Travel Postcard

Got 48 hours to spare in Munich during Oktoberfest, the world's largest fair?

Oktoberfest was first celebrated 201 years ago when Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese and invited Munich's citizens to join the party on the Theresienwiesen ("Wiesn").
These days the festival is held mostly in September as October gets too cold. This year it runs from Sept 17 to Oct 3.
Reuters correspondents with local knowledge help visitors get the most out of a visit to Oktoberfest, where a record amount of beer -- 7.1 million litres -- was consumed last year.
Friday
5 p.m. - Gear up for the Oktoberfest by shopping around for your own Bavarian garb, which has come back into fashion over the past decade.
Try wearing lederhosen (if you're a man) or a dirndl (for women) if you're up for the authentic feel. The regional clothing now exists in a dazzling spectrum of styles from the austere and traditional to modern and mildly pornographic.
You can often lay your hands on the kit anywhere in Munich from the luxury boutiques on Maximilianstrasse to the second hand shops tucked away in side streets, as well as online.
Other regional dress, from Scottish kilts to Dutch dress and clogs, are also warmly welcomed.
Clad in your new outfit, take a first stroll across the "Wiesn" to soak up the atmosphere: the aroma of cotton candy, roasted almonds and the scent of barley and hops of the main protagonist, the beer.
Some 6.4 million visitors from Germany and as far afield as the United States attended the Oktoberfest last year.
7 p.m. - Take it easy tonight if you plan to return for another session tomorrow.
If you're keen to rub shoulders with celebrities, head to the Hippodrom tent where Bayern Munich footballers, former tennis star Boris Becker and German actors are often sighted.
Young locals favour the Schuetzen-Festzelt tent, famous for its suckling pig in maltbeer. Even younger locals head to the Schottenhamel where Oktoberfest's first keg is tapped.
Traditional charm can be found in the Hacker tent -- decked out in white and blue, colours representing Bavaria's skies -- at the Braeurosl or Augustiner tents. The latter is the only brewery that still uses wooden kegs for storage. Its beer is also served in the Fischer Vroni tent.
The Oktoberfest tents serve local delicacies such as oxen, pork knuckles and cunningly thirst-provoking, salty pretzels. But for a less pricey version and possibly more authentic Munich meal, try one of the city's many beer gardens.
The Augustiner near the Central Station is a favourite after-work meeting spot. The Chinese Tower in the English Garden is a classic, but farther away from the main festivities. Hirschgarten is more suited for families.
If the weather is not being kind to you, you could head to the area around Marienplatz to check out the city hall and the cathedral and find a restaurant in the pedestrian zone. The Bratwurst Gloeckl offers good traditional food.
Saturday
11 a.m. - If you want to get into a beer tent but have not made a reservation, be prepared to turn up before noon. Tents open at 9 a.m. on the weekends and while there is seating for some 115,000 people in total, they shut once they are full.
On the final weekend last year, access to the entire Wiesn site had to be shut off for several hours due to overcrowding.
For your first view of the fair, try a turn on the Ferris wheel. For the more adventurous, try one of the stomach-turning rollercoasters now, rather than after sampling the beer.
The Toboggan, offering the sight of punters trying to stay upright on an uphill conveyor belt, is an all-time favourite. Its entertainment value makes up for its lack of gut-churning potential.
Once you are inside a tent, where the oompah of the brass bands mingles with the cheer of merry drinkers and sing-alongs, find a table, order drinks and food, and have fun. Prost!
Be aware though that the beer not only comes in a 1 litre 'mass' glass but at around 6 percent is also stronger than the brew you might be used to. Pace yourself or risk becoming a Bierleiche (literally translated: a beer corpse).
The litre will cost between 8.70 euros ($11.87) and 9.20 euros this year, roughly 35 cents more than last year.
Learn a few key Bavarian phrases to navigate your way around the tents: Biddscheen for please, Bierdimpfe for "tavern potato" for a notorious beer drinker (hint: don't become one) and Heisl for toilet.
11 p.m. - All but a few tents have served their last round now and will close shortly. A few places, like the Schuetzen-Festzelt, have a ritual last song of the night. So if you're into Rainhard Fendrich -- an Austrian pop star who goes down well with the Bavarian crowd too -- head to the Schuetzen for a recital of his love song "Weus'd a Herz host wia a Bergwerk" ("Because you have a heart like a mine". Yes, it works better in German).
You can either go on to Weinzelt (the wine tent) or the Kaefer tent, both of which still serve alcohol after midnight.
Alternatively, there are after-parties all over the city. Follow the locals. Surely, by now you will have befriended some. If you haven't, it may be because you didn't check out Oktoberfest's very own Bavarian dictionary at: www.oktoberfest.de/en/lexikon/.
In Schwanthalerhoehe, the district that lies downtown just beyond the monumental statue of Bavaria, many bars remain open and rowdy all night long.
If clubbing is your thing, however, and you want to dance off some of those beer-calories, try out the stylish -- if a tad pretentious -- P1 club.
Located underneath the Haus der Kunst art museum, a Nazi-built structure which hosted the infamous 1937 exhibition of "degenerate art", P1 is a favourite haunt for Munich's upper class and celebrities.
The doormen are ruthless in their entrance policy, so glam up or you'll be left standing in the cold.
Sunday
9 a.m. (or whenever you can make it out of bed) - To cure your hangover, try a walk around the English Gardens, a rare oasis of tranquility during the Oktoberfest and one of the world's largest urban parks -- more expansive than even New York's Central Park.
Don't be taken by surprise if you wander into the area reserved for naked sunbathers. The Free Body Culture (FKK) movement was founded in the early 20th century and succeeded in taking much of the smut and embarrassment out of nudity.
Another curiosity is the surfers riding the small waves at the mouth of an artificial stream running through the gardens.
An alternative relaxing destination just out of town is Lake Starnberg, formed from ice age glaciers from the Alps and offering stunning mountain views on a clear day.
The hardy can attempt a dip in the 21-km long freshwater lake, go windsurfing or sailing, while the more laid-back can simply stroll along the shore with its brightly painted wooden boathouses or hop on a ferry.
And if you still haven't had enough of the Oktoberfest, return to the Wiesn to check out more beer, rollercoasters and amusement rides.
Look after your belongings, however. So far this year's lost and found's list of curiosities includes: 460 personal identity cards, 130 mobile phones, a Viking helmet, a walking frame and several wedding rings.

Symptoms Headache

Migraine headaches often begin in childhood, adolescence or early adulthood. Migraines may progress through four stages — prodrome, aura, attack and postdrome — though you may not experience all the stages.

Prodrome
One or two days before a migraine, you may notice subtle changes that may signify an oncoming migraine, including:
Constipation
Depression
Diarrhea
Food cravings
Hyperactivity
Irritability
Neck stiffness
Aura
Most people experience migraine headaches without aura. Auras are usually visual but can also be sensory, motor or verbal disturbances. Each of these symptoms typically begins gradually, builds up over several minutes, then commonly lasts for 10 to 30 minutes. Examples of aura include:
Visual phenomena, such as seeing various shapes, bright spots or flashes of light
Vision loss
Pins and needles sensations in an arm or leg
Speech or language problems
Less commonly, an aura may be associated with aphasia or limb weakness (hemiplegic migraine).
Attack
When untreated, a migraine typically lasts from four to 72 hours, but the frequency with which headaches occur varies from person to person. You may have migraines several times a month or much less frequently. During a migraine, you may experience some of the following symptoms:
Pain on one side of your head
Pain that has a pulsating, throbbing quality
Sensitivity to light, sounds and sometimes smells
Nausea and vomiting
Blurred vision
Diarrhea
Lightheadedness, sometimes followed by fainting
Postdrome
The final phase — known as postdrome — occurs after a migraine attack, when you may feel drained and washed out, though some people report feeling mildly euphoric.
When to see a doctor
Migraine headaches are often undiagnosed and untreated. If you regularly experience signs and symptoms of migraine attacks, keep a record of your attacks and how you treated them. Then make an appointment with your doctor to discuss your headaches and decide on a treatment plan.
Even if you have a history of headaches, see your doctor if the pattern changes or your headaches suddenly feel different.
See your doctor immediately or go to the emergency room if you have any of the following signs and symptoms, which may indicate other, more serious medical problems:
An abrupt, severe headache like a thunderclap
Headache with fever, stiff neck, rash, mental confusion, seizures, double vision, weakness, numbness or trouble speaking
Headache after a head injury, especially if the headache gets worse
A chronic headache that is worse after coughing, exertion, straining or a sudden movement
New headache pain if you're older than 50

