This is How Often You Should Clean a Kitchen Sponge (And How to Clean It Properly!)
The kitchen sponge is a well-used cleaning tool. From your dishes to your counters, it soaks up a lot of dirt and leaves things sparkling. That’s why it should come as no surprise that the kitchen sponge harbours a hefty amount of bacteria. (Here are more surprisingly germy kitchen items you never think to clean.)
In fact, one study published in Scientific Reports investigated how many critters are living in used kitchen sponges, and found some disturbing results. “We found 362 different species of bacteria, and locally, the density of bacteria reached up to 45 billion per square centimeter,” says Markus Egert, a microbiologist at Furtwangen University in Germany, who led the study.
The research revealed that there can be spots on your kitchen sponge with just as high concentrations of bacteria as in a toilet. (Surprise—these are the public places with the most germs!) And while that may cause you to throw your sponge away immediately, you may want to consider an alternative: cleaning it! You should be cleaning your sponge daily, and there are many ways to do it.
The most effective and easy way to clean your sponge is to douse it in bleach. You’ll want to soak it for at least five minutes in a solution of 3/4 cup bleach to 1 gallon of water, then squeeze and rinse it out. (Here are more clever household uses for bleach.) You can also microwave a damp sponge for about a minute.
Another option is to soak your sponge overnight in a mixture of 1 cup hot water, 1/2 cup white vinegar and 3 tablespoons salt. When you wake up, rinse and squeeze the sponge out until all of the liquid has been emptied. And remember, after each use, wring your sponge out well and store in a dry location to stop bacteria growth in its tracks!
Here are nine more ways to clean your house while you sleep.
This is the Dirtiest Thing on Restaurant Tables (It’s Probably Not What You Were Thinking!)
Researchers from the University of Arizona teamed up with ABC News to swab common tabletop items at restaurants for germs, including salt and pepper shakers, ketchup, menus and sugar.
The findings of the research may surprise you, but actually make a lot of sense. Here are the worst offenders:
- Sugar clocked in at the lowest average bacteria count, with 2,300 organisms
- Ketchup, mustard and salt all fell generally in the middle
- Pepper is second-highest on the list, with nearly 11,600 organisms
- Menus top the list with a whopping 185,000 bacterial organisms
Believe it or not, these are the public places that harbour the most germs.
Why Are These Items So Dirty?
If you think about how much restaurant menus are handled, between the hostess stand and being looked through at the table, it makes sense. Dr. Chuck Gerba of the University of Arizona explains to ABC, “you probably have about 100 times more bacteria on that menu than you do a typical toilet seat in the restroom.” Gross!
Check out the seven surprisingly germy kitchen items you never think to clean.
How You Can Protect Yourself
Go ahead and touch the menu—but you might want to wash your hands after. Regularly washing your hands is one of the best ways to ward off potentially harmful microorganisms.
Here are more germ-spreading habits to give up now.
Terror on Flight 516
On a grey and chilly morning in September 2010, 72 passengers boarded a Tupolev Tu-154 airliner for the five-hour trip from Polyarny Airport, in northeast Russia, to Moscow. Like many of their fellow travellers, Stanislav and Ekaterina Shestakov had flown the route often enough to know the cabin crew by name. But that didn’t make Stanislav, 30, any calmer. As always, he felt certain the flight would end badly. Ekaterina, also 30, tried her usual argument: “If we’re fated to crash, we’re fated to crash. If we’re not, we’re not.” Somehow, her reasoning never soothed him.
Stanislav had no choice but to fly. The only practical way to make the trip from the remote diamond-mining settlements around Udachny, the town where the couple lives, to Moscow, is by air. The flight leaves from Polyarny Airport, with its single runway and single carrier, Alrosa Mirny Air Enterprise, owned by the state monopoly that runs the mines.
It was a particularly tense time for the Shestakovs. Six months earlier, Ekaterina had been appointed head of the juvenile delinquency department for the regional police force. Her new job was in Mirny, 500 kilometres south of Udachny—too far to commute from the home they shared with their five-year-old daughter, Sofia. Stanislav, a heavy-equipment operator at a mine, couldn’t relocate. So Ekaterina rented an apartment near the office and often went a couple of months without seeing her loved ones. The separation led to squabbles, and the couple had sent Sofia to spend the summer with her grandmother on the Black Sea while they struggled to work things out.
Now they were going to join their little girl and take a much-needed holiday together as a family. Still, Stanislav found it impossible to unwind.
In the cockpit the atmosphere was more relaxed. The four-man flight crew had been making the Moscow-Polyarny-Moscow run for nearly a decade. The pilots, Evgeny Novoselov, 42, and Andrey Lamanov, 43, were both veterans, with nearly 20,000 hours of flying experience between them; each held the rank of commander. Both pilots are tall and slim. Novoselov is calm and reserved, while Lamanov can be more impulsive and boyish, and likes a good joke. Yet the two worked in tandem like a pair of Olympic figure skaters. They knew the Tu-154 well, and as they finished their safety checks, taxied onto the runway and launched the big plane into the sky, they had no reason to suspect today’s trip would be different from any other.
This time, however, Stanislav’s anxiety was justified. This time, there would be trouble.
Power Failure
About three hours after takeoff, as they cruised over northwestern Russia, the plane shook violently and the autopilot disengaged. Novoselov and Lamanov quickly took the controls. Turning to flight engineer Rafik Karimov, Novoselov instructed him to find out why the autopilot had stopped working. Scanning the instrument panel, Karimov saw a red light flash.
“We’ve got a power failure,” he reported. The basic electricity on the plane had failed, and the plane had switched automatically to a battery-powered reserve system. But that wasn’t working, either. Karimov—with a jockey’s quiet alertness—didn’t know what was causing the problem, but he quickly grasped its gravity.
Novoselov, who was that day’s flight commander, radioed the regional air traffic control and informed them of the problem. “There’s a chance we’ll need to make an emergency landing,” he said. “Please find the closest airport that can take us.”
“Please verify the reason…” the air traffic controller began, but the radio went dead. Then the plane’s gauges, instruments, navigation devices and control systems began switching off, one by one.
The Tu-154 has four reserve batteries, and those on Flight 516 from Polyarny were at least 11 years old—with a declared lifespan of 12 years. Investigators later concluded that one of the four batteries experienced “thermal runaway,” overheating to the point that its electrolytic fluid boiled away. This affected the battery next to it, so that it no longer worked. Then, unrelated to the battery failure, a voltage jump in the airplane’s main electrical system crippled it. The two remaining batteries couldn’t power the plane’s complex electronics on their own, and within a few minutes even those would be depleted. Everything possible had to be operated on manual mode.
The Shestakovs, sitting near the front of economy class, saw the “fasten seat belt” light fade out, as if on a dimmer. Then the plane suddenly wobbled from side to side and for several seconds it seemed as if the pilots were struggling to maintain control. “Something’s happening,” Stanislav told his wife. “We’re going to crash.”
“Don’t worry,” she responded automatically. “Everything will be fine.”
The chief flight attendant, Elena Razumova, noticed the same anomalies. She went to the cockpit and asked if something was wrong. “We’ve got a big problem,” engineer Karimov answered tersely. “We’ll tell you more later.”
Razumova, a youthful-looking 50-year-old, had attended Moscow’s Civil Aviation Institute and had been flying for 30 years; she guessed the glitch was electrical. She returned to the cabin and told the other attendants to stand by for further instructions. All five made sure their ID cards were in their pockets, standard protocol in case someone had to identify their bodies.
Fuel Levels Critically Low
The pilots brought the plane down from 10,600 metres to 3,000 and then to 1,200 to skim the top of the cloud layer. It was dangerous to go any lower without a working attitude indicator, the device that enables pilots to keep an aircraft’s wings level when clouds obscure the horizon. They flew for 150 kilometres, searching for a gap where they could slip through safely and look for a place to land.
