I feel like I have a golf ball in my throat...it's sore!!!

I woke up in the middle of the night with a sore throat which made me upset because isn’t it interesting how they just happen without any signs? My question; what is a sore throat?

What is the cause of a sore throat?A sore throat is a symptom caused by viruses like infections, common colds, flu or from bacteria like strep.

At this time I can’t tell if I have strep because it’s only been day 1 and my glands don’t feel at all swollen. My nose is a little stuffed and runny so my conclusion is that I have a minor virus (cold). What could have been the cause to my sore throat? HMMMMM….

Sore throats can be caused from Reflux, Allergies, and Irritations.
Reflux, I have acid reflux disease. Sore throats can be caused from the acid that backs up to the throat. Ways to prevent this is to eat 3 hours before bedtime, sleep in an elevated way (4-6 inches above the foot of the bed), and eliminate caffeine and alcohol. Alcohol??? That’s funny because I drank a glass of wine during dinner. Hint number one.

Allergic reactions from pollen, mold, dust, animal hair can also irritate the throat. Wow, I have mold, dust, and animals in my house. Hint number two.

There are many Irritations that can cause sore throat and one is the cold winter season. The dry heat or moisture in the air can irritate the throat. It was pouring last night oh, and yes, it has been cold these past weeks. Hint number three.

How long do they last?
Sore throats caused by viruses of minor colds can last from a week to 10 days.

Home remedies? Here are remedies I’ve found to help ease my sore throat.

Suck on Lozenges: Medicated lozenges will be able to kill surface germs and take care of the invaders while your body builds up resistance to fight.

Sprays: Same reason as why we would suck on lozenges.

Zinc lozenges: Not only will it help your throat but also attack other cold symptoms.

Gargle: Gargling will help bathe your throat as well as soothe it. Remember, Listerine helps kill 99.9% of germs. But most commonly we hear, gargle with warm salt water.

Drink chamomile tea: Chamomile tea relieves irritated membranes.

Create your own humidifier: Fill you head up with steam by running hot water, placing a towel over your head, lean in where there is steam and just chill their for a while; this will help the irritation that’s causing the sore throat.

Take a pain killer like Tylenol, Advil, Aspirin: These will help to take the irritating pain away for a while when you want to swallow.

Increase body fluid: Hydrating your throat tissues will help relieve discomfort. Warm fluids like water and tea. Caffeine, OJ, and milk will make it worse.

Wrap your throat: Heat up water and add Chamomile flowers. Then, soak a dry cloth apply this cloth to your throat and it will relieve the discomfort.

Load up on garlic: Garlic is a natural antibiotics and antiseptics.

Reach for Vitamin C: VC will help build up your tissues to fight the germs.

Toss your toothbrush: Your bristles could have bacteria or germs on it causing the infection. Your bathroom is bacteria-prone so, changing it monthly is recommended. (I’m buying a new toothbrush tomorrow)

How to prevent them?
To prevent sore throats is to wash your hands regularly, and try not to touch your eyes, nose, and mouths. And, remember to cover your mouth when sneezing and coughing.

Butterflies

Last semester my co-workers and I wanted to have a pet in the office and well, we decided to raise caterpillars. It was fun and fascinating to see the process of a caterpillar change to a butterfly. We didn't know much about raising them we just knew that they had to eat. We created a nice home in a plastic see through container, the kind you use for hamsters, and everyday we would do our observations as well as cleaning their area (they sure can disposite waste!!!!). Because I had fun with our office pets...I thought it'd be cool to this for a unit plan for my long range, so , for my concept mapping~ it's on BUTERFLIES...what are they, what do they eat, what are the stages and how long do they last....and more questions!!!!

