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Q: My medicine is upsetting my stomach. What can I do about that? You are not alone. The most common side effects of medications are stomach irritation or gastritis. Gastritis describes any of these symptoms: queasiness, stomach pain, stomach cramping, stomach burning, loose stools, or nausea....
I was in the driver’s seat heading down the road with Grandpa Truman on the passenger’s side of the car when he noticed the dense fog overhead. He said, “If that fog settled, we’d need radar.” “Or at least a compass and a good map,” I said remembering the classes he once taught to high schoolers on...
Q: After my knee replacement surgery, my surgeon recommended I take a stool softener for a couple of weeks to prevent constipation from my pain medicine. How does that work? Many surgeons advise their patients to take a stool softener while taking pain medication during the first couple of weeks...
Our oldest child keeps chickens, and she brought a dozen home to Grandma and me. Grandma has been having a bit of a time eating lately so I decided to make a batch of chicken and noodles for dinner. While I was busy making homemade noodles. I remembered making noodles for my grandpa’s mother,...
If you have heart disease or diabetes in addition to elevated “bad” cholesterol, taking a "statin" medicine, like atorvastatin or simvastatin, can reduce your risk of a heart attack or stroke. Although the first "statin" medication you were prescribed made you tired, there is no guarantee that you...
Well, it happened. After the windstorm took out the electricity; the light in the well house didn’t come back on when the electricity came back on line; the most vulnerable pipe on the place froze; no water for four days. Being Grandma’s daughter we had some cases of bottled water for drinking, a...
In the United States, help for a poisoning emergency is a toll-free phone call away. In 2021, someone in the United States called a Poison Control center every 15 seconds. In 2021, 55 U.S. Poison Centers responded to over 2 million human poisonings. Over 90% of poisonings occurred at home, 75% were...
Playing on my phone setting in the passenger seat as Grandpa drove, I heard Grandpa say, “That truck says he’s turning…” His tone was hopeful and dubious at the same time causing me to look up from the nothingburger images on the phone screen to see the big box truck ahead of us with its right turn...
Q: The label on my bottle of thyroid medicine says to take it in the morning on an empty stomach. But sometimes I forget to take it until AFTER I've eaten breakfast. Is it still okay to take it? The synthetic thyroid hormone levothyroxine is the most prescribed medication in the United States. My...
I got interested in combining plant foods to make complete protein right after leaving the work force to become a fulltime mom. Our new baby and a single income forced me to look for ways to feed our family less expensively and still get the best nutrition possible. I found that wheat, oats or rice...

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