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Then the hand is gently moved alternately towards the back of the hand and the palm

Home remedies for common diseases

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Tips and help from Mother Nature

Nature likes to help with ailments of all kinds. The circulation recovers with a tea made from lemon balm and rosemary. The Odermenningkraut tea brings a «dislocated» stomach back in order. A few forks of raw sauerkraut will also get your stomach and intestines back on track.

A good tip for hangover headaches: rub some peppermint oil onto the bridge of your nose. These are just a few hangover home remedies. Almost everyone has advice on hand when it comes to relieving the pain of too much alcohol. The better way would be not to let it get that far.

Prevention of hangover

Before the evening becomes boozy, create a perfect base for the alcohol with a good meal. «Beer on wine, let it go – wine on beer, I advise you» is also wrong in the reverse order, since the general rule is: Do not drink together!

Then the fusel oils that are responsible for the hangover don’t have that much chance. The following tip is a preventive home remedy for hangovers: keep adding water between alcoholic drinks. (Tips against the hangover the next morning)

When people become bedridden, family carers often face new tasks. Changing the bed sheet is one of these requirements. If you are new to caring for other people, these tips can help.

Changing sheets for bedridden people: ideally in pairs

Changing the sheets of people in need of care is a challenge that should not be underestimated. So the first tip is: find a second person to help you. This allows you to change the bed sheet while your helper is supporting the bedridden person. Together, it is easier to roll the person in need of care onto their side, because this is the only way to change the bed sheet without the patient having to leave the bed.

Stand together on one side of the bed to turn the person on their side. Talk to them and ask them to support you in your project as far as possible. Then turn the patient to one side of the bed together. Make sure to support the head with a pillow. While your helper is supporting the patient, you can roll up the exposed part of the sheet up to halfway and then open the new part as well. Tip: The easiest way to do this is with a fitted sheet, which also has fewer wrinkles. You can now carefully place the bedridden person on the fresh half. On the other side, completely remove the old sheet and finish making the bed. Finally, pull the fresh sheet straight again from both sides.

Changing the sheets alone: ​​tips

Of course, it is also possible to make the bed without the help of a second person. The basic principle remains the same. If you want to turn the bedridden person to the side on their own in order to be able to change the sheets, you should proceed as follows: Stand the leg of the patient facing away from you and stretch the other. Place the arm facing away from you over the patient’s chest. Then carefully grab your shoulders and hips and pull him over to you. He is now in a similar position as in the stable side position. For more stability, you can also place a pillow under the knee of the bent leg. A good tip to completely prevent the patient from falling out of bed: Pull the bed rail up on the side on which you are currently laying the person. When changing the bed sheet, proceed as described above.

Posture: Tips for your own health

Last but not least, take care of your own health when caring for bedridden relatives. Therefore, take the tips for a healthy posture to heart in order to protect your spine and prevent back pain: The height of the bed should be adjusted so that the mattress is at the height of your stomach.

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When positioning the patient, try to relieve your back by always standing with your legs apart and consciously keeping your back straight.good sports argumentative essay topics If the bed is very flat and cannot be adjusted, crouch down with your legs apart with your back straight when you want to change the sheets. (Washing the hair of bedridden people – that’s how it works)

Elderly people and people in need of care in particular should loosen their joints as regularly as possible so that health problems do not worsen due to the lack of exercise. You can find out which exercises are particularly suitable here.

The most common diseases of old age

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Avoid permanent movement restrictions

People in need of care are often no longer able to get enough exercise. Long-term lack of exercise due to immobility can result in your joints stiffening and so-called contractures – permanent restrictions on movement – occur. These also cause great pain.

It is therefore important that patients in need of care who are permanently confined to bed due to age-related diseases such as joint inflammation, rheumatism or other diseases, regularly loosen their joints. Various exercises are available for contracture prophylaxis, which patients should perform with the help of family caregivers. (Recognize signs of rheumatism at an early stage)

Loosen the forearm and wrists

To do exercises with the forearm, it should be supported with a pillow. Then the hand is gently moved alternately towards the back of the hand and the palm. Then tilt the palm of your hand to the right and left, as if you were waving. In order to be able to loosen the finger joints, the fingers are alternately spread and then brought together again, or clenched into a fist several times and opened again. The forearm can be moved by flexing and stretching it. A sequence of movements like in dumbbell training, only without the dumbbell.

Relaxation exercises for the feet

In order to perform exercises with the feet, the patient’s headboard should be raised slightly. Place a pillow under the knee joint. Now the foot is alternately bent and stretched towards the sole and back of the foot. If the resident cannot flex their toes by themselves, bend and straighten them for them. The knee joints can be loosened by alternately bending and straightening the patient’s knees or raising and lowering the extended leg. If the resident is able to do so, they should flex their leg during this exercise. (Knee gymnastics for seniors: stretching and strengthening joints)

Carry out exercises carefully

Regular exercises are important, but it is also a prerequisite that the patient feels comfortable doing it: «Practice daily and carefully, supporting the joints with both hands and not moving against resistance. 

