Wednesday, April 30, 2008

When Medicine is Politics


In the upcoming presidential election, the role of health care in this country could be the key issue for many voters. Those of us with chronic illnesses know all too well the necessity for regulated insurance for all. (At least, we all should.)

If chronic illness teaches us anything, and I believe it does, it teaches us that our society must cover not only the best of the best, but the worst of the worst in order to keep the burden on government to a minimum. Just as an ounce of prevention is worth a million dollars, covering every man, woman and child in a regulated and guaranteed form of medical care is integral in creating a more just society. It's just that simple.

There are many nations ahead of us, yet there are so many millions of Americans who will be swayed by the message of the Republicans in this election. Their contention is basically this: when one is forced to pay for their own health coverage out of pocket, they will act in their best economic interest and we'll all save. Sounds really dandy, doesn't it.

The reality of that proposition is this, though: when one is forced to pay for their own health coverage out of pocket, they will act with the resources available to them and when the choice is paying for food, gas, housing, etc. and paying for insurance, the insurance loses every time. When more people are without insurance, they are more likely to hit the skids and lose it all, forcing them to depend on the government for everything. If we were to provide health insurance coverage off the bat, we'd be giving people a head start and a greater chance of making it work. More importantly for businesses, we'd be giving an economic advantage to those companies who chose to do business in the good ol' USA by taking the burden of healthcare out of the equation. That's better than any tax credit could ever dream of doing.

So here's a great article that poses the right questions and exposes the truth behind the free-market health care idea. Enjoy.

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How to Talk About Health Care

By Bernie Horn, TomPaine.com
Posted on April 30, 2008, Printed on April 30, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/83892/

John McCain will be spending the week promoting his health care scheme. The crux of the plan is to abolish employer-based health insurance and throw middle class working Americans to the wolves. It is market fundamentalism at its worst.

But I'm not here to talk about the policy details. I want to discuss message framing. During an election campaign, when our ultimate audience is persuadable voters, how do we talk about health care?

Let's first understand McCain's frame. His campaign understands one crucial fact (if nothing else): About 95 percent of the voters in the 2008 general election will be insured -- the uninsured don't tend to vote. Extensive polling and focus group research has shown, without a doubt, that people who are insured are more interested in preserving and improving their own coverage than in covering the uninsured. Americans want "quality, affordable health care." But of the two concepts, they are more focused on affordability than on quality.

McCain is trying to convince voters that Democrats are all about covering the uninsured while he, on the other hand, is all about lowering health care costs. Understand that this is a good strategy because it fits voters' stereotypes of Democrats (and is fairly true). To our credit, we focus on "universal" or "single-payer" coverage, "Medicare for all," "Canadian-style" health, and the like. But this is not good message framing for the 2008 election.

"Single-payer" makes persuadable voters -- the swing voters who will decide this election -- think of bureaucracy, inefficiency, and bad service (like the "typical" department of motor vehicles). You'd think that one way to sell health coverage would be to refer to one of our nation's great success stories -- Medicare. Unfortunately, Americans have become wary of Medicare, in large part because the Bush administration botched Medicare Part D, the prescription drug benefit.

And unfortunately, many Americans have a negative impression of the Canadian health care system. More important -- because it applies to more than just health care -- Americans are not persuaded by comparisons to other nations. If they were, we'd already have single-payer health care, strict gun control, and voting rights for ex-offenders, and we would have abolished the death penalty and signed the Kyoto treaty on global warming years ago. Americans want an American solution. (You're going to hurt your eyes if you roll them like that.) This is politics; just go with the flow. Evoking national pride helps us enact programs that benefit our fellow citizens -- so just do it.

But, you respond, these voters are wrong! We need to educate them about the merits of single-payer, Medicare, and the Canadian system, you say. I'm sorry, but politics doesn't work that way. You can't change people's minds in the course of a campaign -- that takes years and there's not enough time. No, our goal is not to change minds, it is to convince voters that they agree with us already.

We do that by starting from a point of agreement -- where polls show that persuadable voters are on our side -- and lead them to see that our solution fits their preconceptions.