Suddenly a warning light—one of the few devices still functioning—indicated that fuel levels were critically low. Shortly after, an alarm blared. Fuel was no longer being drawn from the main tanks because there wasn’t a constant current to work the pumps—and the three engines could use only whatever was left in the small tank that fed them directly. The crew knew they had just 30 minutes of fuel left.
There was no time to waste. Focusing on his training rather than the pounding of his heart, navigator Sergey Talalaiev, 52, tried to send an SOS signal on an emergency frequency, unaware that the transmitter had already stopped working.
“We’ve got to dip below the clouds,” Novoselov told flight attendant Nikolai Dmitriev, who’d come to see if he could help. “Better go back to the cabin.”
Dmitriev, 42, didn’t need to hear more. He relayed the news to his fellow attendants, one of whom was his wife, Elena Dmitrieva. The two of them had flown together for the past seven years.
“We’re going to die,” Stanislav told Ekaterina.
“Everything will be fine,” she repeated, although she was beginning to believe him.
This was not Dmitriev’s first air emergency. In March 2001 he was working a flight from Istanbul to Moscow when three Chechen hijackers had stabbed another flight attendant, threatened to blow up the plane and ordered Dmitriev to let them into the cockpit. With a knife to his heart, he swore (falsely) that the door was locked and couldn’t be opened from the outside. The pilots agreed to land in Saudi Arabia, where the terrorists released some of their 174 hostages. Saudi commandos later stormed the plane; one hijacker, one passenger and a female flight attendant were killed. Dmitriev was given a medal for bravery.
Now he was frightened, but as before, people were depending on him to help them cope. As he asked the passengers to fasten their seat belts, he avoided making eye contact with his wife. It was best, he thought, for both of them to focus on their jobs.
As the plane began its descent and entered the disorienting whiteness, Novoselov and Lamanov concentrated on holding the controls steady. Luckily the cloud layer was thin, and within seconds they emerged below it.
The land beneath them was covered with taiga, the pine and birch forest that blankets most of northern Russia. A river meandered through the flat terrain, with a sandbar in the middle. It wasn’t an ideal place for a 74-tonne airplane to attempt a water landing, but anything was better than the woods. “We’ll aim for the sand,” Novoselov told Dmitriev, who had returned to the cockpit.
The attendant left to warn his colleagues, and they began fastening cupboards, securing loose equipment and moving passengers to free up emergency exits.
The pilots flew down for a closer look. Spotting a small settlement in the distance, they decided to circle around it. And as they completed their pass, an incredible sight met their eyes: an airstrip.
A Miracle in the Middle of Nowhere
The little settlement of Izhma—principal industry, reindeer herding—lies 1,500 kilometres north of Moscow. In Soviet times, a tiny civil airport had been built at its edge, but it closed in 1997; later it reopened as a helicopter terminal. The runway was no longer needed, and bushes sprouted between the slabs. But the facility’s manager, Sergey Sotnikov, had kept the concrete in decent repair.
In the sky above Izhma, the Tu-154’s pilots kept circling, trying to line up the plane for the difficult landing. The Izhma strip is only 1,340 metres long; a Tu-154 needs 2,500 metres to land. The pilots wanted to ensure that the plane touched down on the first metres of the runway so they could use as much paved strip as possible.
The landing gear could be lowered manually, but the electrically operated flaps, slats and spoilers—all normally used to slow the aircraft’s approach—were out of commission. Novoselov and Lamanov would have to use old-fashioned stick-and-rudder skills to land a modern aeronautical behemoth on a runway designed for little prop planes.
They circled once, twice, three times, gradually reducing the plane’s velocity and refining the angle of approach. With each pass, the flight attendants repeated the instructions for an emergency landing to the passengers in their sections.
Some passengers prayed; others vomited into airsickness bags. The attendants walked the aisles, offering smiles and reassurance. Stanislav asked his wife, “If we die, what will happen to our little Sofia?”
