Urticaria or hives are red, raised lesions that occur anywhere on the body, usually around the trunk, hands and legs. They appear as small round rings or large patches that changes shape, may itch and be surrounded by a red flare. They can be acute or chronic, with acute almost always being an allergic reaction. It is often due to unknown causes, ranging from chronic irritation to parasitic infection to temperatures to water types.

Homeopathy treats diseases as a whole, and similarly, when treating urticaria tries to identify associated symptoms and thereby treat the cause also. After a detailed discussion about predisposition and associated symptoms, a customized remedy will be prescribed, which may include one of the following common homeopathic remedies.

Apis Mell: The hives consist of isolated patches that are painful, tender, itch at night, feel like bee stings, become purple. There is burning pain, slight fever, and warmth of the surrounding skin. It is worsened by changing weather and exercise, causing severe itching and burning. The patient may already have asthma.
Arsenic Album: The urticaria is caused by eating shellfish and causes burning and restlessness. The condition gets worse being at the seaside and by getting into sea water. Arsenic is also useful to treat urticarial symptoms during the recession of the lesions. The person also could be down emotionally with depression, despair, indifference and irritability. If the lesions are more severe, the restlessness is also severe. It is worse after midnight, from 1 to 2 a.m.
Rhus toxicodendron: Prepared from the leaves and bark of the plant poison ivy, Rhus works on multiple body systems including skin, joints, eyes, extremities, and overall vitality. In addition to urticaria, it is also used in cellulitis, arthritis, fevers, etc. It is effective if the urticaria has a burning sensation, inflamed reddened rash that is worsened by cold and improved by warmth.
Urtica urens: Made from a plant called stinging nettle, which itself has a tendency to produce urticaria, it is used when there is urticaria from bee stings or after eating shellfish. The lesions are red with severe burning and itching, recurring every year, could be associated with weather changes.
Natrum Muriaticum: The common salt sodium chloride is potentized, and its inner healing power activated. It is used for chronic urticaria, where the lesions develop after severe irritation.
Dulcamara: The lesions develop followed a general prickly sensation setting in and at night when it is cold and damp. The hives are irregular white patches surrounded by a red area that itch badly. The hives are associated with violent cough, swelling of the lymph nodes, fever, restlessness, sleeplessness, decreased appetite, nausea, vomiting, bitter taste, and intense aching in pit of stomach.

Urticaria - 6 Homeopathic Remedies For Hives Disease

Yoga is a spiritual practice combined with both mental and physical disciplines which for the first time emerged on Indian soil and later split into various schools but the actual fragrance of yoga remained same throughout the time. Nowadays, with increasing studies and researchers on various pre-Vedic traditions put an entirely new light on the practice of Yoga. While until now it has mainly been considered as a spiritual practice, a new study from Indianapolis University claims that yoga is a kind of practice which is not only limited to psychological phenomena rather the practice of yoga enables one to withstand the effects of stroke.

After You Survived Of A Stroke: In most of the cases, strokes finally lead to prolonged disabilities. It is due to the fact that a stroke takes place when a part of a brain fails to get a steady supply of Blood rich in Oxygen. Apart from this blockage in a vessel may hamper the blood supply in the brain. Similarly, the after effect of a stroke entirely depends on which part of the brain is affected. So a stroke may cause dysfunction of normal speech or steady movement of arms and legs. It is why after a stroke one has taken recourse to rehabilitation with the aim of resolving life-long disabilities. The rehabilitation process includes certain exercises basically opting for movements and physiotherapy. Sometimes the effort of therapists bears fruit and sometimes all goes in vain
Yoga As A Healing Power: The new research from Indianapolis has voiced in favour of adding yoga to stroke rehabilitation because it consists of poses, breathing and meditation. In this study, forty-seven male stroke survivours were divided into two groups and between these two groups, one attended yoga session for eight weeks. After eight weeks it has been seen that those who attended yoga session has successfully completed the rehabilitation session in a comparatively shorter period.
Practice Of Yoga Increases Your Chance To Recover Soon: According to the researchers, the added advantage of yoga is that besides improving balance it improves the quality of life and reduce the fear of falling. If you or any of your family members has survived of a stroke, yoga is not the first step you would be advised to take recourse to rather the researchers say that at first begin the rehabilitation programme but add the practice of yoga with it. But before you add yoga to your checklist, you should consult it with your doctor whether the yoga would suit or not.
Yoga Develops A Style Of Life: In conclusion, it can be said that recovering from a stroke is actually to prevent the second attack. So you need to ensure a proper lifestyle without those addictions like smoking and drinking which are harmful to you. Afterall yoga develops an upliftment in thinking which would further help you to maintain a healthy life.

