Good Fer What Ails Ya- RIGHT NOW!

This is a job for an antibiotic. Off to the doctor with ya!

what ails me is being cured by a shot of good scotch right now.

If the earache is mild and you only notice it when you swallow, for instance, it probably is due to the blocked eustachian tubes that Foscolo mentioned, and not serious.  The best remedy is a decongestant like Sudafed, but I don't think that's available there.  The next best thing would be a pain reliever if it's bothering you a lot, try Ibuprofen.

If the earache is a real constant ache that bothers you all the time, or if you have a fever or drainage from the ear, then off to the doctor with you.  You need antibiotics.

Hope you feel better.

Thanks it is just when i swallow, as i said usually only get it after having a sore throat. The Ibuprofen helped, my mum suggested it.

Thanks 'Shroomy

Yeah, when you have an earache, it's quite natural to go see a doctor...

i went to see the local doc when i had a the earache. I was expecting him to have an otoscopy to do an inspection, he had what looked like a blank cd strapped to his head. He pulled my ear which caused me much pain and told me it would pass in a few days. That was my first experience of using the medical service in this country. Hardly filled me with confidence.

A build up of ear wax was the culprit and some eardrops and a swish out with warm water did the trick.

In China I was constantly getting coughs, colds, sore throats etc. I blamed it on being crammed onto buses and trams with the other passengers hacking and spluttering into my face all the time. I mostly switched to walking and taxis, and noticed an improvement. No doubt putting plastic bags over the heads of the sneezing drooling infants I was teaching would have helped too, but that wouldn't have gone down well with the school management. Shame - it would have left skidding on the casually hawked sputum in the streets as the sole infection hazard.

I want to dig up this thread to ask a question.

About a month or so back, I had this really odd stomach problem. I felt perfectly fine, but every time I ate anything, and I mean anything. I instantly felt nauseous and would vomit within 10 minutes of eating anything, including just plain rice or even bread. When I didn't have any food in my stomach, I felt great. No fever, aches or anything like that. About half the time I could keep the food down if I laid on the couch and didn't move.

Has anyone had this weird stomach problem recently? I talked to two other people who had the same problem. After a couple weeks and a few pounds lost, I felt fine again. Just woke up one day and was better. I tried a few different medicines for stomach problems, but none really helped. Crazy right? Anyone have a suggestion?

thats about the time you were awol from this forum, yea?

was prolly a bug your body took awhile ti disab;e...
I can't think of any other reasons... 

Here is another slightly icky one for the medical thread.

When I arrived last winter my hands got very cold and the skin cracked around the nails. I fixed that with a bit of hand cream but sometmes the skin got infected. This has happened twice since this cold snap started. Right beside the nail becomes sore and then starts to swell. Next there is a visible green patch of pus under the skin. Currently one finger is quite sore, with a fair bit of swelling and quite an amount of pus. The pus is deep under the skin, not raised or easily broken open.

Any idea how to fix this? Any idea how to prevent it?

I know it goes away eventually, but it's a pain. I don't want to use antibiotics for a small infection, and these occur sorta regularly anyway.

Keep your hands warm.  Keep your hands dry when out in the cold.  I'm not joking.  My mother-in-law gave me heck once for hanging laundry outside in the winter without gloves.  It truly does lead to the cracks around the nails and an opening for infections to enter.

Sterilise a sewing needle, prick the skin to get the pus out (it will hurt!), then use an antibiotic cream on the wound.  Use loads of cream on your hands at night and wear light gloves to bed until the cracks disappear.  Then as Ruth says - keep those hands warm and covered.

You may have chilblains   You might want to check these sites for some helpful info/advice --

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/chilblains/DS01091

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilblains

Yikes. I reckon it's not chilblains since it's only on my hands and only vaguely looks like those pictures. Well, I hope it's not chilblains.


So, I'll keep my hands warmer and put lots more cream on them. The one I have now is starting to clear up, so I'll continue with the tea tree oil as an antiseptic and work on preventing more occuring.

Thanks! 

Chilblains also affect hands (and possibly noses and ears) not just feet

My guess is just dry skin causing 'hang nails' the loose pieces of skin next to the nails that tear and get infected.  Vaseline or similar oil or lotion, polysporin if it gets infected. 

Tea tree oil should kill all the bacteria but I find it has a drying effect.  Use the tea tree oil and then put on some vaseline etc to keep it covered.  Also wear gloves to bed or bandaids over the area to keep the moisturizer in contact with the skin.