Medical Devices that are used to help with Addiction

It is without a doubt that addiction is one of the most damaging aspects of our society. It can not only devastate the life of the individual going through the addiction but also their family as well. With recent media coverage of Charlie Sheen and his battle with addiction to even those who have overcome it like Robert Downey, Jr., addiction is now front and center as a very serious matter facing our nation. There does exists ways of helping those with this problem and it mainly comes in the form of counseling and therapy. Mostly involved in this therapy is also the use of special medical devices that are made to monitor the health of patients going through the program. One such medical device is a pulse oximeter which is used primarily by individuals and clinics as a means of accurately measuring the pulse rate and oxygen levels of patients. The reason why a pulse oximeter has become such an important tool in helping with Addiction is because it is the best way of monitoring the vital signs of individuals while they are going through such a traumatic change in their body. When you come off specific drugs that you have abused for years your body and in particular your heart may react very violently. As a result, it is a very good idea to use a pulse oximeter to monitor your pulse rate to ensure that you are operating at normal levels. Should you not be operating at the normal levels then what happens is that the device will begin to sound an alarm and those that are there to help you are able to quickly respond to your problem. The greatest aspect of the device is the fact that it can be taken anywhere the patient is going as it is completely portable and thus provides portable vital sign monitoring. It is also very interesting to see where the future of these devices will go. There have been talks that in fact there will be incorporated into them the technology known as Bluetooth. This will hook up the product via a wireless channel directly to the physicians office where they can monitor the patient wherever the patient goes. This again will allow for the ability to have the patient monitored everywhere but it also adds to the overall health care process because it is far more effective than tradition methods.