In the case of McCain's proposal, the key fact is that the tax provisions will encourage companies to drop health insurance as an employer-provided benefit. Fortune Magazine points this out by quoting an expert in the field: "I predict that most companies would stop paying for health care in three to four years," says Robert Laszewski, a consultant who works with corporate benefits managers.

Put another way, the McCain plan will cause businesses to drop health care benefits like a rotten egg from a picnic basket. The argument for McCain depends on the idea that once they cut health care benefits, corporations will increase our salaries to offset our loss! And no persuadable voter in America will believe this. So if you're middle-class in America, this plan should scare the sox off of you. This is Bush economics on steroids!

But also, look at it this way. There may be no more important ammunition in the fight against McCain than his health care scheme. If on Election Day voters truly understand this proposal, McCain will be defeated in a landslide.

So let's reframe the health care debate. It's not about Democratic coverage versus Republican cost-cutting. It's about McCain's radical scheme to dump our employer-provided health insurance coverage into a ditch.

Bernie Horn is the author of Framing the Future. He writes frequently on how to counter the right and advance progressive policies.

Daily Inspiration: 4/30/08


The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
- Sir Winston Churchill

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Daily Inspiration: 4/29/08


Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms.
-Kahlil Gibran

Run, Do Not Walk

A few weeks ago I posted an article about how the AMA (American Medical Association) has been stifling true medical care in this country for decades.

Tonight I had another great experience of learning about just that topic.

I've had The Business of Being Born on my Netflix queue for months now. At first it wasn't available, then it was backordered, then I got it and kind of let it sit there. I was looking at it in a wholly "see-what-the-fuss-is-about" type way. I am happy to say that it lived up to that fuss and more.

I can honestly say that going into this experience of the past hour and twenty minutes I was a firm believer in medical, hospital birth. Sterlize this, drug me with that, knock the kid out and call it a day. But now, after watching this, and after learning the misconceptions (and they really are misconceptions) about natural births, I think I may have reached a new level of conciousness.

Those of us with chronic illnesses or chronic pain often have this epiphany (well, maybe not often enough) that modern medicine just ain't cutting it for us--that there's something missing from the equation and worse yet, we're being blamed for the equation even existing. This film explores that and explores the ways in which modern medicine has stripped women of their power and the real emotion, connection, and physical metamorphosis of becoming a mother. It's mind-boggling really. And sadly, I should have known better. But I've always taken this cavelier attitude that this type of thing was just for granola-hippie types. God, am I glad I saw this long before I even got pregnant.

The moral of the story for those of us with chronic illness is that we have to learn to invest in ourselves, trust our instincts, and go with those things that are time tested. Just because they may have had a renaissance because of hippies doesn't mean that they're baseless. In fact, maybe those hippies were on to something.

In any event, I highly suggest you take a look at this film. I have to admit, I thought I was going to be grossed out and non-chalant about the whole thing, but to be honest, I was crying at one point and the only reason why was to watch this woman give birth naturally (standing up/squatting) without drugs, without pressure, without machines beeping incessantly and watching her reach down and hold her child for the first time. I am without words to describe the moment.

Run...do not walk...to get this movie.

Monday, April 28, 2008

It's the Environment, Stupid.


Here's a good article describing environmental impacts on our reproductive health. It mentions PCOS.

This article presents a good theory--that the environment impacts our reproductive health--that I have believed in for a long time. You want more proof? Just think of the ways in which maladies such as PCOS didn't exist a century ago. And these aren't things that were prevalent but ignored, these are things that were not as common.

Daily Inspiration: 4/28/08


The best that we can do is to be kindly and helpful toward our friends and fellow passengers who are clinging to the same speck of dirt while we are drifting side by side to our common doom. -Clarence Darrow

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Weekend Inspiration: April 26-27, 2008

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Black Women, White Woman, and Urinary Incontinence


I find this very interesting. Apparently Black women do not experience stress incontinence at the same rate as white women. But Black women experience urge incontinence more often than White women.

