Over The Counter We Go by Barbara Quinn

Thank heavens for over-the-counter and home remedies. While nothing can compare to the assistance of a good doc when you are in bad health, it’s good to be able to treat yourself for minor inconveniences. As we age chances are that we learn what illnesses we are prone to. That’s where ole CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid come to the rescue.

One of my major problems is sinus headaches. I’m highly allergic and when the pollen count skyrockets or the weather gets really damp, I often get a headache. Sometimes it’s histamine and other times it’s a sinus headache. That’s when I hit the Sudafed (the old version that you now have to sign for at the counter to prove you’re not making bombs out of it) and add in some Ibuprofen (generic works fine for me, but if you like brand names like Advil try that). In a couple of hours I'm pain free and in a day or two all is well again.

Before I take the drugs, I try giving myself an acupressure massage which is nothing more than pressing on various parts of the face. It works almost immediately most of the time. It’s good to learn about these pressure points. I went to a lecture on acupuncture and acupressure techniques for sinuses a while back and have incorporated the massage into my shower routine.

What other over-the-counter things help me? I love Dr. Scholl’s corn removers. Benadryl helps me out when the allergies get bad, but only at night and then I wind up sleeping soundly. For my cholesterol there’s Green Tea Extract and Policosanol. For bee and wasp stings, there’s meat tenderizer (generic works fine). My son’s pediatrician told me about this. You make a paste with water and apply it to the sting where it promptly digests the venom. Amazing! And you thought Adolph's was for burgers.

What’s in your cabinet that helps you?

Preventive Medicine by Barbara Quinn

I came through my physical this year with good numbers and that is something to be happy about and thankful for. Last year when my cholesterol was high, I decided to start taking some over-the-counter supplements. Green tea extract and policosanol seem to have done the trick. My cholesterol is down to 189 (from 220) and my other numbers, like triglycerides, were also good. The nice thing about these two supplements is they are reasonable ones that I can find at places like Wal-Mart.

Though I'd much rather linger in bed, I make it to the gym where I weight train twice a week, and take a cardio class twice a week. I feel better when I go and have more energy. My clothes are starting to fit a little better but I have more to lose according to my doctor. So I’ll keep at it and keep trying not to have that extra glass of wine with dinner, or that piece of cake for dessert. Well, at least not the whole piece of cake.

One of my secret weapons is tea bags. Remember how In A Big Fat Greek Wedding they were always using Windex? Well, my cure all is all things tea including tea bags. Usually I drink it, or take it in pill form like the Green Tea Extract, but one day a couple of years ago I read how tea was filled with anti-oxidants. I figured, why not use a tea bag on my face? (Yes, it does look weird when you do this.) I had a few things removed by my skin doctor and didn’t want to go through that again. So I started and stuck with the tea bag treatments. I haven’t had any additional growths since then. I told my dermatologist about this and he said it was pretty well documented that tea is good to put on the skin. Sheesh. They don’t do a very good job of letting anyone know, do they? So try it! Maybe there should be a saying, “A tea bag a day keeps skin cancer away.”

Take care of yourselves. Ain’t no one else who is going to do it for you. Trust in tea. You could do a whole lot worse. And a big "Thank You" to my doctors who have caught quite a few things over the years and kept me going.

On Doctors & Writing by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

So yesterday I was at the hospital, having a procedure known as a stereotactic biopsy, and as I was lying on my stomach for an hour getting squeezed and tested, it came home to me again how lucky I am to be a writer, how lucky to live this life I live.

Lots of times, I hear other writers say that people aren’t interested in what they do. I always find that odd since, seems to me, everywhere I go people are interested once they find out. Even when I was on the phone trying to set up one of the earlier tests leading up to yesterday’s biopsy, when the nurse asked my profession and I told her, she started asking me questions about it. While this was going on, my husband was hissing at my side, “You’re calling about your breasts, and someone’s trying to pump you for info on how to break into publishing???”

Yet that’s the way it’s always been. Cocktail parties, airplanes, examination tables – people are curious, as if this thing I do that I can’t seem to not do is somehow as exotic as being a belly dancer. And yesterday was no different. The tech assistant asked what kind of work I do, I answered “Novelist” – because I’ve learned to take the more direct route, rather than saying “Writer,” which only leads to more preliminary questions – and we were off and running. The tech assistant, the doctor – the whole time they were squeezing me, taking pictures of me, numbing me and sticking needles in me, they had endless questions about my work and publishing and books in general.

You know what? I’m fine with that. Eighty-one percent of people responding to a New York Times poll said that they believe they have a book in them. And some days, it feels like I’ve met all 81% of those people. But yes, I’m OK with that. I love it that I do something that so many people feel connected to, whether they‘ve actually written or tried to write or merely still dream about it. I love it that there are people who feel connected to my work, even caring about the writer through it. I love it that I can lie on a table for an hour, the metal painfully sticking into my ribs, and be distracted by the interest of others in this seemingly exotic thing I do.

I am grateful, every day, to make a living doing something I love so much. I hope I get to do it as long as I draw breath.

[Note: As I was writing this article, I got the call: Me and my breasts are good, at least for now.]



As of January 2008, Lauren Baratz-Logsted has had eight books published in a variety of genres for both adults and children, the latest of which is Secrets of My Suburban Life. You can read more about Lauren and her work at http://www.laurenbaratzlogsted.com/.

Read a review of Lauren Baratz-Logsted's How Nancy Drew Saved My Life on Roses & Thorns.