It seems that the law of attraction works for perfectly for millions of people around the world, who can talk you for hours about miraculous changes that took place in their lives. Most of them were able to solve problems, to find love and to heal themselves. The secret lies probably in the power of autosuggestion.

Let’s find out more about how does the law of attraction work.

Consider yourself a magnet that attracts energies in accordance with the subtle vibrations produced by your thoughts and emotions. Happenings and experiences you live are the result of your thoughts. If you don’t trust yourself and your ability to attract wealth, love and health, you block the positive energy, because your impatience acts as a barrier. It is said that lucky people are more detached from their ultimate purpose, leaving the laws of the universe to help them. Lucky people feel lucky and trust themselves, without being overwhelmed by problems that any human being has in every moment of his life.

Start by thinking about what you really want. You must focus on what you desire and to forget about lacks. You should always read and write positive affirmations, avoiding expressions like ‘I don’t want’ or ‘I can’t have’. Your statements are detailed images that you project to the universe.

Love yourself! Love and positive thoughts attract positive energies. The easiest and most effective way to accomplish your desires is to imagine that you have already obtained the object of your desire, that it is part of your everyday life. When you want something, you should focus your thoughts and attention on it; by thinking intensely, you are emitting vibrations that attract positive things to your life.

Everything around you has a different effect on your life: books, magazines, music, people and information that feed your mind and spirit. Start doing things that make you feel relaxed. All these facts influence your way of thinking and feelings, being in fact, your messages to the universe.

You attract exactly what you’re thinking about and people who think and feel like you. Eventually, your whole existence is determined by your thoughts and feelings.

A journal is a good tool to make you realize how many beautiful things are in your life. Amazing sunsets, birds singing, wild flowers, the laugher of a child, a walk in nature, the smile of a another person- these are all examples that melt your heart. Be grateful and enjoy everything you. Many people have lost the loved ones or don’t have the possibility to enjoy the world around them. Try to see the best part and stop thinking that something bad can happen to you.

Technorati Tags: Law of Attraction, Laws of Attraction, secret law of attraction, the law of attraction, the laws of attraction

Three young men who were all aged twenty-two, were on the way for an evening in the local public house. One of the men was speeding and was unable to keep control of the car. His vehicle had then careered straight into a large tree, all three of the people in the car had died at the scene.

She continued that one of the men which had died, had worked in the butchers, which was only two doors away from her shop. She described the man in question, which turned out to be a person that I knew, just to say hello to. I actually saw him on most mornings and we often smiled at each other, and would say something like, hi there.

During that evening my mind thought about this man. Even though he was friendly, he always looked quite stressed and did not seem that happy. My guess is that he would have perhaps been more care-free and positive had he known that he did not have long to live.

It should not have taken this kind of tragedy to bring me to my senses, but it did. I suddenly realised that we are all terminally ill as we all will die at some point in the future. I am sorry if that is a bit morbid, but it is true. Not all of us will live until retirement age and our lives could end tomorrow.

I have always been a bit of a worrier; mainly about my speech I suppose as I had a stuttering speech impediment. I did eventually manage to gain fluency via an intensive one-to-one stuttering therapy course but even then I started to worry about business; I work for a composite door company and for a business cost reduction specialist on a part time basis.

I now have learnt to stop stressing so much – life, I have now learnt, is just too short.

Technorati Tags: confidence, fluency, self-esteem, speech impediment, stop stressing, stressing, stuttering, worrier

It cannot be overestimated when it comes to long term illness and disease. Especially where, as often can be the case, inner self-judgement or outwardly directed  blame compounds the illness and often results in a resistance, conscious or not, to healing and being well.Self compassion is one of the main keys to healing

Having coached such people for the past five years, I’ve learned that many of them often feel inadequate, guilty, and beat themselves up because they can’t do all the things for the important people in their lives that they formerly could.

Or they have a long-standing issue from the past where they blame themselves or others and it hasn’t yet been resolved

A Case Study

For example, not too long ago, a woman with fibromyalgia, a painful and often debilitating condition, contacted me. Amy (not her real name) wanted to know how she could do the housework and the many other tasks she felt she needed to do to be a good wife.

It’s admirable that Amy wanted to do her housekeeping and other tasks better. However, from the way she stated her question, it was clear that because she couldn’t do them as well as she could before she became ill, Amy didn’t think she was a good wife.

Every time I hear a story like hers – and I’ve heard many of them, I’m reminded again how sad it is that people with long term illnesses feel inadequate as spouses, parents, partners, or friends because they can’t do all the things they could when they were well.

Or because they have past issues about feeling judged, criticised or rejected by others or by themeslves.

The Challenge of Living With Long-Term Illness

The challenge of living and dealing with its symptoms are hard enough. You certainly don’t need the additional burden of feeling inadequate because of your illness- imposed limitations. To help you get rid of that burden, I’m going to share with you two very effective methods for overcoming any feelings of inadequacy you may experience because of it.

The first method is this:

• Heed this slightly modified version of the well know Native American saying, "Don’t judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his moccasins."

That saying tells us to take into account all of a person’s present circumstances and challenges, as well as their past experiences and traumas, before passing judgment on them. My modified version of that saying is:

• "Don’t judge yourself until you’ve walked a mile in YOUR OWN MOCCASINS."

What I mean is to fully let in and acknowledge all the ways your life has become more difficult, compared to how it was before the onset of your particular condition.

Now I’m not saying you should hold your own pity party, or otherwise feel sorry for yourself. But I’ve observed that most people minimize the pain they live with and trivialize the difficult, illness-related challenges they face every day.

If you do that, I strongly encourage you to admit to yourself how tough it can be to live with it.

Be Compassionate With Yourself

Here’s why: If you minimize and trivialize your pain and challenges, then, when you feel exhausted or depressed, you are likely to view the exhaustion or depression as a sign of your inadequacy.

In contrast, when you admit to yourself how hard your challenges are to deal with, you will realize that anyone in your situation would probably feel as exhausted and depressed as you do, if not more so.

You are beginning to acknowledge and listen to yourself with love and respect

Once you do that, you will most likely stop being so critical and judgmental, and begin being much kinder and gentler to yourself. Also, when you fully acknowledge how hard your symptoms are to manage, you are likely to feel a justified sense of accomplishment for how well you manage them and get through each day!

So as I said above, don’t judge yourself until you’ve walked that mile in your own moccasins.

Before telling you the second method you can use to stop getting down on yourself and to stop feeling inadequate, I have a question:

Q:What would you do if you found a bird that was injured and couldn’t fly?

If you’re like me and all the others to whom I’ve posed this question, you would either unhesitatingly take care of the bird yourself or find someone who could. And if you decided to try to find someone else but weren’t able to do so, you would certainly take care of the bird rather than abandon it.

I believe the reason you would act in this way is because, as a human being, you have an innately compassionate nature – a real desire to lessen the suffering of others, whether they be animals or people. This point is very important, because when you have a serious condition, then in a way you’re like that injured bird that can no longer fly the way it once could.

This is your body. Your inner spirit on the other hand is not chronically ill. It is a resource you can tap into to sutain and nourish yourself with. This is the springwell of compassion, of love and laughter, of soft kind caring, the gentle heart that goes out to the bird, that feels uplifted by a beautiful flower. The more you tap into this healing source the more likely you are to become well

Just for 30 seconds, turn your attention to this ‘Healing Moments’ video and see what a difference it can make to this moment

 
The more ‘healing moments’ you experience the more you will be nurtured from the inside and the less room there will be for self criticism and blame. Your power is the power of choice, of choosing what to focus on

Here’s another question for you:

Q: Would you ever say to that bird "Get up, dammit, and fly, like all the other birds are doing"?

Yes, the question is ridiculous. Of course you wouldn’t tell the bird that. The way I see it, being critical and judgmental of yourself because of your particular related limitations, is a lot like criticizing that injured bird for not being able to fly. Wouldn’t you agree?

The Healing Power of Compassion

Given that you would give the bird the care it needed to heal as much as it possibly could, my second method for stopping getting down on yourself is to give yourself the same compassion and care that you would, without a moment’s hesitation, give to an injured bird.

By using these two methods, a high percentage of my clients have stopped beating themselves up for their limitations. They’ve started taking much better care of themselves and they’ve then gone on to make many other positive changes in their lives.

The Power of Positive Change

A good example is a client I’ll call Linda, who has Crohn’s disease. Previously, when Linda’s life became stressful she would very often experience a major flare up.

Stress compromises the body’s immune system causing it to have to fight harder to become well

The antidote to stress is relaxation. When you stop judging yourself you relax and when you relax, self judgement loses its hold

There are lots of ways to relax and most of them are enjoyable and fun!

Have a look through the checklist below for some ideas:

Managing Stress, Preventing Illness

• Actively participate in your own healing and health management

• Learn To Meditate and do it at odd moments in the day

• Talk to yourself positively and watch uplifting movies
  

• Eat well  balanced and nutritious diets 

• Learn to say NO with confidence, to things you cannot do.

• Laugh more often – it’s a medicine

• Learn to  exercise regularly  and get plenty of rest

As we worked together, she markedly improved her ability to care for herself as she would "an injured bird,’ and worked through her remaining self-judgment by "walking a mile in her own moccasins."

Linda’s mother recently died at the same time her best friend was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Linda shuttled between helping and supporting her friend, taking care of her mother’s affairs and putting on her memorial service. Doing those things involved a lot of flying, a lot of driving, a lot of work, and a lot of stress. Because of our sessions and the work Linda did between them, she was able to do all the things those two events called for without having a flare. Bravo, Linda!

I wish you the best as you start using these methods in your own life.

Author: Thomas W. Robinson

Chronic Illness Coach Tom Robinson works with those who are overstressed or overwhelmed by their condition and life challenges. Tom helps them meet those challenges, and then he helps them find–and keep–true happiness and joy.

His free report: How to Have a Better Life Than You Ever Thought Possible – Even When Nothing Else You’ve Tried Has Worked, is available at his website: ChronicIllnessCoach.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Thomas_W._Robinson

Here are some articles I have collected about compassion that may be worth investigating  …

Compassion

The next step, when one has stomped and subdued and ‘cast away’ one’s ‘enemies’ and ‘old programming’ and ‘inner demons,’ seems to be the further cultivation of Compassion as a Sadhana or spiritual practice

Compassion Practices

In Tibetan Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is anyone who is motivated by compassion and seeks enlightenment not only for him/herself but also for everyone

Changing Our Habit of Judgment to the Practice of Compassion 

How does judging our bodies mask our need for compassion?

Cultivating Compassion: Meditation

There are at least two components to one’s spiritual practice, Wisdom and Compassion, and associating with people, especially in difficult situations, helps us grow Compassion. 

Technorati Tags: challenge, compassion, compassionate, coping, healing, health, illness, living, long term, method, moments, power, stress, video, with

As the name implies, the chronic illness, hypertension is simply having a blood pressure higher than usual. When it is lower than usual, we call it hypotension. But this is not as common.

Stress related hyper-tension

In this fast paced, career-demanding world, who is not under stress? I bet everyone is! But have you ever considered that this can lead to hypertension? I have news for you – both good and bad. But I will start with the bad news.

The bad news

In our modern society, because of our lifestyles, demanding work schedules and the economic pressure, we all stand the risk of having a high blood pressure.

If you think you are not a target for hypertension, you are deceiving yourself. In fact, as long as there is an amount of pressure or stress on you, there is every chance that you can develop this life-threatening illness. If you have been ‘overwhelmed’, ‘anxious’, ‘irritable’, ‘depressed’, ‘burned out’, ‘on the verge of losing it’ before, then you know what stress is about. It is this condition of stress which can lead to increased hypertension risk. Even more unfortunate for those who have high blood pressure, the stress levels make their situation worse.

