After looking at them for a while (and getting tired of sinus problems), we bought a Neti Pot.
They are always available at ONF, but within a day, all of them were sold out. We wondered why, and it turns out that they were featured on Oprah last week.
So, we tried it out last night. The experience wasn’t as bad as I thought.
You tilt your head to the side, plug up a nostril with the spout of the Neti Pot, and let the saltwater pour out. It runs through your nasal passages, and out the other nostril. You have to breathe through your mouth, and it kinda feels as if you’re drowning. Then repeat with the other nostril.
It really seems to help. I can breathe ALOT better now. You’re supposed to really see an improvement if you do it daily for three weeks.
so i sprained my ankle this afternoon.
was carrying some things to the car, stepped off the bottom step on jill’s front porch, and stepped into a hole. twisted my ankle, fell down, intense pain.
ice pack, then x-rays, and it’s a bad sprain. Right foot is now in a gelcast/sprint, and it still hurts like a mofo.
prescription of Vicodin is on it’s way.
Daily tipple can bring health benefits — for men
Thu May 25, 2006 10:16 PM ET
LONDON (Reuters) – Moderate drinking reduces the risk of heart disease but the beneficial effects of alcohol seem to work differently in men and women, Danish researchers said on Friday.
They found that for men drinking daily seems to have the biggest positive effect on health while in women the amount of alcohol consumed may have more of an impact.
“The risk of heart disease was lowest among men who drank every day,” said Janne Tolstrup of the National Institute for Public Health in Copenhagen.
But a daily tipple did not cut the odds of heart disease in women, according to the findings reported in the British Medical Journal.
Tolstrup and her colleagues said the beneficial effects of moderate drinking in cutting heart disease risk are well documented but they warned that heavy alcohol consumption is linked to liver diseases, cancer and road accidents.
Most of the research into alcohol and heart disease has been done on men. Little is known about the impact on women.
The researchers studied the effects of alcohol on more than 50,000 men and women over more than five years. Men in the study who drank one day a week had a 7 percent reduced risk of heart disease compared to non-drinkers, but daily moderate drinkers were 41 percent less likely to suffer from heart disease.
Women consumed an average of 5.5 alcoholic drinks a week, about half of what the men drank. But in women the percentages of reduced risk were similar, regardless of whether they drank one day or seven days a week.
“This study does not change the fact that alcohol should be enjoyed in moderation only, both by men and women,” said Judy O’Sullivan, of the British Heart Foundation in a statement.
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, March 15 (Reuters) – Capsaicin, which makes peppers hot, can cause prostate cancer cells to kill themselves, U.S. and Japanese researchers said on Wednesday.
Capsaicin led 80 percent of human prostate cancer cells growing in mice to commit suicide in a process known as apoptosis, the researchers said.
Prostate cancer tumors in mice fed capsaicin were about one-fifth the size of tumors in untreated mice, they reported in the journal Cancer Research.
“Capsaicin had a profound anti-proliferative effect on human prostate cancer cells in culture,” said Dr. Soren Lehmann of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine. “It also dramatically slowed the development of prostate tumors formed by those human cell lines grown in mouse models.”
While it is far easier to cure cancer in mice infected with human tumors than it is in human beings, the findings suggest a possible future treatment. They also may offer a good excuse for men who like spicy food to eat more of it.
Lehmann estimated that the mice ate the human equivalent of 400 milligrams of capsaicin three times a week. That is about the amount found in three to eight fresh habanero peppers, depending on how hot the peppers are. The capsaicin inhibited the activity of NF-kappa beta, a molecular mechanism that helps lead to apoptosis in many cell types.
Prostate cancer is the most common malignant cancer in U.S. men. It is diagnosed in 232,000 men every year and kills up to 30,000 of them. Worldwide, 221,000 men die every year from prostate cancer.
I just updated the gallery software running on zenandjuice.com (URL: http://zenandjuice.com/gallery/).
If anyone had user galleries there previously, everything should be transferred over and updated to the new format. Let me know if there’s any problems.
Some java each day may keep liver cancer away
By Randolf E. Schmid
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON – That hot cup of coffee may do more than just provide a tasty energy boost. It also may help prevent the most common type of liver cancer.
A study of more than 90,000 Japanese found that people who drank coffee daily or nearly every day had half the liver cancer risk of those who never drank coffee.
The American Cancer Society estimates that 18,920 new cases of liver cancer were diagnosed in the United States last year and about 14,270 people died of the illness. Causes include hepatitis, cirrhosis, excess alcohol consumption and diseases causing chronic inflammation of the liver.
Animal studies have suggested a protective association of coffee with liver cancer, so the research team led by Monami Inoue of the National Cancer Center in Tokyo analyzed a 10-year public health study to determine coffee use by people diagnosed with liver cancer and people who did not have cancer.
They found the likely occurrence of liver cancer in people who never or almost never drank coffee was 547.2 cases per 100,000 people over 10 years.
