Being an EMT

September 3rd, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

An emergency medical technician (EMT) are those individuals who wear medical uniforms and respond to emergency calls. They are responsible for providing whatever medical treatment that an individual might need before they actually make it to the hospital. If you are looking for an occupation with some excitement, you won’t be disappointed if you become an EMT.

EMT

Each state within the United States has their own requirements for an EMT certificate. If you are interested in becoming an EMT you need to check to find out what the requirements for your state are. In any case, every EMT must meet minimum requirements that are set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. You will at least need to be 18 years of age, able to lift and carry heavy loads and have good eyesight. Most of your training will take place at a community college or technical school. You might even find a local program that can be completed directly online. These classes will include instruction for certain emergency situations. Bleeding, fractures, cardiac arrest, childbirth and airway obstruction are examples of the types of medical conditions you will need to know how to treat. You will also be taught how to assess a patient’s condition, to perform CPR correctly, how to keep the patient’s airway open, how to immobilize the neck to prevent any sort of spine injury and more. You will also learn how to use the emergency equipment that is usually found in an ambulance.

Once you have completed your training program you will then be required to take a written test. If you pass the test you will then become an official EMT and can proudly sport your men’s scrubs. With your new certification you should be ready to face many challenges along the way. However, with these challenges also comes the joy and satisfaction of helping others in need. You will probably work closely with the local police and fire departments. You could even work for the fire department and be an EMT at the same time.

EMT and ambulance

When you are finally on the job you will quickly become acquainted with the daily life of an EMT. Once you are dispatched to the scene of a medical emergency you will be required to assess their situation to determine their medical needs. Once you have the patient stable you will transport him via the ambulance to the nearest hospital. You will then report your observations to the emergency room nurse wearing Katherine Heigl scrubs and provide addition treatment if necessary.

Anxiety Cures

September 3rd, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

One day last spring I was sitting in the garden enjoying the beautiful weather after a long cold winter. I was thinking about my long term struggle with anxiety. Suddenly a thought popped into my head. An idea that eventually led to me overcoming my long-term struggle with anxiety.

Over a two month period I developed the idea I now call the “Mind-Body Flip” and used it to finally defeat the nagging anxiety I have had since childhood.

Mind-Body Flip

The mind-body flip is simply a different way to look at the problem of anxiety.

Our anxious thoughts can lead to specific physical behaviors. I go “into my head” and pull away from others, I tend to stay in bed longer and sit around and watch TV.

The same thing is true when we are feeling happy. Happy and empowering thoughts also cause specific behaviors. When I’m feeling happy, I talk to friends, work outside in the yard and listen to uplifting music.

Step 1 – Record Your Behaviors

Each of us reacts to stress and happiness differently. The first thing you need to do is figure out exactly how you react in these situations. Just keep a small notebook handy and when you notice yourself feeling either anxious or uplifted, take a moment to notice how you are reacting.

  • How are you moving? (Quickly or Slowly)
  • What are you doing? (Watching TV? Staring into space? Talking to friends?)
  • What is your environment like? (Are you around people? Are you exercising?)

Step 2 – Flip Your Behavior

When you catch yourself feeling anxious begin to do the things you do when you are feeling happy.

The mind-body connection isn’t one way. Thoughts cause behavior and behavior causes thoughts.

By changing your behavior you will change your thoughts.

This method is very simple and effective. Notice that I used the word simple and not easy. It will take some effort on your part. When we are anxious we don’t “feel like” doing the things we do when we are happily. You will just have to force yourself at first.

Step 3 – Keep Learning

It is possible to control your anxiety without the use of drugs or spending years at the therapists. New development in our understanding of how the human mind works now allows your to bring your panic and anxiety under control quickly and easily. In fact you can stop anxiety attacks in 5 minutes.

Effective Acne Treatment

September 3rd, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

It’s not at all uncommon for people today to need to deal with acne concerns in the course of their teenage and grownup lives. You should not worry if you are still battling with acne: you will find a tried and tested strategy you can utilize to overcome your acne and start loving your fresh, blemish-free skin.

Your skin does not need to be an ongoing concern. There are now long-term, effective ways of caring for acne and getting rid of it once and for all.

Nearly all the people I have communicated with are annoyed with trying products that simply don’t work. There are undoubtedly rows upon rows of pimple ointments and solutions at your nearby pharmacy, all claiming to “zap zits” easily.

