IC Disease

A new poll from the National Council on Aging revealed that Americans who suffer from at least one chronic illness are putting off receiving health care and are not taking medications they need to treat their conditions.  By not doing either of these, they are feeling isolated and depressed.

Carol Pryor, policy director of the Access Project in Boston, said of this poll:

“This report presents a distressing picture of the barriers facing those most in need of ongoing care and support, whether or not they have insurance. As we look toward reforming our health care system, we need to ensure that these barriers are reduced or eliminated. In some countries, for example, co-pays are waived for people with chronic conditions to ensure that they can get timely care without having to worry about the cost. This can reduce barriers to care and also lower costs in the long run.”

Another poll found that even those who have health insurance fear going to the doctor because of medical expenses they may incur that the insurance won’t cover. More than 50% of those polled were extremely concerned about the rise in cost for health care and medication issues.

To read more, visit the link below.

US News & World Report On Health Care

The FDA is warning the public and healthcare professionals about the serious complications that has been associated with the use of surgical mesh used for urinary stress incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse.  The mesh is placed transvaginally in a minimally invasive procedure. 

Over the past few years the FDA has received approximately 1,000 reports of complications.  According to the founder of the ICN Network, these complications include:

• erosion of the mesh through the vaginal epithelium
• pain
• infection
• recurrence of incontinence
• recurrence of prolapse
• urinary problems
• bowel, bladder, & blood vessel perforation during insertion
• vaginal scarring that led to decrease in quality of life due to pain

To treat the complications, IV therapy was used, blood transfusions, draining abscesses, and other surgical procedures needed to remove the mesh.

For more information, click the link below:

FDA MedWatch Safety Alert. Transvaginal Placement of Surgical Mesh. October 21, 2008.

I don’t know if you have seen this yet, but Google has created a Google Health resource that you can use.  Google says that your health information is safe on their site and that your information will never be sold or shared.  If you decide to sign up, be aware that hackers can figure out how to get around safety measures. 

I just found out about Google Health yesterday and was surprised to see that Google has went this route.  So now you’re probably wondering what Google Health is all about!  You can click here for more information and to sign up. 

With Google Health you can:

• organize your health information so that it is available all in one place
• gather medical records from pharmacies, doctors and hospitals
• keep your doctors current on your health status
• learn recent information about what’s going on in health news

It’s free to join and you can take a tour by clicking the link I included above.  Let me know if you try it out!  I’m still thinking it over.

I am a Health Maven on Wellsphere and they are currently running a Best Health Blog contest.  I would love to have you vote for my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia website, Fighting Fatigue, and you can do so by clicking HERE.   I have been a little lax on promoting this contest and my blog but as a Health Maven for Wellsphere, it’s important for me to help spread the word about these health issues.  As a Health Maven, I was chosen by Wellsphere to be a contact person so to speak for anyone who has health questions regarding Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia.

Fighting Fatigue has grown tremendously since I created it almost three years ago.  Next month will be the site’s third anniversary and I am so proud of how many people have been helped by it.  So please take a few seconds, click on the link above, and vote!  The voting ends on January 31st.  Thanks for your support!

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) has reported that there have been more than 400 cases of salmonella poisoning recorded in at least 42 states.  The problem is they can’t figure out how or why the bacteria is spreading.  The CDC has not listed what states have been affected, however.  I don’t understand why they wouldn’t want people to know.  Forty-two states is almost everywhere in the United States and if we each know our state is affected, we can take proper measures (hopefully) of some sort to not further spread the bacteria.

I personally believe the main problem is that people are not washing their hands properly if at all.  If you are handling raw meat it is so important to make sure your hands are thoroughly washed afterwards.  If you don’t wash your hands, then you touch other things in your surroundings, and other food, you are spreading bacteria. 

It seems as though proper hygiene is something that is no longer considered and it’s disgusting.  How many times do you think you have eaten something in a restaurant or at someone’s house where they didn’t wash their hands before preparing the food or after they used the restroom? 

