Here are this week’s 5 Things You Should Know.
01. Anxiety/panic attacks don’t always involve feelings of panic or anxiety
If you ask a random person to describe a panic attack they’ll probably paint a picture of someone completely freaking out and probably hyperventilating into a paper bag. But if you actually have a panic attack you might not even feel anxious at all. You could be sitting at your desk feeling completely fine and then the next moment feel like you’re going to pass out for no reason.
Here’s what a panic attack might actually entail:
- Palpitations, pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate
- Sweating
- Trembling or shaking
- Sensations of shortness of breath or smothering
- Chest pain or discomfort
- Nausea or abdominal distress
- Feeling dizzy, unsteady, light-headed, or faint
- Chills or heat sensations
- Numbness and tingling
- Derealization (feelings of unreality) or depersonalization (being detached from oneself)
- Fear of losing control or “going crazy”
- Fear of dying
Panic attacks and asthma attacks can actually feel very similar (shortness of breath, chest pain, dizziness), but if you take your rescue (albuterol) inhaler and it makes you feel worse it’s possible your symptoms are from anxiety rather than asthma.
02. Lactose intolerance does not preclude you from eating ALL dairy foods
Lactose is a sugar found in milk and milk products. If a milk product contains zero (or close to zero) sugar, it will contain an equal or lesser amount of lactose. Period. Even some milk products that do contain sugar, might not contain lactose, as lactose is only one of the sugars commonly found in milk products.
A simple rule of thumb for gauging the lactose content of foods without having the information directly on hand is to check the nutrition label for sugar content. If the total weight of the sugar, in grams, is less than about 2% of the total weight of the food product, you’re likely good to go.
As such, whey protein isolate, Greek yogurt, and most cheeses are perfectly fine. Younger cheeses might cross the 2% threshold, so depending on the severity of your reaction, you might want to limit yourself. As for yogurt in general, generally speaking, more filtration and thickness will mean less lactose, but once again, check the label for a better idea.
The reason I felt compelled to post this (as a lactose intolerant gym-goer) was to help disspell the myths about lactose in whey isolate and other sources of quality protein. It also stems from a long-standing callback joke on “The Big Bang Theory”, in where Johnny Galecki’s character Leonard avoids pizza in fear of stinking up the room. As a regular consumer of pizza, I can assure you that I stink up plenty of rooms, but it’s usually because of my bad jokes and NOT because of mozzarella cheese.
03. What to do in an emergency prior to having the paramedics show up
We asked a paramedic this question and here was his answer;
I’m a paramedic and I have had a few instances recently of bystanders that were either doing things that weren’t great, or that didn’t know what to do for a friend / loved one. Now, I think everyone should take a first aid class or at minimum a CPR class, but not everyone does. For the average person though there are really only three things that we want a person to do before we’re on scene:
- CPR on someone that you think is dead. Don’t sweat it if you’re wrong, if you aren’t a professional it’s incredibly difficult in an emergency to really know for sure. Remember that doing or not doing CPR is about whether you think you feel a pulse or not and not whether there really is one. Better to err on the side of doing it if you think they are dead. If you aren’t CPR trained the 911 dispatcher can give you instructions as well. It’s not rocket science, and our biggest issue in EMS with this is people doing nothing because they think they will do it wrong. Bad CPR is better than no CPR. When we get to a person down that has no CPR started by bystanders, the odds of us saving them decrease drastically. If you read this and aren’t comfortable with the thought of doing CPR you really should go take a CPR class. Call your local ambulance service, almost all of them have free public CPR training.
- Stop major, life threatening bleeding. How does a lay person know if it’s life threatening? It might be obvious or it might not. If you aren’t sure err on the side of stopping the bleeding. Use one thin piece of cloth or gauze and a lot of pressure. Don’t add more gauze, if what you are using becomes saturated. That’s an indication that the bleeding isn’t controlled with pressure and the person needs a tourniquet. There is no point in covering it with more material, that just makes it soaked. One of the things I look for is a “stream” of blood. If it’s arterial it may well squirt or pulsate with the heartbeat, but ultimately if it’s enough bleeding to form a solid stream, that bothers me. What I mean by that is this: If you stood up and cut your arm, causing it to bleed a little, it would likely drip off the end of your arm to the floor, dripping is generally not life threatening. If you cut your arm more seriously the bleeding would be enough to cause a solid stream of blood and “pour” onto the ground. That indicates what I would refer to as “serious” bleeding. The key here though is pressure on the spot that’s bleeding. You aren’t trying to “clot” the blood, you’re just trying to stick your finger in the hole in the boat. Once you have controlled the bleeding, never let go until a paramedic asks you to. No matrer what (unless it becomes unsafe), there is no guarantee that if you lose control of that bleeding anyone will be able to control it again. With streaming and dripping I’m talking about immediate after the injury as well, there could be slowed bleeding and dripping as the patient runs out of blood volume. You would be tipped off to that case be their literally being a pool or trail of blood around the person.
- Finally I want you to open the airway of unconscious people with a pulse. Use a head tilt chin lift. The vast majority of people who die from something like alcohol poisoning actually just die from becoming unconscious in a way that their away is blocked and can’t breathe. This can be prevented with simple manual manipulation of the head.
That’s pretty much it. There isn’t really a need for bandaging, splinting, etc. as I’m going to remove anything bystanders did in my assessment and re-apply professionally. It can be helpful to calm a person down to cover their injury though. I’m not saying you shouldn’t do anything else, I’m just saying anything else is extra.
Never stop on or adjacent to a roadway. Just call 911. That’s the most dangerous place in the country, never find yourself standing on a road. Car broken down? You should be 100ft off the side of the road. But that’s a tip for another day.
Finally, this is not medical advice. This is advice for lay people to do without training. Although they vary in specifics and no one can ever promise you that your actions are without liability, you should be covered by Good Samaritan laws in most places following this advice.
04. A six-word mantra that will give you perfect posture
- Shoulders down
- Shoulders back
- Chin level
That’s pretty much it. It works for sitting, standing, and especially while walking. Good posture is easy to achieve, but for me it’s hard to remember to do it. Keep this mantra in your head and repeat all day–your posture will improve immediately.
05. You can buy your own cable modem instead of renting it from your ISP
It will usually pay for itself in under a year. Comcast in my region charges around $8/month for a modem rental, and you can buy a new one for $70 or less if you buy used (I saw one of unknown status for $5 at the local thrift store last week). Motorola Surfboard modems are a safe bet. If you use Comcast/Xfinity, you can check here to verify compatibility before purchasing.
Your mileage may vary. Check with your ISP if unsure.