Exactly why don’t these items succeed? It is easy to understand: they won’t deal with the cause of the problem. All they do is try and reduce pimples one zit at a time.

Consider how silly this really is! What is actually the purpose of attacking a pimple when it’s now popped up and not finding anything to really treat the triggers of the problem?!?

That’s not a long-term remedy and it leaves hordes of folks frustrated. A large number of people quickly jump to the conclusion that acne cannot be treated and practically give up.

Acne can be solved – you just have to make sure you care for the root triggers!

Exactly how is this done?

You have to get a complete treatment solution “system” to be able to ensure that each one of the triggers are cared for. Below are the principal causes of acne:

1) Acne-Causing Bacteria

2) Inflammation of the skin

3) Excess oil on the skin (caused by overactive skin glands)

4) Skin Pores that are clogged

All those four issues are the top “enemies” any time you are fighting with acne. The treatment method you decide upon should target each one of them, should you are going to triumph over your battle.

It perhaps seems somewhat straightforward, and in fact it clearly isn’t brain surgery. In all honesty though, the major companies never generate products that do that since they just want to keep generating profit, and the one approach to accomplish that is to perpetuate acne issues and thereby have individuals purchase their goods.

Thankfully, there are established treatment systems which were specially engineered to touch on every one of the earlier mentioned triggers. By doing so, they’re ready to achieve results in a matter of days and do away with acne on a permanent basis.

While searching for a treatment method, be certain that it targets the problem from all facets. Normally these treatments will involve at least one or two steps and more than one product. This is certainly the sole way you will get the benefits you are worthy of.

Please do not become frustrated if you’ve tried out other products prior to now that have not proved helpful. There are actually proven systems out there, but you may need to look over and above your neighborhood pharmacy’s display. After you’ve discovered the perfect treatment, you will have the capacity to ditch all the others and love your beautiful blemish-free skin.

Categories: Acne Tags: ,

How Can Chronic Disease Be Avoided?

September 3rd, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

More people are being diagnosed with chronic disease today than ever before, and the impact on the cost of health care and productivity is staggering. With all the advances in medical science, one would have hoped that the onset of disease would have decreased. Instead, it has done the exact opposite with an increasing number of people relying more on public health systems around the world.

Chronic disease can be defined as a disease that is long-lasting or recurrent. In other words, these illnesses can last for months or even years. The effects of chronic disease can in most cases be debilitating as the patient is often no longer able to work and in many cases is no longer self-sufficient. Some of these conditions include: chronic fatigue syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. Did you know that nearly half of all Americans have a chronic medical condition of one kind or another? In fact, at least 70% of all deaths in the United States can be attributed to chronic disease.

These are extremely worrying facts that confront us today. Are we a population in decline? Are we generally becoming sicker or is there something else that is to blame? Why are more and more children being diagnosed with asthma and other respiratory diseases? Could our addiction to fossil fuels lead to our ultimate demise? As the situation deteriorates, the need to find answers to these questions becomes ever more urgent. The urgency to take control of our lives has led to a lot of confusion due to the many books, clubs and gurus that sprung up, each with their own philosophy.

Which of these philosophies are right? Are these based on scientific medical research or do they rely on purely religious considerations? Choosing a path can be a daunting task in your first step to improving your health. But there are a couple of key issues that need to be considered, such as: how are chronic diseases caused? Is it possible to avoid them? Is it too late once you have already been diagnosed with a chronic disease or is there a chance that it can be cured?

An authoritative voice on the subject is Dr. Rashid Buttar who has spent years putting together his bestseller, “The 9 Steps to Keep the Doctor Away”. In this book Dr. Buttar shares his extensive knowledge on the subject of chronic disease, toxicity and the inextricable link between them. He will describe to you in precise detail how toxins are absorbed into the body and how they trigger off a chain of reactions that caused millions of healthy cells to become free radicals that can lead to cancers and other chronic diseases.

The book itself sets out a plan to help you rid the body of toxins and to bring it back to optimal health. We may not always be able to avoid absorbing all toxins because they are everywhere. However, we can deal with them effectively and without creating more side effects in the process. We just have to know how, and “The 9 Steps to Keep the Doctor Away” is a definite must read to get you on your way.