The Healing Power Of Yoga After A Stroke!

Sometimes you may find yourself stuck in a rut that is frustrating and mind numbing. If you re in such a situation, it could be an indication that you need to reprogram your mind. This will help you set realistic goals for yourself and lead a more fulfilling life. Before getting to how to reprogram your mind, it is important to first understand how the mind works.

Mind vs Brain

In colloquial terms, the words mind and brain may be used interchangeably but, the two are in fact not the same. While the brain is a physical organ, the mind can be described as a virtual entity present within each cell of our body and extended to minimum 2 inches outside body. That is why mind controls body. It is more like a collection of thoughts, emotions, imagination and memories. When compared to a computer, the brain acts as the hardware while the mind is the software within it.

The Three States of Mind 
The mind can be categorized into three states: 

Conscious
Subconscious 
Unconscious
Actions that need you to make an effort and think about what you are doing are said to be performed by the conscious mind. The subconscious mind refers to information that is accessible to you when needed and otherwise not something you pay attention to. For example, when walking down the road to your house, your mind subconsciously creates landmarks. The unconscious mind consists largely of primitive instincts and memories from early childhood that may not be easily recalled.

Unconscious mind also contains memories from past lives. That has been proved by father of modern hypnotherapy, Dr. Brian Weiss. Thus hypnotherapy under supervision is a great tool for reprogramming your mind. Embedding positive cognitive scripts / suggestions through hypnosis helps in reprogramming mind. 

A majority of our daily functions are controlled by the unconscious mind. The memories stored in our unconscious mind are responsible for many decisions that we make based on beliefs. Thus, training the unconscious can help reprogram the mind and make it more productive.

Here are three easy tips to help you make your unconscious more efficient.

Meditation: Meditation not only calms the mind and reduces stress, but can also help train the unconscious mind. Meditation helps increase your ability to concentrate on an activity and achieve the desired level of mental focus. This, in turn, helps develop new ideas and increases your belief in yourself.
Visualize what you want to achieve: Merely telling yourself that you want to do better is not enough. You need to set a goal for yourself and visualize it to begin working towards it. Create a visual board of the type of house you would like to live in, the lifestyle you would like to have, the job you would like to have etc. avoid generalized visions and be specific about what you want.
Hypnotherapy: Hypnotherapy is a safe, brief and effective way to deal with many emotional and anxiety-related issues, such as those listed on the right. It enables you to deal with your own mental challenges and blocks, so that you can build on your strengths and take control of your life. 

Reprogramming the Mind - How it Helps You?


Feeling a lump on your breasts can be a terrifying moment. 'Cancer' is the first thing that comes to mind but in reality, most lumps in the breast are not caused by cancer. Apart from cancer, breast lumps can be caused by non-cancerous growths, injuries and infections. The only way to correctly diagnose the cause of a lump in the beasts is through a biopsy. Hence, this is the first step towards treating a breast lump. From here on, treatment will depend on the cause identified.

Mastitis or Breast Infection

Mastitis is a painful infection of the breast tissue often faced by women who are breastfeeding. It can be treated with heat treatment and antibiotics. Massaging the breast while taking a warm shower or applying a warm compress. This will open up the milk ducts and should be followed by nursing the baby or using a breast pump to relieve the swelling and pain.

