A memory of mine has been re-lived about one of my high school buddies who once was admitted to a hospital for a fractured right leg he sustained from motorcycle racing practice. In one of my visits to him in his room he mentioned about his one experience of getting high with valium, a regulated drug he was prescribed with for pain. He said he felt good, and on later days, pretended to be in pain and attempted to request the nurse to administer him the drug. Per pain evaluation by the nurse he was turned down and instead was given an analgesic tablet. He was later on downgraded by the doctor for “per orem” (mouth) pain medication instead of the injectable valium sensing drug-abuse or an eventual development of drug addiction during his hospital stay.
That memory popped in my mind when my Nursing classmate, Ms. Carmelie Albarece RN, who currently works in a hospital in the U.S. posted verses on her Facebook wall. Her extensive experience caring for patients in the hospital had her develop instinctive ways to identify patients who might be addicted or might be starting to abuse intravenous pain medications. I am re-posting the excerpts from her post with her permission. It read:
Facts about your "Pain"
1. When you tell me to wake you up at 2 in the morning for your Dilaudid...you are not in pain.
2. If you set your alarm every 3 hours, so you can't miss a minute of your pain med... you are not in pain.
3. When you are in your phone talking or texting and eating your Big Mac, when I ask for your pain level... your pain is not at 10.
4. If Percocet and Vicodin don't work for your pain, but you can say, “Dilala” 10 x faster... then you are not in pain.
5. If you can walk out AMA (Against Medical Advice) because you didn't get your Dilaudid and Phenergan.., you are not in pain.
6. If I have to shake you, snap my fingers or yell to wake you up for you pain meds... you are not in pain.
And oh! our vanilla ice cream doesn't come with whipped cream.
Drug abuse is said to be rampant in U.S. Hospitals with patients thinking otherwise because, they say, the meds are prescribed by their doctors. Well, the medical professionals work what’s ethically good for the patients. A nurse, being one of those professionals who do actual hands-on care with the patients day in, day out knows best.
Monday, October 3, 2016
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Getting Rid of Morning Neck and Back Muscle Stiffness in One Day
Waking up one day with stiff left neck and left upper back muscles I couldn’t almost move to turn my head to one side and move my left arm at certain points. Doing so caused me much pain and discomfort on my back and neck. As a result, the neck and arm on the affected side were rendered limited in mobility. There’s no doubt, both were the cause of my sleeping and positioning to my left side almost all night. I spent half the following day guarding my every neck and arm movement.
It was one long, 4-day holiday-weekend at the time and being burdened with such an unfortunate state of mobility at the middle of the holidays is a sorry state. So I got myself in a “fighting mood” the other half of that day. I thought I just couldn’t let the pain and stiffness spoil the remaining days.
First, I started to repeatedly move my arms and neck slowly on and away from the affected side acquainting myself with the pain and discomforts. When I did start to tolerate them I proceeded to exercise them within range of motion every now and then. For once, I had the muscles massaged by a cousin with the application of efficascent (liniment) oil. I even had a home vacuumed-glass application (similar to cupping therapy) to the area for a few minutes. However, going into the night I was still annoyed and frustrated with the persistent discomforts, though, a little bit improving.
Unsatisfied and out of desperation I had to force-stretch the muscle areas affected several times which I noticed some amount of relief. I had them stretched to their limits repeatedly resting only for a few minutes then back again. After dinner, I went back to my stretching exercises and finally before going to sleep for the night, still with the symptoms in restricted and guarded sleeping positions.
The following day, I woke up to my astonishment that everything was very much different and seemed back to normal with very minimal, totally tolerable pain and discomfort. I considered that the collective interventions I employed the previous day did work and that the result was not immediately in effect at that time. Although, I think the stretching exercises impacted the most benefit. Had I not faithfully administered those self-care interventions I would have to wait three to four days for the unwanted pain and discomforts of stiffness to subside on their own without any medication.
