Turacos Medical Laboratory

HEALTH NUGGET TODAY

TOPIC: BOILS

Ugly, painful boils are the result of infection. Specifically, it is a bacteria called Staphylococcus species, which get under your skin where they cause infections in glands and hair follicles. The swelling and fluids that fill boils are the body's defenses in action. Pus is the build-up of white blood cells which have been sent to the sight fight off the Staph germs.

COMPRESSION IS BEST SOLUTION

Boils are best treated by applying a warm wash cloth or hot water bottle to the site three of four times a day. Do it until the boi breaks, or is re-absorbed into the body. If you want, you can try to drain the boil by nicking it (carefully) with a sterilized needle. Be careful not to poke the needle in deeply - just a nick will do.

Boils are rarely dangerous, but are painful, unsanitary and can spread. The best way to prevent them is to always maintain a good hand washing regimen, preferably with an antibacterial soap. When it comes to the prevention of boils, cleanliness is next to godliness.

MUD METHOD

Some claim that warm mud pasted over a boil will help it dry up faster. May be dead sea mud, because when I was in Israel visiting, many persons covered themselves in the mud. I subscribe to that mud because the dead sea water/mud are free of any infection causing organism. It is salty and the water doesn't support microbial life.
Aside this mud, it is probably a better idea to stay with a clean, warm compress. It will have the same effect as warm, moist mud. Applying mud or other substances may increase chance of infection, especially if the boil breaks.

Ten Tips on How To Talk To Your Health Care Professionals
Continued.

Tip Five: Point to where it hurts!

A person complaining of a pain in the chest or stomach may be suffering from any number of ailments. The chest or the stomach are not particularly large surface areas, there are literally an infinite number of spots on any human body where a medical problem can be pinpointed. As we Saw in Rule one, a stomach ache can be the result of a pain in the head.
A pain in the chest may be on the right side just below the shoulder blade, or on the left side just below the rib cage - but your doctor won't know until you actually point to just the right spot!

Tip Six: Keep in mind unusual activities or circumstances

Have you been recently engaged in some activity or been somewhere you don't normally go? Have you eaten a new kind of food, or tasted something you've never tried before. This may be the key to a sudden, mysterious change in your health. Think hard. Where have you been or what have you done differently recently that may have made you ill. If you can think of something, even if it seems irrelevant, tell your doctor about it. This may provide the very clue that is needed to solve the puzzle of what's wrong with you

Ten Tips on How To Talk To your Health Care Professionals Continued.

Tip Three: Be Prepared With A Complete, Accurate Family History.

Sometimes a health care professionals' examination, blood tests, X-rays and other diagnostic devices aren't enough to provide a complete picture of what might be wrong with you.
Telling your doctor about your family history may be the best source, and provide the key to a proper diagnosis, especially if there is a condition in your family that is genetically generated and has a high probability of being repeated.

Tip Four: Don't Use Medical Terminology With Your Doctor.

Read to find out why.

A frequent source of improper diagnosis happens when a patient uses medical terms in the wrong sense. Talk to your doctor and other health care professionals in simple terms. These we are all inundated with medical information from the search engines, and the media - books, magazines, newspapers, radio, television - and much of the time this can be great source of misunderstanding of medical terms on behalf of the public.
Remember, many medical programs are primary venues of entertainment, not serious medical care.
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