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When Gloria Arvizu was a young girl growing up in southern Arizona, she remembers her mother reaching for rue—an aromatic and medicinal herb—to soothe the pain from her occasional earache. At 72, Arvizu still believes in the healing power of the medicinal plants her mother and grandmother used throughout their lives. At her local botánica, she often finds something that can alleviate a minor cut or a tooth infection. “I have a lot of faith in herbs,” she tells Verywell....

As a child growing up in the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina, my family had a variety of breakfast options rotating over the course of a week: Eggo waffles here, scrambled eggs there, and the highly-anticipated Sunday bagel breakfast with bacon. During the week, though, I often deferred to cereal. The weeks when my mom found Cinnamon Toast Crunch on sale were my favorite. Perhaps my latent, fond memory of pouring way too much milk into the bowl lent itself to my professional life much later, when I was tasked with analyzing the cereal industry at the research firm IBISWorld....

If you are caring for a loved one at home who is bedridden and incontinent, you may find yourself tasked with having to change adult diapers. Changing diapers properly is important as it helps keep the skin clean and free from infection and perineal dermatitis (a.k.a., diaper rash). Prolonged exposure to urine and feces can be damaging to the skin, causing tissue breakdown and promoting the formation of decubitus ulcers (bedsores)....

Our Conversation Coach Can Help The COVID-19 pandemic has brought uncertainty and a whirlwind of challenges. After months of coping with numerous stressors—social isolation, remote work and learning, and fears of contracting the virus—we are now faced with the opportunity to get vaccinated and turn the tide against this disease. While getting one of the available COVID-19 vaccines may be an easy choice for many people, there are still those who remain hesitant....

Your period is due to come right around your wedding day. Talk about ruining the honeymoon! Is there any way to avoid this from happening? Such a great question! Who wants to worry about ruining their wedding gown because of a menstrual mishap? It is hard enough to just go to the bathroom in most gowns let alone trying to change a tampon! Maybe even worse than that is the thought of worrying about bleeding through or even changing your tampon on that remote Caribbean beach!...

BA.2, a subvariant of Omicron, is spreading in parts of Europe and in China. It is also starting to grow in prevalence in the United States, but new cases remain low. Key Takeaways Omicron subvariant BA.2 is causing outbreaks overseas and could become dominant in the U.S. in the coming months.A rise in BA.2 has been found in U.S. wastewater surveillance, which may be a speedier way to detect new variants than test-based sequencing....

If you ask a menopausal woman what health problem she fears the most, and you’ll probably get the answer, breast cancer. Or maybe, lung cancer. But the biggest killer of women over the age of 50 is not cancer, it’s heart disease. For some reason, we have a hard time thinking of ourselves as vulnerable to heart attack or stroke. But if you are a menopausal woman, it is time to pay attention....

Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a mental condition that is characterized by an exaggerated sense of self-importance. NPD may be marked by arrogance, feelings of superiority, a sense of entitlement, and more. These characteristics cause relationship issues for those with NPD. It is estimated this personality disorder affects up to 5% of people in the United States. Read on below to learn more about the symptoms, causes, treatment, coping strategies, and more for NPD....

Operant conditioning is a process in which people learn to behave in a certain way in order to get rewards and avoid punishment. It’s a type of behavior change that occurs because of a purposeful cause-and-effect reinforcement. When applied in behavioral therapy, operant conditioning can be used to create change based on rewards and punishments. Most people use operant conditioning without even realizing it—especially when it comes to parenting and other behavior-driven aspects of life....

Patients with high cholesterol are often confused about whether cheese can be part of their diet. Some choose to avoid eating cheese altogether, while others don’t change their cheese intake at all. A more appropriate strategy falls somewhere in the middle. In fact, thinking on dietary cholesterol is changing, as evidence mounts that saturated and trans fats have the greatest influence on cholesterol levels in the body. So it isn’t necessary to avoid cheese entirely....

