Archive for April, 2010



The symptoms of herpes can be healed or prevented by using natural herbs. Some of the herbal treatments for herpes are essential oils, tinctures, and herbal teas. The herbal treatments can be used topically or orally and you don’t have to worry about any side effects. For decades now, these herbal treatments have been used by many people. Read on to find out what herbs are best used to treat herpes.

Melissa or lemon balm is quite expensive but you can easily find them in the market. To avoid oral herpes, add a few drops of the essential oil to the day cream you’re using. Lemon balm is also available in tea form and you can drink it everyday for more effective results. You can create your own tea by chopping lemon balm leaves. Use two teaspoon of lemon balm for a cup of water and boil it; brew it for another ten minutes.

Prunella vulgaris is another herbal treatment that you can use. This herb is also called ‘heal all’ or ‘self heal’. By mixing this herb with olive leaf extracts, lysine, and vitamin C. this mixture can suppress the outbreak of herpes.

You can also use Siberian ginseng or eleutherococcus to treat type 2 herpes virus. You can’t use this herb for treating the type 1 HSV though. Oftentimes, herpes and cold sores are due to stress. Ginseng helps in dealing with mental and physical stress due to exposures to viruses, physical exhaustion, pollution, noise, chemicals, and other things. Ginseng can also stimulate the immune system thereby preventing outbreaks. However, individuals suffering from apnea, narcolepsy, and high blood pressure should not use Siberian ginseng. Breastfeeding mothers and pregnant women are also not allowed to use such herb.

Some herbalists say that herbs are much more useful when taken in liquid form. Any kind of tea can ease the HSP type 1 symptoms since the falvenoids and polyphenols boost the immune system. Some studies also show that the HSV type 2 can also be suppressed by drinking tea regularly. Once the immune system is stimulated against viruses and bacteria, it will inhibit the occurrence of the two types of HSVs.

White and green teas are quite effective and you must take it regularly. Some individuals say that by applying the tea bags or brewed tea on the infected area, the healing process is faster which can only take 4 days.

Tea tincture is also good for healing herpes. It would be best to choose teas without caffeine for best results.

There is another herb that you can use, it is called thyme. This herb is an antiseptic and you can use it internally or externally. It promotes the production of leucocytes and can prevent herpes outbreaks. Each day, you can take thyme tea by boiling a cup of water with one tablespoon of thyme. You can even use thyme as a tonic and you must take it regularly. There are no side effects and it’s quite effective. Even pregnant women can use this herb. For those taking anti inflammatory medications, try to ask your doctor about it first.

As you can see, there are many herbal treatments for herpes. If you know how to use the herbs properly, herpes can be prevented. Use the herbs as instructed to see best results.



Treating hay fever naturally is all about finding what the cause is. The cause of ailments often surprises people. People often think that they must have a genetic predisposition as the cause. But, in truth, the cause of most ailments is much more in your control.

You see, if your immune system is in great shape, you just won’t get ill. Your immunity will be working exactly as it should be.

Sadly, most people have badly compromised immune systems, even though you may think you’re quite healthy.

Here are some common causes of weakening your immune system:

a diet rich in meat, dairy and/or processed foods (sugar, artificial, white flour, etc) a lifestyle devoid of natural sunshine on your bare skin a lifestyle spent mostly in buildings, with little access to nature a constant use of medical drugs, social drugs and/or vaccines a lack of your optimum amount of sleep not dealing with stresses as they occur

The last cause indicates that you’re not dealing with emotional stresses as they occur. Such as grief, shock, fright, anger, and a host of others that are commonly ‘swallowed’ rather than dealt with.

So by resolving the blockage caused by, say a grief, which was also perhaps the start of your hay fever, your immune system can once more start to work efficiently and your hay fever disappears.

Emotional blockages are by far the most common cause of all maladies. And I know no faster or more thoroughly effective ways to totally resolve them than by homeopathy. Treating hay fever with homeopathy will mean more than the resolution of the hay fever.

Fabulous though the results undoubtedly are, it can be quite difficult working out the best homeopathic medicine for the problem. Instead of the idea of ‘getting rid of’ the problem, it’s better to feel that the problem is there for a reason. Deal with that and it vanishes.