Diabetes Diet

September 2nd, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

When an individual has diabetes, certain lifestyle changes must be made, including taking insulin or other medications, exercising, monitoring blood pressure, and engaging in healthy eating habits. There are certain foods that a diabetic should reduce or eliminate from the diet because they elevate blood sugar levels. These dietary changes may drastically affect an individual’s eating habits to the point where the person wonders does a diabetes diet work.

diabetes diet

The answer to this question is yes and altering the types of food consumed can make a noticeable difference not only in the medical condition, but also in the heart health and weight of an individual. The blood sugar ingested through the diet is converted to energy by the body in conjunction with the insulin or other medications taken. Monitoring the caloric intake and balancing it with the medications will prevent the blood sugar from dramatically rising or falling.

Diabetics should monitor the amount and type of carbohydrates ingested on a daily basis. Carbohydrates raise blood sugar levels and fats provide the body with a high number of calories. A safe alternative is to ingest proteins, especially as a snack at bedtime, in order to maintain blood sugar levels. A daily caloric intake of between 12 to 20 percent proteins such as fish, lentils, and soy will keep the blood sugar levels in the acceptable range.

When carbohydrates are ingested, they should be of the complex variety, such as whole grains and vegetables. The fiber in the whole grains is beneficial to the heart, helps in weight loss, and aids in proper digestion of food. Fibers do not provide energy to the body, but they cleanse it by passing water and waste through the intestine. Unsaturated fats are the best kind of fatty foods to eat and these can be found in vegetables, fruits, and beans.

Drinking fluids, but avoiding juices that are artificially sweetened, is recommended. Diabetics should also avoid sugars, alcohol, smoking, and caffeine. They should reduce their salt intake and avoid eating processed and fried foods. A physician will assist the diabetic with developing a diet plan that includes daily caloric intake, the proper amount of exercise, and caution about avoiding meals if taking insulin.

diabetes diet and you

The physician will answer the question “Does a diabetes diet work?” with a resounding yes. Following these recommended eating habits will maintain the blood sugar at healthy levels. It may take a while for the diabetic to become accustomed to the new diet, but the changes are worth it when it comes to controlling the condition.

Knee Ligament Damage

September 2nd, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

Here we will look at the different kinds of knee ligaments and the damages they can sustain.

Collateral Ligaments

The medial and the lateral collateral ligaments make up this group. The lateral strengthens the outer side of the knee and runs between your thigh bone and the top of your fibula. The medial ligament strengthens the knee joint on the inner side and runs between your femur and tibia. They both resist the side to side movement of the knee and prevent rotation. The lateral ligament is commonly damaged when your knee twists, or you are hit on the inner side of the knee. This is hard to occur on its own and usually happens due to outside forces.

The medial is a more common ligament to injure, and can also happen because of a direct hit to the outside of the knee or twisting of the knee.

Cruciate Ligaments

These basically cross each other and both join your tibia to your femur. The anterior cruciate ligament runs from the front of the tibia, to the base of your femur. It stops your shin bone from moving in front of your thigh bone. A tear in the ACL is quite a common injury amongst athletes, and it can happen when you change direction rapidly, decelerate when running, landing, or from receiving a hit to the knee. This is quite a serious injury as your stability is affected greatly. Surgery is often necessary to repair it.

The posterior cruciate ligament runs from the rear of your tibia to the base of your femur. It stops your shin bone moving backwards in relation to your thigh. It is stronger than the ACL. Tearing it is less common than other ligaments of the knee, and it can occur when your knee is hyper extended, or over flexed and the shin is forced backward. This will often heal with a rehab program and an injury to the PCL alone does not usually require surgery.

Different Grades Of Knee Ligament Damage

Although different ligaments are affected differently, they are graded the same. There are three grades of injuries that will help to classify what has actually occurred to the ligament that is injured. The symptoms and treatments vary according to the different ligament that you have damaged, however this system makes it easier to grade knee ligament damage.

Grade 1: This is a mild injury, and usually the ligaments have been stretched, but not torn at all. This is not a serious injury, and you may not have a lot of pain or swelling, but left untreated and you will be predisposed to a repeat of the injury.

Grade 2: In a grade 2 injury, the specific ligament will have a partial tear. It is common to experience both swelling and bruising, and using and moving the joint through a range of motion can be quite painful.

Grade 3: A grade 3 injury is the most severe, and the ligament will be completely torn. This will cause swelling and often bleeding under the skin. You will find that your joint is very unstable and weight bearing proves very painful.

We will look at and discuss the various treatments for the different knee ligament damages in a later post.

Holistic Dentistry

September 2nd, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

Holistic dentistry follows the principle that because the mouth is a part of the body, it gets affected by whatever affects the rest of the body and similarly, the body gets affected by whatever affects the mouth. It believes that dental health has a bigger influence on the overall health of a person than what appears superficially.

