Living with asthma may not be the easiest thing for anyone to live with, regardless of their age. However, by educating yourself news on medicine and on the illness, you can get a better understanding of how it affects your body and how to control it. The following are 7 health tips to help you keep your asthma under control:

1. Learn to Recognize the Symptoms
For many people, asthma attacks seem to sneak up on them and before they know it, they are in a situation that seems out of control. By carefully monitoring your symptoms, you will have a better idea of when an attack is going to happen.

2. Educate Yourself on Your Medications
A lot of people who are treated for asthma simply follow their doctor’s instructions for taking their medications. The fact is that you might be on several medications and each one is going to get a different result. For example, you may have one medicine that is used for prevention, while another, like a steroid, is to be used for a more serious episode.

3. Keep a Journal on Your Symptoms
Every person diagnosed with asthma should keep a journal on the symptoms, as it can lead to great discoveries on what is actually causing the attacks. Each entry should include what symptoms you are feeling, as well as any reading from your peak flow meter.

4. Learn What is Triggering an Attack
For a lot of asthmatics, understanding what triggers an attack is how they are able to keep such great control over this illness. Simple weather changes could affect your breathing ability and understanding this could help you to know when the right times to take your medications are and which ones to take.

5. Plan a Diet that Includes Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
As many fruits and vegetables are considered to be antioxidants, it is important to add them into the diet. Vitamins C and E are well known for their anti-inflammatory effects and can actually help to reduce irritation or swelling in the lungs.

6. Keep Your Weight Down
Being overweight can easily cause more asthma attacks in the individual. By keeping your weight down, you can reduce the number of symptoms that you experience. Even just losing a few pounds will make a difference.

7. Schedule Consults With Your Doctor
The biggest and most important tool you have to help fight your asthma is your doctor. Their experience and education will play a vital role in how well you are able to reduce your symptoms. Regular visits with your doctor can help determine what triggers an attack and they can advise you on how to get it under better control.

With the holiday season fast approaching and with added travel and holiday stress, not too mention over indulgence, a change in sleeping behavior may affect your asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Along with core exercises for men and women here are some helpful tips this holiday season that may help prevent exacerbation of asthma or COPD. The common symptoms of bronchial asthma are nighttime cough, wheezing and shortness of breath. The common exacerbation cause of bronchial asthma is respiratory tract infection, postnasal drip, gastroesophagel reflux disease (GERD) or heartburn.

1. Sleep adequately. You will want to sleep a little longer and go to bed earlier by the start of the holiday season if you feel there will be sleep deprivation on the weekend if you are planning to stay up late. Maybe, if this is the case, you will want to start going to bed a half an hour to an hour earlier from now on so that it helps the immunity and prevents infection.

2. Avoid junk food. Needless to say, it is very tempting but it may be a good idea to replace junk food snacks with good and healthy foods, thereby preventing bronchospasm, mucus formation, and nighttime symptoms of bronchial asthma. Cookies, pasties, etc., have refined sugar, which cause mucus formation and bronchospasm. Making sure a high-fiber diet is continued during the holiday season so there are normal bowel movements every day in the morning helps to prevent bronchospasm. If one is not getting a high-fiber diet regularly, he/she may help with starting one. Eating lots of fruits and vegetables helps. Apples, pears, grapes, strawberries, carrots, cabbage, and spinach to name a few, are good sources of healthy fiber. Understanding the basics of the diet and what needs to be avoided on a regular basis may help prevent exacerbation of asthma. Avoid dairy products such as cold food, ice cream (produces bronchospasm and mucus), bananas (increases sputum production and chest congestion), cold water or ice water or ice drinks also increase bronchospasm and replace them with room temperature water or drinks. Just like cold weather makes asthma worse, so do cold liquids and drinks which create winter inside the body. It slows stomach digestion, producing bronchospasm. We have seen in our practice that stopping this has decreased the need of a rescue inhaler by more than 50% in about 6 weeks in many asthma patients and in many after only a few months. It may help if one is looking for ideas that help to decrease the need for rescue inhaler use.

