Mumbai Mirror ( 4/11/09) Pain killer

Your body can end nagging aches and pains without medicines. Find out how

You always knew your body was capable of a lot, but did you know that your body can heal itself from heartburn and even cure tummy trouble? As much as doctors would have you believe that you need medicines to cure even these minor ailments, the truth is that sometimes it is your body that can fight its own battles. Read on and tap into the amazing feats that you can perform.
SILENCE HICCUPS
Hiccups just before a big presentation? Don't fret. Plug your ears with your fingers and silence them. You get hiccups when the vagus nerve, which stretches from the head right down to the abdominal organs, is irritated. Branches of the nerve also reach the auditory system. Therefore, by stimulating the nerve endings there by means of touch, you could stop the hiccups.
BEAT HEARTBURN
Heartburn is most likely to occur at night because when you lie horizontal for several hours at a stretch, your stomach acids collect around the oesophagus. But there's a way around this — just use a thicker pillow. When your head is elevated, acids are less able to pool.
TUMMY TINGLES
Spicy food, eating after a gap of several hours and of course street food, make stomach aches all too common. If you suffer from tummy aches immediately after a meal, chances are the food you've eaten has caused an imbalance in your stomach acids. Sip on some soda to get almost instant pain relief. Carbonated water and drinks help strike that natural balance again.
DON’T BREAK DOWN
Who hasn't been in a situation where you are on the verge of tears, but don't want to break down in public. All you need to do is gently tickle the roof of your mouth with your tongue. With this simple action, you end up confusing the signals in the pharynx that play an important role in crying. The result — you save yourself some embarrassment!
NEEDLES PRICKS
Nobody likes needles, but what if we told you could reduce the pain from a jab by simply coughing. Don't believe us? We've got science to back us up. Coughing vigorously increases your blood pressure for that short span of time. And studies have shown that hypertension reduces your ability to feel pain. So next time you walk into the doctor's office to get your flu shot, cough out loud.
REDUCE BLEEDING
Shaving nicks and cuts are pretty common and often tend to bleed for quite a while. Next time you cut yourself, head the freezer and using some pressure, rub an ice-cube over the affected area. The ice causes the capillaries under the skin to constrict and this in turn reduces blood flow to the region.
(Dr Ramesh Modi, consultant physician at Wockhardt hospital, Mulund and LH Hiranandani hospital, Powai) — CO-ORDINATED BY KIRAN MEHTA