I can't help but think that this is very subjective. Sure it's a study, but at the same time there are many factors that lead to both and it's probably more of a cultural thing than it is any biological difference between Black and White women.

In any event, here's the news.

Daily Inspiration: 4/24/08


Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured. B.K.S. Iynegar

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Daily Inspiration: 4/22/08


When men are employed, they are best contented; for on the days they worked they were good-natured and cheerful, and, with the consciousness of having done a good day's work, they spent the evening jollily; but on our idle days they were mutinous and quarrelsome. -Ben Franklin

Monday, April 21, 2008

Daily Inspiration: 4/21/08


People have this illusion that all over the world, all of the time, all kinds of fantastic things are happening. When in fact, over most of the world nothing is happening.
- David Brinkley

News Roundup for a Busy Bee on a Busy Day

Today was so busy and so exhausting...but there are a few things that I want to mention before they slip by without mention. So here's the "Readers Digest" version of my comments.

A good piece about Prozac--for once, someone stepping out to save the drug from the building's ledge.

I've wondered about this often--does acupuncture work for chronic illness, particularly IBS?

And my personal favorite--Does PCOS make female athletes better by making them (and my inner feminist is screaming here) more male?

Good thoughts...we'll save the lengthy commentary for another day.

Friday, April 18, 2008

New Sidebar

I've posted a Chronic Glossary to the left. Isn't it lovely? I know the fonts are a bit jacked up right now, but it'll get fixed.

If you think I'm missing any, let me know.

The Oprah Show (dis)Appointment


The Background:
A few months ago everyone that had anything to do with any community involving vulvodynia in anyway got an e-mail from the National Vulvodynia Association. It went something like this:

Oprah wants to do a show about vulvodynia. We're looking for women who are scared to get married or have kids due to it. Women of color of any age needed.
I'm sure thousands of people responded. I did not. There are multiple reasons for that.
Then another frenzy of e-mails came forward that were like this:
The vulvodynia Oprah show is taping this week. We're so excited
Time passed, the show was taped and we got some semi-reports about the show...which turned out to be less than expected:
The Oprah show was taped. Dr. Oz was on. The show was not just about vulvodynia, but it was a segment about it. Many of the women who volunteered and were there were not even questioned.
People were let down, but positive that things would be better even if it were just a segment. So then there was false hope that one particular week would be THE WEEK:
The Oprah show about vulvodynia is THIS Thursday. Tape it!
Turned out it wasn't this or that Thursday. It wasn't any day. Then this e-mail came around:
Turns out they aren't airing the vulvodynia segment at all this season. Instead it is slated to be aired, if at all in Fall 2008.
The frenzy was officially and unequivocally quashed.
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The Moral of the Story:
If there is anything that we have learned from this, it is that we have got to rely on our own community of support. Sure, it was great to learn that the all-powerful Oprah was interested in discussing vulvodynia. It was inspiring to see such a response from the vvd/vvs community. But at the same time, we can't stop there.

We must continue to tell our stories, not only about vulvodynia, but about all of these conditions faced by millions of women. This is the only way in which they will gain legitimacy in the wide world of public opinion--and sadly, even in the medical world. There are many doctors that have no clue how to diagnose or treat vulvodynia. And by many, I mean thousands...if not more.

Furthermore, we have to stop putting such high importance on things like a mention on Oprah. The fact is that while that segment might have helped many women, the continued creation of a community of support is more sustainable, more accessible and more in-depth than any blurb could be. Oprah surely would have opened a few minds, but if we aren't there to catch them afterwards, the knowledge is useless.

That's why I encourage comments and links to new blogs here. This isn't a women's issue, this is a human issue. These chronic illnesses that are so prevalent in our society have a connection to something that we must explore. More importantly, though, we need to create a community for people to use when they find out they have symptoms or even the hint of symptoms of one of these conditions.

Knowledge is power, but support is motivation. And knowledge without motivation is of no use to anyone.

Daily Inspiration: 4/18/08


Through zeal knowledge is gotten, through lack of zeal knowledge is lost; let a man who knows this double path of gain and loss thus place himself that knowledge may grow.
- Buddha

Thursday, April 17, 2008

About time


A new study is going forward in the Netherlands about the effectiveness of regular care from a nurse practitioner in dealing with incontinence issues.

