I generally don't tip any provider who takes insurance - that's my guideline. I can't afford to get massages very often, but when I do I tip the LMPs. Some LMPs take insurance, but usually only for pre-approved injuries or conditions, and I assume they charge more for those treatments than they do for an hour-long Swedish or deep-tissue massage. This might be the case with your provider - they might be providing you with a different treatment than the other patient.

There's also the consideration of whether the person is an employee (at a spa) or an independent provider (at a medical office). An employee doesn't have as much control over the fees charged for a massage, and I assume they're counting on tips to supplement their wages.

Most people who go into this type of bodywork are doing it because they enjoy helping other people - I think that putting your gratitude in writing is appropriate and something that would affirm their career choice. It doesn't sound like a situation where a tip is expected.

Would you mind sharing the name of your provider? I saw a chiropractor years ago who incorporated cranial sacral and myofascial work in his treatment, and it was amazing. Unfortunately he moved, and when I went to another chiropractor I didn't find the treatment that helpful. I think something about the combination of therapies worked wonders for my back pain and hormonal migraines.

Theraflu contains pseudoephedrine (a decongestant). I don't know what skin condition you have exactly, but the decongestant could be reducing the swelling that comes with acne.

I've never taken Theraflu, but I hear it's not the kind of thing you want to be downing every day. I know there are topical decongestants for noses, so maybe there's something out there for faces.

I'm not a dermatologist, but I bet one would be able to point you in the right direction.

It would be a good idea to have enough rice on hand so you can rotate it periodically. You are actually heating the water in the rice kernels and if they dry out too much you won't get good lasting heat out of them. If you rotated some so that the in-between times the grain had some opportunity to absorb some moisture from the air it would be better. I am unsure about misting the grain or some other method to help it rehydrate, but you could try it on a sample (go easy, too much moisture could hold too much heat).

Tube socks work well at holding the rice in a form you can flatten and rest your arm on or drape them over the target area. You can fill them and sew over the end to hold in the rice or tie a knot in the end if it is a good long one.

Oh, yes, I had one a few years ago that a friend made for me out of polarfleece that was filled with large rock salt, like you would use in making ice cream, it worked great and wouldn't cost very much.

I'm not aware of anybody ever using the term "Fat Ally" or there being any organized movement like this, but maybe there should be. I have a few friends who are monstrously overweight, and I've learned a lot about the day-to-day considerations they have to factor into their lives because of their girth.

One friend of mine can't fly to visit his kids in Spokane because he can't fit in an airplane seat, so he puts a LOT of miles on his car. Another person I know has to use a disabled parking permit because of bad knees caused by weight. I never would have thought of these things until friends pointed them out to me.

It's a double-edged sword though. I want to be supportive, but there's also an element of choice involved. Gastric Bypass surgery can help people lose the weight if they are monstrously obese, but the won't do it. The reason? It's in their head. A lot of fat people have intense psychological issues with their weight.

And on that note, Richard Simmons wrote a GREAT article on CNN on why it's not OK to tease fat people, because it makes their psychological problems worse. Fat = sad = eating = fatter = sadder = eating = fatter....

So, although there may not be an organized "Fat Ally" movement, the simplest thing you can do to help fat people is to not make fat jokes, and when you hear somebody make a fat joke, just say "Hey, that's not ok. You wouldn't make a gay joke, or a Jew joke, or a black joke, fat jokes are NOT ok either."

So long as it's not on fire, dear - smell away. I love me some green army men plastic smell myself.

I'm with you, whiskeypony. A Q-tip plunged into that canal right after a shower, nice and deep, touching all of the interior walls in turn... Awww yeah.

In fact, I think we should rename Q-tips "ear dildos," or maybe "ear-dos" for short.

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I strongly recommend that you read "The Promise of Sleep" by William Dement. It's pretty much the best layperson's guide to sleep science that you'll find anywhere.

As far as your specific question goes, your basic intuition is right, but unfortunately, it's not quite that simple. The average sleep cycle length is 90 minutes, but for different people, it can be as low as 80 or as high as 120. And often, sleep cycles increase in length during the night.

However, there's a much more important concept, which is sleep debt. For every two hours (approximately) that you're awake, you incur an hour (approximately) of sleep debt. Normally, you repay your sleep debt each night, but in our chronically underslept society, there's a good chance that you're carrying around weeks/months/years of debt.

So my real recommendation is this: Give yourself time for 9 hours of sleep each night. For a while, you'll probably sleep the full 9 hours, because you need it. Gradually, you may find yourself waking up after 7.5 or 8 or 8.5 hours and not feeling tired at all... in which case, congratulations, you've found out how much sleep you need!

Another note: If you snore, or ever feel tired during the day, get yourself to a sleep medicine clinic. Sleep apnea affects between 5-20% of American adults. Treatment is simple, but untreated apnea can shave 10-20 years off your life. If you're feeling groggy in the mornings -- especially if you have a dry mouth, sore throat, or headache -- you should investigate this ASAP.

The sources that report pollen data say that Grasses are running in the Moderate to High range right now and Trees are in the Moderate range, neither of which is necessarily unusual for this time of year.

http://pollen.aaaai.org

http://www.pollen.com/allergy-forecast.asp?

For me the symptoms are burning in my nose and sinuses and then later my eustachian tubes and ears are itchy and uncomfortable. I use air filters in the house for dealing with dust from the birds (and to also protect them from indoor pollution), so being inside in the more controlled atmosphere helps.

Be sure to change out of clothes that you have been wearing outside when you have come inside for the evening and take a quick shower to wash the pollen off your body and out of your hair. You bring it inside with you. Keep your bedroom as a clean zone so that you sleep in as much a pollen free zone as possible.

You also may want to obtain a neti pot and learn how to use it for rinsing your nasal passages and sinuses periodically. Your body attempts to flush it which is why your nose gets stuffy and sinuses fill but it is a long process to wash it out and down into your digestive system.

Slouching feels good because your body is going into its lowest center of gravity position and you aren't using as many postural muscles to maintain an upright position.

Most chairs encourage you to use the back support by the basic design of the seat (tilt, depth, etc.). Is it bad for you? Well, if you don't use your postural support muscles sufficiently and they become weak then maintaining a good body position feels like too much work and can hurt. When one group of muscles is weakened or under used another group is overworked to try to compensate. The opposite is also true one overworked group of muscles can cascade into other muscles getting involved to support the overworked group.

Example:
Someone complains to me that their neck is always sore and wonders why. Then she picks up a super large purse that weighs 6-10 pounds and slings it on one shoulder and you can see she is hiking that shoulder to support it.
When you have her carry that purse at midline in front of her, no hiking of shoulder. Overworking of her muscles to support the purse cascades to overwork of neck support muscles. Her neck hurts.

Now, Kristen, this is not a criticism of you, but if you are carrying extra weight disproportionally placed forward of where your normal center of gravity would be you can develop a swayback posture and be overworking those back muscles. Look at a pregnant woman or man with a pronounced "beer belly" from the side and note what the contour of the back and lower back look like. Sitting and maintaining a good posture in some chairs can be hard work on a slim person's back and the situation changes when you consider other body shapes. So when a person starts to pare down the extra weight they carry in front there will be a matched lessening of the stress on the back.

Now for most folks standing is probably the time they are most balanced in muscle use. Gravity, which of course, is the law helps that. When we sit we can get into squirming ourselves this way and that and increase weight on one side of our bottom or the other (also depending on what the legs and feet are doing - supporting or not, etc.).

So what sitting posture most mimics standing? Sitting on a therapy ball with rounded back is hard but rocking forward with the hips, thighs move to a 30° downslope, feet to the side or under the front edge of ball and the back moves into the same posture that it takes when you are standing at rest (balanced) feels natural. There are office chairs with a control that allows the seat to go into that downslope setting which were originally designed for typists to sit in a balanced fashion as they worked on a keyboard. They would work for computer work also.

HAG (don't know how to type the right diacritical mark over the 'a') marketed the original kneeling type chairs under the name Balans. They were copied relentlessly by lots of folks but the angles were proprietarily owned by them and so the knockoffs were slightly different (and wrong). So when they got included into lawsuits they eventually decided to stop marketing in the USA - but I now discover some are now available again here (I haven't thought about it for a while). You can still find their chairs on Ebay and there is one model that works so well and allows for lots of movement while in the seated position. It is called the Variable and is the one in the link I include that looks like it has a rocker bottom (made of wood) - however the other models are also their designs and are also comfortable.

HAG Balans chairs
http://www.ergodepot.com/HAG_Balans_p/6035.htm

You can find these chairs through various sources it appears. If you ever decide to invest in one make sure it is HAG, mention of Peter Opsvik as designer or called Balans so you are getting the genuine article.

Therapy balls are pretty cheap and you might want to try that or one of these new designs I have recently seen that work well called a Hokki Stool. They are sold in smaller sizes to use with kids. They allow for the movement and rocking that keeps the back moving and the kids organized for staying focused at their task.
http://www.worthingtondirect.com/school_furniture/science_tables/3825_Hokki_Stool_12.htm
There are made in adult sizes also.

Finally the best recommendation is for frequent movement. Get up and walk around, change position, use your computer in one place or another (easy with a laptop) or with one chair or another. It is getting into the permanent slouch and not moving for a long time that is less than ideal for the human body while working.

You could possibly be "immune" to HIV infection, but you're not immune to HPV, herpes, syphilis, gonorrhea, etc. etc. etc. "Playing" around with anyone and everyone without protection makes you a vector for lots of other diseases that can make your partners sick and increase their chances of getting HIV. And that's asshole behavior, kiddo.

Plus, what if you think you're immune, then get a super-strain of HIV (they exist, and you're not immortal), and, because you think you can't possibly get HIV, you never get tested and thus spread HIV to all of your partners? Want that on your conscience?

Blah blah blah I hate condoms blah blah blah. HIV may be manageable, but it isn't cheap, fun, or pretty. Man up and deal with it.

Well, if you crave salt that much, it could be due to a potassium imbalance or other medical issues. Have you run this past your doctor? Drinking lots of water can actually cause salt cravings, too, as your kidneys work to prevent hyponatremia.

Salt is excreted pretty efficiently by your kidneys, so if they are working properly, you'll be all right. Still, ask your doctor, who can evaluate you for underlying medical issues and give you individual guidelines.If your doctor says that you're normal and healthy and your blood pressure is OK, then you're probably OK.

Ah, poop. A subject I never get tired of. Just had a colonoscopy myself on monday and it was fascinating.

You may be in danger of developing an anal fissure. Anal fissures suck on a level of suckiness that rivals all other things that suck. You must do everything you can to avoid a fissure. In the next to worst cases they have to shoot your asshole up with botox. In the very worst cases... Do some research. Fucking horror stories.

Having said that, fiber may be your best option. I used to use psyllium but have developed diverticulitis and so have been on a low fiber diet for a bit. I'll go back to high fiber soon.

Psyllium works ok for me, but there are plenty of other fiber supplements out there. Most of the other ones, like benefiber, make me as gassy as the hindenburg and very nearly as explosive. There is a very gentle one at whole foods (et al) that is awesome but costs more. Most people like it much better than psyllium husk. It's acacia fiber and called "heathers" I think.

Of course, eating a high fiber diet is the best but often not enough.

This is one of those rare things where I do recommend seeing an ND. They are all about poop and poop management.

Good Luck.

I underwent conscious sedation while I had an abortion a few months ago. I was super nervous because the idea of having my uterus vacuumed out and then scraped out with a metal spoon didn't seem very appealing, but I don't remember very much about the actual procedure. I was kind of babbling away at the doctor and then I felt a little bit of pain so I stopped talking, and then the next thing I knew I was all done and hanging out in the recovery/waiting-type room. I felt absolutely normal probably not more than half an hour later, minus a little residual pain. I remember feeling very floaty and I wanted to giggle a little bit but was "there" enough to not want to look silly in front of the doctor and nurse (though upon further consideration that's a bit of a moot point considering they hand their hands inside my uterus).

Sorry I don't have much information about your specific procedure, but conscious sedation in general is pretty great, in my opinion. Most people I've spoken with have said they just don't remember much about the actual procedure.

Well I am no psychologist, only a yoga practitioner and teacher with about 25 years of personal experience diving into the depths of emotional, psychological and spiritual awareness.
My experience (and understanding of yogic teaching) has been that emotions that are not thoroughly processed at the time of an experience or trauma can be stored in the layers of our being surrounding (the koshas) that which is unchanging and untouched, the soul. When provoked, be it through a certain yoga posture that twists in just the right place, or a movie that touches a similar emotion, the well of subterranean erupts and moves out into the present moment from being well-covered (with good intention to protect us) so long before.
So yes, my answer to your question is that a release of emotion can foster more release of that same emotion. Sometimes it helps to have a good cry, but often it can take us into a mire of sadness that doesn't really pull us out into new territory. What has been transformational for me is to have a good guide (like yogic philosophy, a good therapist or mentor, and/or a trained awareness through sustained meditation practice) to help me to follow the emotion to its source and understand where it is coming from. Once fully witnessed, most emotional states will release.
I also think physical movement can be helpful to usher the sadness out, after thanking it for its presence, which woke you up to something you'd been unable to address at the time of its occurrence (compassion for our past is oh so helpful).
And lastly, if you are open to the idea of reincarnation, you might consider that your sadness could even be leftover from an experience from another lifetime.
Over time, with mindfulness, the releases become quicker and will free up your spirit for your dharma (life purpose). Namaste!

I would argue that all of the above reasons have to do with one thing: Control. For doctors, mothers, everyone. No one has to watch and wait through days-long labor and a 3am delivery. The baby won't come out backwards, with a cord around its neck (though I know that can happen in utero) or a broken bone from being squeezed through a narrow channel. The mother doesn't have to have her blood pressure climb indefinitely (that's why I was a C-section, though my mother believes it was unnecessary) or tear anything in her most sensitive areas. Cut and stitching is far more predictable for all concerned.

I'm not saying this is how things should be, but from a purely descriptive point of view I think it just comes down to control.