Dear Nurse Dave,
I recently was prescribed some antibiotics that gave me wicked diarrhea. What's up with that? Also, why is it that people are always saying to eat yogurt when you are on antibiotics--or is it after you get off? I'm thinking these two things might be related.
Agatha, West Chester, PA
Thanks for the health related question. It seems like a lot of recent questions have forgot about the "Nurse" in Ask Nurse Dave. The answer involves living in harmony with microorganisms.
We as humans live symbiotically with billions of bacteria and microorganisms in our bodies. We have a mutually beneficial relationship where we provide nutrients for bacteria and the bacteria provide stuff like vitamins and protection from other bacteria for us. I would compare it to Rocky teaming up with Apollo Creed to defeat Clubber Lang. Rocky could never have done it alone. He needed Apollo to help him find his heart.
This teaming up of ourselves and bacteria can be thrown off in a number of ways. Issues with our immune system can let usually friendly bacteria get out of hand and cause infection. Sometimes outside bacteria or viruses can get in a wreck havoc. Also antibiotics can mess with the system. Antibiotics are used to fight bacterial infection but sometimes the antibiotics can also destroy our bacteria friends like the ones in your GI tract, causing wicked diarrhea. Some yogurts are thought to be probiotics. They help to replace necessary bacteria, building the team back up and letting our digestion return to normal. So eat some yogurt and you'll be having solid bowel movements in no time.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Expendable?
Dear Nurse Dave,
Of all the Expendables, I can't help but wonder which, if any, could be considered the Least Expendable?
Grayson, (i think he lives in Utah)
Let's go through this man by man. I think you may be surprised by the results.
Couture (demolitions expert) - An MMA fighter with limited acting ability. If the only thing we had to thank him for was the soundtrack to this montage of his fights we would have a lot to thank him for. His limited acting ability does however make him expendable.
Crews (weapons specialist) - He's the guy that was in some of those old spice commercials. Unfortunately he's not even the best old spice advertising guy (this guy is). That makes him pretty expendable.
Li (martial artist) - I don't know if I've really seen anything he's done. I think he does Jackie Chan like movies except they don't have comedy. I like my martial artists to come with a sense of humor. He's very expendable.
Lundgren (sniper, he didn't make the picture for some reason) - Although he's only really know for one character in his cinema career that character is pretty awesome. The thing is though that to be not expendable you have to be able to take that character and place the exact same character into dozens of successful movies (much like the next guy on our list).
Stallone (team leader and all around badass) - Few other actors have found as much success with playing the same basic character in all of their movies. From Rocky to Rambo to Cliffhanger to Judge Dredd to Demolition Man to Over the Top to the Expendables Stallone is always playing Stallone and no one could possibly replace him. No other actor has given us the amazing amount of training montages. No other actor has shifted gears more often while listening to "No Easy Way Out." No other actor has given as many inspiring speeches. The man is a genius. So how is he not the least expendable of the expendables? I'll explain.
Statham (blades specialist) - Statham is the answer. He is the least expendable because he still has so much to offer us. Stallone has already given us 6 Rocky movies and 4 Rambos. Statham has only given us 3 Transporters and 2 Cranks. He's only given us one oil fight so far. There's a lot more in the tank. Look at his IMDB page. He's got 5 bad action movies coming out in the next year. This guy is going to churn out these movies for the next 20 years. What do we have left with Stallone? Expendables 2 maybe Expendables 3. Stallone is on the way out. Statham is just getting started. I'm willing to give up on Stallone because he's already given me so much. I just can't let Statham go before I get a transporter 4. There are still so many things that need transporting.
Of all the Expendables, I can't help but wonder which, if any, could be considered the Least Expendable?
Grayson, (i think he lives in Utah)
Let's go through this man by man. I think you may be surprised by the results.
Couture (demolitions expert) - An MMA fighter with limited acting ability. If the only thing we had to thank him for was the soundtrack to this montage of his fights we would have a lot to thank him for. His limited acting ability does however make him expendable.
