Tag: Medical History

Chiropractic Care: Your First Visit

You may have heard that chiropractic care has many benefits. It is a natural form of healthcare that can lead to long-term relief of pain, discomfort, and improved mobility. Most patients see a chiropractor when in pain, but you do not have to wait. If you want to lead a natural and healthy life, seek natural medical care through a chiropractor.

Regardless of your reason for seeking chiropractic care, you may wonder about your first appointment. What can you expect?

Paperwork. Many new patients mistakenly believe they will not need to fill out a lot of paperwork. Unfortunately, all medication professionals recommend it. This is for your own safety though. Even though chiropractors do not administer medication, they still need all the information on your background and medical history. In addition to the medical history forms, you will be required to provide your contact and payment information.

On average, it can take 10 to 20 minutes to fill out all required paperwork. Your chiropractor may ask you to arrive early. If you are pressed for time, ask to pickup these forms ahead of time. You can complete them at home and bring with you to your appointment.

Education. Chiropractic care is unlike traditional medical care. Yes, there are many similarities, but there are also many differences. As previously stated, they do not administer medication. They also do not perform surgery. What they do use is diagnosable medical tools, such as sonograms, x-rays, and MRIs. After these tools are used to get a proper diagnosis, manual therapy kicks in. Chiropractors use their hands, precise force, and their training to treat spinal and joint problems.

As for why education is important, many are unfamiliar with chiropractic care. Most Americans have it drilled into their heads that rest, relaxation, and pain medications are the best way to seek relief. After all, we have heard this for years. Your chiropractor will educate you on the history of chiropractic care, its benefits, the differences between other forms of medical care, and why you made the right choice to come in for an appointment.

Examination. You will undergo a number of tests when at a first chiropractic appointment. As previously stated, you will get a quick physical exam. Your doctor may take your height and weight, test your blood pressure, or take your temperature. If he or she suspects a serious injury, a sonogram, MRI, or x-ray may be used. If not, your chiropractor will rely on their hands to get a good feel of the area causing you pain.

Consultation. This step varies depending on appointment length, chiropractor preferences, and diagnosis. If your doctor wants to wait and review your tests or take time to think about a course of treatment, you will need to return for a second appointment. This should conclude your first one. Some chiropractors can and will diagnose right away. They will then consult their findings and preferred method of treatment right away. In fact, treatment may begin. This may involve a simple therapeutic massage or a spinal or joint adjustment.

Picture taking. Although optional, many chiropractors like to take pictures of their new patients. Some want to highlight improvements. Your chiropractor may use before and after pictures to show to new patients or at medical conferences, but most will ask for permission first. They may also want you to see the difference at the end of treatment.

So, there you have it. You can expect some of these things at your first appointment. All medical professionals are different, so your first appointment may vary slightly.

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Chiropractic Care: What to Expect

Do you suffer from constant pain and discomfort? For most, this is due to an injury. For others, there is no explanation. Pain can easily be treated with over-the-counter pain relievers, but relief is short lived. Since pain relievers do have risks, especially with prolonged use, it is important to seek proper medical care. One of your options is chiropractic care.

If you werent already aware, chiropractic care is a form of medicine. Some classify it as alternative medicine, as the treatment options are very different. Most notice a difference between the care provided by a chiropractor and a primary care physician. Chiropractors believe in manual therapy. This is therapy with the use of the hands. Common methods of solving pain problems include therapeutic massages and manipulation. For example, neck pain may be treated with a neck realignment.

If you like the sound of chiropractic care, the first step is to schedule an appointment. Chiropractors can be found online with a standard internet search or an online business directory. Most are also listed in the yellow pages of local phone books, under the heading of physicians or chiropractic care. If you have a number of local options, look for the best care with the most affordable price. Some insurance providers do cover chiropractic care. If covered by insurance, speak to a representative to see if your care qualifies for coverage and to familiarize yourself with in-network providers.

Not long after making your appointment, you will arrive for it. The wait can be as short as two days, but as long as two months. The more chiropractors you have in your area, the shorter the wait should be. As for your first visit, it will be similar to a consultation appointment. Your chiropractor will take your medical history. They may take your blood pressure, measure your height and weight. Your source of pain will be examined, like your neck, hands, knees, or feet.

Some chiropractors can diagnose a problem by simply looking at or feeling your source of pain. However, additional tests may be needed. These may include an MRI or x-ray. Some chiropractors will begin treatment immediately, but you may need to return for an additional appointment. It will depend on the length of your appointment, the type of care needed, and how soon a course of treatment was decided on.

As for the second appointment, this depends. As previously stated, treatment may have started right away. If not, it will start here at the second appointment. Once again, treatment depends on the diagnosis made. If your chiropractor wants to treat your neck pain with realignment, they will start the manipulation. If ongoing therapeutic massages were recommended, your treatment will start.

After the initial treatment has been performed, it is important to communicate with your chiropractor. For example, if regular therapeutic massages are needed, you automatically know that continued care is needed. On the other hand, if your neck was realigned, you may mistakenly believe you are done. Despite the common misconception, chiropractic care does not always translate into continued care, but there are benefits. After a neck realignment, therapy may be needed. Patients regain mobility they never had before; it takes time and practice to readjust to it.

