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TO YOUR GOOD HEALTH: Some need pain meds after their surgeries

Lifestyles

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m frustrated that my physicians aren’t giving me adequate pain relief. I had a shoulder repair with three severely torn tendons and a torn labrum, and the surgeon cut and moved my biceps tendon. I was given 20 mg of hydrocodone and APAP 5/325 mg for pain! Are the doctors legally prevented from giving me pain medication? — J.F. ANSWER: This makes me frustrated to hear. There aren’t legal barriers to giving a patient medication to reduce pain, but opiates such as hydrocodone should be given cautiously and with consideration for its potential for abuse. There ...

HINTS FROM HELOISE: Walk on washed clothes

Lifestyles

DEAR HELOISE: People have written to you with tips on how to dry clothes that you have hand washed, but there’s one step that most people don’t seem to know about. After you wash clothes, wring them out as hard as you can, then roll them up in a towel. Most people might know about these steps, but the key next step is to then walk on the folded-up towel, flip it over, and walk on the other side as well. The body weight of walking on the towel really gets a great deal of moisture out of the clothing, and it dries much faster! Also, when trying to keep dish sponges clean, just put ...

Bridge by Steve Becker

Lifestyles

Pinochle is a crazy, mixed-up game — at least to anyone not familiar with it. Not only does the deck contain 48 cards instead of 52, but there are no cards lower than a nine. What’s more, there are two queens of spades, two aces of hearts, and, in fact, every card has a twin —an identical twin, no less. And, to add to the confusion, the cards rank in order from the ace down to the nine, just as in bridge, but with one exception — the ten is higher than the king! Now, my friend John, an inveterate pinochle player who never had a kind word to say about bridge — though he ...

TO YOUR GOOD HEALTH: Get urgent help for psychotic breakdown

Lifestyles

DEAR DR. ROACH: My daughter’s going through a manic psychotic break. Her reality is skewed, and she thinks that she’s right and that the rest of us are out of touch. It’s taking a toll on our family. How can I get through to her to seek professional help? — B.C. ANSWER: Unfortunately, this is a common situation that often doesn’t have an easy answer. Mania is a specific psychiatric state when a person has a sustained period of very high energy. People in a manic state often don’t sleep much at all and have high energy, which they often use to make risky decisions that ...

DEAR ANNIE: 6-year estrangement is hurting whole family

Lifestyles

DEAR ANNIE: It has been six years since our youngest daughter, “Emily,” has been close to us. The problem started when our oldest daughter and her cousin were in the kitchen talking about Emily when Emily walked by. She obviously was concerned that they were talking about her. We were just getting ready to eat our holiday meal, and I asked where Emily was, and they said she had left. I called her to ask why, and she said her sister and cousin were staring at her and talking. Mind you, they were all in their 40s. After I talked to Emily, my husband and son-in-law asked why she ...