It was one long, 4-day holiday-weekend at the time and being burdened with such an unfortunate state of mobility at the middle of the holidays is a sorry state. So I got myself in a “fighting mood” the other half of that day. I thought I just couldn’t let the pain and stiffness spoil the remaining days.
First, I started to repeatedly move my arms and neck slowly on and away from the affected side acquainting myself with the pain and discomforts. When I did start to tolerate them I proceeded to exercise them within range of motion every now and then. For once, I had the muscles massaged by a cousin with the application of efficascent (liniment) oil. I even had a home vacuumed-glass application (similar to cupping therapy) to the area for a few minutes. However, going into the night I was still annoyed and frustrated with the persistent discomforts, though, a little bit improving.
Unsatisfied and out of desperation I had to force-stretch the muscle areas affected several times which I noticed some amount of relief. I had them stretched to their limits repeatedly resting only for a few minutes then back again. After dinner, I went back to my stretching exercises and finally before going to sleep for the night, still with the symptoms in restricted and guarded sleeping positions.
The following day, I woke up to my astonishment that everything was very much different and seemed back to normal with very minimal, totally tolerable pain and discomfort. I considered that the collective interventions I employed the previous day did work and that the result was not immediately in effect at that time. Although, I think the stretching exercises impacted the most benefit. Had I not faithfully administered those self-care interventions I would have to wait three to four days for the unwanted pain and discomforts of stiffness to subside on their own without any medication.
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
My Self-Remedies in Fighting off and Winning Quickly in the Battle with Flu
Once in a while, I get to catch a dreaded flu virus even though I always make it a point to watch over my health particularly in boosting and maintaining immunity from common illnesses. I remember years ago that it’d get me up to three days to fully recover from battling this feverish illness that tends to visit me every once in a while. Lately however, I have always since been able to recover quickly in just a day. I almost couldn’t believe it the first time that I could be up the next day to report for office.
Most probably, as I've learned from reading health articles particularly updates on immune boosting nutrition and activities, plus my Bachelor of Nursing education I am able to “fight off” quickly with self-remedy the debilitating attack of the influenza virus in such a shorter time span. It helps being equipped with knowledge and taking up arms to fight off the sickness. Remarkably, my unyielding attitude towards the flu does help a lot.
It all begins with my instinct telling me the sickness has struck in its early stage as manifested by sore throat, fatigue and chills. That said, I would be readily up in “fight” mode. Taking in plenty of water comes in first. Fruits, most especially (but not limited to) citrus ones and veggies are automatically increased in intake, though not necessarily compromising the basic food group (protein, fat, carbs) inclusion in diet.
A slice of fingernail-sized garlic taken after meals twice in a day comes in next. As the sickness progresses I’d still be reinforcing myself with milk, sports drink and more water. Oftentimes, an ingestion of probiotics such as yogurt or lactobacillus drink is included. All are taken but spaced by hours accordingly.
Lying in bed most of the time to have a good amount of rest doesn’t mean I give up the battle. I always fight to get a good sleep in the midst of the discomforts associated with the flu. It helps preserve and recharge my waning energy.
My body always thank me for everything. After all, my own personal support is what it needs the most during one of the most challenging times in my health. Already up and noting that the fever would have subsided in the afternoon, I’d give myself just another immune boost to go out and watch the sunset while giving myself that dose of vitamin D.
I’d be back at the office the following day without that fever. And with a replenished energy I would just be filing just one-day leave, sparing the remaining of days for that year-end cash-convertible, unused “Sick Leaves”.
I wouldn’t mind the cough and colds that usually still persist for days. These are just treated with mucous softening medication especially carbocisteine with staple addition of kalamansi juice or orange in between meals for additional expectorant effect and natural vitamin C supplement. Nevertheless, treating these residual symptoms is only the final “combing” operation a few days after the battle with that pesky flu has days been won.