TYPES OF MIGRAINE

Symptoms

There are several types of migraine, all share basic features, and each person will suffer this headache in a unique way. Generally, however, migraine often begins as a dull ache and then develops into a constant, throbbing and pulsating pain that you may feel at the temples, as well as the front or back of one side of the head. The pain is usually accompanied by nausea and vomiting, and sensitivity to light and noise.
The two most prevalent types of migraine are migraine with aura (formerly referred to as classic migraine) and migraine without aura (formerly referred to as common migraine).
Migraine without Aura
As we have said, migraine is a vascular headache, which means the headache is associated with changes in the size of the arteries inside and around the skull. During the pre-headache phase, blood vessels constrict; when vascular dilation occurs, the migraine begins. The blood vessels are thought to become inflamed as well as swollen, and it is believed that migraine pain is caused by this inflammation, as well as by the pressure on the swollen walls of the blood vessels.
Most migraine sufferers experience two to four headaches per month; but, some people can get one every few days, and others may only have one or two a year. Most migraine headaches last at least four hours, although very severe ones can last up to a week. Headaches may begin at any time of the day or night; and while a sufferer may wake up with one, a migraine will rarely awaken a person from sleep.
Approximately one-third of migraine sufferers experience an aura prior to the headache pain.
Migraine with Aura
While most migraine sufferers experience visual problems during the headache, you may be someone whose migraine begins with an aura, a manifestation of neurological symptoms. Generally, the aura begins from five to thirty minutes before the actual onset of the headache. You may see wavy or jagged lines, dots or flashing lights; or, you experience tunnel vision or blind spots in one or both eyes. The aura can include vision or hearing hallucinations and disruptions in smell (such as strange odors), taste or touch. It can become even more disconcerting or frightening if it involves feelings of numbness, a "pins-and-needles" sensation or even difficulty in recalling or speaking the correct word. These neurological events may last sixty minutes and will fade as the headache begins.
Hemiplegic Migraine
If you suffer from this rare but severe type of migraine with aura, you probably also have a family history of it. The hemiplegic migraine often begins with temporary motor paralysis and/or sensory disturbances on one side of the body, followed by the headache -- within the hour -- which may be accompanied by numbness or the "pins and needles" sensation. When the headache appears, the initial neurological symptoms may disappear.
Ophthalmoplegic Migraine
Also a rare and severe migraine, the ophthalmoplegic migraine’s pain usually surrounds the eyeball and lasts from a few days to a few months. There may be paralysis in the muscles surrounding the eye. If these symptoms occur, you should seek immediate medical attention because the symptoms can be caused by pressure on the nerves behind the eye.
Retinal Migraine
Another rare migraine, the retinal type starts with a temporary, partial, or complete loss of vision in one eye. It is followed by a dull ache behind that eye that may spread to the rest of the head.
Basilar Artery Migraine
This very rare form of migraine is accompanied by dizziness, confusion or lack of balance. It comes on suddenly and can result in fleeting visual disturbances, the inability to speak properly, ringing in the ears, and vomiting. Throbbing occurs in the back of the head. The basilar artery migraine is strongly related to hormonal influences and primarily strikes young adult women and adolescent girls; as sufferers age, the migraine with aura may replace the basilar artery type.
Abdominal Migraine
It is difficult to diagnose this migraine because the pain is felt in the abdomen. Nausea, vomiting and diarrhea may occur, and the pain usually occurs in the middle of the abdomen. The attack typically lasts hours and occurs mostly in children as a forerunner of migraine.

What Is A Migraine

A migraine headache is a form of vascular headache. Migraine headache is caused by vasodilatation (enlargement of blood vessels) that causes the release of chemicals from nerve fibers that coil around the large arteries of the brain. Enlargement of these blood vessels stretches the nerves that coil around them and causes the nerves to release chemicals. The chemicals cause inflammation, pain, and further enlargement of the artery. The increasing enlargement of the arteries magnifies the pain.

Migraine attacks commonly activate the sympathetic nervous system in the body. The sympathetic nervous system is often thought of as the part of the nervous system that controls primitive responses to stress and pain, the so-called "fight or flight" response, and this activation causes many of the symptoms associated with migraine attacks; for example, the increased sympathetic nervous activity in the intestine causes nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Sympathetic activity also delays emptying of the stomach into the small intestine and thereby prevents oral medications from entering the intestine and being absorbed.
The impaired absorption of oral medications is a common reason for the ineffectiveness of medications taken to treat migraine headaches.
The increased sympathetic activity also decreases the circulation of blood, and this leads to pallor of the skin as well as cold hands and feet.
The increased sympathetic activity also contributes to the sensitivity to light and sound sensitivity as well as blurred vision.
Migraine afflicts 28 million Americans, with females suffering more frequently (17%) than males (6%). Missed work and lost productivity from migraine create a significant public burden. Nevertheless, migraine still remains largely underdiagnosed and undertreated. Less than half of individuals with migraine are diagnosed by their doctors.