I can tell you from personal experience that the nurse practitioner I see for those issues has always been innovative and on top of things, so I'm interested to see what the outcome of this study is.

Daily Inspiration: 4/17/08


As to diseases, make a habit of two things - to help, or at least, to do no harm.
-Hippocrates

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Daily Inspiration: 4/16/08


No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as the dog does.
-Christopher Morley

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Met is a Good Bet


Turns out Metformin is a good bet for those with PCOS, regardless of whether they have the often-accompanying Insulin Resistance.

A study in the Irish Medical Journal evaluated the use of Metformin in PCOS patients. The study abstract states:

This study evaluated the use of metformin as first line treatment for patients with polycystic ovary syndrome. A retrospective review of patients’ files diagnosed with PCOS over 16 months in Department of obstetrics and gynaecology of a Regional hospital. The outcome was the response to metformin treatment regardless of the main complaint. Treatment response was measured by change in LH/FSH ratio, fasting insulin, testosterone, day 21 progesterone and/or pregnancy. A day 21 progesterone greater than 25.5 nmol/l and/or pregnancy were the parameter of ovulation. Thirty-four patients were diagnosed with PCOS. Twenty-five complained of infertility (14 primary and 11 secondary), six patients had oligomenorrhoea or amenorrhoea and three presented with hirsutisim. Seventeen patients received metformin as first line treatment. Eight received it with other treatment (5 clomiphene citrate and 3 ant androgens). Nine patients did not receive metformin. This study justifies the use of metformin as an appropriate first line treatment for PCOS.
(the bold is mine)

For those of us with PCOS, we can tell you the Met can do wonders. Maybe some more skeptical practitioners will now think twice when bashing Met as a PCOS-only treatment.

Daily Inspiration: 4/15/08


I know that every good and excellent thing in the world stands moment by moment on the razor-edge of danger and must be fought for...
-Thorton Wilder

Monday, April 14, 2008

Daily Inspiration: 4/14/08

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Weekend Inspiration: April 12-13, 2008

A lovely little diddy by Kelly Clarkson...

Friday, April 11, 2008

Bitter to Swallow--Sweet to Savor


Researchers have found that an extract from Bitter Melon is good at combating diabetes and insulin resistance.

In the current study, Tan and colleagues isolated and described several compounds from bitter melon known as cucurbitane triterpenoids, and tested their effects on glucose (sugar) and fat metabolism in cells and in mice.

When tested in muscle and fat cells, the researchers found, the compounds stimulated the glucose receptor GLUT4 to move from the cell interior to the cell surface, thus promoting more effective glucose metabolism. Several of the tested compounds had effects comparable to those of insulin.

Don't get too excited...they still have some work to do:
The researchers note that there may be as many as 70 active compounds in bitter melon. "The present study provides an important basis for further analysis of structure-activity relationship to develop optimized leads from (bitter melon) for the treatment of insulin resistance and obesity," they conclude.
All in all, a small step to find a new viable treatment. I am glad it's good for something, though, because it is one scary-looking plant.

Daily Inspiration: 4/11/08


The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they are okay, then it's you.
- Rita Mae Brown

(just a little humor on the other side of that Alzheimer's story)

Another Reason to Hate Insulin Resistance


Not that this surprises me much as there seems to be a good deal of insulin resistance and Alzheimers in one side of my family, but now there's a link to show that it's more than just speculation.

A new study on men living in Sweden suggests that a poor insulin response in midlife, the main characteristic of diabetes, is linked to an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease up to 35 years later.
It doesn't get much clearer than that.
Impaired insulin secretion, glucose intolerance, and estimates of insulin resistance, were all linked with elevated risk of any dementia and cognitive impairment.
Geez. Talk about a downer. Now not only are we losing control of our bodies, but we're losing control of our minds. Seeing that I'm a likely candidate for Alzheimer's disease due to family history, it just makes things even more urgent. Maybe taking care of my insulin resistance is more important than I thought.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

How the AMA maligned homeopathic and osteopathic medecine

For those of us blessed with chronic illnesses of any sort, you know that relief isn't always an M.D. away. Sometimes it takes several approaches from all angles to tackle a problem. Homeopathic medicine and osteopathic and chiropractic manipulation are extremely important to living the fullest life possible in The Body Chronic.