A dentist practicing holistic dentistry will not just examine your mouth and teeth but also enquire about your food habits and lifestyle. Only after considering the effect of nutrition on your dental health will he determine the treatment that you need. He might even suggest non-surgical alternatives like homeopathy for your dental condition.

Holistic dentists also prescribe no or very few antibiotics because of the negative effects they have on your body. Even for dental restoration, they use only biocompatible materials.

The biggest controversy with holistic dentistry is when these dentists recommend not carrying out root canal treatments because they believe that infection might still be there even after the root of the tooth is removed. If that infected socket is filled with a filling to replace the missing tooth, it would be injurious to the patient’s health.

Holistic dentists are also against amalgam fillings. Their argument is that amalgam fillings contain mercury and having it inside the mouth and chewing on it regularly might cause the mercury to leak out and reach other parts of the body. This could cause serious damage to the body. This is why they favor mercury free fillings.

Holistic dentistry aims towards making your smile not just beautiful but healthy as well. You will find holistic dentists following very different procedures from what traditional dentist follow. They sterilize their equipments without any chemicals, mostly with the help of steam. The materials they use for fillings are biocompatible.

You will find that most dentists practicing holistic dentistry are also environment conscious and incorporate the green attitude even in the smallest details of their practice. They offer low radiation digital x-rays. For cosmetic dental care, they provide laser dentistry and for pain management, they depend on amino acid based supplements.

They also take care to remove metal scraps while disposing of waste so that metals like mercury and nickel from dental filings do not end up in public water reserves. Besides, they use neither paper nor plastic, but cloth when it comes to patient bibs. The lighting they install will generally be the energy efficient variety.

The advice that you receive from your holistic dentist might surprise you. They will urge you to stop using your regular toothpaste or mouthwash and replace it with toothpaste that contains Aloe Vera and baking soda which are gentler on your gums, and an alcohol free mouthwash. They may even gently suggest reducing water wastage when you brush your teeth everyday!

Categories: Dental care Tags:

Gout is a Hereditary Disease

September 2nd, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

Hyperuricemia (high uric acid level in the blood) or gout has become so common that it is not uncommon to see cases in which a pair of father and son is suffering from same swollen big toe pain. There are some more serious scenarios where the siblings and parents, or almost the whole family is having the same problem.

Conventionally when doctors come across cases like that, they will automatically conclude that this disease is genetically linked, even without any official study that can support their hypothesis (which is already become a ‘conclusion’ for them).

Out great scientists often claim that they have unlocked the genetic codes of human, but have you ever heard of reports that say certain genes are responsible for causing hyperuricemia that leads to gout attacks in a person? As far as I understand, there is no such finding and I wonder if they ever will discover any.

Then why I still claim that gout is a hereditary disease? Actually, gout is not genetic or physical hereditary disease. May be one or two genes are responsible for the production of enzymes that are used in the regulation of purine and uric acid in the body, but that only has minor influence on the overall gout complication.

The reason I say gout is a hereditary disease because it does show some sort relationship dependent growth trend. Not only it affects members of the same family, actually it affects a wider scale of social group! If you are a gout victim of age 35 and above, chances are very high that some of your close buddies are suffering from the torturing pain too.

I call this kind of relationship dependent illness condition as The Social Heredity. The same phenomenon happens in other modern diseases too, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc. It is so obvious! But people choose to ignore it and blindly believe in what the ‘professionals’ say. Well, the professionals are known as professional because they specialized or go deep in certain field of knowledge. Most of them tend to miss out the big picture of the problem.

The social heredity nature of gout rooted from the lifestyle of members in certain groups of social economic population. You should have known that gout is a diet related disease. It is the direct result of what you put into your mouth over the years.

It is very logical and almost certain that people who are living in the same social circle tend to have the same diet habits. They go to the same canteen in the school, they go to the same restaurant or fast food outlets for their daily meals, they hang out in the same bar and drink about the same amount of beer, and they have fun in the same weekend party too. Thus, it is no surprise that some of them have (or potentially will get) the same diet related disease.

Now it should make sense to you on how the hereditary nature of gout comes about. Perhaps you can tell this to your doctors in order to open up their arrogant minds which are constantly reject simple common sense ideas to diseases. You do not need rocket science to understand your health.

