The holiday travel season has officially begun, with many schools beginning their Winter breaks at the end of this week. The bags are packed and boarding passes are printed, but is Mama going to throw in one extra item to help ensure a smooth journey? For some, giving lil ones a single dose of medication like Benadryl or Dimetapp is like buying trip insurance — it's a lil safeguard against a Read more

They're a bunch of dummies! By using computerized birthing and baby dolls to simulate high-risk deliveries and everything from hemorrhage to seizures, medical staffers can practice and fine tune their responses to emergency situations without human lives being at risk. St. Peter's Hospital in Montana invested $16,000 in the birth doll set and a computer system that it uses to teach its staff. Read more

While cleaning out some cabinets, I had a dilemma: expired prescription meds — OK to just throw away? I almost tossed a pill bottle into the trash but then stopped; do old pills leach chemicals, or worse, what happens if the wrong person (or stray animal) has access to my garbage? A quick call to my doctor proved to be an invaluable lesson in dealing with expired or unwanted Read more

Motion sickness, tummy problems, and a sore throat: is there anything ginger can't help? Not likely. A new study says that the spicy root also soothes away sore muscles that often come after working out. In two separate studies, researchers divided 74 healthy adults into two groups — one group of participants were given a daily ginger supplement, while the other group was given a placebo. Over Read more

It's funny how dogs who would normally devour any meal seem to know when you try to sneak in some meds, even the teeny tiniest pill imaginable. True story, it happened to a friend of mine. Concerned that lil Chico wasn't ever going to budge, she tried everything from the popular peanut butter coating to pill pockets, but her pup refused and the daily battle began. Just when it seemed that her Read more

People have many misconceptions about warts that go far beyond the whole "kiss a toad" thing. Even if you understand that the toad caveat is a myth, some other facts and fictions about warts may surprise you. Most types of warts are relatively painless and harmless, with the exception of genital warts, which are a sexually transmitted disease (read more about genital warts here). All warts (yes, Read more

I've always wondered what exactly an expiration date means on a drug. Does it become less effective? Could it poison me? Obviously, there's a big difference in those two things, so I was glad to see this NPR story that sheds some light on drug expiration dates. Just because a drug is past its expiration date doesn't necessarily mean you should toss it. Many states require drug labels to carry an Read more

Even though many human medications are a hazard to pets' health there are some animal experts that will recommend certain doses for furry friends. For example, Renees3's pooch B-Bop was attacked by fire ants twice now — eeks! The first time they went to the vet, where the pooch received steroids and Benadryl. However, his trainer said she could give him 1mg for every pound so, when they were Read more