Author Topic: DIY healthcare and home remedies  (Read 2385 times)

SimpleCycle

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DIY healthcare and home remedies
« on: July 21, 2018, 08:36:35 PM »
What DIY tips to you have for taking care of your health and treating minor ailments?

This post brought to you by me realizing that the second most effective back pain remedy for me is icing the offending joint.  I also go to a fabulous chiropractor for $60 a visit, but ice each night is a wonderful healing ritual.  For some people heat works better for back pain.

Our other big one is honey for coughs.  There’s evidence it works as well as cough medicine, plus kids over 1 can have it.

rosarugosa

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Re: DIY healthcare and home remedies
« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2018, 02:16:02 PM »
Sleeping with an extra pillow when you have a cough.
Lots of ibuprofen for menstrual cramps.

lbmustache

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Re: DIY healthcare and home remedies
« Reply #2 on: July 22, 2018, 04:19:39 PM »
I'm a hypochondriac so it takes a lot of willpower to not go into the doctor for every little thing.

A few things I can recommend:
1) An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Wash your hands. Use hand sanitizer if you're touching things that a lot of people touch (like, a public keyboard). Eat healthy. Get enough sleep. Exercise, and make an effort to work on flexibility too. 

2) Know how to sift through the the gems and trash on google. We all know the joke - a minor headache is suddenly cancer according to WebMD. Google symptoms, read several articles, maybe scour some forums, etc. before coming to a conclusion.

3) Know what you can do at home. Back pain? Google youtube videos by chiropractors. I had horrible neck pain until I committed to a few neck exercises (a new pillow). Certain plants/oils DO actually work (ex. active ingredients in Vicks and Tiger Balm are plant-based: menthol, eucalyptus, etc.). Salt water can do a whole lot for a lot of ailments. These aren't going to fix major problems or cure major diseases obviously, but a lot of minor things can be fixed with items you have around the house.

4) For me at least, because I have a terrible health plan with very little coverage/high copays (and limited copays! :( ), it is worth it to spend money on products that have good reviews for given ailments. For example, the pillow mentioned above. I recently screwed up my thumb and bought a thumb brace at Target which fixed the mobility problem after a few days of wearing it. It would have been pointless to spend money at the doctor, for something easily searchable and solvable by quick purchases.

Sibley

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Re: DIY healthcare and home remedies
« Reply #3 on: July 22, 2018, 06:52:11 PM »
General:
- get plenty of moderate exercise.
- eat lots of fruits and vegetables
- get adequate sleep

If you're sick:
- lots of fluids
- plenty of rest

TheWifeHalf

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Re: DIY healthcare and home remedies
« Reply #4 on: July 22, 2018, 07:14:33 PM »
One thing was extremely helpful, though probably not helpful to others on this board, but who knows, maybe you know someone who could use it:

When I was in the car accident, I had a closed head trauma. One of the things that happened (among others unfortunately) was my head hit the passenger door on my right front of my head. What happened is my brain shook to the left of my head, and when it bounced back, nerves were disconnected on the left. So, though I was hit on the right, and I've always heard the opposite side is affected, actually my right side of my body was affected.

One of the effects was the rocks in my ear (sorry, I din't know the medical term for them, they help maintain balance) were shaken to a different area of the ear, not all, just some. This really screwed up my balance, them being where they weren't supposed to be.

My family doctor knew this and referred me to an ear, nose, and throat doctor. He referred me to a place that performed the "Epley  Maneuver." I just laid on a bed/board, with my head hanging a little over the end, they moved my head in a certain way, they saw my eyeballs dancing around, so yep, I needed the maneuver.

They held my head in a certain way, turned it a certain way, saw my eyeball movements were less. Then, they had me come back in a week and do it again. What they were doing was moving the displaced rocks to a place where they wouldn't cause any problems (they could not put them back where they came from)
Whoever this Epley person was, he was a genius - problem gone, no surgery!

I don't need them anymore, but now, every few months or so, I need to do it again. Well, that place has closed down, but U Tube has a couple of videos that explain it very well, and I do it when I think it might help.

I used to have 'disembarkment syndrome' meaning sometimes I felt like I just got off of a cruise ship. The Epley helps with that too. I only get it now when I ride in TheHusbandHalf's truck. I get out, stand holding on to the door for a minute, and I'm fine.
« Last Edit: July 22, 2018, 07:19:58 PM by TheWifeHalf »

spicykissa

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Re: DIY healthcare and home remedies
« Reply #5 on: July 22, 2018, 08:20:56 PM »
The Epley story is awesome! Very cool (and definitely can do it yourself at home).

