Natural relief for headache within 5 minutes

Headaches can really be unbearable when it hits you and it can ruin your mood and your day. Taking pills to relief headache every time is not advisable, but if you do not get rid of it, it will certainly turn your day into an unproductive one.

In my own opinion, headaches are usually caused by stress, anxiety and pressure at work or at home. Here are a few easy and natural tips on how to counter headaches.

1. Bite or chew something

You can bite some "really" hard or crunchy snacks, but make sure it is healthy in content and in quantity. 

Picture taken from here

Or you can bite a pencil. To put it more appropriately, you can clench a pencil in the mouth, like this...

 Picture taken from here

It seems that clenching a pencil or chewing something crunchy helps to relief muscles that connects your jaw to your temple, hence, it relaxes you. (Do you ever wonder why most men tend to prefer popping in nuts or Indian fried snacks like muruku when they are stressed?)

This is a proven method that is recommended in quite a number of established health sites, like here or here. Note that this method is only effective for tension headaches and not for headaches caused by other reasons.


2. Try simple acupressure

Acupressure is an ancient technique based on the application of pressure to certain crucial points in our body to relief or eliminate pain.

Find the point on the upper part of your hand, precisely the point where your thumb and your index finger is joint. Press and start a circulation motion for a minute, like this...

Picture taken from here

It is recommended here, and you will be able to obtain more detailed information on this topic too.


3. Warm Compress

Apply a hot water bag to the back of your neck.

Picture taken from here

Alternatively, you can take a HOT shower, directing the water onto the back of your neck. The invigorating experience of having the powerful rain of hot water on your neck is like having a water massage. It relaxes tense muscles, therefore, alleviating the throbbing pain.


4. A Cup of Hot Lemon Drink or Ginger Tea

Lemon is refreshing and relaxing. It also helps maintain the acid-alkaline balance in your body and helps to flush out toxins too, whereas ginger helps to expel wind/air within the body.

Picture taken from here

Cheers!


--moon

Blog name - carrot head and apple mint

Guide to a sprained ankle

Picture taken from here

I sprained my ankle last Monday, or so, I thought. I was going down the staircase, and in my dreamy mode early in the morning, I missed the last step. As if that is not bad enough, I SAT on my sprained ankle (yeah.. ouch..!!). I was wide awake by then, and for a moment I wondered what actually happened..!?!?

I am quite prone to falling and missing my steps, so I had hope that this was just a normal fall which does not require any attention until one hour later, when I realized that my right ankle had swollen to the size of a tennis ball.

Immediately I picked up the phone and called my team mate to identify a Chinese traditional clinic to take me to. Within 1 1/2 hour later, I was at the outlet, and given first hand treatment due to my bad limping. It was wrapped up with Chinese herbs within minutes and I was given a bottle of Chinese herbs to take to help with the swelling. Prior to leaving the place, I was advised not to drive for the next two days, because proper rest for sprained ankle (like no walking at all) for the first 2 days is crucial in the healing of swollen ankles.

Having gone through this episode of fall, I realized how little I know about what to do after a fall. Due to this, I feel the need to highlight what are the right steps to take to ensure speedy healing, and that we practice the minimum adherence to avoid long term damage (according to the Chinese, stuffs like wind in the old age, pain before the rain, blah, blah, blah..).

1. After a fall, if you are still able to hobble back to your place or home, it means no broken bones.

Picture taken from here

You fell beautifully!

2. Once you have sprained your ankle, there is nothing much anyone can do, until after approximately 4 hours later. Even if you go to a Chinese traditional physician immediately, they won't be able to touch it. All they can do is to wrap it up with herbs to help reduce the swelling.

Alternatively, if you choose not to do this, you can put up your leg on a raised pillow OR put on an ice-pack for about 15 minutes. As often as possible.

    a) Once the herbs are patched on by the Chinese physician, it should not be in contact with water or wind for 3 hours. So wear socks. After 4 hours, you can remove it and shower with warm water.

    b) Do not drink any cold drinks, drinks with ice and cooling drinks or fruits like coconut, "leong cha" or "leong sui", water melon, honey dew, starfruit), should be avoided until the pain or swell disappears completely.

Picture taken from here

Yeah, you heard right! Completely...

    c) If your body is heaty and you must take a cooling drink - boil barley with pandan leaves, cane sugar or molasses sugar. Normal white sugar causes wind which is not good. Alternatively, you can take hot manuka honey.

Barley with pandan leaves. Picture taken from here

Lovely! You should reward yourself with this.. :)))

Note - Barley helps to reduce swelling too, so it's an ideal drink!

    

    d) Some physician will say stay away from spicy and sour food. Some will say eat away and that you can even eat nuts and beans and seafood. I leave that to you.

