HELPFUL HINTS
DEAR READERS: June is Migraine Awareness Month, which is appropriate for today’s Sound Off.
DEAR HELOISE: Unless you’ve had a migraine headache, there is no way to describe the pain, nausea and sensitivity to light and sound that people with a migraine experience. My co-workers and friends think all I need to do is take an over-the-counter drug and I’ll be fine. Those drugs don’t help. I need a prescription medication, and if a migraine starts and I don’t have my medications, I’m in serious pain.
Many people think that a person suffering a migraine is making too much of it or faking it to get attention. That’s not the case. We’re in pain, so please be patient with us and know that a migraine is so painful that it’s often physically exhausting.
— Rochelle F., Maine
DEAR HELOISE: When I have friends in the hospital or who are confined to bed for several days, I make up a bed basket for them. I put in hand/body lotion, a hair band, hairbrush, candies (if permitted by the doctor), mints, a couple of magazines, a pen and a notepad. I also customize the basket for the person.
— Christina K., Oregon
DEAR HELOISE: After seeing the hint about reading to your children, a special poem came to mind that all parents should read. Being a first-grade teacher for many years and a mother of six, I felt compelled to send it to you. I have given it to my daughters and granddaughters, who have profited by it as well:
“You may have tangible wealth untold,
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be,
I had a mother who read to me.” — A Mother in Ohio
DEAR HELOISE: To keep long-sleeved shirts from getting tangled in the wash, try this:
Turn the shirts inside out by reaching up through the shirt from the bottom and pulling the neck down and out. The sleeves should stay “trapped” inside the body of the shirt.
Oddly, by the end of the wash cycle, almost all of the shirts will have turned right side out again, but the laundry is not tangled!
— Jackie in Maryland
Send a money- or time-saving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000; fax to (210) 435-6473; or email