2. Check out the family tree. Compile a list of diseases and medical conditions that are common among relatives in your family. Identifying illnesses you are at a higher-risk of contracting may spur the doctor to recommend preventative treatment or tests for early detection.

3. Record symptoms and health-related activities in a calendar. Having a time line of symptoms can help doctors identify trends that may impact diagnosis. For example, flu-like symptoms that occur at the same time every year may be an allergy rather than a cold. Migraines clustered around a menstrual cycle may be related to hormonal fluctuations. And more than four ear infections in a year could lead to more aggressive treatment than another round of antibiotics.

4. Journal symptoms as they occur. Don’t wait until the doctor’s appointment to try and remember every pain or abnormal feeling you’ve experienced since the last visit. Seemingly unrelated symptoms may prompt the doctor to try different tests or treatments than originally planned. Frequent urination, for example, may indicate a bladder infection. But excessive urination coupled with fatigue and persistent thirst, may be a sign of diabetes or another more serious condition.

5. Write out questions and answers. Again, don’t rely on memory to make the most of doctor visits. Write questions down ahead of time and then write the doctor’s response next to each question. The personal Q&A will be a handy reference later and can assist in communicating with family members or caregivers who might have similar concerns.

6. Keep health information in one place. Keep all health-related documents including family medical history, symptom journals, test results, immunization charts, list of prescriptions taken, insurance coverage, blood work, question/answer sheets, etc. in one organized binder. Having the information at your fingertips can be a real timesaver and it can also help ensure everybody involved in taking care of an ailing family member has the information to do so properly.

Have you wondered about what if? I use to wonder what if all the time. What if something happened to my son and no one knew what his allergies were? Now that he is older and has grown out of “his situation” I have become lax. But now we have to go into that what if stage again. My son is getting older and this summer will be in another state without me (Mom). So how am I going to prepare him for that just in case possibility? I am going to prepare my son by organizing and filling in a Medic Tag so he can put it on his key ring and have his health records with him all the time. I will feel a little more at ease. Of course I will text, email and talk with him more then he probably needs but for that just in case, I will and he will be prepared by being organized.

Medic Tag

MedicTag is the original USB medic alert tag designed for emergency medic information and alert.

Medical alert bracelets, medic ID tags and medi alert jewelry have limited information available. A MedicTag USB medical alert and medic ID tag stores and has instant access to all your medical and emergency information.

In an emergency your medical information is critical to an accurate, timely and possibly life saving diagnosis.

MedicTag is a digital USB personal medical alert and information device that combines your emergency information with today’s technology. A digital memory chip is used to store all your information on the easy to use MedicTag medical history and alert form and the distinctive styling and bright logo will alert medic personnel to your special needs and existing medical conditions.

MedicTag is useful for many conditions including

• ADD/ADHD
• Anemia
• Ankylosing Spondylitis
• Asthma
• Autism
• Blood thinners – Coumadin, warfarin
• Cancer patients
• Cardiac patients
• Cerebral Palsy
• Clinical trial patients
• Diabetes
• Emphysema

• Epilepsy, seizures
• Food, insect and medicine allergies
• Hearing, sight and mentally impaired
• Hypertension
• Mental health patients
• Multiple medications
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Parkinson’s Disease
• Rare diseases
• Special needs children
• Stroke risk
• Surgery, transplant patients

And caregivers for people who live with many of these conditions

Healthcare providers must often either start from scratch or act blindly because they don’t have the patient’s relevant past history, allergies, or medications.

With MedicTag, safety of care will be improved as patients and doctors benefit from immediate access to the patients’ list of conditions, medications and dosages, allowing all parties to avoid the sometimes dangerous duplication of medications and other kinds of errors associated with incomplete information.

MedicTag is simple to use. Plug it into the USB port on your computer to start the program, there is nothing to install, it’s all on the MedicTag. Fill in the blanks with as much, or as little information as you need, click on “save” and you are done.

It requires very little computer skill to use, on most systems it is “plug and play” and is a simple fill in the blanks format. It is compatible with 99.9% of the home and office computer systems in use today and requires only Windows and MS Word to fill out the information form. And no special software is needed to read it, all Windows operating systems include WordPad which can read the information form.

You can also change your information, medications, doctors and any other health information whenever you need to so your information is always easy to keep up to date.

Convenient  and easy to carry on a key ring you can keep it with you all the time. FEMA and the Red Cross both recommend that your emergency information, including medications and emergency contacts, be part of your disaster preparation kit. In case of an emergency evacuation due to hurricane or flood that information is much more likely to be available if you have it on your key ring.

Are you the caregiver for an aging loved one or other family member? Medic Tag can consolidate all their medical information into one form that’s easy to access.

Musicians James Scott Cook and Julian Lennon are doing their part in the search for a cure for Lupus.  For both men – this is personal.  James’ 92-year-old grandmother, Lucy Cook, has lived with lupus for many years, and Julian’s childhood friend, Lucy Vodden, recently passed away at the age of 46 after a long battle with the disease.

