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  • Top Tips for Treating the Cold or Flu

    Top Tips for Treating the Cold or Flu

    There’s nothing quite as deflating as coming down with the flu or a cold. When you feel that funk coming down on your health, it’s time to cancel plans and call out of work. Really, no one wants to suffer through with a cold or the flu.

    What are some of the best ways to treat these common bugs?

    Treating the Cold or Flu

    Vitamin C

    One of the best ways to combat one of these common bugs is by getting tons of vitamin C. Whether you’re drinking orange juice, eating tons of vitamin C-filled fruits or taking supplements, vitamin C is great for you.

    This wonderful little vitamin helps your body’s immune system and can help you kick a bug faster. Supplements like Emergen-C and other flu and cold medication often include lots of vitamin C to help bolster your immune system.

    Pain Relief

    One of the hallmarks of the flu, and, to a lesser extent, colds, is that they bring aching muscles along with them. If your flu or cold symptoms include this painful ache, consider keeping pain relievers on hand. Aspirin, ibuprofen, Tylenol and the like are often recommended to help with these kinds of general aches and pains.

    Make sure you take these NSAIDs and pain relievers only as directed. If taken improperly, these medications can cause damage to the liver.

    Stuffy Nose

    Decongestants can be a huge help if you’re suffering from a stuffy nose. It’s quite miserable being unable to breathe through one’s nose, so decongestants are a great investment during flu season. They come in several delivery methods, including nasal sprays and pill form.

    Nasal sprays tend to be the fastest-acting, often allowing for relief in a few minutes of using them. Make sure you only use decongestants as directed. Using nasal decongestants for more than three days can result in a rebound where your congestion gets worse. Oral decongestants, while slower, don’t have this drawback.

    Cough

    If you’re struggling with a rough, loud cough, there are ways to combat that, too. The most obvious way is to take cough drops, which can help coat the throat and reduce inflammation. However, it’s worth noting that a cough drop or other cough medication is likely not going to last for long, as they’re addressing the symptoms and not the causes.

    Many doctors suggest warm drinks, such as tea with honey, for relief from a cough instead of medication. That’s because medications can have side effects that could exacerbate other flu/cold symptoms. A bowl of warm soup can have similar throat-soothing properties.

  • What You Should Know about Blood Thinners

    What You Should Know about Blood Thinners

    There are a number of anticoagulants, or blood thinners, on the market. These medications, like warfarin and coumadin, these keep clots from forming in your blood stream. That’s why they’re called anticoagulants, as they keep your blood from coagulating. However, you might be surprised to learn about some of the facts regarding blood thinners potential effects on your health. Are blood thinners safe for you to take?

    Facts You Need to Know About Blood Thinners

    What are Blood Thinners Prescribed For?

    Generally speaking, coumadin, warfarin and the like are prescribed to treat issues like blood clots, atrial fibrillation, pulmonary embolisms and various heart surgeries. They are also often prescribed for procedures like hip replacement. Contrary to popular conception, despite being called blood thinners, these medications don’t actually thin out your blood. Instead, they keep your blood from clotting. This can cause issues in some patient.

    The most commonly prescribed forms of these medications are coumadin and warfarin. They work primarily by blocking K vitamins from operating in the blood. Vitamin K is the molecule responsible for causing platelets to clump together and clot. The use of this medication in recent years has widened to include treatment of atrial fibrillation.

    Other Forms of Blood Thinners

    Warfarin and coumadin are the most common types of blood thinners prescribed, but they’re not the only medications out there for those with atrial fibrillation and the like. Since 2010, in fact, several notable medications have been released. These include Xarelto, Eliquis, and Pradaxa which can also treat conditions like deep vein thrombosis.

    Warfarin and coumadin require frequent blood tests in order to check on the patient’s liver. Unlike those medications, however, these newer medications have no such restrictions and are generally considered to be “safer” on the liver.

    Blood thinners like these are often taken in pill form, and they need not be taken with food in order to be effective. This is a commonly misunderstood aspect of anticoagulants. However, unlike coumadin and warfarin, these new medications don’t interact with as many foods.

    For instance, on traditional blood thinners, you need to be careful about eating foods that can include Vitamin K. Additionally you should also avoid ibuprofen and aspirin, as well as alcohol. This isn’t the case with these newer medications.

    Side Effects

    No anticoagulants are completely without side effects, of course. Whether you’re prescribed traditional anticoagulants or newer ones, there are a few things to keep in mind about these medications. The most major side effect to keep in mind is that these medications keep your blood from clotting even when you are injured. Remember, blood clotting is how your body stops itself from bleeding.

    So, in general, you need to avoid becoming injured in such a way that you would bleed. This probably sounds like a “well, duh,” piece of advice, but it’s worth noting. You don’t usually seek out injuries that will cause you to bleed, but while on blood thinners you need to double down on avoiding the sharp ends of things.

    In the evident that you do become injured or get cut, you need to apply pressure to injury right away. Apply constant pressure following the event until the bleeding subsides. This replicates your body’s normal processes to keep from bleeding. This is the simple one: more serious injuries are the ones that result in internal bleeding.

    If you incur a fall or something similar that could result in internal bleeding, keep your eyes open for unusually swelling and seek medial attention immediately in the case this occurs. If you don’t you might experience serious injury or worse.

    Non-Injury Side Effects

    There are other side effects related to anticoagulants that aren’t tied up in injuries. For instance, upset stomach, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal issues are occasionally reported while taking anticoagulants. Other effects include headaches and dizziness, fever and aches, and general flu-like effects.

    Due to these types of side effects, it’s widely recommended that those on this medication wear identification that explains they’re on anticoagulants. This is because, in the event of injury, doctors need to know that your blood won’t be clotting. If you go into surgery and the doctors don’t know that your blood isn’t going to clot then you’ll likely not survive the procedure.

    Hopefully this information is helpful to you. Remember, never take medication that you aren’t prescribed by your doctor, and only take the amount that you’re directed to by your doctor. If your doctor thinks anticoagulants are right for your condition, discuss potential side effects, foods to avoid and behaviors to engage in while on it.