One of the most common homeopathic medicines for hay fever is Natrum muriaticum, Nat mur for short. This is found in all good home prescribing kits. The strong keynote symptoms of Nat mur are:

thin, watery nasal discharge in hay fever or a cold violent sneezing, especially first thing in the morning loss of smell and taste worse during the day, especially between about 10 am and 3 pm, better at night time generally worse for warmth, especially warmth of the sun



The experienced eyes of the doctor commonly diagnose genital herpes. Most of the doctors recognize the disease with clinical examination. To confirm the presence different tests are done. Many times the test reports indicate absence of herpes. They need to be repeated after some days. All the testing facility may not be available everywhere. You need to discuss with your doctor about the reliability of the test and identification of HSV1 or HSV2. The test reports may be misleading if sample is withdrawn from old crusted sores. The common tests that are done to find out the presence of herpes are as below.

Viral Culture-

The common test to confirm the presence of herpes is culture test. In culture test, a small sample of fluid or cells is taken from the suspected sore with a swab. This sample is sent for testing. Many times, the results may be negative but you may be having genital herpes. This test is therefore repeated after some time. The test reports of rapid viral test can take 2 to 3 days while that of standard culture may take up to two weeks.

Herpes virus antigen detection test- In this test, cells that are taken from the sore are viewed under a microscope,. The presence of herpes antigens confirms the presence of herpes infection. The results o9f this tests are reported in a day.

PCR- this test is done on cells or sores. In this test the DNA of herpes virus is detected. This test can identify between the two types of Viruses- HSV1 and HSV2. PCR results are reported within three days.

Blood test-

In blood test, blood is drawn either by a needle or with a pinprick. This blood is tested for the presence of herpes virus. Some tests can identify between HSV1 and HSV2. A blood test can only tell you about the presence of virus in your body. It cannot tell you if you have an active breakout.

Commonly blood is tested for the presence of anti bodies of herpes virus. Your doctor will inform you about the reliability of the blood test he/she has performed, because many varieties of blood test options are available. Antibody test results are reported within two days.

This article is only for informative purposes. This article is not intended to be a medical advise and it is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult your doctor for your medical concerns. Please follow any tip given in this article only after consulting your doctor. The author is not liable for any outcome or damage resulting from information obtained from this article.



Some physicians have wondered if they delay giving the seasonal flu shot to their patients now, even though the vaccine is available. They are concerned that if patients are vaccinated too early, that the immunity may decline leaving these patients vulnerable when the flu season begins in February – March 2010. This would be of particular concern if elderly patients could not maintain their immunity until flu season strikes, as this group is at high risk of severe flu complications.

The CDC, our nation’s most authoritative voice on medical prevention, advises physicians to administer flu shots now. While it is true that levels of flu antibody after vaccination do decline months after a flu shot, this does not mean that the individual is no longer protected. Flu and vaccine experts believe that an early flu shot will protect people for the entire flu season. In addition, if a physician is seeing a patient now, administering the flu shot guarantees that this individual has been vaccinated, rather than hope that the patient returns in a month or two when flu shots are typically given.

Flu shots are not perfect. When pharmaceutical companies manufacture them each year, they do not know in advance which strain of flu will be arriving. Epidemiologists, who study disease trends and outbreaks, try to predict which flu strains will hit us. This is a frustrating cat and mouse vaccine game. Sometimes, the epidemiologists win and sometime the flu virus prevails.

The seasonal flu vaccine is currently recommended to :

o Children 6 months-18 years old
o Adults older than 50
o Pregnant women
o People with underlying medical conditions
o Health care workers

Don’t delay the flu shot. Get it now. Of course, the seasonal flu shot will not protect you against the ‘swine flu’ H1N1 virus. In other words, you’ll be rolling up your sleeve again in a month or two.



Of course, you can protect yourself against the seasonal flu by practicing good hygiene (wash your hands as often as possible); however, you may want extra protection from a flu shot. How can you go about getting that shot?

