Menopausal Mother

Many people postpone getting life insurance because they are uncomfortable going to a doctor's office for a physical. However, it IS possible to get a life insurance plan without having to get a doctor's exam. This is good news for clients who cannot afford an in-person visit. Some insurance companies send physicians to your house to do the health exam, which includes blood and urine samples, a stress test, height and weight measurements, and possibly an EKG. However, there are still life insurance plans that can be bought without an exam--- although A patient's age also factors into the cost of the insurance. In most cases, the older you are at the time of buying life insurance, the higher the premium. For this reason, you should consider purchasing a plan while in your 20s and still healthy--or by the time you have people dependent on you, such as a spouse and children.

Why is life insurance so important? It helps your family cover financial burdens after you are gone. These expenses include funeral costs, medical bills, or other outstanding debt such as a mortgage. Essentially, it replaces lost income for the surviving spouse and covers future living expenses. Knowing that your loved ones will be taken care of once you're gone will also give you peace of mind. 

 

With so many life insurance plans available---even ones that do not require a doctor's exam, it's still important that you do your research before purchasing a plan that is right for you. First, look at your monthly income, expenses, and debts. Calculate what money you have left after monthly bills are paid to see what payment plan works best for your family. Secondly, decide on what type of coverage you need. For example, do you have a mortgage payment, a child's college education to pay, or a personal/business loan debt? Lastly, choose which type of policy will provide exactly what you need. Some of the more popular options are term life (which lasts about 10-30 years) or a whole life policy (permanent). 

Speak to a financial planner to review your situation and find out what policy is most affordable to you. Once you select the right plan that does not require an exam and sign up, you'll have peace of mind knowing your family will be taken care of and avoid financial stress in the future. 

***DISCLAIMER: This blog post is in partnership with Responsival.

 

     I was several months pregnant and home alone with two toddlers when my husband went on an overnight field trip to the Everglades with our oldest son. I was looking forward to having a little peace and quiet that evening, so shortly after tucking my daughters into bed, I curled up on the sofa with a good book and a bowl of popcorn.

     I had barely finished the first chapter when I felt a sudden urge to go to the bathroom. I'd had a large glass of water with my dinner, so I thought nothing of the urgency to pee. But ten minutes later, the pressure on my bladder returned… and then again…and again. Each time I tried to pee, I felt an uncomfortable pinching sensation that increased with each visit to the restroom.

     Two hours and ten bathroom trips later, I was doubled over in pain on the couch. Panic set in because I had no clue what was going on with my irritable bladder.

     Unable to reach my husband by phone, I did the next best thing and called my mother once the pain became unbearable. She calmly explained that I had what her generation called the "honeymoon disease"---a urinary tract infection. Fortunately, my sister was nearby, and after a quick call to my OB/GYN to explain the situation, she was able to deliver the antibiotics I desperately needed to clear the infection. Had I been informed earlier about UTIs and preventative measures, I might not have had to suffer the discomfort and fear that I did that evening.

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     Last month I wrote a blog post on the symptoms and factors that contribute to urinary tract infections in women like me who are peri-menopausal or menopausal (you can read it HERE). Today, I'm sharing part two in my sponsored series for the Uristat campaign to educate women on the myths of UTIs, which includes preventative measures that can be taken to avoid recurring infections.

     I hate counting carbs and watching every calorie that goes into my mouth. I also hate getting my yearly physical---especially the weigh-in part. No, scratch that. The pap smear is worse. Nothing says "vulnerable" more than sitting in a freezing cold cubicle with nothing on but a paper wrapper that exposes my lady bits to the world. Once I hear the snap of the rubber gloves, I know the doctor is about to pry me open as if I was a tightly sealed clam. Thank goodness my doctor has butterflies taped to the ceiling to fool me into thinking I'm in a spring meadow rather than on a table with my feet in stirrups.

     If you've already hit middle age, then you know you need to be more mindful of your lifestyle. This means no more midnight runs to Taco Bell or downing Jager Bombs at 2:00am. Although Keith Richards has done a great job proving most of the health gurus' advice wrong, he is the exception. Sorry, but you're going to have to put down that bacon burger and reach for some fresh kale.

     The key to staying healthy and living longer is pretty simple. Eat
right, exercise, and see your doctor on a regular basis. If you take this advice, chances are you'll be around long enough to see astronauts land on Mars.


KEEP UP WITH YEARLY DOCTOR VISITS

    It's important that every midlifer visit their dermatologist, optometrist, dentist, gynecologist and nutologist (okay, I made that one up for the men) and, in 5-10 year increments, the proctologist. Yep, you need to have a camera shoved up your you-know-what to check for colon cancer and polyps. No worries---pretty soon they'll have a smart phone to do the colonoscopy for you.

     Ladies, be sure to keep up with your mammograms as well. Personally, I think men should be required to have nutograms, just to even the score….


EXERCISE REGULARLY 

     If you're as lazy as I am, this is a tough one. I can work up a sweat just trudging through shag carpet to get to the refrigerator. Get those Rollerblades out of the attic, dust off your spandex leggings and clean the rust out of your bicycle (but first, check for spider colonies in the spokes). If you own a Fitbit, wear it daily to see how many miles you've walked and the amount of calories you've burned. If the bracelet is still sitting in the box, then your Fitbit has turned into a Fatbit.


