Salad Success
Cake and Movie Nights
My mother and Suzanne at Cake Night
Things have changed on my home front. My mother Mina, the creator of the Glorious Charlotte Russe, fell and smashed her shoulder two months ago. Now she is in a free-falling descent and is under 24/7 care. No longer do I pick her up every night to have dinner at my house, or even prepare a dinner to be served at her house. She can hardly move, has no balance, has limited speech and horrible coughing jags while she eats. So what can I do to cheer her up?
Easy. Once a week, we have cake night. Supposedly, I spend a couple hours making a fab new cake recipe and the whole family meets at her house around 9 pm to have cake and light conversation about the previous week. Then, much to the joy of my mother and the caregivers, I leave them one half of the cake. Mom then has dessert for 4 – 5 days, which seems to be the highlight of her day. The first week, I tried the Mary Todd Lincoln’s Vanilla Almond Cake which we all loved. Last week was a marvelous White Chocolate and Lemon cake, and next week, well it is time for something decadent and full of chocolate.
The other addition that has been a great hit for my mother was installing a Roku (little black box) to my mother’s television and subscribing to Netflix. The Roku attaches to her DSL/cable line and allows Mom to see her beloved movies at any time. Now I don’t have to deal with returns or late fees and the movies are downloaded to her computer. Mom has been seeing old favorites such as her Jacques Tati movies and foreign flicks. The Roku cost approximately $66 in total, and Netflix charges are around $7.95 a month. I couldn’t ask for a better or easier solution.
So do something special for your parents and write in with your tips. I know that we would all appreciate it.
ADOPT A SQUADRON UNIT – Care Packages
Sorry, no healing tips today since I want to talk about something near to my heart. I know there are a lot of us wondering what we can do to help or assist our men and women who are serving abroad and this is an opening for any of you who would like to assist some of those who are so far from home. This request came from my cousin Marlaine Koue, whose family is committed to assisting the troups abroad. Marlaine has outlined for us her easy guidelines for sending packages.
The US postal service has “flat rate” boxes. These are great since they allow you to fill up a box at a rate you can afford. The post office will ask you to fill out a couple of forms and the cost would be between $10 and $14 a box depending on which size you send.
Cards and letters are great since everyone needs a family. If you know of a person, family or group that would like to send anything, please feel free to forward this on. This Squadron is set to be in Afghanistan until June 2010.
Send Items To:
GySgt Kathryn Denham – To get things delivered you have to send to someone in a unit. Kathryn has agreed to be that person.
HMLA – 367 Scarface
Unit 42065
FPO AP 96427-2065
Put a note in the box “to the men and women of HMLA – 367″
Food (They get 3 meals a day but there is no food available between meals) so they would desperately like:
- Granola Bars
- Jerky
- Nuts
- Candy – chocolate can be sent until March – afterward melting is an issue
- Fruit Cups
- Crackers
- Mints
- Chips
- Cocoa
- Coffee
Personal Items:
- Blankets
- Toiletries (There are 15 women in the squadron that have special needs)
- Scarves / Sunglasses
- Liquid Body Soap/Shampoo/Conditioner/Lotion/Razors/Combs
- Toothpaste (do not send mouthwash)
- floss/ gum
This is a wonderful opportunity you and your family about giving to those who our serving our country and are in harm’s way. Whether it’s a holiday box or a monthly box, it will be met with a smile and grateful hands and hearts. And a big “thank you” from Marlaine and I. Happy Holidays from all of us at Frush Botanicals.
Banning of Tylenol (Acetaminophen), Percocet, and Vicodin
Incredibly, the FDA is considering proposing limits on Tylenol, an “in everyone’s medicine cabinet” drug which if used improperly, causes liver failure. Granted, the after effects are serious, but this also opens our personal medicine cabinet to a host of new limitations, such as Motrin and Advil (ibuprofen), that can cause peptic ulcers and bleeding, in addition to liver or kidney damage. There is Aleve (naproxen) which can increase risk of life-threatening heart or circulation problems, including heart attack or stroke. Also there is risk of serious effects on the stomach or intestines, including bleeding or perforation (forming of a hole). These conditions can be fatal and gastrointestinal effects can occur without warning. These “remedies” have always been dangerous, but there have been times which we have had to use them.
I worry about the consequences of the limits. I know myself, if I have badly sprained a muscle, have a headache or a high temperature, I will take a pill. I’m not going to a doctor. Like many American, my husband and I are self-employed, pay for health insurance, but with a $5000 deductible, can’t afford to go see a physician every time we get a minor injury or have a cold. It cost us $150 for a visit, in which the insurance pays little or nothing. So we will just have to stockpile our over-the-counter medications.
It also means that physicians can no longer prescribe Vicodin and Percocet which also contains acetaminophen. Let me try to understand this – is the government telling us that Oxycontin (often called synthetic morphine and highly addictive) along with codeine (also habit-forming), is safer to use than the acetaminophen? Huh, I guess it is better to have more drug addicts in this world. We all know that as Americans we are way too stupid to be educated on the use of acetaminophen.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t like any of these drugs and am very careful using them for me and my family. I created Elixer Arnica Sports Rub TM because my eldest daughter had a serious sports injury and a delicate stomach. The last thing I wanted to see was her popping Motrin to reduce her shoulder inflammation and pain. But I do recognize the need for these non-steroid, anti-inflammatory (NSAID) medicines in our homes. I just hope that the FDA sees the light.
So, since the government clamp is coming down on all of us, I have a proposition for you. We are now offering a free sample of Elixer per US household; so that you can see what a wonderful job it does combating muscle and joint pain. Just fill out the on-line form and you should be receiving a packet in the mail in a week or two.
Liver Damage and Acetaminophen
On Tuesday, a federal advisory panel voted to recommend a ban on Percocet and Vicodin because of their effect on liver. Percocet is Oxycodon plus acetaminophen, an opiate plus an analgesic/antipyretic (pain reliever/fever reducer), which means that it is addictive and additionally can cause liver damage. Oxycontin is the time-release version of Oxycodon, often called synthetic morphine.
Vicodin is a mixture of hydrocodone, a synthetic mixture of the opiate codeine and paracetamol, which is also called acetaminophen. At its lowest prescribed level, Vicodin contains 500 mg paracetamol and 5 mg hydrocodone. More than 42,000 people are hospitalize and 400 people die yearly from overdoses of acetaminophen. When people are using a combination of Percocet or Vicodin along with acetaminophen, the results can be devastating.
These drugs are powerful as healing agents, but have destructive side effects. Several times I have had to use them, along with members of my family, but now we are much more careful. So for my daily pains, I stay away from acetaminophen and ibuprofen, and rely on arnica, especially in a cream form, such as Elixer Arnica Sports Rub TM. Fast pain relief without the worry of damaging my liver.
Right now we are offering free samples. Sorry that you’ll have to call us at 831-465-1928, but in several days we will have an on-line form. Just remember, there are other alternatives to handle muscle pain, and using arnica is a much safer path to take.
Boot Camp and Pain Management
When the kids graduate from high school in the early summer, it seems that many of them decide that they need direction in their lives and enlist in the arm services. I know of several kids that are awaiting their 18th birthday to sign up to the Navy and Air Force. We are all proud of them for taking this huge step, but also worried at the possibility of being shipped out to foreign ports, and placed in harm’s way. Also as parents and friends we worry about the kids making it through boot camp safely without physical injury. Pain management is key for sore muscles and joints.
Last week my husband dropped off my daughter at the Naval Academy to enroll in a 5 day camp that consists of boot camp in the morning and classes in the afternoon, such as International Politics, Economics and Oceanography. The purpose of the camp is for her to find out if she would like to apply to the US Naval Academy in her senior year and become a naval lawyer.
Of course I worry about possible injuries at the boot camp. Mind you, my daughter is a competitive swimmer and is totally at home in the water, but on land, quite a different story. In fact, her swim team dubbed her the “graceful swan” for her series of mishaps on land.
