Essential First Aid Practices Every Parent Should Know

As a parent, you probably already have a stocked medical aid kit. Things like medical gauze and various plasters and dressings come standard with most of them. But for any of these items to be of use, we need to know how to use them. 

When it comes to kids, first aid techniques tend to be a little different. Although it's always best to do proper first aid training, there are some basics that a parent should familiarize themselves with. So what are the essential basics? Ranging from potentially life-saving to good-to-know skills, here are the top three first-aid practices every parent should know:

The Heimlich

This procedure is a little different for kids than it is for adults. If your child is choking, stay calm and do the following: Grab your child by their waist. Place your fist just above their navel. Your other hand is then made in the shape of a fist and pushed hard into the abdomen. You may feel reluctant to push too hard, but a successful Heimlich does require force.

As you push down on your child's abdomen, move your grip in an upwards direction. The motion is similar to the motion of lifting your child. Continue repeating this motion until the choking is relieved or help arrives. Preventing choking is just as important, and you should understand the correct foods for your toddler for this reason.

CPR

If your child is not breathing, they may require mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. This technique is not for cases where your child is choking, but rather for not breathing for any other reason. Note that if your child can still breathe faintly, it is best to take them straight to the emergency room. To perform CPR on a child, do the following:

Turn the child on their back and place the heel of your palm on their chest. Keep your hand position centered between the line of the nipples and gently perform compression by pressing down. In this case, excessive force can damage or even break ribs. The goal is to get airflow to the lungs, so you only need to use as much force as is needed to compress the chest cavity. After a brief compression, release before pressing down again.

Dealing With Nosebleeds

Nosebleeds are common in children under the age of ten. There are numerous causes, most of which are harmless. To treat a nosebleed, do the following: Have your child sit upright with their head tilted ever so slightly forward. You do not want your child to lean back. This would allow the blood to flow down into the digestive system, which may cause nausea. 

Take a clean cloth and pinch the bridge of your child's nose. The bleeding should subside after about 10 minutes. If it persists, take your child to the emergency room. If the bleeding occurs after an impact or your child experiences dizziness, consult a doctor immediately.

Basic first aid practices can ultimately save lives. It is even more essential to know specific first aid skills to keep your children safe in worst-case scenarios and dangerous situations if you are a parent. 

Teaching Your Child About Money

As a parent, you want to make sure that your child has every opportunity available to them for the future. While you may spend time discussing manners, and the importance of education, it can also be incredibly useful for them to understand how best to manage and use money, including in the distant future. Starting this as soon as possible can really help them to understand the importance of being smart with money, as well as how vital it can be to save rather than spend. 

Pensions

Your child is only at the beginning of their life, so you may wonder what the point is of discussing this far into the future, but it can really help them live a full life. By instilling the need for a pension in your child, they could understand the importance of money in retirement that bit more, and may also opt to hold a private pension - for more info click here, as well as one that their company might provide, to give them a bit more financial security later on in life. One of the ways you could potentially educate them on pensions is to show them your own pension statements or accounts, as well as the amount you pay into it each month from your standard pay check. 

Budgeting

Having knowledge about how to budget, and what it means, can also help your child to correctly manage their money throughout their life. Alongside making your money stretch to meet your needs, these lessons can also aid them in learning to save. This can be accomplished through the use of a weekly allowance, that they could earn via chores, good behavior, and other tasks. If they then see something they wish to buy that is more than their allowance, your child must then learn to put the money aside themselves to afford it. While it can be tempting to buy the item for your child, this won’t help them to learn to become financially independent.

Resisting Impulses

Many people, adults and children alike, fall prey to temptations and impulses on a daily basis. While some may not really affect a person’s life, others can lead to serious debt, as well as potential health problems. At points, these impulses could be used as a means of reducing negative emotions, which is not a healthy coping mechanism. Equipping your child with the tools they need to avoid impulsive purchases, such as the method where you wait a few days and then, if you still want the item and it is within your means, you could permit yourself to purchase it. Impulse purchases can become a real problem if left unchecked, especially when it means that bills or rent can no longer be paid. Finding healthy ways to avoid these, as well as to manage emotions in general, can really help to prevent these consequences from occurring.

The younger a child is when they start to understand the necessity and importance of money, the more likely they may be to have respect for their finances. Keeping your child informed, and using your own finances as an example, can really go a long way towards their own future financial stability.

Things You Should Know Before Taking a Water Pill to Lower Blood Pressure

A few months ago, I went for a follow-up appointment with my physician in regards to my elevated blood pressure. It has been trending to be way too high for close to a year now. We discussed how dangerous it can be, and it would be in my best interest to bring it down with the help of medication. We went over my options that were most suitable for my age, gender and race. I opted to go with the water pill since it had the least side effects. The most common issues that come with them is frequent urination. I figured I could live with it since I am home all the time anyway. 

I took the water pills for 2 months and everything was fine for the first 6 weeks. I felt no different, but unfortunately my BP wasn't necessarily going down by much. I had a few days where it was perfect, but most days it was still elevated. I noticed a few weeks ago that my arms started to turn red and tiny little bumps appeared out of nowhere. I remembered going out to work in my garden, but did so when it was in the cooler part of the day. This was nothing outside of the norm for me. I don't get a sunburn easily at all. I started going through every possible thing that was different in my daily routine, and if I was eating anything different or using anything new. Nothing had changed as far as I could think. 

After doing some research, it turned out that I have a sun rash. It became pretty irritated and appeared on my chest area and lower arms, right where a t-shirt would cut off. I have never had any issues with the sun before, and luckily I wear a face moisturizer with SPF every day, so my face was not affected. It got to a point to where it felt a bit feverish and swollen in some areas, and I had to resist the urge to scratch.  As I got deeper into researching what caused it, it turned out that a water pill (diuretics) is the top medication that can cause it. That explained everything! Once I figured all of this out, I stopped taking the water pill and oddly enough, my BP levels have somewhat come down and are closer to normal, but still needs to be lower. 

