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Poison Ivy Symptoms

Health,

Poison ivy rash is one of the most common rashes that you can get and can cause a lot of discomfort. The poison ivy plant contains an oil (urushiol) in all parts of the plant and it is this oil that causes an allergic reaction and hence the rash.

Symptoms of the poison ivy allergic rash include red marks on the skin in the form of blisters, streaks or bumps, sometimes filled with fluid. The rash is usually very itchy. These marks are often in lines as this is how the plant will touch the skin as you move past it.

If you have not had a poison ivy rash before then sometimes it can take quite a while for the symptoms to appear (as much as a couple of weeks) – so even if you have not been anywhere where there is poison ivy for a while you could still have a poison ivy rash. Once you have had the rash though, the symptoms will more likely appear much quicker on the next occasion.

If the rash stays for more than 2 weeks or there are other symptoms that accompany it (headaches, fever, or anything else that might give concern) then you should see your doctor as you may need further treatment.

How To Tell If Dementia is Setting In

Health,

One of the greatest fears of getting older for people is that they may suffer with dementia in later life. Dementia often strikes people over the age of 70 but it is not exclusive to this age group and can strike people as young as those in their 40’s.

So if you have a relative who you suspect may be starting to suffer with dementia then you might be wondering how to tell if this is the case? I have recently gone through this experience and so thought I would share it with you.

The first symptoms of dementia in the case of my elderly relative were that she kept forgetting things – she would get muddled about what she was doing and where she was going and also she had a few unexplained falls.  These kind of symptoms seem to be quite common in early onset dementia but obviously every case is different, depending on the cause of the dementia.

Sometimes the symptoms can get worse very quickly and at other times they are a slow and systematic set of symptoms that may take a while to pick up – thinking that things like being forgetful is just ‘down to old age’.

However, the only real way to tell if someone has dementia is to go through a system of tests where the patient is scored on various tasks that test their cognitive ability. From here they will be given a score that can show the extent of any dementia. The most common test is the MMSE where patients are given a score out of 30 and the lower the score the worse the dementia. There are drugs that can be taken and these are often prescribed for those who have a score under 26.

Dementia can be isolating and confusing for the individual who often doesn’t realise what is happening. One of the best ways to help them cope is to set up a regular routine and also not to forget that they need to have a life outside of dementia and to do the things that they would normally do for as long as possible.

Lottery and Sweepstakes – Possible Scams

Games,

Every day thousands, if not millions of people receive emails to tell them that they have won a bunch of money in an online lottery or sweepstakes competition. In most cases these lotteries or sweepstakes are competitions that the recipient of the email has ever entered. The lesson in this is beware of anyone that tells you by email that you have won money in a lottery. Particularly if you never knew that you took part.

Many of these scams ask you for your personal details and also maybe to send a cash amount to be able to release the funds to you. Whatever you do, don’t reply to these people. If you have not entered a lottery or sweepstakes then you are not going to win it and it probably does not exist.

The first thing I would advise you to do if you have received an email from someone saying that you have won money in a lottery and you are wondering if it could be true or not, is to google a key phase from the email – maybe they give you an email address to respond to – then google something like ‘lottery win’ and the email address. You should be able to bring up some results that show if this is a scam or not.

Nothing for life generally comes for free so remember this whenever you get any of these emails. If you really have won some money then no doubt they will try and contact you by other means, they will not just randomly email you and then give up. So, much as you might want it to be true, your best bet is just to ignore and delete these emails and never to give out any of your personal information to these people.

 

Deus Ex – Available on PS3 and XBox

Games, , ,

Deus Ex is a role-playing action game that is now in it’s third incarnation. The original Deus Ex game was launched in 2000 and was a futuristic strategic game set in 2052. The third version of the game – Human Revolution was actually a prequel to the original game and is set in 2027. This 3rd version of the game was launched in August 2011 to a fair bit of critical acclaim.

The official Playstation magazine gave Deus Ex 8/10 whereas the official Xbox magazine in the UK gave the game 10/10. Most reviews gave very high scores all round for the 3rd version of Deus Ex.

The Deus Ex game involves the character Adam Jenson and is available on the PS3 and the XBox 360 amongst other formats. It can be bought at all good games outlets including being available to buy at Amazon where you can not only buy the brand new version but also a used version. Check out these Amazon options for buying the Deus Ex game on PS3 or Xbox or also in the Windows version:

Games – Scrabble

Games,

The popularity of scrabble has not waned in the 70 plus years since it was invented.  Scrabble is one of those games that becomes a little bit addictive once you start playing and you just have to keep playing to see if you can better your scores and score more bingos (7 letter words).

In the last few years it has become possible for players to play scrabble online and there are various online scrabble clubs where you can play against friends and complete strangers around the world.

One of the keys to playing a good game of scrabble is to know the short words that can be used – so you really need to memorise the 2 and 3 letter words that are allowable. There are obviously a lot of 3 letter words so that is going to be a harder task than remembering the 2 letter scrabble words which are (and these differ depending on if you use US or UK English):

Aa, ab, ad, ae, ag, ah, ai, al, am, an, ar, as, at, aw, ax, ay

Ba, be, bi, bo, by, de, do, ed, ef, eh, el, em, en, er, es, et, ex

Fa, fe, go, ha, he, hi, hm, ho, id, if, in, is, it, jo, ka, ki

La, li, lo, ma, me, mi, mm, mo, mu, my

Na, ne, no, nu, od, oe, of, oh, oi, om, on, op, or, os, ow, ox, oy

Pa, pe, pi, qi, re, sh, si, so, ta, ti, to, uh, um, un, up, us, ut

We, wo, xi, xu, ya, ye, yo, za

The most important ones I find to remember are qi, xi, xu, za, hm, sh as these can be really useful when you have high scoring letters and you want to place a word both vertically and horizontally.

Another tip to remember in playing scrabble is to always use your S advisedly as it can really get a you a good cross score – don’t waste it on a single word but instead use it to pluralize another word while  also setting up your own word.