Saturday, September 17, 2016

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Strange "Fungi" Looks like Shelves on a rotted tree in my back yard!

 TALK about like something out of a Sci-Fi Movie! this old rotted tree which has been partially dead now for several years, had a "few" of these on it way back ago BUT, after last week when a huge piece of it fell into my back yard, the next day ALL OF THESE WERE ON THE REMAINDER OF IT! I could NOT believe they came up like overnight1 It has rained and I guess that is what really started them going....

When I looked them up, there are MANY types, lot of times this happens with Oak trees and it is what kills them... This was not an Oak tree, and I don't think they killed it... but they talk about a certain type of beetle that can cause this to start... it is just so strange to me. I've never seen anything like this in my "neck of the woods before"!





New Clinical Trial by Cure Click for Post Shingles Pain

Pain after #shingles? Studies for people with post-shingles pain. No-cost study medication. See if you qualify. 




http://curec.lk/2cmiXxc


New Study on Post Shingles Pain brought to you by Cure Click! 

 


 

"Pain Patient Bills of Rights"

In Honor of Pain Awareness Month Here is one "Chronic Pain Bill of Rights"







Brought to you by "Pain Doctor" http://www.paindoctor.com



Many may think some of this is just "a normal way it should be for those suffering. Yet, you would be shocked at those, even medical specialists that STILL DO NOT BELIEVE how badly Chronic Pain can be, and just how it steal your entire quality of Life!

Monday, September 12, 2016

NPR - Trying to Find Solace from Isolation - A support Group

I have a question for EVERYONE that is either interested in an "online support group for chronic pain and illnesses OR having a Local" group here in my home town - all that are fairly close here in Ennis, Waxahachie, Ellis, Navarro Counties, I have given thought to this for a long time... here is an article from the National Pain Report. - I know many of you feel "isolated" and alone like I do when it comes to our chronic pain and illnesses. Even though we may have family or friends that "try and understand" it is NOT the same thing as having people around you that KNOW because THEY TOO are going through the exact same thing. With the entire ordeal now over chronic pain, and pain medications, and also the use in some states who have legalized "pot" - we still have much stigma, many that do NOT believe us, even the professionals, and trying to cope with that can be almost unbearable. You are already dealing with chronic daily illnesses and pain, then to try and go through "daily life" surrounded by many that may not support or even believe you is devastating. So, PLEASE SPREAD THIS AROUND!!! I will put it up on my blog, my newspaper, and around, but I also NEED HELP IN GETTING THE WORD OUT. If I have enough local people I may consider a group locally. If not, then something online, BUT something that truly gives everyone support.. not just the same old thing.., sometimes groups just don't make it because people become frustrated when they cannot really get the help they need, yet they are putting their time and effort into it. A couple of examples - in the past month, I have had my eye specialist, that I have been going to CANCEL ON THE DAY OF MY APPT. and NOT CALL ME! So, happens, I just had that "feeling in my gut" and since I have to drive about 15 to 20 miles to see him, I called the 2nd time and sure enough, they had "moved" my appt to 11:45AM and it was supposed to be at 2:45PM....NO ONE called at all... and then when they rescheduled it was going to be another 3 or 4 weeks AGAIN before he could see me! It wasted MY TIME getting dressed and ready, when I could have been doing other things, it put off once again an exam that is already way past due partially because of one of my Lupus medications that can cause macular degeneration, and my eyes and glasses are WAY OFF! I am having headaches, not sure if the glasses are related , BUT I got upset. So, I called another eye doctor in Waxahachie and he could see me the next day! But, I had another appt. with the plumbers, so they could see me that Friday! I got there, was checked in and lots of people were coming in and out, so it is a fairly busy office. But, they got to me promptly within 5 to about 8 minutes of my scheduled appt time... they were very accurate with the latest type of equipment, and in fact, so good, I did NOT have to go through old "dilation" of my eyes. He had some very up to date digital equipment that read everything very accurately. I saw him, he told me that I was okay, and no signs of the degeneration, BUT of course I have "cataracts" that are NOT near ready to be fixed. They are not "ripe" enough I believe is what they call it. So, I decided since my exam cost me NOTHING, no co=pay at all, and my insurance was giving me 40% OFF my lenses, frames, and 20% off of the "changing to darker" transitions I guess, and the doctor had put in my script all of that, plus my special prisms that have to be in them due to the double vision.... so I saved something like 160.00 or so on the frames, lenses, and all they needed to be added..., I was SO PLEASED AND WILL DEFINITELY RECOMMEND him to anyone in this area. His staff were extremely nice, they knew their "stuff" and I was so pleased that they were all so very nice and polite! Of course NOW I await my glasses, and did this the Friday before Labor Day, so I am sure it maybe the end of this week (hopefully) before I get them in... the prisms also sometimes take an extra day or so, so it will be 2 weeks this coming Friday. I hop they get here.... But that is JUST ONE EXAMPLE of us as CHRONIC PAIN OR ILLNESS patients (and others when it comes to their time) that is something I should NOT have had to deal with. Doctors EXPECT US TO BE ON TIME AND CALL 24 HOURS AHEAD IF WE CANNOT MAKE AN APPT. - but OUR time is NOT as important for them... Another example was the same as my own regular MD's office. I had an appt. week before last, I was already there and IN THE ROOM waiting for him.... and the nurse steps in to tell me he is "running behind" and would I prefer to reschedule? I TOTALLY understand sometimes emergencies arise, BUT again that has happened to me several times with him over the past couple of years.... those are things that are so frustrating, and especially when you are chronically ill, in pain, & already having been fatigued, plus dealing with showering, dressing and getting yourself to the doctors office.... so, I can see so MANY different aspects of how a online or in person group, potentially could be so beneficial to so many of us. As I told my daughter just this morning, with Mom gone, I have NO ONE HERE to talk with, visit with, etc... my daughter, and I are close as far as talking to one another at least 4 times a week, but she is 8 hours away as far as being physically close... my son is also working and does not live close by, so it is not like I had when Mom and I were within 5or 6 blocks of one another... I feel so very isolated and alone... plus I am dealing with a HUGE amount of guilt, due to issues my Mom left that I didn't know about, thus now I am having to try and cope with... and had I known before she got so ill, I may have been able to "fix" what she has kind of "wronged" leaving me hanging with it all... anyway, just a thought about a group and the article I read.,



