The swine flu, also known as the H1N1 virus, has claimed several lives throughout the state of Alabama, and there have been some cases of UA students getting the virus on campus. However, the Student Health Center hopes to help students by providing the new FluMist vaccine, used to combat the swine flu virus.“The FluMist is used nasally and contains the live virus,” said Dr. David Roberts, a student health physician. “The shot works exactly like the mist, and they don’t have many side-effects.”

The H1N1 shot has been delayed, and the SHC doesn’t have the actual shot right now, Roberts said.

“The response of students getting the vaccine has been a good one,” he said. “Also, the vaccine does provide the patient with good immunity against the current H1N1 virus.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the FluMist should be given to people 2 to 49 years old who are not pregnant and do not have certain health conditions. Anyone with an allergy to eggs or any other substance in the vaccine, a weakened immune system or a long-term health problem should also avoid getting the vaccine.

Dr. Jim McVay, director of health promotion and chronic disease at the Alabama Department of Public Health, said there are four manufacturers who produce 200 million doses of the vaccine.

“Some of the producers are across the globe, which include Great Britain and Australia,” McVay said. “There has been a great demand across the state for the vaccine. Over 900 health care providers have ordered over a million doses.”

Andrea Smith, a sophomore majoring pre-medical studies, said getting the vaccine is a great precautionary measure to take to prevent from catching the flu.

“I don’t think the vaccine has been out long enough to have the opportunity to see whether it works or not,” she said.

Smith said since the swine flu furor has died down on campus, she has continued to remain calm about it but maintained a normal hand washing routine.

Roberts said the SHC has given several hundred doses off-site and in Tutwiler Hall and Ridgecrest South.

“Although we have not gotten any of the actual shots for the H1N1 virus, the supplies for the nasal vaccine meet the current demand,” he said.

McVay said one of the goals at the end of November is to travel across the state to public and private schools with a team of nurses and administer the H1N1 vaccine. Due to slow production of the vaccine, ADPH will begin the program at the end of November, McVay said.

How can I best care for my child’s teeth?

Good dental hygiene habits should begin before your child’s first tooth comes in. Wiping your baby’s gums with a soft damp cloth after feedings helps to prevent the buildup of bacteria. When teeth appear, start using a soft children’s toothbrush twice a day.

Once your child is preschool-age, start using fluoride toothpaste. Don’t cover the brush with toothpaste; a pea-sized amount is just right (see picture above). Young children tend to swallow most of the toothpaste, and swallowing too much fluoride toothpaste can cause permanent stains on their teeth.

What about using fluoride tablets?
Fluoride helps make teeth strong by hardening the tooth enamel. Many cities are required to add fluoride to tap water. If you live in an area where the tap water doesn’t contain fluoride, your doctor may prescribe daily fluoride tablets when your child is about 6 months old. Fluoride is an important part of your child’s dental health, but don’t give him or her more than the directions call for. If you miss a dose, don’t give your child extra fluoride to make up. Just as with swallowed toothpaste, too much oral fluoride can cause stains on your child’s teeth.

What are cavities?

Cavities are holes that are formed when bacteria (germs) in your mouth use the sugar in food to make acid. This acid eats away at the teeth. Cavities are the most common disease in children. Good tooth care can keep cavities from happening in your child

Is my child at risk for cavities?

Your child might be at risk for cavities if he or she eats a lot of sugary foods (such as raisins, cookies and candy) and drinks a lot of sweet liquids (such as fruit juice and punch, soda and sweetened drinks). Your child also might be at risk if he or she has any of the following risk factors:

* Was born early (prematurely) or weighed very little at birth (low birth weight)
* Has ongoing special health care needs
* Has white spots or brown areas on any teeth
* Does not go to the dentist very often

Herbal Hair Help
You love shampoos and conditioners. You love serums that give your hair that added shine. But once in a while it is great idea to get back to nature to restore your hair’s health. So pick a shampoo with some herbal actives, or simply get the herbs and use the home made extracts. We love these gifts from nature that work wonders every time:

Hair Fall: Try hair oil with Brahmi or Bhringraj to tone scalp and improve blood circulation to the roots. Extracts from flowers like carnation and hibiscus also help stressed scalp. Shampoos with Reetha and soapnut are gentle and build hair strength.

