If you live near the woods, have a dog who loves to romp in the grass or have kids at summer camp, you may already be on high alert for Lyme disease, an often debilitating infection that is passed to humans via tick bites. But it's not just about Lyme anymore: Ticks are being connected with new outbreaks of numerous diseases. Here's how to keep your family safe.
A Mystery Illness
In January 2018, Nikki Smith, now 40, was lying in bed watching television when suddenly her chest hurt, her blood pressure plummeted and she thought she was going to pass out. Scared for her life, she went with her husband to the ER, where a battery of tests ruled out heart problems. She was sent home with advice to try to lower her stress level.
Nikki, a retail manager in Kentucky, went through this several times over the next two years doctors blamed stress and eventually diagnosed her with panic disorder. But she was also plagued by a variety of gastrointestinal problems that her doctors believed were due to complications from gallbladder surgery. Her symptoms, she says, had "no apparent triggers or rhyme or reason." She was prescribed antidepressants, which didn't help.
Meanwhile, her seasonal allergies worsened, and in one of her ears was fluid that felt as if it was moving constantly. Allergy tests turned up sensitivities to beef, pork, lamb and cow's milk. Nikki was surprised, as she'd eaten meat for decades and hadn't experienced hives, swelling or difficulty breathing, the symptoms typically linked to food allergies. She left the allergist's office with a list of foods to avoid and a prescription for an EpiPen.
This story is from the July - August 2024 edition of Good House Keeping - US.
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This story is from the July - August 2024 edition of Good House Keeping - US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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The Mental Health Benefits of Cats - How our feline friends keep our minds purring
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“OK, OK, just take a breath.” If that’s what a friend advises after you panic-share about a major-anxiety-inducing situation — your teen taking his maiden solo voyage behind the wheel, work instability, another high-stakes world crisis dinging your phone every few minutes — it’s probably because they hate seeing you so on edge. But also, your friend is offering an effective means of slowing your spin. “The way you breathe affects anxiety, and anxiety affects how you breathe,” says James Nestor, author of Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. “It’s a two-way street, and while anxiety isn’t a conscious choice, our breathing is.”
Do Men Really Not See The Mess? - The answer might surprise you. Journalist and author Gemma Hartley pulls back the curtain to reveal the invisible forces that drive this all-too-common cause of marital strife.
There was a time, earlier in my marriage, when every morning as I walked into the kitchen I braced myself for the rage and resentment that would well up in me.Cupboards left open. Dirty dishes in the sink. Coffee cups strewn around the house. And usually a pair of slippers or shoes, with inside-out socks, on the floor somewhere nearby. Even when I had left the house spotless the night before, I’d wake to a scene of disarray — the mess my husband had left behind on his way out the door for work.I didn’t know which scenario seemed worse, my husband’s consciously expecting me to clean up these messes or his truly not noticing them at all. I found myself silently tallying these small resentments, furious and flummoxed in turn that he seemed oblivious to things that needed to be tidied up around the house. It seemed as if he was always waiting for me to tell him what had to be done, as if he was incapable of noticing the mess himself even when he was creating it.
BLISTERED BITES
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DRINK if you DARE
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Have a scary-good HALLOWEN
The spookiest day of the year calls for tricks and treats!
