Author Archives: PainWise

Digital Health Apps for Tracking Baby Development

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Taking care of a newborn baby can be a daunting task for a parent. However, technology has made it possible for new moms to keep track of their babies’ development. This article explores some digital health apps that help keep track of every milestone, feeding, diaper change, baby sleep schedule and more.

Baby+

This app helps keep track of a baby’s height, weight, and head circumference through interactive graphs. A parent can get log information on feedings, diaper changes, sleep, teeth growth, and upload photos of a baby’s milestones.

Sprout Baby

This app can be used to record a child’s health history as well as keep track of feedings, pumping sessions, and diapers. It also features a printable report with the baby’s health data that can be taken along to doctor’s visits.

BabySparks

This development app tracks and informs when children learn specific skills. This information is compiled from sources like the American Academy of Pediatrics and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Baby Connect

This app records diaper changes, naps, moods, feedings, medicines, photos, activities, and displays the data in graphs and charts to help in the identification of trends and patterns. Also, other users can access a baby’s data to be updated with its latest development.

Baby Log

Baby Log makes charts of activities in a baby’s day, including sleep schedule, feedings, and diaper changes. A trend or pattern of daily routines can be discovered by comparing a week’s worth of days side by side.

Glow Baby

This app helps keep track of the developmental milestones, feedings, diapers, sleep, ailments, medications, and more of a baby’s first year. Also, the app can be used to manage feeding and sleep schedules. A parent can share these data on the in-app community.

Digital health apps are the new frontiers of this digitally driven world that we live in today and baby tracking apps are some of its innovations.

Detecting When a Baby is Feeling Pain

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There are so many things that are hard for a newborn baby to describe, one of which is pain. A toddler or an older child might be able to describe with sounds and gestures how the pain feels or tell whether it comes and goes. A child of the age of talking can complain of pain or talk outright about the pain he or she feels.

However, the signs of pain in a baby are hard to detect. A newborn’s loud and persistent cries might be the onset of a serious illness. Sicknesses in a child, especially one that can’t express himself or herself, can result in prolonged, frequent cries.

So, good parenting requires that parents watch out for the signs of pain in their baby. These signs may help decide whether the child’s pain is mild, moderate, or severe. A baby with severe pain will show some of these behaviors making it easier to look for respite for him or her.

These signs lead to changes in a child’s usual behavior. A child may eat less or be restless or experience prolonged crying without falling for any comforting overtures. Facial expressions of a baby, such as a furrowed brow, a wrinkled forehead, closed eyes, or an angry appearance can be a result of pain.

Disruption of the newborn sleep schedule such as waking often or sleeping more or less than usual can be as a result of bearing pains in the body of the child. Sleep can be unpredictable in babies, but drastic changes may indicate pain or illness.

Also, a parent can look for signs of injury or illness like swelling, bruises, or bleeding, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, or crying excessively when being fed. Also, a frequent check for sharp objects sticking to the skin or an insect bite is very important.

Babies feel pain like adults but it’s dependent upon good parenting to detect it and take care of it.

Pain Relief Medications

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Pain medications are drugs used to relieve pains of diverse types. Pain could be experienced because of diseases, injuries, illnesses, or surgeries. The pain process is a complex one, therefore there are many types and classifications of pain medications that provide relief. This article examines some of them.

There are two broad categories of pain medications: prescription and nonprescription. The nonprescription category consists of several mild anti-inflammatory medications that are mainly used for short-term acute pain like menstrual cramps, headaches, and sprains. Examples of drugs in this category are ibuprofen, naproxen, acetaminophen.

In the prescription category are extensive pain-killing drugs. These drugs are more powerful than the nonprescription category. Some unconventional drugs were not originally developed as pain-relievers but have pain-relieving effects in certain conditions. For example, antiseizure drug pregabalin and antidepressant duloxetine hydrochloride.

Pain-relief medications for mild-to-moderate pain can be bought at the drug store without a prescription. They are known as Over-The-Counter drugs (OTCs). There are two common types of OTC pain medications, paracetamol recommended for short-term pain, and Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). NSAIDs is a group of drugs that work by reducing swelling and inflammation and relieving pain such as aspirin and ibuprofen.

Some pain-relief medications can be applied directly at the site of the pain on the skin. These are called topical medicines and can be helpful for short-term pain relief. These drugs often contain NSAID-type medicines like ibuprofen, diclofenac, or piroxicam and work by decreasing inflammation and swelling.