Migraine Treatement

1.I will help you to identify any and ALL of your migraine triggers looking at every aspect of your life including your diet, habits and other environmental factors in your day to day life that you might not have noticed yet.

2.I will explain to you the mindset strategies that make The Migraine Solution so successful and you will instantly see how powerful your thinking can influence your condition.
3.I will show you the exact treatment strategy that I myself (and many thousands of other people) have used to treat migraine headaches.
4.You will get a battle plan to instantly reduce your migraine severity and strategies to continue reducing your migraine headache severity and frequency now and into the future.
5.And finally - I will offer you ongoing support with your condition. I understand what you're going through as I have been there and done that first hand. My program is now offering (for a limited time) unlimited one-on-one support with me personally to discuss your unique problems and how you can work to overcome them.

Arthritis Patients

Although being physically active is one of the best ways people with osteoarthritis can alleviate pain and improve their ability to get around, a new study shows that people with the joint disease are much more sedentary than previously thought.

Researchers from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine found that more than half of women and 40 percent of men with knee osteoarthritis are basically "couch potatoes," and not engaging in the physical activity that is vital to their health.
Using a small device called an accelerometer, researchers measured the physical activity of more than 1,000 people aged 49 to 84 with radiographic knee osteoarthritis for one week.
Although federal guidelines recommend that adults with arthritis participate in 150 minutes of moderate-intensity, low-impact activity each week (about 20 minutes per day), the study revealed that fewer than one in seven men, and only one in 12 women actually met those guidelines.
Meanwhile, 40.1 percent of men and 56.5 percent of women did not sustain 10 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity over the course of the week, and were therefore deemed "inactive."
These levels of physical activity were significantly lower than what had been reported in previous studies that relied on participants' self-reported accounts of exercise and activity.
"We had assumed that people might be overstating physical activity in past self-reported data, but were surprised to find that the physical activity rates were much, much lower than what was previously reported," study author Dorothy Dunlop, an associate professor of medicine at Feinberg, said in a university news release.
Dunlop said the findings, published in the August issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, should be a "wake-up call" for doctors.
"Even though they have joint disease, patients need to be reminded that physical activity is actually good for them," Dunlop added. "People with arthritis should be as physically active as possible, even if they accomplish less than the recommended levels. When it comes to physical activity, there is good evidence that the benefits far outweigh the risks and being inactive is especially detrimental to health."

Migraine Treated

The first line of treatment is always to try and identify trigger factors, which means keeping a careful record of events, mainly of foods that have preceded an attack. Particular foods are identified as migraine triggers in about 20 per cent of sufferers. The large female preponderance within migraine sufferers points to the importance of hormonal factors, such as the menstrual cycle, which are not modifiable. Many women also find that the oral contraceptive pill worsens attacks, and if so it should be stopped. (Women who get migraines with aura, severe migraines regularly lasting over 72 hours despite treatment, or migraines that are treated with ergot medicines should not take the contraceptive pill.) People suffering a migraine should try to rest in a dark, quiet room. Treatment of migraine is most effective if given at the start of an attack. Treatments for sufferers aged under 18 may differ from older patients, so it's important to discuss this with the pharmacist before buying any over the counter remedies. They are all prescription medicines, with the exception of sumatriptan, which can now be bought from pharmacies as Imigran recovery. These drugs cause the blood vessels around the brain to contract, therefore counteracting the dilatation that seems to part of the initial migraine process. They come in various forms, including nasal sprays, injections and tablets that dissolve on the tongue, which can be useful if nausea and vomiting are a problem during the migraine. It's worth noting that using any painkillers for headaches or migraines too often or for too long can actually make the headaches worse. If you find you're getting frequent migraines and are often taking painkillers, it's important to consult your doctor for advice. Often several kinds of medication need to be tried and perhaps combined before the most effective treatment for each individual patient can be found. Alternative therapies, such as homoeopathy and acupuncture, are popular even if the evidence supporting their effectiveness is poor or absent. The herbal remedy feverfew has shown some efficacy in preventing migraine and is available over the counter as Migraherb. Lifestyle and dietary advice are always important.