Hair Breakage: Try products with fenugreek, musk root and Bengal gram as they have protein compounds that restore hair strength and smoothen cuticles.

Hair Flakes: Shampoos with margosa, tea tree oil, rosemary and fennel have anti bacterial and astringent properties to fight dandruff.

Itchy scalp: Hair vitalisers with poppy seeds, peppermint, milk protein, and sandalwood alleviate itchiness.

For most people, stress is simply annoying or unpleasant; for people with diabetes, it can have a direct impact on health. Stress hormones can cause blood sugar to rise and you may need more insulin or other medications to control blood sugar when you are under stress (being sick or physically injured can also do the same).

Your response to stress, however, can exacerbate the problem. If you skip meals, neglect exercise, or tend to eat poorly, your blood sugar may become too high or too low.

“There is a myth out there that it’s all about food as to why the blood sugar rises,” says Richard Hellman, MD, former president of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. The truth is that other factors play a role, he explains, including stress.

For example, if you’re a schoolteacher who takes insulin at breakfast, a morning meeting with a difficult co-worker can affect the insulin’s ability to control your blood sugar.

“That person will have, in many cases, a higher than normal glucose level at that time. Only part of it is due to what they ate,” Dr. Hellman says. “(Another) part of it is due to the fact that their hormones are churning out adrenaline and other stress hormones.”

If you’re under stress, you may need to take more insulin to correct for extra-high blood sugar, or less if you change your behavior.

Their study included 2,285 people, aged 45 to 84, living in neighborhoods in Baltimore, Forsyth County, N.C., and New York City/Bronx. Their neighborhoods were assessed by asking residents questions, such as whether it’s easy or pleasant to walk in their community, and whether local stores carry a large, high-quality selection of fruits, vegetables and other low-fat foods. Average neighborhood scores were 3.68 for physical activity and 3.36 for healthy foods, the researchers found.

At the midpoint of five years of follow-up, 233 (10.2 percent) of the study participants had developed type 2 diabetes, the study authors reported.

“Better neighborhood resources, determined by a combined score for physical activity and healthy foods, were associated with a 38 percent lower incidence of type 2 diabetes. The association remained statistically significant after further adjustment for individual dietary factors, physical activity level and body mass index,” wrote Amy H. Auchincloss, of Drexel University School of Public Health in Philadelphia, and colleagues.

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the United States has steadily increased over the past 30 years. Identifying and modifying neighborhood traits that may affect diabetes risk could prove helpful.

“Current efforts to foster health-promoting environments include designing and modifying physical environments, such as zoning residential neighborhoods to require safe sidewalks, creating parks and attractive public green spaces and improving public transportation so that residents rely less on their cars; supporting fresh-food farmers’ markets in low-income, urban neighborhoods; and assisting stores in those neighborhoods in improving their selection of healthy foods,” the researchers wrote.

Although experts say those fears are unwarranted, a recent Associated Press-GfK poll found only about half of Americans said they are planning to get the vaccine. Most of those are older people — so far among the least vulnerable to the virus.

Almost three-quarters of respondents said they were concerned about the vaccine’s safety (although many of these said they still were going to get the shot).

And a University of Michigan poll found that only 40 percent of parents wanted to get their children inoculated.
But experts and officials continue to stress that not only is the vaccine safe, it’s the surest way to protect yourself from the H1N1 swine flu virus.

“The H1N1 vaccine is made in exactly the same way, using the same material, the same companies, the same process as the seasonal flu vaccine we make every single year and give to tens and tens of millions of people,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Fauci explained that even the seasonal flu vaccine is changed slightly each year, with slightly different strains.

Had the H1N1 virus emerged just a little bit earlier, it would have been included in this year’s regular flu shot, he stated.

“We wouldn’t be talking about safety now if [the H1N1 vaccine] were given within the context of the seasonal flu,” Fauci continued.

Nor has the vaccine been made too quickly, as some have worried. In fact, “it hasn’t been faster at all,” said Dr. Robert Frenck, a professor of pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ committee on infectious diseases.