If you are covered by insurance, a good place to start is your primary care doctor. However, you want to take into account your co-pay. Some individuals end up paying more money than they would have if they had just opted for a flu shot clinic where you can pay cash. Speaking of those clinics, how can you find one?

There are two different types for clinics offered for these vaccinations. One is hosted through your local country health department and the other is hosted through local retail stores. In most cases, the cost of a flu shot is no more than $40. If you are uninsured, these are your best options to getting a flu shot without paying an arm and a leg.

To find a flu shot clinic locally:

Call Around: Start by contacting your local retail stores (including grocery stores and drug stores). See if they have any upcoming events scheduled. If you missed one already, ask if they intend to have anymore. If there is a possibility, see if you can leave your phone number. Also, start calling around your local country offices, namely the health department; ask if they have any upcoming flu shot clinics scheduled.

Check Online: You have a number of options when it comes to checking online. There are some websites that are like flu shot checkers; you can enter in your zip code and get a list of upcoming clinics in your area. You can also visit the online websites of local retail stores or your country’s health department. Moreover, many news channels have information on flu clinics in the area posted on their website. The good news is that this information is usually updated regularly, so you should know in advance if a clinic is cancelled due to a shortage of supplies.

So there you have it: you now know how to find a flu shot clinic in your area. While the shot is not necessary or required by any means, it may help prevent you from getting sick or it may limit your symptoms this flu season.



It’s one of the hallmarks of spring that I see every year. Lots of people with red eyes, sniffly noses, and bouts of sneezing. It reminds me that spring is here, and so is the annual hay fever season.

Some people’s immune systems have become over-reactive to some naturally occurring airborne particles, particularly pollens from all those new flowers. Immunoglobulins, a component of your immune system, continually patrol your mucous membranes. When they encounter an invader, they alert other members of your immune system to release histamine and throw off the foreign particles; by sneezing and producing lots of mucus to wash it out.

Unfortunately, some of us have immune systems that have become over-reactive, leading to a full scale histamine release when only a moderate response is necessary to do the job.

If you suffer from hay fever, you’ll be pleased to hear that there are many natural remedies available to help your immune system calm down.

One old home remedy is to submerge your hands in water as hot as you can bear. This will ease the sneezing and running nose within minutes, but as most of us dont want to remain tethered to a handbasin all day, its not practical in the long run.

Another, very effective remedy involves a small change in your diet. Naturopaths have long found that people who consume a large amount of dairy food are more prone to hay fever. Try excluding all dairy from your diet this week and see how your hay fever responds. (That’s all milk, cheese, butter, cream, ice cream and yoghurt from cows or goat or any other animal). Some people find that excluding dairy from their diet during the hay fever season is all they need to do for a big improvement in their symptoms.

For the third remedy I must issue a warning as well, as mega doses of vitamins can be harmful. Some people find that chewing on a 500mg vitamin C tablet relieves their sneezing for about 15 minutes, then they might have to repeat once or twice more for a long term effect. Vitamin C is actually a natural anti-histamine, and acts by ‘hosing down’ the excessive histamine release by your mucous membranes. However this remedy should not be used by children, by anyone on medication (it might interact negatively), or if you have a kidney disorder. If in doubt, check with your doctor or pharmacist.

And finally, there are some excellent homoeopathic remedies available ‘over the counter’ to ease your symptoms. Your local health food store or pharmacy will have some in stock. The beauty of homoeopathics is that they’re safe for everyone to use, and won’t interact negatively with any medications.

So, now you have some natural tools to help you overcome your hay fever, you can enjoy the wonderful flowers of spring without worry!



Chemo brain has a variety of symptoms. The intensity varies as well. With some sufferers, symptoms may last a few weeks. For others it may take years to get over. With that in mind, are there standard chemo brain treatments? What can be done to speed up recovery? What is the best solution to get your life back on track?

The symptoms are temporary. With that in mind, treatment focuses on coping with symptoms. Coping until they go away sooner or later. According to the Mayo Clinic, there are no standard chemo brain treatments.

Symptoms differ from person to person. How severe and how long also differs. With this in mind, chemo brain treatments are different for every person.

