Medical Supplies You Should Keep Handy While Traveling

In the midst of travel preparations, when transportation options, lodging plans, and expectations of exciting activities occupy your mind, it is easy to overlook the importance of bringing along a well-thought-out pack of medical supplies. However, despite its many attractions, traveling carries with it some health risks especially as you move farther and stay away longer from your own residence. That is why a medical kit should be an important inclusion in your luggage when you travel. The type and quantity of medical supplies to carry depend on the length of your trip, your destination, and the kinds of activities you plan to engage in. There are, however, basic medical items that you should always have in your travel medical provisions.

Bring sufficient prescription and non-prescription medication.

If you are under medication for diabetes, hypertension, or any other serious afflictions, it is necessary to have your prescription drugs in your possession at all times while traveling. When traveling abroad, check and comply with the customs policies of your destination country. Another thing you should prepare for is the inevitable encounter with common illnesses that travelers experience. Water, food, environmental conditions, and stress usually leave travelers suffering from diarrhea, fever, cuts, burns, insect bites, stings, and the like. To counteract these unpleasant travel consequences, bring appropriate over-the-counter medications including pain relievers, antihistamines, and antibiotics.

Carry a personalized first aid kit.

Commercial first aid kits for travelers are readily available, but they are often insufficient. To make a first aid kit truly useful in a medical situation, you need to add more to its contents. Make sure it has bandages and sterile gauze, cotton, sutures, needles, syringes, small scissors, tweezers, gels and creams for burns and insect bites, a thermometer, closure strips, water purification tablets, a bottle of antiseptic, and anything else that might come in handy depending on your destination. Along with what's inside, consider the first aid container itself. If you will be doing water activities during your vacation, for example, then it would be wise to bring along a waterproof first-aid kit.

Have room in your bag for miscellaneous health and medical items.

These are the provisions that are too bulky for your first aid kit but are equally important to have around while you travel. When traveling, it is a good idea to have with you some or all of these items: hand and feet sanitizer, rubbing alcohol, medically tested sunscreen, a tube of lip balm, hot and cold compress, and vaso-constrictor or cleansing eye drops. Other items that you might include in your list depending on existing medical conditions include a nebulizer, an inhaler, and allergy shots. For accurate health monitoring while traveling, you may also carry items such as electronic blood pressure monitors, pulse rate gauges, blood sugar monitors, and the like. Finally, mobility aids such as medical crutches, canes, slings, and braces are also useful if you encounter minor injury or if you are hampered by pain while traveling.

More on Headaches

Over the years I have written several articles on headaches. This is because there are so many types and causes of head pain that there is much to write about. Headaches remain one of the top three reasons why people go to the doctor.

The most common types of headaches are tension headaches and migraine headaches. Tension headaches are typically a constant squeezing-like pain around the head whereas a migraine headache has a throbbing or pulsating component. Many people believe the term migraine headache is used simply to describe a very severe headache. This is not the case. Migraines are a specific group of headaches which have a vascular cause and thus have a throbbing component. Compounding diagnosis, headaches of the same type can have many different causes. Cluster headaches are given their name based on the fact that the attacks of headache pain occur in clusters that may last several weeks to months. The head pain is agonizing and usually affects one side of the face, involving severe pain behind one of the eyes with associated nasal congestion and runny nose. Oddly, men tend to get these types of headaches more frequently than women.

In my office we address many migraine causes as well as tension headaches which are caused by brain based inabilities to perform appropriate eye movements. This becomes confusing for many patients as once you mention the eyes as a cause of headaches you inherently think to see an optometrist. In reality, optometrists are interested in the focusing ability of the eyes and in diseases of the eyes. Movement of the eyes to targets however is brain based and not typically assessed by eye doctors. This is an extremely overlooked cause of headaches as few practitioners have appropriate diagnostic equipment to evaluate brain based eye movements.

Additionally, many headaches are perpetuated through poor eating habits and deficient nutritional needs. This can easily be addressed by changing poor dietary habits in favor of better eating habits and thus augmenting nutrition. It is most unfortunate however that the vast majority of headaches are managed through inappropriate drug therapies, most all of which do not fix the underlying cause of headaches but rather are typically an opiate based drug prescribed to deal with symptoms.

