Friday 4 November 2011

Incontinence: Medications & Treatments

Stress urinary incontinence, urgency urinary incontinence and overactive bladder, mixed incontinence, chronic retention of urine, fecal incontinence are all common types of incontinence. Stress urinary incontinence occurs because of weak deficient urethral sphincter, which causes the bladder to leak during exercise, sneezing, or any other movement which puts pressure on bladder. This problem affects both men and women. Urgency urinary incontinence and OAB is the urgent requirement to pass urine and inability to get to a toilet in time. Mixed incontinence is very common and symptoms of both stress and urgency types of incontinence are present therein. Chronic retention of urine is a kind of leakage, occurring when the quantity of urine produced exceeds the bladder’s holding capacity. Fecal incontinence is the inability to control the route of gas.

Urinary incontinence is one of the most common chronic conditions requiring self primary care. Effective incontinence medications are available in the form of prescriptions for those exposed to toxins, chemical, other seasonal factors and suffering from overactive bladder (OAB) and urge Incontinence. Drugs can treat stress incontinence and are aimed at increasing the muscle tone in the sphincter, which holds urine in the bladder. Medications used to treat urge incontinence relax the unconscious bladder contractions and can help to improve bladder function. Stress incontinence medications can easily relieve urine from the bladder. Such drugs can be of much helpful for patients with mild stress incontinence not caused by nerve damage. They also contain side effects including anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance.

Treatment for incontinence starts with due attention from the person suffering from the disease. Some people have fears or phobia related to their social environment. Behavioral treatments can help them to control their fear. How sufferers manage and what effects does incontinence have on their daily routine are important questions that need answering while dealing with the disease. Managing incontinence means controlling and dealing with the issues they are infected with. Constipation and diarrhea are the most frequent causes of incontinence. Treatment of incontinence focuses on recognizing the existence and causes of these symptoms. Some dietary tips, biofeedback, uses of prescribed medication, and bowel management. Natural remedies are also beneficial with exercise, yoga, biofeedback, acupuncture, and other therapy. Eliminate those foods and drinks including alcohol, caffeine, spicy foods, high acidic foods that can trouble your bladder. Herbs have been successfully used to improve the state of incontinence patients.

Urge urinary incontinence happens when patient abruptly feel the need to urinate and then lose control of their bladder. Stress continence, and urge continence is more common in women compared to man.

Overactive bladder is the main cause of incontinence. Stress urinary incontinence mostly occurs in women. OAB is caused when the bladder muscle contracts unwillingly.

Heart Rate Monitor Stress Test - Get Your Accurate Heart Rate Condition In Real Time

Heart Rate Monitor Stress Test is More Accurate Than Other Methods

Before the development of portable heart rate monitors, manual methods for determining heart rates during performance were the only techniques available. The electronic equipment capable of registering and recording performance data had not been miniaturized and was only used and available to doctors and therapists. Today however it is a different story. The development of heart rate monitors which are portable and lightweight has brought the technology to everyone. The electronic sensors have the ability to record performance data quickly and accurately in a number of situations. To monitor heart rate variability accurately there simply is no better method available today.

Takes Out the Guesswork of Performance Levels

Utilizing the manual methods presented athletes and coaches with a number of problems for obtaining accurate heart rate data. The need to immediately measure the heart’s performance directly following a workout could be a challenge. Delays would of course provide inaccurate data. Some delays were unavoidable; like having to get out of the pool after a swimming workout to measure heart rate. Forgetting to record heart rate data may cause inaccuracies as well. Counting heart beats and calculating maximum heart rate data could be affected by a number of factors not including performance. A Heart rate monitor stress test simply makes recording performance data easier and takes out the guesswork.

Automatically Provides the Information Needed

Manual methods may have been satisfactory for the time but they had serious limitations. For one, they couldn’t record the heart performance during the workout. The information could only be access after the athlete stopped working out. The heart rate monitor can provide valuable performance information during the athlete’s performance which can be used to enhance training routines and targeted objectives. How an athlete’s body is reacting and performing during various phases of a stress test can be important training data when used to adjust training routines. A heart rate monitor stress test can reveal many factors about an athlete’s true fitness level that is not accessible with other calculating methods.