Most probably, as I've learned from reading health articles particularly updates on immune boosting nutrition and activities, plus my Bachelor of Nursing education I am able to “fight off” quickly with self-remedy the debilitating attack of the influenza virus in such a shorter time span. It helps being equipped with knowledge and taking up arms to fight off the sickness. Remarkably, my unyielding attitude towards the flu does help a lot.
It all begins with my instinct telling me the sickness has struck in its early stage as manifested by sore throat, fatigue and chills. That said, I would be readily up in “fight” mode. Taking in plenty of water comes in first. Fruits, most especially (but not limited to) citrus ones and veggies are automatically increased in intake, though not necessarily compromising the basic food group (protein, fat, carbs) inclusion in diet.
A slice of fingernail-sized garlic taken after meals twice in a day comes in next. As the sickness progresses I’d still be reinforcing myself with milk, sports drink and more water. Oftentimes, an ingestion of probiotics such as yogurt or lactobacillus drink is included. All are taken but spaced by hours accordingly.
Lying in bed most of the time to have a good amount of rest doesn’t mean I give up the battle. I always fight to get a good sleep in the midst of the discomforts associated with the flu. It helps preserve and recharge my waning energy.
My body always thank me for everything. After all, my own personal support is what it needs the most during one of the most challenging times in my health. Already up and noting that the fever would have subsided in the afternoon, I’d give myself just another immune boost to go out and watch the sunset while giving myself that dose of vitamin D.
I’d be back at the office the following day without that fever. And with a replenished energy I would just be filing just one-day leave, sparing the remaining of days for that year-end cash-convertible, unused “Sick Leaves”.
I wouldn’t mind the cough and colds that usually still persist for days. These are just treated with mucous softening medication especially carbocisteine with staple addition of kalamansi juice or orange in between meals for additional expectorant effect and natural vitamin C supplement. Nevertheless, treating these residual symptoms is only the final “combing” operation a few days after the battle with that pesky flu has days been won.
Friday, August 26, 2016
Immediate and Most Effective First-Aid Treatment During Injury - Cold Compress or Cold Pack
The cold compress or cold pack is a very common first-aid treatment for some injuries many people still don’t know about. It is very effective in preventing or minimizing swelling of an injured part of your body immediately after injury. It helps prevent or minimize tissue inflammation which contributes to pain hours or days after the onset of injury.
Initial reaction of the body to cellular insult is the process of inflammation which starts to manifest as swelling. By initiating cold compress or cold pack immediately as first-aid to the injury the swelling of the tissues is effectively prevented or minimized by the constricting action of cold therapy to the blood vessels surrounding the tissue. Moreover, the numbing effect of cold application helps to relieve or minimize pain. By controlling the inflammation, the tissue is able to recover in a shorter time.
Cold compress or cold application should be applied to the injury as soon as it is available right after the incident or within 24-48 hours. The duration of application should not be more than 20 minutes at a time, removing it after 10 minutes and put back again after a minute or two. Repeat application can be done before the 2nd day lapses. It is best for non-serious, closed injuries that do not warrant emergency medical intervention such as sprain, stretched muscles, or blunt blows.
This post is focused only in cold compress or cold pack application as immediate first-aid intervention. Other intervention may or not be given sooner or later. It all depends on the caretaker. Suffice to say that the natural process of healing is all that is needed assuming proper care has been rendered.
Initial reaction of the body to cellular insult is the process of inflammation which starts to manifest as swelling. By initiating cold compress or cold pack immediately as first-aid to the injury the swelling of the tissues is effectively prevented or minimized by the constricting action of cold therapy to the blood vessels surrounding the tissue. Moreover, the numbing effect of cold application helps to relieve or minimize pain. By controlling the inflammation, the tissue is able to recover in a shorter time.
Cold compress or cold application should be applied to the injury as soon as it is available right after the incident or within 24-48 hours. The duration of application should not be more than 20 minutes at a time, removing it after 10 minutes and put back again after a minute or two. Repeat application can be done before the 2nd day lapses. It is best for non-serious, closed injuries that do not warrant emergency medical intervention such as sprain, stretched muscles, or blunt blows.