Tuberous sclerosis (TSC) is a rare disorder. Up to half of people with TSC also fit the criteria for a diagnosis with autism spectrum disorder. It’s important for parents and healthcare professionals to recognize each disorder because the treatment approaches are different—and a child who has both TSC and autism needs treatment for both. Tuberous sclerosis (TSC) is a rare genetic disease that causes benign tumors to grow in the brain, kidneys, heart, eyes, lungs, and skin....

Wearing a mask when you’re around people from outside your household is an important way to protect yourself and others from COVID-19. But it can be tough to wear a mask in every situation, including when you’re eating. Key Takeaways Researchers in Mexico have created “nose masks” to cover your nose while you eat.The inventors say they may help prevent the spread of COVID-19.Doctors aren’t sure how much protection this will actually offer....

Withdrawal bleeding is vaginal bleeding that happens during the one-week break from hormones that is built into the dosing schedule for some hormonal birth control, be it a pill, patch, or ring. It is normal and expected, but is not your period. Withdrawal bleeding is usually briefer and lighter. Withdrawal bleeding usually begins two to three days after you stop taking hormones and can last four to six days. It is not necessary from a health perspective....

Our bodies are home to billions of microbes of all types. Microorganisms find our bodies quite comfortable, and we have a normal flora of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that, for the most part, enhance our quality of life and health. Sometimes, though, bacterial overgrowth or an invasion of a virus that our bodies don’t particularly like create infections that can be threatening to our life and can be harmful to our vision and eye health....

A lot of good information — and misinformation — about doctors is available on the Internet. As you research doctors, you may come across physician ratings or rankings websites. Just like plumbers, hairdressers, or painters, physicians’ services may be rated, ranked, advertised, or otherwise promoted online. But just like ratings for other service businesses, the information must be interpreted to be sure it accurately reflects the person and the service provided....

Celebrities and influencers are vying for a type 2 diabetes drug—Ozempic (semaglutide)—as a quick fix for weight loss, even though they may not have the medical needs for it. The hashtag #OzempicWeightLoss now has over 84 million views on TikTok, with many of the videos speculating that Kim Kardashian has used Ozempic. Key Takeaways There’s a craze over using diabetes drugs Ozempic and Wegovy for weight loss among elites and celebrities who don’t have diabetes or obesity....

Asthma is a complicated condition with a number of causes. If you understand what triggers your symptoms, you can avoid the things that may make it worse. Also, you can monitor your condition and follow a detailed action plan to keep asthma symptoms at bay. This article reviews seven important steps you can take to help gain good control of your asthma. Know What Asthma Does in Your Lungs Knowing what happens in your lungs during an asthma attack can help you understand why your healthcare provider prescribes certain medications and recommends certain steps to help you prevent attacks....

When numbers fail us, can emojis take their place? Key Takeaways Researchers say emojis could help patients express their pain levels better than a numbered scale.Since emojis are usually open source, they can be easily implemented and they can facilitate digital data collection.There are over 3,600 emojis, which might allow for more nuanced expressions beyond pain levels in the future. Some researchers suggest that emojis may provide new routes for patients to articulate pain, especially for people whose medical complications or language barriers impede their ability to voice distress....

Lump in the throat refers to the persistent sensation that there is something stuck in your throat unrelated to swallowing, even when there is nothing in your throat. Unfortunately, as in many difficult-to-diagnose disorders, a feeling of having a persistent lump in your throat used to be considered a psychiatric disorder and referred to as globus hystericus (which is a term that was discontinued and should not be used to refer to this disorder)....

A food allergy is when you have a reaction to a particular food after eating it. However, it is possible to be allergic simply to the smell of a food, too. In some cases, you may be reacting to the fact that you may have inhaled small particles of the food, while in others, the smell may trigger a reaction based on the way your brain processes that odor. This guide delves deep into different scenarios to help you learn more about how the smell of certain foods may affect you....