The seasonal flu vaccine goes into production around March and is available around August. The H1N1 virus was isolated in May and became available this month.

Side effects from the H1N1 vaccine have been mild, including tenderness and swelling at the injection site and a mild fever. In China, four of 39,000 people vaccinated reported muscle cramps and headaches.

“We’ve had experience with this particular variety of killed vaccine for 20 years, and the risks are primarily swollen arm and low-grade fever,” said Dr. Nathan Litman, director of pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. “There are some very, very rare other events, but some of them happen naturally even in those who don’t have the vaccine. The risk of disease and complications of disease is far greater than the vaccine.”

Some concerns were precipitated by an earlier experience with swine flu vaccine. In 1976, the U.S. government vaccinated 43 million people against swine flu following an outbreak at Fort Dix in New Jersey. Some 500 of those vaccinated developed a rare neurodegenerative condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome, which many experts believe was linked to the shot. Twenty-five of those 500 died.

But the equation for this year’s swine flu pandemic is already vastly different. The 1976 virus never spread beyond 240 soldiers stationed at the base, while the current outbreak has already sickened more than 340,000 people worldwide, killing 4,100 or more, according to the World Health Organization.

Minimize snacking, which increases acid production in the mouth. Avoid high-sugar drinks, chewing gum with sugar, or sucking on sugary candy. Consider getting a dental sealant applied to your molars to help prevent cavities. Use mouth wash and toothpaste with fluoride.

Stop your sneezing

Clutter gathers dust
A messy home = nice digs for dust mites, bugs, mold, and mice. Recycle old newspapers, magazines, cans, and grocery bags weekly—and keep the bins outside if you can.

Carpet harbors dust mites
Dust mites and pet dander love carpeting and rugs, so bust out your vac weekly. Make sure it has a high-efficiency particulate air filter to trap tiny particles. To really ditch allergies, leave your floors bare.

Bedding & Bathroom
Banish mites and mold by washing bedding in 130-degree water weekly. Moist bathroom or basement walls love to breed mold. Wipe them down with a chlorine-bleach solution (1 ounce bleach to 1 quart H2O) to keep fungus at bay. In the fall, mold also moves indoors via wet leaves on shoes and damp firewood. Store wood in a separate dry space, like the garage, and keep the yard leaf-free. Also, see: 10 ways to remove mold.

Crumbs in the Kitchen
Crumbs and overflowing garbage lure mice and roaches—and their droppings can aggravate allergies. Keep your space clean. try boric acid and traps for the pests.

Open windows bring outdoor allergies in
Refreshing fall breezes are great—unless they usher ragweed pollen indoors. Keep windows shut between the high-pollen-count hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. (If it’s warm, keep the air conditioner running; it filters out pollen inside your home.) Change the AC (or heater) filter monthly. And remove shoes outside to avoid tracking in pollen particles.

How to fight basement mold
Fight mold with a dehumidifier set between 35 and 45 percent humidity. Dehumidifiers come in several sizes. Before you buy, get a humidity gauge to assess how much de-moisturizing muscle you need.

Houseplants can hold mold
Your potted plants can harbor sneeze-producing mold on their leaves. Remove any moldy leaves immediately, and don’t let water pool in the pot’s tray. Check with a plant-care specialist if the problem persists. Find the healthiest plants for your home.

Pet dander
Pet dander and saliva spell trouble for 30 percent of allergy sufferers. Washing or brushing your pet weekly (do it outside) can lower your home’s dander level. Keep dogs and cats out of the bedroom, and cover air vents with cheesecloth to keep dander from spreading from room to room. Here’s more information on how to eliminate pet allergies from your home.

Fabric furnshings hold dust and dander
Dust weekly. Wash blankets and throw rugs in hot water (or have them dry-cleaned). Pick up pet fur with your vac’s upholstery attachment, and try to keep pets off furniture. Make sure the air temp is below 70 degrees, too: Mites, as well as fungus and roaches, dislike cool temps.

An unsettled stomach is felt again and again which can cause vomiting sensation time and again. Person suffering from migraine will become more sensitive towards any sought of illumination, resonance and odor. A sought of inflexibility in neck is also felt along the neckline as well as on both the shoulders.