So as a good mom, before she left, I reviewed with her how to give oneself a deep muscle massage to break the lactic acid muscle buildup, and threw in her suitcase a large jar of Elixer Arnica Sports Rub TM. With any boot camp, whether it is for the military, or just at your neighbor gym, muscle injuries easily occur. Just remember to ice, soak in a tub, give yourself a deep massage, and use an arnica gel or cream to reduce the inflammation. Hot pad and if it is really bad, Motrin can also be used to assist in the recovery.
Well, I hope in two days to get her back, happy and healthy. And with Elixer, I know that she doesn’t need to suffer through the pains of boot camp.
Have a great summer and stay healthy too.
Athletes and Pain Management
“Oh, my God. I could sit in the hot tub forever. I am so sore”. How often do we hear that around athletes, whether they be of world class caliber, or a dedicated local team member?
‘Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.’ So goes a well-known but anonymous quote. For many athletes, pain is a normal everyday experience and success is often achieved in spite of pain.
Pain is synonymous with sport. Endurance athletes relish the challenge of ‘pushing through pain’ while boxers expect to fight on regardless of a jarring blow to the chin. Adulation is reserved not just for the star quarterback, but anyone who can play through pain and contribute to the team. Winners and heroes overcome pain. Losers don’t.
Even kids follow this example. When breaking her elbow in a freak swimming accident, my daughter went back to the pool after a week’s rest, and started swimming again. Pain is a part of her life, and the areas of pain will increase as the athlete ages.
The price of pain can be high. Pain both demands attention and creates fear. It can restrict the ability to concentrate on performance and take away the opportunity to compete. Pain can even end sporting careers. The relationship between pain and sport is filled with challenges for sportsmen and women as well as those who support them.
It seems the trick is to minimize the suffering. Hot, tubs, cold packs, massage, and ibuprofen, are part of arsenal used by athletes and their trainer. And so is arnica montana, a botanical used to reduce muscle inflammation.
“You know, that cream you gave me?” said Gillian, one of my sisters-in-law. That Elixer stuff works, I could cover my whole body in it”. Gillian, is a dedicated team soccer player in a league for women over 40. Soccer has been her life since she was nine years old. “You think you could sell me a really large bottle of it with a pump? I feel so much better using it after our workouts”
Can’t think of a nicer compliment for Elixer Arnica Sports RubTM.
Successful Aging and Pain Management
Aging takes us all for surprise. Each one of us ages differently, we can’t reverse aging, but can try to slow it down, and we try to develop successful aging therapy so that we can enjoy our golden years. However when we see our aging parents, we really begin to appreciate the complexity of the aging problem.
My mother, an incredibly social and independent woman, has been aging rapidly. Soon after she turned 80, speech and balance seem to get steadily worse. Falling seemed to be a consistent activity, and words would escape her. Her doctors and I agree that she is probably having tiny strokes in her brain, which causes her to no end, immense frustration and depression. Her social life is now non-existent, she can no longer play bridge, and her handwriting ability is disintegrating.
However what concerns me the most are her aches and pains. Often after she has fallen, we can’t see if she is seriously hurt, since fractures can take up to 12 days to be recognized on an x-ray. Then there are the pains from unknown causes, such as a heel pain that she had recently. It was so severe that for four days she rested her foot and did little walking. The worst has been the broken ribs, which has happened twice. It takes a month for her ribs to heal, and the first two weeks are always the hardest, since coughing and laughing are exceedingly painful. The good news is that Elixer Arnica Sports RubTM helps alleviate the pain and especially the bruising
The best advice I can give anyone with aging parents, is to keep them as safe and as comfortable as possible. When ever my mother has pain, I always try to give her a massage with Elixer, and I also have her caregivers to do the same. Touch is very important for seniors, and massage is a wonderful way for you to say “I love you”. For my mother’s depression, we try to keep her as active as possible, by having dinner with us every night, and dragging her to all of our kids’events along with the normally prescribed physical therapies. We are still very happy that she can be a part of our lives.
Muscle Cramping and Pain
Have you ever been doing a small menial task and a muscle cramp takes over a part of your body? Or are you too afraid to even stretch out your body first thing in the morning in fear of muscle cramps and the ensuing pain?
