Quick fixes: From Brain Freeze to Hiccupping

Arm or Leg Goes to Sleep

Ever get that dull feeling in your arm or leg like it’s asleep? This temporary and harmless sensation is caused by constant pressure on nerves, leaving them unable to transmit messages to your brain. The cure is simple: change positions. As feeling starts to come back to the area, you may experience tingling (“pins and needles”) for a little while. Chronic tingling indicates a more serious underlying condition that should be evaluated by a doctor.

Black Hairy Tongue

No, this isn’t something from a creature feature. Although it is a temporary, harmless (benign), painless oral condition it definitely is not a pretty sight to behold. Black hairy tongue occurs when the little bumps on your tongue grow long (instead of shedding), and bacteria grow on them. Poor oral hygiene, smoking, some mouthwashes, radiation therapy to the head and neck, and certain medications can play a role.

To help, brush your teeth and tongue twice a day, use a tongue scraper, and avoid aggravating factors.

The Brain Freeze

Oh no, not again!  “Ice cream headaches” happen when something cold touches nerves in the roof of the mouth,, the blood vessels contract in response in an effort to prevent loss of body heat. As the coldness recedes, the blood vessels relax again, quickly increasing blood flow to the brain, triggering blood vessels in the front of your head to swell. This rapid swelling causes the familiar, jabbing pain of a brain freeze.

An easy solution? Try eating ice cream or other cold foods more slowly to avoid getting a headache.

Cramps

This startling muscle spasm can last a few seconds, even several minutes. Dehydration, muscle overuse, nerve irritation, and low levels of certain minerals -- like potassium and calcium -- can be culprits.

Try drinking some water, walk around to relieve the pain, or shake your leg and stretch the muscle. If cramps persist, see your doctor.

Discolored Nails

Curious about color changes in your nails? About 50% of nail problems are caused by fungal infections. Greenish nails may come from pseudomonas bacteria and are easily treated with antibiotics. Yellowish nails are often a sign of fungus. And red, purple, or black under nails may be caused by blood resulting from injury. Changes can also be related to medical treatments or signal a more serious condition. 

Unsure? Get those nails checked!

Ear Popping

We’ve all yawned on a plane trip to “pop” our ears. What we’re doing is equalizing the pressure between the inside and the outside of our eardrum as the altitude changes. That “pop” means a tube connecting your middle ear to the back of your throat has opened, relieving pressure.

To help, you can also close your mouth, hold your nose, and blow gently; or try chewing gum or yawning.

Ear Wax Buildup

Keep fingers and cotton swabs out of your ear canals. Earwax helps fight infection, keeps ears clean, and our bodies naturally get rid of excess earwax through the ear opening. Problems like impaction often start when we try to clean our ears with a swab or another object. Impaction symptoms include pain, itching, ringing of the ears, or hearing loss.

Your doctor can remove excess ear wax with irrigation or manual removal.

Excessive Sweating (Hyperhidrosis)

Sure, it’s a mood killer, but this problem is very common and happens to completely healthy people. While it can occur on the face, sweating is usually worse on the palms, soles, and in the armpits. Treatment may include aluminum chloride antiperspirants, Botox injections, oral medications, mild electrical currents, or even surgery.

Eye Twitching

Eyelid spasms are unpredictable, bothersome, and harmless. Eye twitching can be caused by stress, fatigue, caffeine, eyestrain, and dry eyes, though more serious twitching may be caused by neurological disorders, like Tourette’s syndrome.

Eyelid spasms usually go away on their own, but if they are severe, Botox injections may be recommended.

Hiccups

Hiccups are an uncontrollable contraction of the diaphragm (the breathing muscle under the lungs). Eating too much or too fast, overdoing alcohol, or swallowing air can all cause the hiccups.

They usually go away on their own, but you can try remedies like holding your breath, quickly drinking water, and breathing in a bag to help hasten hiccups away.

Overdevelopment of Male Breasts

Gynecomastia is usually caused by normal changes in hormone levels at birth, puberty, and later in life. For newborns and boys, the ratio of estrogens (female hormones) to androgens (male hormones) balances out in time. It’s also seen in men as they age, often related to certain medications, liver or kidney problems, or tumors. 

A physician’s evaluation can get at the root cause, but by itself, the condition is usually harmless.

Vertigo

Whoa! If it feels like the room’s moving when it’s not, it could be vertigo. Sometimes caused by inner ear problems or nerve damage, vertigo can last minutes, even hours. To distinguish vertigo from dizziness, there must be a feeling of motion; other symptoms that may occur include hearing loss, ear discomfort, and unusual eye movements. Treating vertigo depends on the cause.