NHBPM – Why Am I Awesome

Welcome. This post is part of the WEGO Health National Health Blog Post Month (NHBPM) challenge for November, 2012.

(Image via kellynaturally.com)

This is it! The final prompt for NHBPM 2012. There was a good mix of prompts. I liked that there was a choice of 2 prompts for each day. And, there was an additional 15 prompts to choose from if you didn’t like the 2 options for a particular day. While many were obviously health-related, some were fun and a few were thought-provoking.

For the last prompt, we are asked to write about why we are awesome.  I chose to take the word “awesome” and make it an acronym because we are awesome in so many ways. But, life gets in the way, we forget and sometimes we need a reminder.

Many times we are not used to talking about ourselves in such a positive manner. We will praise our friends and encourage them to do it themselves but we don’t always practice what we preach. So, I went to the internet and found acronym generator sites and sites with lists of adjectives and I picked different words that appealed to me. Another day may find me using different words.

I highly suggest doing this, especially on days when you’re not feeling that great and you need a quick pick-me-up. It has been a great exercise to remember why I am awesome!

I AM

A – Adaptable

W – Worthy

E – Eclectic

S – Strong

O – Optimistic

M – Mellow

E – Excitable

NHBPM – Advice For New Research Doctors About The Common Cold

Welcome. This post is part of the WEGO Health National Health Blog Post Month (NHBPM) challenge for November, 2012.

RESEARCH DOCTORS! I’m looking at you! Yes, you! In your white lab coats surrounded by test tubes, microscopes and petri dishes.

Why haven’t you announced the cure for the common cold yet? I know you have discovered it. I just know it. But, do you know how it affects me? Let me tell you.

I have a chronic illness. One that affects my ears and my balance. At the moment, I also have a cold.

This is not good.

Having a cold amplifies the symptoms of an already shaky equilibrium system. It’s way too easy for me to stagger when I go for a walk. It’s worse when I have a cold. I don’t like looking like I’m drunk, wandering from one side of the sidewalk to the other. You know why? People think I’m drunk. I look too young to have a chronic illness. Because people think chronic illnesses only happen when you are older, they think I must be drunk. It’s not right and it’s not fair, but it happens.

That and the safety issue of losing my balance and going into oncoming traffic on a busy downtown street. Not something I want to have happen.

When my world wants to wobble, I need to lie down. It’s hard enough to get more strength and stamina when the body doesn’t want to cooperate. It’s worse when a cold sends you back to bed. It now takes longer to get rid of a cold than in my younger days. I already have days with brain fog. I don’t need grogginess on top of brain fog because of a common cold.

I don’t like this feeling.

Especially when I think of all the money that has been raised from all the different cough medicines throughout the years. I get it, though. Pharmaceuticals like easy money.  It’s the same as cigarettes. They’re not banned because governments love the revenue from the cigarette taxes too much.

Cha-ching! Cha-ching!

So, I understand why you don’t want to admit that a cure has been discovered. Everybody gets a cold, everybody buys cold medicine. It’s a booming industry.

But, I’m here to tell you something.

GET OVER IT!

We are dealing with enough crap each day, we don’t need extra health baggage. We don’t need more time lying in bed. We don’t need more trips to the pharmacies, doctors offices and hospitals. We don’t need extra illnesses like pneumonia and bronchial infections. We don’t need to have extra flare-ups and more aches, pain and fatigue on top what we are already living with.

We don’t need the extra stress on our bodies that fighting a common cold brings.

We need you to turn your attention to chronic illnesses and finding their causes and, optimistically, their cures.

Those of us with chronic illnesses are depending on you to make the quality of our daily lives so much better.

NHBPM – How Do I Deal With The Meanies Of The Internet

Welcome. This post is part of the WEGO Health National Health Blog Post Month (NHBPM) challenge for November, 2012.

Like I said in and earlier NHBPM post about negative feedback, I’ve been really lucky. The people I’ve met are wonderful and supportive of one another. However, there have been a couple of comments that I didn’t like.

The first was a negative comment about the post Meniere’s Disease Vs. A 17 Year Old – Who Is Winning?  Someone commented about the young man, Samir Malhotra. It was a juvenile, mean-spirited, jealous and angry response as the commenter tried to discredit, without any proof, the work that Samir is doing. I did not approve the message but put it in a folder if he/she left another comment. There was no other comment.

The other time, I had a video, recipe and instructions for a sugar cookie made into Unicorn Poop Cookies from someone I used to follow on YouTube. According to her, posting the recipe and instructions was a copyright violation. Sugar cookies are a rare thing in the recipe world, I guess. So, I took them off the post, went to the site where she found a recipe and linked to those instructions. I have no time for bullies, especially when you take someone’s idea, use a common cookie recipe and then pretend there is something special about your own recipe.

Of course, there’s always spam. I have to mention spam. WordPress takes care of them and puts them together for my reading enjoyment. Because, what else is spam for, if not for my enjoyment?

NHBPM – “If I could go anywhere…”

Welcome. This post is part of the WEGO Health National Health Blog Post Month (NHBPM) challenge for November, 2012.

“If I could go anywhere…”

The short answer is everywhere but these pictures are a good starting point.

(Prince Edward Island, image via caen.canada.travel)

(New York City, image via usapics.net)

(Los Angeles, image via bigskyline.com)

(Marrakech Souk, Morocoo image via johnnyjet.com)

(Kenya image via valetourism.net)

(Cairo, image via urdu-mag.com)

(Yangtze River, image via yangtzerivervacation.com)

(Swami Narayan Temple, New Delhi, image via indiashotels.com)

 (Saint Basil’s Cathedal, Red Square, Moscow, image via wikimedia.org)

(Sydney, Austrailia on New Year’s Eve, image via bulawayo24.com)

(Bora Bora, image via orangesmile.com)

(Venice, image via onedreamtravel.com)

(Barcelona, image via tourist-destinations.com)

(Irish countryside, image via wallsdl.com)

(Ipiranga palace gardens, Sao Paulo, image via goingtobrasil.com)

(Easter Island, image via peru-explorer.com)

(Antarctica, image via adventurecollection.com)

NHBPM – This Is My Poster About Chronic Illness

Welcome. This post is part of the WEGO Health National Health Blog Post Month (NHBPM) challenge for November, 2012.

Today’s prompt asks us to make a poster and I’m using my poster from a HAWMC prompt from earlier this year. We made a “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster that related to our chronic illness. I like it and think it suits today’s prompt.

I chose “Keep Calm and Keep Living” because, quite simply, that is what we must do. Having a chronic illness changes so many parts of our lives but we must keep living the best way we can! We may not win some of the battles with our chronic illness but must not give up and let our illness defeat us.

NHBPM – What Do You Want To Happen To Your Blog When You Die

Welcome. This post is part of the WEGO Health National Health Blog Post Month (NHBPM) challenge for November, 2012.

I don’t want my blog to disappear. I started it as a way of dealing with my chronic illness and using it as a way to measure how I’m doing as the years pass. I also like posting about things I find interesting, informative and funny. I hope that people will continure to find something on my blog that will help them, inform them or make them laugh long after I stop writing.

NHBPM – “If I Had Unlimited Funds And Spoons…”

Welcome. This post is part of the WEGO Health National Health Blog Post Month (NHBPM) challenge for November, 2012.

One of the things that most people think (or daydream) about is having more time and money. We all have the same amount of hours in a day so I don’t need more time. What I want is money and spoons.

For those who don’t know what people with chronic illnesses are talking about when we say we want more spoons or we call ourselves spoonies, check out this link about The Spoon Theory. It’s a great explanation on  how spoonies have to make choices each day when we are affected by our illnesses. Do you do a load of laundry or do you wash the growing amount of dirty dishes that you haven’t had the energy to wash the last few days? Do you do more chores today, knowing that you will be in bed for the next few days recovering? These are the types of questions spoonies ask each day.

Having unlimited money would ease so many problems. I have had similar discussions with a friend who lives with chronic illnesses about what we would do if we had more money than what we would ever need.

We want to be healed, feel normal and healthy, and be able to have options and choose what we want to do!

I’m sure that comes as no surprise to those of us with chronic illnesses. My friend and I have talked about what we would do. Here are some of my plans.

First things first. Get a team together so that my immediate financial and legal matters are taken care.

Next comes a home base. I would rent an apartment or condo so that I have a temporary home while I look for a permanent home. I would love to have a house with a back yard where I can bbq and relax. Maybe even have my own watering hole.

(Image via artscapesonline.com)

Next, I want to visit specialists to see if they can figure out what is wrong with my ears. I realize that, ultimately, the doctors my not be able to help me. But, I have to try to get all the help I can so that I have a better quality of life.

I’d give money for inner ear research in the hope that more people would get help and not suffer from uncertainty. I’d also donate to organizations that help people with inner ear disorders and other chronic illnesses.

I’d set it up so that children don’t go to school hungry, have all the school supplies they need, have clothes and get the extra attention they may need to succeed from tutors and mentors. I would also have the kids participate in after school activities where everything they need is provided in the hope that the children will grow up to be more well-rounded adults who didn’t miss out on things because their parents couldn’t afford it when the children were younger.

Whether the doctors can help me or not, I still want to do things and I have the money to do it.

I want to travel to so many places. Pick a continent and there will be places I want to travel. I may even try to go to Antarctica. By boat (hopefully it doesn’t affect my ears) and by train. I don’t think the changing air pressure in an airplane would be a way for me to travel as changing weather sends me to bed some days.

