I am recently back from a vacation that involved a seven-hour time shift—it is seven hours later in Israel than in Connecticut. Going was a pretty easy shift—I took a midnight flight, slept some onboard, arrived around dinner time and was able to stay up until a fairly normal bed time…ready to tour in the morning.

Several weeks ago, a friend told me about her upcoming surgery. For several months, she's lived with constant pain down her right arm and numbness and tingling in her right hand. An MRI showed a growth on her cervical spine (in her neck), which the doctor said was causing the pain. The doctor sent her to a surgeon, who told her that surgery was the only solution. When I heard this, I implored her to seek a second opinion, possibly from another surgeon or preferably from someone with a different treatment orientation. ("When your tool is a hammer, everything is a nail," I reminded her. "Surgeons are inclined to suggest surgery.") She took the advice and, not surprisingly, got a very different recommendation from the second doc. She is now seeing a physical therapist, who is working with her using various techniques to release the impingement on the nerve and teaching her exercises that strengthen key muscles to prevent its return.

It's not news to take steps to boost one's immune system before flying on an airplane. After all, if you spend hours sitting in an enclosed cabin breathing other people's air, someone is bound to have contagions that your body can't fight on its own. There are even products based on this situation -- like Airborne, which is a blend of immune-boosting antioxidants. Years ago, before I started taking Airborne and other immune-boosting steps, I frequently got sick within days of flying. Now, I rarely do.

Since suffering from a two-week dizzy spell three years ago (brought on by a week-long cruise), I've been shocked at how many other people I know suffer from dizzy spells. I'm thinking about this now because in the past two weeks, I have successfully helped two suffering friends with the method that cured me: the Epley maneuver.

I was pretty shocked when New York-based periodontist Alan Winter told me that two dental diseases -- dental decay and periodontal disease -- are two of the three most common diseases. (The third most-common disease is the common cold.) I hadn't thought about dental disease in those terms, and apparently neither does most of the population.

Podiatrist Johanna Youner, DPM, e-mailed me recently with her unique observations on the effects of the economic strife in our country and how she sees that no matter what good news is being reported on the economic front by our media, families continue to struggle all the way down to their toes. Dr. Youner is an attending podiatric physician at New York University Downtown Hospital and in private practice in New York City (http://www.healthyfeetny.com) She writes...

I just came back from a hospital visit that I'm not sure how to describe. Sad? Frustrating? Disappointing? Incredulous? "Charlie" (not his real name) is recovering from a fall in his apartment where he cut his knee. The blood thinners he takes to help prevent a heart attack caused the wound to bleed extensively, both above the surface, and beneath the skin. I'll spare you the rest of the gory details, but know that he now is very weak and is about to enter a rehabilitation facility to recuperate. And, boy oh boy, is he upset about going to rehab. Irrationally so, since his wife is unable to take care of him right now -- he needs two people to help him stand up, and he can't walk more than a couple of steps. "I never thought it would come to this" he declared to me numerous times during the visit, sad that he is a near invalid en route to a nursing facility. Each time, silently, I responded, "How could you have expected otherwise?"

As we've long-advised in our publications, my mother diligently carries a list of the medications that she and my father take in her wallet. That came in handy when my father recently checked in to the hospital for a brief bout of pneumonia. When I stopped by the hospital after he'd been checked in, I reviewed his status with the nurse, including the instructions in their computer system for his care. What I found:One of his medications did not make it into their system -- an oversight that could have caused serious problems if not caught since they would not have given it to him.

On the last day of our summer vacation and hours from home, my youngest daughter developed pink eye. Hoping to stave off a major infection and limit the chances of everyone in the family catching it, I ran into a shop to see if they had chamomile tea -- a home remedy for pink eye (you just wet the teabag and hold it on the eye). They didn't have it, but the woman behind the counter directed me across the street to a health food store. I ran over and explained the situation to the proprietor. He immediately grabbed Sovereign Silver (per the label, "colloidal silver hysdrosol fine mist spray") from the shelf and handed it to me. "Just spray it straight into her eye. It's good for any infection -- ear infections, sinus infections (spray up your nose), sore throat, etc." I knew a bit about the healing powers of silver from an article that we'd published in our Bottom Line/Natural Healing newsletter. I bought it, ran back to the car and gave her a spritz in each eye. Spritzed myself too as a precaution (just saying "pink eye" makes my eyes itch).

With four children and a husband who works with children, someone in my house is usually sick. In our upstairs bathrooms, everyone has his/her own towels so that germs don't spread. But it's our downstairs “guest” bathroom that gets the most use. I used to keep a roll of paper towels there to prevent the spread of germs, but I didn't like creating all that garbage. So, inspired by a spa stay a few years ago with my mother and sister, I now have a basket of washcloths for family and guests for drying their hands. I'd initially gone to a local bed-and-bath store and to a discount home goods store, but washcloths were way too expensive ($3 or more per washcloth!) for the number I wanted to buy. Instead, I Googled for a hotel supply company, and bought a gross (a dozen dozen) of white washcloths for about $35. They're easy to wash... we never run out, even when we host parties... we all stay healthier... and we save the planet too.