Manage Your Life With Migraine Disease

The first migraine that I experienced was at the age of nineteen, approximately 2-3 weeks following the birth of my first child. It was quite horrible as I recall it... although worse migraine episodes occurred in the years to follow. My guess is that hormone changes were the onset factor in this episode. My first migraine was not looked upon with compassion by some of my family. My husband (we have since divorced) was less than sympathetic as he was unfamiliar to pain himself and did not understand how to relate to other people's pain. I also received the wrath of my then mother-in-law. She was angered that my husband was unable to escort his younger brother as planned that evening to a local baseball game because my husband was forced to stay home to care for our newborn while I was incapacitated. USA Today survey regarding Family Reaction to Migraine Sufferers indicated that our loved ones'reactions when migraines occur often range anywhere from understanding to resentment.

Symptoms If Migraine

Vision disturbances, or aura, are considered a "warning sign" that a migraine is coming. The aura occurs in both eyes and may involve any or all of the following: * A temporary blind spot * Blurred vision * Eye pain * Seeing stars or zigzag lines * Tunnel vision Not every person with migraines has an aura. Those who do usually develop one about 10 - 15 minutes before the headache. However, it may occur just a few minutes to 24 hours beforehand. Migraine headaches can be dull or severe. The pain may be felt behind the eye or in the back of the head and neck. For many patients, the headaches start on the same side each time. The headaches usually: * Feel throbbing, pounding, or pulsating * Are worse on one side of the head * Start as a dull ache and get worse within minutes to hours * Last 6 to 48 hours Other symptoms that may occur with the headache include: * Chills * Increased urination * Fatigue * Loss of appetite * Nausea and vomiting * Numbness, tingling, or weakness * Problems concentrating, trouble finding words * Sensitivity to light or sound * Sweating Symptoms that may linger even after the migraine has gone away include: * Feeling mentally dull, like your thinking is not clear or sharp * Increased need for sleep * Neck pain

Coffee Lowers Risk Of Prostate Cancer

Men who are heavy coffee drinkers are at lower risk for prostate cancer, says a study. The researchers found that those who consumed six or more cups a day were almost 20 percent less likely to develop prostate cancer over two decades than those who drank none, according to New York Times Friday. Scientists at Harvard University followed 47,911 men who periodically described their coffee consumption. More important, the heavy coffee drinkers were 60 percent less likely than the non-drinkers to develop a lethal form of the disease, it said. Even men who drank just one to three cups of coffee benefited: They were nearly 30 percent less likely to develop lethal prostate cancer, the study said. It did not matter whether the coffee was caffeinated or decaffeinated. The study, published online Tuesday in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute, is one of the first to link coffee consumption to a lower risk of prostate cancer. 'We're not yet telling men to drink more coffee,' the daily quoted the lead author of the study Kathryn M. Wilson, research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health, as saying. 'But there's mounting evidence that if they do, they don't have to worry about it,' she said. Coffee is a major dietary source of antioxidants, and other studies have suggested that drinking it is associated with health benefits, including a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes.

Cheap diabetes drug could elp Fight Breast Cancer

A low cost diabetes drug could benefit breast cancer sufferers. Anthony Howell, director of the breakthrough breast cancer research unit at the University of Manchester, said: 'We have some way to go but we hope that drugs like metformin will be saving lives of breast cancer patients over the next few years.' Scientists have developed a new test that identifies patients who could benefit from the cheap treatment, reports the journal Cell Cycle. They found that the people whose cancer cells 'fed' off high-energy compounds were more likely to see their tumours spread than to die, the Telegraph reports. This meant they could be helped by being given metformin, which stops the 'fuel supply' for aggressive cancer cells. Howell's counterpart, Michael Lisanti at Manchester, said: 'We've shown that the saying, 'you are what you eat' holds true for cancer. The food cancer cells consume is crucial to how well a patient does and what treatment they need.' 'However, patients could benefit from metformin, which cuts off this fuel supply. There is more work to do but this test could be an important new way of tailoring treatments to a patient's needs, across a range of cancers.' Last year it was reported that metformin was being tested to see if it can stop the growth of lung cancers. Researchers from Manchester and Thomas Jefferson University in the US studied 219 breast cancer patients and worked out which ones had tumours that fed on high-energy foods, known as ketones and lactate, found in healthy cells.