Provides Biometric Feedback that’s Reliable

Many athletes and even coaches use subjective criteria to determine the success of a stress test. They may do this without even realizing it most of the time. But the heart rate monitor is not subjective. The monitor will provide reliable, accurate and objective data about an athlete’s performance during a stress test without bias. Athlete performance may look good and feel good but at the same time be below or above the targeted heart rate zone. Only the reliable data that is provided by the heart rate monitor can reveal what is truly happening inside the athlete’s body before, during and after a performance stress test.

Dieting for Weight Loss

The most common reason that people cite for dieting today is weight loss. While most of us would love to claim the noble mantle of dieting for health the vast majority of us are doing so for vanity. This, however, is a perfectly acceptable and plausible reason for making the lifestyle changes that are necessary in order to diet. In fact, this reason might prove to be a far greater motivator than many of the other commonly stated reasons for dieting.

When dieting for weight loss one of the most common complaints is constantly feeling hungry. In order to help combat this, you might want to incorporate some of the following strategies into your dieting program. First of all, eat more high fiber foods. Whole grains, apples, pears, and lima beans are a great source of fiber as are many breakfast cereals. Easy does it however when it comes to fiber as it may be filling but there are some unpleasant side effects that may accompany heavy fiber eating (remember that beans are a good source of fiber). Try using a product such as Bean-o when consuming larger amounts of fiber. You might also try spreading your fiber intake throughout the day rather than consuming all your daily fiber at once.

Another method for feeling fuller when dieting is to drink plenty of water while dieting. Water provides an important service to the body and is very necessary when it comes to delivering all the nutrients where they need to go. Water also helps regulate your metabolism, which is very important to the dieting and weight loss process. Additionally, water will help you skin retain its elasticity so that your skin can go more easily back into place once the serious weight loss begins.

Learn to control your portions. We live in a world where portions are over inflated and super sized so often that we no longer know what an appropriate portion looks like. Restaurant meals are quite often more than adequate for at least two full meals and that is before salads, soups, appetizers, or desserts have been ordered. Learning to portion correctly can save you from over loading your calorie intake for the day massively. It can also help you get extra helpings of the lower calorie foods such as lettuce and other vegetables rather than taking such large portions of calorie rich starches or fried foods.

Do not go "Gung Ho". There are limits to what the body and the mind can handle. When you go on a diet you are making a drastic change to your bodies caloric intake. If you go overboard you can lead to health risks along the way. Begin cutting calories a little at a time and incorporate changes as you go rather than going in with an all or nothing attitude. If you go overboard with your dieting plans chances are that you are dooming your diet to failure.

Take your diet one step at a time for the best results and be sure to incorporate extra physical activity into the mix. Even gardening when done on a regular basis can burn calories, so can cleaning the house, and playing with the little ones. Take a walk to the park or the corner store rather than getting in the car and pull a wagon or push a stroller while you're at it. The added weight will be just enough resistance to burn a few extra calories.

Dieting for weight loss does not necessarily have to be a major sacrifice on your part but in order to be successful it will be a radical change in lifestyle, particularly if you need to lose more than a few vanity pounds. The health implications of loosing the weight are well worth the required effort and should not be taken lightly no matter how excited you are about your new body that is hiding inside your old one.

The number 1 killer in the United States and how you can beat it

Do you know what the number one killer in much of the developed world and especially the United States is? The answer is heart disease. With all the junk food that is available nowadays heart disease has turned in to the biggest killer today. So how can we beat this serial killer and add a few more years to our lives you ask? The answer is simple. We just need to eat healthier and the risk or contracting any sort of heart problem is greatly reduced. In fact you can add about 15 years to your life by just changing a few things in your diet.

The answer is really eating more raw foods and mostly vegetable foods. Raw vegetable foods contain zero cholestrol which is what causes heart disease in the first place.The reason people in the past sought to cook food so much is that it was often dirty and it would make us sick if we tried to consume it as it was. In African villages, people that do not have running water must go to the rivers and get it from there. Of course it is not clean so what do they do? They boil it first to kill the germs and then let it cool and then they will drink it. Nowadays the food we get from the stores is basically edible when we get it. We also wash the food at home so it is very safe for us to consume already. That means we are not taking any risks if we go raw with out diets, or at least replace some of our unhealthy eating habits with raw food.