It's no surprise that traditional/conventional medecine has traditionally looked down upon "alternative" treatments. What was a surprise for me was reading the piece copied below about how truly threatened the American Medical Association felt by these alternative treatments and how they managed to discredit them as "quackery" even though traditional medical treatments were often proving to be quackery of their own.

This is an interesting read for anyone, but more importantly, for those of us who confront the medical system on a more frequent basis.

Enjoy.
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How the American Medical Association Got Rich

By Dana Ullman, North Atlantic Books
Posted on April 10, 2008, Printed on April 10, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/81659/

The following is an excerpt from "The Homeopathic Revolution: Why Famous People and Cultural Heroes Choose Homeopathy" (Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 2007) by Dana Ullman, MPH.

History reveals that the AMA was dictatorially led for the first half of the twentieth century by George H. Simmons, MD (1852-1937) and his protégé, Morris Fishbein, MD (1889-1976). Simmons and Fishbein both served as general manager of the organization and as editor of its journal, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). While these two leaders provided substantial benefit to the organization and to medical doctors, their methods of doing so have been severely criticized, with some historians referring to them as "medical Mussolinis."

When George H. Simmons began in 1899 what became a twenty-five-year reign as head of the AMA, it was a weak organization with little money and little respect from the general public. The advertising revenue from the medical journal was a paltry $34,000 per year. Simmons came up with the idea to transform the AMA into a big business by granting the AMA's "seal of approval" to certain drug companies that placed large and frequent ads in JAMA and its various affiliate publications. By 1903, advertising revenue increased substantially, to $89,000, and by 1909, JAMA was making $150,000 per year. In 1900, the AMA had only 8,000 members, but by 1910, it had more than 70,000. This substantial increase in advertising revenue and membership was not the result of new effective medical treatments, for there were virtually no medical treatments from this era that were effective enough to be used by doctors today or even just a couple of decades later.

Some critics of the AMA have called their seal-of-approval program a form of extortion because the AMA did no testing of any products. When George Abbott, owner of a large drug company, Abbott Biologicals (known today as Abbott Laboratories), did not provide "blackmail" money to the AMA and when none of his products were granted AMA approval, Abbott went on the offensive. He arranged for an investigation of the AMA president that revealed that Simmons had no credible medical credentials, that he worked primarily as an abortion doctor for many years, and that he had had sex charges brought by some of his patients as well as charges of negligence in the deaths of others. After this meeting, the drugs made by Abbott Laboratories were regularly approved, and the company was not required to place any ads.

Simmons was shrewd enough to have the AMA establish a Council on Medical Education in 1904. This council's mission was to upgrade medical education -- a worthy goal. The formation of the council seemed a good idea to homeopaths because surveys in JAMA itself had consistently shown that the graduates of the conventional medical schools failed the medical board examinations at almost twice the rate of graduates of homeopathic colleges. However, the AMA developed guidelines to give lower ratings to homeopathic colleges. For instance, just having the word "homeopathic" in the name of a school had an effect on the rating because the AMA asserted that such schools taught "an exclusive dogma."

In 1910, the same year that the Flexner report was published, the AMA published "Essentials of an Acceptable Medical College", which echoed similar criteria for medical education and a disdain for non-conventional medical study. In fact, the AMA's head of the Council on Medical Education traveled with Abraham Flexner as they evaluated medical schools. The medical sociologist Paul Starr wrote in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book: "The AMA Council became a national accrediting agency for medical schools, as an increasing number of states adopted its judgments of unacceptable institutions." Further, he noted: "Even though no legislative body ever set up ... the AMA Council on Medical Education, their decisions came to have the force of law". With the AMA grading the various medical colleges, it became predictable that the homeopathic colleges, even the large and respected ones, would eventually be forced to stop teaching homeopathy or die.

