Your Body: What's Normal and Not!

Almost daily, our body feels some pains, from light to severe. But even when we feel pain that are light and manageable, we should listen up when our body talks. Simple symptoms like achy shoulders or chapped lips could signal something serious.

Cracked Lips: A simple solution like lip balm may be the best solution, but it may also mean a sign of yeast infection, says Sharon Allen, a dermatologist in Boulder, Colorado.

What you can do:
Licking your lips may make it worst because saliva encourages yeast growth. So the correct remedy is to treat the source of the problem which is dehydration. Drink a lot of water.
If your lips still crack, apply lip balm like a beeswax balm or Vaseline. This stops pooling of saliva which encourages yeast. A topical anti fungal or hydrocortisone cream may also help.

Shoulder Or Torso Pain:
Symptoms like severe chest pain beneath the rib cage, backache and shooting pains in the right shoulder or it feels like a heart attack or a bad heartburn. It could mean you have gallstones. Painful gallstones form when your gallbladder doesn't empty properly into the gut. Some would treat it with acid-blocking drugs which wouldn't work because heart burn isn't the problem.

What you can do:
Avoid high-fat, high cholesterol diets like red meat and French fries. Fats contracts the gallbladder more forcefully. The next time you have unexpected shoulder or chest pain right after eating a fatty meal or at night, see your doctor and talk about gallstones. Being overweight increases the risk too.

Neon Pink Gums:
It could mean you clench your teeth! Healthy gums are colored pale pink. But if they're bright pink and bordering on red, that's not good.

What to do:
Try using mouth guards and see your dentist to get the best fit. Avoid stress as well as it might give your teeth a break too from teeth clenching!

Burning in Ball of Your Foot:
It could mean you've got Morton's neuroma, which is the thickening or enlargement of the nerves in your foot, usually between the 3rd and 4th toes. The symptom feels like you're walking on a stone at first, - that may develop as a chronic jabbing pain if not treated. Common causes are too much wearing of high heels.

What to do:
Switch to a new shoes with a lower heel and a wider toe box. Arch supports also help take the pressure off the foot, but custom orthotics may also be necessary.
Some doctors give cortisone shots to reduce swelling of nerve tissues, and surgery if it's an extreme case.

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