If you have an elderly relative or if you’re getting older and still want to live independently, you’ve probably heard about medical alert systems, and you might be wondering about the difference between no-fee and monitored systems.
A no-fee system is an affordable way to get the help you need if something happens to you when you’re alone.
Why you might want to get one:
This system makes a phone call for you if you’re injured or have an emergency in your house and you can’t get to the phone. You wear a button on your wrist, clothing, or around your neck. That’s how you activate the device.
This kind of system can help people who might have falls, strokes, heart attacks, and more.
They work for two reasons.
First, you don’t need to be near a phone to be able to call for help.
Second, once you press the panic button, you don’t have to do anything more. This is good if you’re injured.
How does a no monthly-fee medical alert system work?
When you press the panic button, the system starts dialing the numbers (up to four) you programmed in when you set it up. When someone answers, the system announces that there’s an emergency.
They system then hangs up. Your friend or relative can then call you back after 30-60 seconds to find out what happened. You can use the speakerphone in the base unit to talk to them .
If no one answers the first call, the system calls the next person, and so on.
Many people set the final number called to be their local Emergency Medical Service, or 911.
Problems with no-fee medical alert devices:
The big problem with no fee medical alert systems is the risk that all of your contacts will be away from the phone.
If this is a worry, you can simply set the system up to dial 911 first, and only use it in emergencies where you want an ambulance to come.
Advantages of a medical alert system that has no monthly fee:
Cost is the biggest advantage. Monitored systems charge you $15 to $40 or more per month to have trained operators waiting to help you if there’s an emergency. This is good peace of mind, but it’s expensive.
Heart AttacksTag Archives
What is a No-Monthly Fee Medical Alert System?
Heartburn – Causes, Symptoms and Prevention
Heartburn is a common condition that affects more than 70 million Americans annually. It typically begins with a burning sensation that starts in the upper abdomen and moves up into the chest, often making its way to the back of the throat, and sometimes up into the jaw, arms and back. It usually feels worse when lying down or bending forward.
Symptoms & Signs
Heartburn is an uncomfortable feeling of burning and warmth behind the breastbone (sternum) but sometimes rising as high as the neck. It usually occurs after meals, when lying down, or at night while sleeping.
Heartburn usually is due to gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), the rise of stomach acid back up into the esophagus. Heartburn has nothing whatsoever to do with the heart though the discomfort of heartburn may be confused with heart pain and vice versa. Heartburn is a popular nonmedical term that often is referred to medically as pyrosis.
What Causes Heart Burn?
Heart burn is caused by a faulty muscle in the stomach. There is a “flap” at the top of the stomach that stops food from traveling back up into the esophagus. Sometimes the flap doesn’t work properly and stomach acid escapes from the stomach. When the acid escapes, heart burn occurs.
Factors that contribute to heart burn: pregnancy, smoking, eating large meals, being overweight, and wearing tight clothing around the waist.
Heartburn usually ignites a burning pain that runs from your stomach to your breastbone, and it’s often accompanied by a sour taste in your mouth. Heart attacks, on the other hand, may cause a prolonged heavy feeling or squeezing pain in your chest. (Angina, or heart pain, causes similar pain that lasts just a minute or two.) Although pressure chest pain is more commonly associated with heart disease spasm of the esophagus may cause the same symptoms. It’s best to assume the pain is coming from the heart, get emergency help to rule the heart out as a cause, then focus on the esophagus.
Prokinetic medications are those that increase activity or peristalsis of the stomach to help push contents into the intestine more quickly. The medications metoclopramide and domperidone are both prokinetic medications. This medication may be beneficial in those people whose reflux symptoms are caused by delayed stomach emptying.
Try Tea
Green tea has been used for centuries in Japan as an after dinner drink. Green teas aid the body in the digestion process, and help soothe the stomach’s sensitive tissue.
PREVENTION
Heartburn and its symptoms can often be prevented or at least minimized by following a few, standard guidelines.
1. Never smoke before or while eating. Smoking often causes one to swallow small amounts of air, which form air pockets in the digestive tract with the added pressure of food. Smoking also slows the body’s ability to digest food.
2. Monitor which foods cause you to suffer heartburn. Often times, eliminating certain gas forming foods (such as beans, cabbage, cucumbers and onions) from the diet, brings an end to suffering.