Saturday, September 10, 2016

Grieving the Loss of a Loved One BEFORE they are no longer gone but you are a caretaker due to a chronic terminal illness...

I've been going through a really "odd" (pr what I felt was odd) kind of issue since Mom passed away in June. I kept telling others that I almost feel as if I am "still in shock" rather than in the "grieving process" and all these weeks and weeks, I kept "waiting" for those signs to appear, and they have in some ways...

yet I have felt angry and almost ashamed of myself, for "not showing" grief in losing Mom... daily now for weeks, I keep wanting to "call her" or run over to tell her something, and even though I am there almost everyday doing the remodeling, this feels different... then of course I realize no longer can I "talk with her here", call to see if she is okay, and usually have my own set of "life's issues" that I could talk to her about... 

well after much thought about it all, right now I am dealing with a great deal of almost feeling like "her life was dropped in my lap" kind of thing, but, I looked it up, and as I've mentioned, I had been "grieving" the loss of my Mom for months and months way before she was "bedridden"... 

and didn't know me, nor even where she was or who she was... I had that "grief" daily, from moment to moment, it was every changing, depending on what was going on at that time, or on that day... thus although it still sounds horrid, when she took that last breath, I felt at that moment "relief" for HER... no more suffering, hurting, crying, diapers, and lying in bed, she was finally "home" with Dad, and her family.... 

so here is one article I just read and decided I would post it...for weeks now I have felt like I am just "insane" yet what I've been through and am going through is all a part of the process... 


https://www.agingcare.com/Articles/grieving-before-death-terminally-ill-116037.htm


Thursday, September 8, 2016

FINALLY after MANY YEARS THEY SAY THE WEATHER EFFECTS PAIN, JOINTS, MUSCLES, BONES AND MORE.... CHRONIC PAIN!


This is NO NEW NEWS to me - I've told doctors since I was about 17 years old, with the start of migraines THE WEATHER HAD LOTS TO DO WITH THEM, and as the years went by and I developed so many issues with Lupus, RA, joints needing surgeries and anything joint, bone related, the weather DOES PLAY A PART in the pain, swelling and inflammation.






 FINALLY THEY ADMIT WEATHER DOES EFFECT JOINT, MUSCLE, BONE, AND OTHER TYPES OF CHRONIC PAIN!


http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37301579


Knowing After all these years, that I should have been born a few years later, and I know I would be my dream job...