Other issues may cause symptoms as well. These issues may also result from cancer treatment. Controlling these other factors may also help. These issues may include:

- Depression
- Anemia
- Sleeping problems
- Early menopause

No drug is approved for chemo brain treatments. That is also according to the Mayo Clinic. But chemo brain treatments can include drugs to treat the symptoms. Drugs used for the following may be helpful:

- Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- Sleep disorders
- Alzheimer’s disease

The cognitive problems can be very scary. You feel like you are losing your mind. Losing your mind is losing your personality and self. It is one of the hardest things to deal with.

Some ways to help cope with memory issues are:

- Tracking memory problems. You may find patterns that can help you schedule your day so you can perform better.
- Learning coping strategies. Like taking notes when you read something. Get a personal digital assistant to help track appointments is another example. Be strict about putting things like keys in a certain place.
- Stress relief. Stress can cause memory problems. Having memory problems can cause stress. Break this cycle by learning how to relax.

It is only recently that the condition is recognized as real. As more studies are done, there will be more studies on chemo brain treatments.

The symptoms are close to dementia. Age related dementia takes decades to appear. You take on coping strategies slowly, over time. You don’t even notice it happening.

With chemo brain, you have just survived cancer. That is a life changing experience. The symptoms come on all at once. You are mentally and physically defeated. That’s why it is so much harder to deal with.

I’ve done a lot of research on this topic. The best solution I’ve come across is brain training. It is one of the best treatments because it’s usually fast acting. Many improve in a few weeks.

I encourage you to look into memory and thinking exercises. Ones that can help your brain repair broken circuits. The best are those that others have used in their own chemo brain treatments. Where they can provide tried and true results.



Cocaine is classified as a Schedule-II drug because it has a high risk of addiction and abuse. Recent studies have shown that as of 2008, 1.9 million people were abusing cocaine. These reports also suggest that an average of 2000 new people try cocaine every day. These numbers are staggering when you consider the extreme risk these new users are taking on. There are ways to monitor people’s drug usage, and to know if someone has experimented with cocaine.

One Step Cocaine Test are easy to use and provide results in minutes. They can be used to monitor employees or family members if drug use is suspected. To use the test, you first need a urine sample. For accuracy purposes, the urine should be collected in a clean, dry container. The urine can be stored for up to two days before the test is administered, and you will still get accurate results.

The urine and the test should be at room temperature at the time the test is conducted. The test card will come packed in a small pouch. Hold the test card vertically with the small arrows pointing down, and submerse it in the cup of urine for ten to fifteen seconds. When you pull the test card out of the urine, lay it flat on a hard, clean surface for approximately five minutes.

On the test card, there will be a control area and a results area. If a red line appears in the control area, but not the test area, that means the test is positive. If two lines appear in the control area and one line appears in the test area, that means the test is negative. If no line appears in the control area, that means the test was performed incorrectly. This is usually caused by the strip no being submersed in the urine for an adequate amount of time.



For your life to be great, your faith must be bigger than your fears.

I suppose it’s normal to be a little afraid and hesitant when faced with the choice. Almost every guy that I talk to says the same thing, but they go ahead with it anyway, and making that decision changes their lives. Let me explain to you what I mean.

The first of May, 1982 was a day that will live a long time for me. It started out as one of those unsettled days, weather wise, but turned out to be the day that everything changed… for the better of course for me. It was the day that I got married.

By this time, Judy and I had been going together for a couple of years. I was 22, and Judy a little younger than that, but we knew what we were doing and we were both completely committed to what we could create together. It was the people around us who were questioning us. You know the kind of looks you get when people are wondering about you and your decisions: eyebrows raised, sideward glances, a question in every conversation.

Even Pete, my best man, came hammering on my door first thing that morning, a stressed look on his face, blurting out questions rapid fire not waiting for me to answer one before he shot out the next, “Are you really going to go ahead with this? You won’t run will you? Are you sure this is what you want? Where are you going today? What time will you be back? Are you really sure? What happens if you don’t show up? Are you really sure? Why are you so calm? Aren’t you nervous?”

