« Older Entries

Common Questions to ask Your Doctor

Don’t be shy – ask these questions
We highly encourage you to know everything you can about your health. In this article, we will discuss some health tips and give sample questions to ask your doctor. You will be able to maximise your healthcare if you’re fully informed, and that involves asking questions.

Tip #1: Play an active role in your health
To play an active role in your healthcare, participate in all treatment choices and decision-making. Make a copy of your directives and provide it to your healthcare practitioner to get a possible second opinion. If you are too ill or stressed to do this on your own, ask a trustworthy family member or friend to accompany you to your doctor’s appointment.

Just in case it is necessary, there are many different types of healthcare professionals that your GP may refer you to, should a more targeted approach be needed.

For example, your GP may refer you to a dermatologist for a skin rash or skin condition. You may also be referred to a chiropractor or physiotherapist, should you have muscular pain or lower back pain. Find out more about back pain at The Back Clinic here.

Tip #2: If you have any questions or concerns, speak up
You have the right to ask anyone who is involved in your care. It can help to jot down questions to ask the next time you visit your doctor to ensure you have all of the information you require. This information can be a set of questions, information about certain procedures and medication, and information about how long it will take to recover (if applicable).

Tip #3: Before consenting to any surgery, ask healthcare staff what they intend to do
Before surgery, healthcare practitioners should inform you of their plans. It is crucial to understand your symptoms, the diagnosis, and its causes. This includes possible medications and treatment as well as the reason behind it. Find out more about common surgical procedures here.

Tip #4: Bring a list of your medications and any allergies to your doctor
This list should include all pharmaceuticals, home remedies, and herbal medications if any, as well as tea, vitamins, and recorded weight gain or loss. You may even include information about your food intake. There could be dietary restrictions especially if you will be asked to take specific kinds of medicines.

Learn about the medications you’re taking, why you’re taking them, and any potential side effects. Inform the doctors of any allergies you have, as well as the sort of reaction or side effects you usually experience. During your checkup, make sure to ask questions about the medicines you’ve been prescribed.

Here are some medically-related questions you can ask the next time you see your doctor.

Questions about symptoms or the diagnosis:
Why do I experience body pain?
How serious is this condition?
What causes this condition?
Could this be genetic?
What are the effects- both long-term and short-term?
Questions about the treatment or surgery:
How is this condition treated?
How long does the process take?
What are the side effects?
Is this condition recurring?
What are the risks of having surgery?
How will my personal life be affected by this?
How much will the treatment cost?
Will my health insurance cover the cost?
Wrap Up

These are just some initial questions you may ask your doctor or any other healthcare worker. A primary care doctor’s purpose is to assess your health risks and give recommendations to help you take control of your health. This means getting a comprehensive picture of your health. This way, you may prevent possible issues from recurring.

Tags:

Dry Ice Blasting On Professional Services and Their Costing

The job of say a brain surgeon, a doctor, a fighter pilot, an astronaut or maybe even a heavy duty engineer – is that something that you would even think about entrusting to an inexperienced hand? No right? Well, just as they say.. Some jobs are best left to the experts and there is one walk of everyday life that this statement holds true to more than anything else – cleaning!

Somehow, all of us have that innate feeling built in us that we can handle the job ourselves, no matter how tricky it may seem. But you see, if the task involves processes as tricky and complicated as dry ice blasting, calling in the professionals might be the best idea. They can’t just handle the job – they will do it in a way that is safer, more economical and more effective than what you could have ever managed. They are well aware of all the best practices to follow. They are also experienced enough in the job that they can anticipate problems well in advance and prepare to handle them effectively and efficiently. They are also better equipped with the best machines and tools , especially for tasks such as dry ice blasting and can thus deliver the best results.

Then we move to the part that haunts the minds of anyone looking to hire professionals for a cleaning job – how much is the service going to cost? Well, the ultimate price that you will have to pay depends on sever aspects and you will generally have considerable control over most of them. You can therefore design a service package that suits your requirements best. What you should do therefore is have the professionals visit you, have them take a look at the work that needs to be done, make assessments and then send you a proposal. This will generally contain the following points:

What will be cleaned specifically (extent of work proposal coverage)?

How many people from the dry ice blasting company will actually be working on the job and what are their qualifications?

What is the unit pricing policy that they follow ie will they be charging you per day, per section, per unit, per room, per square foot or some other aspect?

What safety precautions will they have in place to ensure that the dry ice cleaning job is completed successfully and without any problems?

What kind of a timeline are they projecting to have the work done completely?
All these aspects will eventually have their bearing on the ultimate cost you will bear to hire professional dry ice blasting services. Once you receive this proposal, you can negotiate on the estimated costs that the service provider has put forth and then try to get the best out of them. The factors you must be paying special attention to is the details of their crew and the timelines they project. Eventually you will get the best price possible. Visit http://www.icetechworld.com/ to know more!