3. Compliance with the treatment of bronchial asthma. Continue the regular inhalers, nebulizers and other medication as prescribed by your health care professional. Understand the correct technique of the inhaler or nebulizer. Get familiar with the medication and its normal dose, the maximum dose that is allowed and its common side effects. If you feel that you are getting any of the side effects, let your doctor know about it. Make sure you rinse your mouth after the use of the inhaler or nebulizer to prevent oral thrush. Use the peak flow meter to check the asthma symptoms and keep a log of it. If one is a smoker than smoking cessation is the key to improve health, otherwise bronchial asthma or COPD will not get better and with time it will get worse. Inhalers or medication will not work with ongoing smoking. A person can end up with respiratory failure and be on a ventilator with ongoing smoking if asthma or COPD exacerbation cannot be controlled with nebulizers, steroids and antibiotics. Smoking cessation is key.

4. Exercise. Regular exercise helps to prevent the bronchospasm and chest congestion. In patients with exercise-induced bronchospasm, they may need to take the inhaler prior to work out. This is equally true for the patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as well as bronchial asthma patients.

5. Yoga and Pranayama. Pranayama are the breathing exercises of yoga. One may learn Pranayama and many other exercises of yoga to reduce stress from a local yoga instructor, which may help prevent bronchospasm, chest congestion, and nighttime wheezing. Yoga exercise is very different from a regular work out or aerobic exercise. After yoga, one may feel more relaxed and calm. Both exercises have their own merits and limitations and based on one’s personality one may favor one over the other. The goal is to do one or both than none at all.

In our practice, we have patients with severe persistent bronchial asthma symptoms on round-the-clock inhalers and nebulizers with multiple modalities of treatment and exercise. Yoga has shown such improvement in some patients that they do not need a need of inhalers or nebulizers. The point here is to say that yoga exercise and/or other regular or aerobic exercises do help if one does them regularly and helps the asthma symptoms as well as overall health when done regularly along with medical treatment.

My goal is not to stop aging but to age well. Let’s face it at some point even the most healthy of us will succumb to the ravages of old age. Even Jack LaLanne could not stop aging. However Jack lived an active, rewarding life right up to is ninety-seventh year. This then is my goal to live a well, strong and rewarding life to the end, whenever that end may come.

If we cannot stop aging how can we at least slow down the aging process? Fortunately there are simple lifestyle changes that you can take that will help you aging well. Following are the top ten lifestyle changes proven to slow aging.

1. Don’t smoke: Now I am assuming that if you are reading this you are a non smoker. I won’t repeat all the science behind the dangers of smoking, just don’t do it.
2. Be happy: Stress kills; we know that stress the damages to the mind and body have been fully documented by the scientific community. “Don’t worry be happy” is a simplistic mantra, but truth be told, filling your life with things you love and getting rid of almost everything else is a great aging well strategy. Practicing stress relieving activities like meditation and exercise, and being grateful should be a daily goal.
3. Eat Your Fruit and Veggies: Yes your mom was right and science backs her up with hard evidence that oxidative damage caused by toxins contributes to the aging process at a cellular level. Foods (veggies and fruit) high in antioxidants seem to protect us from oxidative stress.
4. Throw Out the Sugar!: The sooner you break the sugar habit the sooner you slow down aging. Beware sugar in the disguise of corn syrup is in almost all process foods. Sugar is a direct cause of aging and reducing lifespan in organisms from yeast to monkeys.
5. Eat fish: Some evidence suggests that the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish are particularly beneficial to the skin. Because of concerns about mercury levels in some fish like tuna go for fish like sardines. Also stay away from farm raised fish, it may be less expensive but studies suggest they are a less healthy choice.
6. Get Your ZZZ’s: We all know how much better we look and feel when we have a full night’s sleep.But more than that getting eight hours of sleep heals and rebuilds your body.
7. Exercise Your Brain: Challenging yourself mentally, doing things like traveling and learning new languages at any age is one of the key elements of slow down the aging process. Go out of your way trying new things and exercising your brain.
8. Check Your Vitamin D Level: Recently my doctor check my vitamin D levels and found It was lower than I should be despite taking a multi vitamin. I now take 1000 IU of D. Current research suggests that vitamin D may be particularly important in slowing the aging process.
9. Strength Training: Pump iron or do body weight exercises like pushups, building strong muscles is the best way to look younger than your years. You lose muscle mass as you age. But anyone at any age can build muscle looks fabulous and feel great.
10. Cardio: Cardio exercise is still important for health. So get moving run, walk, do jumping jacks, square dance, it really doesn’t matter just get that heart rate up to 70-80% of your max

We may not stop aging, but we can age well. The above ten key lifestyle changes outlined in this article are by no means the only changes you can make to slow the aging process, but adapting these ten changes will go a long way to improving your chances of slowing aging rate.