In addition to wondering about chiropractic care visits, many patients are also curious about payment. Not all insurance providers cover chiropractic care. And, not all chiropractors choose to work with insurance providers. If you are uninsured and paying out-of-pocket, this will not be a concern for you. Instead, examine your available payment options. They do vary. Some care centers accept credit cards, debit cards, and checks, while others only take cash.

Returning back to insurance coverage, do not make any assumptions. Always speak to an insurance provider first. If chiropractic care is covered, determine by how much. Do you need to pay for a percentage of treatment costs or just a co-pay? Can you seek care from any chiropractor or must you work with an in-network provider? These are all questions you need answers to before scheduling an appointment.

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Eczema Treatment for Newbies

Have you been recently diagnosed with eczema? Are you having trouble dealing with it? Here are a few tips on eczema treatment and what they can do for you.

When diagnosed with eczema, your doctor will also most likely tell you what kind of eczema you have. He will also most likely tell you how bad your case of eczema is and prescribe you with medications and how to go about treating your condition. To do this you usually have to provide your doctor with your medical history to make sure hes not prescribing you with anything that can cause an allergic reaction.

Basically you treat eczema to control itchiness, avoid inflammation of the affected area of your skin, to clear infections, to decrease those scaly lesions and try to prevent or at least reduce new lesions. All of these things arent cured with just one type of treatment. It usually requires a combination of one or two treatments to relieve you from your eczema woes.

Treating your eczema isnt something that happens overnight. It usually takes a certain period to reduce the severity of your condition. It has also been proven more effective to keep a number of treatments working to complement each other to help ease irritation. This works for all cases of eczema. This usually entails changing your habits and routines that may be causing allergic reactions.

You either have to do really simple things like changing the things you keep around you, the types of soaps or lotions you use to even maybe changing your job or your whole environment. You have to be really careful about finding out what triggers flare-ups. If you can successfully identify it you will be able to increase the efficacy of your treatment and even lessen the side effects you may feel when youre on medication.

The kind of medication you might need will depend on a lot of things. These of course include what case of eczema you have, your medical history (which also includes the different kinds of treatments youve already had) and of course your preferences. Most often topical medications like lotions and creams are what are prescribed. However, for those with a much more severe case of eczema they give you options for phototherapy or systemic medication. Phototherapy is a procedure where light therapy is used while systemic therapy is a medication that circulates throughout your body.

Recently treatments for eczema have largely improved and there are a lot more choices to choose from. There are a number of very popular and effective treatments for all kinds of eczema and most cases can be controlled.

However, it has to be said again that eczema is a condition that will take a certain amount of time to relieve. Eczema treatment can be a pain in the pocket but if your symptoms do not go away you should consult your doctor to make sure you are using the right treatment. You also have to remember that relaxation is a key player when treating eczema. Avoid stress because this triggers your flare-ups.

Always take note of the things that may trigger your eczema problems. The best way to control these instances in a safe and fairly easy manner is to be on a healthy diet. It is also best to stay in a clean, relaxing and safe environment that wont cause you any stress that may worsen your condition.

How Are Kidney Stones Diagnosed

Do you have kidney stones? You will never know until you are examined by a doctor because the symptoms associated with this problem are very similar to UTI or urinary tract infection.

So, you have to set an appointment with the doctor. While there, he or she will review your medical history and conduct a physical examination before running some tests.

If you are a regular patient of the doctor, it will be easy to pull your file out. However, if this is your first time, you will have to fill up the form and get your medical files.

Your medical history does not say much about kidney stones especially if you have never had this before which is why the next step is to conduct a physical examination. Here, the doctor will look at you physically and touch certain areas. This is hard for the doctor to do if the patient is in extreme pain.

So the best way to confirm initial findings is through laboratory tests. The doctor will either extract blood or ask a urine sample from you.

You may also have to be scanned and there are a variety of machines for that. These include a computed tomography (CT) scan, intravenous pyelogram (IVP), retrograde pyelogram, and the regular X-ray.

The CT scan is used for various examinations. A scanner and a computer are used to create images of the urinary system. The only problem is that it has difficulty detecting small stones if they are located near the bladder. If a stone is found, an x-ray follows to determine the orientation, shape and size of the kidney stone.

Intravenous Pyelogram or IVP is done after a contrasting agent is injected into the vein. Within minutes, the test will show if there is a kidney stone blocking the ureter. This is perhaps the best method to check if you have kidney stones even if there is a slight risk for an allergic reaction to the fluid that was injected into the vein.

If you think that the ultrasound is only used to see the baby growing inside the womb, think again because it can also be used to detect a dilated upper urinary tract and kidney if the stone is lodged in the ureter. Its limitation is that it cannot detect kidney stones that are no longer in the kidney area.

Another term for retrograde pyelogram is a cytoscopy. The test begins by inserting a telescopic instrument into the bladder. Then, similar to the IVP, a contrast agent is injected into this opening and an x-ray is done to find the kidney stone.

Some doctors say this is better than IVP because there is no way to get an allergic reaction from the contrasting agent. This is because you will first be injected with anesthesia so in essence, you dont feel anything.

Among the different tests done to detect kidney stones, this is only used when other tests have proven to be inadequate or unsuccessful.

It is only after careful diagnosis that doctors will be able to tell if you have kidney stones or not. From there, they can treat you by giving some medication or advising you to drink lots of water because you may be able to expel the stones on your own. But if this does not work, then surgery is the next option.