My Chronic Life

March is National Nutrition Month. This is to help educate about eating a healthy diet. Eating healthy is something we should all strive for. For children, it helps them grow properly. Teaching them about proper nutrition at a young age aids them as they grow to know what to eat as adults too.

Eating healthy foods can help us prevent chronic medical conditions, better the symptoms of some medical conditions, especially Diabetes, Cardiac problems, Obesity and more. It’s best not to think of healthy eating as dieting or using the top diet pills. It is more of a lifestyle change. As you learn what to eat and taste new things it becomes part of your life.

The main things to remember about proper nutrition are:

• Eating smaller meals with less meat and more vegetables
• Avoid fats and sweets
• Eat at least five servings of fruits or vegetable per day
• Avoid processed foods
• Increase your fiber intake
• Drink less or no sodas at all

There is a lot of information about nutrition. The American Dietetic Association is a great website to begin. Make small changes and soon you can be on your way to healthier eating.

I’ve had the honor to be a guest blogger on Fighting Fatigue, which is an all inclusive health blog. This blog began to be exclusively about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and Interstitial Cystitis. As Sandy continued to write she expanded her subjects to include other health issues. She is an advocate, pure and simple. She goes through life everyday with symptoms that are difficult to live with, yet she tries to help others through her informative, empathic writing.

My guest blogging post is about Sjogren’s Symptom. Sandy had previously provided many links to websites, support groups, blogs and books. Her lists are comprehensive. A lot of research goes into each post she writes. Please take the time to visit my post and her entire blog.

If you have a chronic illness or a disABILITY it is quite possible that you may not be able to work. I was in that position when I was terribly sick from the five autoimmune diseases I have plus anemia. The anemia was so bad that I had to get Iron through an IV on a weekly basis.

Now that I have the major chronic illness, Myasthenia Gravis under some control and I no longer am anemic that badly I work from home. I only work a few hours a day and if I’m not well I don’t work at all.

I’ve had to learn many things about working from home as a professional blogger. One of the most important things is marketing. I am a member of many social networks online and have placed links to my blogs every where I can.

Another way to market yourself is by using business cards. Professional bloggers hand them out to friends and family, to fellow bloggers at conventions and of course to advertisers. I learned about a site that not only helps you create your own business card but a logo design too.

Branding is also helpful in marketing. You want people to recognize you by an image or photo. Having a logo and business cards that incorporate that logo kills two birds with one stone.

The site logoyes.com was simple to use. It has a demo video to get you started if you need some extra help with the easy to follow directions. The whole process took me about 5 minutes to complete. It would have been shorter but I kept changing my mind about the logo because there were so many choices. I’m fickle, what can I say?

The finished product looks so professional. I was very pleased with my work, OK the site’s work. Here’s a look at what I would go with as this is a health blog:

I have Fibromyalgia and have had it now for over 4 years. I believe that I had it even longer but was not diagnosed with it until then. Some of the worst symptoms of Fibro is the widespread pain. Your body just hurts all the time. The worst time of day for pain is the mornings. I have to stretch and try to move slowly so that I can move in the mornings.

When I was first diagnosed I was luck enough to have a good friend who was a massage therapist. I wasn’t working and couldn’t afford massage therapy but she was kind enough to help me out.

I would try to have her give them to me at night because soon after I would be so sleepy. I would have a better night’s rest instead of the usual nights of not sleeping well. I miss those days.

photography by zaphodsotherhead

Please bear with me as I work on this blog with the help of my good friend Jenn who is as baffled as me as to why no one can leave comments. I also can’t see my blogroll or archived posts on my dashboard.

There’s a 500 error when anyone tries to comment. Before we started trying to fix things it was even worse. I’d get a 501 error when I tried to sign out of my blog. That’s not happening any more so hopefully we’ll get things moving along soon.

This is a continuing series which began with this post about the stages of grief and continued with a post on “Denial” , “Anger“ and “Bargaining“. Looking at the diagnosis of a Chronic Illness in the framework of the stages of grief we’ll now look at the fourth stage, Depression.

Depression is very common with all types of chronic illness. There is so much loss and grief associated with having a life long illness that can either totally change your life or create some kind of life altering situations.

For example, with me when I was diagnosed with one chronic illness it was bad enough, then to learn that I had more along the way made me very depressed. I also was very sad when I had to stop working.

I felt worthless, apathetic and unable to function as a parent or as a wife. I was hanging on to what I thought was important, my “old life” instead of moving forward and trying to find ways to cope.

Finally I sought help from a psychiatrist who helped me to realize that I was indeed depressed and it was normal. I began to take anti-depressants and go to counseling. I also sought the help of my Pastor and began to pray and read the Bible again.

I learned that I am still the same person inside, that my perfectionism only hurt me, that I needed to find something meaningful to do with my mind and my time and that if I began to feel more depressed at certain times that it was normal.

Now I find that if I get a bad report from a doctor that sometimes I get sad. If I have a flare-up, especially one that keeps me from doing the things I’m used to doing sometimes I begin to feel sorry for myself.

I’ve also learned that when I write, or help others, or take part in activities that I feel better. The simple things in life make me happy now. I love to look out my window and watch the birds. I am more aware of my daughters’ smiles and hugs and want more of them!