This post is focused only in cold compress or cold pack application as immediate first-aid intervention. Other intervention may or not be given sooner or later. It all depends on the caretaker. Suffice to say that the natural process of healing is all that is needed assuming proper care has been rendered.
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Effective, Cheap, Self and Home Remedy - Partially Detached Toenail or Fingernail Injury
When any of your toe or finger accidentally hits or is hit forcefully by something hard during a hapless movement one possibility is that the nail might partially be detached from its nail bed by the force. The resulting sensation is often very painful right after the incident. You will not just have to suffer with the pain but also take the risk of infection days after if not attended to. But relax, you can actually skip going to the doctor’s clinic for that. You can effectively and cheaply treat it yourself practically at home.
The resulting insult to the tissue of your nail bed usually causes it to pool blood to the site of injury and cause it to swell within minutes. The swelling will compress the nerves surrounding the tissue and will cause further pain even days after the incident if not immediately treated. In that case, a cold compress or cold pack treatment will be very effective to help to prevent just that. You can read further about the simple cold compress here. It will also significantly help diminish the pain right then.
After two days you can start to soak your injured and partially detached toenail or fingernail in warm water with a small basin. The wound gap inside your toenail or fingernail will be too delicate to touch at that time so that it would be difficult to treat it topically with anything. However, not treating it at all will cause it to get infected.
The trick, then, is to add antibacterial soap to the warm water you are soaking your injured hand or foot with. The soapy solution will diminish the water tension, thus making it softer. Try to wiggle your hand or foot in the water a little vigorously. The soft water can penetrate the small gaps between your nail and, therefore, clean the wound underneath. Soak and shake as long as you can. Follow the same procedure with a plain warm water to rinse the soap off.
The next step is to shake off excess water to air, expose it to an electric fan or tap gently with clean, soft cloth to dry. Finally, you can put drops of Betadine solution and allow it to penetrate inside the nail gaps and reach the wound deep under the nail. Do so once or twice a day depending on how much it is exposed or made in contact with contaminants. You can choose to wrap with loose dry gauze for further protection.
The above remedy procedures should be done every day until you are confident that the wound has totally healed. The nail will go off by itself slowly as it is being pushed out with the growth of newly formed replacement nail.
This cheap and self home remedy should effectively save you trips to the doctor's clinic help save time and money. Spare those clinic fees for the house bills.
The resulting insult to the tissue of your nail bed usually causes it to pool blood to the site of injury and cause it to swell within minutes. The swelling will compress the nerves surrounding the tissue and will cause further pain even days after the incident if not immediately treated. In that case, a cold compress or cold pack treatment will be very effective to help to prevent just that. You can read further about the simple cold compress here. It will also significantly help diminish the pain right then.
After two days you can start to soak your injured and partially detached toenail or fingernail in warm water with a small basin. The wound gap inside your toenail or fingernail will be too delicate to touch at that time so that it would be difficult to treat it topically with anything. However, not treating it at all will cause it to get infected.
The trick, then, is to add antibacterial soap to the warm water you are soaking your injured hand or foot with. The soapy solution will diminish the water tension, thus making it softer. Try to wiggle your hand or foot in the water a little vigorously. The soft water can penetrate the small gaps between your nail and, therefore, clean the wound underneath. Soak and shake as long as you can. Follow the same procedure with a plain warm water to rinse the soap off.
The next step is to shake off excess water to air, expose it to an electric fan or tap gently with clean, soft cloth to dry. Finally, you can put drops of Betadine solution and allow it to penetrate inside the nail gaps and reach the wound deep under the nail. Do so once or twice a day depending on how much it is exposed or made in contact with contaminants. You can choose to wrap with loose dry gauze for further protection.