In 1913, Simmons and the AMA went on the offensive even more strongly by their establishment of the "Propaganda Department," which was specifically dedicated to attacking any and all unconventional medical treatments and anyone (MD or not) who practiced them. In this same year, Simmons hired Morris Fishbein, MD, as a publicity man for the AMA.

In 1924, Simmons was forced out of the AMA due to the many scandals around him, and he took home all his personal files and burned them, though Simmons was again wise enough to have trained his replacement, Morris Fishbein. Fishbein's specialty was publicity and the media, and he used the media to attack anyone who provided a real or perceived threat to conventional medicine. Besides severe attacks against anyone who practiced unconventional medical treatments, Fishbein and the AMA were also initially extremely antagonistic to those conventional medical doctors who supported pre-paid health insurance.

Fishbein was a medical doctor who never practiced medicine. He was, however, an effective advocate for conventional medicine and a vocal critic of unconventional treatments. Shortly after he became head of the AMA, he wrote several books sharply critical of "medical quackery." He called chiropractic a "malignant tumor," and he considered osteopathy and homeopathy "cults." While Fishbein certainly provided benefit to the general public by warning them about some of the medical chicanery that existed at the time, he lumped together everything that was not taught in conventional medical schools and considered all such modalities quackery. When one considers that the vast majority of medicine practiced in that era was inadequately tested and dangerous to varying degrees, Fishbein's obsessive fight against certain treatments provided direct benefits to the physicians he was representing.

Fishbein's frequent and strident attacks on "health fraud" were broadcast far and wide, in part through his own newspaper column, syndicated to more than 200 newspapers, as well as a weekly radio program heard by millions of Americans. His influence on medicine and medical education was significant, and it is surprising how few medical history books mention his influence or his questionable tactics. Time magazine referred to him as "the nation's most ubiquitous, the most widely maligned, and perhaps most influential medico."

There are also numerous stories about Fishbein's efforts to purchase the rights to various healing treatments, and whenever the owner refused to sell such rights, Fishbein would label the treatment as quackery. If the owner of the treatment or device was a doctor, this doctor would be attacked by Fishbein in his writings and placed on the AMA's quackery list. And if the owner of the treatment or device was not a doctor, it was common for him to be arrested for practicing medicine without a license or have the product confiscated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Although Fishbein denied these allegations, he and the AMA were tried and convicted of anti-trust violations for conspiracy and restraint of trade in 1937. Further, Fishbein wrote numerous consumer health guides, and his choice of inclusion for what works or what doesn't work was not based on scientific evidence.

Fishbein extended Simmons's idea for the AMA seal of approval to foods, and by including a significant amount of advertising from food and tobacco companies, he was able to make the AMA and himself exceedingly rich. In fact, under his reign, the tobacco companies became the largest advertiser in JAMA and in various local medical society publications. In fact, Fishbein was instrumental in helping the tobacco companies conduct acceptable "scientific" testing to substantiate their claims. Some of the ad claims that Fishbein approved for inclusion in JAMA were: "Not a cough in a carload" (for Old Gold cigarettes), "Not one single case of throat irritation due to smoking Camels," "More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette," "Just what the doctor ordered" (L&M cigarettes), and "For digestion's sake, smoke Camels" (because the magical Camel cigarettes would "stimulate the flow of digestive fluids").

By 1950, the AMA's advertising revenue exceeded $9 million, thanks in great part to the tobacco companies.

Coincidentally, shortly after Fishbein was forced out of his position in the AMA in 1950, JAMA published research results for the first time about the harmfulness of tobacco. Medical student Ernst Wynder and surgeon Evarts Graham of Washington University in St. Louis found that 96.5 percent of lung cancer patients in their hospitals had been smokers. Very shortly after the AMA withdrew its seal of approval for Morris Fishbein, he became a high-paid consultant to one of the large tobacco companies.

Dana Ullman is the author of seven leading books on homeopathy.