There are five essential steps a person can take to slow the aging process. Most harmful habits do not show their results until it is too late. Taking the initiative to eat healthy and treat a body right is going to improve how a person ages. You do not have to go to from one extreme to the next, just make some changes. Take a Spain Holiday, travel to St. Pete Beach or wherever your favorite destination is. Be sure to take some time and relax. Stress is nobody’s friend.

Get Down to the Basics

A predisposition to have specific diseases may be genetic. Precautionary habits can inhibit the production of some of these diseases. If a person knows a genetic disease may run in the family, than they have a chance to develop healthy habits.

Paying attention to diseases that other family members battle may be a life saving action. If heart disease is common in a family, action should be taken to ensure a healthy circulatory system. Talking to a doctor about family history and performing preventative measures will be the first step to slow the aging process.

Understand Aging

The changes a body goes through during the aging process may turn into an uphill battle without taking preventative measures. As a body grows older, it has a harder time battling normal environmental stress that attacks it each day.

Foods high in antioxidants will fight the free radicals which damage the body. Eating correctly and taking vitamins are necessary to maintain a healthy body. Avoid the introduction of carcinogens into the body in the first place. Smoking and sun exposure can create bigger problems than wrinkles. HGH affects every part of a person’s body and may decrease with age. This hormone reproduces naturally when a person sleeps. Getting enough sleep is going to reduce the negative effects of HGH depletion.

Reduce Stress

Stress causes many problems that contribute to the aging process. Counteracting stress at any age is going to provide a healthy inner environment for the body. Having an active lifestyle is going to reduce excessive amounts of stress.

Exercising the body is more than physical health. Exercise helps reduce stress by increasing endorphins in the body. A body fed with a well balanced diet deals with stress efficiently. Getting enough sleep also is an essential release of stress. Having strong coping strategies is going to keep a person from dealing with stress with unhealthy habits.

Age Gracefully

It is not necessary to purchase every anti-aging product on the market. There are some actions that take the place of what the body used to do naturally. In addition to this, taking measured steps to cut out behaviors that accelerate the aging process.

Proper exfoliation and hydration of the skin is the key to a healthy outer appearance. Exercising will control proper muscle tone and weight gain. Eating foods high in antioxidants replaces what the body used to produce by itself. Stop smoking now, as this habit contributes to speeding up the negative aspects of an aging body.

Doctor Check-Ups

Listening to what the doctor has to say is going to make a bigger impact than spending a lot of money on anti-aging cure alls. Doctors can offer advice as to what a healthy body needs. They are going to help provide solutions to allow a person a healthy, well balanced life. Regular doctor visits will also help to prevent debilitating health problems.

People cannot prevent what is going to happen naturally. They can provide the best inner environment for their bodies to age in an optimal manner. Some of the healthiest choices are going to help the body on a cellular level. Benefits of taking an initiative now, before it is too late to reverse damage, is going to enhance a healthy aging process.

Nasal symptoms affect millions of Americans all the time. But is it allergies or sinus infection? What’s the difference? How does it matter? Is it your environment? There is fresh air in Oregon if your sinus’ need a break.

Allergic Rhinitis

Allergic rhinitis (hay fever) is an allergic response to pollen or other microscopic particles or organisms. Symptoms of allergic rhinitis include:

• Itchy, watery eyes
• Congestion
• Sneezing
• Runny nose

Colds or flu may cause some of these same symptoms, but are usually accompanied by fever, sore throat, and body aches. Colds typically last about seven days, then go away. But with allergies, symptoms last longer. And allergy symptoms occur in a predictable pattern: The symptoms of allergies tend to be present when pollen counts are high, and go away when they are lower.

Sinus Infection

Sinus infection (sinusitis) is inflammation of one or more of the sinus cavities in the skull. Sinuses have small openings into the nasal cavity and are normally just filled with air, but when they become blocked and filled with fluid, they become a breeding ground for germs that cause an infection. These can include bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Based on the length of time symptoms are present, sinusitis is classified as acute, chronic, or recurrent

Acute Sinusitis

In acute sinusitis, the primary symptoms last about 7-28 days and include:

• Facial pain/pressure
• Nasal stuffiness
• Nasal discharge
• Loss of smell
• Cough/congestion

Additional symptoms may include:

• Fever
• Bad breath
• Fatigue
• Teeth pain

A health care professional will make a diagnosis of acute sinusitis when a person has two or more symptoms and/or thick, green, or yellow nasal discharge. Treatment for allergies is usually symptomatic. These include medications such as antihistamines, decongestants, and nasal corticosteroids. Antibiotics are not needed. Non-medicinal remedies such as nasal irrigation has been proven helpful as well.

Chronic Sinusitis

People with chronic sinusitis may have the following symptoms for 8 weeks or more:

• Facial congestion/fullness
• A nasal obstruction/blockage
• Pus in the nasal cavity
• Fever
• Nasal discharge/discolored postnasal drainage

Additional symptoms of chronic sinusitis may include:

• Headaches
• Bad breath
• Fatigue
• Teeth pain

A physician may treat sinusitis with symptomatic medication or antibiotics in severe cases. Overuse of antibiotics has lead physicians to be more reserved in prescribing antibiotics. Nasal irrigation has been proven effective, as well, in helping to relieve the symptoms of sinusitis and maintain nasal health.

One Condition May Lead to Another

It is not uncommon for allergies to lead to sinusitis. Nasal allergies cause swelling of the lining of the nasal passages, which can lead to a blocked sinus. Sinus infection can then develop because of the blockage.

Nasal allergies and sinusitis affect the body in different ways and are treated differently, so it is important to know the difference.

Many people get so frustrated with themselves they just give up. I have seen it with cancer patients and even those with diabetes. Human nature though is a born and bred personality trait inherent in every living breathing being whether they are human or animal. Beating yourself up therefore, whether mentally or even physically, is not going to change that fact. All it does accomplish, it just makes you feel miserable.

Day Of Diagnosis

For many people, the day of diagnosis means a reprieve. They have been sick for so long and every doctor has always said the same thing. “All the tests are negative”. There’s just nothing wrong with you.”

A few of those practitioners even had the nerve to suggest it’s probably just an age-related thing, you’re thinking yourself sick or the best one of all-time is “we need to start you on anti-depressants.”

And then on the other side of the spectrum, some patients feel like they’ve just been handed a death sentence. When it is mentioned they need to avoid wheat/gluten, dairy, eggs, nuts or any combination of allergens which they commonly use every day, their initial impression is always “what am I going to eat?”

Finding Your Way Through The Transition

At first it can be overwhelming trying to learn all the new rules and regulations. What items you have to avoid, what other names can mean your allergen(s) was used, cross-contamination issues and why this is so important. But after a few months of strictly adhering to your diet, you begin to notice how much better you feel. Slowly the day comes when you don’t really remember any more just how miserable you actually always did feel before.

You have now just entered the danger zone.

Most people can remember the endless aches and pains, indigestion, diarrhea and/or constipation, the vomiting plus the collection of approximately 200 other possible symptoms common to celiac disease. They also can re-count their endless frustration, anger and grief from the countless doctor visits all which yielded no definitive results.

But the passage of time is a great healer. The flashbacks become fewer, farther in-between. The healing process, from strict adherence to their diet, has worked wonders for their health and vitality. Now is the time when the rationale sneaks in that one little bite of a former favorite isn’t going to create any major obstacles.

But we all know, one bite leads to more. Soon it becomes one serving. And then in a few weeks, after minimal reaction the last time, another occasion presents itself and the “cheat” is once again on the mind. Eventually the servings become larger and closer together.

The problem here which has arose though is celiac disease is potentially an invisible disease. Few and scattered symptoms may only be felt during the “cheat” but your internal organs are suffering tremendously. But out of sight is also out of mind.

Enter A New Form Of Education

Your doctor and dietitian both explained the term celiac disease to you and what was happening inside your digestive system. But that was a long time ago. All of the signs and symptoms of those days are gone. You’ve even convinced yourself you have mastered the art of the “cheat”. You can now do it and have almost no outward signs of any adverse reactions.

Education though should not just be about the current signs and symptoms at diagnosis. It should be mandatory that it is explained non-compliance can also mean an entire host of possible future difficulties. But we all want a pill to pop, a vial of liquid to swallow. But as soon as those complications go away, life is supposed to go back to normal.

But if it was explained, you would have been informed how dangerous those occasional little “cheats” are to your future health. Common complications may include:

• infertility (or the inability of ever being able to bring a child into this world)
• aggressive osteoporosis
• increased risk of cancer as you age
• blood poisoning (from the slow leakage of toxins through your intestinal walls because of punctures in the lining from gluten poisoning)

But if every celiac was warned that an occasional “cheat” could build up to any of the above future complications, maybe many of these same people would realize that one moment of pleasure may not be worth the possibility of greater complications down the road in their future.

Currently, education centers around the elimination of the cause in the present day. But no time is given to be sure that individual who was diagnosed a celiac, they must realize that a lifetime of abstinence is for their own safety and protection.

Introduction

Aspartame is an artificial sweetener that has been around since 1965 when it was first synthesized. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approved it in 1974 for use in food products. It has been sold under several brand names including NutraSweet and AminoSweet.

Since its approval, the safety of the sweetener has been questioned since it is not a natural health product. The latest medical review, issued in 2007, showed that consumption of the sweetener was safe for humans and would cause no adverse side affects.

But did you know that there are now people who claim that aspartame caused them to develop acne. Here is the information you need to help you judge for yourself if aspartame can cause acne.

What Causes Acne

Acne is believed to be caused by a hormonal imbalance in the body as is evidenced by the majority of acne cases are reported in teenagers going through puberty.

This hormonal imbalance is believed to cause excess sebum (oil) to be secreted by the skin. When this happens, dead skin clumps together because of the excess oil and ends up clogging your pores and trapping bacteria.

The bacteria trapped in the skins pores starts to grow. This causes your immune system to react by attacking the bacteria, resulting in acne.

So if this is the cause of acne how does aspartame cause acne?

Aspartame And Acne

People started noticing that drinking diet soda, which contains aspartame, made them breakout with acne and when they stopped drinking it, their complexion cleared up.

But is this clearing of the skin because they drank more water or because they stopped drinking diet soda.

Well drinking water is one of the recommendations to stop and prevent acne. So when you stop drinking diet soda and drink more water does not prove that acne is caused by aspartame.

People have also noticed that if they chew gum-containing aspartame, it caused them to break out with acne, but not all people would break out with when they chewed gum-containing aspartame. This too is not absolute proof that aspartame causes acne.

People, who reported developing acne from aspartame, develop the form of acne known as cystic acne. This is a severe type of acne, which develops deep and inflamed breaks on the face, or other areas of the body.

Cystic acne is usually the result of an over-reaction by the immune system attacking healthy cells in the body, not necessarily the result of consuming aspartame.

Conclusion

If you read various acne message boards on aspartame, you will find various arguments both pro and con on the use of aspartame and acne.

No definite conclusion can be drawn on whether aspartame causes acne or not, but based on recent medical reports, the answer is aspartame does not cause acne.

It’s pretty devastating when you wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and notice a pimple has sprouted on your face overnight. Acne is the number one skin problem that people are faced with ion a day-to-day basis. According to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) about 40 million Americans experience acne at some point throughout their life. Acne isn’t fickle; it doesn’t discriminate between gender, race or age of the people that it affects. Even though it affects many different people, the best treatment for acne is the same for all. Due to the frequent occurrence of acne dermatologists have been able to develop an acne protocol, which eliminates blemishes, and restores beautiful, glowing skin. Acne treatment requires patience and persistence to restore your clear complexion. It takes six to eight weeks to start to see improvement in your skin when using acne treatment and six months to see a clear complexion. Follow this dermatologist recommended routine for blemish free skin.