I have another follow-up appointment in July and I will decide if I will need to try another medication. The rash has completely gone away, and I am able to go outside without any issues.  If you do get a sun rash, the best way to heal it is to use cortizone cream, avoid using scented products, drink plenty of water to stay hydrated, and avoid sun exposure as much as possible. If you do need to go outside, be sure to wear sunscreen and a light-colored long-sleeve shirt. If you can't deal with the itchiness, Benadryl will help. It took me a solid 2 weeks to get it completely healed up. I can't imagine staying on the water pill and not being able to be outdoors. No way! I wanted to share this information in the event anyone has considering going on a water pill to lower blood pressure. Thank you for stopping by today! 

What Does Family Medicine Consist Of?

The concept of the family doctor is strongly linked to the origin of family medicine. Advances in society, technology, and medicine have made this specialty to be seen more as integrative medicine, which means that the doctor is close to the patient and his family, and applies multidisciplinary with a team of professionals from different areas. 

The Entire Family 

Family medicine is dedicated to answering continuous and integral health problems of adults and children together as a family, considering the bio-medical, psychological, social, or spiritual to deliver a diagnosis. The family doctor treats all types of patients, whether they are healthy or sick people, and is present throughout the patient's life cycle (from newborn children to the elderly) to promote healthy lifestyles and preventive measures to take care of their health. Dr. Francene Gayle is one such physician.

The Specialists

Specialists in this area are often the first contact for patients. They work in an organized manner together with other professionals, acting as the family's medical team to guide what to do, and where to go, if they need to be referred to the corresponding specialist and, in this way, have adequate clinical control. In the United States, family medicine has its origins dating back more than three decades, but it has been in the last ten years when it experienced its greatest growth. The family doctor is the one who the patient can trust, know the reality in which they live with their family, solve their usual problems efficiently and help to choose, at a given moment, the place or specialist to handle their medical needs. 

Diagnosis and Treatment

Family medicine has become an alternative to address the health problems presented by individuals, which undergoes changes on all fronts: social, economic, cultural, and educational. It is for this reason that the specialist in this area will make a diagnosis to find solutions for major diseases and provide treatment, so the patient can feel better. Any patient who wants to take care of their health prevents the appearance of diseases, detects them early, or requires comprehensive management should consider going to a family physician, who will carry out therapeutic work to deliver a diagnosis and discuss further actions to be taken.

Family medicine is based on the values ​​and competencies of the specialty, deepening its knowledge and clinical skills for the benefit of the family, which guarantees close, warm, and highly decisive care. The family doctor is responsible for ensuring the long-term health of the same patient. This creates a relationship between doctor and patient essential to maintain good health and lifestyle. Your family doctor is the one who best knows the state of your health since he closely monitors and manages your well-being and how your environment can influence you. This, added to the knowledge the family physician has from the other branches of medicine, makes the work much more effective and helps you prevent diseases.

Conclusion

Now that you know more about this specialty of medicine, remember that you have the opportunity to receive care focused on your needs from your own family doctor. Put into practice healthy habits that your family doctor tells you, so you can prevent illnesses. Remember that your well-being is your commitment.

Gadgets to Help Your Skin Care Regime

As the world of technology grows into ever more expansive worlds, there are numerous ways in which they can help your skin care regime. This will help you save money on expensive skin lotions and will ensure that you have plumper fresher skin for longer without the cost of going to spa treatments. As more technology becomes accessible, now is the time to invest without breaking the bank. 

Luminance RED

Luminance RED offers a range of different products that can make sure your face, mouth and even genitals stay clear and healthy. Their lip device delivers concentrated wavelengths of light that can combat sores around the lips. Equally, they offer a mouth device that does the same and can fight the pesky and painful ulcers that can form in the mouth. To make it more of an attractive prospect, they are offering a 6-month money back guarantee. 

Trinity Facial Toning Device

This is an award-winning skin care device that has multiple attachments to rejuvenate your appearance. It is essentially fitness for your face. It sculpts the face making it tighter and helps it to combat aging and sagging. Adding definition to the face can strip the years off of your face in the matter of days. 

Dermapore Ultrasonic Pore Extractor

This handy and cheaper tool can cleanse your face and keep your pores dirt free. Combatting oil and blackheads by utilising a rounded spatula shape to not only comfortably remove blackheads but also minimise pores. This also lets your serums and moisturizers penetrate the skin and activate the ingredients of your lotions. This is a simple to use tool that can easily brighten your look. 

Face Defuzzers

Instead of throwing money at the newest lotion or skincare cream, buy these fantastic tools that will unveil the secret to baby-smooth skin. This dermatological tool is a fine blade that can remove dead skins to reveal the softer and fresher skin underneath. Equally, these versatile tools can be used to shave off peach fuzz, brow shaping and any unwanted hair. Use it on clean dry skin and combine it with a decent moisturiser to have fresher, brighter skin. 

Facial Steamer

This facial steamer will detoxify and cleanse your skin no matter what your skin type is and will clear your pores. On top of this, it will stimulate circulation to the face and remove dead skin cells. It utilises nano-sized water molecules to penetrate the skin and stop acne and spots breaking out in clusters. This will also help your skin be more receptive to skincare creams and treatments. In no time at all you will have a clear and beautiful skin complexion that will be the talk of all your friends. 

Gadgets

There are so many handy tools out there. Whilst they may seem initially costly, they can save you money in the long run. No longer will you need an inordinate amount of skincare products. You can find the ones that work for you and combine it with a handy new gadget.