An affected person might also find it difficult to focus on any activity. In the most advanced stages of migraine, a paralysis attack can also take place. In many cases, symptoms can start occurring gradually but in many cases it has been observed that they can occur abruptly.

There are several painkillers available to cure migraine but remember not to self-medicate yourself, always consult the doctor in this regard.

Alteration in the level of a specific chemical present in the brain has been discovered as the reason behind the occurrence of migraine. This can be caused by intake of specific food like some milk related products or caffeine products. Variation in the level of emotions and level of your physical activity can also cause migraine. One of the most underestimated causes of migraine is the change in the balance of hormones in our body.

The patient of migraine must always keep their prescribed medicines by their sides as who knows when it takes place. Have ample quantity of water and also make an effort to maintain a uniform sleeping habit. Relaxing yourself after an extremely stressful activity becomes more crucial if migraine has been posing serious health concerns for you.

Remedies of Migraine And Headaches:

The technically correct medical term for nose bleeds is epistaxis. They are classified on the basis of the primary bleeding site: anterior or posterior.

Anterior (90% of nose bleeds)

• The most common source if bleeding is from the Kiesselbach plexus which is an anastomotic (think multiple roads coming together) network of vessels on the anterior portion of the nasal septum.

• May also be due to bleeding anterior to the inferior turbinate.

Posterior

• Bleeding will originate from branches of the sphenopalatine artery in the posterior nasal cavity or nasopharynx.

• This is much more serious and usually require admission to the hospital and management by an otolaryngologist.

CAUSES of NASAL BLEEDING (epistaxis)

Most cases have no easily identifiable cause.

Local trauma (ie, nose picking, blowing too vigorously, foreign bodies) is the most common cause. Other local causes include:

* facial trauma or surgery
* nasal or sinus infections
* allergies
* nasal polyps
* prolonged inhalation of dry air (climate or too warm house)
* tumors

Systemic causes of nose bleeding include

• Blood disorders (hemophilia, leukemia, polycythemia vera, thrombocytopenia, von Willebrand’s disease, etc)

• Acquired platelet dysfunctions (related to use of aspirin, NSAIDs, dipyridamole, etc

• Anticoagulation therapy (ie warfarin, enoxaparin, etc)

• Hypertension is rarely (if ever) a direct cause of epistaxis. Therapy should be focused on controlling bleeding before blood pressure reduction.

• Vascular abnormalities that contribute to epistaxis may include the following:

1. Arteriovenous Malformations
2. Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasis
3. Sclerotic Vessels
4. Neoplasm (tumor)
5. Septal abnormality (ie perforation or deviation)
6. Endometriosis

WHAT TO DO at HOME WHEN NOSE BLEEDING

As with all bleeding the first thing to do is remain calm, then apply pressure.

How do you apply pressure correctly?

o Sit up straight.
o Lean your head forward rather than back. This way you won’t swallow the blood which can irritate your stomach and make you nauseated.
o Pinch the nostrils together with your thumb and index finger for 5-10 minutes. Pinch them tightly and don’t let go early. Yes, it will be uncomfortable if you have enough pressure.
o Repeat for another 5-10 minutes, if the bleeding hasn’t stopped. You may not have held consistent pressure the first time.

Things that can help prevent a nose bleed or re-bleed:

• Avoid local trauma. No nose picking. Try not to blow your or sneeze for 24-48 hrs after the nose bleed.

• Minimize exposure to dry air. This can be a problem if you live in Arizona or in a heated home in the winter. Adding moisture to the air with a humidifier or vaporizer will help.

• Using salt water nasal spray can help. This can be used with abandon, no limits.

• Using vaseline occasionally to help keep the lining of your nose moisturized. Don’t overdo this.

WHEN it’s appropriate to go to the hospital

* You are still bleeding after REALLY pinching the nose for 10 minutes.
* You are having repeated episodes of nosebleeds over a 12-36 hour period.
* You feel dizzy or light-headed or like you are going to pass out.
* Your doctor instructs you to go to a hospital’s emergency department.