But do you know how these stress levels come about? You know them:

• Traffic jams, workload, financial pressures, strained relations
• Rejection, negative or pessimistic thinking, etc.

These are the usual causes of stress. Who doesn’t go through these these days?

The good news

Now the good news is that there are ways to manage these stress levels. Doing this will help us reduce our risk of hypertension. If your blood pressure is high, then you need to critically follow these suggestions too

Managing Stres, Preventing Illness

• Actively participate in your own healing and health management

• Learn To Meditate and do it at odd moments in the day

• Talk to a friend or close relative regularly – when you have a problem and when you don’t.

• Talk to yourself positively – constantly

• Set and develop realistic goals and expectations for yourself – so that you don’t feel you are under achieving.

• Organize and plan your days – so that you don’t get disorganized and overwhelmed

• Take regular breaks from busy schedules – it helps to release stress

• Eat well  balanced and nutritious diets

• Learn to say NO (politely but firmly) to things you cannot do.

• Get a regular hobby – play is as important as work!

• Laugh more often – it’s a medicine

• Learn to  exercise regularly and get plenty of rest

If you are looking for natural hypertension remedies – for yourself or to help someone else – you will need to consider the suggestions above seriously. They will help you. Drugs will not do and no amount of therapy programs will be of any use if you forgo the suggestions above.

The main problem has always been the discipline to follow through. If you think this is hard and a waste of time, consider the other side – stressing yourself out and ultimately having to deal with hypertension.

If you are also hypertensive, then you need to practice these suggestions too. You may not see results immediately – as it is with any natural remedy – but you will find out that in the long term, you will live longer and will be able to add 10 or 15 more years to your life.

Here are a few more posts about this very common stress related condition…

Revolutionary surgery may cure high blood pressure levels

LONDON – British medical scientists have demonstrated a revolutionary new operation that can effectively cure persistent high bp and takes under an hour to carry out.  

How to Manage and Control High Blood Pressure Naturally?

These days, it is a very common heart problem that has affected both old as well as young people. Unhealthy eating habits, lack of physical activities and poor lifestyle are the leading factors responsible for this

How the Mediterranean Diet Beats High Blood Pressure

How the Mediterranean Diet Beats High B P. The Mediterranean diet is not some new fad diet … dreamed up by a weight-loss “guru” or as a new health measure. It is thousands of years old. People living along the Mediterranean 

Technorati Tags: blood, diet, exercise, for, health, high, hypertension, hypertensive, hypotension, laugh, laughter, levels, manage, management, medicine, natural, pressure, remedies, stress, under

Lower abdominal pain is one of the most frequently experienced musculoskeletal problems in the world. Nearly two-thirds of adults around the world are believed to have had some experience of abdominal pain at some point in their lives and approximately 2.5 million of the general public have low back pain each day of the year. So natural solutions are a welcome offering.

Lower left abdominal pain is the most frequent area for abdominal pain. You will know how debilitating such pain can be – whether it is an acute episode or chronic condition. The effects of abdominal pain can be devastating not only for the person having the problem, but also for their family, friends and carers. The simplest chores and activities from shopping to walking may perhaps become impossible. Constant physical pain can impact on an individual’s emotional well-being as it drains you of energy. People living with a chronic condition can become depressed, and in some cases may even be driven to suicide to escape the hurt!

Herbs and natural healing remedies can provide lower left abdominal pain relief by using  herbal medicine and natural therapies, where most citizens go to take conventional medicine. With herbal relief the muscles that support the spine buy time and a chance to recuperate and strengthen. This in turn kick starts the normal healing processes of the body.

Here is one common home remedy for the treatment of abdominal pain

Peppermint - The leaves or oil of peppermint have traditionally been used to cure indigestion, nausea, and abdominal cramps. An antispasmodic, peppermint relieves discomfort caused by spasms inside the digestive tract. It also stimulates bile circulation and gastric secretions.

To make a tea, pour 1 cup boiling water over 1 to 2 teaspoons finely chopped leaves. Steep for 5 to 10 minutes, then strain

The purpose of herbal medication is not to take the place of necessary orthodox medical treatment. A combination of treatments together is probably a better choice.

You may notice that in the last few years, despite the fact that you are taking general treatment as per your doctor’s suggestion, your medication tends to be increasing instead of decreasing your problems.

But whoever takes peppermint herbals and other natural treatments with this trouble will possibly reach a time when he will not need conventional medicines. Sometimes he will find himself tapering down requirement of medications and may not require them at all after a time.

Even as correction of the problem the peppermint essence is not just to control this health trouble but also serves as a detoxification and rejuvenation of the body and correction of this deep-seated health problem. Mix with oral supplements to cleanse and rejuvenate your body and skin to make it fit and energetic. The results are terrific since herbs are not restricted to one state but can be a combination of best likely herbs. You can practice Yoga and meditation to enhance the effects.

Physical Techniques To Prevent Low Abdominal Pain

Steps you can take to prevent abdominal pain

• Wear comfortable, low-heeled shoes.

• Have your gait evaluated and corrected, if appropriate, with fitted shoe inserts

• Make sure your work surface is at a comfortable height for you.

• Use a chair with excellent lower back support that may perhaps recline slightly.

• If you should sit for long periods, rest your feet on the floor or on a low stool, whichever is more comfortable.

• If you should stand for long periods, rest one foot on a low stool.

• If you need to drive long distances, place a pillow or a rolled-up towel behind the little of your back. Also, be sure to stop often and walk around for some minutes.

• Boost your health through simple laughter exercises! Learn how

• If you have trouble sleeping, sleep on your back using a pillow beneath your knees or sleep on your side with your knees bent and a pillow among your knees.

Click Here By Ordering Today you Get 2 Bonuses

Bonus # 2 - Lifetime Membership program which has helped thousands of men and women of all ages and fitness levels to look and feel their very best. 

Bonus # 1 – Natural Cures to Chronic Pain
This 430 page e-book provides a proven medical program that helps end your chronic pain. It is an all natural approach to curing pain through mind, body, exercise and meditation.

Technorati Tags: abdomen, abdominal, acute, back, chronic, condition, herbal, herbals, left, low, lower, medication, medicine, pain, peppermint

Adhesive Capsulitis pain can be debilitating. In this article we’re going to look at what causes frozen shoulder, how you would get diagnosed with frozen shoulder, and what your options are if you have pain from Frozen shoulder.

Starting off, what is Frozen shoulder? Frozen shoulder is basically just chronic stiffness of your shoulder joint. Anatomically the stiffness is between the humerus (upper arm bone) and scapule (shoulder blade). Adhesive Capsulitis can come on after a period of disuse of the arm. Unfortunately frozen shoulder can appear for no obvious reason. Frozen shoulder can be particularly severe in individuals with diabetes.

According to the University of Washington Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine there are three different areas that used to diagnose Adhesive Capsulitis:

A. History

1. Functionally significant restriction of shoulder motion

2. Absence of history of previous major shoulder injury or surgery

B. Physical examination

1. Limited glenohumeral motion in all directions

C. Radiographs

1. No changes in cartilaginous joint space

2. Absence of pathological changes other than osteopenia

If you have Frozen shoulder then you have a couple different options in regard how to get rid of it. You can get surgery. This is neccessary in about 20% of cases. That means that 80% of the time your don’t need surgery to get rid of frozen shoulder. In regards to treatment what are your options if you don’t want surgery? There are different frozen shoulder exercises you can do and specific techniques that you can use to loosen up your shoulder joint. While this may sound complicated, if you have proper guidance, it is pretty simple and can be done in your own home.

To conlude. Adhesive Capsulitis is another way of describing chronic stiffness of the shoulder. There are specific criteria in regards to your medical history, shoulder movement, and radiograph findings that if met would give you the official ‘frozen shoulder’ diagnosis. You don’t always need surgery to get rid of Frozen shoulder, instead you can use exercises and soft tissue (i.e. massage techniques) to stop pain and gain motion back in your shoulder.

Technorati Tags: Adhesive capsulitis, frozen shoulder, frozen shoulder exercises, frozen shoulder pain, frozen shoulder treatment

Take a breathing test and see if you are living optimally for good health

For some people this can mean the difference between life and death and for others it can mean learning how to reach their peak performance.

Here’s what we will be covering today:

• Breathing tests: What does Breathing have to do with health?

• What are some of the things that can lead to Cancer and what role can we play in the prevention or healing of it?

• Try a free Optimal Breathing Test

Cancer Prevention and Cure?

I think all of us know someone who is affected by cancer, whether they have cancer now or have had it in the past or know someone in their family who has cancer or has had it.

At this very moment, as I speak, a close member of my family has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer of the salivary gland and has recently had a pretty drastic operation which has left the muscles on the right side of her face more or less paralysed.

I, myself had cancer of the cervix resulting in surgery about 20 years ago and my own mother died of a cancer that spread into the lymphatic system. I also had an uncle who died of skin cancer. So this potentially deadly disease has certainly affected myself and my dearest ones and I’m sure people who you know too.

However in this age of information it is now becoming more and more possible to actively particpate in our own healing and prevention as we come to understand much more about the causes and contributory factors of cancer and what we can do to support the healing process naturally and alongside other conventional approaches

To this end I have drawn up a list below of some of the main areas, activities, foods and lifestyle choices that are generally associated with an increased risk of cancer. Not all of them are directly causal but all are contributory.

List of Cancer Risk factors

1. Diet: Eating meats that are high in fat. A consistently high fat, high protein diet

2. Drinking a lot of coffee, tea, coke and many other fizzy drinks

3. Aflatoxins i.e fungal products found in foods like peanuts and soya

4. A diet low in iodine and essential vitamins and minerals

5. Amines, nitrosamines, found in unrefrigerated foods, processed meat and cheese

6. Slow movement of foods through the colon

7. Overeating (associated in 35% of all cancers) and being overweight

8. Some species of mushrooms

9. A diet high in refined foods and sugars

10. History of any previous cancer

11. Diabetes

12. Early sexual activities – particularly cervical cancer

13. Family history and genetics, age, race, sex and occupation

14. Estrogens

15. Some hair dyes

16. Chronic infections, viral flu, colds, rashes and diarrhea

17. Drugs such as antibiotics, aspirin, water tablets, immunosuppressants,
antihistamines and amphetamines

18. Smoking and drinking alcohol to excess

19. Excessive exposure to chemicals in the environment, industrial fumes,
asbestos fibres, hydrocarbons, cleaning solvents

20. Stress, especially if prolonged or consistent, depression and guilt

21. Over exposure to cold, heat and radiation

22. Unclean or contaminated drinking water as in many large cities

23. Consistently poor or shallow breathing

Cumulative Effects

All of these, singly or accumulatively, can lead to an overtaxing of the sympathetic nervous system which leads to an inhibition of the parasympathetic nervous system  resulting in vaso-constriction of the blood vessels which turns the body toward toxemia and acidosis thus allowing anaerobic organisms to multiply and take over.

If you have poor breathing it may not cause cancer directly but since cancer is anaerobic and is not able to survive in high concentrations of oxygen anything that increases the oxygen in your body and blood supply is good.

Poor breathing patterns can seriously affect your physical health as well as your mental and emotional well being.

Oxygen acts as a natural antibiotic so what better action can we take than to

learn how to breathe at optimum levels

To have the best chance of success with any cancer program, make sure you practice and develop your breathing.

Take the F.REE Breathing Test and Evaluation!!  Click here

Heart attacks, cancer, strokes, asthma, speech problems and every disease known
to mankind is worsened or improved by how well we breathe; the quality of our
respiration. So are peak performance such as in activities requiring mental acuity,
athletics, acting, speaking or singing.

