If you Google for something like 'herbal remedies headache' you'll get a zillion sites which mention herbs to treat the ailment, and recipes for remedies. The link below is just one of them. If you're not allergic to aspirin, a good headache herb is meadowsweet. You could also think about feverfew, rosemary, thyme and many others. Be very, very wary about growing or using St. John's Wort. It may be a declared noxious weed where you live, and it's a herb which should be used with extreme caution, and never with other herbs or medications. It interferes with just about everything and it has a range of its own side-effects. Google about that, too! Sage is an excellent decongestant herb. So is mint, and rosemary. There are many others, too. Here is a link that might be useful: ailments/herbal remedies

Thanks everyone for all the kind thoughts and get well wishes. FlowerLady, I know the pain you must have had to deal with two sprained ankles, sprains are worse than broken bones as far as the healing goes. Some years ago I broke my right ankle, I ended up with metal plates a couple of bolts and a few screws. I sprained my left ankle and it took longer to heal and for the pain to go away. MeMo, actually there wasn't much pain, my forehead was very ouchy if I touched it though, I just looked like hell and still do to some extent. Although you and I are dealing with different problems we seem to have some of the same issues, tripping, balance and so on. Girl you are an inspiration to me, the amount you have accomplished is mind boggling. You are one amazing lady. MeMo I have spellcheck, now if I'd only LOOK. It's my grammar, that's what really bugs me, because I do know the difference you know, things like by&buy, stationary& stationery, passed &past etc. It doesn't look like I'm ever going to improve in that department so bare I mean bear with me LOL. Vikki, I feel like we are kindred spirits, I'm left handed too, I cut the tip of my little finger of my right hand off as well. I was so proud of myself, I had just butterflied (sp) a 12 lb. turkey and it was in the oven, I started slicing carrots and, you guessed it. The neighbor drove me up to the emergency ward and the doctor stuck the tip of my finger back on, while he was bandaging me up he asked me how I did mine, he said he did his on his table saw. Seems to be quite a common accident. That one was very, very, painful as you well know. Edna, bee stings are terribly painful DH is allergic so has to be very careful. Bye the way, we've got honey bees they started arriving shortly after the michaelmas daisies started to bloom, today the daisies are covered with them, where they have been all summer is a mystery, they weren't in my garden. I went to the doctor on thursday for a checkup, he seemed pleased with the progress. As it was a head injury he asked if I could remember the whole incident, I said I could and wished I didn't, he asked if I felt confused after it happened, I said no more than usual, this brought a smile to his face. I go back on monday to have the stitches removed. DH wanted to take me out for dinner tonight as it was my birthday, so I slapped on some makeup, put a band-aid on my nose, put my glasses back on and went out to our favorite restaurant, once there we slid into a booth and I tried to make myself as inconspicuous as possible. We had a wonderful meal and I have to say after two Bellini cocktails I didn't much care if anyone stared or not, fill your boots I say. Steven, I read somewhere else that you had a bit of a health scare and were waiting for results of some tests, thank goodness the news was good. Waiting for results is so nerve wracking. Slubb.... I haven't done the rake thing yet, but I hope to be around for a few more years, time will tell, Ouch that must have smarted. Again thanks for all your get well wishes and as others have told of their mishaps, garden and otherwise, it's a wake-up call to all of us to BE MORE CAREFUL!!!! Annette

Protective Services for Adults will be your worst nightmare. Don't do it! People who work there are uneducated and not sympathetic to the problem. They make mistakes with their cases all day long. The workers are the lowest paid of any government agency. They answer to the government not the loved ones or the patient. Find out if Houston offers a self directed care program for senior citizens. You hire who you want as long as the person is over 18 years of age. Medicaid pays for it. The idea is to keep the patient at home directing his own care. If the patient is unable to do it he can appoint a surrogate of his choice to assist. People with alziemers have been known to be accepted on this program. The surrogate does not have to be there to assist. Just keeping in touch with the workers and patient is sufficient by medicaid rules. Call Medicad or an elder care attorney to inquire. Don't speak to anyone else. They might not know. By all means don't call any home care agency. This self directed program has nothing to do with home care agencies. The program will give more hours because it is a couple but you have to be on medicaid to join the program.

I work in a counseling office that uses health insurance, county-supplied funding for low income people without insurance, and cash-basis patient-pay for those who have none of the above. You would be amazed to see the huge difference in what insurance companies pay for the same services. As a contractor, I get a percentage of whatever comes in for each visit for each client. A service that one insurance company will pay $115 for will get us $62 from another and $67 from the county. (What irks me no end is that a first-time appointment with a customer with blue cross will bring in $100+ if the client is there for a mental health problem, but only $52 if it is a substance abuse problem! It is more work and takes more forms to do the substance abuse work, but we are paid far less.) My point is that the insurance companies decide what the medical clinics are paid. Our "cash price" even varies, based on the income of the person receiving services. Plus, the person checking out the client at the end of the visit does not get the complete story at the time the client is leaving the clinic. My paperwork is not done until the end of the day, and is entered in the computer the following day. So if a new client comes in and is told that the appointment will cost $70 and pays that before I meet with them, there may other costs (a urine drug test, a breathalyzer test) that are incurred during the client's time with me. The front office folks have no way to guess what will be provided once the session starts, so cannot really give a fixed price to anyone. Plus, once the client is with me, we may get into something that causes the session to run long and that can get the client into being charged for a longer session. Also, the client may call and make an appointment saying they have a mental health concern (perhaps depression) and I learn halfway through the session that there is also a drug or alcohol problem. If I judge that the substance abuse is the primary problem, then anything the client was told about the cost of their "mental health" care is out the window because the two problems have two different payment schedules! It is all infuriating. Even when we call and check on the insurance coverage before the meeting, the insurance company can change their reimbursement if they find that there was a mistake made in what they quoted to us. I guess my point is that in the medical world, it is very rare to be able to set a price up front for things. Cerrtainly with insurance, but even for cash-paying clients. For instance, if the base cost of the visit was $x and you paid $x up front, the clinic may also charge you for the cost of drawing blood for a test (one of my docs gets $5 for every time that is done, and the charge is listed under "surgery.") or for the use of swabs, bandages or bandaging, injections.... you get the idea. Because most medical billing is done off site (often by someone working at home, or in Bangalore India, or a main office of a group of clinics), the folks at the front desk at the time of service may not even have access to the charges you just incurred! It seems to be the only kind of business that can spend your money for you without having you agree to the cost of something! When I paid cash for services, I was amazed that I could get bills for blood tests that I didn't even know I was having done. After all, the phlebotomist can tell you she is pulling so many vials of blood with such a color cap, but I will guarantee that she does not have access to the cost of each of those vials. The medical world is accustomed to waiting for the billing office to tell them what the charge will be (and usually this is determined by the insurance company) and they are less geared toward providing services to folks who pay cash up front. They seem to have the attitude that it is OKAY to just spring additional costs on someone. If I were you I would call the billing office and ask what the additional charges are for. Make sure that this additional service was done. If it was, agree to pay the bill, but then refuse to pay the late fee because you were not offered the chance to pay for that service at the time of the visit and because this is the first bill you have received. Then politely suggest that a schedule of such costs be made available at the office for the desk workers to be able to provide these costs to people there for services. Then, in the miracle case that this happens, be prepared that such a list is always outdated and that it will cost you more than they stated.