Doing my best to calm him, I gave him my best smile, looked him in the eye and said, “Yes, I’m really going ahead with this, yes I’m nervous, No I won’t run, yes I really want this, I’m calm because I have faith in us. I need nothing else.”

“Man, you’d better think about this” He said as if the thought had just occurred to him and as if he actually thought that I hadn’t already thought about it up to that point.

“Do you think I haven’t?” I asked. “I have been thinking about this for over a year now, and when faced with the facts, I really don’t believe that I would do anything differently than I have. It’s the only thing that I have ever done that makes any sense. Believe me, I was made for this.”

I had zero butterflies… I had zero regrets… I had zero fears.

Now, 25 years later, I have zero regrets… I have zero doubts… I have zero fears.

I went into making this decision having complete faith in both Judy and me, and in the fact that we were doing what we were supposed to do. And that’s the way I like to go in on every important decision that I make.

We all must make them. Some face up to them with courage, while others turn tail and run screaming from the room, but when your decision is walking up the aisle, bigger than life itself, you’d better be sure that you have faith in yourself and in your abilities. Because when you say “I do”, you’d better be ready to do whatever it takes to make it happen.

Of course not all decisions carry such a valuable prize, but all decisions require the same level of commitment. If you’re going to say “I do” and then you don’t, and you do it a couple of times, then you start to get into a pattern that can lead to a lack of commitment and ultimately to a lack of success.

Making important decisions requires you to step, screaming and shouting if you must, out of your old skin and into a newer one, custom made for you, by you to match each situation. Each one that you make requires a change of some sort, mental, emotional or physical, but it requires belief in yourself and in your abilities. You can’t remain who you are today and deal with the challenges that you will have tomorrow. You cannot be who you were and who you are at the same time. It takes giving up one to become the next.

Ask any person who has made any significant decision in their lives if they are the same person today that they were before they made the choice. They’ll probably answer “No, I’m much stronger now”. It seems that the harder the decision is to make, the stronger a person becomes. Even if it does not work out the way that they had envisioned it, they still become stronger. Just as it says in Proverbs 27:17 in the old testament of the bible “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another”, the same can be said with making decisions: As Iron sharpens iron, so making difficult decisions sharpens us. So, don’t be fearful of making decisions, be more fearful of not making them.

But, rushing headlong into making big decisions is folly. You’ve got to know that you know that you know that you know it’s the right decision. Get the facts, weigh the facts, spend time with the facts and then make your decision, not before.

How big is your faith in yourself in making the difficult choices in life? If it is big enough, you can drive out all doubts and fears and replace them with confidence. You can stand at the altar of life, in front of a room full of witnesses and boldly say “I do” and know that you will because you are bigger than your fears.

Make this your best week ever.

Paul



Hay fever (allergic rhinitis) is most prevalent during the spring and summer seasons, however it can occur year round if an individual is particularly susceptible. Reactions are caused by the tiny pollen of wind-pollinated plants. Locations with large quantities of trees, grasses and weeds are hot spots for hay fever. Locations without much vegetation often have much lower occurrence rates of hay fever, however the risk of developing allergic rhinitis still exists in these areas.

Allergic rhinitis is a form of standard rhinitis, which is the medical term for a runny nose. The fever occurs when the mucous membrane in the nose becomes inflamed. When the mucous membrane is inflamed, excessive amounts of mucus are secreted. Other symptoms include nasal congestion (stuffy nose), and post-nasal drip (phlegm in the throat). In addition to effecting the nose and throat, also effected are the eyes, causing an increase in fluid production (watery, sensitive eyes).

Hay fever is mostly blamed on pollen from trees, plants and grasses, however there are many other ways that one can develop symptoms. Dusty areas, such as a warehouse or storage facility, can cause symptoms. Dust itself causes bodily reactions that are similar to that of pollen reactions. Another common cause of rhinitis is animal dander, which is similar to dandruff. Animal dander is prevalent in all homes with animals, and is naturally occurring. There is no way to prevent animal dander, however it can be reduced. There are a number of treatments available for hay fever and pollen allergies.