Frequent Headaches

September 2nd, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

If an individual has recurrent headaches, that’s far more than 3 per week, and repeatedly takes around the counter medication for these headaches, the amount of over-the-counter medicine they are taking could actually be causing the headaches. When this happens, the headache is referred to being a rebound headache. Frequent head aches can outcome from improper dosing of over-the-counter medicines as the overdosing can be the end result of the medication interfering with the brains capability to correctly sense agony. This worsens the headache ache, which in turn leads to a vicious cycle of dependency and withdrawing.

frequent headaches

Other sorts of frequent severe headaches include transformed migraines, chronic tension headache, hemicrania continua, and new day-to-day persistent headaches. As the name suggests new every day persistent headaches are severe headaches that occur in people who have had no previous history of severe headaches. These folks may unexpectedly experience sudden discomfort day-to-day or as a outcome of another illness including a viral infection.

Hemicrania continua is a terrible chronic kind of headaches that causes severe soreness to one side of the persons’ face. These severe headaches have two separate sets of signs and symptoms depending on the person. Some people have cold or allergy like signs or symptoms accompanying these regular headaches, even though others have far more of the migraine kind reaction. These headaches often last for a day or more, while some people have signs and symptoms for months at a time with pain free months in between episodes. The difference in between these and transformed migraines is thought to be that hemicrania continua sufferers don’t normally have a background of migraines.

Transformed migraines are often a migraine kind of rebound headaches where overmedicating has brought on a dependency withdrawal cycle which ultimately brings about a lot more regular head aches and severe discomfort. The most effective solution to this trouble is to seek a doctor’s assistance in slowly weaning off the medication and resuming a healthier dosing cycle. If not caused by medicine, other physical or mental conditions might contribute to the regular reoccurrence of these repeated head aches.

headache and you

Chronic tension headaches are often an evolved kind of tension headache; the evolution can take place simply because of both mental and physical changes. An injury could have lasting everyday effects on a person who already suffers from tension headaches, as can unusual amounts of stress, depression, or numerous other ailments could have the same lasting results. The rebound headache dilemma can also be related back to tension headaches, as more than medicating begins to cause far more difficulties. These frequent head aches are ideal addressed with a doctor to produce the ideal plan for each individual.

How Depression Can Hurt You

September 2nd, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

This is a subject matter that we in the wellness field deal with quite often. There is neither a single answer nor a single miracle cure that I know of. But you do know that it is certainly bad when you feel tired and blue all of the time, do you not? And yes that is bad but have you thought about what it may be doing to your body? This article will try to deal with a few of these issues.

You say that is bad enough that you are depressed but now you are also sick all of the time. Do you not know that your emotions will impact your physical health; it is not all in your head. It lowers your immunity.

I bet that you have noticed that your colds never seem to go away and if they do they return quickly. I often have this discussion about infections with my clients that are depressed, these infections such as sinus headaches and allergies seem to be common among them.

Are you familiar with the study done by Stanford University where depressed women that had breast cancer were found to have higher levels of the stress cortisol and just about half of the immune response of cancer patients who were not feeling low? This substantiated the fact that your immune system is affected if you have this chronic health problem.

Exercise and diet just may the answer to your problem. First you should exercise at least three days a week for thirty minutes. A good walk on a beautiful day will do wonders for you and your depression. Especially if you do some deep breathing exercises while walking. You should breath deep and hold it (count to three) clear your mind and then release it. Walk with a friend and laugh; I firmly believe laughter and a good sense of humor are the keys that may open the door to your happiness.

Now about your diet, I know that when you are feeling down you could care less about what you eat. Your eating is either very often or not often at all – both patterns are bad for you. One way will add weight to you thus further justifying to you why you feel low (ex: the thought that no one cares so why should you care).

And if you starve yourself your body will then go in to a starvation mode. Both patterns are self destructive, a nutritionist or a wellness coach can help you with either.

I am sure your doctor will agree with me when I tell you that your depression may lead to you having increased levels of stress hormones, which may also boost your blood pressure and heart rate. Now you know that is not good. If this depression is chronic please do consult your doctor and please be open and honest with her, she can help you or find help for you,

You owe it to yourself to be good to yourself, you must realize that you are a worthy person and deserve happiness. Please practice laughing even when you do not feel like it, your brain only knows what you show it. If you think negative thoughts learn how to stop those thoughts. I wish you well. This illness when it is chronic may not only make you blue but may also hurt your health. Take good care of yourself. And as always you must live well to be well.