Crews (weapons specialist) - He's the guy that was in some of those old spice commercials. Unfortunately he's not even the best old spice advertising guy (this guy is). That makes him pretty expendable.
Li (martial artist) - I don't know if I've really seen anything he's done. I think he does Jackie Chan like movies except they don't have comedy. I like my martial artists to come with a sense of humor. He's very expendable.
Lundgren (sniper, he didn't make the picture for some reason) - Although he's only really know for one character in his cinema career that character is pretty awesome. The thing is though that to be not expendable you have to be able to take that character and place the exact same character into dozens of successful movies (much like the next guy on our list).
Stallone (team leader and all around badass) - Few other actors have found as much success with playing the same basic character in all of their movies. From Rocky to Rambo to Cliffhanger to Judge Dredd to Demolition Man to Over the Top to the Expendables Stallone is always playing Stallone and no one could possibly replace him. No other actor has given us the amazing amount of training montages. No other actor has shifted gears more often while listening to "No Easy Way Out." No other actor has given as many inspiring speeches. The man is a genius. So how is he not the least expendable of the expendables? I'll explain.
Statham (blades specialist) - Statham is the answer. He is the least expendable because he still has so much to offer us. Stallone has already given us 6 Rocky movies and 4 Rambos. Statham has only given us 3 Transporters and 2 Cranks. He's only given us one oil fight so far. There's a lot more in the tank. Look at his IMDB page. He's got 5 bad action movies coming out in the next year. This guy is going to churn out these movies for the next 20 years. What do we have left with Stallone? Expendables 2 maybe Expendables 3. Stallone is on the way out. Statham is just getting started. I'm willing to give up on Stallone because he's already given me so much. I just can't let Statham go before I get a transporter 4. There are still so many things that need transporting.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Top 20 Blog For Nurses
Just wanted to let everyone know that Jacksonville University School of Nursing just selected my blog as one of the top twenty blogs for Nurses. That's from the entire internet. So competition was naturally pretty steep. I beat out Nurse Pat and from what I understand she's pretty upset about the whole thing.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Pimples?
Dear Nurse Dave,
Should I pop my zits or should I just leave them alone?
Paul, Duluth MN
Paul from my personal experience I generally pop the zits that are ready to go. I don't try to force the issue. I just make a basic assessment and if it is time to take care of the issue I do it. Sadly this continues to be an issue into my early thirties. I thought once you hit thirty there was moratorium on further skin problems. This is unfortunately incorrect.
But the real professional advice is to never pop a zit due to the fact that it can cause scarring or actually make the infection worse. Acne.com has this advice for the proper popping of a zit. They basically say don't pop the zit unless there's white showing and don't force the issue. Acne.com also recommends using a needle. I'm not going to say I agree with that particular advice. I knew a guy once with a bad zit that had the bright idea to use some needle he found to pop it. He of course didn't sterilize the needle ended up with a bad infection and grew a bad goatee to cover it up.
Really Paul, its about patience. The acne is going to clear up. If it doesn't go see a doctor. And if your thirty and still have acne I'm not sure what to tell you (really I don't know, let me know if you've got an answer).
Should I pop my zits or should I just leave them alone?
Paul, Duluth MN
Paul from my personal experience I generally pop the zits that are ready to go. I don't try to force the issue. I just make a basic assessment and if it is time to take care of the issue I do it. Sadly this continues to be an issue into my early thirties. I thought once you hit thirty there was moratorium on further skin problems. This is unfortunately incorrect.
But the real professional advice is to never pop a zit due to the fact that it can cause scarring or actually make the infection worse. Acne.com has this advice for the proper popping of a zit. They basically say don't pop the zit unless there's white showing and don't force the issue. Acne.com also recommends using a needle. I'm not going to say I agree with that particular advice. I knew a guy once with a bad zit that had the bright idea to use some needle he found to pop it. He of course didn't sterilize the needle ended up with a bad infection and grew a bad goatee to cover it up.
Really Paul, its about patience. The acne is going to clear up. If it doesn't go see a doctor. And if your thirty and still have acne I'm not sure what to tell you (really I don't know, let me know if you've got an answer).
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