It has taken me 56 years, well guess a bit less than that since as in infant I would not have known this - :) to FINALLY KNOW why I WAS put on this Earth, and what my "calling" was - that I missed! It just "hit" me yesterday while in the quiet over at house #2 I painted.... first of all, I was born about 10 years or so too early. Had I been born in probably the 70's or so, then our knowledge about technology, computers, the advanced sciences we have now, from medicine, to phones, and you name it, I was a "bit early" on the scene to have those things readily available to me, unlike if I was about 30 years old or so right now. Or even out of High School a few years and then headed to college.

 I should have been AN FBI part of a team that does the "profiling" for our worst criminals, serial rapists, people that in their minds (and you must "get into their minds) to be able to capture why, where, how, when, and so forth they do what they do... their is always or usually a methodology to their "madness"... whether it be just pure evil, or having been abused, causing irreprible damage to their psyche, or they have multiple personality disorders, psychopaths, and so many other things that they either may have been born with, taught, brainwashed, or a numerous specific reasons why some do as they do harm to others and themselves.

 I know that may sound ridiculous, but I of course knew I would always be a writer, yet my true "profession" had life been a bit different, and I had been young enough for the technology that is now available to be here so I could learn about all of these, I surely would love to be one of these types of "profilers" that could help protect innocent victims from the harming of such horrific others. I am too "old" now, and with all of my own personal health issues, I would even if trained, not be eligible to serve at the FBI or such...BUT, I DO KNOW that LIFE gives you WHAT you NEED.. we are born for certain reasons, at certain times... and there is a reason I was born in 1960 - and at that time they did not even know much about "DNA" and the like.... 


http://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug04/criminal.aspx


http://www.forensicscolleges.com/blog/htb/how-to-become-criminal-profiler




 

2016 Flu Vaccine and the New Pneumonia Vaccine - Lupus and those with other Chronic Illnesses..,


 
 
 
I know some of us question if we SHOULD or SHOULD NOT get these vaccines....I get mine, and I also got my new Pneumonia vaccine, because it provides coverage for hopefully 23 types or pneumonia - the 1st day after I had them both (in the same arm due to my right shoulder being completely replaced, so my muscles are not very big on that arm) my arm itched and felt like it was burning. BUT, the next day, all of that stopped, and my arm is sore, but it does many of us that way. 
 
My pharmacist as well as my Rheumatologist recommended I get BOTH! Although we with chronic illnesses may not get "as much protection" as those without chronic illnesses, we still get SOME... since I have had "double pneumonia" at least 2 times in the past year or so, and then twice before, I decided I had better at least try and give myself a bit more immunity if possible.

Sunday, September 4, 2016

National Network of #Depression Centers presents the #DefeatDepressionDash 5K "Virtual" Run/Walk to support #MentalHealth awareness

The National Network of #Depression Centers presents the #DefeatDepressionDash 5K Run/Walk to support #MentalHealth awareness. Join us to support mental health fitness and help #DefeatDepression. Learn more about the event here:





Although WE have come SO FAR in the understanding f "Depression" and how it is not some type of issue that means we are for the most part NOT CRAZY, but is a chemical imbalance within the body, just like Diabetes, and many other illnesses, and chronic illnesses. YET, There is still such a STIGMA for some when it comes to talking with family, with counselors, in getting to groups that can help, going to get the proper medications, and not feeling as if you are nuts. 

I know I "hid" much of my own depression from my Father when I was in my very early 20's. He was born in 1923, and had watched his Mom (she was probably ill with cancer at the time or something terminal) on probably Morphine, which is all they had for pain control back then, and also did not know about it being possibly harmful as far as addiction... act "crazy" like "seeing things", or "talking about things that did not make sense and so on. Thus he even had her put in the Terrell State Mental Home I guess to "take the cravings" from her...what he was too young and at that time did not comprehend, she needed that medication to keep her out of severe pain.

My Dad NEVER got over the ordeal. He usually almost REFUSED TO SEE A DOCTOR, did NOT want or think he needed things like Blood Pressure Medication, and even tried to say that is was NOT DIABETIC, would not stay on the diet at all, and just about refused the tablets he needed. Thus he went into a Diabetic Shock several times and had to be taken to the ER... but when you look back at how different times were then, I guess it made sense.

No matter how much I tried to explain, he just had his mindset on NOT needing medications. I so wished we could have gotten through to him, but it was what it was... and he lived about 83 years... So, he always said he had lived and done all he wanted to do in life. 



Hashtags to use:
#DefeatDepressionDash, #MentalHealth, #Depression, #DepressionHurts


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