You may already have heard the story that one day four-year old Julian brought home a watercolor painting of his friend and classmate, Lucy Vodden.  Julian told his dad that the drawing was “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” which inspired his father, the legendary John Lennon, to write one of his most famous songs of the same name.

To honor both of these women James and Julian have partnered to release the song, “LUCY.”  A portion of the proceeds will be donated equally to the Lupus Foundation of America and the St. Thomas Lupus Trust in Great Britain to support lupus research.

Download LUCY Today!

From now until March 15, 2010, 100 percent of the proceeds from each download of the “LUCY” from iTunes will be donated to lupus research. Don’t have iTunes on your computer?  Download the software here.

Let’s keep the momentum going!

Help us spread the word and invite others to support raising awareness of and funds for lupus research.  By taking just a few minutes you can honor someone in your life who lives with lupus, just like James and Julian are doing.

Send an e-card (up to 10 per day) to your friends and family, and ask them to join you and “band together” to support lupus research by downloading “LUCY” from iTunes.

Learn More

Learn more about the story behind LUCY on the LFA website.

Purchase a Jakoter Health Organizer and receive a FREE medication insert!

I always think about the peace of knowing that your personal health infomation is at hand anytime ready to be used in case of an emergency, basically organized. I also believe this peace would make a wonderful gift to your loved ones or yourself. But, as a read an article I realized that this sense of peace should and could be taken a step further.

Having your life in order is something we should all do but having our end of life written and plans set as to not make this a burden on our families is also the sense of peace that would make for a wonderful present that will have a huge impact in the future. Please read Mom’s Gift Is a Gift You Can Give Your Loved Ones, Too by Trisha Torrey. In the article you will be able to click on a link to help you find all the documentation you will need.

The Ultimate Gift, leaving your children with the sense of peace by giving them a plan of your wishes. Set up your DNR, Health Care Proxy and Organ Donor Status. Find information here. Sometimes the gift is just in the palnning.

When giving a gift to someone with health issues a practical gift can truly be a life saving present.

Organizing your health as been made simple with Jakoter Health Organizer and the Medic Tag .

Fill in the blanks provided and keep your medical information updated.

Other great holiday gifts:

Achoo Allergy is a great place to shop for allergy people. Peanut, airborne you name it. They have a gift for you!

Mario Badescu Skin Care is the place for anyone with sensitive skin. Try the rose spray or the egg shampoo.

To Health and Happiness!

Have you ever been to the emergency room and needed help right away? Did they ask you a million seemingly easy questions? Questions usually you could answer, if you were feeling okay that is. If you were in acute pain like a ruptured appendix answering the question how much pain are you in is enough but then the nurse ask what medicines are you on, what surgeries have you had, what is your doctors name. Imagine if you were in a car accident or you where having an allergic reaction, questions get difficult to answer.

One way to be sure to safegaurd yourself in these situations is to have all of your facts prepared ahead of time and with you on a key chain. Sounds so simple and it is. Simply fill in the blanks and carry!

It put a smile on my husband face and cheer into my heart. I know the secret to gifting (give the gift that helps others).
With this idea in mind, of giving a charitable gift, I went looking for other such organizations and I found Global Giving. Here, Global giving connects donors with community-based projects that need support. This is a great giving gift as well.

How about doing something everyday? With GoodSearch all you have to do is decide on your charity and everytime you search money will be donated to that charity. You can even shop at GoodSearch were up to 37% of the proceeds will go to your selection. Who knew this could be so easy.

More Gift Card Options

Tis Best

Gifting with pleasure! Enjoy!

One way to be healthy is to know your prescription drugs. Drug3k not only lets you know a great deal about your medication it also lets you speak your opinion about a medication you have taken. So here’s a great tool to help us all get healthy and organized!

Have you thought, I do not really want to start a medication before knowing all there is to know? Or maybe you are on a medication and you wonder why you are feeling the way you do? Could it be the medication? Could it be a couple medications combined? With Drug3k you can find some answers.

Find your medication under the first letter of the prescription and you will get a detailed listing of what the prescription drug is used for, notes on the medication, how to store the medication, what to do in case of an overdose, how to use the medication, any side effects, precautions, what to do with a missed dose and drug interactions.

If that is not enough then there are also photos (some prescription drugs) and a place for you to place your opinion! Wow, a place to say what you feel about a prescription drug.

Please let us know what you think about this site-we love feed back!

Weight-By-Date can be used on your computer or hand held pda-hopefully in a iPhone application soon! Listed below are just some of the great features and you can try it for FREE!

• A unique calendar that helps you lose weight.
• Statistics, weight loss projections, and rewards.
• Progress charts for weight loss motivation.
• An easy-to-use food diary that simplifies your diet.
• A database of over 40,000 foods.
• A meal planner that works with any diet.
• A way to organize your recipes.
• A way to set limits for each nutrient in your diet.
• An easy-to-use exercise journal.
• A database of over 130 exercises and activities.
• The ability to plan your workouts.
• A body measurements journal.
• Diet, health and fitness tools and calculators.
• Links to your favorite diet and weight loss sites.