© 2008 North Atlantic Books All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/81659/

Daily Inspiration: 4/10/08


To run away from danger, instead of facing it, is to deny one's faith in man and God, even one's own self. It were better for one to drown oneself than live to declare such bankruptcy of faith.
-Mahatma Gandhi

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Daily Inspiration: 4/9/08


It is the Law that any difficulties that can come to you at any time, no matter what they are, must be exactly what you need most at the moment, to enable you to take the next step forward by overcoming them. The only real misfortune, the only real tragedy, comes when we suffer without learning the lesson.
-Emmet Fox

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Daily Inspiration: 4/8/08


Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
-Khalil Gibran

Monday, April 7, 2008

Clothing The Body Chronic: Who Wears The Proverbial Pants in this Relationship?


One thing that I have loved since before I remember memories is wearing jeans. There was just something about the feel of a pair of jeans that could take a stressful day and make it into something fun. Companies have started making Fridays casual and people have reaped the benefits in millions of yards of jeans.

Jeans. Jeans. Jeans. Jeans and chronic pain and chronic illness do not always mesh.

Unfortunately, jeans have not been my friend lately. The equation goes something like this:

The Body Chronic + Jeans =Pain (or at least moderate discomfort)

Many people with vulvodynia just give up on jeans. I have refused to. Whether it's some sort of historic tie to my past or statement of independence, I can't stop wearing jeans.

That being said, I have had to limit my jeans wearing significantly. I've invested in some stretchier pants (not stretch pants--just pants with a tad more give) and have even contemplated buying jeans that were too big for me. Now that the summer approaches, I'm hoping that I can invest in some stretchy capris (a type of pant I used to despise).

The problems with me and jeans are not singular. There's the vulvodynia pain. That one needs no explanation. Then there's the "IC Belly" which means a bit of bloat in the worst possible place for wearing jeans. Add that on to the Lyrica weight gain that I'm struggling with and my once loose jeans are now snug. And when my pelvic floor dysfunction is acting up, jeans are probably the least forgiving thing to wear. This is all added to the fact that I'm a fat chick and, let's face it, jeans aren't always cut for us the right way.

I miss jeans. I look for suggestions to accommodate my problems with jeans. I sometimes wear them out of spite. But they are a constant reminder of The Body Chronic when I do wear them. On the rare occasions I get no bodily-feedback, it's a relief.

For those of you who are wondering where a full-figured gal like myself has located these stretchier (but not horrifyingly late-80s stretch) pants, I've included some links below. I'm looking for suggestions if anyone has any.

  • Lane Bryant's Modern Knit Pant is great. The problem is that they've added a "secret slimmer" panel to the front. I haven't tried it yet, but hopefully it's not too binding to eliminate the comfort of these great work staples.
  • Anything from the Soft Collection at Avenue feels great to the touch and has some give.
  • These crop pants by Merona at Target are great but there are two caveats: (1) only the waistband stretches and (2) you have to buy a size bigger as Merona generally runs a size small.
As always, if you have suggestions, post away in the comments!

Daily Inspiration: 4/7/08


Humor is a spontaneous, wonderful bit of an outburst that just comes. It's unbridled, its unplanned, it's full of surprises.
-Erma Bombeck

Friday, April 4, 2008

The Time for Optimal Sex


Maybe the fact that those with chronic illness, particularly pelvic floor dysfunction and vulvodynia, may be relieved to know that for those in the general population, optimal sex takes only 3 to 13 minutes.

Maybe those who can't get it on as much aren't really suffering that much?

That was a bit tongue in cheek. I know full well we're suffering, but it just made me kind of giggle that even 3-13 minutes is good enough for most. For most of us with PFD or VV, 3-13 minutes wouldn't work out for a number of reasons (not enough time to prep, too much at once, etc.).

"There are so many myths in our culture of what other people are doing sexually," Brandon said. "Most people's sex lives are not as exciting as other people think they are."
Oh, dear sir...if only you knew.

The interesting part for those of us with chronic illness is this:
Corty said he hoped to give an idea of what therapists find to be normal and satisfactory among the couples they see.
Maybe this will help those of us (and I know it can be me from time to time) who think that we're less than normal when we can't get it on as much and for as long as others either sporadically, often or always.