It used to be that money was important, that my needs included things beyond my family’s budget like Chevy grilles, expensive vacations or nice clothing. Now as long as I have my family and friends with me and my faith all is good.

Please see a doctor if your sadness is overwhelming, if you can’t see any hope and especially if you are thinking about suicide. There is help and it’s yours for the asking.

There is a difference between brain fog and memory loss. Brain Fog is related to chronic illnesses such as Fibromyalgia, Sjogren’s Syndrome, ME/CFS, etc. It’s also related to lack of minerals or vitamins, some prescription medications and some forms of chemotherapy.

Brain Fog feels like you are confused and forgetful. You may not be able to do remember words easily. You may feel “spaced out” or that you’re in the clouds. You have difficulty keeping on task. Simple tasks that you were able to do easily such as add numbers become difficult. With Brain Fog or because of it you may feel sad or depressed.

Memory Loss is permanent and progressively gets worse. One day you can’t remember where your keys are or what a KVM is. As your memory loss gets worse you can’t remember your own family member’s names or the directions to your home. You begin to lose cognitive functioning of all kinds. Memory Loss is often related to Alzheimer’s Disease, Alcoholism, Dementia, Stroke, HIV, Brain Tumors, etc. This is a much more serious problem.

If you have any type of problems with your memory please see a physician.

This is a continuing series which began with this post about the stages of grief and continued with a post on “Denial” and then “Anger“. Looking at the diagnosis of a Chronic Illness in the framework of the stages of grief we’ll now look at the third stage which is “Bargaining”.

Some examples of bargaining and chronic illness are someone with Diabetes who believes if they eat sugary foods only on weekends they can control their condition, a woman with Lupus who believes that if she doesn’t spend too much money on clothing won’t have any complications from the disease, or a man with cardiac disease who thinks that if he doesn’t cheat on his taxes he won’t have another heart attack.

Often the realization that chronic illnesses don’t respond to bribes ends this stage quite abruptly.

The main goal of Colorectal Cancer Awareness month is to educate the public about early detection through the use of screening.

According to the The American Academy of Family Physicians, beginning at the age of 50 there are various types of screening types used:

• Fecal occult blood testing every year
• Flexible sigmoidoscopy every 5 years
• Fecal occult blood testing every year plus flexible sigmoidoscopy every 5 years
• Double-contrast barium enema every 5 years
• Colonoscopy every 10 years

There are some risk factors that may cause the need for screenings to be done more regularly. If you have a family history of colorectal cancer, if you’ve had colorectal cancer in the past, if you have either Chron’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis (both are forms of Inflammatory Bowl Disease), or if you’ve had polyps found in previous screenings.

There are syndromes that are inherited that increase your risk also. They are:

• Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP)
• Hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer (HNPCC)
• Peutz-Jeghers syndrome

The American Cancer Society names some links to Colorectal Cancer. These are:

• Diets high in red meat and processed meat
• Lack of exercise
• Obesity
• Smoking
• Heavy Alcohol Use
• Type 2 Diabetes

Please speak to you doctor about your risks, any concerns you may have about symptoms such as blood in your stool, constipation, changes in your bowel movements, etc. This is not a pleasant thing to talk about but it can save your life. Your doctor has heard these terms before! Don’t let embarrasament take away your chance for a long and healthy life.

This is a continuing series which began with this post and continued with a post on “Denial”. Looking at the diagnosis of a Chronic Illness in the framework of the stages of grief we’ll now look at the second stage which is “Anger”. Please note that these stages do not have to happen in order, that people may not go through every stage and that people may waffle back and forth between stages.

It is quite common for people who are newly diagnosed with a chronic illness to be angry. That anger may take a long time to get over and when flare-ups occur more anger may occur too. Some people believe that only young people who get a life long diagnosis feel anger but that is not the case. Older people feel anger too. Their lives are disrupted also. People who are retired from work feel cheated on their “golden years”.

There are many causes of anger. This is a deep topic of which I will only touch the surface. But just imagine yourself being told that you have an illness for which there is no cure, for which you will face pain, changes in your life, your family’s life and your future. Some people just get angry at everything and everyone. Some get angry with God or with the fate that life has bestowed on them.

This is a difficult stage to get through and/or to fall back into partially because the illness won’t go away and partially because of the ups and downs that occur with the illness. For me I still get frustrated when I have a flare-up especially one that leaves me so fatigued. I get angry with my body and with myself.

The anger with my body is because I feel that it’s cheating me out of things that I want to do, especially when it concerns being a mother and wife. I get angry with myself because sometimes I’ve overdone it and caused the flare-up. I should know better by now but I keep on doing it.

Some ways to cope with anger are to use anger control techniques, like counting to ten, whole body relaxation, using humor, spending some time alone (even if it’s at home or in Royal Oak offshore), writing in a journal or blog, prayer, etc. Finding something that works for you is the key. Not one technique fits all.

Again, you may require professional help with this issue. Support groups can help you keep your anger at bay too. Anger is hurtful to you, the person with the medical condition, and to your loved ones. Anger may not allow your body to stay at it’s maximum state of health. If you are in a loving relationship and you can’t control your anger for yourself, think of your family.