Monthly Archives: August 2015

Treating Injured Muscles [Show Notes]

 in Podcasts  tagged injury / muscles / pain / RICE / strains / treatment by

How Muscles Work

Muscle contractions depend on the muscle cells trading Potassium (K⁺) and Calcium (Ca⁺⁺).

As your muscle uses up energy to do work, the by-product is Lactic Acid.

Muscle fibers are “woven” together – kinda like fabric.

Contracting and relaxing a muscle causes the fibers to grip together and then spread back out.

Bilateral muscles = symmetrical muscles.  They look the same on each side of your body and worktogether to move your body in both directions from your center (left and right).

How Muscles Get Hurt

Stretching a muscle causes the muscle fibers to extend.

Over-extending a muscle can lead to a strain or pull/torn muscle. 

Inflammation happens in the tiny fibers of your injured muscle.

Treatment Options for Injured Muscle

Anti-inflammatory medications work great for strained muscles.
– Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin)
– Naproxen (Aleve)

R.I.C.E.
Rest: stop using it, or at least give it a little break with only light use
Ice: yep, that cold, frozen water stuff
Compression: for smaller muscles, they can be wrapped to help limit inflammation and hold muscle fibers in a inoffensive position.
Elevation: smaller muscles that can be affected by gravity pulling blood to it, can benefit from being elevated and allowing gravity to pull blood away from it for a short time.

Here’s a link with a concise explanation of when to use ice vs when to use heat.

Prescription steroids help relieve inflammation.

Prescription muscle relaxers keep the muscle from knotting up.

Holla

@_KevinBuchanan used 800 mg ibuprofen for his injury.  800 mg should be taken every 8-12 hours, no sooner, or GI side effects may occur.

Recap

1. Stop the offending activity.

2. Ice the injured muscle (24-72 hours after injury)

3. Take anti-inflammatory pain relievers.

4. Apply heat to keep muscle relaxed

5. Gentle use or stretches

Behind the Scenes

Wearing a toddler while cleaning the kitchen can cause sore or injured muscles. Wear toddlers and clean kitchens with caution!

Since baby sister was born, Jossalynn gets one-on-one time with me by riding in the “backpack”, which is a woven wrap by Pavo Form.

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Cleaning Up Bacteria’s Mess [Show Notes]

 in Podcasts  tagged antibiotics / bacteria / infection / resistance / toxicity by

Bacteria and Antibiotics

MIC stands for Minimum Inhibitory Concentration, and is the lowest amount of antibiotic required to stop the bacteria.

Antibiotics either kill the bacteria or slow it down enough that your own immune system can get rid of it.

Antibiotics are designed to keep a certain amount of medicine in your body over a certain number of days to ensure the infection is completely gone.

Do not take antibiotics that you have left over because you most likely do not have enough medicine for a full course of treatment.

Here’s a Metaphor

Think about a spot of dirt on the floor:

Dirt + a few drops of water = mud

Dirt + a whole pitcher of water = a watery mess

Dirt + a wet rag = clean floor

Relate it to Bacteria

Infection + too little antibiotic = resistance

Infection + too much antibiotic = side effects

Infection + the right dose of antibiotic = you get better

The Take Away

The gap between the lowest effective dose and the highest, non-toxic dose is called the Therapeutic Index.  This is the information that is used to determine the dose of many medications and how they should be taken. 

That is why you should always take antibiotics exactly as directed and until they are all gone.

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Ear Wax Removal [Show Notes]

 in Podcasts  tagged clean / ear wax / impaction / removal by

Ear Wax Basics

Ear wax is produced by your ear to keep junk out and away from your ear drum – like a slimey booby-trap.

Allergens and other things that go in your ears (like water, especially dirty water, like lake water) causes the production of ear wax to increase to the point it can become a problem.

When you swim under water, the deeper you go, the harder the pressure of that water pushing down on you gets, including the pressure of the water pushing in your ear.  This pressure can smoosh wax up against your eardrum.

A quick tip to get water out of your ear – use a capful of rubbing alcohol.  Alcohol evaporates quickly at room temperature, so when it mixes with the tiny amount of water in your ear, it helps that water evaporate faster.

