South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Gluten intolerance may be to blame for cracked fingertips
Q: I had been suffering with painful cracked fingertips for years. I even went to the doctor for it. However, the prescription creams I got didn’t work.
Then I decided to stop eating whole-wheat bread and other wheatbased products. Within two weeks, my fingertips were healed, and my digestive troubles resolved. I think I could be gluten-intolerant. That was a few years ago, and I have not had a single split fingertip since.
A: You should ask your doctor if you might be at risk for celiac disease. If you have been scrupulous about avoiding gluten, though, an antibody blood test for this condition will not be accurate. Even a biopsy may not tell the story. A genetic test might reveal your susceptibility, but it won’t determine if you actually have celiac disease.
Q: When I was a child, I frequently suffered from colds. My aunt would make a cough medicine of very soft-cooked onions with butter, brown sugar, ginger and a bit of vinegar. I liked it, and I always stopped coughing.
A: Onion cough medicine appears to be popular in many parts of the world. We have heard of various versions from India, Hungary and the North American frontier.
Some people sweeten the onion syrup with honey rather than brown sugar. There is some evidence to suggest that honey has antiviral activity (Molecules, Oct. 29, 2020).
A meta-analysis of six randomized controlled trials found that honey worked better than placebo to alleviate coughs in kids (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, April 10, 2018). Honey should never be given to babies less than a year old because it might contain botulinum toxin.
Q: My husband went to a new nurse practitioner because of a stubborn itchy rash that would not go away.
The NP prescribed a steroid cream (triamcinolone). When he finally picked up the prescription, it was a large bag. Inside were 30 15-gram tubes of the cream. The NP had prescribed 450 grams of the cream.
When he tried to return the unopened tubes, they wouldn’t take them back. The pharmacist explained that 450 grams usually comes in a “tub” and they didn’t have that; hence the 30 tubes.
This doesn’t make sense as the rash is not all over his body. The NP told him at the visit to use the cream only as needed and only on the
itchy spots. He is stuck with at least 28 unneeded tubes of this medication and doesn’t know what to do with them.
Why wouldn’t the NP have offered him a sample to see if it worked on his undiagnosed rash? What are his options with the excess cream?
A: A sample would have been appropriate. Pharmacies rarely, if ever, accept “returns” because they cannot resell pills or cream, even if in a sealed container. We fear your husband is stuck with unusable medicine.
It might be important to know what is causing your husband’s itchy rash. The steroid cream is a symptomatic treatment. A dermatologist might be in a better position to diagnose the underlying cause of his rash.
You may want to visit the website, www.SkinSight. com. The search engine enables people to view skin conditions that match their symptoms.
Whether it’s the result of record snow storms, wild temperature swings or a solid case of COVID19 fatigue, many of us are ready for a change of scenery. Even if it’s too soon for your family to travel, putting a plan in place can raise spirits all around. Here are ideas to consider:
Make a plan: Picture yourself on a sandy beach, in a cozy mountain cabin or a vast desert landscape. Ponder future family commitments and schedules and consider your options. Browse the websites of your favorite resorts, mountain towns or desert destinations to review deals, protocols and possibilities. Discuss the options with your family.
Bucket lists: Now is the time to create a thoughtful bucket list for the long term. Doing so can make it easier to plan for meaningful vacations. Ask yourself what aspects of the world — geographically, spiritually and culturally — you want to share with your children and grandchildren. Think about which destinations you hope to visit while your children are in the nest and which might best be saved for later.
Connect with family and friends: Is it too soon to expand your pod or reconnect with those family members and friends with whom you’ve only visited via video chat? Consider checking in with your clan and craft a plan to celebrate a birthday or anniversary, or to honor a family member’s special achievement. We’ve missed the chance to celebrate many family touchstones. But is it ever too late to celebrate those moments? At the same time, who needs an official event to enjoy the company of your loved ones?
A: NCL should have paid for your flights. And since this happened a few months before the pandemic started, there’s no excuse for this oversight.
Here’s what should have happened: When you let guest relations know about your flight problems, a representative should have helped you. NCL should have refunded you for the extra flight immediately, but more importantly, ensured that you had a confirmed flight back home. It did neither.
I reviewed the correspondence between you, the cruise line and your travel adviser. It painstakingly details the months
Q: Before the pandemic, I booked a Hawaii cruise for my daughter and myself on Norwegian Cruise Line. When I checked in for my outbound flight on United Airlines, an airline representative told me that NCL had not paid for my ticket.
I purchased a one-way ticket to make my connection. On the ship, I checked with guest relations, and they assured me that everything was correct for my return flight. But again, when I went to board my return flight, they said my ticket was not paid.
My daughter purchased my return flight ticket using her credit card. I have asked NCL for proof of payment to United Airlines on three separate occasions. A United Airlines representative said I couldn’t get a refund for my new tickets because I had used them.
Can you help me? I’d like a refund of $2,557 from either NCL or United Airlines. — Ruby Tyson, Richmond Heights, Ohio
you spent trying to resolve this. You went through all the channels and still came up empty-handed. Part of the reason: Shortly after your cruise, the pandemic started. It decimated not just the cruise industry but also airlines and travel agents. No one was willing to help you.
The strangest part of this case is that you had what appeared to be a paid ticket. United Airlines could not confirm that the ticket hadn’t been paid, leaving your travel adviser and NCL to hash it out. They weren’t making progress.
I recommended that you appeal your case to someone
higher up at United. I list the names, numbers and email addresses of key United Airlines executives on my consumer advocacy site at www.elliott.org/ company-contacts/united-airlines/.
After several emails to the executives, you reported that United contacted you to apologize for the confusion. The airline issued a full refund.