Fainting occurs when your brain temporarily doesn’t receive enough blood supply, causing you to lose consciousness. This loss of consciousness is usually brief.
If you feel faint
Lie down or sit down:-To reduce the chance of fainting again, don’t get up too quickly.
Place your head between your knees if you sit down.
If someone else faints
Position the person on his or her back. If there are no injuries and the person is breathing, raise the person’s legs above heart level — about 12 inches (30 centimeters) — if possible. Loosen belts, collars or other constrictive clothing.
To reduce the chance of fainting again, don’t get the person up too quickly. If the person doesn’t regain consciousness within one minute, call 108 or your local emergency number.
Check for pulse. Check for carotid pulse in neck for less than 10 second and at the same time watch for chest movements for breathing .In case of feeble pulse or no pulse , begin CPR. Call 108 or your local emergency number. Continue CPR until help arrives or the person begins to breathe.
If the person was injured in a fall associated with a faint, treat bumps, bruises or cuts appropriately. Control bleeding with direct pressure.
If Pulse is there check the blood glucose with a glucometer. If sugar is less immediately give sugar with water to drink (anything sugary is fine)
**** ONLY FOR AN CONSCIOUS PERSON ,IF UNCONSCIOUS TAKE THE VICTIM TO HOSPITAL.
To read more on First Aid, click on the link below.
There is so much confusion about this issue because therapeutic icing and heating — cryotherapy and thermotherapy — are rational, cheap, easy, safe self-treatment options for many common painful problems.
Ice is for fresh injuries, and heat is for stiff, aching muscles.
Ice is for injuries — calming down damaged superficial tissues that are inflamed, red, hot, swollen, pain or if it is bleeding/ post surgical pain. The inflammatory process is a healthy, normal, natural process; that also happens to be incredibly painful and more biologically stubborn than it needs to be. Icing is mostly just a mild, drugless way of dulling the pain of inflammation and taking swelling down a bit. Examples: a freshly pulled muscle.
Heat is for muscles, chronic pain, and stress — taking the edge off symptoms like muscle aching and stiffness, which have many unclear causes, but trigger points are probably one of the usual suspects. Chronic pain, especially back pain, often involves lots of tension, anxiety, hyper vigilance, and sensitization, and comfortable heat can soothe a jangled mind and nervous system. Stress and fear are major factors in many painful problems, of course.
Alternating between applications of ice and heat is called contrasting therapy. It’s extremely stimulating and is mostly used to facilitate injury recovery, with unknown efficacy.
What ice and heat are not for
Both ice and heat have the potential to do some minor, temporary harm when used poorly. Heat can make inflammation significantly worse. Ice can aggravate symptoms of tightness and stiffness; it can also just make any pain worse when it’s unwanted.
Both ice and heat are pointless or worse when unwanted: icing when you’re already shivering, or heating when you’re already sweating. The brain may interpret an excess of either one as a threat, but icing is more threatening and when brains think there’s a threat, they may also amp up the pain. Ice seems to be feel more threatening to most people.
Trigger points (painfully sensitive spots) can be surprisingly intense and easily mistaken for “iceable” injury and inflammation. But if you ice trigger points, they may burn and ache even more acutely. This mistake is made particularly often with low back pain and neck pain — the very conditions people often try to treat with ice.
Heat and inflammation are the other particularly bad combination.
How to use Ice
After an acute injury, such as an ankle sprain, or after activities that aggravate a chronic injury, such as shin splints.
Use an ice bag with cubed ice, ice pack or ice massage. When using an ice pack that does not have real ice cubes,use a thin towel between the ice pack and the skin to prevent frostbite.
Do not use ice longer than 20 minutes at a time. More time spent icing does not mean more relief. Be sure the area goes numb, then make sure the skin returns completely back to normal before reapplying.
How to apply heat
Before activities that aggravate chronic injuries, such as muscle strains. Heat can help loosen tissues and relax injured areas.
Apply heat using a heating pad or a hot wet towel.
No more than 20 minutes at a time. Never apply heat while sleeping. Be careful not to burn yourself.
To read more on First Aid, click on the link below.
A headache is a common problem that most of us face. Sometimes, some simple remedies can help. But if the problem persists, it’s best to get it checked by a medical professional.
Dehydration can cause headache due to a temporary shrinking of the brain, which causes the brain to pull away from the skull. This causes the pain.
Migraine can cause headaches due to the irregular release of chemicals in the brain
Eye strain
Tension can lead to headache due to muscle contractions in the scalp
A blocked nose can also cause headache due to congestion
Fever causes headache due to dehydration and congestion in the brain
High blood pressure is another reason for headache due to increased blood flow in the brain
An ear or tooth infection can cause headache due to a common nerve and blood supply
Sinusitis
Cervical strain
Meningitis or encephalitis
Brain tumours
How can I know the cause of my headache?
Sometimes, the site of the headache can give a clue about the cause. A headache in the front of your head that’s worse in the mornings can be due to sinusitis.
Headache after prolonged computer work can be due to eye strain.
A severe headache with vomiting and sensitivity to light can be due to a migraine.
Headache with blurred vision can be due to high blood pressure
Headache with giddiness can be due to a cervical or ear issue.
How to deal with a headache?
As most headaches are due to some common causes, it helps to try a few simple measures.
Drinking enough water can take care of dehydration.
Avoiding too much screen use, wearing anti-glare spectacles maintaining a good posture can help deal with eye strain and any cervical strain.
Avoiding excess caffeine, trying some meditation or relaxing music can help if stress is the cause of the headache. Sometimes a cold or hot pack can help in relieving a headache.
Chamomile tea might help to relieve a tension headache.
Resting in a dark, quiet room might help.
Sometimes, massaging a tender spot can help in easing the pain.
A walk in fresh air can help in relieving a headache if stress is the reason.
When to see your doctor?
If your headache is not helped with the use of a simple pain reliever like a paracetamol
A headache that is recurrent or very severe
Also, if there is vomiting, dizziness, double vision or any problems with vision or hearing, a doctor’s opinion would help.
What will the doctor check?
Generally, your doctor will ask in detail about the headache to try to zero in on the possible cause.
This is followed by a check to see if you have fever, if your blood pressure is in the normal range and if there is any sign of irritation of the nerves. This would give an idea if there is any reason like involvement of the nervous system.
The doctor might prescribe some tests to rule out any infection and might also check for kidney and liver functions, a sugar test and sometimes an X ray of the head is done to check for any blocked sinuses.
How will my headache be managed?
Until the cause of the headache is known, the doctor might just prescribe a pain reliever like paracetamol. In case you are not sleeping well, a mild medicine for anxiety might also be given. Further treatment generally depends on the reason for the headache.