Staying flexible: Sitting gymnastics for seniors – tips for exercises

Stop immediately if you are in pain, «advises Sigrid Junge, an expert at the Arbeiterwohlfahrt, which also offers relatives supportive advice on caring for those in need of care, in a report by the» Hessische / Niedersächsische Allgemeine «. If the person concerned tolerates the exercises well, they should be repeated several times a day do five to ten repetitions.

If you are prescribed a drug, one thing is certain: it has been approved and checked by a government agency. But what about artificial hip joints, pacemakers or breast implants? Which quality criteria are they subject to and how can patients protect themselves?

Frequently used medical devices

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How are medical devices tested?

Whether a burst breast implant or a broken hip prosthesis: Most of the time it is just exceptional cases – at least that is what many think. After all, most patients assume that such medical products would have to go through extensive testing procedures. But far from it. As the ARD magazine «Kontraste» reports, the manufacturer only needs a CE mark to bring his product onto the market, compared to pharmaceuticals. The manufacturers either award this to themselves or they receive it from so-called certification bodies, as reported by «Spiegel». Certifiers such as TÜV or Dekra come into play with medical devices in certain risk classes, which include breast implants, for example.

Faulty medical devices: Little control, little security

But how can defective medical devices still get onto the market? According to «Kontraste», there are two main weak points: On the one hand, the certifiers only rarely check the real products, but rely on the documents submitted by the manufacturer. Deceptions by «black sheep» are therefore particularly easy. On the other hand, the test centers are not independent, so the «Spiegel». If a certifier constantly complains about defective medical devices, word gets around. The result: other manufacturers prefer to have their products tested where they promise quick and «safe» approval. The ARD magazine also criticizes that products such as teddy bears or fairy lights have to be tested in laboratories, while the CE seal is sufficient for medical products.

Legislators are responsible for test procedures

The legislator is responsible for the test procedures. That sounds reassuring at first, but there is a catch. Because if defective medical devices lead to problems in patients, they are not only the ones who suffer, but also have to prove the manufacturer’s error, according to the WDR. Experts now see the legislator as responsible for tightening the test procedures and adapting them to the Medicines Act, reports the «Tagesschau». Controlled studies of effectiveness, safety and quality are required before drugs are approved for the market. (These mistakes should be avoided when taking medication)

Improvements only in sight in the long term

Maik Pommer, spokesman for the Federal Office for Drugs and Medical Devices, also admits that there is a lot of catching up to do with regard to quality assurance. It is now the responsibility of the legislature to change this. However, since the regulations have to be binding across Europe, one reckons with «Kontraste» that there will only be noticeable improvements in a few years when it comes to testing medical devices. After all, according to WDR, the EU wants to improve the selection of the approval institutes in the course of the year and make them more careful.

How can patients protect themselves?

Until legal regulations guarantee complete protection against faulty medical products, it is up to you to obtain comprehensive information and to minimize the health risk. Anyone who is dependent on the insertion of a stent, an implant or another medical device due to an illness should obtain detailed information in advance. “Not least against the background of the scandal surrounding defective breast implants, many patients are increasingly asking themselves to what extent they can protect themselves from health risks through medical products,” summarizes the head of the medicine department at the AOK Federal Association, Dr. Gehard Schillinger, the current situation. (Protect yourself from heart attack and stroke)

lifestyle.t-online.de: Breast implants harbor many dangers

Advice is the be-all and end-all

You should therefore take time for a consultation with the treating doctor. He knows best about the risks of treatment and about long-term experience with a medical device. According to Schillinger, the question of whether the product is also approved in the USA can be particularly informative for implants. The reason: In America there are much tougher approval conditions for medical products than in Germany, for example. (These foods can make your life longer?)

Telemedicine enables patients to evaluate and monitor their health values ​​on a daily basis – from the comfort of their own home. This is done by an online doctor who is in contact with the mostly chronically ill. However, telemedicine is not a substitute for a visit to the family doctor.

How to prevent a heart attack

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What does telemedicine mean?

Telemedicine is a relatively new field in health care that experts have high hopes for. The principle of telemedicine has certain advantages. It offers a great deal of flexibility to patients with dangerous diseases. Because telemedicine works like a virtual doctor’s office. What the family doctor normally cannot do, the online doctor makes possible: a regular examination of the patient’s vital signs. Cardiac patients have their ECG device ready to hand in their own living room and can have the values ​​read by the device themselves. These are sent to the respective online doctor via the Internet or telephone, who then evaluates them. If there are abnormalities, the necessary measures are initiated. (Lowering Cholesterol: What Seniors Can Do)

The advantages of the online doctor

Thanks to telemedicine, there is regular check-up without the patient having to step out of his home. This enables patients to live more independently. Another advantage of telemedicine is that with this type of patient monitoring there are no long waiting times, such as when visiting a family doctor. If a patient feels chest pain, they hold the EKG machine to their heart and let it measure the data.

According to the «Handelsblatt», even older patients get along well with the modern devices.