Rest: Whether you’ve injured your ankle, wrist, or back, it’s important to rest that area for at least 48 hours after the initial injury. You may need a sling or crutches depending on your situation. You should listen to what your body tells you. If you test out standing on your foot and it feels like it won’t support you, don’t try to walk on it, that could cause further injury.

Ice: In order to reduce pain and swelling, you should ice the area within 48 hours of the injury. Do not use heat, this, in fact, can increase swelling. You can use a bag of crushed ice, an ice pack, or even frozen peas. During the first 48 hours, as often as you can, ice for periods of 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, take the ice off. Before icing again, let the area restore to normal temperature and color.

Compression: You also can reduce the swelling by wrapping the area in ace bandages or other support bandages. Make sure your wrap isn’t too tight. Your fingers or toes should not tingle and should remain the same temperature.

Elevation: Try to keep your injured area above your heart while resting. It will help reduce swelling as well.

You should see a big improvement in the status of your injury after two days of following the R.I.C.E. method. (I was back in the game three days later.) If you see no change despite following the steps, it is important that you see a doctor. You should return to using an injured joint or muscle only if you are sure it can support the work, and even so, start with just 50% of what you might normally do. Let yourself ease back into the work, and soon enough you’ll be back to full throttle.

Shampoo your hair everyday – this is the easiest technique to get rid of dandruff. Ridding your hair of excess oil and flakes through shampooing can help eliminate dandruff. However, it is possible that your current shampoo is causing the problem. In this case, you need to switch to an alternative. It is recommended to use anti-dandruff shampoo that contains zinc pyrithione because it will reduce the selenium sulfide fungus and minimize cell turn-over.

Rotate three brands – your dandruff shampoo might stop working after a while, and you will find yourself combating the dandruff again. Don’t blame the product, though, because your scalp simply has developed a resistance to the shampoo’s ingredients. To prevent this scenario, you need to rotate three different shampoos, each with dissimilar formulations, every month.

Lather twice – the first lather will get rid of the unwanted flakes and oil on your hair. The process will clear up the area before you go for the second lather. It is in the second lathering that the shampoo will really go to work. Try leaving the shampoo on your hair for five minutes before rinsing it off, you will see the difference after several days.

Rinse your hair – Rinsing your hair with conditioner, lemon juice, or creams can be very helpful. Take note that the rinse you choose should be dependent on your hair type. For example, if you have dry hair, using conditioner or cream rinse is better than lemon juice. On the other hand, if you have oily hair, lemon juice might be the better alternative.

Garlic has long been prized as a natural remedy. Garlic contains allicins, which have natural antibiotic properties. It doesn’t just ward off vampires, it can kick out a cold and cure an ear infection! It’s tasty, cheap, and generally safe for home use. Health Eagle has discussed garlic and heart health before, and now we offer you some old fashioned home remedies, as well.

Can garlic cure the common cold? Many researchers are now saying chicken soup will help you survive a cold, and garlic has been fingered as the reason why. An old home remedy for coughs is to crush one clove of fresh garlic into a spoonful of honey or vinegar. Take in the morning, and then again at night. You should be sniffle free in a day or so.

The honey does a good job of masking the taste, but you still shouldn’t try it on an empty stomach. The vinegar will take some of the bite out of garlic. Take your pick – sweet or sour!

Another effective home remedy, supported only by decades of anecdotal evidence, is garlic oil. To make garlic oil, simply put some olive oil in a pan, and crush a few cloves of garlic into it. Gently heat the mixture and cook for a few minutes, then let it cool and steep for several hours. Strain the oil and keep it in the fridge. Garlic oil is used topically on fungal infections, such as athlete’s foot, or as ear drops to cure an earache. It’s pretty potent stuff, so don’t use it on broken skin or if you have eczema!

Eating garlic seems to be helpful as well, so if you do get a scratchy throat or drippy nose, make some garlic bread, a plate of pasta, and feel better soon!

Is your dry mouth related to the antibiotics, or a new symptom? Can you drink milk with your statin medication? Can you take your anti-inflammatory with your iron supplement?

What about herbal remedies and vitamins? You can purchase these over the counter, but the FDA doesn’t require them to be labeled the same way prescription medications are. It’s also possible that the ginger you are taking for gout will work against the ulcer medication you’re taking for heartburn.

Fortunately, any information you need is a simple mouse-click away. Most major pharmaceutical companies have websites full of information, and even interactive forms for reporting adverse reactions.

Be an informed consumer, and bookmark this list of links when you need to check out your supplements and medications!

RxList – A large database of prescription medications, it also includes a “pill identifier” button. Click on “Consumer” for information; “Advanced Consumer” will give you the actual chemical structure and other details directed towards professionals.

Vitamin Encyclopedia – This is a commercial site but has loads of information on all things vitamin, including recommended daily allowances, therapeutic doses, and symptoms of overdose. It’s easy to navigate by vitamin or mineral name. The only drawback is each vitamin page contains links to purchase related products at the bottom; be a savvy consumer and do plenty of research before purchasing vitamins and supplements!

Herbal Encyclopedia - Similar to the Vitamin Encyclopedia, and also includes lists of dangerous interactions.

Drugs.com – The most comprehensive and easy to use of all prescription sites. Also contains a drug interaction checker, news, pill identifier, and more.

Anything that stimulates the body’s pain receptors in the neck and head can cause a headache to occur. Some causes include:

· Injuries to the neck

· Muscle tension

· Dental problems

· High blood pressure

· Eye strain

· Disorders in the nose, ears, or throat.

Basically, headaches can be categorized in two groups: primary and secondary. Primary headaches include cluster headaches and migraines. Meanwhile, secondary headaches usually are caused by another disorder, such as injury or infection. Pain is felt when some structures in the head, like the nerves at the head and neck, the muscle and skin, the arteries that leads to the brain, or the sinuses, become inflamed.

Primary Headache

· Tension headache – this is noted to be the most common form of headache. It feels like pressure is being pressed around your head. Tension headaches can be caused by both physical and emotional stress associated with lifestyle changes.

· Migraine headache – it occurs more frequently in women compared to men. Hormones are observed to play a crucial role in its occurrence. You will feel a throbbing sensation in your head when you have a migraine headache. In addition, it has been associated with the spasms of blood vessels that go to your brain.

Secondary Headache

I recognized it as the delicious bread that I ate at Indian restaurants. Flavorful, fluffy, and tasty, I could not believe that I could bring some home without going to a restaurant!

Traditionally it is cooked in a clay oven called a tandoor. It is a round flat bread and, like pita bread, Naan is leavened with yeast. It does not contain eggs, preservatives, or hydrogenated oils. It looks kind of like a bubbly pizza crust. In fact, on the back of the package were ideas on how to use the bread. For example, some of the suggestions included using it to make grilled cheese or as a pizza crust! I liked the idea of using it has a healthy alternative to your typical pizza crust. So, what I did was make a sauce based on eggs and feta cheese. Then, after oiling the bread and spreading the sauce on, I added fresh spinach. It was absolutely delicious, and oh so healthy!

Naan only contains 30 calories of fat out of 160 calories per serving (two servings per flat bread). Next time you make a pizza, try using this as a crust! There isn’t much too it, and it tastes amazing. I love it even plain. Some people eat it with butter or oils. In any case, it is delicious.

One of the recent articles that caught my eye is entitled “Five simple ways to save a life”. Sounds like an article worth reading, right? I’ll cover the five main points that the writer, Elizabeth Cohen, a CNN Medical Correspondent, does well to include.

The first point she makes is that you should never try to remove any object that has entered a person’s body. It may look more painful keeping it in there, but removing it might lead to an unexpected bleed, the object might be serving as a clot. Secondly, if you haven’t been trained to use a tourniquet, especially if you don’t even know what it is (it’s a device that is tightened around an area in order to stop the blood flow there), don’t try to use it. Also, if someone is having a severe allergic reaction, ask around (first the person with the reaction) for an epinephrine pen. (They’re not as uncommon as they might seem; I have one!) An epipen will help “tame” the reaction until the person can get treatment from a hospital. You do not need training to use an epipen.

Here’s something I didn’t know: you should never clean a tooth that has been knocked out. There are small nerves and ligaments that might be important. Lastly, if someone has fallen from a great height, do not move him. I used to do gymnastics, and I once fell from the uneven bars, flat onto my stomach. My dad moved me, but we later found out he shouldn’t have done that. I had fractured my neck upon impact and any incorrect movements could’ve been fatal.

There is a common misconception that colds can be treated with antibiotics. Although this belief makes sense, it is not accurate. Colds are caused by viruses and not by bacteria, so it should not be treated with any antibacterial medication or topical treatments.

As a method of prevention, you need to take care not to hold hands or shake hands with people suffering from colds because you easily can catch the disease if you unconsciously hold your mouth or nose. Remember to wash your hands because the chances of getting colds increases as a person’s immune system become weak.

It has been estimated that children under two years old will get this disease 10-12 times every year. Older children get an average of 6 colds while people over 30 will experience colds only about 3 times a year. As the immune system becomes stronger, so does the ability for the body to fight viruses.

Probably the best thing you can do once you get the cold is to drink plenty of water, rest, and take Vitamin C. These factors will contribute to making your body strong enough to fight off the cold virus. Becoming physically active also will help you avoid getting this condition in the future as well.

Hurricane season is in full swing, and over 2 million people in the path of Hurricane Gustav evacuated this week. There are two more storms headed toward the United States, and more evacuations may be in order.

Do you have health problems? Are you prepared for a natural disaster? The Red Cross includes tips on preparing an emergency kit for quick evacuation in case of hurricanes, but if you have an illness, you need to be proactive and prepare extra supplies.

People with chronic medical problems must be ready to care for their special needs. If disaster strikes, medical help could be far away or reserved only for the most critically injured. Here’s how to protect your personal health and safety in the event of a major storm.

Prescriptions: Most insurance companies and pharmacies limit patients to receive only a 30 day supply of medication. If you live in a disaster-prone area, check with your doctor before there is an emergency, and ask him or her for extras.  Perhaps they have some samples you could pack into an emergency kit, or maybe they know of a pharmacy that will provide partial refills.

OTC: Don’t forget to include over the counter medications in your emergency kit. Are you prone to headaches? Does your arthritis flare in damp weather? Throw some ibuprofen in your bag. Allergic to mold? Add some non-drowsy allergy pills. Think about what you keep in your medicine cabinet for everyday comfort, and put a supply in your kit, too.

Information: Write down exactly what medical problems you have and exactly how they are being treated. Include your doctor’s phone number and an emergency contact. Keep this information on your person at all times; it’s critical that emergency responders be able to find it if you are injured and can’t talk.  Don’t forget your insurance and prescription card.

Be prepared and stay safe!