The above remedy procedures should be done every day until you are confident that the wound has totally healed. The nail will go off by itself slowly as it is being pushed out with the growth of newly formed replacement nail.
This cheap and self home remedy should effectively save you trips to the doctor's clinic help save time and money. Spare those clinic fees for the house bills.
Friday, July 29, 2016
Our Mind's Natural Alarm Clock : Wake Up on Time and Ditch the Noisy, Annoying Gadget
It’s Sunday night and before you finally shut the lights off you reach for the alarm clock to set it at 5:30 AM. You want to wake up early because you have a very important business appointment the following day. Unfortunately, you forgot that the clock’s battery was due for replacement and it stopped ticking just before the cock even crow. You enjoyed wandering in dreamland past 5:30 and by the time you do wake up it’s almost 7 Am. You rush to beat the 8 AM business appointment that was to be the first big deal of your life. Either you make it in time or you don’t, thanks to distance and traffic from your house to the venue.
Situations like that do happen and it’s relatively caused by our dependence on physical factors that influence our wake-up time. We tend to rely too much on external source like gadgets such as cellphones and alarm clocks, or someone to wake us up on certain time of day or night. Unknown to many, though, is that our brain is actually equipped with the ability to do just that task.
Separate studies conducted by Jan Born (University of Lubeck, Germany) and William Moorcroft (Director of the Sleep and Dreams Laboratory at Luther College, Iowa) demonstrated that certain hormone ACTH (Adrenocorticotrophic hormone) is secreted by the pituitary gland (pea sized body attached to the base of the brain) to act as our internal alarm clock. Our anticipation to wake up at a certain time triggers the release of this hormone during our intended wake up time. That means, we can actually wake up at will.
I have long employed this mind’s ability a long time ago and it almost never failed to wake me up on time. You too can tap your mind’s built-in alarm clock. You can practice on weekends when you can put off your alarm safely. Before you go to sleep focus and mentally instruct yourself to wake up earlier than you used to on weekends. Mentally focused, close your eyes and say, “wake me up at 5:00 am” as if you are instructing your mind. Do so two or three more times. You’ll be surprised to be even waking up before then. If it doesn’t work the first time it surely will work on your second or third attempt. When you’ve mastered setting your mind’s built-in alarm clock you can eventually ditch that annoying desk clock. The upside with your mind’s built-in natural alarm is that you will be more alert in getting up than you would with that annoying sound of the gadget. Go close that biggest business deal of your life.
Situations like that do happen and it’s relatively caused by our dependence on physical factors that influence our wake-up time. We tend to rely too much on external source like gadgets such as cellphones and alarm clocks, or someone to wake us up on certain time of day or night. Unknown to many, though, is that our brain is actually equipped with the ability to do just that task.
Separate studies conducted by Jan Born (University of Lubeck, Germany) and William Moorcroft (Director of the Sleep and Dreams Laboratory at Luther College, Iowa) demonstrated that certain hormone ACTH (Adrenocorticotrophic hormone) is secreted by the pituitary gland (pea sized body attached to the base of the brain) to act as our internal alarm clock. Our anticipation to wake up at a certain time triggers the release of this hormone during our intended wake up time. That means, we can actually wake up at will.
I have long employed this mind’s ability a long time ago and it almost never failed to wake me up on time. You too can tap your mind’s built-in alarm clock. You can practice on weekends when you can put off your alarm safely. Before you go to sleep focus and mentally instruct yourself to wake up earlier than you used to on weekends. Mentally focused, close your eyes and say, “wake me up at 5:00 am” as if you are instructing your mind. Do so two or three more times. You’ll be surprised to be even waking up before then. If it doesn’t work the first time it surely will work on your second or third attempt. When you’ve mastered setting your mind’s built-in alarm clock you can eventually ditch that annoying desk clock. The upside with your mind’s built-in natural alarm is that you will be more alert in getting up than you would with that annoying sound of the gadget. Go close that biggest business deal of your life.
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