But for people who drank coffee daily the risk was 214.6 cases per 100,000, the researchers report in this week’s issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
They found that the protective effect occurred in people who drank one to two cups of coffee a day and increased at three to four cups. They were unable to compare the effect of regular and decaffeinated coffee, however, because decaf is rarely consumed in Japan.
It’s the caffeine in coffee that makes some people nervous and it has been shown in other studies to prompt mental alertness in many people. Some studies have suggested caffeine aggravates symptoms of menopauseor intensifies the side effects of some antibiotics. Heavy caffeine use has been linked to miscarriage. But studies also have shown that a skin cream spiked with caffeine lowers the risk of skin cancer in mice.
”It’s an excellent, interesting and provocative study and their conclusions seem justified,” commented R. Palmer Beasley of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
”It will provoke a lot of new work here,” said Beasley, who was not part of the research group.
While the study found a statistically significant relationship between drinking coffee and having less liver cancer, the authors note that it needs to be repeated in other groups.
And the reason for the reduction remains unclear.
However, Inoue’s team noted that coffee contains large amounts of antioxidants and several animal studies have indicated those compounds have the potential to inhibit cancer in the liver.
In their study, the team also looked at green tea, which contains different antioxidants, and they found no association between drinking the tea and liver cancer rates.
”Other unidentified substances may also be responsible” for the reduction in cancers, they said.
made an appointment with maggie @ skysalon (theSalonFormerlyKnownAsMarekSalon) for today at 4:00pm. Jill & M’shell recommended her, so I’m sure it’ll be fly like sky.
this upcoming style is being brought to you courtesy of pavement
Darlin’ don’t you go and cut your hair
Do you think it’s gonna make him change?
I’m just a boy with a new haircut
And that’s a pretty nice haircut
Charge it like a puzzle, hit me wearin’ muzzles
Hesitate to die, look around, around, the second drummer’s drowned
His telephone is foundMusic scene is crazy, bands start up each and every day
I saw another one just the other day
A special new band
I remember lying
I don’t remember lies
I don’t remember what
But I don’t care, I care, I really don’t care
Did you see the drummer’s hair?Advertising looks and chops a must
No big hair!!
Songs mean a lot
When songs are bought
And so are you-
Bitch, rant down to the practice room
Attention and fame so
Career, career, career….
just got back from a doctor’s appointment. i’ve had these skin tags randomly popup on my shoulders and neck. the doctor said they could be hereditary, and I finally decided to get them removed.
they just froze off around 20 of them, and they REALLY REALLY ITCH AND BURN.
Alas, I cannot touch them, scratch them, or anything for awhile… just take some ibuprofen, maybe some antihistimine, and deal with it.
I went to the dentist, and what did he see?
Good checkup, no cavities !
(as usual)
i havent been posting much in my blogs over the last few weeks… anything i’ve been needing to say, I’ve either kept to myself, or told to individually to friends and family. i’ve been working on changing medications…. or possibly even trying to function without them. Basically, I’ve been on zoloft for a few years now… trying to cope with depression (which appears to be hereditary in my family). For years, I never would deal with it… and it finally got so bad in the late 90’s that I had to get help… or I knew that I wouldn’t make it. And asking for help is something that I rarely do. I’m also not one to take medicine, unless I firmly believe that I can’t do without. I’ve had a form of arthritis since I was 6, and have never done anything to stop the pain.
So, I’ve been on a series of different medications for several years now, and decided that I would try and see how I did without any external help. In order to do this, I had to ween myself off of zoloft (I was on 150mg daily), by lowering my dosage by 50mg for a week at a time, and then take NOTHING for at least a week, to get it completely out of my system.
I started a daily log (on my palm pilot), of what I was dealing with during this time….
2004.06.17
some background info:
Depression runs MAJORLY in my family. l can count 3 generations of my family (mother’s side) suffering from this.
I’ve been on zoloft for maybe 4 years now, and used paxil for 1+ years before that. l should’ve sought help before then, and I’ve come to the realization that l was fortunate for dealing with it when l did.
For the last 2 years, my dosage has been 150mg.
I’ve been thinking about changing my medication for awhile now and have considered it more seriously after seeing how members of my family reacted positively to Lexapro.
l’ve tried to lower my dosages by myself recently, with negative results. After a week taking 100 mg, I had a sudden manic attack, and barely stopped crying for 2 days. I honestly hadn’t had felt that helpless in nearly 6 years, and I was really scared. This is how I used to be. This was almost the end of me before, l cannot deal with this again. l couldn’t stop shaking for a full day. I returned to my regular dosage, and knew that I had to talk to my doctor before trying this again.
Information of SSRI Discontinuation Sydrome can be found here.
2004.06.18
talked to dr about changing from zoloft to lexapro.
Learned that before l can start the new medicine, l have to go cold turkey for a week, gradually lowering my dosage from where it currently is.
Game plan:
5-7 days: 100mg zoloft
5-7 days: 50mg zoloft
(optional) 5-7 days: 25mg zoloft
5 days: 0 mgthen l start 10mg dosages of lexapro.
