Do you pop over-the-counter painkillers on a regular basis to alleviate afternoon tension headaches?  Do you run to the medicine cabinet after working out in search of relief from muscle soreness? Does your morning routine include guzzling several cups of coffee?

Symptoms such as headaches, back pain, muscle soreness, fatigue and restlessness are messages from your body screaming that something is amiss.  If you’re relying on drugs to cover up symptoms, you’re ignoring your own inner wisdom, disrespecting your body and sabotaging your health goals.

Never discontinue the use of prescription medication without consulting the doctor who prescribed it.  However, you may choose to clean your cabinets of over-the-counter painkillers and commit to addressing the cause of your health ailments- rather than merely masking symptoms.  You may also want to consider all-natural alternatives, such as nutritional supplements.  Ask your chiropractor to assist you in this endeavor.

In addition to taking a hard look at your use of medication, consider any reliance on nicotine, caffeine, alcohol or "recreational" drugs.

If you need help breaking a substance addiction, ask your chiropractor for a referral to treatment program in the community.  For information on the misuse of antibiotic drugs, check out Beyond Antibiotics by Michael A. Schmidt (North Atlantic Books)

Challenge for this week- reconsider you use of unnecessary medication and reliance on drugs

For Easter, she had a really good time.  The kids partied all day long.  Doing different activities and I know she enjoyed that.  She loves to color and to paint and any type of craft that you have her do.  She always tries her best.  She is starting to cut with scissors and that makes her very happy.

I am so proud of her.

Emotional Stress- the hallmark of today’s society- is linked with a myriad of ailments, including vertebral subluxation, heart disease, stroke, cancer, infertility, headaches, depression and insomnia.

This week, start stamping out stress by re-evaluating your daily schedule.  Get creative.  Free up some time by organizing a school carpool with similarly harried parents.  Consider swapping babysitting time with a neighbor or hiring a local teenager to take over some household chores.

Next, make a list of three obligations you can cancel or delegate to others this week.  For many, learning to turn down requests is difficult.  Here are a few tips to help you say "NO".

-Wait 24 hours before responding to a substantial request for your time

-Repeat to yourself over and over again, "It’s ok to say ‘no’ to stress-inducing commitments that will interfere with my well-being".

-Refuse to give in when pushy persuaders become crusaders for your time

-Create a "saying no script" you are comfortable with.  Explain that you are focusing on boosting your level of health, and that means carving out additional time for yourself to prevent stress.

-Use the "broken record" technique with those who pester you repeatedly.  This means responding to each attempt to change your mind with an identical script.

After you’ve carved out more time in your routine, investigate stress-reduction techniques, and choose one to practice for at least 15 minutes, three time per week.  Techniques to consider include yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, t’ai chi, biofeedback, writing in a journal/blog or engaging in a hobby or craft you enjoy.

If you need help choosing a stress-reduction technique, ask your chiropractor for advice.  Doctors of chiropractic can help you choose the right technique for your lifestyle and provide referrals for related courses in the community.  The Moms Network (www.momsnetwork.com) and the At Home Dad Network (www.athomedad.com) provide winning time-management suggestions for stay-at-home parents.  For more information on the saying "no" effectively, check out Conversationally Speaking by Alan Garner (Lowell House) or How to Say No Without Feeling Guilty by Patti Breitman (Doubleday).

Challenge for this week- reconsider your schedule and adopt a stress-reduction regime.

Good Luck!

Doctors of chiropractic believe that the spine is the foundation of health.  Unfortunately, even many so-called "holistic" health strategists often overlook this vital key to wellness.  That is why it is so important to start with a chiropractic checkup.

Chiropractic care focuses on detecting and correcting dysfunctional regions in the spine called vertebral subluxations- a condition that occurs when motion is restricted or spinal bones (vertebrae) are out of alignment.  Vertebral subluxations are associated with a myriad of health issues, such as headaches, back pain, neck pain, ear infections, and carpal tunnel syndrome among other things.  Chiropractors eliminate vertebral subluxations with adjustments (gentle maneuvers to the spine).  Scientific studies show that chiropractic adjustments effectively correct and prevent vertebral subluxations and the conditions associated with them.

His priority, truly is to help people.  He is such a sweet man.  I really like the staff and just the way they do things.

Dr. Rock is very big on Teaching and I have learned a lot from him.  Since I started coming to see him I have not used pain medication or any thing other meds for that matter.  I have a better understanding of how the body works and that it was created and equipped to heal itself.

He is by far the best!

Genesis has learned so much with the little bit that she has experienced so far.

I have to say that they are not the only ones that are learning stuff.  I have learned as well.  I have learned a lot of kid songs and rhymes, toddler games, techniques on how to communicate with them and how to get them to do what you want them to.  That’s a biggie.

I tried getting Genesis to look up for the pic. but she wouldn’t.  Oh, well I guess that is just something else I can tease her about when she is engaged or married.

I know for a fact that here in the Austin area that we had more rain in the first half of the year then we usually do all year.

It has been difficult to plan outings with the family due to the weather but you actually reach a point that you say “Oh Well, it is always raining so what am I going to do? Stay in the house all the time?”.

Elsy and I took that attitude as we planned to get away this past weekend to Galveston. The news said that it was supposed to rain all weekend but we went anyway. We had some rain on the way there and back but had hardly any while there.

The one good thing about the rain is that I think it has only gotten to 100 degrees once or twice this summer. I still don’t know what I would rather have - the rain or the heat.

We had been to Corpus a few months back while Elsy’s parents were in El Salvador and really liked it. This time we got to do a little more exploring and a whole lot more sleeping. We stayed at a hotel near the beach that was near most of the attractions that we wanted to see.

The weekend that we went just happened to be their “Buck Days” celebration that they have every year. This year they had a carnival, boat show, and a rodeo. We walked through the boat show and the carnival which was fun.

At the boat show we got to go inside of a 45′ yacht that was worth $2.5 million dollars. It had 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and slept 12 people. It was really nice. The crazy part was that the boat has more bathrooms then our house!

As much fun as it was we both missed the kids a lot. We were thinking about doing a video conference with the kids but thought that it would be too hard on the them (or maybe it was us that it would be hard on). As much as we missed the kids they did not seem to notice that we were gone which I guess is for the best. They were probably happy to have Grandma and Grandpa all to themselves for a couple of days.

Pictures of the trip can be seen here - Corpus Christi Vacation Photos.

Now that we have a new camera and are taking a lot of videos you will be able to go to the Videos page to see all of them.

You can also click here to go to the video page.

Here it is: