kirazi

For about a week and a half, I have been having soreness and pain in the knuckle of one finger on my right hand. It hurts when I lift/push/carry something with any weight to it, and is slightly more tender to the touch (at first I thought it was swollen) than my other knuckles. I haven't done anything to it that I am aware of.

I've had tendonitis in my wrist (on the opposite hand) twice and this feels similar to me, but I'm not sure if you "can" get tendonitis in a knuckle or not.

I got a new tattoo on my calf about 3-4 weeks ago. It's been fully healed (scabbed, peeled, no longer red or swollen) for almost 2 weeks now, but it still itches a bit now and then. Is this normal? This is my third tattoo but I don't remember my others itching after the healing process was finished.

For about a week now I've been having a random problem with my internet connection. It usually starts when I'm trying to browse a webpage in Firefox and the page takes an obscenely long time to load. Eventually it will give me a cannot load page error, or it will say it's done loading but actually hasn't. Aside from the issue with Firefox, it randomly logs me out of windows live messenger and sometimes aim and won't reconnect them.

I have checked my computer multiple times with multiple programs for viruses and spyware, and am running windows Vista. This computer is only 4 months old and hasn't had any problems to speak of otherwise.

Also, I'm 99% sure it isn't my internet provider or connection, because my roommate hasn't had any problems and my network connection shows a good connectivity.

A couple of days ago I tried to play an old CD-R music disc in the DVD-RW drive of my laptop (which was new about 4 months ago). It wouldn't read the disc and then I couldn't get the drive open. I was able to use the pin-in-the-hole manual technique to get the drive itself open, but after I close it again (without a disc in it) the drive still won't eject. If I put in a disc now (any disc) it won't read. I did manage to get it working for an hour or so last night by pushing the button in as I closed the drive after opening manually, but then it quit working again.

How do I fix it? I'm not comfortable messing with registry stuff, I'm too afraid I'll mess something up. I know there is power to the drive because when I turn my laptop on the light will blink once.

For about a week now, maybe a little longer, I have been getting bug bites around my waistline near my belly button and on the small of my back. They are pretty small bites and I only seem to get them in these areas. There are dogs in the house but I have not seen any fleas, and do not have bites in any other places so I don't suspect fleas. What could these bites be? I intend to wash my bed sheets tomorrow, but I have a special mattress cover which is supposed to repel bed bugs and dust mites so I don't think it could be either of these (I sure hope not anyway!). What else could it be and what is the best way of treating the bites to get rid of them swiftly?

I have atopic dermatitis (eczema) on my hands and usually it's not an issue but I have been having more problems with it over the last couple of months. I have been applying hydrocortizone cream to it, as well as a prescription I got a couple years ago from the doctor for it (which was basically an extra strength cortizone) and while those do help, the outbreaks don't completely go away. Is there anything else I can use to completely get rid of these outbreaks? (I know that I can't CURE eczema but I want something to at least make the outbreaks not be a constant thing).

When I was younger I had my earlobes pierced and have since (years ago) let the holes close up. I can always feel a little bump in each of my earlobes where the holes were, and sometimes when I squeeze them, a very thick pus comes out. When they were still pierced, they got infected a lot. I assume the holes didn't heal right. Do I need to have them repierced so that they will heal properly, or would repiercing them just lead to more infections?

I usually have some knots in both of my shoulders from stress and lifting/carrying things at work. Lately, though, my right shoulder has been a lot worse (I carry my messenger bag, which usually doesn't weigh much, on my right shoulder), especially when I have had a stressful day at work. I have tried pain medication (excedrin and ibuprofin), rice heating pad, and soaking in a hot tub (when I had the opportunity). The pain is not constant 24/7 but when it starts hurting badly it usually doesn't feel better until the next morning. What advice do you have to relieve the pain and get rid of the knots? I don't have anyone I can ask to give me a massage and work the knots out, either.

A couple years ago I was getting some really bad pus-y bumps on my hand and I was diagnosed with atopic dermatitis. They gave me some extra strength cream of some sort for it and that has been working. I still have some of it but I'm almost out, and my dermatitis has been getting worse on my hands. It is not as bad as it was before (before it was a lot of pus-y bumps and now it's mostly very dry scaly skin) but it is on a lot more area of my hands than before. Are there any other medications or home remedies you know of to help this form of eczema?

On Monday I sprained my ankle, which I've done many times before so I didn't bother going to the doctor since I know how to treat it (wrapped it with an ace bandage, ice and elevation and staying off it as much as possible). Last night I woke up in the night with a terrible pain in my ankle, and found that I had wrapped the bandage a bit too tight. I also noticed lots of smell red bumps on the back of my shoulders and around my collarbone and the front of my chest. They still haven't gone away, and they don't really itch at all. I assume these are hives. Any advice on how I can get rid of them??

I have a faux fur blanket that sits on my bed which my roommate's dogs love to lay on. I don't mind them being on it, but it's much less cozy for me when it smells like dog. The blanket is dry clean only and I am looking for a good way to clean it at home, or at least freshen it up. I spray it periodically with Febreeze and that helps, but only for a little while.