Other pain relief medications used in the management of pain include steroids, such as prednisolone used in the management of pain associated with inflammation or arthritis. Another is muscle relaxants, such as orphenadrine, for the treatment of pain caused by sprains, strains, or muscle injuries.

In the same vein is caffeine, which can be added to other pain-relief medicines to increase their effectiveness, and medicinal cannabis which may be effective for neuropathic pain as a last resort but subject to the prescription of a professional healthcare provider with specific experience on its use in pain management.

This article has been helpful through the provision of useful information on pain relief medications. Reach us for more information.

How to Manage Pain

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Pain may develop in a person’s body because of an injury or a medical condition. It can affect every facet of a person’s physical, social, and mental life. This article examines pain management, methods, and their effectiveness.

Pain management refers to techniques and methods employed to reduce and control the amount of pain a person experiences over time. Physical techniques that can help relieve pain include physical therapy, hot and cold therapy, massage, and acupuncture.

The heat helps relax the muscles as well as dilate the blood vessels, while cold therapy reduces blood flow and inflammation that causes pain. It often involves the application of an ice pack wrapped in a towel to the affected part of the skin.

Massage involves the manipulation of the body’s soft tissue. Benefits from this technique include relaxation, increased flexibility, reduced inflammation, improved posture, improved circulation, reduced stiffness, and so on.

Another technique is physical therapy. It involves some physical techniques that aim to strengthen and stretch the muscles and joints. For instance, therapeutic exercise can have long-term benefits for people having chronic pain, as well as massage, and red-light therapy.

Next is acupuncture. It involves an acupuncturist applying thin needles to the skin at precise points in the body. Benefits include short-term relief from pain in the lower back, neck, knee, reduced inflammation, relaxation, and reduced muscle spasms.

Another technique is yoga. It aims to relax, strengthen, and keep the body flexible through stretching, with specific poses focusing on particular body areas. It is safe and accessible and can be practiced at home using online videos or in a class with an instructor.

Another exercise therapy like yoga is tai chi. It involves slow, continuous, fluid body movements combined with breathing and relaxation techniques. Tai chi can help improve body strength and joint stability. The mental concentration that comes with practice can improve a person’s mood.

Pain can cause so much discomfort but if it is well managed, can be relieved or even totally resolved and that is what this article has presented. Pain management, as a branch of medicine, handles pain through various techniques and methods as articulated here. Feel free to contact us with questions, suggestions, and inquiries.

Pain: Types and Causes

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Pain can be said to be an uncomfortable sensation in the body that stems from activation of the nervous system. This uncomfortable sensation could be caused by a specific injury or medical condition. In other cases, and sometimes, the cause could be less obvious or unknown.

However, some common causes of pain include headache, toothache, sore throat, stomachache or cramps, muscle cramps or strains, cuts, burns, bruises, bone fractures, and so on. Also, some sicknesses or disorders, like flu, arthritis, endometriosis, and fibromyalgia, could cause pain.

Types of pain

There are several different types of pain. It is possible to experience more than one type at the same time. Identifying the type of pain may help the healthcare professional narrow down the potential causes and develop a treatment plan.

Here are some general types of pain.

Acute pain

This is the type of pain that occurs for a short time. It can occur suddenly or as a result of injuries, illnesses, or medical procedures such as cuts, burns, muscle strains, or bone fractures, food poisoning, appendicitis, injections, dental work, or surgeries.

Acute pain is sharp, lasts for a few days, weeks, or months, and goes away after its cause or causes have been treated.

Chronic pain

This is the type of pain that persists for months or years. This might be a result of various health conditions, like arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic migraine, or cancer. Some injuries can also cause chronic pain even after they have been assumed to be healed. Sometimes, the cause of chronic pain might be hard to pinpoint.

Nociceptive pain

This is the type of pain caused by damage to the tissue. Injuries such as cuts, burns, bruises, or fractures can cause nociceptive pain. It might also be caused by certain health conditions like arthritis, osteoporosis, or inflammatory bowel disease that cause inflammation of the tissue.

Neuropathic pain

This is the type of pain that occurs because of damage to the nerves. It might be caused by a variety of injuries, illnesses that put pressure on the spine slips, or nerves. It might also be a result of shingles, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, or cancer.

Neuropathic pains might feel like a stabbing, shooting, burning, or prickling sensation. Hypersensitive to touch, or movement, and/or hot and cold temperatures might be experienced.

A person might experience one or two types of pain in his or her lifetime.