It is advised that you visit them again the next day for a proper massage to further reduce the swelling or to further identify other damages that the fall might have caused or to clear up any blue black patches (caused by bleeding during the impact). Alternatively you can go to a proper clinic.

3. Once your ankle is sprained, it is advise that you stay put (without any walking) for the first two days, as the first two days are crucial in the healing process.

4. If, upon 2nd visit to the physician, you discover that you have actually torn some tendons or ligaments (in my case, that's what happened), you are advised not to walk too much unnecessarily. The healing process takes approximately 2 to 3 weeks. Use a crutch, that's the best. 

No sports or yoga either. So it's basically time to put up your feet and relax.. :)))

It is advisable to put on an ankle guard, to ensure you do not sprain it again within the first 2 months. Good ankle guard emits bio-ray to stimulate constant blood circulation, prevents swelling and most importantly, it keeps your ankle in proper position during this delicate moment of injury and healing period. 

At this stage, it is rather easy to sprain it second or third time.

Putting on ankle guards with bio ray means you get constant stimulation to ensure there is blood circulation. This is equivalent to going for massage at the Chinese physician.

Cheers!

--moon

Blog name - carrot head and apple mint

Winds of change - I sense

Picture taken from here

--moon

Blog name - carrot head and applemint 

Online Shopping Malaysia

Picture taken from here

I hate shopping and I am an idiot where IT (information technology) is concerned. Now when I say IT, it means anything related to it, ESPECIALLY anything to do with online stuffs..... like online documentations, online forms, online transactions, you get what I mean, right?

So imagine my HORROR one day when I found out that I HAD to go online to MAKE some purchases! In this case, it was for academic books!

We needed quite a number of copies for our library, and most of them cannot be found in our book stores, of even if they can, they are priced much higher than when purchased online. The worst thing was, I had an extremely tight deadline to get the books, failing which, I will have my budget slashed. And there were so much problems that I heard with local customs, if we are indeed unlucky.

The only thing that I'd purchased online at that time (that was last year) were movie tickets, and that's only because I have a husband who is 1,000 times worse than me in anything IT. In case you would think that is good enough, did I mention that my first 2-3 initial movie ticket purchases were supervised and assisted by my colleague? And that was it..!!

Anyway, due to the tight deadline, I managed to pressure one of my team member to get the books online, and they were sent to a friend's address in Singapore. A lot of effort and time were invested in bringing the books back to Malaysia.

When the second round of purchase had to be made (after like a period of five months and yup it took me that long), I decided to take the plunge and do it myself. 

Picture taken from here

Based on a friend's online shopping experience and encouragement, I gathered enough courage to start with the purchase of one book from Amazon.com just to test the water. The book was delivered to the college efficiently and smoothly. The next day after I received that book, I went online again and this time round, ordered six very expensive and good quality academic books amounting to RM 2,300. The good news is, they were all delivered to me without much hiccups or if there were, it was very well and professionally managed.

And you know what? Purchasing books on Amazon.com is like trading in forex, because the price that I have to pay today may be different from what I saw yesterday or last week, depending on the foreign exchange of Ringgit Malaysia against the US dollar. 

Subsequent to that, I actually tried online shopping, just for the experience. I won't say I am an expert in this area now, but here are some info, if anyone of you care to read. Yes, from someone who hates shopping, still.

Online Shopping for Books from Amazon.com

1. If you are purchasing books, be prepared to pay shipping fee. If they are shipped to Singapore, there is no shipping fee charged when the purchase exceeds certain amount. However, this rule does not apply to Malaysia, don't ask me why.

2. The delivery time for the item to be sent to Malaysia is always longer than that to Singapore.

3. Not all the items can be tracked for the purpose of monitoring the delivery status and stages. However, if the items are sent to a Singapore address, most of them can be tracked, how odd eh..?  :-/

Online Shopping in Malaysia in General

For some online shopping Malaysia tips, here are 3.

1. Make sure you buy from established and well known sites or brands

There are plenty of websites that offers fake branded stuffs. And since you can't check the quality by person, chances are, if you buy from unknown or unverified sites, you may get low quality items or fake branded stuffs for a very cheap or huge discounted price. 

Genuine products do not vary too much in price even if the discounts offered are

actually absorbed by the company of that website. 

2. Ensure you make price comparisons all the time if it is branded items

Always ensure that you know the item price sold by the company that produces it,

through their website. This way, you will know the price difference. Items that are on huge price discounts ought to be scrutinized thoroughly. You can try by buying an item first, to check out the quality before making a big purchase.

3. Check with friends who are online shopaholic

To know if certain website offers quality or genuine items, check with your online

shopaholic friends. They will be able to advise you what can be purchased and what

should be avoided in which sites. Trust me, they are your best advisor!

So be very careful, not all best deals are good and not all sites are bad.

Cheers and happy shopping!

--moon

Blog name - carrot head and apple mint