Three Steps Ear Wax Removal (or maybe four)

1. Debrox (Carbamide Peroxide) – This is an OTC drop that helps dissolve ear wax if you have ear wax buildup. It can also soften an impaction (glob of wax smooshed against ear drum).

2. Take a hot shower.  Ear wax – just like other waxes – when it gets warm, it will soften.

3. Irrigation with an ear bulb

     1. Fill sink up with comfortably warm water.

     2. Fill bulb with water.

     3. Point affected ear down towards sink.

     4. Put tip of bulb in your ear.

     5. Squeeze water into ear and let water and wax drain back out.

4. Use a capful of alcohol to dry water droplets left over (optional)

NO EAR CANDLES!!

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Allergy Attack

 in Podcasts  tagged allergies / antihistamines / otc medication / reactions by

An image of dandelions in the two forms - yellow flowers and white puffs against a black background. Several white seeds from the puffs are floating up in the air. These are responsible for triggering allergies.

Allergy Basics

Seasonal allergies can lead to nasal congestion and throat irritation, eye irritation with itchiness or watery eyes, or asthma-like symptoms.

If you can’t breathe or swallow or see, call 911.

At first sign of allergic reaction, take Benadryl (diphenhydramine).  It’s an antihistamine to counteract the histamines that are part of an allergic reaction.

Benadryl also comes as a topical.  The other option is Cortisone (hydrocortisone) – a steroid.  This can’t be used all over your body because it can soak all the way through your skin and get in your bloodstream, which would lead to systemic effects of steroids.  If you need systemic effects, it’s best to get a steroid prescribed by a doctor.

Antihistamines

1st Generation: Benadryl – drowsy side effects, works fast but wears off fast.

2nd Generation: Claritin, Zyrtec, Allegra – all have generics, all OTC, just take 1 time a day.

Steroid nasal sprays are newly OTC – Flonase and Nasacort.  Localized steroids in your sinus passages can help block the other chemicals involved in allergic reactions, not just histamines.

The only medication that requires a doctor’s prescription is Singulair – it works best for asthma-like reactions that is produced in the lungs.

Also, Albuterol inhalers can be used for people who have asthma-like symptoms to open the airways back up quickly.

Audience Question

Is poison ivy cumulative in your body? (from @steve_tessler)

When you come in contact with an allergen (poison ivy leaves), you body recognizes it as a “bad guy”.  Once your body deals with the offender, it “remembers” poison ivy, so the next time you come in contact with it, your body’s systems can be more efficient at taking care of it (antibodies).  A problem arises if your body does “too good” of a job or gets overzealous.  This can lead to a more serious reaction or possibly anaphylaxis.

Poison ivy is typically a topical offender.  It would require an unusual type of exposure  (i.e. burning it and inhaling the smoke) for it to affect other systems of you body than just your skin.

Avoid poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, and any other poisons if you can help it.

Note:  I told a story on the live broadcast. Afterwards, I checked my facts and found out I told it wrong, so I cut it out.  Here is the real story (to the best of my knowledge – I reserve the right to add or correct details as I learn the full story)…

True Story

My husband’s grandfather burned a pile of brush that included some poison ivy or poison oak.  He ended up breathing in some of the smoke which allowed it to go through his lungs and even into his bloodstream.  It obviously caused a terrible, widespread reaction.  And he would have an allergic reaction every year after that at about the same time as the original reaction.

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The Lady Who Caught on Fire

 in Podcasts  tagged burns / emergency / fire / heat by

An image of crumpled paper as it burns, with flames visible around the edges.

Burns: Rule of Thumb

If total burned area is larger than a softball, get medical attention.

A Quick Physics Lesson

Heat is a result of increased energy.  Energy likes to flow from places of high energy to places of low energy until it’s equaled out.  So heat will flow from the hot thing to the cool thing until they are the same temperature.  Because the temperature difference between the hot thing and your skin is so large, the heat transfers really quickly, to the point that the water in the cells evaporates and causes cell injury.

Burns can lead to dehydration due to the loss of moisture from that area.  Burns can also lead to infection due to cell injury and possible broken skin from blisters. 

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