“My mother will take care of her,” she replied, squeezing his hand.
On the fourth pass, the pilots homed in on their target. The only working instruments were those showing altitude, vertical speed and airspeed; the navigator monitored the gauges and called out the airspeed as the pilots came in to land.
As the plane shot towards the runway, the flight attendants took their seats and buckled in, shouting, “Attention! We’re landing!”
“My mouth is so dry, I can’t swallow,” Dmitriev confessed to the attendant who sat next to him near the front of the plane.
“Mine, too,” she said.
Dmitriev and his wife, assigned to opposite ends of the plane, hadn’t had a chance to say goodbye. Out the window, the taiga was rushing towards them.
Lamanov pushed the stick forward just enough to vault over the last trees, then deftly nosed the plane towards the airstrip. A moment before they touched down, Novoselov threw the engines into reverse and the plane touched concrete with its main wheels. After the nose wheel touched down, Lamanov hit the brakes. The plane quickly slowed from 380 kilometres an hour to 100, but the 1,340-metre runway was far too short. The wings and cockpit sliced through saplings like scythe blades as the Tu-154 sped off the concrete and into the forest.
God help us, Novoselov prayed, then thought, After all this, please don’t let us die because some stupid tree hits the cockpit.
Emergency Landing
In the cabin, people were screaming as branches smacked the windows. When the plane finally stopped, 200 metres into the woods, vapour rose from the friction-heated wheels. Some passengers applauded. Others, thinking they saw smoke, began shouting, “Open the exits!”
One of them was Stanislav. He leaped into the aisle, but a flight attendant, determined to prevent a stampede, blocked his way. “Stay where you are,” he said. “Please sit down.”
At that moment Stanislav’s wife burst into tears, and he realized she needed him. He sat and stroked her shoulder. “Don’t worry,” he murmured gently. “Everything is fine.”
It took a little longer to convince some of the other passengers. But when one of the flight attendants opened an emergency exit, looked outside and announced there was no fire, the crowd calmed down. Soon all the passengers had exited the plane by the emergency chute and within ten minutes local emergency brigades arrived.
As a light drizzle fell, friends and strangers hugged, shared cigarettes and took sips of vodka and cognac. For the flight crew, however, the work was not over—the plane had to be sealed and officials had to be debriefed. A uniformed emergency worker approached Novoselov with a grave expression. “There’s one casualty,” the man said.
The pilot shuddered. “Who is it?”
“You killed a hare,” the worker said, and broke into a grin.
Novoselov had a good long laugh, taking deep gulps of the sweet forest air.
That afternoon most of the passengers flew on to Moscow from another airport, on another Tu-154. Only one couple, too traumatized to fly, opted to take a train.
It was not the Shestakovs.
Next: These two pilots were flying from Oahu to Hawaii—then they heard the engines go quiet.
The scientific reason you can’t smell yourself
You can smell grass after your neighbor cuts the lawn. You can smell delicious pizza baking as you walk by the pizza parlour. You can definitely smell the musty, sour smell of your brother’s feet when he takes off his sneakers on a sweaty summer day. In fact, according to research published in Nature, your nose can detect about one trillion smells!
But your own underarms could reek and you might not be able to tell: Humans are prone to what scientists call olfactory fatigue; our sense of smell just gets plain tired out by familiar odours and stops detecting them. Believe it or not, that can actually be a good thing.
Pamela Dalton, a psychologist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, explained to the Washington Post that we filter out the same-old smells to make room for detecting new, strange smells—such as ones that might alert us to danger, like something burning, or something good to eat like that pizza. When these smells waft past us, smell receptors in our noses detect their particular chemical components and send electrical signals to the frontal cortex of our brains. And then we decide if we need to run away (from fire), or run closer (towards pizza).
If your sense of smell was bogged down by your B.O.—or other standard smells—we might not be able to detect the more important odours.