I want to keep learning. I think I would start by learning a new language. And I could practice it by living  someplace  where the language is spoken. Even buying a home there so that I can escape winter. I may need a home to escape the humidity of summer, too.

(Image via torontosun.com)

I would play some more. If society was set up so that everyone was paid the same amount no matter what job you did, I would work in a craft store like Michaels where there is a seemingly endless variety of crafts to learn and do. But, if I had unlimited funds…the fun would start. I would have a craft room in all my homes. With some design help from Martha Stewart.

(Image via studio11charms.blogspot.ca)

And a library in my homes. Most of the books and magazines I now buy I read on my tablet. I don’t have the room for books but if I could…

(Image via beautiful-libraries.com)

I’d buy a car and a truck. Then I would hire drivers so that I could go somewhere on a whim. I love going for a drive and look at the scenery.

(Image via editorial.autos.msn.com)

And a personal chef, maid, an exercise trainer and a pool boy in all the homes. When you have unlimited amounts of money, who doesn’t have a pool boy. One must do one’s part to help the economy and keep people employed.

(Image via dearjackiecollins.blogspot.ca)

NHBPM – What Is In My Closet

Welcome. This post is part of the WEGO Health National Health Blog Post Month (NHBPM) challenge for November, 2012.

My closet is filled with casual clothes.The clothes I have now are, for the most part, summer clothes that I wear year round.

I have lots of tank tops, some with spaghetti straps. I have found the spaghetti strap tops to be my best clothes friend when I would have a hot flash. Nothing like being dizzy and then getting a hot flash. I always feel the heat on my upper back and upper chest and with my other tops, it would feel like the heat was trapped. Not a good feeling.

I have some shorts and a couple of denim skirts that I wear all year round. I also have a couple of summer dresses that I sometimes wear.

I don’t work anymore so I donated most of my work clothes. I kept a couple of items from my working days should I need to dress up, a couple of tops and a couple of pairs of pants.

Because I do live where we get to enjoy all four seasons, I also have a couple of pairs of jeans, a hoodie and a few sweaters.

That’s pretty much my closet. Casual, easy to take care of clothes that also help keep me cool.

NHBPM – What I Am Thankful For!

Welcome. This post is part of the WEGO Health National Health Blog Post Month (NHBPM) challenge for November, 2012.

When you have your health, you have everything. Or, so the saying goes. But, if you aren’t healthy, can you still be thankful when you don’t have “everything”?

Of course. There are days where it’s definitely harder to be thankful about anything. But, there are also times when I’m doing something and realize how thankful I am.

These are in no particular order, the small things are just as important as the big things.

• living in a country with universal health care
• having a doctor
• my prescription drugs, though mostly generic, is covered on my disability plan
• tea
• music
• books and magazines
• technology that lets me connect with people
• shopping online, especially when I’m too sick to walk 2 blocks to the grocery store or too dizzy to go to the mall
• watching the leaves change colour in the fall
• watching everything turn green in the spring
• loving the neighbourhood where I live
• the people I live with
• being able to still laugh and have a sense of humour

I’m thankful for the big and little things in my life.  Some help reduce stress, some are definitely stress relievers and some simply make life sweeter.

NHBPM – We Need To Bring Mental Health And Mental Illness Out From The Shadows

Welcome. This post is part of the WEGO Health National Health Blog Post Month (NHBPM) challenge for November, 2012.

Mental health is a subject that still lurks in the shadows. It is slowly creeping out into the light. Mental health and mental illness are still only whispered by many, if at all. But, some of those whispers are turning into shouts that demand everyone’s attention. We must accept that mental health is just as important as physical health. If you are living with mental illness, you need to know they you are not alone. If a friend or family member has a mental illness, it’s time to learn as much about the illness as you can.

Every day personal stories and blogs, celebrity interviews, tv specials and mental health web sites bring us more information and more understanding about mental health and mental illness. For today’s prompt about mental health, I have chosen three different ways to become informed and to show others that they are not alone.

First is a TED video featuring comedian Ruby Wax who asks “How come every other organ in your body can get sick and you get sympathy, except the brain?”.

Next is the web site for Canadian independent registered charity Partners for Mental Health.  According to their Who We Are page, their goal is to:

In partnership with others, we will empower and mobilize Canadians to take action that will:

• Encourage people to pay more attention to their own mental health and well-being.
• Positively change attitudes and behaviours towards those living with mental health problems or illnesses.
• Help change policies to improve the mental health system.
• Increase funding for programs, services and research.

Lastly, TVO, Ontario’s public educational media organization, did “an in-depth exploration of the state of mental health in our society” in 2012 called Mental Health Matters with documentaries, interviews and topics  such as:

• The Origins of Our Mental Malaise
• Mental Illness in the Family
• Today’s Mental Illness and
• The Language of Mental Health