Jim

I have type 2 diabetes, and I often get small open diabetic ulcers on my feet and lower legs. Doctors often prescribe harsh antibiotic lotions, but I wonder if plain yogurt would be good (or bad) on open wounds? Is there a danger that the "good" bacteria in yogurt could actually cause a worse infection?

I get a lot of annoying pop-ups for MacKeeper, which I usually ignore, as I do with all pop-ups, because I suspect that many are phishing or viruses or similar stuff. Anyway, yesterday, I got careless and clicked on a MacKeeper pop-up. I don't know if anything got installed, but my computer is acting a little strange today. It is an older Apple Macbook, with Mac OS X, version 10.4.11. I know almost nothing about hardware and software, but I want to find a safe and easy way to get rid of any possible MacKeeper (or fake MacKeeper) stuff on my computer. Keep your explanation very simple for me, but please tell me how I can rid my computer of anything that might have gotten on my computer from a MacKeeper pop-up. Should I hunt in a cache or applications, or what? And, since I'm sorta paranoid, don't tell me to download or install anything else.

Please bear with me if I use the wrong terminology. I'm not very computer literate, or I wouldn't have gotten into this mess. Somehow, I have shrunk my browser window size, and I can't get it back to full screen size. The window is now about 75 percent of the way across the screen, but only about 25 percent of the vertical depth. I have an Apple MacBook, Mac OS X, version 10.4.11. I was trying to change my browser window size, and this is what I think I did: I first clicked on the Apple icon in the upper left corner, then I scrolled down to system preferences, then to Hardware/Displays, and then I changed the resolutions. At this moment, the resolution seems to be set at either 1024 x 768, or perhaps 1024 x 768 stretched. And it's possible that I also changed some other settings, but I don't think so. Help! How can I get back to a full-size browser window?

I want to buy a lot of fresh produce and freeze it for future use in a microwaved meal.. I know that I can freeze and microwave bell peppers, for example, but can I freeze and later microwave celery, or will it be a mess?

I like sugar-free Diet 7Up, but every rime i drink some, I quickly get very thirsty for more. Is there an ingredient in Diet 7Up that makes me thirsty?

I understand why the manufacturers give away the meters, because they make their money off the test strips. But why is everybody else promoting the meters and giving them away, from doctors to nurses, to diabetes educators? Do the health care providers get paid by manufacturers to promote the meters?

I know there's a famous quote along the lines of "I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member." I can't find the quote or the original author. Does anybody know it?

Most of the time recently, I can't get into my yahoo email account. Instead, I usually just get a blank page or some kind of message saying sorry for the inconvenience. Is Yahoo on the verge of total collapse? Should I give up and switch to Google G-mail? Yahoo used to be a good company, but their email service has become a disaster.

An older female friend of mine is taking both hydrocodone and oxycodone, supposedly for pain of diabetic neuropathy. I think she may be getting them from two different doctors. Is it reasonable to take both medications at the same time? She also takes several other meds, including gabapentin/Neurontin, alprazolam, and diclofenac. She goes through frequent mood swings. Could any of these meds cause her mood swings, or could her doctors be prescribing them to treat her mood swings? I just don't know much about any of these meds. Any advice would be appreciated.

The BBC says the Bank of England, after slashing interest rates, is taking another step -- injecting billions of pounds into the economy. What does that mean? Where does the money go? Obviously, it's not just thrown out the Bank of England's window, so who gets it, and how?

I went to a government website for some foreign (non-US) government, and I clicked on an innocent-looking link.

However, it redirected my computer, and then it tried to download some apparently bad application.

I turned off my computer and restarted it, but the application is still sitting on my desktop.

I'm afraid to mess with it, because it keeps trying to finish loading.

HELP .. how do I get rid of this thing?

If this helps, I am using an Apple MacBook.

I've started drinking a lot of instant tea, made from "Kellogg's Iced Tea All-Bran Fiber Drink Mix." According to the nutrition facts label, each serving has 20 calories, including 12 grams of carbohydrates, of which 10 grams are fiber. For people who figure "net carbs," it would have only 2 net carbs per glass of tea. Each serving is supposed to provide 40% of the daily value of fiber. If I drink 10 glasses per day, getting 400% of the daily value of fiber, could there be any problem? There isn't any upper limit on fiber, is there? And could that much tea be a problem?

I want your personal stories only ... please don't bother giving me answers from textbooks, doctors, or websites.

Some diabetic experts strongly warn again high-fat diets for diabetics. Some others recommend low-carb diets, with plenty of fat and protein.

If you are diabetic and you have tried a high-fat, low-carb diet, what has been your personal experience? Did it lower your blood sugar and improve your diabetic control, or did it cause health problems?

Again, if you don't have personal experience (or experience of someone you know), please don't bother responding. Thanks.

Which is better for a diabetic, a plain baked sweet potato or a plain baked regular (white) potato? And why?

In searching the internet, I find lots of contradictory reports about how caffeine affects blood sugar levels. In the past, when I drank caffeinated coffee or very strong tea, I became very weak a couple hours later, which I thought was due to fluctuations in my blood sugar and/or blood pressure. However, I didn't take any measurements then, so I'm not sure what was going on.

Some people have said on the internet that caffeine causes their blood sugar to go way up, but a few people say it makes their blood sugar drop. Obviously people are different, but I would think most people would react the same way.

I'm interested in anybody's personal/anecdotal experiences regarding how caffeine affects your blood sugar levels.

So, how does coffee or tea affect YOUR blood sugar?

I have a friend (a woman who is in her early 70s), and she is incredibly pleasant to be with ... most of the time. However, she has some incredible mood swings. She can go from very happy to very angry or very depressed in a matter of seconds. I told her recently that being with her is like walking through a minefield, because I never know when to expect the next explosion.

I would like to be friends with her, but I can't understand her mood swings. Bipolar? Manic depressive? Borderline personality disorder? Or just manipulative?

Or could her mood swings be caused by hormone fluctuations or prescription medications?

One clarification: she is not violent, even in her worst moods, and I don't think that is at all likely.

What could be causing her mood swings? Is there anything that I could do, or should I just get out of this relationship?

If there's any chance at all for improvement, I would like to work with her. When she's happy, she's truly delightful to be with.

Help!

I'm interested in anybody's experiences with water-only fasting, and any ill effects they encountered. I am on the fourth day of a water-only fast, and I feel great, with no hunger. The only problem I've had is that yesterday (third day of nothing but water) my blood pressure shot up very, very high, but it then dropped back down after several hours.