There are ways to avoid showing up to work reeking like a skunk. One way is to take your shirt off and sniff that instead of your skin, recommends Lifehacker. Here’s how you can make your feet smell better, too. Other ways to check your own scent is to rub your scalp, then smell your fingers; check your breath by licking your arm, waiting a second, then sniffing the spot. (By the way, here’s what your bad breath might be trying to tell you.) Or even quicker and easier—ask someone to give you a whiff!
These are the most underrated compliments
Who doesn’t love getting a compliment? But when you think back over your life’s Compliment Hall of Fame, what are the ones you remember the most—you know, those compliments you replay over and over again when you’re feeling down? Chances are it wasn’t the time someone said your shoes were awesome or your pants make you look thin or your eyes were a lovely shade of green. It definitely wasn’t the time someone leaned out of their car and yelled what a smokin’… bum you have. When you really think about it, the most meaningful compliments aren’t the ones that focus on your appearance (especially parts you can’t change), they are the compliments that highlight something deeper about yourself—like these Doctor Who quotes to live your life by.
Science agrees: Children who were effusively flattered with shallow compliments ended up feeling worse about themselves overall (perhaps because it emphasized the importance of surface traits, like looks), whereas those who were treated “warmly” and with true affection thrived, according to a study done by the University of Amsterdam. And if children can detect fake or shallow compliments, surely adults can as well.
To give a great compliment, skip the surface chatter about their weight or hair and go deeper. Praise the person’s values, achievements, morals, or positive impact on the world and those around them. Not only will it make them feel happier, but it will also help them see you in a more positive light as well because taking the time to give a thoughtful, sincere compliment shows how much you think about and love them. (Just make sure you’re avoiding these 16 compliments that aren’t really compliments!)
Need ideas? Try one of these gems:
- You’re in my top five starred contacts on my phone.
- You are strong, inside and out.
- My favourite memories have you in them.
- Dear Abby ain’t got nothing on you, you give the best advice.
- You make me happy every time I see you.
- Your kindergarten teacher wasn’t wrong, you are an excellent sharer.
- Your joy is contagious.
- You inspire me to be a better person.
- You are always so on top of current events.
- No one can make me laugh like you.
- You are one of the helpers Mr. Rogers talked about.
- I love how well-read you are.
- You are the kindest person I know.
- I love that I can tell you anything and you won’t ever judge me.
- The world needs more people as passionate as you are.
- You are the first person I think of when I have good news to share.
- You work so hard and never give up.
- Just talking to you makes me feel peaceful.
- I love how you can always find the silver lining.
- The heart eyes emoji was invented for you.
- I know you’ve always got my back, no matter what.
- Your opinions are always so thoughtful and considered.
- You’re better than Google at helping me find the answer I’m looking for.
- Whenever I’m having a bad day, you know just what to say to make me feel better.
- I love how you always think of others first.
- I admire your grit and dedication to your dreams.
- You have the warmest smile.
Next, check out the 27 things only sisters can understand.
Hilarious thesaurus mistakes
Do you reach for your thesaurus as a surefire way to sound smarter (or irrefragably phrenic?) Watch out. Misuses of words (and other malapropisms) can make you sound like you’re trying too hard and you’ll seem simply abstruse. (Can you pass this quiz of fourth grade spelling words?)
Here are some examples of thesaurus-gone-wrong situations.
- Storm’s on the way. The clouds look so precarious. Not exactly.
- This romance novel is very piperaceous. Did you mean spicy or from the pepper family of plants?
- Would you like to join me during your refection break to sup on libation and oblation? If you’re asking me to join you on your lunch break for wine and bread (or the Eucharist!) the answer is “no, thanks.”
- I’m so angry my fumarole is bursting! Your volcanic smoke vent? Go ahead and blow your stack already.
- Please refrain from ululating. Just say “stop crying.”
- He shot his rival a rebarbative glance. Basically, a dirty look.
- The party was so lit, but now I’m totally crapulous (with a hangover.)
- The best co-parents form a bicephalous regime. Kinda like a good cop, bad cop type thing.
