Healthy happy you.
If you suffer from seasonal allergies, and your symptoms involve nasal and sinus congestion 24-7, you may want to take a look at the dairy in your diet. Dairy products like milk, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream may be making your allergy symptoms worse. Casein, the naturally occurring protein in dairy products, can promote the formation of mucus. It can also make existing mucus thicker in your Read more
For a lot of people, seasonal allergies are all about congestion, sneezing, and blowing your nose every 2 minutes. You are breathing in a ton of pollen and if you're allergic, your body creates all that mucus to try and flush it out. To get rid of the pollen and dust in your nostrils, relieve some of the pressure in your face, and release some of that fluid from you nose and sinuses, you've got Read more
It is not so much the snot which is green as the phlegm component, and this is only when it is infected. Healthy phlegm is not really green. The phlegm becomes green in the presence of infection (bacteria) due to the large numbers of white blood cells present, which make their way through the airway walls to combat the infection. White blood cells also give pus a whitish-green color, so you'd Read more
I lived for years in denial of my seasonal allergies and pretended that the runny nose was just a little cold. But that little cold went on forever. Needless to day, I have wised up and learned how to sort through symptoms to determine what is causing my runny nose — a virus or pollen. Here is the list comparing the symptoms of the common cold with those that accompany seasonal allergies that Read more
When suffering from the pain and pressure of a sinus infection, getting a prescription for antibiotics becomes priority number one. New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association put this practice into question. Hold onto your tissues folks — scientists found antibiotics don't ease patients' symptoms any faster than placebo pills. The small study included 166 adults Read more
We're excited to share this post from our partners at BabyCenter! Every week, we will be bringing you the best parenting and lifestyle stories from the experts at BabyCenter, including this post from Sabrina Garibia about using natural family planning as a form of birth control. It’s much, much worse than the secret assemblies we had in middle school about menstruation. At least we were kids Read more
Whether it's allergies or a nasty cold, being congested sucks. It's hard to breathe, the sinus pressure is painful, and it can even affect your hearing. Blowing your nose offers some relief, but in cases where you're really stuffed up, it can be pretty futile. OTC medicines help dry out mucus but leave users feeling loopy, sleepy, and spaced out. What's left to do? The next time you're feeling Read more
Whether it's a nasty cold or allergies causing your congestion, it may be time to give a neti pot a whirl. This teapot-looking device may seem a little odd at first glance, but it's recommended by ear, nose, and throat doctors to relieve nasal congestion and pain. To a newbie, using a neti pot may seem torturous, but with a few helpful hints, you'll be a neti-pot know-it-all in no time. Watch Read more
If if you eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly, get enough sleep, and wash your hands a bazillion times a day, you can still find yourself reaching for the tissues and cough drops. Luckily cold symptoms don't last too long, but here are some ways to get relief from your ails without popping pills or swallowing gross liquid. Heat and Water Before slipping into bed, take a hot shower. Make sure Read more
DrSugar is in the house! This week she explains the pros and cons of using IUDs for birth control. To continue our ongoing series of gynecological topics, I have decided to write about intrauterine devices (IUDs) as a form of birth control. Even though I learned about IUDs through many outlets (sex ed in school, medical school), I decided to research them more thoroughly since the birth control Read more