3. Eat at a dinner table in an upright, sitting position.
Take xanax, reduce anxiety, avoid heart disease
There’s always quite a big slice of the population that’s down. For them, the world revolves through shades of grey into black and back again, and there’s nothing worse than meeting happy people to make them feel really bad. Somehow all the bitterness and resentment comes to the surface. It’s a Scrooge, “Bah, humbug!” day everyday, including Christmas, if the crowd around them is bouncing around being all joyful. Perhaps it’s a fear the happiness might somehow be infectious. They want to drive all these jolly people away unless, in a moment of weakness, they find a little joy creeps up and bites them on whichever part of the anatomy might be exposed. But, for whatever reason, unhappy people resist happiness with a real enthusiasm. Sadly, the increasing body of medical evidence is that this is shortening their lives.
Let’s start with the European Heart Journal which, this month, is carrying an article suggesting that people who find peace and joy, if not excitement, in their lives are less likely to suffer from heart disease. This is not to say everyone should walk around in a state of pure contentment all the time. Everyone is entitled to periods when they feel angry, anxious or depressed. It’s a balance between dark and light. It seems the people who feel positive about themselves for longer, live longer. While those who lapse into longer lasting anxiety and depressive states are more likely to suffer heart attacks. This builds on an increasing body of research findings that happy people have stronger immune systems, lower blood pressure and are less likely to contract diabetes. Just as important, people with a positive outlook are more likely to enjoy good sleep, only drink moderate amounts of alcohol and are better able to quit smoking. But, as with all science, there is a need for more research. The immediate article comes out of a ten-year study involving 1,740 participants. This is on the borderline of statistical significance. There should more more studies involving larger numbers of people to tease out all the complex strands that contribute to longer or shorter life expectancy.
For those of you interested in this issue, you will find it useful to look at http://www.springerlink.com/content/0474658172222350/fulltext.pdf. The most interesting studies involve groups of nuns who live 7 to 10 years longer than average. They live “stress-free” quite unlike the modern secular majority whose lives are blighted by worry and anxiety. As it stands, the medical profession prefers to deal with simple remedies. To keep health insurance costs to a minimum, physicians write out a prescription for xanax while signalling for the next patient to enter. Dealing with abstract notions of happiness is not in the program for time-crunched doctors. This is unfortunate because, although there is no evidence that happiness cures serious illness, it can always make the experience of illness more bearable. This does not deny that if you buy anti-anxiety drugs like xanax online, you will not find anxiety levels reduce. But there is a difference between an absence of anxiety and a positive attitude to life. The evidence is mounting that happiness improves longevity. So, if you want to avoid an early death, start looking for a little joy. You never know. It may just creep up on you and bite you when you are least expecting it. That bite could add years to your life.
Is Fish Oil as a Blood Thinner Really Effective?
A fish oil blood thinner works to naturally thin the blood and stop clotting, and can help you avoid the risk of heart attacks and strokes with a daily fish oil supplement. This wonderful oil also provides a wealth of other benefits too, so here is a guide to them and tips on selecting the very best.
A fish oil blood thinner should not be used if your are taking any medicine for blood disorders or aspirin before consulting with your doctor, just to be sure that it’s safe for you to do so.
This amazing omega 3 oil has been shown to prevent platelets from sticking together which can lead to dangerous blood clots, boosting the circulation and significantly reducing your risk of heart disease, making it one of the best natural blood thinners.
It can also help lower bad cholesterol, lower your blood pressure, improve your brain health and mental well-being and provide such an effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis that many patients have come off their meds altogether.
To get these benefits and more you need to know what to look for when choosing your fish oil capsule.
Of the two main omega 3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA, you want to get a high amount of DHA as this is proven to be responsible for the fish oil blood thinner properties and most of the other health benefits.
Look for at least 250mg of DHA per tablet as any less and you will not benefit as much.
Also check they have been molecularly distilled to remove all the dangerous toxins like mercury and lead which many on the market contain and can cause health problems with regular use.
I hope this article on the fish oil blood thinner qualities has opened your eyes more to what else this amazing natural substance can do, helping you to maintain good health in the present while helping you to avoid many of the deadly diseases in the future.
If you would like to learn more about the high quality DHA omega 3 supplements I personally take daily, visit my website today.
Discover the best omega-3 fish oil today.
Rich Hawkins is a dedicated researcher of nutrition, diet and the amazing health benefits of high-quality fish oil. Take a moment to visit his site now at www.best-omega-3-supplement.com and discover the very latest and effective omega-3 fish oil supplements Rich recommends after extensive research.