- I asked my boss for hebdomadal paychecks and she was like, what? That’s just every seven days or, you know, weekly.
- To avoid wasting paper, I just use my palimpsest. That’s basically the ancient word for scratch pad.
- You’re so late—I’ve been waiting for a million parsecs. That makes zero sense unless you’re calculating interstellar parallaxes, time, and coming up with an astronomical length of about 19 trillion miles—or something.
- I’m going to titivate the fireplace to make it a focal point. You know, just spruce it up a bit.
- You have a capacity for emacity! That means you’re a shopaholic.
Haha! Next, check out these 20 words and phrases that smart people never ever use.
The history of Eggs Benedict
You can find eggs Benedict on most brunch menus, but uncovering the truth about who inspired the iconic dish is a much harder task. Served on a split English muffin, the dish consists of two slices of Canadian bacon topped with poached eggs, drizzled with tangy Hollandaise sauce. The New York Times has called it “conceivably the most sophisticated dish created in America.”
But who was the Benedict behind the dish that has accompanied countless Bloody Marys and inspired the McDonald’s Egg McMuffin? With many chefs experimenting with variations of eggs on toast throughout the ages, the answer, it turns out, is murky. (Here are the world’s most contagious myths and misconceptions—debunked.)
Some food historians think the concept of eggs Benedict may date back to the Benedictine monks of the Renaissance, who ate a dish of poached egg served on top of pureed salt cod, the Washington Post reports. Others who have laid claim to inventing eggs Benedict were far less monastic. In fact, they both involve wealthy New Yorkers who got inventive with the menu.
The first account dates back to 1894, according to a story that ran in The New Yorker. It said that when Lemuel Benedict, a Wall Street broker, was hungover one morning, he ordered some buttered toast, crisp bacon, two poached eggs, and a hooker of Hollandaise sauce at what was then known as the Waldorf Hotel. “The Waldorf’s legendary chef, Oscar Tschirky, was so impressed,” the article continued, “that he put the dish on his breakfast and lunch menus after substituting Canadian bacon for crisp bacon and a toasted English muffin for toasted bread.”
Or the inspiration for the dish could have been the wife of another well-known Wall Street financier, LeGrand Benedict. According to that story, Benedict’s wife wasn’t satisfied with the selection when she and her husband dined out for lunch at the famous Manhattan restaurant Delmonico’s. The wife reportedly held a brainstorming session with legendary Chef Charles Ranhofer or the maître d’, and eggs Benedict was conceived.
To add to the confusion, Tschirky reportedly never confirmed the story, while Ranhofer published a cookbook called The Epicurean in 1894 that included a recipe for “Eggs a la Benedick.”
Then in 1967, another theory emerged. The New York Times’s famous food critic, Craig Claiborne, wrote that an American living in Paris named Edward P. Montgomery had contacted him, expressing outrage at how Americans were preparing eggs Benedict: “A concoction of an overpoached egg or a few shards of ham on a—ugh!—soggy tough half of an English muffin with an utterly tasteless Hollandaise.”
Montgomery claimed that the dish was originally conceived by Commodore E.C. Benedict, “a noted banker and yachtsman who died in 1920 at age 86.” Montgomery wrote that he got Benedict’s recipes from his mother, who had gotten it from her brother, who had been friendly with the Commodore.
What’s not in question is that people are passionate about their eggs Benedict. The son of Lemuel Benedict’s cousin, Jack Benedict, was reportedly upset in March 1978, when an article in Bon Appetit credited LeGrand Benedict and his wife with the creation of the breakfast staple, according to the New York Times. He eventually even opened a restaurant in Colorado dedicated to eggs Benedict, but it eventually closed.
One well-known Benedict who likely had nothing to do with inventing Eggs Benedict? Benedict Arnold, the Revolutionary War hero-turned-traitor who died in 1801.
Next, learn more about the quirky origins of your favourite foods.