Some people might be asking what is the main difference between raw and cooked food? Well the thing is when food is being cooked, the temperatures get so high that most of the nutrients present in the food will be destroyed! That means that we are not getting in as many nutrients as we would be led to believe. Many diseases that are prevalent today come about because people do not get as many nutrients as they should from the food they are eating.

When you eat raw clean food, you can rest assured that you will not miss out on any essential nutrients inside the food. Some people may also ask what the nutrients can do for them? Well the biggest thing is that they can easily prevent you from contracting any annoying niggling illnesses. Many people who have gone raw have not had any slight sign of the flu or cold in many years. Some even say it has been more than 15 years since they were last sick!

With all the advances in science and medicine, people in the developing world now have a life expectancy which is very high. Sometimes it is over 80 years old and that is despite people eating all of this unhealthy food. How many more years can we add to this if we all went raw? Maybe another 15 years! Japan has so many people living to an old age, probably because they eat so much raw food such as sushi, that it is actually becoming a huge problem for them!

Now going raw is a process and it is not going to happen overnight, but you have to take responsibility for your health. There are so many raw food recipes for beginners out there that you can try and they are very tasty. In fact you can save money and time because you do not have to stand around cooking food for so long. The many raw food recipes for beginners are easy to prepare and you will not regret as least incorporating a bit of raw food in your diet. There are also many other benefits you can get from raw food

Five Ways to Better Denial Management for Physicians

Denial management is one of the crucial aspects for a physician and can assist in improving the revenue cycle management. This can not only reduce errors while managing claim denials but also help in increasing the physician's revenue. This process is carried out by medical billers and coders who have specialized knowledge in the field and are aware of its legal aspects. Efficient denial management can increase the revenue in numerous ways; some of which are obvious while others enhance the revenue in an indirect manner.

Specialized medical billers and coders

Medical billers who are experienced and specialized in this field can perform better by utilizing their skills with incisive understanding of why the claim was denied in the first place. Specialized billers also represent your case strongly when the claim is correctly filed and the payer denies the claim on unclear grounds. Denial ratios are steadily increasing with payers in the given healthcare scenario.

Analysis

The best way to speed up the process of denial management is to analyze the grounds on which the claims are denied. Once the reason for claim denial is known, it becomes easier for medical billers and coders to correct the error and receive the deserved reimbursement. In Denial Management, Root cause analysis is more important than re-filing the claim.

Moreover, once the reasons for revenue leakage have been identified, any further loss can be pre-empted or stopped before it has occurred for the first time. Proactive Denial Management can increase the cash flow and the revenue by almost 10% by reducing the number of first-time claim denials.

Expertise

Denial management can involve communication with various entities and it is important to be trained in the process of collections from such entities. These involve recovering collectibles from any of the payers such as Medicare, Medicaid, BCBS, United Healthcare, Aetna and many local payers.

Appeals

A crucial part of claims denials is appeals and these are explanations for re-eligibility of the claim for payment which was denied earlier. Since these claims can only be appealed within a set period of time, it becomes important to prioritize them. Not every claim can be appealed thus this tool must be used judiciously. The Billing specialist must also possess the skill required to write appeal letters as the explanation with correction is what gets you paid in most cases.

Prioritize Denials as per value

Managing denied claims or appealing them can be made cost effective by reviewing the most commonly denied claims according to the dollar value and volume. This helps in determining which claims should be given the most importance and which are less likely to produce positive results. This can assist in cutting costs as well as saving time in the revenue cycle management.

Medical billing and coding specialists at medicalbillersandcoders.com are experienced in denial management and are skilled in other areas of medical billing and coding services such as charge entry, payment posting, credentialing, and managing accounts receivables.

Is Cellulite My Fault?

A question as old as cellulite itself. Many women, and some men, feel that their cellulite is a direct result of some action or in-action on their part but is this really the case? I will attempt to explain what cellulite is, how it occurs and in the process hopefully alleviate some of the guilt a few of you may be feeling.

