Health Blog » Doctors

Tips for Talking to Your Doctor

dave — Wed, 25 May 2011 06:49:30 +0000

Although it may seem that they talk in a different language, it’s important to take an active role in your healthcare to get a better understanding of your specific needs. Open a detailed line of communication with your doctor to improve your relationship. This type of communication enables your doctor to give you a more exact diagnosis, and allow you to understand the particulars of the doctor’s advice and reasoning behind it. Besides a complete past and current medical history and concerns, have a thorough routine of questions for the doctor to get the most out of each doctor visit.

Your doctor should have healthcare informatics in place to keep a thorough record of patients, so you shouldn’t be shy about asking question about your current or past health concerns. Information should be readily available to your doctor to help answer any questions you may have, if they are a reliable practice. Here are a few questions and information you should have for your doctor during each exam.

Tell Your Doctor

- Any symptoms or pains

- Changes in personal information, such as stressors, life changes, or faculties

- About additional medication and strength of the medicine

- Side effects to any new medicine or possible allergic reactions

- Major concerns for current health

- When treatment doesn’t feel right or unhelpful

Ask Your Doctor

- To elaborate for any medical information that is hard to understand

- Which medical concerns are valid, and suggestions for changes to lifestyle

- About additional treatment, and if it’s necessary

Make sure to take any information home with you and keep it in your records for reference in future doctor visits, including pamphlets, brochures, notes, written instructions from the doctor. Follow any information the doctor gave you, including new medicine, life changes, or test scheduling. If you have forgotten anything, don’t be afraid to contact the doctor for clarification. Also, don’t be afraid to call the doctor once you follow the instruction.

Important reason for a doctor callback:

- Poor reaction to new medication or treatment

- No updates on test results

- Have a question regarding prior appointments

The relationship between doctor and patient is an important one that should have the best means of communication skills available, so both parties can effectively discuss concern and medical records. You’re paying the doctor for the best health care, including vigilance to helping you understand a doctor diagnosis.

How to Avoid Sprains from Becoming Inflammations

Charlie — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:36:51 +0000

For people who are into sports like badminton, basketball, football and soccer, encountering injuries such as that of ankle sprains is only normal. Such would be expected once a person would fall on the wrong stance when they go in lateral motions or on jumping instances. Landing on the wrong foot will always be a problem since the balance of a body is tilted, hence putting the full weight on one foot causing trauma on the muscle tissues of the affected foot.

In such cases, the immediate action should be not to loosen the shoes so that swelling will not readily occur. Assuming that the person would already be resting, immediate application of ice towards the affected portion of the swelling must be done to avoid it from bloating. This is to control the inflamed part since further heat will only make it bigger and painful.

Also, in sleeping positions it would be best to elevate the injured part to avoid further trauma to the affected part. The first few days would be hard to adjust to such as having a hard time to walk at times. But after some days, a person will slowly revert to his former movement as the swelling of the sprained part will incrementally be healing and allowing the person to go back to the sport or activity he loves.

Technorati Tags: sprains, muscles, inflammation, soreness, ankles, sports medicine

Herbal Medicine: The New Age of Healing

Charlie — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 04:53:13 +0000

The different types of illnesses plaguing the world today have been something that has caught everyone by surprise. The increasing rate of health issues has made everyone standing on their feet, wondering how to resort to preventive measure to contain such illnesses from spreading like wildfire.

As an alternative, the use of herbal medicine has done wonders for various illnesses such as cancer and heart associated problems. This can be attributed to the fact that the substances and composition that all extracted herbs offer are found to negate and improve the body components.

Weird as they may sound, taste or look, it is the healing effect that holds the truth towards a successful fight against diseases and illnesses. It is not purely a matter of relying on your doctor for advice but also a matter of taking into consideration that herbal plants are existent for a reason, a health reason.

Technorati Tags: herbs, herbal plants, natural healting, alternative medicine

Health Resolutions for 2008

Charlie — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 02:11:09 +0000

I remember starting 2007 with a two-post series on health resolutions. Looking back at those posts, I have to be honest and say that I stuck religiously by my resolutions for about a couple of months and then slowly reverted to old habits. They do die hard, don’t they? I am happy to say, however, that I was able to keep some of them – like eating a good breakfast and eating more slowly.

This year, I though I’d focus on something other than diets. I just realized how little attention I have been paying to visits to the doctor – I hate going to the hospital. So this year, I thought it would be a good idea to pay my doctor regular visits just to make sure that nothing is wrong. I should get some use out of my medical insurance after all!

Another resolution I would like to try to keep is to exercise – for real. My lifestyle is really sedentary. I wake up, sit in front of my computer, and write. I go to work and then sit in front of my computer again. This is what I do day in and day out. I think I shall get an exercise bike and use it while watching TV, at least 3 times a week. It won’t be much but at least I will be able to burn some calories.

Last, I will try to lessen drinking even more. I have been doing this a bit for the past months due to my hyperacidity but I think I shall “enforce” it more – not only because of weight issues but because of general health as well.

Do you have your own “new” resolutions this year?

Embarking on Regular Physical Examinations

Charlie — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 20:37:36 +0000

People are not always aware of their current state of physical condition by simply looking at the mirror or relying on what they feel at present. The need to undergo certain medical examinations and physician�s advice are the best ways to go about the overall assessment of a person�s current health status.

