Back Pain

Low-Back Pain


Give your low back pain a day or two to work itself out before you call your doctor, unless you have signs of a severe illness, injury, or heart attack, as described below.


Call your doctor or other emergency services immediately if:

* You have back pain with chest pain. Always call 911 anytime you think you might have symptoms of a heart attack. Symptoms of a heart attack can include:

* Pain in the upper back with chest pain or discomfort that is crushing or squeezing or feels like a heavy weight on the chest.

Chest discomfort or pain that occurs with:

* Sweating.

* Shortness of breath.

* Nausea or vomiting.

* Pain that spreads from the chest to the back, neck, or jaw, upper belly, or one or both shoulders or arms. The left shoulder and arm are more commonly affected. See a picture of areas that may be affected by chest pain.

* Dizziness, lightheadedness, or feeling like you are going to faint.

* A fast, slow, or irregular heartbeat.

* You had a severe injury to your back. Signs of spinal injury include:

* New loss of bowel or bladder control.

* New weakness in the legs.

* New numbness or tingling in the buttocks, genital area, or legs.

* Moderate to severe pain following an injury to the back.

Note: If you suspect that someone has a spinal injury, don't move the person except to avoid an immediate threat, such as a fire. If there is immediate danger, keep the head, neck, and back supported and aligned while you move the person to safety.

Watchful Waiting

Most low back pain does not require a visit to a doctor. In general, pain should start to improve after 1 or 2 days of home treatment.

If you have pain that has not improved after 1 or 2 days and you are unable to do your normal daily activities, call your doctor.

If your mild to moderate low back pain has continued through at least 2 weeks of home treatment, talk with your doctor. He or she may want to check for problems that may be causing your back pain.

The following health professionals can diagnose the cause of back pain, evaluate back injuries, and start treatment:

Primary care provider such as:

Family medicine doctor

Internist

Nurse practitioner

Physician assistant

Orthopedic surgeon

Osteopathic doctor (osteopath)

Emergency medicine specialist

Chiropractor

Allergies

Allergies: Avoiding Indoor Triggers

Introduction

Allergic rhinitis results in symptoms of sneezing, congestion, and a runny nose. However, you can control these symptoms with medicine and by avoiding the things that cause them (allergens). If you are allergic to indoor allergens, such as dust mites, animal dander, and mold, you can take some simple steps to get them out of your house.

By taking these precautions, you may have fewer symptoms or less severe symptoms.

To avoid allergens in your home, you need to try to identify what you are allergic to. Work with your doctor to find this out. With this knowledge, you can cut back on the allergens in your home. For example, you may be allergic to your pet. You can then decide what steps to take, such as keeping your pet outside or limiting your pet to certain areas of your home.

Many of these steps are simple and are easy to do. Others may mean changes to your home and furnishings—such as removing carpeting or adding an air-conditioning system—that can be costly or difficult to do. If you live in a rented apartment or house, you may not be able to make some changes. You will need to decide which ones you can do. Try to use as many of them as you can.

By avoiding or reducing your contact with indoor allergens, you may be able to:

* Reduce your allergy symptoms and feel much better.

* Manage your allergy symptoms without medicine or with fewer medicines.

* Reduce your risk of developing complications of long-term (chronic) allergic rhinitis, such as sinusitis.

To reduce allergens inside your home, you can:

* Remove items where allergens build up, such as stuffed animals or rugs.

* Use regular cleaning and housekeeping to prevent allergens from building up.

Measures to control allergens throughout your home include:

* Controlling dust and dust mites, such as dusting regularly and washing bed linens in hot water. Dust contains most of the allergens in your home.

* Controlling animal dander and other pet allergens, which includes keeping pets only in certain areas of your home.

* Controlling molds, which includes cleaning bathtubs and showers monthly.

Because adults spend one-third of their time and children spend half of their time in their bedrooms, it is important that you take steps to prevent allergens in this room.

Other things you can do

Polluted air does not cause allergies, but it can irritate the nose and lungs. This may make it more likely that you will have symptoms.

* Avoid tobacco smoke, smoke from wood-burning stoves, and fumes from kerosene heaters.

* If you have a wood-burning stove, try to use one that is airtight and does not leak smoke into your home.

Talk with your doctor

If you have questions about this information, take a printout with you when you visit your doctor. You may want to mark areas or make notes where you have questions. Your doctor may have more ideas on how you can control allergens in your home.

The Difference Between Boys and Girls

Boys and girls are different. Give a toddler girl a G.I. Joe and she'll probably try to mother it. Give a toddler boy a Barbie, and he'll pull off its head or pretend it's a gun. Boys and girls are psychologically different, physically different and also mentally different.

Boy brains are drastically different than girl brains. Girls, even young students, tend toward multitasking-an ability that serves them well later in life, juggling work, family, and a social life. Boys work on one, maybe two, tasks at a time-something that annoys women everywhere when the boys become men and cannot grow out of that.

Boys learn by doing. Boy brains are kinetic and tactile. They are stimulated by taste, touch, and smell. Girls use their eyes and ears to learn.



Ask any boy in elementary school and "Lunch," "Recess" and maybe "P.E." will be in their top five subjects in school. Ask girls, and you'll probably also find lunch and recess on the list, but not as high. For both girls and boys, lunch and recess are social times. But while boys are playing tag, Dodge Ball, or "Bumper Bodies" on the slide, girls are over near the bars talking and playing "10 tricks."




In the classroom-especially in the lower grades-boys can create havoc for their teachers and classmates. Boys are more likely to fidget, get up, lean back in chairs, and be a disruption.

But does this mean that boys are just bad? Of course not! Boys are just being boys. It's how their brains work. Boys are more active, and more apt to get frustrated when they don't live up to the expectations of their teachers and parents.



Where did these expectations come from? Before any of us attended school, the big push in public academia was to get girls' test scores up. Thirty to forty years ago, girls were on the "losing end" of the academic stick. The government and school officials decided that something needed to be done. The school format changed to the one we know now-sit down, be quiet, and do your work-which works wonderfully for the girl brain.

Since then, and especially in the last 10 years, expectations for boys have changed dramatically. As early as kindergarten, kinetic, impulsive boys are told to sit down, be quiet, and do their work. Parents and administrators demand teachers to have a calm, controlled classroom, rather than teach the students in the way they learn best. As Ms. Tyre write for Newsweek, "Instead of allowing teachers to instruct kids in the manner and pace that suit each class, some states now tell teachers what, when and how to teach."





Because of the gap between girls and boys, some schools have experimented with separating girls and boys and creating more interactive lessons. The results are more disorganized boys-only classes, more rowdy interactive lessons, but better participation and better test scores all around.

While not all teachers and school administrators will change school policy because of a few anecdotal positive results, there are still things that parents can do to make school more fun for boys. Make homework more fun and interactive for younger students. Give plenty of time for running around between homework assignments.