AARP Symptom Checker to the rescue. From swollen ankles to palpitations, from itchy eyes to tingly fingertips, enter in all of your symptoms to see what might be going on with you, inside and out.

So go on, click here to learn more about your health today.

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Maybe, in addition to that home cleaning, you should take a peek in that medicine cabinet of yours.

October 29th is Drug Take Back Day. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency will be collecting unneeded and expired medicines. Do you hold on to prescriptions for years (guilty!), or dump them down the toilet? Take this opportunity to safely dispose of your unused prescription drugs in a way that’s good for the environment.

Learn more about Drug Take Back Day and find a location near you by going to the DEA’s website.

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If you are a current Medicare participant, but have a hankering to change your plan, now’s the time to do it.

Don’t miss your chance to mix up your Medicare options during open enrollment, October 15 – December 7th, and changes you make become effective on January 1, 2012.

Learn more about the Open Enrollment here. And if you need more guidance than just the facts, check out our Medicare Interactive Counselor, here.

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So, what’s new with flu shots this season?

First of all, there’s a new high-dose version of the flu shot. The higher dose may mean higher protection from the flu. And second, for those needle-averse, there’s a new version of the shot that goes just beneath the skin, instead of into the muscle. 

And the best part of all? Flu shots are covered by Medicare part B (another great reason to not miss Medicare enrollment).

So go get that flu shot today. Your body will thank you! Go here to learn more about flu shots this season.

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I remember a different time. My senior year of college, no one had cell phones. This led to some humorous moments; a first date with one boyfriend was arranged by landline phone, and when we misunderstood our meeting location, it took us three hours and several miles of walking to unravel it and finally find each other. There were no shortcuts – I couldn’t just call his cell phone to find that he had been standing less than 50 yards away.

It turns out that at least as far as our health is concerned, the former ways were better ways. Recently, researchers found that even those who exercised daily for the prescribed amount of time were in danger of health issues if they sat 10 hours or more per day.

So, how would you change your day, to get less sit-down time? Consider taking walk breaks, standing and stretching, and put regularly needed tools (cell phone, stapler) across the room so you have to get up when you need something.

As for me, I wrote this blog post standing up. I think walk breaks might work better for me…

Click here to learn more about getting enough exercise.

I recently heard a horror story from a colleague here at AARP. Her mother had been placed on a new medication, and was acting disoriented and strange, after being put on a new medication. After pushing through and finally getting a doc to look at the full list of medications she was on, it was clear there was a bad drug interaction happening. Her mother has had a stroke, so wasn’t able to communicate for herself; it took her daughter’s intervention to spot and solve the issue.

Welcome, handy Drug Interaction Checker! If you’re on a lot of medications, from different prescribers, it’s worth taking a moment to punch them in here to make sure all your prescriptions play well together. And if you see any red flags? Call that doc, and ask for an alternative.

Have you had any bad experiences with unforeseen drug interactions?

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I have had the honor of getting to know Carole as a blogger for the health portfolio. Her big ideas and dreams are inspiring, whether she’s talking about her past as a start up and turnaround guru (at one point she owned 30 Super Cuts franchises), to fitness and healthiness guru, who inspired more than 1,000 people in her community to join her to get fit. They lost 4 tons of weight in 8 weeks. See what I mean? Force of nature.

Now, Carole doesn’t preach dieting; far from it, you probably shouldn’t even mention the word around Carole. She’s not a fan. Nor is she a fan of any kind of quick-fix weight-loss pills, supplements, or otherwise. But she is a fan of getting fit and healthy.

Today at Life@50, she shared what she believes is the key to Fat to Fit success: the 3Fs. Friends, fun and fitness are the secret sauce ingredients for a new, healthy life.

If you’re thinking about getting fit, check out our Fat to Fit community, and other AARP fitness resources, and look for her posts on the AARP blog every Friday morning.

Ramsey Lewis warmed up the crowd, tickling the ivories playing jazz standards and greatest hits.

Beautiful in blue, Patti Austin then took the stage. She sang some of her best-known hits, sang both parts of her famous duet “Baby Come To Me” and took on covers, from the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” to Des’ree’s “You Gotta Be.”

And finally, around 9pm, headliner Lionel Richie took the stage, to a remixed, trance version of “Hello.” He wooed the crowd with romance (“Penny Lover” and “Ballerina Girl” “Three Times a Lady”), chilled us out with “Easy Like Sunday Morning” then got us pumped up with “Running with the Night,” “Dancing on the Ceiling” and “Brick House.”

But the best part of the night were our Life@50 attendees, who kept Lionel on his toes. In his own words? “I haven’t seen dancing like that since 1974! The front row is out of control! Security!” AARP members kept the party going “All Night Long,” and it was a fitting final encore song. Lionel, we’re once, twice, three times your fans!

I’ll tell you straight up: I don’t know much about boxing. But given the chance to go to a Life@50 session, with Alzheimer’s hero Leeza Gibbons interviewing a boxing great, I thought I’d learn a little something.

Sure enough, I did. In a world of boxers who fall prey to the rigors of their sport and lose their health and memories, Sugar Ray is an exception. But he would say that the biggest fight of his life didn’t happen inside the ring, but outside.

Inside the ring, Sugar Ray was confident, known for his swagger and teasing his opponents. But outside the ring, Leonard says, was a different story. One of seven children, Sugar Ray was shy, and secretly, he was the victim of abuse. Turning to cocaine and alcohol kept his demons at bay, but also created new ones.

How did he make it through? His fighter’s drive helped him commit, get sober, and six years later, he’s telling his story to inspire others to fight their big fight.

Read more about Sugar Ray’s story in his book, The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring.

Some of the questions asked: What’s the difference between a traditional physical and the Medicare Wellness Exam? What’s the difference between supplemental and secondary insurance?

Find the answers to these questions and more at the following links:

www.aarp.org/medicare

www.aarp.org/doughnuthole

www.aarp.org/getthefacts

Medicare: www.medicare.gov or call 1-800 633-4227

Social Security: www.socialsecurity.gov or call 1-800-772-1213

State Health Insurance Program (SHIP): www.shiptalk.org  1-800-677-1116