It happens to all of us. I can remember the first time clearly. About eight years ago I was wiping dishes and all of a sudden, my index finger cramped. I always thought that exercise caused cramping, but my finger cramped without any reason.
Eventually, I educated myself about the aging process and cramping. The best advice was to take potassium pills, and the cramping did go away. However did I really need that high amount of potassium and what would it do to my body over time? Numerous physicians told me that getting potassium from natural resources such as potatoes, bananas or tomatoes is impossible since those foods would have to be eaten huge amounts to attain the lowest level of MDR (minimum daily requirements). Being deaf to their ears, I found out that when I eat 2 bananas a day, I no longer have cramping problems.
If you do have a cramp, treatment is very simple. Just fully extend the cramped muscle until the cramp is relieved. A light massage Elixer Arnica Sports RubTM around the afflicted area helps relieve the pain and any lactic buildup. And while physically exerting yourself, keep up your potassium levels by eating potassium rich foods. You can keep bananas, oranges, tomatoes, cantaloupes, and peaches handy incase of a sudden muscle cramp. These will replenish the body’s potassium supply.
Well, it’s time to eat another banana….and stay healthy.
Spring Training & Avoiding Muscle Injury
There is something about flowers blooming, trees leafing out, and mild weather, that awakens our sense and incites us to shake off the winter inertia. Doing so, we end our spring exuberance by getting injured.
I remember my wake-up call. I was a 25 year old professional, working in New York City, and suddenly, Spring Fever hit my brain. During high school I was a little ballerina, so I thought, “Hey, no brainer. I’ll take some ballet lessons in the city and get into shape”. So I marched up to Carnegie Hall, took a lesson, overdid myself, and ripped a muscle in my groin. Sporting a groin rip is something you don’t want to talk about around the water cooler. Wish I had Elixer Arnica Sports Rub TM in those days.
Now being a parent, I’m noticing that kids are becoming more and more injured due to sports which have demanding work-out schedules. Although the sports teams try to warm up the kids, children always feel that they are immortal until the first serious muscle injury. My eldest daughter, a competitive swimmer, has a shoulder condition, and must work out with a series of exercises designed to strengthen her lower back muscles.
We are all vulnerable to muscle injury, but they are mostly avoidable. Just remember to eat right, get enough sleep and before any exercise, and warm up slowly using the gentle techniques of Yoga. Also don’t outdo yourself, you have to be able to walk into the office by Monday. And slap on some Elixer on those muscle that you know are problematic. It will help keep your inflammation down, and soothe those muscles.
Have a wonderful workout and stay healthy………Nadine
Muscle Pain Treatment for Springtime Gardening
Imagine this year after garden clean-up, being free from muscle pain.
It’s that time of year, where we are all getting out the heavy gardening equipment and heading to those untended patches where we will dig, clean and plant. Unfortunately, this event leads to inevitable muscle pulls and pains that last for at least a week. I am as much a sucker as the next person for digging up garden beds, and have always paid a severe price.
After three days of rain and drizzle, the garden ground on my property was soft enough to dig up. Weeds were hip high and all sort of nasty things were setting long roots into the earth. So, as the Garden Avenger, I went out and started digging and pulling out all those freeloaders. After three hours into the job, pulling up some grasses, I felt it. It was a big nasty rip, accompanied by a sharp and intense pain of right shoulder pain. Thanks heavens the kids weren’t around, since my language was rather colorful. However, I still had to finish weeding that area, and continued in spite of the pain.
Later that day, the pain was relentless. Finally I broke down and asked my husband to rub some Elixer Arnica Sports RubTM. You would think that I’d be smart enough to take my own medicine, but no, I really had to make sure that I did truly injure my right shoulder. Well, Warren massaged the cream into my right shoulder and slowly the pain started subsiding. By dinner time, I forgot about my garden injury. In fact I forgot to have Warren rub some more before I went to bed.
The next morning I got up and no right shoulder pain. But I’ve got little aches everywhere else from yesterday’s digging. So a few more rubs of Elixer and I’m good to get back in the garden and finish yesterday’s job.
And how are your gardens doing? Your thoughts appreciated…..Nadine