If home treatments do not help your headache, see your doctor. She can rule out underlying conditions and formulate a treatment plan for you.  Your physician will zero in on the correct diagnosis and exclude competing diagnoses in an attempt to pick the correct therapy. She will determine the need for additional testing at this appointment, which may include but is not limited to a blood pressure check, additional cardiovascular review, blood work, head imaging, and more. Depending on the severity and type of headache you have, your doctor may prescribe you a powerful pain reliever as well as a preventative medication to help stave off further headaches.  Your doctor may give you prescription pain relievers including sumatriptan and zolmitriptan.  Your doctor may give you preventative medications including metoprolol tartrate, propranolol, amitriptyline, divalproex sodium, and topiramate. Many of the preventative medications are especially effective on migraines because they counteract blood vessel constriction or the painful dilation stage. Some antidepressants may also help prevent extremely bad headaches. If you suffer from cluster headaches, oxygen therapy is considered to be one of the best treatments. You will inhale oxygen through a face mask, and your headache may be relieved in as little as 15 minutes. Oxygen therapy is most effective when used right at the start of a headache. You must resume treatment when another headache begins. There are other, more rare treatments you may want to discuss with your doctor. These include botox injections and  transcranial magnetic stimulation.  There are some studies showing that Botox, which is the Botulinum toxin type A, can help relieve and prevent bad headaches. Discuss this with your doctor should your headache not improve with standard therapy. Transcranial magnetic stimulation uses electric currents to stimulate nerve cells in the brain, which may help minimize the pain associated with headaches as well as their recurrence.

Summary: Consult your physician. Ingest prescription or preventative medications. Try oxygen therapy for cluster headaches. Consider other treatments.


"¿Cómo estás?" is the most basic way to say "How are you?" This phrase is appropriate in almost any context when talking to almost any person, whether you previously knew them or not. However, there is a more formal version, used particularly in Central American countries. Note that there are two verbs in Spanish that mean "to be:" estar and ser. However, estar is used in this context because it implies a more temporary state, whereas ser is used to talk about a permanent condition or state of being. There really isn't a formal way to say "How are you?" in Spanish. However, "¿Cómo está usted?" is used, primarily in Central America, when talking to someone who is older than you or in a position of authority. It also doesn't hurt to use this phrase when talking to an adult you've never met before, as it conveys respect. If you walk up to a group of people and want to greet all of them, you might ask "¿Cómo están?" The verb is conjugated for the plural "you," so this is similar to saying "How are y'all doing?" or "How are you guys doing?" in English.  To make this question informal, ask "¿Cómo estais?" (koh-moh ehs-tah-iss) Keep in mind that in some Spanish speaking cultures, it might be considered more polite to ask this question of each person in the group individually, rather than addressing the group as a whole.

Summary: Say “¿Cómo estás?” (koh-moh ehs-tahs) in most situations. Use "¿Cómo está usted?" (koh-moh ehs-tah oos-tehd) when you need to be more polite. Ask "¿Cómo están?" (koh-moh ehs-tahn) if you're greeting multiple people.


Your child’s arms should be held out in front of them, then moved slowly backward. Ask your child to repeat this motion (front to back, back to front) the whole time. Demonstrate this movement, and encourage your child to try.  It may feel more natural to your child to move their arms up and down, but this is not an effective way to tread water and will tire them out quickly. Try pretending you and your child are in the jungle, using your arms to part the vines. The palms of your child’s hands should be facing in the direction their arms are moving. When their arms go as far as they can comfortably go toward your kid’s back, they should rotate their hands so that the palms face forward while moving their arms toward the front.  Ask them to pretend they are parting grass or vines and pushing them to the sides so they can get through. These motions should be done slowly and evenly to conserve energy. Once your kid has mastered the proper arm motions, you can move on to teaching the proper leg motions. Although breathing and arm-only exercises can be practiced standing up, in order to do leg exercises your child will need to sit, lie down, or try other positions.  Practicing at a playground is ideal because your kid can be helped into a position where their feet are not on the ground. You can help your kid hang from a horizontal bar or suspended rings on the climbing tower. To demonstrate these motions, suspend your own body off the ground. You may need to maneuver your child’s legs for them until they can do the motions on their own. One of the easier leg motions to learn is known as the "scissor kick."  To do this, ask your child to move their legs apart (one toward the front and one toward the back) then reverses them. Demonstrate this move for your child. Then ask them to pretend their legs are scissors cutting through a piece of paper. The "frog kick" is a move where your child will bend both legs, with the knees pointed outward. Then they will extend both legs at the same time. Demonstrate this for your child, then ask them to pretend like they are a jumping frog. The most efficient leg motion for treading water is called "the rotary" or "eggbeater." Unfortunately, this move can be difficult. For this one, one of child’s legs will make slow clockwise circular motions, while the other leg makes slow counterclockwise motions. Demonstrate this for your kid, then ask them to imagine they are mixing eggs with each foot. Have them try to do each leg independently, and work up to doing both at the same time.
Summary: Emphasize a front-to-back arm motion. Pay attention to your child’s palms. Get your child into a position with their feet off the ground. Try a scissor kick. Do a frog kick. Work up to the eggbeater.