In the Morning- When you wake up in the morning the first thing to do for your skin is wash your face. This removes excess oil and dirt from the surface of your skin. Choose a facial cleanser that contains an alpha hydroxy acid such as glycolic acid. In addition to cleaning the skin, it exfoliates dead skin cells, which can block pores, which cause pimples and acne.

Next, Toner- After initially washing the face with a cleanser, use a toner to exfoliate and clear out your pores. A toner with salicylic acid can penetrate the pores to remove dead skin cells and build up of sebum. Apply toner to a cotton ball and swipe all over the face.

Spot Treatment- Even after completely cleaning your face there will always be one red spot or pimple that you feel sticks out on your face. By using targeted acne spot treatment on these areas you can reduce and eliminate these pronounced pimples. Over the counter acne treatments contain benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid to clean out the pores and remove bacteria, dead skin cells and sebum. With moderate or severe acne over the counter acne treatment may not do the trick. Your dermatologist can prescribe prescription acne treatments. Topical retinoids should be applied all over the face at night after you wash your face and before you go to bed.

Moisturizing- For people with oily skin using a moisturizer is not necessary. However, acne treatments can dry out the skin making it flaky and red. Applying a thin layer of moisturizer on the face after cleaning the skin can hydrate and leave the skin smooth. Always use a non-comedogenic moisturizer to avoid clogging your pores, which can result in more acne.

After the colonists arrived in America in the early 1600s, they kept bumping into poison ivy. Herbalists started formulating potions to sooth itchy skin, clinicians tried to figure out how the rash happened when some people never even touched the plants and physicians played around with the leaves to see what in the heck it cured. “Poison ivy cures paralysis,” according to Frenchman Dr. DuFresnoy in 1788, and in 1793, Englishman Dr. Alderson agreed. Apparently, feeling commences with a sensation of pricking, burning and twitching of the affected parts. This startling news was amended by the late 1800s to mean only the paralysis that follows attacks of rheumatism. But still-is this dramatic or what?

In 1870, John Scudder enthusiastically believed that poison ivy was likely to prove one of our most valuable medicines and would be highly prized when its use was learned. Dr. harvey Felter, also a fan, wrote in 1898 that Rhus Toxicodendron (poison ivy) is one of our best medicinal agents. Its range of application, specifically considered, is only excelled by a few drugs.” At one point even the U.S. Pharmacopeia considered poison ivy a drug and listed it as Rhus toxicodendron in their 1880 and 1890 decennial publications.

Medicinal use of poison ivy was not a flash-in-the-pan fad. in Materia Medica and Therapeutics in 1905, Dr. J. Peterson stated, “Rhus tox is a valuable remedy when indicated” and was seemingly undaunted by the possible side effects, which included (take a deep breath here) fever, headache, stupefaction, sense of intoxication, burning, nervous twitching, burning in the throat and mouth, thirst, rheumatic pains, cough, nausea, vomiting, chilliness, delirium, drowsiness, stupor, flushed face, dilated pupils, feeble and rapid pulse, hurried respiration, fainting, convulsions, white-coated tongue with small red points on the upper surface of the tip, cough with burning pain in the chest, restlessness, crying out during sleep in children, and-ta-da-itching.

But-hearken to good news. According to the same Dr. J. Peterson, poison ivy (take another deep breath) relieves cerebral engorgement by “increasing the tone of arteries and strengthens the weakened brain.” It increases the function of terminal nerve filaments, is an ideal sedative, controls the circulation and is valuable for pneumonia and vomiting. It is used to sooth deep or superficial burning pain and rheumatoid stiffness. The plant also works well for diarrhea and typhoid dysentery, is a “fine remedy” in cholera morbus, and a “valuable agent” in pneumonia, bronchitis, la grippe (flu) and phthisis (tuberculosis). Amazingly, poison ivy is “effective” for sciatica and relieves gastric irritation. It is “of service” in herpes and inflammatory skin afflictions like burning and redness (yep, this was not a typo-it cures rashes). And lest we not forget, it also cures rheumatoid paralysis.

