Health Blog

A healthy body and a sound mind

Taking On The Challenge Of A Lifetime: Tips For Surviving Med School

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If you’re planning on going to medical school, there are a gaggle of variables to consider. You must first understand the commitment of time, energy, and money you will be required to make to complete your journey through med school, and prepare yourself for the undertaking.

The decision to work your way through medical school should never be made without significant self reflection and deep, honest thought. Make sure you know the full path you’ll have to navigate to complete the degree you desire, because school is challenging. [Read more…]

5 Tips for Searching for the Perfect Surgeon

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Choosing the right person to be your surgeon, especially if it’s a life or death matter, can be one of the more stressful decisions that you have to make as an adult. So, as much as possible, you want to gather all of the information that you can in order to make the best choice.

To help you find the right person, consider checking their online presence, reading about medical technology in advance, researching surgery risks, using logic instead of emotion when it comes to making your choice, and having your family help you out with regard to the details as well. [Read more…]

Learning from The Doctors

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I’ve always been fascinated with the medical information that I learn every day on the internet and most especially on television. I do try to remember them all and follow the doctors’ orders.

Thanks to this wonderful TV show “The Doctors,” I and a lot of other people for sure are getting more educated about common and not-so-common medical conditions as well as modern procedures and practical remedies that we can do at home to solve certain health issues and lead a healthy lifestyle.

I watch this show hosted by four highly successful American doctors (Travis, Lisa, Andrew and Jim) almost every day and these medical experts never fail to share wonderful stories of survival, breakthroughs in medical technology and procedures and other vital information that viewers can really learn from. Each episode features a theme which is often very interesting and intriguing that you’ll want to wait for the show to finish and not bat an eyelash in between breaks.
[Read more…]

Tips for Talking to Your Doctor

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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

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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.

Causes of Ankle Sprains

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.

[tags]sprains, muscles, inflammation, soreness, ankles, sports medicine[/tags]