Abscess

Antibiotics are the first line of treatment against an abscess but this is effective only if given in the initial stage of the infection. In later stages, an abscess will need to be surgically drained.

Fibroadenomas

This is a non-cancerous tumour often found in young women. It is often difficult to distinguish between a Fibroadenoma and a cancerous tumour and hence these are usually surgically removed.

Fibrocystic Changes

In some cases, the breast itself is composed of knotted, rope like tissue. This is known as having fibrocystic breasts. If a new lump presents itself on fibrocystic breasts, a mammogram and an ultrasound are performed to evaluate the lump. In most cases fibrocystic changes do not require any medication or surgery.

Breasts Cysts

Cysts can be defined as fluid filled lumps. In some cases, these cysts become apparent at the time of ovulation and disappear after the period. In other cases, it may need to be drained with a thin needle. Cysts often recur and need to be re-drained.

Fat Necrosis and Lipoma

Fat necrosis is a lump caused by an injury to the fatty tissue in the breast. Lipoma is a fatty growth within the fatty tissue. In both these cases, no treatment is required but if it causes any problems, it can be removed.

Breast Cancer

If the biopsy reveals the presence of a cancerous tumour, you must immediately consult an oncologist. Treatment options for breast cancer include chemotherapy, radiation, surgery and hormone treatment.

Treating Lumps and Pain in Breasts of Women

There are few things I hear over and over again from students
1.  How they are studying for so many in a day
2.  How they do not have even time for anything else in their life due to study pressure
3. How they are sleep deprived
4. How much they are stressed
5. And finally, after all the sacrifices and hard work, their exam performance is not what they expect.

Here are few tips to study smart, improve your grades and yet have a life!
We all know that 2 hours of focused study will be much more productive than 4 hours of distracted study. And, the good news is that concentration is a mental skill that you can develop and improve. There are two ways to improve your concentration:

A. First, work on raising your brain's natural ability to concentrate or in other words, learn to increase your attention span.
B. Second, adjust the environment around you to make concentrating easier.

Improving your concentration takes a little time and effort, but it is worth it. In my personal experience with students, I have seen noticeable improvement in relatively short time.

A. Ideas for daily concentration boosting habits include

1. Mindfulness meditation: Many studies confirm that 20 minutes of meditation or more per day improves concentration and attention span. Mindfulness meditation, where one focuses on one's breathing,  is one of the simplest way of meditation. Start with ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes before bed. To begin with you may try a guided meditation. One can easily find audios for guided meditation online.

2. Proper sleep: I am sorry to say this. Pulling all nighters will not help with your grade. Unless you are getting sufficient restful sleep, you are not going to be as mentally focused as you could be to study as well as answer questions in exams.

3.  Food for your Brain: The more you use certain skills, the more they are reinforced in the brain. So it makes sense that playing concentration games and games that require you to focus will improve your concentration ability. You need to be consistent in this. Play for about 10 to 20 minutes each day. Have fun, and get the benefits but remember not to spend more than 20 minutes a day. Your goal is to improve your concentration and not just keep scoring higher in the game! Try Lumosity and use only free version this will help you restrict your daily play time to 20 minutes and have maximum benefit.

4. Eat healthier: Your brain needs the proper nutrients to allow you to focus. Eat more vegetables and fruits and avoid consumption of junk food as much as possible. Instead you could keep some nuts such as walnuts, almond or peanuts as in between munches. Lot of research has now proven that sugar is very harmful for our health. Reduce sugar and refined white flour in your diet as much as you could.  

5. Exercise: It is helpful in both reducing stress and increasing energy and focus. At least 20 minutes a day would go a long way. Going for a short jog of 20 minutes will make next 4 to 5 hours of study very efficient.

B. Optimize your mental state & environment

In addition to building the habits described above into your daily routine; also adjust your environment and your current mental state to improve your concentration when studying.

1. Create a study space: Your brain loves routine. Create a place where all you do is study. An obvious choice is a secluded desk of some kind, but the trick is to make sure you only study in that spot. Studying in bed is a bad habit, for example, because your body is trained to want to sleep once you get into bed.

2. Remove distractions: Turn off the ringer on your phone and take other steps to prevent interruptions. Don't study with the television on or with radio playing. Some studies have shown that soft instrumental music (no vocals) can help improve your concentration.

3. Reduce background noises: If you have to study or work in an environment where it is too loud (classroom or open space) or too quiet (such as at home or at a library) you can get easily distracted by outside influences. With the right amount of background noise you can actually block out distractions and enhance your creative thinking.

4. Use timer: Set a time limit when you need to study new material. For example, let's say you want to read one chapter in a book (and remember it). Decide in advance that you can have 45 minutes to read the chapter, and 15 minutes to review it. Set a timer to keep yourself honest, then pace yourself to keep within the allotted time.

5. Stay motivated: If you see studying as burden, it's hard to concentrate. One way to stay motivated is to set up a reward system. Tell yourself you have to earn that hour of watching your favorite show later in the evening by first completing 2-3 hours of intense studying.
That way, even if the material is dry, you have the reward to look forward to.

6. Take breaks: Take a break every two hours. You mental energy will begin to decline after a long period of study. So every two hours or so, take a ten minute break. Walk around, eat a light snack, or just stare at the wall to relax your mind.

Concentrating is the first step to learning anything new. It only makes sense that if you improve your concentration, your memory will improve also.

How an expert can help?
If you want to get individualized expert opinion about how you are studying currently and what ways you can improve; you can always consult the expert. Once he/she knows what your current study methods are, they will be able to give you specific tips to improve upon. Most likely once you incorporate those tips you will be spending less time studying and your grades will improve. That's what is studying smarter and not harder means!!

Study Smarter and Not Harder!

While heart attacks are commonly experienced by men and women, the symptoms experienced by them are different. Symptoms of a heart attack in women are much more subtle as compared to signs of a heart attack when experienced by men. 

Many women even compare the symptoms of a heart attack to the flu or acid reflux. Hence it is important to be able to recognize the symptoms of a heart attack and be able to distinguish them from symptoms of other less fatal conditions. 

Some of the characteristic symptoms of a heart attack that a woman should look out for are:

Discomfort or chest pain: Chest pain is one the characteristic symptoms of a heart attack but this is not experienced in the same way by me and women. While men may feel pain in the left side of their chest, women can feel pain in any part of their chest. This may be accompanied by a feeling of the chest being squeezed in a vise.
Pain in the jaw, neck, arms and back: Men consider pain in the chest and left arm to be a symptom of a heart attack but women can experience this pain in their jaw and back as well. This pain can develop gradually or come on suddenly. It may also wax and wane before it becomes intense. In some cases, this pain can even wake you up from a deep sleep. Hence, do not ignore any unexplained pains in the upper part of your body.
Stomach ache: A stomach ache is one of the most subtle signs of a heart ache. This may feel similar to that caused by heartburn or a stomach ulcer. It may also feel like a great weight is on your stomach.
Shortness of breath: Feeling lightheaded or having trouble breathing even when you are not exerting yourself could be a sign of a heart attack. At times this could also make you feel like throwing up. This symptom is usually also accompanied by one of the other more characteristic symptoms of a heart attack.
Excessive sweating: Perspiration as a symptom of a heart attack is not the same as perspiration caused by exercise. When sweat is a symptom of a heart attack, it is more of a cold sweat that can be compared to the sweat caused by stress. If you do not sweat heavily but suddenly find yourself sweating excessively, you should not ignore it but consult a cardiologist immediately.
Tiredness: Feeling tired even when you haven t exerted any energy can be a sign of a heart attack. Sometimes, this fatigue can be so much that it can keep a woman from even moving from the chair to the bed.
It is therefore advised to not ignore any above-mentioned symptoms and see a doctor immediately; stay healthy and stay happy!

Heart Attack In Women - Signs You Must Watch Out For!

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