Tag: Appointment

Arthritis Pain Relief : Questions To Ask Your Healthcare Provider

Arthritis Pain Relief : Questions To Ask Your Healthcare Provider
Priya Shah

Copyright 2005 Priya ShahA great place to begin taking charge of you arthritis pain relief and prevention planning is by making an appointment with your healthcare provider and finding out more about your condition and treatment options. Make sure to jot down questions ahead of time, and take them along in your journal or notebook, armed with a pencil to fill in his or her replies. Some questions to begin with may be centered around these:1. Do I have a form of arthritis? If not, what is wrong & what do I do next?2. If so, which type is it? And what can I expect short-term and long-term?3. What pain relief treatments are available? Which have side affects & what are they?4. What self-care solutions do you advise?5. Are there any limitations I should know about; i.e. special dietary issues, special activities to avoid, any OTC meds to NOT mix, etc.?6. What resources do you have to help with my diet and exercise planning?7. What other arthritic and other health resources do you have for my family and me?When you take in your questions, also take in a description of your symptoms so that your doctor can help better understand your situation and health. Make sure to note:- Where you have pain (same joint both limbs?)- When you feel pain – with certain activities, in the morning, when it rains, etc.- How long you have had the pain- If the pain increases or decreases, comes and goes, etc.- The type & intensity level of pain – stabbing, dull, cramping, stiffness – and low, mild or high pain- Note any limitations – can’t bend over too far without pain, can’t get out of car, etc.- Share any family history of arthritis- Tell about any OTC or prescription medications or other treatments you currently take or use.- Discuss any special diet you are on and exercise programs So try the different options available for arthritis pain relief and prevention.Give your joints a break as soon as possible from any excess weight they’re hauling around, even if it’s the weight of excess stress.Lighten up and make pain relief and prevention care part of your normal, everyday routine.For a comprehensive report on arthritis, visit Arthritis Remedies http://www.arthritisremedies.org About the Author
Priya Shah is the editor of The Glutathione Report andHealth Naturale. This article may be reprinted as long as the resource box is left intact and all links are hyperlinked.

Sciatic Nerve Pain Relief-Get It Fast

Few things are as painful as the searing pain associated with sciatica. If you suffer from this condition, all you really want is a surefire way to relieve sciatic nerve pain. The faster you can get relief, the better. Once you are stricken with the pain of a sciatic attack, you can’t do much of anything and are temporarily disabled. In fact, it’s quite common for people to freeze up in these situations, and they may completely incapable of moving. The following information will help you to understand the problem, and show you some ways to minimize the pain of sciatica.

Your sciatic nerve travels from the base of the skull down to your feet, and happens to be the longest nerve in your body. Because it is so long, it is frequently under pressure or gets otherwise irritated. At times this may only lead to tingling or throbbing, and you can go about your normal routine. However, when the pressure on the nerve becomes too great, it can overwhelm you with pain. If this is something you have experienced more than once or twice, then you need to make an appointment with your doctor to get an accurate diagnosis.

Many people find relief from sciatic nerve pain by taking anti-inflammatory medication each day. This prevents any pressure on the nerve that may be caused by surrounding tissues being inflamed. You may wish to try an over-the-counter medication, or you can have your doctor prescribe something for you.

If you are having severe pain that is lasting for more than a day, then you can use this simple trick for easing the pain. Lie down with your back on a firm surface (the floor or a suitable mattress) and put a small pillow underneath your knees. This removes a great deal of pressure from the sciatic nerve, and allows the inflamed area to start healing. In fact, this position has long been the prescribed treatment for dealing with sciatica. However, it only brings temporary relief, but that’s better than nothing when trying to get rid of the pain.

Some people have found they can control their pain by using either cold or heat therapy. Which one is more effective will depend on what is causing the pain in the first place. Try one or the other and see how it feels, moving to the other method if needed.

Having proper posture will keep everything in your body aligned, and that can reduce the chances of unnecessary pressure being placed upon the nerve. Sit with your back straight, as though your head is being pulled straight up by an invisible string. When walking, be careful that you are not hunched over. If you have fallen into a habit of sloppy posture, you will be amazed at how much of an improvement this tip will make.

Trying to relieve sciatic nerve pain can take time, but keep trying. There is no reason that you should have to live with the pain. Once you find something that works you will feel a whole lot better.

What to Expect at a Sleep Disorder Overnight Sleep Center

What to Expect at a Sleep Disorder Overnight Sleep Center

I f you think you may have a sleep disorder, your primary doctor or a doctor that specializes in sleep disorders may send you to a sleep center for diagnosis. There are a large number of sleep centers located across the United States and their numbers are increasing. Sleep centers in the United States must be accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

When a person goes to a sleep center, it is usually for an overnight stay. Costs involved for most sleep study tests range from one to three thousand dollars and many need to be repeated twice. The first visit to diagnose the sleep disorder and the second to get accurate settings for any PAP machines that may be needed. Health insurance generally pays all or most of the cost of the tests needed to diagnose a sleep disorder.

Once an appointment has been made, many sleep centers send a sleep diary to the patient. The information from the sleep diary is used by the doctors to understand general sleeping patterns.
It is also recommended that no caffeine or alcohol be consumed after 12:00 p.m. on the day of the scheduled test.

Generally the patient packs an overnight bag just as if they were going to stay at a hotel overnight. During the sleep study you wear your own nightclothes and you can use a favorite pillow from home. You can bring a book or magazine if you like to read before falling to sleep. Most sleep centers resemble a hotel room and have a television to watch if that is what the patient usually does before going to sleep at home. Once you are relaxed the sleep center technician starts preparation for the equipment needed to record your patterns of sleep.

Diagnosis from a sleep center study is made using polysomnography which records a continual record of your sleep. In order to take a specific reading slightly more than two dozen small thin electrodes are pasted to specific parts of your body. They are placed under your chin, on your scalp, near your eyes and nose, on your finger, chest and legs, and also over the rib muscles and on the abdomen. These electrodes then record various types of readings during the night. Often an audio and video tape are also made to monitor sleep noises and movement.

Once all the equipment is in place the sleep technician leaves you alone to fall asleep. Even with all the equipment it is not uncomfortable. It is easy to move or turn onto your side. Each bedroom in a sleep center also has an automatic intercom so it is easy to call the technician if needed for such things as a bathroom break. When the sleep study is completed, the technician may wake you. Most studies that are used to diagnose a sleep disorder take seven to eight hours.

The reading are collected on a computer file called a polysonagram and are monitored and analyzed by the sleep technician during the night. The results are then sent for further readings to determine if there is a sleep disorder.

Although a sleep study may not sound comfortable, it is very important to determine and treat any sleep disorder.

How to Make the Most of a Physiotherapy Assessment

The first step in recovering from several painful and incapacitating conditions is a physiotherapy assessment. One can sit back and let the physiotherapist do all the work. However, more accurate and positive results will come of the physiotherapy assessment if the patient becomes involved.

When you go in to the physiotherapy appointment, your doctor should have given the physiotherapist some idea of your condition. The physiotherapy assessment will begin when the therapist takes a medical history. This is standard procedure for any type of health related problem. It is wise to be thorough in explaining past problems and conditions that seem to run in the family.

This can have a bearing on your treatment. It might even point to some disease or disorder that no one suspected that you had. A thorough physiotherapy assessment could possibly lead to treatment by a physician for an unexpected illness. You might find out that, while physiotherapy is bad for very few people, it is not what you need the most.

Then, the therapist will ask questions about your present condition. She will want to know when the pain, stiffness, or other problems started. She will ask you just how much it hurts, having you grade your pain on a scale of one to ten. One means no pain and ten means the worst pain you can imagine. The physiotherapy assessment will go on with your hypotheses of what caused it all.

The accuracy of your physiotherapy assessment rests on the precision with which you answer these questions. Telling the therapist that the pain is at a level of four when you know it is more like a level of eight will lead her to treat your pain less aggressively. It will be as if you had no physiotherapy assessment at all.

However, if you are able to correctly measure your degree of pain, you will help the therapist understand your problem. When the therapist knows when the problem began and has an idea of what caused it, the physiotherapy assessment will reflect that information.

Then, the therapist will watch you move. For a person who does not wish to be seen as weak, it may be a challenge to walk and do other movements as the person does them when no one is watching. In other words, a person with a sore and stiff neck may try to move it normally in order not to seem like an invalid.

You will be put through a series of movements that may seem cruel to you. It is a part of a good physiotherapy assessment to show all the movements done as best you can do them. If you can barely do them, that tells your physiotherapist a great deal of information.

It is best that the physiotherapy assessment covers all these pains and conditions. The way to make the most of a physiotherapy assessment is to be as honest and accurate as possible. It is only then that you will get the best care.