So what is cellulite?

It is a change in the skin that occurs in most females and appears as dimpling or a 'cottage cheese' look in areas generally from the stomach down. The look of the skin is altered due to structural changes occurring under the surface, namely fat deposits collecting there. These fat deposits are contained within chambers and separated by collagen fibers underneath the skin. These chambers increase in size for a number of reasons including:

Genetics - There is an inherited likelihood of cellulite,

Becoming overweight - Too much fat in each chamber,

Age - The fibers shrink and tighten pulling the skin 'downward',

Hormones (Oestrogen) - Stimulates the storage of fat for purposes such as menstruation, pregnancy and breastfeeding,

Poor blood circulation - The fibers shrink due to lack of oxygen and the accumulation of waste products resulting in the tell-tale cellulite look,

Poor lymph drainage - The waste products can not be drained from the area and increase the fat cells,

Exercise - Or lack of, can be a cause as there is no increased blood flow to the areas,

High fat foods - An increase in fat intake can cause the excess fat to be stored in the problem areas,

Sun - Lengthy exposure to the sun accelerate the skin aging process,

Dieting - On and off dieting causes the body to store fat in the problem areas in preparation for the next 'starvation period', and

Stress - A highly stressful lifestyle causes the release of hormones which are associated with cellulite appearing.

How can I avoid cellulite?

The short answer is, maybe you can't. There are a number of things you can do to reduce the likelihood, the amount and the time at which cellulite will appear but for the vast majority of women, you will develop cellulite at some stage. Some of the things you can do to fend off its arrival are:

Diet - Eat a proper, low calorie diet consisting of vegetables, fruits and lean meats. Avoid high fat, sugary and processed foods.

Exercise - Have a regular exercise regime consisting of at least three sessions per week.

Slip, Slop, Slap - Slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen and slap on a hat when in the sun for long periods.

Avoid stress - Easier to say than do but there are numerous calmative techniques that can be used or applied in most situations.

So is it my fault?

Yes, er.. no. Well maybe. Now that you know what factors can cause the appearance of cellulite you are armed with the tools needed to make changes to your life to hopefully delay or possibly avoid its appearance. For some women, cellulite will appear regardless of a healthy lifestyle but continued diligence and adherence to that lifestyle may reduce the severity.

Medical Uses of Boswellia - Arthritis Cure Or Not?

Boswellia is a kind of herbal plant which became very popular due to its soothing fragrance. Boswellia has been known to be used in various treatments ayuverdic. This herb is considered one of the best natural anti-inflammatory. For natural antiinflammatory which means that no chemical additives to the drug or medicine. This herb can be regarded as particularly helpful for people who are fans of alternative medicine. Alternative medicine includes several natural ways of treating the disease and preventive measures.

Compared to other standard drug of choice for rheumatic boswellia extract is beneficial, since it is less toxic and more potent. The various benefits of boswellia include increased mobility, reduced joint swelling action, steroid use, less morning stiffness and grip strength improved. It is very useful in improving the quality of life in general, both to the problem of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.

Health Benefits: Research has identified specific active anti-inflammatory herb, which are commonly known as boswellic acids. In animal studies, these acids have been shown to significantly reduce inflammation in several ways. boswellic acids deter inflammatory white cells from infiltrating damaged tissue. Improve blood flow to the joints. They also block chemical reactions that set the stage for chronic inflammation that occurs in intestinal disorders such as Crohn disease and ulcerative colitis. Boswellia may help relieve symptoms of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Boswellia can be taken internally and applied topically to affected joints to relieve inflammation associated with these joint disorders.

A study shows the effectiveness of their use to treat your pain in the joints. Thirty patients with osteoarthritis of the knee participated in a 2003 study. Half the patients received a daily measure of Frankinsense Indian and the other half received a placebo. After eight weeks the groups were crossed over to the opposite action. All patients who received the supplement reported that their knee pain has been reduced substantially and could walk farther without pain than normal. The swelling in the knee joint was also reduced.

Other studies have shown anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. The diseases have been studied with good results have been reported include rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and bursitis.