Apparently, there are a lot of websites regarding teaching about butterflies with lots of activites, it was cool to see that this was a popular concept. Heres, what I've found:

What is it?
An insect order called Lepidoptera which in Greek means scaled wing

How many species are there?
165,000 Lepidoptera 24,000 are butterflies

Habitat
Where dose it live?
Lives on milkweed plants
Food
What does it eat?
Flower nectar
What’s it made of?
How does it get its colors?
The scales on the wings causes their color
Size
1/8 to a foot
Changing process
From caterpillar to butterfly
4 Stages
Egg- 200-500 eggs are laid and are hatched about 5 days later
Caterpillar- (LARVA) eat egg shell, then lots of leaves, sheds own skin about 5 times after 2 weeks of eating and shedding it looks for a place to change.
Chrysalis (PUPA)-Caterpillar in a hard shell stays in for 2 more weeks
Adult-Butterfly-emerges then looks for a mate, mates and lays eggs, lives only for 2 weeks

Sight-
Red, Green, and Yellow (Rasta colors)
Protection from predators
The milkweed leaves and stems are toxic so the caterpillar’s body becomes toxic so when birds or other predators eat them they will die
Chrysalis are camouflaged to protect them from predators

PIMPLES!!!!

I use to have a clear complexion but in my late teen years they just started to POP all over my face. I then started using Proactiv and it worked for the first couple of years but now it just seems impossible for them to go away and stay away!!!! How do I get these ugly looking red and white things off my face and keep them off?

First things first, what are pimples and what causes them?
A pimple is a type of skin lesion, a lesion is abnormal tissue caused by inflamed/obstructed pores. Pores are openings to a gland that secretes oil which helps to protect the surface of our skin. Our pores creates this sticky sebum. When our skin sheds it sticks together because of the sebum and stays on our skin. Our pores then gets clogged. Our lovely white blood cells then fights against the bacteria and rushes behind the blockage, and a pimple is then created. If the white blood cells reaches the top of our skin surfaces that’s why we have white heads. When the bacteria is defeated and infection is prevented.

To keep them off of my face takes a lot of hard work!!!! I pretty much have to be sure that my face doesn't touch anything dirty--pillow cases, my hair, my hands, I need to protect it from the sun, but most importantly I have to watch my diet.

Food that are pimple prone
Chocolate
Oily-Fatty Food
Junk Food (no Miki D’s for me)
Pizza
Hamburgers
Fries
Margarines and other hydrated fats
Fried and grilled food
Soft Drinks
Alcohol

For cleansing, I use Proactiv and it works OK, I am still trying to research organic cosmetics because I want to use something more natural on my skin. Any suggestions or tips on tackling pimples, please let me know.

VOG, we all see it when Hilo is hot and humid. If we are driving down from saddle road and look towards bay front and the vog is really bad we can’t see bay front.

Last semester I was sick three times from an allergic reaction. Very miserable!!! I was in bed for a week for all three times. I was getting very discouraged about my health, but when I looked out the window, I noticed that the vog was really bad. I then noticed a pattern with my symptoms—sneezing, congestion, fatigue, body aces, headaches, and coughing. It felt like I had the flu three times within two months. Each time I would feel like this I noticed that the Vog was bad and since the Dr’s ( I went to three different ones) couldn’t help me (two didn’t have answers, one said it was a allergic reaction in my chest), I started to do my own research. Whenever I start the first symptom which is sneezing, I quickly pop one Echinacea, take allegra D, and vitamin C. It somewhat helps but I still feel groggy. In fact, in the beginning of this week the vog was pretty bad. I felt fatigue, my allergies were acting up, I just feel like staying in bed.

First, what is vog? Vog is caused by the volcano. When the volcano has an eruption, it releases sulfur dioxide and other pollutants. Vog is a reaction from when these gases plus the moisture and plus oxygen mix in sunlight. That explains it, Kilauea is erupting (volcanic eruption), it pretty much rains a lot in Hilo (moisture), the air we breathe (oxygen), and our sunlight. The mixture of gases creates aerosols.

This aerosols lingers in our lungs which damages their performance as well weakens our immune system. So, people who have asthma are really affected by it. Symptoms from the vog have been reported to be headaches, difficulty breathing, and flu-like symptoms.

The Big Island Health Guide gives you some suggestions for coping with the symptoms. The one suggestion that I have not tried was closing all the windows and having an air purifier running. I have an air purifier but I haven’t used it since I was in grade school, I had really bad asthma back then.