Find out how to treat hemorrhoids—and keep them from coming back
Also known as piles—swollen veins near the anus and inside the rectum—hemorrhoids are so common they’re a problem for more than 75 per cent of people aged 45 and older. The most commonly noticed symptom is blood in the stool, but hemorrhoids can also cause itching, discomfort, swelling or a hard, hurting lump. The problem is caused by pressure on the rectal veins because of constipation, diarrhea, pregnancy or excessive straining during bowel movements. (Here are 11 surprising home remedies for constipation.)
To lower your risk, go to the toilet soon after you feel the urge. Waiting too long lets the stool harden, which could make it tougher to pass. Once you start a bowel movement, don’t rush to complete it. Finally, take in plenty of fibre and fluids, both of which make the process go more smoothly. Fibre is best gained from fruits, vegetables, whole grains. If necessary, you can take a supplement, but make sure to drink plenty of water when choosing this option.
If you do develop hemorrhoids, know that they’re usually not dangerous. That said, ask a doctor to rule out colorectal cancer if the bleeding is heavy or long-lasting. You should also consult if you notice other changes to the colour or consistency of your stool, if you develop a lump that doesn’t go away or if you experience dizziness or faintness. A GP could use a digital exam or a scope to distinguish between colorectal cancer and internal hemorrhoids.
Usually, the hemorrhoids subside within a week or two. While waiting, you may find relief in over-the-counter ointments or suppositories, which should reduce the pain and itching. It could also help to take painkillers, soak in warm baths or use wet towelettes instead of toilet paper. To avoid aggravating the veins with any extra straining during this time, eat a high-fibre diet or take stool softeners. (Don’t miss these 30 painless ways to increase dietary fibre.)
Dr. Donato Altomare, a colorectal surgeon teaching at the University of Bari Aldo Moro in Italy, suggests taking off even more pressure by defecating in a squatting position. (A small footstool in front of the toilet could help you do so.)
If the intensity or duration of the pain is too much, seek professional help. A doctor could tackle hemorrhoids with quick procedures such as heating them with a laser or cutting off their circulation by tying a rubber band around their base. Stubborn or large hemorrhoids may require surgery, but this is rarely necessary. “If you look after your bowel, your hemorrhoids will usually look after themselves,” Altomare says.
Want to be sure to avoid surgery? Check out these eight habits you didn’t know could cause hemorrhoids.
What is fibromyalgia? Find out the symptoms and treatments
For unknown reasons, women develop fibromyalgia significantly more often than men. Still poorly understood by medical scientists but at last an area of widespread research, fibromyalgia is the name for a cluster of symptoms that affects an estimated two to three per cent of adults.
The most prominent of these symptoms is pain spread widely around the body. It’s usually described as dull, constant and without apparent cause. Sufferers might also experience muscle stiffness, headaches, brain fog or fatigue.
Most patients are diagnosed in middle age. On average, it takes more than two years to get a diagnosis, in part because there are no lab tests to confirm it. Your doctor might still order some to rule out other issues, such as multiple sclerosis.
Fibromyalgia’s exact cause remains unconfirmed. A popular theory is that it’s a disorder of the central nervous system—i.e., something’s gone wrong with the way the brain processes pain signals from the nerves.
Because patients show few or no external signs of their suffering, some doctors have chalked fibromyalgia up to overactive imaginations. However, this position is becoming less common as more studies show that the condition is fairly frequent. Many medical authorities, including the World Health Organization, now recognize fibromyalgia.
Unfortunately, there’s no known cure; existing treatments are aimed at relieving symptoms. Patients are typically encouraged to try non-pharmaceutical measures first, then add drugs (muscle relaxants, painkillers) if necessary.
To date, the most effective method of tempering pain seems to involve graded exercise. This means starting at an appropriate level—which can be quite moderate—and gradually working up, says Dr. Gary Macfarlane, lead author of the European League Against Rheumatism’s recommendations for managing the condition. Exercise brings at least modest relief to the great majority of sufferers, possibly by boosting endorphins, reducing stress, improving sleep or increasing blood flow to the person’s muscles.
