Are you afraid of flu shot pain? I’ll tell you how to prevent flu shot pain when you get the flu shot or any injection.

A lot of people are afraid of needles when they have to get a flu shot, allergy shot or other injection.  Fear of getting a shot or fear of needle pain may cause some people to unnecessarily avoid getting the flu shot or the H1N1 swine flu shot, when the flu shot can easily be given pain free.

The fear comes from associating pain with the needle after previously experiencing pain from an injection.  It would seem to make sense. Since the needle looks sharp and sinister and is used to puncture the skin like a knife, it’s natural to assume that the needle is what causes pain.

However, it’s not the needle that causes the pain. In fact, the needle is so thin that you can barely feel it. So, if it’s not the needle, what causes the pain?

After thinking about exactly what it is that causes the pain, the solution is obvious. Interestingly, nurses are usually much better at giving an injection, than a doctor is. The reason for this provides the solution to a pain-free shot. Doctors are always in a rush, while nurses take more time. Also, some of the blame can be placed on patients who want to get their shot quickly because of their fear.

What happens when you rush an injection? The plunger is pushed much too quickly causing the fluid in the syringe to be forced through the needle and into the body tissue with explosive force. In fact, while a narrower needle will cause less pain, it will cause higher pressure when the fluid is forced through the needle quickly. Under high pressure, the force of the fluid rushing into your body ruptures cells and causes pain.

The answer to a pain-free injection is now obvious. When I get an injection, I tell my doctor that before I get the shot, I have a request. I then tell the doctor that I would like him to push the plunger on the syringe very, very slowly. While doctors have asked me why, no doctor has ever refused. You may have to put up with having the needle in your arm a little longer, but it’s not the needle that causes the pain.

This also works with Novocain injections at the dentist. The result is that I always get a pain-free shot.

This is an old check fraud which is becoming very popular as information about it spreads on the Internet.  It’s called check washing and is done with bank checks and medical prescriptions.

This is how it works.  You write a check to pay your bills; someone steals your check and changes the name and amount on your check; deposits your check in a bank account; takes the money; and disappears before anyone knows what happened.  The easiest way for crooks to steal your checks is from your mailbox.

How can someone change the name and amount on your check? They wash the top part of your check with acetone and leave only your signature. Now, they can write their own name and amount on the check and it only takes 3 minutes.

The same fraud can be easily done with medical prescriptions written by a doctor. All someone has to do is take a prescription and wash the top portion of the prescription; now, they change the prescription to a drug that they can sell or take themselves.

If you write checks instead of paying with online banking or if you write your prescriptions instead of printing by computer, use a Uniball 207 pen marked “Helps Prevent Check Fraud” on the packaging. Wal-Mart, Office Depot, Staples and other stationery stores have them or order online: Uniball 207 pen at Staples.

Watch how your check can be easily altered to steal your money.

Classified ads on CraigsList and other classified ad websites result in a lot of fraudulent responses, some of which were designed to divest yourself of your money and others which are designed to obtain your e-mail address so it can be sold to various spammers and fraudsters.

I recently posted a classified ad on Craigs List and immediately received several responses from people claiming to be interested in what I was selling. When I responded, I received back an e-mail stating that the person would send me a check and send someone to pick up the item I was selling. I immediately recognized as as a fraudulent e-mail. Anytime someone says they will send you a check, you can be sure that it’s fraud.

Obviously, I did not fall victim to the e-mail scam, but the worst part of this is that I suddenly realized the scammers now have my e-mail address which of course I had hidden on my Craig’s list ad. Not only do they have my e-mail address, but they know it is a valid e-mail address just waiting to receive spam e-mails from all of the spammers and scammers they sell it to.

How can you avoid revealing your e-mail address when sending an e-mail to someone responded to your Craig’s List classified ad?

Tip: Set up a free e-mail account at Yahoo.com or elsewhere to respond to people responding to your classified ad. It will only take you 60 seconds to open a new temporary e-mail account, especially because you can use any weird username, so you don’t have to spend a lot of time looking for a good one.

Be sure to keep the username and password available so you can use your new e-mail account again when you post another ad. At any time when you start receiving too much spam at your new temporary e-mail account, just open another one.

This was an easy and natural cure for both my allergies and asthma.  I don’t know if it will cure your allergies, but it certainly worked for me.  I suffered with typical hayfever type allergies and serious asthma for most of my life.  Although I used to get allergy shots every week, my nose was always stuffed up, I lived on Sudafed decongestant, and I still had to carry a box of tissues with me everywhere I went.

15 years ago, I was moving to Long Island from New York City and was worried that my allergies would get worse.  A very bright friend of mine, who is a doctor, advised that I start taking a number of vitamins. I told him that I was taking a multivitamin and he said it’s not enough. He gave me a list of vitamins to take and within days of taking them, I noticed a big difference.  Since I started taking vitamins, I never take Sudafed anymore, I don’t need a box of tissues wherever I go, I don’t have asthma symptoms and I haven’t refilled my asthma medication.

I added a few more vitamins and I now take 18 vitamins every morning. Before adding more vitamins to my regimen, I tried to determine which vitamin or combination of vitamins was responsible for improving my allergies.  I do not believe that any one vitamin is responsible and I was never able to figure out which combination of vitamins improved my allergies.

I know vitamins are responsible for improving my allergies because I occasionally stop taking them due to laziness and when I stop, my allergies return.  I don’t like opening 16 bottles of vitamins every morning, so I put the vitamins in 50-60 small cups which I keep in my kitchen cabinet.  Sometimes, I run out of cups and get too lazy to fill another 50 or so cups.  After five or six days of not taking vitamins, my allergies come back.  That gives me the incentive to fill another 50 cups!

So, what vitamins do I take for my allergies?  I have since added some additional vitamins for other reasons, but following is a list of the vitamins I was taking when my allergies improved:

Multi vitamin
A 10,00 IU & D 400 IU
B6 100 mg
B12 1000 mg
Super B-complex
C 1000 mg w/rose hips
E 400 IU
Cod Liver Oil (A&D)
Fish oil EPA 1200 mg with Omega-3 684 mg
Flax Seed Oil 1300 mg
Co-enzyme Q10 50 mg
Folic Acid 600 mcg
Soya Lecitin 437 mg
L-Lysine 500 mg

I hope this works for you. Taking vitamins has eliminated my asthma symptoms and substantially improved my allergies.

Update: I recently doubled my intake of Fish oil EPA 1200 mg with Omega-3 684 mg, by taking one in the morning and another at night.  After a few days, I noticed that in the morning I started remembering some dreams which I haven’t experienced for years; I feel a little more rested; and my allergies have improved even more.  My nose seems less congested and I frequently can breathe through my nose which I am never able to do.  I will probably try taking three per day.