Recent studies are uncovering more and more deficits associated with these-type drugs which can be extremely addictive and require increasing dosage to maintain any level of symptom control. If you suffer from headaches you would be well served to contact my office to schedule an appointment for a complete neurologic examination. For many, it is their last headache consult.

Tips for Vestibular Rehabilitation

People who suffer from regular bouts of dizziness can tell you that it is often more than a simple case of sea or air sickness. It's more than a momentary bout of feeling unbalanced, whether it comes from inner ear disorders, head injuries, labrynthitis, stroke or neurologic problems. Severe or prolonged dizziness and imbalance can interfere with a person's job and lifestyle, making it impossible to drive or operate machinery. It can even make it impossible for a person to perform routine activities such as taking a walk around your neighborhood

Fortunately, vestibular rehabilitation can help most sufferers to return to a normal lifestyle, with independence in almost all aspects. Such rehabilitation focuses on sensorimotor retraining activities that include physical and visual exercises as well as education for the patient. The patient's family members may also be called upon to take part in these rehabilitation activities. Most patients quickly discover that they can return to work and social activities with ease.

That said, a positive attitude is one of the best tools a patient can bring to his or her vestibular rehabilitation process. Solid belief that retraining oneself is possible can make the difference between success and failure. So trust in your own ability to respond to the proven exercises that will be taught to you. Then devote yourself to the most important aspect of the process-getting well.

Trust in the staff at the rehabilitation facility to teach you the proper way to perform these exercises. After all, they are experts, with many successes under their belts, and you are their priority while you are with them. You'll quickly find that your therapist is the authority on you. After a thorough evaluation of your condition, your therapist will know your posture, balance and gait better than you do-and he or she will know how to improve those traits. In fact, your therapist will develop a treatment plan that is customized just for you, and it will include specific body, head and eye exercises to help you to get better.

One thing you will quickly learn is not to rely on uncomfortable patterns of head and body movement to maintain coordination and balance. You may have found yourself walking with an exaggerated sway of your hips in order to balance your body. Or you might find yourself staring at the floor whenever activity around you becomes too visually intense. Such changes in your manner of moving and paying attention can, however, make your condition worse. They can cause you to experience headaches and muscle tension in addition to your dizziness. So instead of relying on these uncomfortable patterns, take advantage of the lessons in coordination that you will learn during vestibular rehabilitation.

And don't become discouraged if your treatment plan makes you feel worse for a short while. After all, you will be learning new ways of moving and visualizing the world around you. If you practice your exercises faithfully-and correctly-you will discover that your dizziness, headaches and muscle tension will diminish. In fact, vestibular rehabilitation therapy is often so successful, that the patient will no longer experience vertigo, dizziness or a sense of imbalance. Because that is your goal as well as your therapist's, you can take heart that any uncomfortable symptoms will soon go away.

Be alert to things that can cause your symptoms to recur. Such things include a bad cold, a fall, or anything that disrupts your normal activity. When such things occur, your brain can forget how you are supposed to function through a process called 'decompensation'. But if you are aware of triggers to your symptoms, you can easily begin practicing your exercises at home and take back your control.

You can also take up an active sport that is suitable for balance training. Such sports include ping-pong, volleyball, or tennis. You might even benefit from yoga or tai chi. The benefits of such activities is that they include head movement and eye-hand coordination. They are also fun, which will help with your attitude toward your condition. Of course, you will want to monitor yourself for symptoms as you take part in such activities. It is also wise to consult with your physician before taking on such sports to make sure that you are physically capable and fit enough for such activities.

However, if your home exercises and sports activities do not quickly bring about results, you will want to contact your doctor. It is possible that additional vestibular damage has occurred, which may require you to return to a rehabilitation center or to take on other types of medical treatment.

These are just a few tips for vestibular rehabilitation. Discuss them with your doctor and your therapist, then put them to use along with others that will be prescribed specifically for you. You are sure to see positive results much faster than you ever dreamed, and you will be able to return to your normal lifestyle with relief.

The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for medical advice. All medical information presented should be discussed with your healthcare professional. Remember, the failure to seek timely medical advice can have serious ramifications. We urge you to discuss any current health related problems you are experiencing with a healthcare professional immediately.