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Tips For Dealing With Seizures

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 6, 2007

U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, who experienced a seizure in July, is among 2.5 million Americans who suffer from the disorder. Seizures can have many causes, including medicine, high fevers, head injuries and medical conditions, such as low blood sugar, drug use and alcohol withdrawal.

Many seizures cause loss of consciousness with twitching or shaking of the body. Some consist of staring spells, says the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Most seizures last 30 seconds to two minutes and do not cause lasting harm.

Most seizures stop by themselves, but a person having one could be injured; breathe food, fluid, or vomit into the lungs; or not get enough oxygen. Turn the person on his side so he can't choke on vomit. Don't restrain the person or put anything between the teeth during a seizure, according to the Nemours Foundation.

After a convulsion, most people go into a deep sleep. Don't prevent the person from sleeping. Monitor the person's pulse, rate of breathing and blood pressure. (If the seizure lasts more than five minutes, it could be a life-threatening condition, such as stroke or meningitis.)

The Miami Herald

Try Gazing At Something Other Than Your Navel

Heard this one?: "So-and-so is so dumb, he/she flunked a urine test"? As it turns out, it's not so dumb to study urine. Who knows? You may need to be tested.

Staring into toilets or urinals is like reading tea leaves. The rainbow of urine colors can reflect recent exercise, medications, disease and diet or signal something much more serious. Urine bears watching.

Dr. Ralph Green, chairman of Medical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, Davis Medical Center, admits that he often checks the color of his urine.

People who workout are especially subject to changes in urine color.

"It will be darker unless they stay well hydrated," he said. "Under extreme exercise, they develop very dark urine because of muscle breakdown and hemoglobin."

Too many B vitamins can turn the color a fluorescent yellow, Green said. And while red or rust-colored urine may signal serious diseases, it also can be caused by eating beets.

Black is a color for alarm and can mean a person has malaria or blackwater fever.

Green advises not to be obsessed with pee gazing, but be aware.

Normal pee, by the way, is a straw-yellow color.

The Sacramento Bee

At Salon, Keep Hygiene At Hand

After a Fort Worth woman died from a staph infection after a pedicure in 2006, nail salons faced a previously unseen level of scrutiny about their cleaning practices.

Here's how to avoid coming home with more than good-looking nails.

Do's:

Ask, "How do you sanitize tools between clients?" Salons must sanitize tools by autoclave, a device that heats liquids to a very high temperature to kill bacteria; dry heat machines, which sterilize with heat; or ultraviolet light. Or the salon must replace tools completely after every client. That big jar of blue water that you often see instruments swimming in? It doesn't destroy bacteria or fungus.

Ask, "What type of foot baths do you use for pedicures?" Those without jets are safest because bacteria and fungus can't get trapped in pipes. Pedicure seats with soothing jets, while relaxing, are the most difficult to sanitize because the hoses that circulate water usually need to be taken apart to be cleaned completely.

Take your own presanitized equipment. Reputable salons will be happy to use it.

Make sure you see someone clean the tub and, if it has jets, circulate the cleaning agent through the jets.

Check to see whether screens and filters are changed or sanitized after every customer.

If you're given pedi-slippers or toe separators, make certain they're unused and disposable.

Check that towels are clean.

Go to a salon where nail polish is "single use" or the remaining polish goes home with the customer.

Check for general cleanliness. Is there dirt on the floor or desk? This could indicate a lack of attention to detail.

Don'ts:

Don't shave your legs before having a pedicure. Tiny cuts give bacteria an easy in.

Don't let the aesthetician use the same tools for a manicure and a pedicure. Bacteria and fungus can jump from foot to fingers that way.

Don't allow a technician to use a foot razor to get rid of dead skin. Removing too much skin is easily done and exposes you to infection.

Don't share porous emery boards, which can trap tons of germs. Unless you're certain the salon uses a new one for each customer, bring your own.

Don't let a technician cut your cuticles, as it makes infection more likely.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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