The common belief for some is that unless they feel something strange, they would not go to their physician for medical evaluation. With the trend today leaning more towards being health conscious, regular physical examinations are slowly becoming a regular practice to safeguard their overall hiatus.

Diseases and illnesses have slowly been spreading and resorting to the possible immunizations brought about by advanced medicine is a good way to avoid illnesses that can make a person�s life dreadful. Physical examinations can be availed of even for just once a year and practicing this from a 365 day period in a year does not really take up much of a person�s time.

Technorati Tags: health, medical examinations, annual physical examinations

Dealing with Tooth Extractions

Charlie — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 16:17:45 +0000

If there is one thing that may become irritating for people today, that is to go to the dentist and have a specific tooth extracted. Mobile tooth stemming from poor gums and roots will be normal. While a lot would depend on the available nutrients in the human body, vices such as smoking are contributory factors that weaken the said roots and gums.

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Tooth extractions are only one of the many things that the dentists offer among their services. Regular application of prophylaxis is another service, so with application of tooth fillings. In some scenarios, each service is interconnected with the other. Tooth fillings can show the real story of why extractions are a necessity. Sometimes, impacted teeth may make it hard to apply fillings since the positions may not be ideal for smiling and even biting.

While people are afraid of having to have their teeth extracted, they will not be pulled out without some form of pain reliever and application of anesthesia. No person is that brave enough to withstand the pain of tooth extractions today. Hence, one anesthesia is injected; people would not even notice that the problematic tooth has already been taken out already.

Technorati Tags: tooth extract, prophylaxis, teeth, dentist, dental

Are there Medical Cures for Insomnia?

Charlie — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 17:46:05 +0000

Insomnia is a sleep disorder that has been rampant for people who have had a hard time reverting back to the normal body clocks. Insomnia has so far altered the body clock, resulting into problems that people who report for work on a regular 8 to 5 shift due to absences and tardiness.

While there are people who seek medical attention, it all boils down on how the person would be determined in finding out how to regulate their sleeping habits once more. There will always be Valium to help people sleep at preferred times but the normal recourse would be to try and re-adjust the body clock.

Physicians who would stay away from prescribing medical drugs, would advise patients to drink warm milk and even drink vitamins before they sleep. While the latter would be up for questioning, the explanation behind it is simply filling in the lost nutrients that a body would normally have and thus make people more comfortable and relaxed, thus pointing towards sleeping for a complete body rest at the right time when a person should be taking his long deserved sleeping habit.

Technorati Tags: insomnia, sleep disorder, sleep apnea

The Case of the Frozen Shoulder

Charlie — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 18:27:13 +0000

Injuries are normal for people who engage in sports that entail frequent use of the arms and legs. Stretching is a good way to avoid muscle strains and tendonitis, something that athletes would dread since it would mean they would have to take therapy for it and rest for weeks to a month.

The worst part of suffering these injuries would be on the preparation stages where training is something that athletes would usually undergo. Another hard point would be that of being in the middle of the actual competition where they would have to watch helplessly in the sidelines since they would be no help if they were to force the issue. Forcing the issue as well would probably aggravate the injury and keep them from playing in the future.

Usual parts of the body that may be affected would be the knees, shoulders and the torsos. Physical Therapy is where they would probably land since strengthening the muscles is the only recourse they can do. Given a couple of weeks, they should be able to start and train again, this time with caution to avoid recurring injuries of the same nature.

Technorati Tags: tendonitis, physical therapy, muscle strain, frozen shoulder, joints

The Irritating Sound of Snoring

Charlie — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 13:18:10 +0000

For a person that pushes himself hard to be able to do all the things that need to be done, it will always come to a point where he would be looking for rest and naps to be able to temporarily recharge his energy. Some people grab any opportunity, even short naps to revitalize their tired bodies. One thing noticeable is that even in short naps, a person would tend to snore, something that would be irritating to people who would be around at that time.

Snoring is natural for people who are really tired. Snoring may be irritating, but it is also a bad sign since it means some disorders for the human body, particularly the cardiology parts of the human body. Heart problems and abuse of health has been found to contribute to snoring, meaning that at some point, people may need to consult their physicians and most probably need to have check-ups to get an overall assessment of their health status.

Snoring may not be immediately noticed by people since they are most of the time unaware of it. People around them would be the ones to hear it, and once they do and inform them about it, it would be best to take note and be more cautious.

Technorati Tags: snoring, sleep disorder, heart problems, cardiology

Why People Contract Urinary Tract Infections (UTI)

Charlie — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 14:30:26 +0000

People would encounter times when they would suddenly feel uneasy, experience sudden attacks of fever or even feel weak without explanation. Initially, people would consider it a mild attack of possible diseases such as fever or flu. But in some cases, they would not react to the standard paracetamols or aspirins making people wonder what could possibly be wrong.

One good way to see is to check the urine of people. Difference in color such as hazy or turbid may be an indication of Urinary Tract Infection. UTI can be confirmed through proper Urinalysis examinations from laboratory examinations. UTI is usually developed when a person would try to hold the usual discharge or from consuming certain liquids that are not pure water.

The best therapy is through drinking water regularly. Water cleanses the system and forces the body to discharge body fluids through urinary discharges. UTI may not be serious at first, but taking it for granted may lead to severe cases and treatment in the long run.

Technorati Tags: UTI, therapy, laboratory, examinations