The How to Get Rid of Things Blog

PMS jokes: we’ve all heard them; most of us have cracked them. But if you’ve ever had symptoms of PMS, you know it’s not actually very funny. For one thing, it sometimes hurts—physically hurts. And then there’s the problem of trying to wrangle control over your mind, since bursting into tears midsentence and yelling at strangers are usually perceived as antisocial behaviors. And if you have any of those symptoms right now, you probably have your ears open for ways to get rid of PMS. Fortunately, getting rid of PMS—or at least reducing its symptoms—is something you can usually do at home, by making some basic lifestyle changes. I describe those changes in my latest article, and for those of you who suffer from very severe PMS symptoms, or from PMDD, I also go into forms of treatment you can get from your doctor.

Doesn’t that kid look like a zombie? I think he (or she) would eat brains if given the chance. But anyway.

I done finished an article about Staph infections. I don’t know if you’ve heard about them. Flesh eating bacteria that are running rampant through our schools and hospitals? Yeah, that would be Staph infections. Actually, this article is about how to get rid of impetigo, a type of Staph infection–since Staph infections come in several flavors. Staphylococcus aureus, the scientific name for the bacteria we’re talking about here, are responsible for a lot of problems like razor rash, boils, carbuncles, impetigo, some types of arthritis, stomach flu and food poisoning, even pneumonia. It’s an incredible little germ, that’s for sure.

Anyway, impetigo is probably one of the milder infections (when it’s mild. see: google images impetigo) caused by a colonization of the Staph bacteria. There are several recommendations from the standpoint of conventional medicine as well as several suggestions for treatment from the side of alternative medicine. Whether you believe in herbalism or not, you should probably get a Staph infection looked at by a doctor. If, however, medical attention is not immediately available to you, some of the advice offered in the article, “how to get rid of a staph infection” should help you prevent or treat a mild staph infection.

It’s been a while since I’ve written an article, and since I was on the topic of how to get rid of infections before, I thought I’d follow that up with an article about how to get rid of external ear infections, or “external otitis.” It’s also quite commonly known as Swimmer’s Ear. Recently a doctor emailed us telling us that we should probably share with our readers the fact that the advice we have on this website (medical advice) can never substitute going to a real doctor and getting real medical advice. He’s right. But I also want to take this opportunity to tell you that for every article we write (especially now) we take the time to check our facts. So, when I tell you that an external ear infection isn’t a big deal until your ear starts to fall off, you should probably still consider a trip to the doctor, keeping in mind that unless you’re diabetic or immune suppressed, you’re not going to buy the farm just yet.

And there are a lot of natural remedies for external ear infections, let me tell you. I recently went out and borrowed/purchased a number of books on alternative and conventional medicine, and I’m working hard to make sure that both sides of the coin are represented equally well in our articles. Now, remember, this article is about external ear infections which are different from middle ear infections (and a lot less painful, usually). I’ll get around to middle ear infections shortly, however, you should bear in mind that middle ear infections are even less of a laughing matter than external ear infections. Thus, I’m reluctant to suggest anything besides conventional medicine as an approach–but perhaps my mind will change as I do more research on the matter. Until then, enjoy How to Get Rid of an Ear Infection (External).

Yep. I went there. I’m aware that this is a touchy subject, but people want to know how to get rid of unwanted pregnancy. And they deserve to know. Reproduction is one of the most important things we do, and it’s crucial that we’re responsible about how we do it—or choose not to. I’ve tried to cover all the options as equally and objectively as possible, and because getting rid of unwanted pregnancy is about more than dealing with it after it happens, I’ve included a section on contraception. This article covers a lot of ground very concisely, and I wrote it without the benefit of a medical degree, so I recommend using it as a jumping off point in your research. If something mentioned here seems like it might work for you, seek further advice from a doctor or counselor.

Today I published another jumping off point for a series of articles deal with how to get rid of infections. We’ve covered a number of infectious diseases so far, but never so much as to explain the basic science and taxonomy of infections. At the moment there are 5 major types of infections: bacterial, viral, fungal, protozoan, and parasitic. Parasitic might be considered a category a number of infectious protozoans might fall into, but not all parasites are single celled organisms, like protozoans. Intestinal worms, for example, are multicellular parasites. Some species of mites, ticks, bed bugs, and lice can also be considered parasites.

I expect to be able to go into more depth on the 5 major types of infections in subsequent articles, which may or may not end up becoming its own category on the main page. Anyway, if you’ve always wondered what the deal was when someone told you to “put something on that if you don’t want to get an infection,” this article should explain why those people always seem so concerned.

I’d say this article about how to get rid of a sinus infection was rather prescient considering my current state of health. At the moment I’ve got a sinus infection that I’ve managed to fight pretty well using the techniques described there. As I mentioned in the introduction, this topic is nothing new to me. There are already a number of physical health articles related to the subject sinus infections. This just happens to be a more thorough deconstruction of the process I go through to get rid of sinus infections. I’m coming into the “yellow again” stage of this particular sinus infection, and it’s only been 4 days. By tomorrow I should be ready to restart my daily swimming routine.

Of course, if you think I’ve missed something or you have some additional comments, why not swing by the forums and drop a post in the Physical Health forum.

Diagnosing fatigue is not hard. Do you feel tired? All the time? Physical and mental fatigue are common problems, usually symptomatic of your lifetyle or an underlying medical condition. Living with fatigue can and will damage your work, personal, and social lives and even be hazardous to yourself and others (ever see what happens to a driver who falls asleep at the wheel?). Luckily, you can usually get rid of your fatigue by addressing the lifestyle choices to blame (such as poor sleeping, eating, and exercise habits), and/or talking to your doctor about possible medical causes. Check out the new Get Rid of Fatigue page for simple and very do-it-yourself-able (got that?) suggestions for getting rid of your fatigue as fast as possible.

How to Get Rid of Snoring is a weird title, because you’re not actually getting rid of snoring like you’d be getting rid of a blister, you know? The list of things that cause snoring is pretty extensive, and sometimes people snore for no good reason at all–it just happens. For instance, getting rid of extra fat is one way to stop snoring. Studies show that obesity does play a role in the volume and frequency of snoring during the night. The consumption of alcohol and cigarettes is something else you’ll want to do away with because cigarettes inflame the lining of your sinuses which cause blockage and increase your chances of snoring and alcohol sedates you and relaxes the muscles in your throat, which also contribute to how much you snore.

if you want to learn how to stop snoring, this is the article for you.

What’s this? A new article? I know, I know, it’s been ages since we’ve produced something new, but we’ve still been working hard, I promise. And now for your reading, and healing, pleasure is my latest article to help you get rid of poison ivy rash. Even though warm weather, and with it outdoor activities, is wrapping up for a lot of you in Northern climates, poison ivy can be a year-round problem for many people. Actually, poison ivy can still be a problem in colder climates if the plants are exposed at all — urushiol, the irritating agent in poison ivy, remains potent even if the plant is dead (or frozen), so all you midwinter hikers still need to beware of poison ivy. And if tragedy does strike and you run into poison ivy, we’re here to help you with all you’ll ever need to know to get rid your poison ivy rash, winter or no winter.

My whole life I’ve suffered from allergies, and I use the word “suffer” in every possible sense. And every year, along with millions of other allergics, I experience the blooming and budding of spring through a haze of sneezing and itching and snot. For weeks all I can think about is how to get rid of my allergies, and because I know how miserable allergies can be, I’ve written my new page about getting rid of allergies. I hope this advice helps all you other allergy sufferers get rid of your allergies once and for all.