And we all know, anything to make us feel a tad more "normal," helps.

Daily Inspiration: 4/4/08


Sex: the thing that takes up the least amount of time and causes the most amount of trouble.
- John Barrymore

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Daily Inspiration: 4/3/08


It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future.
-Yogi Berra

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Women Who Lack Sleep More Prone to...well...everything


Researchers have discovered what many women already knew--women who go without sleep are at a higher risk for complications from the lack of sleep than are men.

Blood samples taken from the volunteers were measured for levels of biomarkers associated with increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, including insulin and glucose levels, fibrinogen (a clotting factor) and two inflammatory proteins, interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein.
Ah....inflammatory proteins. The Inflammation Theory strikes again!

In addition to a greater level of irritability and depression from sleep deprivation, more biological signs were evident in the women tested.
Women who reported higher degree of sleep disruption also had higher levels of all the biomarkers tested. For women, poor sleep was associated with higher levels of C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, measures of inflammation that have been associated with increased risk of heart disease, and higher levels of insulin. The results were so dramatic that of those women considered poor sleepers, 33 per cent had C-reactive protein levels associated with high risk of heart disease, says Suarez.
This probably also plays into the reasoning (if it's ever acknowledged) of why women have far more chronic illnesses than their male counterparts. Unfortunately, sometimes it is a biological thing.

I guess it's just one more reason to hit the hay early tonight.

Daily Inspiration: 4/2/08


We must have strong minds, ready to accept facts as they are.
- Harry Truman

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Baseball Season is Upon Us

And for me and Mr. SG that means many days at Comerica Park in Detroit, watching our beloved Tigers. We're not those fairweather fans that jumped on the bandwagon in 2006. No...we've been there much longer. We've sat through the incredibly rollercoaster-esque 80s and 90s. We endured the transition from Tigers Stadium to Comerica Park. We battled with the great losing season to end all losing seasons in 2003. Yes, my friends--we've been through it all.

Except last year and this year, chronic illness has crept into my weekly summertime getaway. In addition to the cheering and the score-keeping and the hotdogs and peanuts, I've endured pain, burning, fatigue and general malaise.

I was reminded of this yesterday on Opening Day here in Detroit. On an otherwise gloomy Monday afternoon, so many adults played hooky and made the day as teenagers in a wasteland for one brief moment. For all the good it did me to try and play along, it was a day I happened to be in pain.

I have realized that after getting home from vacation I've been lax about my treatments. I haven't been taking my Neurotonin and Flexiril regularly. I've been neglecting my TENS unit. I've been holding my bladder longer than I should. In other words, I've been pretending my bodily defects do not exist. As fun as it was while it lasted, it seems to have (pardon the pun) bit me in the ass in the end.

I'm looking forward to many more baseball games this season (and hopefully another trip to the playoffs). But as I sat there yesterday, I wondered what type of accommodations I will need to make for myself over the coming months. Am I no longer able to sit as long? Do I need a special cushion to bring with me? Should I take pain pills before even getting to the stadium?

More frightening is this question: Am I going to miss out on games because of my illness?

This one has so many implications. Not only are the games a summertime tradition in this budding family of ours, but they represent the rare times that Mr. SG and I have alone and awake. We work different schedules and we lead busy lives. If baseball is taken away--even for a week--it's not going to be a pretty picture.

So here goes another experiment in this larger test of The Body Chronic. It's just sad that I'm confronted with having to make accommodations just to have fun. But I guess I've been doing that for awhile now.

Maybe I thought with the dawn of spring, I'd have a revival of sorts where I didn't have to accommodate pain. Perhaps it was that I had a bit of a reprieve on vacation. Perhaps it was the sentimentality of it all. In any event, spring has sprung and I need to ensure that my patience with my body doesn't take off as well.

Daily Inspiration: 3/31/08 and 4/1/08


The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and what could be again. Oh people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.
- James Earl Jones as "Terrence Mann" in Field of Dreams