The optional part depends on how I’m handling things. If l think l need a little extra buffer, l have that option.6/18 – 100mg (day 1)
2004.06.19
l’m feeling anxiety, scared of how l will react. Zoloft is a tough drug to come off of, ranking right below Prozac in terms of difficulty.
l’ve hardly been drinking at all over the last month, and that’s going to help alot.
My blood pressure has been increasing as well (l’m treating that as well). I’m going to focus on changing that medication after my current problems are remedied. Of course, my blood pressure may decrease naturally once l start feeling better mentally. As it stands, l’ve been exercising more, watching what i eat, and have lost 6 lbs over the past few weeks.
When l start to get stressed or anxious, l get the shakes. My teeth start chattering uncontrollably. Not pleasant.
6/19 – 100mg (day 2)
2004.06.20
1:48 am – I feel like I’m going to crawl out of my skin. Anxiety. Cold sweat. Emotional outbursts.
6pm – l feel fine early in the mornings, but it starts to get worse as the day progresses. It was just suggested that maybe I should start taking my meds in the morning instead of before going to sleep. That makes sense.
I’ve been spending time away from home, even if it’s just sitting somewhere else reading. That seems to give me something to do instead of just sitting and letting my mind wander.
I’ve also been sleeping alot more than normal.
6/20 – 100mg (day 3)
2004.06.21
11am – Slept through my alarm this morning, woke up at 8am exactly. Got ready and out the door within 10 minutes… not a good way to start the day… my teeth didn’t stop chattering like mad for 2 hours. I’m still shakey.
Another thing. When I’m feeling bad, I tend to rub. Usually my thumb/forefinger together on my left hand, but will branch out to rubbing my hand, objects, etc. Not sure what to make of that…. but it’s how I’ve reacted for years.
I started using my pillbox again… mainly so that i can see my progress, and what dosage I should take each night.
It helps keep me focused.6/21 – 100mg (day 4).
2004.06.22
Feeling good, except for dousing my new laptop with water. Hopefully it will dry out overnight.
Got energetic and painted my bathroom.
6/22 – 100mg (day 5).
2004.06.23
11am – I think I’ll be dropping down to 50mg tonight. Feeling really shakey, and tense, and like I could just scream any second now. My teeth are chattering… i’m getting paranoid of things, mainly just worrying way to much about things… life, love, relationships, little things, big things…. to the point where my stomach is knotting up just thinking about things. and i’m trying to not think about things… I know I’ll just get bent out of shape.
9pm – every little thing that i do is wrong, at least in my mind
Later… Total emotional outburst. l think l lost consciousness at one point. l remember saying SOMETHlNG but l can’t remember what, but l do remember being embarrassed.
50mg (day 1)
2004.06.24
9am – feeling lightheaded, somewhat dizzy. i haven’t really had much of an appetite lately either. I’ll take a few bites of something, after just feeling absolutely starved, and can’t stomach the thought of eating.
haven’t really been drinking much water or anything either. trying to choke down water by force, just to get something in my system.
my mind can’t really focus very well. i think i’ll take tomorrow (friday) off of work, so I can stay home, and take care of things.
50mg (day 2)
Palm broke, so I quit making entries. I decided to go a full week on 50mg, mainly because I forgot the count. hahaha
06-25: 50mg (day 3)
06-26: 50mg (day 4)
06-27: 50mg (day 5)
06-28: 50mg (day 6)
06-29: 50mg (day 7)
2004.06-30 – 2004.07.06 (written afterwards)
A week without any medication. I couldn’t tell if what I was feeling was from withdrawl, depression, or both. Constantly fluctuating… my mood, attitude, everything. One day is great, the next is miserable. I was constantly aggitated, very irritable, and came close to picking some fights. I got into a screaming match with the cats. Not pleasant. I honestly didn’t think I would make it. I hadn’t felt this distraught, miserable, and destructive in YEARS. I really tried to continue on without starting my new medication, but it got to the point where I knew it would become too unbearable before much longer.
I started my new medication (lexapro) on Tuesday, June 6th. Several members of my family is on it, and it’s doing wonders for them. It’s now Saturday the 10th.
I can feel like it’s starting to work…. at least somewhat. I still find myself having occasional outbursts, undescribable pressure in my head, and well… things that you have no idea about, unless you’ve lived through it firsthand.
One realization… I have a ton of friends, who always call me, write me, stop by…. needing someone to listen to their problems, and help them out. Alot of these friends knew what I’m dealing with, and trying to work out…. But what I came to find out, was that not many of these friends were willing to help me out. I only had a few people who were physically there for me, when I was having intense breakdowns, and needing someone. Only a few people actually messaged me, or called me to checkup on me. Friends who said “call me anytime, if you need me”, never returned the calls. When you’re already feeling alone, this type of response just validates what you fear the most.
I’m just trying to put myself back together – one moment at a time. It’s rough. I thought I conquered this years ago. There’s nothing anyone can really say or do to get me through this. Nor is how I’m feeling anyone’s fault. It just happens sometimes. I’m just having to wait things out, until my system works itself out. In the meantime, i’m surving through the help of a few friends, and a personal urge to continue on.