It may seem to the skeptical reader that the aforementioned information is a bit over the top-but wait. I have evidence that folks trusted the amazing healing abilities of a plant that should have been called “Super Weed.” In 1887, James Clark White wrote, “Great quantities of poison ivy are gathered for medicinal purposes in all parts of the United States. One dealer in North Carolina offers in his stock of native drugs over three hundred pounds of poison ivy leaves.”

I must give poison sumac its due. It is not often mentioned because it dwells in standing water, and humans do not saunter around ankle-deep when there is a nice path to walk upon. But it contains the same powerful allergen as poison oak and poison ivy. According to Francis Porcher in 1863, an ointment containing the resin of this shrubby tree “acts as an astringent when applied to piles. (It shrinks hemorrhoids by gosh.)

The allergenic oils of all three plants (poison oak, poison ivy, poison sumac) are almost identical, so you could make an ointment from any of them. I know the recipe, but I refuse to divulge it because the wildly adventurous out there might actually prepare it and try it out.

References: Scudder, John M. 1870. Specific Medication and Specific Medicines. Wilstach, Baldwin & Co. Printers. Felter, Harvey Wickes, and John Uri Lloyd. 1898. Kings’s American Dispensatory. US Pharmacopedia. 2010. Staff phone interview and e-mail. Peterson, Fred J. 1905. The Materica Medica and Clinical Therapeutics. Self-published. CA.White, James Clark. 1887. Dermatitis Venenata. Porcher Francis P. 1863. Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests, Medical, Economical and Agricultural. Steam Power Press, VA.

Usually, I will probably make a joke about such a topic to write on so let’s try the reverse method, I shall be really serious about it and won’t be anal about it. You shall see. Rectal temperature is considered the most accurate temperature of the body and is the most effective way of measuring temperature in a patient. In contrast, taking rectal temperature, if done on a person older than a child, can be unpleasant, let alone embarrassing for people of conservative customs.

As for infants, rectal temperature-taking is the most favored method by pediatricians. Because taking rectal temperature can also be painful, even if done by trained practitioners, rectal digital thermometers are preferable. Additionally, a lubricant like petroleum jelly (now replaced with water-based personal lubricants) should be used when taking the temperature.

Effectiveness of rectal thermometry

Rectal thermometry is a general term used to cover a wide range of methods for taking rectal temperature, in most cases used only in pediatrics. Rectal thermometry is also sometimes used in animal testing, veterinary, research, and forensics. In any case, rectal thermometry, when done in humans, should be undertaken with extreme care. If done by a person who is not trained in medicine, the process can be painful and can cause damage in the rectum or anus.

Many medical practitioners regard rectal thermometry as an ‘invasive’ medical procedure, and for good reason. Therefore, the practice is generally used only in children. On certain occasions, when taking temperature in any other way is not possible, rectal thermometry is used with older patients. Emergency rooms may use one of many ways to take the temperature of a patient. In emergency rooms, because of its open space and somewhat public location, rectal thermometry is summarily avoided. However, if there is no other alternative, that understandable choice is completely disregarded.

Rectal digital thermometer versus mercury thermometers

Rectal thermometry is fairly easy to learn; but it is not advisable to be practiced for medical purposes by anyone other than a doctor. Ordinary mercury-based thermometers are more difficult to use, and involves making the patient lie still for a few minutes. Furthermore, the reading cannot be accurate until after the thermometer is cleaned using a tissue. Rectal digital thermometers are quite the opposite. The digital ones are also used with lubricants, such as petroleum jelly, but are considerably easier to clean. The following are steps on how to clean a digital rectal thermometer:

First, wipe off the lubricant, be it petroleum jelly or water-based lubricant, using a thick tissue paper or a disposable paper towel. Create a mixture of liquid soap and warm water in a small disposable glass. The glass doesn’t always have to be disposable, but, for obvious reasons, should never be a drinking glass. Dip the tip of the digital thermometer, not the whole thermometer itself, into the soapy water and swirl it until the water bubbles. Completely dip the part inserted into the rectum in the soapy water to wash away the bacteria. Take it out of the soap mixture and rinse the tip with warm running water. Using a new paper towel or tissue paper, dry the clean thermometer. Ensure you have read the thermometer first before cleaning it; otherwise the temperature will change upon contact with water.
Now you see, it’s possible not to be anal-retentive while writing an anal topic!