm compresses for three days after boil opens. Apply a bandage to keep draining material from spreading, and change it daily.
When to call a doctor
If needed, your doctor can drain the boil and treat the infection. Call the doctor if:
1. The boil is on your face, near your spine, or in the anal area.
2. Increased pain, swelling, heat, redness, or tenderness.
3. Red streaks extending from the boil.
4. Continued discharge of pus.
5. Fever over 100 degrees or higher with no other cause.
6. The pain limits your normal activities.
7. You have diabetes.
8. Any other lumps, particularly painful ones, develop near the infected area.
9. The boil is not improving after five to seven days of home treatment.
10. The boil is as large as a ping-pong ball.
11. Many boils develop and persist over several months.
Parents of young babies are often painfully aware of colic, which often occur in the late afternoon, evening, and at night. Colic is not really a disease; it is the name for an assortment of problems that cause babies to draw up their legs, tighten their abdomens, and cry.
Doctor's aren't sure what causes colic. With some babies, it seems unavoidable. However, colic is generally not caused by a feeding problem or intollerance to cow's milk.
Fortunately, colic goes away as the baby matures, almost always by the end of the third month. It is over sooner for many babies and may never appear in many others. Although no one method always work to relieve colicky babies, there are a number of possible remedies you can try. Unfortunately, what works one time may not work the next. Be creative and persistent.
Home Treatment
1. Most important: stay calm and try to relax. If you start to lose control, take a minute to collect your thoughts. Never shake a baby; it can cause permanent brain damage.
2. Make sure baby is getting enough to eat and not too much. The problem may be hunger, not colic.
3. Make sure the baby isn't swallowing too much air while eating. Feed baby slowly, holding him almost upright. Burp the baby periodically. Prop the baby up to 15 minutes after feeding.
4. If the baby is bottle-fed, use nipples with holes large enough to drip cold formula at least one drop per second. Babies will swallow more air from around the nipple if the hole is too small.
5. Heat formula to body temperature. Do not overheat.
6. Keep a regular routine for meals, naps, and playtime. Mealtime should be quiet and undisturbed by bright lights and loud noise.
7. Make sure the baby's diaper is clean, that the baby isn't too hot or cold.
8. Use a pacifier, and try rocking or walking the baby. Putting the baby stomach-down over your knee or forearm may be helpful.
9. Calm the baby with a car ride or walk outside. Placing the baby near a clothes dryer, dishwasher, or bubbling aquarium may help soothe him.
10. Don't worry about spoiling a baby during the first three months; comforting a baby makes both of you feel better.
11. Ask a friend or neighbor to babysit some evening while you go to dinner or movie.
12. Don't feel guilty about shutting the bedroom door and turning up the stereo once in a while; it will help the baby. However, don't let your baby cry alone for more than 5 to 10 minutes during the first three months. After 10 minutes, try the above suggestions again.
When to call a doctor
Colic generally does not require professional treatment unless it is accompanied by vomiting and/or diarrhea or other signs of more serious illness. If the baby looks healthy and acts normally between episodes, and if your emotions can stand the noise for the first three months, you have a little cause for worry.
However, if colic lasts more than four hours a day, or you feel like you are losing self-control, contact your doctor for advice.
In rare cases, colic may be so severe that you and your doctor may consider a medication. Ask about side effects.