How to Get Rid of Things™

Gnats are actually part of the fly family and different gnat species can be found in every region of the United States. Most gnats prefer to live and breed outside, but you can find some gnats indoors, living in houseplants or congregating on your window screens or near your lights. In this article we will address the most common gnat species and provide information on the most effective ways to eradicate each one. Read more?

It’s easy to make hemorrhoids the butt of our jokes (pun intended). For one, they occur outside the anal sphincter, a body part that has been a major source of laughs ever since Wayne’s World introduced the universe to the infamous “A sphincter says what?” gag, years ago. And two, people rarely talk openly about their own problems with hemorrhoids, and we all know that it’s easy to make light of something when it seems like the only sufferers are fictional characters. Read more?

Gas is a natural by-product of human digestion, but uncomfortable (and embarrassing amounts) are usually the result of indigestible sugars and carbohydrates, the digestion of which requires certain enzymes that the human body just isn’t equipped with. Lucky for you, there are steps you can take to return your intestines to normal working oder and get rid of all that gas. Read more?

Blisters are pockets of fluid in the skin that are commonly caused by friction, or rubbing of the skin for long periods of time. Hands and feet are most susceptible to blisters because they are the parts of the body most often used for repetitive motions, such as walking, running or operating machinery and tools. Luckily, most blisters are not serious and can be treated easily at home. Before you contemplate whether your boss will accept “blisters” as a valid reason to take a sick day, read on to figure out how to get rid of those painful blobs. Read more?

You glance down at your shoulder and there it is: dandruff. Those pesky white flakes that just sit on your shirt and ruin your otherwise sophisticated black outfit. While annoying, dandruff is nothing to worry about. It is an extremely common condition and, for most people, easy to control. Read more?

Women are complex creatures. As the bearers of offspring for our species, we got quite a few upgrades from the basic human package, and these come with certain advantages as well as an increased potential for things to go wrong. So it goes with extra features: if your car doesn’t have air conditioning, it can’t develop a freon leak, and if you don’t have ovaries, you’ll never be bothered by ovarian cysts. Our most common concerns about our bodies land all over a continuum spanning “requires medical attention,” “responsive to home remedies,” and “doesn’t even need treatment because it’s completely normal.” Because the mechanics of our insides are pretty mysterious to most of us, we’re sometimes faced with some scary guesswork when deciding whether to take a given symptom to the doctor. Read more?

Hay fever affects roughly 20% of the population, and you’re more prone to it if you have asthma, eczema, or a family history of allergies. Hay fever can affect young children, but oftentimes symptoms are at their worst for people in their thirties or forties. And if you check out the causes and symptoms sections, you’ll notice that hay is not among the common allergens, nor is fever among the common symptoms.  Read more?

Sure, everybody is a unique and special snowflake, but if you’re a runner, odds are you have experienced the pain that is shin splints. That, we have in common. If you’re still a runner, you’ve pushed through until they aren’t a problem for you anymore; congratulations! Shin splints are usually more common in people who are just getting into running or another high impact sport. If you’re still in those early stages, I’m here to get you over that hump and start running, dancing, balling, etc., like a champ. Then you can complain about that burn in your rock-hard quads instead. First let’s figure out what’s actually going on with your body. Continually running or quickly pivoting, such as in basketball, is hard on your lower leg muscles, bones, and connective tissue, causing them to swell up or even start to tear apart from each other. This is what we call medial tibial stress syndrome—or shin splints. Read more?

Since the diet craze of the 80s and 90s started (and it’s still going strong) people seem to be obsessed with getting rid of stretch marks. Mothers who have just given birth are slimming down and noticing the results of being bloated like a hot air balloon. People like that guy from those Subway commercials are seeing the same thing, parallel lines that form on the stomach, the butt, the hips, arms, and breasts—the symptoms of stretch marks caused by stretching the skin too far, or stretching the skin just fast enough that the body couldn’t keep up, and now it’s trying to grow back to normal. Read more?

You never really notice just how much your body works for you until it goes out of commission. The joints in your body consist of lots of little parts—bones, tendons, ligaments, muscles, bursae, cartilage—and they have a tough job to do. Naturally, that’s an area that can easily be injured or overworked. And also an area that seriously throws off your groove when it isn’t working right. Bursitis is just one of those many possible overuse injuries that result from repetitive forceful movements or constant pressure on joints. Bursae are the little sacs of fluid that lie in between your bones, tendons, and skin and, when working properly, make movement easier and less harmful on the moving parts. Areas that are commonly affected are the shoulder, elbow, hip, and knee, but anywhere there’s a bursa, there can be bursitis. Read more?