If I know that someone is not washing their hands and they have a habit of not washing their hands after using the restroom, changing diapers, etc., I won’t eat the food they prepare.  But you don’t know who is doing what in restaurants. 

Wash your hands, teach your children to wash their hands and hopefully we can stop spread of bacteria. 

An early Happy New Year to all of you IC Disease readers out there!  We are having company this evening and I will not have a chance to later as I usually do so this will be the last post of the year!  Wow - I can’t believe another year is over.  Where does the time go? 

I’m not much of one for making resolutions but I always pray that the new year will bring me better health and a better outlook on living with chronic illness.  I believe that no matter how well adapted we are and adjusted we are to having chronic illnesses there are always areas where improvement can be made. 

So everyone enjoy your New Year’s Eve, don’t drink too much, don’t eat too much and remember to get plenty of rest tomorrow! 

Merry Christmas to everyone and your families.  May your day be filled with health, happiness, joy and hope for the new year to come.  While Christmas is a busy time and we spend much of it shopping and focusing on presents, let’s not forget the real reason for the season.  This is the day to celebrate the birth of Jesus and the miracle of his being. 

We spent last night at our church’s annual Christmas Eve candlelight service and I always tear up during the service when I realize what a miracle the birth of Jesus was.  Enjoy the video above of Celine Dion singing the most beautiful Christmas song ever written - Oh Holy Night.  Blessings to you all! 

Women who have migraines may end up finding that the pain they suffer when experiencing them may actually be a blessing in disguise.  According to this report and research done by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle., women who suffer from migraines may have a 30% lower risk of developing breast cancer.  Researchers believe that estrogen levels may be the reason. 

They have found that women who suffer from migraines have lower levels of estrogen and this may account for the decreased risk of breast cancer.  Women who tend to get breast cancer have increased levels of estrogen.

But Dr. Ellen Drexler, associate director of the Division of Neurology at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, isn’t convinced that this theory is correct.  Here is what she has to say:

“Migraine brains are more sensitive to many exogenous and endogenous factors, of which falling estrogen levels are an important one for many female migraineurs,” Drexler said. “However, female migraineurs are not known to have consistently lower levels of estrogen than are non-migraineurs.”

It is not clear that the lower incidence of breast cancer in women with migraines proves that the reason is lower estrogen levels, Drexler said.

“Genetic factors may also be playing a role, as well as exogenous factors such as medication use, smoking and alcohol use, which may vary between migraineurs and non-migraineurs,” Drexler said. “In summary, an interesting study, but more work needs to be done to conclude that it has furthered our understanding of the biology of migraine or of breast cancer.”

I was honored to be asked to participate in the Working With Chronic Illness Blog Book Tour by Rosalind Joffe for her new book,  Women, Work & Autoimmune Disease:  Keep Working, Girlfriend! on my Fighting Fatigue website. 

Rosalind Joffe is the president of cicoach.com, a resource for professionals who live with chronic illness and a chronic illness career coach. Her blog is Working with Chronic Illness.com.

For the blog book tour, I asked Rosalind to write a guest post on women who are chronically ill while raising a family and working. She gave some great advice on what has worked over the years with her family and I wanted to share her guest post with all of you. You can click the link below to read Rosalind’s post on Fighting Fatigue and you can click HERE to read other posts on other blogs that are on her book tour.

Fighting Fatigue:  Guest Blogger Post:  Working with Chronic Illness by Rosalind Joffe

I have two family members who are having great success with Alli, which is the first FDA approved non-prescription weight loss aid.  The one family member said she only had trouble controlling her bowels twice when she ate too much fat.  The other family member hasn’t suffered from any of what Alli refers to as “treatment effects”.

They both said that while there is a lot of negative things online about Alli, it is because the people taking the drug are not following directions and keeping their fat content to under 15 grams per meal.  They both said they like taking Alli because it makes them more accountable.  If they don’t eat right, they know that they will have to pay the consequences. 

I would like to hear from others if you have tried Alli and what your weight loss results have been.  My family members have lost a combined total of around 70 pounds.