About Headaches

About Headaches

For many people, a headache is an infrequent annoyance that disappears after swallowing a few tablets. But for chronic headache sufferers, the effects can be far worse. The World Headache Alliance has fourteen different classifications of headaches, from tension headaches and Migraines to headaches caused by ocular diabetic neuropathy.
Three of the most common forms of chronic headaches are tension headaches, Migraines, and cluster headaches. The likelihood of being afflicted with different headache disorders seems to be gender-related, with women three times more likely to suffer from Migraines, and men four times more likely to get cluster headaches.
Cluster headaches are often called “suicide” or “ice pick” headaches due to the excruciating stabbing pain in or near the eyes. This type of headache disorder is rare, with less than 0.5% of the general population affected. Migraine, in comparison, affects roughly 10% of the population, causing pain that can range from irritating to debilitating. Most headaches (over 66%) are tension-related headaches with over 60% of people suffering at least one tension headache each year. Tension-related headaches, unlike Migraines and cluster headaches, generally produce a steady ache rather than intense throbbing or shooting pains.
The most common treatments for headaches are analgesics such as aspirin, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen. For more severe chronic headaches, however, a physician may prescribe antidepressants, muscle relaxers, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. With proper treatment, most headaches are gone within an hour or two, but in severe cases, the pain can last for days or even weeks without relief.

How to Get Started Making Wine at Home

How to Get Started Making Wine at Home

If you have given some thought to the idea of making wine at home but just haven’t quite gotten around to it yet, there is no reason to delay any longer. Thousands of people around the world happily enjoy the benefits and rewards of making their own wine. While certain equipment is required, you do not need to make a prohibitive investment or even have a large space in order to enjoy a hobby that can be quite rewarding.

In reality, making wine at home is much easier than you might at first think. The entire process really only involves combining concentrate or fruit with a few simple other ingredients, placing it into the container and then letting it go to work. The resulting process is actually quite natural and will not require a lot of interaction from you. In fact, it could be said that all you really need to do is make sure that the proper proportions of ingredients are combined and then provided with an environment that is suitable and stable.

Before you begin making wine you will need to decide on a recipe. This part might actually be one of the hardest steps because there are so many home winemaking recipes from which you can choose. If you purchase a winemaking kit, the kit will probably contain at least one recipe you can use to get started. Even without a kit there are numerous winemaking recipes available online as well as in winemaking books.

You will also need to give some thought to the type of fruit that you want to use in your wine. Most wine varieties are made with grapes; however, there are also many wine recipes that call for the use of a wide array of fruits including strawberries, blackberries, apples and much more.

Beyond making wine from fruit, another option would be to make wine from concentrated juice. Wine juice concentrated can be easily purchased in a home brewing store as well as online. In fact, you will generally find that most concentrates contain directions and recipes on the package, so it is easy to get started even if it is your first batch. Many beginning winemakers prefer to use concentrated wine juices for their first batches because they are so easy to use. They are also available throughout the year, unlike fruit which may only be available during certain times of the year.

In addition, you will need to give some thought to whether you want to use a wine making starter kit. Many beginning winemakers do prefer these kits, at least in the beginning because they contain all of the ingredients and equipment that you need in order to make your first batch of wine. In addition, these kits will walk you step by step through the process. If you have delayed getting started making your own wine because you were intimidated by the process, these kits can help to demystify the process and guide you through the entire process with very little problems.

For your first batch of wine you will need a few basic ingredients. These ingredients are necessary whether you are making wine from fruit or concentrate.

Yeast nutrient is not yeast per se; instead it is a type of energy that is used to make sure the yeast starts the fermentation process. Pectic enzyme may be added to assist in the breakdown of the fruit during the fermentation process. Acid blend is used in controlling the amount of sharpness that is present in the wine. You may find in some cases that your wine seems somewhat flat. Acid blend can help to correct this problem. Wine tannin is the zest of fruit and is available in powder form. You may wish to add it to your wine in order to improve the wine’s character. Wine yeast is what actually starts the fermentation process by converting the sugar into alcohol. Campden tablets are typically added right before the fermentation and also before bottling. These tablets are used to make sure that the wine does not become spoiled.

Could Those Creepy-Crawly Nighttime Leg Sensations Be A Treatable Medical Condition? One Woman’s Search For Relief

Could Those Creepy-Crawly Nighttime Leg Sensations Be A Treatable Medical Condition? One Woman’s Search For Relief

For more than 10 years, Beth McFadden, a 44-year- old mother of three, lived with strange leg sensations that were not only difficult to describe, but were also uncomfortable and disruptive.

“At night, I would be lying in bed, just on the verge of going to sleep, and I would get these feelings in my legs that I needed to make go away. It was a tingling sensation-my legs would feel like something was crawling deep inside them. I felt like I had to move my legs and then would start tossing and turning. Sometimes, I had to get out of bed and walk to relieve the feelings. This would usually go on for quite some time, preventing me from falling asleep.”

Beth knew that what she was experiencing wasn’t normal, so she started talking to others about her symptoms. At the time, her doctors did not know how to help her. Beth even thought the symptoms might be related to her diet or exercise habits.

“I was frustrated. Night after night, I would feel the same creepy-crawly sensations in my legs, and getting up to relieve the feelings would keep me from falling asleep. Sometimes, I would get these sensations during the day if I was sitting for a long time: I couldn’t really sit and read, watch TV, go to the movies. Travel became difficult because I couldn’t sit for long periods of time on airplanes or in the car.”

Recently, Beth saw an article about Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) in a local newspaper. It described RLS as a common and disruptive neurological condition that is characterized by a compelling urge to move the legs and by uncomfortable or sometimes painful sensations in the legs. These sensations are frequently described as creeping-crawling, tingling, pulling or tightening in the legs.

Beth wondered if this could be the same condition she had lived with for all these years.

She brought the article to her doctor to help her describe what she was experiencing. After an examination, Beth’s physician diagnosed her with RLS, a recognized-and now treatable-medical condition.

“I’m relieved to know that what I’ve been experiencing is a recognized medical condition. For me, my RLS diagnosis was an important step forward in my quest for relief from the disruptive creepy-crawly feelings that I had lived with for so long.”

In May 2005, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Requip® (ropinirole HCl) Tablets for the treatment of moderate-to-severe primary RLS, making Requip the first and only treatment for RLS of any type or severity.

In a recently published study in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers found that patients taking Requip reported significant improvement in RLS symptoms when compared with placebo, and onset of symptom improvement was observed after two nights of treatment.

Important Safety Information About Requip®

Prescription Requip Tablets are not for everyone. Requip may cause you to fall asleep or feel very sleepy while doing normal activities such as driving; or to faint or feel dizzy, nauseated or sweaty when you stand up from sitting or lying down. If you experience these problems, talk with your doctor. Tell your doctor if you drink alcohol or are taking other medicines that make you drowsy. Side effects include nausea, drowsiness, vomiting and dizziness. Most patients were not bothered enough to stop taking Requip.

Requip should be taken once daily one to three hours before bedtime.

In the study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings and entitled “Therapy with Ropinirole, Efficacy And Tolerability in Restless Legs Syndrome” (TREAT RLS US), the most common adverse events reported in the ropinirole group (n=187) versus placebo (n=193) were nausea (43 percent versus 8 percent), headache (17 percent versus 19 percent), somnolence (13 percent versus 7 percent) and nasopharyngitis (11 percent versus 12 percent). The withdrawal rate due to adverse events was similar between the two groups (ropinirole 3 percent versus placebo 4 percent).