Another common fibromyalgia treatment is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). It won’t eliminate your pain, but this treatment will give you tools for coping with it. CBT will teach you to pace yourself and remain somewhat active, even on highly symptomatic days.
It’s important to have realistic expectations for current treatments, since they tend to bring moderate improvement at best. As Macfarlane says, “There’s still a great need to understand this condition better and bring optimal care to these patients.”
There is evidence that cannabis can help insomnia caused by fibromyalgia. Find out how—and what other conditions can be treated with medical marijuana.
“I don’t want anyone to go through what I went through.”
On the morning of April 5, 1996, Hardeep Dhaliwal answered the phone, as he’s done thousands of times. A dispatch supervisor in B.C.’s interior, he’s spent 37 years fielding emergency calls from people needing ambulance services. This time, a little girl was on the line from Vernon.
“She described hearing gunshots and going outside to witness victims lying on the ground, bleeding,” he recalls. Dhaliwal kept her on the phone as he sent first responders to a neighbouring home, where people had gathered in preparation for a wedding. The abusive ex-husband of the bride’s sister had shot and killed his former partner and eight of her relatives before taking his own life. It was the second-deadliest mass murder in recent Canadian history, after the École Polytechnique massacre.
Twenty-two years later, that day still haunts Dhaliwal, 59. He struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and wishes he’d had mental-health support when issues first arose. “I needed to take time off, but I had to use sick days because I was denied coverage,” he says. When those ran out, he was forced to return to work. With a mortgage and three children at home, he couldn’t afford an unpaid break. “If I’d been able to go through a treatment plan, I might have had a better, more normal life,” he says.
These days, an emergency dispatch call involving firearms will send his mind racing, and he struggles with recurring nightmares. What keeps him going: his family and a desire to foster frank workplace discussions about mental health.
Dhaliwal is one of more than 700 province-wide members of You Are Not Alone PTSD BC, a support and advocacy group for first responders speaking out about on-the-job trauma. Retired paramedic Lisa Jennings, 53, founded the organization in 2014—months after a fellow paramedic assaulted her, her work partner and a patient during a shift.
The incident led to what Jennings describes as “a complete nervous breakdown,” during which she pulled out chunks of her hair and began planning her suicide. After taking herself to the emergency room, she was diagnosed with PTSD—but wasn’t offered financial support from her employer. Too traumatized to return to work, Jennings declared bankruptcy in 2015. “I lost everything I owned,” she says. Homeless and with no family to turn to for support, Jennings lived in her car, and then, for a time, in social housing: “I was digging in garbage cans for sandwiches.”
Over the course of three years, Jennings tried and failed multiple times to receive workers’ compensation. Each refusal caused her further distress. In 2017, the WorkSafeBC appeals tribunal finally took her side and reversed the previous decisions. Memories of her hard-won victory still bring Jennings to tears; she now enjoys relative peace in a quiet home in the Vancouver area. Unable to work as a paramedic due to her condition, she dedicates most of her time to You Are Not Alone PTSD BC.
Her years of lobbying the provincial government to change the Workers Compensation Act have paid off. It’s now easier for first responders to receive compensation for recovery from PTSD and other mental-health injuries. Also, the provincial labour minister, Harry Bains, introduced a presumptive clause to the act in April 2018 that recognizes mental health disorders may arise from exposure to traumatic events at work for first responders. The clause received royal assent in May 2018.
The new legislation means first responders no longer have to prove they are suffering from a work-related mental health disorder to receive compensation for it. PTSD, Jennings says, is “an injury like any injury.” Recovery is possible only by taking time—and accessing resources—to heal.
Jennings and Dhaliwal are still working to widen the scope of the legislation to get emergency dispatchers like Dhaliwal covered by the act, which now protects paramedics, firefighters, police officers, sheriffs and corrections officers. “I call us the ‘first’ first responders,” he says.
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