This might be TMI, but in the hospital where I work we use magnesium citrate (which is OTC) and prune juice for severe post-operative constipation. That and fiber are your friends. We also give out Tylenol like candy--it is safer than ibuprofen long-term, if you stay below 4g per day (unless your liver is bad!).

Honey is also very good for wounds, due to its antibacterial properties. There's an entire line of expensive wound care products derived from it.

SimpleCycle

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Re: DIY healthcare and home remedies
« Reply #6 on: July 23, 2018, 07:41:01 AM »
@lbmustache, I've found so much good information on YouTube!  I attended a "seminar" of sorts on Plantar Fasciitis by a physical therapist that taught me a ton, and was able to fix my problem with OTC shoe inserts and some exercises.

wenchsenior

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Re: DIY healthcare and home remedies
« Reply #7 on: July 23, 2018, 08:18:01 AM »
One thing was extremely helpful, though probably not helpful to others on this board, but who knows, maybe you know someone who could use it:

When I was in the car accident, I had a closed head trauma. One of the things that happened (among others unfortunately) was my head hit the passenger door on my right front of my head. What happened is my brain shook to the left of my head, and when it bounced back, nerves were disconnected on the left. So, though I was hit on the right, and I've always heard the opposite side is affected, actually my right side of my body was affected.

One of the effects was the rocks in my ear (sorry, I din't know the medical term for them, they help maintain balance) were shaken to a different area of the ear, not all, just some. This really screwed up my balance, them being where they weren't supposed to be.

My family doctor knew this and referred me to an ear, nose, and throat doctor. He referred me to a place that performed the "Epley  Maneuver." I just laid on a bed/board, with my head hanging a little over the end, they moved my head in a certain way, they saw my eyeballs dancing around, so yep, I needed the maneuver.

They held my head in a certain way, turned it a certain way, saw my eyeball movements were less. Then, they had me come back in a week and do it again. What they were doing was moving the displaced rocks to a place where they wouldn't cause any problems (they could not put them back where they came from)
Whoever this Epley person was, he was a genius - problem gone, no surgery!

I don't need them anymore, but now, every few months or so, I need to do it again. Well, that place has closed down, but U Tube has a couple of videos that explain it very well, and I do it when I think it might help.

I used to have 'disembarkment syndrome' meaning sometimes I felt like I just got off of a cruise ship. The Epley helps with that too. I only get it now when I ride in TheHusbandHalf's truck. I get out, stand holding on to the door for a minute, and I'm fine.

Yup. 

I had an ear infection years ago that caused 2 solid weeks of bed spins so severe I couldn't even get out of bed without vomiting; I had to be kept stoned almost unconscious on motion sickness meds and fed eggs on toast by my husband 2x per day.  Ugh, it was horrific.  After the continuous bed spins stopped, I was ok if I didn't move my head or eyes (just sat still looking straight ahead) but it took about 2 months for the 'swings and swoops' when I moved my head at all to subside, and another 2 months for my brain to completely rewire itself so that my depth perception worked and I could walk outside or drive safely.  I still occasionally have trouble when hiking on trails near cliff edges, and have been known to crawl in those situations when it acts up.

Ever since then, that ear has been prone to 1) the crystals dislodging, which leads to the sudden 'swoops and spins' when I move my head, resulting in me just falling over; and 2) the inner ear swelling, which leads to the 'disembark syndrome' as you noted. 

The second one I find is helped by steroid nasal spray or antihistamines when it is acting up.  But when the crystals dislodge, if I do the Epley maneuver at home every few hours, the problem is gone in a few days.

I can even do yoga, and I can swim and do flip turns on a regular basis (which can aggravate the crystal-movement problem) without ear plugs.

This is a variant for ear crystals called the Foster maneuver that I find also works great.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0geKejo4VVb3U4AsUZXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTB0N2Noc21lBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNwaXZz?p=vertigo+fix+foster&fr2=piv-web&fr=yfp-t#id=2&iurl=https%3A%2F%2Fs-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2F736x%2F72%2Fb4%2Fbc%2F72b4bc0ce8c229c7314a36148fb757ce.jpg&action=click