About The Author

Martin is a technical writer and editor and the dry ice maker has been a source of constant interest to him. He has also authored many research papers based on this technology and he recommends a good study on the features of this technology can help you a great deal if you plan to put it to use in your manufacturing process.

Tags:

Gift Card Scams and How to Spot Them

It never seems you’ll be the one to fall for the cheap tricks of scammers, especially ones involving payment by gift cards. Until you actually get scammed. We must understand that there are thousands of scams happening every day. It’s a numbers game for the scammers.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, fraud losses top 10 billion dollars each year. Fraudsters make more money than some legitimate industries. They have fine-tuned some clever ways to separate you from your money. The best strategy is to learn how to spot them.

Why Gift Cards Are Used by Scammers?
Gift cards are a preferred payment method for scammers and are becoming more and more popular each year. Gift cards can be virtual or physical to represent a pre-paid amount that is topped up in a card and can be exchanged for goods and services.

Open-looped gift cards can be filled up multiple times and used at different stores. They are usually distributed by banks and other financial institutions. These are not the cards scammers often use.

Closed-looped gift cards are the favorite payment method of online fraudsters. They have a pre-determined amount that the victim pays, and then the scammer can spend it in specific shops. There are hundreds of gift cards available, such as those from Amazon, Google Play, Xbox stores, Walmart, etc.

Scammers use gift cards because it’s difficult to trace them. Bank transfers and most other payment means can be traced by governments to determine who the final beneficiary is. Gift cards do not follow such strict processes.

That’s why they are also irreversible. Once you give away a gift card to someone, the money is gone for good. Even if the store has some information about the user of a gift card, scammers often use fake profiles with different aliases to make purchases. Gift card sums are usually too small for anyone to bother.

Where Are Gift Cards Used Normally?
The obvious answer is, well, gifts. If you don’t know what present to buy for a friend or a relative, a gift card can take away that burden. However, they are also often used as a promotion by stores to encourage customers to purchase more goods. It’s also a good way to compensate angry customers for any hassle they have encountered.

Gift cards are also a good way to get paid for remote online work. For example, legit surveys for gift cards pay money this way to take away the burden of money transfer fees and taxes. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. Users earn money they can spend in real shops, and the platform doesn’t have to worry about global payment methods.

But the difference from online scams is that instead of receiving gift cards, you will be asked to pay for them. The only legit cases where you buy gift cards are when you do it for yourself, your friends, or for someone who works for you.

How Do Gift Card Scams Work?
As with all scams, gift cards involving one start with the initial contact. It can be a text message, email, or interaction on social media. The second part usually involves luring the victim to get its trust and then, thirdly, finding a way to ask for money.

The exact reason why the scammer asks for your money depends on the type of scam. Usually, it’s the point with the most obvious red flags, as the scammer will have to justify not only why he is asking for money but also why he is asking for payment in gift cards instead of other methods.

Tech support scams
The most common variation of this scam starts with a simple phone call. A person usually imitates a representative of some big tech company, such as Microsoft or Apple. He then will tell you something is wrong with your computer and require remote access.

Now, in some cases, a virus or other malware is already planted in the victim’s computer. Then, remote access isn’t necessary. The scammer can simply request a payment right away. In other cases, remote access creates problems that don’t exist.

It might involve installing some hardware or changing some settings in the operating system to create the illusion that there are problems. Then, he will ask you to pay to fix them and will hold your PC hostage until it’s fixed.

Romance scams
Such scams usually occur on dating sites and social media platforms. Scammers are looking for vulnerable victims, trying to interact with them and see if it will be possible to extract payment.

The most crucial part for the scammer is to create a romantic relationship with the victim. In some cases, even real models are used to video chat with victims and create an illusion that there is a genuine person with a romantic interest.

After some time, the scam artist will start asking for money from the victim. Often, it’s some sort of alleged emergency or a lucrative business opportunity that requires an upfront payment.

Gift cards are used here frequently to justify people in paying for a romantic partner’s expenses. Sometimes, it’s straightforwardly stated that it’s to avoid taxes or banking fees.

Lottery prize scams
These scams spread most via spam emails. A victim gets a message that he has won a prize, but in order to collect it, he needs to cover some costs first. This scam is effective because it plays on the psychological want to win something that everyone has.

To make it more effective, scammers creat a sense of urgency as if you won’t receive your winnings without making a payment in time. Often, these scams ask you to buy gift cards to win them.

Conclusion
Gift cards aren’t exclusively used by scammers, but their anonymity and irreversibility make them a great payment option for extracting money from victims. Understanding what gift cards are and how related scams work will make you more immune to them.

Tags: