Letters to the Editor
Woodwose
Published Letters: 32 Editor's Choice: 2
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Soundproofing helps
[Read the article: Stop the noise!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This article arrived just in time for the 4th of July, which my chaos-vector neighbors down the hill started celebrating tonight. They will continue celebrating until they run out of cherry bombs and bottle rockets. Last year we were awakened on July 12th by what sounded like a mortar attack in our back garden. These particular neighbors also enjoy tuning their muffler-free motorcycles at 7 am on Sundays and letting their 5 dogs (2 dachshunds and 3 dobes) bark while their masters scream obscenity-laced, yet somehow ineffectual commands. The barking and screaming alternates in a kind of chorus-and-verse effect which can go on for hours.
We got new windows, which help soundproof the house to some extent. However, if it is a nice day and I want the windows open, you can count on the dogs being out in the yard and in excellent voice. Unfortunately there are no noise ordinances here in the quiet, tree-lined suburbs.
One of the reasons I don't like to travel is that although I request the quietest room available, I am invariably housed next to a family of door-slammers on their way to a Colicky Baby World Congress. At one establishment, at 10 pm, I tried to keep track of the number of times the children ran in and out of the next room into a room across the hall. It was easy: they slammed each of the doors in turn, once a minute for an hour and a half. The slamming even shook the bed. The parents never said a word. The hotel did nothing though I called the front desk several times. Yes, I think my blood pressure might have been a tad elevated....
Perhaps my next trip I will try a monastic guesthouse where they keep the Grand Silence at night. There is a reason cloistered religious usually live such long lives--they don't have dobes or car alarms shrieking under their windows. And they know how to close doors quietly.
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Some medical thoughts which are not as easy as stopping chocolate
[Read the article: My migraines make me feel like driving a pickax through my face!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]1) Did you start taking some new medication 18 months ago? Have you ever taken Effexor? I had a friend who was given that drug by his doctor, only to come down with immediate, excruciating headaches, which the doctor denied were caused by the drug. A year and a half later, a neurologist recommended that he stop Effexor. He did and his headaches stopped immediately. Even if a doctor says a drug is not causing the problem, find a way to stop the drug and see for yourself.
2) Hole-in-heart is linked to migraine
Some cases of severe migraine may be effectively treated by closing a hole in the heart, research suggests.
Studies have indicated a strong link between migraine with aura - the type associated with bright flashing lights - and a hole in the heart.
Scientists found surgical repair of the defect cut the severity of migraine attacks by 37%.
Details of the study, led by doctors in London and Shrewsbury, were presented to the American College of Cardiology.
PATENT FORAMEN OVALE
A flap or valve-like opening in the wall between the two upper (atrial) chambers of the heart
It is frequently found before birth, but seals shut in about 80% of people
When pressure is created inside the chest - for instance by coughing - the flap can open, allowing blood to flow in either direction
This can allow blood to bypass the filtering system of the lungs
If debris is present in the blood, such as small blood clots, it can pass through the left atrium and lodge in the brain, causing a stroke
3)And this from the Archives of Neurology, November 2006. A study involved 92 adults, mostly men, who'd experienced cluster headaches -- which usually occur one to three times a day over a period of several weeks or months -- for an average of 12 years. Each participant treated three headache attacks, at least 24 hours apart, with one of three nasal sprays: five milligrams of zolmitriptan nasal spray (Zomig), 10 milligrams or a placebo; they did not know which treatment was which. Sixty-two percent of the participants reported their pain had eased or disappeared within 30 minutes of using the larger dose of Zomig; the smaller dose of Zomig was similarly effective for 40 percent of the participants; and the placebo spray left 21 percent of the participants feeling better. The drug appeared to be well tolerated.
Good luck to you.
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IF YOU WANT TO SHOW YOUR GIRLFRIEND
[Read the article: How can I convince my girlfriend that this is as good as it gets?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]that you're a doormat, then take Cary's advice and wait for her. If you want to catch her interest, let her go and start dating up a storm--where she can see you. She'll come running back, drag you into bed for a week or two, then realize after she's got you hooked again that the excitement just isn't there anymore.
Repeat as necessary.
There are some women who see sex only as a lure, a tool to get the attention they crave. It sounds like your girlfriend might be one of them. Keep trying to talk her into loving and/or marrying you and you will end up writing another advice columnist about how your wife refuses to have sex anymore. If she doesn't want it in her mid-20s, she certainly won't want it after marriage and kids.
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Self-medication
[Read the article: I've been passing out drunk and it's getting worse]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You are self-medicating for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Please find a therapist who specialises in treating this. It may not save you from alcoholism, but can help lessen the triggering episodes.