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kodalaiThis isn't a meme, but hey, maybe it could be.
We live in a society which is very drug-happy -- or at least medication-happy. When something goes wrong, the first thing we turn to is a magic pill that will fix the problems. Sometimes, though, the pills cause more problems than they fix.
Everyone has developed their own methods of self-pampering, or self-care. When you feel achey or ill, maybe reaching for the bottle isn't always the way to go. What's your trick for curing headaches? Nausea? Fatigue? Comment here with your answers, and if you feel like it, copy this sentence to your own LJ to find out what tricks your friends have.
1) Headaches
When I get a headache, the first thing I do is drink a lot of water. Dehydration is the primary cause of headaches, even if you don't feel thirsty! Most of the time, suprisingly enough, this is enough to get rid of it. If not, it's probably a tension or eyestrain headache; I stop whatever I'm doing, reading or working at the computer, and go do something that requires me to focus long-range for a while. If that doesn't help, I pull out my sheet on facial massage and reach for the ibuprofen.
2) Nausea
Usually I try to determine whether it's a motion-nausea, a hunger-nausea, or a ate-something-bad nausea. For bad food, oddly enough, I find eating oranges usually helps to settle my stomach; that and ginger ale often does the trick. For different reasons, that helps hunger-nausea too. For motion-nausea (I'm very motion-sensitive) the best thing for me is to lie down for a while.
3) Ache, fatigue, and malaise
My favorite cure for all of these is sleep. If that's not feasible, my second favorite is exercise. When I was a kid I hated exercise, but as I discovered after high school that when you do it on your own terms, it can be awesome. It wakes me up if I'm tired, usually works out any stiffness, and just generally leaves me feeling very relaxed. Drinking a lot of water while you exercise is good too, even if you aren't thirsty; it flushes out toxins (or so I hear. All I know is that it makes me feel better.) It also warms me up from the inside so any cold-related aches usually disappear.
4) Cramps
Ibuprofen is best for menstrual-related cramps. Seriously. Despite the sentence posted above, I firmly believe that ibuprofen is woman's best friend. But the important thing for me is that I have to start taking ibuprofen *before* cramps start. If I wait till they've started, they won't go away; if I act first, though, I'll never feel a thing. That's why I'm glad I'm regular, and always keep track of the dates.
If I miss the date, or for some reason the cramps are too strong for the medicine, nothing and I mean nothing helps so much as those stick-on heat pads that you can find in almost all major drug-stores.
These are mostly all of the ills that afflict me; lucky me, I'm young and healthy. :) But everyone has their own way of coping.
We live in a society which is very drug-happy -- or at least medication-happy. When something goes wrong, the first thing we turn to is a magic pill that will fix the problems. Sometimes, though, the pills cause more problems than they fix.
Everyone has developed their own methods of self-pampering, or self-care. When you feel achey or ill, maybe reaching for the bottle isn't always the way to go. What's your trick for curing headaches? Nausea? Fatigue? Comment here with your answers, and if you feel like it, copy this sentence to your own LJ to find out what tricks your friends have.
1) Headaches
When I get a headache, the first thing I do is drink a lot of water. Dehydration is the primary cause of headaches, even if you don't feel thirsty! Most of the time, suprisingly enough, this is enough to get rid of it. If not, it's probably a tension or eyestrain headache; I stop whatever I'm doing, reading or working at the computer, and go do something that requires me to focus long-range for a while. If that doesn't help, I pull out my sheet on facial massage and reach for the ibuprofen.
2) Nausea
Usually I try to determine whether it's a motion-nausea, a hunger-nausea, or a ate-something-bad nausea. For bad food, oddly enough, I find eating oranges usually helps to settle my stomach; that and ginger ale often does the trick. For different reasons, that helps hunger-nausea too. For motion-nausea (I'm very motion-sensitive) the best thing for me is to lie down for a while.
3) Ache, fatigue, and malaise
My favorite cure for all of these is sleep. If that's not feasible, my second favorite is exercise. When I was a kid I hated exercise, but as I discovered after high school that when you do it on your own terms, it can be awesome. It wakes me up if I'm tired, usually works out any stiffness, and just generally leaves me feeling very relaxed. Drinking a lot of water while you exercise is good too, even if you aren't thirsty; it flushes out toxins (or so I hear. All I know is that it makes me feel better.) It also warms me up from the inside so any cold-related aches usually disappear.
4) Cramps
Ibuprofen is best for menstrual-related cramps. Seriously. Despite the sentence posted above, I firmly believe that ibuprofen is woman's best friend. But the important thing for me is that I have to start taking ibuprofen *before* cramps start. If I wait till they've started, they won't go away; if I act first, though, I'll never feel a thing. That's why I'm glad I'm regular, and always keep track of the dates.
If I miss the date, or for some reason the cramps are too strong for the medicine, nothing and I mean nothing helps so much as those stick-on heat pads that you can find in almost all major drug-stores.
These are mostly all of the ills that afflict me; lucky me, I'm young and healthy. :) But everyone has their own way of coping.
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no subject
Date: 2005-03-10 09:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-10 10:11 am (UTC)Nausea = lie down until it gets bearable, then eat something high in sugar. Like rock candy.
Random aches and pains = signs that my body hates me = the natural results of about fifteen years' worth of the kind of stress that comes with regular dance classes, stopped way too abruptly = cope until they go away. If, for example, my hip randomly starts to act like it's not sitting right in the joint, there's not much I can do about it.
I've found that, with two exceptions - migraines and certain kinds of nausea - if you ignore it long enough, it goes away leaving you none the worse.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-11 12:04 am (UTC)As for general fatigue and malaise, I find that going outside and taking a walk helps a lot. Don't know if it's the exercise, or the natural light, or just the change in venue, but even a stroll down smoggy noisy city streets is a big help.
--Les
no subject
Date: 2005-03-11 09:26 pm (UTC)nausea: dear lord, i get this too often. first i usually go to the bathroom. if it's diarrea (spelling?) just getting it out helps a ton. often, it's the i haven't eaten. so i start slow, crackers, soup, liquids and work my way up. mostly though i've been stressed out, not sure yet what to do about that.
misc malaise: a shower, masturbating/sex, crying. all of them seem to release vile toxins for me and boost my endorphin level. if nothing else, it's a distraction.
that's all folks! or i wish it were.