     It's no longer acceptable to sit through a Netflix marathon with one hand buried in a bowl of chips and the other wrapped around a soda can. You need to switch out the couch for a treadmill, and swap the chips and soda with a water bottle and a sweat rag. Don't be one of those people who makes a New Year's resolution to go to the gym religiously, and then when Easter hits, you quit. Cadbury Creme Eggs and Peeps are not an excuse to stop exercising.


EAT HEALTHY

     Remember those yummy chocolate milkshakes you used to suck down at the local burger joint? Fuggedaboutit. Your drink of choice now has a new name. It's called a "chia seed and kale smoothie." Just add a banana, some Greek yogurt and a touch of honey so that you won't feel like you're drinking something that came from the bottom of your husband's lawn mower bag.

     I'll bet you also remember when breakfast was FUN. Bacon, eggs, hash browns, donuts…..does that ring a bell? Sorry, but it's time to say sayonara to that heart attack on a plate and opt for egg whites scrambled with fresh spinach, a cup of fruit and a thin slice of whole wheat toast (hold the butter, please). Chicken and fish will become your best friends too, with steak being the one-night stand that haunts your dreams.

     You're going to need to ease up a little on the caffeine and wine, too. Well, maybe the caffeine isn't so bad if you don't mind hanging out with the owls. And wine? Heck, that's made from grapes….and grapes are fruit. Fruit is part of the food pyramid, so go ahead and fill up your glass.


     My advice for midlifers who want to stay healthy? Don't eat any corn before you go the proctologist.

     And keep your clam clean.




     


      

     It started with a recipe. I misread the amount of flour that was to go into a cake and added too much of it to the batter. That night, I served a frosted hockey puck to my dinner guests. I was certain the mistake was due to my lack of attention while baking. Note to self: Do NOT watch "America's Hottest Firemen" on cable TV while making a cake.

     There were other slip-ups that soon followed….little things I stubbornly ignored, such as squinting while reading a book. Or leaning over the car steering wheel like the Hunchback of Notre Dame just so that I could see the road beyond my dashboard. It wasn't until I backed my van into a telephone pole one rainy afternoon that I knew it was time to face the painful truth: MY MOTHER LIED ABOUT THE CARROTS.

     I really couldn't blame Mom for feeding me an abundance of carrots when I was young. The myth that they help our vision dates back to WWII with the British Royal Air Force. They attributed the success of their pilot's night vision during German reconnaissance missions to the vast consumption of carrots by their airmen. Perhaps if they had consumed mass quantities of cauliflower instead of carrots, they may have needed less fuel to get their planes off the ground.

     It was my love for books---and the fact that I was struggling to read the small print---that prompted me to purchase a pair of glasses from the drugstore (it was either that or buy all my romance novels in Braille). This tactic worked for a little while until everything around me became slightly fuzzy. I had trouble reading the numbers on my cell phone, and instead of dialing my gynecologist, I called the pest control guy to complain about my irregular periods. My typing skills had also diminished considerably, and the emails I sent out were often questioned by the recipients: "When did you start calling your son Zarf?" "What do you mean you ate the dentist?". My husband had already threatened to enroll me in the Helen Keller Institute For Typing if I didn't do something about my poor eyesight. I finally admitted that he had a point when I could no longer tell if I was petting the family cat or my uncle's toupee. It was time to find an optometrist.

     After having my eyes dilated by the doctor, I strained to read a chart that was a mile away and filled with ridiculously small letters. By the end of my appointment, I had two sets of glasses; one for reading, and one for driving.

     It wasn't long before I was stockpiling glasses of various strengths----some for working on the computer, others to watch TV, and another pair for walking the dogs at night. But no matter how many pairs of glasses I accumulated, I lost them as quickly as I lost my socks every time I did the wash.

     Fed up with wearing (and losing) my glasses, I returned to the optometrist's office to be fitted for contacts. I learned how to insert the flimsy lenses into my eyes and returned home, optimistic that I'd solved the problem of my glasses disappearing into the same black hole that my missing socks were orbiting.

     It was all fun and games until it came time to remove the lenses. The harder I tried to slide them out, the farther they slipped under the folds of my eyelids. Panic set in when both contacts disappeared into the caverns of my eye sockets. You know what true love is? A man who uses a magnifying glass and a mini flashlight to probe his wife's eyeballs for missing lenses.

     Ten minutes and two scratched corneas later, I swore off contacts and decided to live my life as a blind mole. My only comfort was in knowing that at least my eyesight was a step up from the rhinos, who are notorious for attacking trees and large rocks due to their poor vision.

     Living life in a blur became too difficult ( I was tired of walking around with bruised knees from walking into furniture) and eventually I caved, buying more glasses along with several pairs of brightly colored contacts. I needed to be prepared in case I was forced to go on another eye expedition in search of my elusive lenses.

     The way I see it, putting up with lost glasses and slippery contacts is worth it to be able to see the world clearly again. And I may add a few more carrots to my diet, just to be on the safe side.