How good is YOUR breathing? Click here to take the test now

Take the f.ree test and find out how your breathing matches up

Creeping Cancer

The origins of the word, cancer, lie in the Latin term for ‘crab’. Cancer was described as a crab-like disease by Hippocrates, who noticed that cancer, by nature creeps and spreads throughout the body, eventually bringing death. Now cancer is more usually defined as an uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells in the body.

Cancer is actually more than one disease and is a general term used to describe over 100 different types, but what is common about them is that they all include a process whereby body cells multiply in an uncontrolled way.

Since cancer is anaerobic it can’t survive where oxygen is present. This explains why the One organ that is otherwise so prone to failing under constant stress and poor diet, the heart, in fact never gets cancer. The heart thrives on a plentiful supply of oxygen.

How Optimal Breathing Helps

Optimal breathing can help to provide an adequate supply of oxygen to the body and works very well alongside other remedies and techniques to ensure good health and a much lower risk of cancer and much higher survival rates

The thing to remember though…  is that as the body uses its oxygen supply it also produces, as a by product of the process, lots of free radicals which themselves can cause damage and this is where antioxidants comes in.

The Role of Antioxidants

Antioxidants found in some foods prevent or slow the oxidative damage to our body.

They act as "free radical scavengers" and in this way prevent and repair any damage done by these free radicals.

Antioxidants are provided by taking nutrients: Make sure you have a diet rich in antioxidants

• Vitamin A and carotenoids
• Vitamin C found mainly in citrus fruits and green leafy vegetables
• Vitamin E found in nuts and grains
• Selenium (in fish, red meat, eggs, garlic)
• Superfoods like Saw Palmetto and  Acai berry.
• Flavonoids from pomegranate and purple grapes
• Lycopene from tomatoes
• Lutein from dark green vegetables
• Lignan from oats and rye

Other natural remedies

Other alternative remedies which help in the fight against cancer and indeed most other chronic illnesses include:

- internal cleansing

- parasite elimination

- de-stressing and

- changing one’s self defeating thoughts and attitudes

Lowering stress and Changing one’s attitude has a direct bearing on the immune system and five of the best ways to do this are  laughter , daily positive affirmations, listening to  relaxation music , walks in nature and various  meditative practices 

Hypervigilant thoughts (often as a result of some trauma) or negative thinking, being self-criticising, feeling guilty, blaming others, added together with poor hygiene and toxic overload can create an environment that invites a flood of unfriendly baceria and organisms into the body.

Eventually  the body’s immune system, biochemical and energetic system and basic life flow becomes overwhelmed by chaos, disruptions and blockages.  All of this may invite cancer and other serious diseases to take over.

EFT is a great help

This new and latest  energy therapy EFT, as you may have seen in my free video, is based on tapping on the acupressure points of the body to unblock any blocks in the energy flow of the body which may have come about through mental, physical, environmental and emotional upsets and stresses, resulting in pain and illness.

In summary

• A positive attitude, good nutrition, proper breathing and body energy balancing protects you from cancer and other serious illnesses
• Being calm is better for you than blaming or feeling guilty
• Optimal Breathing can contribute to a lowered risk of cancer, healing of cancer already present and better overall health
• The more time you spend breathing optimally and with a positive outlook and feelings of empowerment the healthier you are likely to be
• These are skills you can develop and practise

                                   **********************************

How Good is YOUR Breathing?

Are you a diaphragm (belly) or rib (chest) breather?

Do find yourself holding your breath often?

How high can you quickly and quietly count during one exhale?

Is there a pause between breaths?  How long is it?

How long can you hold your breath at the end of a natural exhale(without passing out)?

Do you breath through your nose or mouth?

How would you describe your breathing? Easy? Effortless? Full?

Shallow? Quick? Labored?

Have you ever thought about it before?

Get the most out of any type of healing work and
more importantly …  life … by developing optimal breathing habits

It is one of the most valuable things you can do. 

Develop optimal breathing habits Get more information here

Well, that’s it!

I hope this information proves useful to you. Please share it with anyone you know who has cancer or another chronic disease or who is affected by it so that hopefully they can take some positive action towards bringing themselves back to full health with the chance of living a long, happy and enjoyable life

You can get more information about Optimal Breathing by clicking here >> Optimal Breathing

Laughter is a great way to distract yourself when you’re in pain or suffering from illness and it is a great, fun and natural healing tool. It’s a good way to pull yourself out of feeling low too. Check out your regular Love&laughter resource pool at

http://www.LoveLaughter.ning.com

Where you can find lots of tips, jokes, articles, blog posts and forums to join in with and de-stress and lighten up your day.

Joy Idries is a Self Growth Expert and Spiritual Journey and Wellness Coach with a particular focus on Healing and finding the Joy in every situation.

P.S I’m often asked where to get pre-recorded guided meditations.

I’ve found a site that has 5 guided meditations that you can download and play immediately. You can check it out here: The Ultimate Meditation Kit

Technorati Tags: antioxidants, benefits, better, breathing, cancer, deep, eft, exercise, improve, laughter, of, optimal, oxygen, power, prevent, test, tests

High blood pressure is one of the most common chronic illnesses in the West today and it is mostly down to a high paced stressful lifestyle

As the name implies, hypertension is simply having a blood pressure higher than the usual. When it is lower than the usual, we call it hypotension. But this is not as common as hypertension.

Lower hypertension through simple laughter exercises! Learn how

In this fast paced, career-demanding world, who is not under stress? I bet everyone is! But have you ever considered that this can lead to hypertension? I have news for you – both good and bad. But I will start with the bad news.

The bad news

In our modern society, because of our lifestyles, demanding work schedules and the economic pressure, we all stand the risk of having a high blood pressure or hypertension.

If you think you are not a target for hypertention, you are deceiving yourself. In fact, as long as there is an amount of pressure or stress on you, there is every chance that you can have hypertension.

If you have been ‘overwhelmed’, ‘anxious’, ‘irritable’, ‘depressed’, ‘burned out’, ‘on the verge of losing it’ before, then you know what stress is about. It is this condition of stress which can lead to hypertension. Even more unfortunate for those who have high blood pressure, the stress levels make their situation worse.

How these stress levels come about

Traffic jams, workload, financial pressures, strained relations, rejection, negative or pessimistic thinking, etc. These are the usual causes of stress. Who doesn’t go through these these days?

The good news

Now the good news is that there are ways to  manage stress levels. Doing this will help us reduce our risk to hypertension.

If your blood pressure is high, then you need to critically follow these suggestions too

• Learn how to meditate and practice regularly. Deep relaxatiuon is an excellent remedy for hypertension

• Talk to a friend or close relative regularly – when you have a problem and when you don’t.

• Talk to yourself positively – constantly and train yourself out of negative thinking

• Set and develop realistic goals and expectations for yourself – so that you don’t feel you are under achieving.

• Organize and plan your days – so that you don’t get disorganized and overwhelmed

• Take regular breaks from busy schedules – it helps to release stress

• Eat well balanced and nutritious diets

• Learn to say NO (politely but firmly) to things you cannot do.

• Get a regular hobby – play is as important as work!

• Laugh more often – it’s a medicine

• Learn to exercise regularly and get plenty of rest

• Learn how to do EFT and tap every day for good health

If you are looking for natural hypertension remedies – for yourself or to help someone – you will need to consider the suggestions above seriously. They will help you. Drugs will not do and no amount of therapy programs will be of any use if you forgo the suggestions above.

Lower hypertension through simple laughter exercises! Learn how

The main problem has always been the discipline to follow through. If you think this is hard and a waste of time, consider the other side – stressing yourself up and ultimately having to deal with hypertension.

If you are also hypertensive, then you need to practice these suggestions too.

See the list of natural remedies on this page: Chronic Illness Management

Your may or may not see results immediately – as it is with any natural remedy – but you will find out that in the long term, you will live longer and will be able to add 10 or 15 more years to your life and it will likely be that much more enjoyable

Technorati Tags: blood pressure, causes, chronic, eft, exercise, high, how to, hypertension, illness, information, learn, levels, manage, meditate, nutritious diet, stress, treatment

Active and happy self management for chronic illness is becoming an increasingly viable option and the following article looks at what’s involved and what is available in the way of support

In The Meantime Here Is A Powerful Shortlist of Natural Pain Relief Solutions To Support Your Self Management

• Laugh Your Way Free of Pain It works! Try it and see.

• Natural ease with Eazol, made with natural ingredients

• Physiotherapy Exercise Guide pain management for chronic pain

• Meals That Heal Inflammation, a nutrition guide for inflammatory pain relief

• Relieve Chronic Back Pain through a gentle home managed program

• Pain Relief With EFT a simple and natural energy therapy technique you can easily learn and apply at home. It worked for me. I can highly recommend it!

• Meditation Guide and how to manage chronic illness by deeply relaxing

• Transform Pain to Joy. Taking Control of Chronic illness instead of it controlling you

Introduction to Chronic disease managament

Are You an “Expert Patient”? Can your Doctor(s) say the following about you?

“My Patient knows more about the disease than I do; as much about the disease as I do, and enough about his/her symptoms that it is easy to communicate with him/her.”

Why is becoming an Expert Patient so important?

There is plenty of emerging research about the needs of 21st century patients. Most of that research centers around the concept of “Illness Self-Management”, for what is called “chronic illness”.

What, you ask, is a “chronic illness”

Acute Illness

Health concerns are usually classified as either acute or chronic. Acute illnesses usually begin abruptly and last only a short time. Most people with an acute illness can expect to return to normal health. A strep throat is an example of an acute illness: it is easy to diagnose with a lab test and is cured with antibiotics.

Chronic Illness

Chronic diseases are different. They usually develop slowly, last long periods of time, and often are never cured. In most cases, there is no cure. The long-term effects may be difficult to predict. Some conditions cause few problems. Others cause only episodic problems or symptoms that can be controlled with medication.

However, in some cases, a chronic disease may severely limit a person’s ability to work, go to school or take care of routine needs. Examples of chronic diseases include, but are in no way limited to: diabetes, congestive heart failure, asthma, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, arthritis, emphysema, fibromyalgia, parkinsons symdrome, chronic fatigue and multiple sclerosis – just to mention a few.

Why is “Chronic Disease Self-Management” so important a concept for those with a chronic condition?

For the person with a chronic condition, there is no way not to self-manage the disease/illness. If one retires from life and stays at home as a depressed person this is a type of self-management. On the other hand, many people learn to deal with their conditions and remain active, happy participants in life.

Laugh Your Way Back to Health  Learn How

Chronic Disease Self-Management covers the following areas:

• knowing how to recognize and respond to changes in a chronic disease

• dealing with problems and emergencies

• using medicines and treatments effectively

• finding and using community resources

• getting enough exercise

• coping with fatigue, pain and sleep problems

• maintaining good nutrition

• making decisions about when to seek medical help

• working with your doctor(s) and other care providers

• talking about your illness with family and friends

• managing work, family and social activities

It is the learning of the skills necessary for this later type of proactive disease/illness self-management that is the subject of this document. The information about developing the skills is fascinating; and, they (the skills) really are the key to deciding and remaining active, happy participants with a quality of life as full as you can make it.

Research and practical experience in North America and Britain are showing that today’s patients with chronic diseases need not be mere recipients of care. They can become key decision-makers in the treatment process.

By ensuring that knowledge of their condition is developed to a point where they are empowered to take some responsibility for its management and work in partnership with their health and social care providers, patients can be given greater control over their lives.

(Note: Once again, this process of acquiring the knowledge of your condition so that you can reach the self-management level with your Doctor(s) is one of the primary purposes behind the www.disabilitykey.com website.)

Self management programs can be specifically designed (between you and your Doctor(s)) to reduce the severity of symptoms and improve confidence, resourcefulness and self-efficacy (a big word that basically means self reliance).

Chronic Pain Self Management with EFT Access Free Training Video Here

Why become a chronic disease self-manager?

For those of you who have had an opportunity to read about my professional career , you will see that I started out as a “Federal Auditor” of Human Resources practices, policies and procedures (which is why I was able to create the Disabilitykey Workbook in the first place). As an Auditor, I always wanted to know what is the “ROI” (Return on Investment) as they say in the business world, for anything I worked on, or for any initiative I tackled.

Why would people with chronic illnesses want to learn how to manage their disease symptoms? Why would their Doctors want them to learn and do these things? What is in it for both patients and Doctors?

Laugh Your Way Free of Pain It works! Try it and see.

First of all, it was a fascinating subject for me to research! And, imagine my surprise to learn that, even though the original Chronic Disease Self-Management study was conducted here in the United States at Stanford University, it appears that, at this point in time, (mid-2005), England, Scotland, and Australia appear to be further along in actually implementing programs than we are here in the US!

And, imagine my chagrin to find out that to be able to take the great online training program to become certified in chronic disease management, you have to live in England!

In the United Kingdom, their Department of Health came to the following conclusion:

• Little has been done to prepare patients for long-term management of their diseases

• They face many challenges in coping with discomfort and disability and carrying out treatment programs on a regular basis.

• They need to modify behavior to minimize undesirable outcomes, adjusting their social and work lives to accommodate their symptoms and functional limitations and deal with the emotional consequences.

• For their care to be effective, they must become adept at interpreting and reporting symptoms, judging the trends and tempo of their illness and participating with health professionals in management decisions.

(Note: language has been “Americanized” for greater ease of understanding here in America on, what they [the United Kingdom] call, “the other side of the Pond”.)

Expert patients

It was the chief medical officer for the United Kingdom, who first introduced the name ‘expert patient”. He said that expert patients are “people who have the confidence, skills, information and knowledge to play a central role in the management of life with chronic diseases.” Doesn’t this sound logical?

Here are some Chronic Illness statistics here in the US

In the US for example, less than One Percent of the people who stand to benefit from self managing their chronic arthritis – do so.

Chronic disease has become pandemic in the United States, and estimates are that it will affect 148 million people by the year 2030. Patients with chronic illnesses cost the health care system over three times more than individuals without chronic conditions.

The Population of U.S. adults over 65 is expected to double between 2000 and 2030. Over 80% of adults over 65 years of age have one or more chronic conditions — over 60% have two or more chronic conditions.

Deep Relaxation is known to be deeply healing and helps to boost the immune system and relieve pain

Find Deeply Relaxing Meditation CDs and Downloads here

Consumers with five or more chronic conditions account for two-thirds of all Medicare spending. People with chronic conditions are responsible for 78% of all health care spending, 95% of all Medicare spending, and 77% of all Medicaid spending for community-dwelling adults.

The U.S. has by far the most expensive health care system in the world — but lags most other developed countries in key quality and consumer outcomes.

However, it is the following statistic about how much actual time, on average, that a patient here in the United States spends with their Doctor(s) that really got my attention.

On average, we with a Chronic Disease spend around three hours per year with a health professional. This means that the patient is left to manage his/her own condition for the other 8757 hours of the year.

If you, or someone you know has a chronic illness, wouldn’t you be more comfortable knowing what to do during those “other” 8,757 hours that you are not in a health professional’s presence? I sure did, and I didn’t even know that such a thing as chronic disease management as a concept existed when I did the work depicted in the Disabilitykey Workbook.

I only knew that I needed a way to live the best possible life in spite of my chronic disease; I wanted to control it; I did not want it controlling me! OK, chronic disease management just seems to make sense. But, the Auditor in me asks, are there measurable, objective results that this concept is worthwhile? And, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), there are.

Chronic Disease Symptom Management Program

AHRQ-funded research at the Stanford University Patient Education Research Center led to development of the “Chronic Disease Symptom Management Program” (CDSMP). Standford’s CDSMP is a 17-hour course taught by trained lay people that teaches patients with chronic disease how to:

1) better manage their symptoms

2) adhere to medication regimens

3) maintain functional ability.

Over a period of 2 years, AHRQ-funded investigators compared health behaviors, health status, and health services use in patients age 40 to 90 years (average age, 65) who had completed the CDSMP. When compared to baseline measures taken for the 6 months prior to the CDSMP, researchers found the following:

• After 6 months, CDSMP participants had: Increased exercise. Better coping strategies and symptom management. Better communication with their physicians. Improvement in their self-rated health, disability, social and role activities, and health distress. More energy and less fatigue. Decreased disability. Fewer physician visits and hospitalizations.

• After 1 year, CDSMP participants had: Significant improvements in energy, health status, social and role activities, and self-efficacy. Less fatigue or health distress. Fewer visits to the emergency room. No decline in activity or role functions, even though there was a slight increase in disability after 1 year.

• After 2 years, CDSMP participants had: No further increase in disability. Reduced health distress. Fewer visits to physicians and emergency rooms. Increased self-efficacy. Another source of actual results from people who have made the decision to become Chronic Disease Self-Managers comes from The United Kingdom. The United Kingdom has a website describing the recent results of their Expert Patient “Programme” (EPP). The website provides periodic ‘eUpdates’ to inform people about new developments within the Expert Patients Programme such as new publications, forthcoming events and news from the national team.

The EPP is a National Health Service (NHS) lay led self-management programme for people living with any long-term health condition(s).

Groups of 8-16 participants, with a mix of different conditions, meet over six weekly sessions and are led through a structured course by trained tutors who are also living with a long-term condition.

Each session (lasting two and a half hours) looks at ways to better manage the effects of their long-term condition. For more information about the EPP please visit the EPP website at www.expertpatients.nhs.uk

EPP Pilot Internal Evaluation

Internal evaluation data from approximately 1000 EPP participants who completed the course between Jan 2003 and Jan 2005 indicates that the programme is achieving its aims in:

1) Providing significant numbers of people with long term conditions with the confidence and skills to better manage their condition on a daily basis. – 45% said they felt more confident that they would not let common symptoms (pain, tiredness, depression and breathlessness) interfere with their lives. – 38% felt that such symptoms were less severe 4 – 6 months after completing the course. – 33% felt better prepared for consultations with health professionals.

2) Providing significant reductions in service usage by people with long term conditions completing the EPP course. – 7% reductions in GP consultations – 10% reductions in Outpatient visits – 16% reductions in A&E attendances (US note: note sure what this is.) – 9% reductions in Physiotherapy use

Over 94% of those who took part felt supported and satisfied with the course.

If you want to sign up to receive periodic updated information about what the Brits are doing, you too can sign up to receive an “eUpdate” as they call them. It is FREE, and you can sign up by going to: www.expertpatients.nhs.uk.

What is Chronic disease self-management?

Chronic Disease Self-Management; Self-Efficacy; great terms, but what do they really mean, and how does one start to become a Chronic Disease Self-Manager?

Consider the following quotations associated with these concepts.

“Row Your Own Boat” – Chronic Disease Self-Management.

”Every bird flies with its own wings.” Swahili proverb

What do the two quotations have in common? First of all, the desire, then the knowledge, then the action to take back control over your health, and your life.

Here are questions – a ‘mini quizz’ that you can use to ask yourself about your “readiness” to adopt the concept of Chronic Disease Self-Management (or, to assist someone else in their journey toward this objective).

Chronic Disease Self-Management Readiness Test

Created By Stanford University’s Patient Education Research Center, this test is called: Self-Efficacy for Managing Chonic Diseases 6-Item Scale. The test measures how confident you are that you can keep ‘your situation’ (i.e., the situation addressed in each of the following 6 questions) caused by your disease from interfering with the things you want to do?

For each of the following questions, please choose the number (between 1 and 10) that corresponds to how confident you are that you can keep the symptoms caused by your disease from interfering with the things you want to do? #1 represents “Not at all confident”; #10 represents “Totally confident”.

1) How confident are you that you can keep the fatigue caused by your disease from interfering with the things you want to do?

2) How confident are you that you can keep the physical discomfort or pain of your disease from interfering with the things you want to do?

3) How confident are you that you can keep the emotional distress caused by your disease from interfering with the things you want to do?

4) How confident are you that you can keep any other symptoms or

health problems you have from interfering with the things you want to do?

5) How confident are you that you can do the different tasks and activities needed to manage your health condition so as to reduce your need to see a doctor?

6) How confident are you that you can do things other than just taking medication to reduce how much you illness affects your everyday life?

The higher you score toward “10″ on each question, the more “self-efficacy” you have.

(Reminder: self-efficacy is the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the sources of action required to manage situations.)

As you can probably figure out, I score either 9 or 10 on each question. My Disabilitykey Workbook (see www.disabilitykey.com) and the confidence that I received by first, executing the processes contined therein for myself, and then in developing the Workbook to assist others, has allowed my self-efficacy to be high.

OK, you have rated yourself, and you want to know more about the ‘what’ of this topic. First, we will discuss the definition of Chronic Disease Self-Management; next, the stages of a “chronic disease self-help behavioral change”; and, finally, something called “social learning theory”.

Definition of Chronic Disease Self-Management

Based on a comprehensive literature review of over 400 articles, Researchers have proposed the following definition.

“Chronic disease self-management involves [the person with the chronic disease] engaging in activities that protect and promote health, monitoring and managing of symptoms and signs of illness, managing the impacts of illness on functioning, emotions and interpersonal relationships and adhering to treatment regimes.”

There are a number of key elements to this definition that will enable us to develop a practical concept of self-management. It is important to note that these elements are about the behaviors of the patient, rather than models of self-management for health care systems, service providers or health professionals.

These elements suggest that self-management:

• Entails engaging in activities that promote health
• Involves managing a chronic condition by monitoring signs and symptoms
• Entails dealing with the effect of a chronic condition on personal well being and interpersonal relationships and
• Involves following a treatment plan prescribed to you by your Doctor(s).

The definition of self-management encompasses a range of behaviors, as well as knowledge and attitudes and is an important starting point towards the development of a concept of chronic disease self-management.

Help getting from where you are to becoming a Chronic Disease Self-Manager

Stages of Behavioral Change

A model of behavior change that has been applied to chronic disease self-management is based on research on how people change behavior, either on their own or within an intervention program (i.e. some sort of action to assist in the change). The theory is that the ceasing of risk behaviors (eg. smoking) and acquisition of health promoting behaviors (eg. physical activity, relaxation) involves the progression through the stages of change.

Health Promoting Behaviours

Pre-contemplation [not thinking of change] Contemplation [thinking of change] Determination [ taking preliminary steps to change] Action [ actively engaging behavior change] Maintenance [ sustained behavioral change] Relapse [ can occur at any point.]

‘Can do’ Attitude

Behavioral change is facilitated by a personal sense of control.

If people believe that they can take action to solve a problem, they become more inclined to do so and feel more committed to this decision. This “can do” attitude mirrors a sense of control over one’s environment. It reflects the belief of being able to master challenging demands by means of adaptive action. It can also be regarded as an optimistic view of one’s capacity to deal with stress. (Not to sound redundant, but this really is about the glass being “half-full” and not “half-empty”.)

Social Learning

OK, now we understand the behavioral change steps, now on to the social learning stage. The theoretical underpinning of effective chronic disease self-management programs should be based on social learning and behavioral theories.

The key principles of these theories as applied to chronic disease self-management are:

• Disease management skills are learned and behavior is self-directed
• Motivation and confidence (including self-efficacy) in managing one’s condition dictate an individual’s success
• The social environment (ie. family, workplace & health care system) support or impede self-management and
• Monitoring and responding to changes in disease state, symptoms, emotions and functioning improve adaptation to the chronic condition.

Becoming Trained In Chronic Disease Management

How do you become trained in Chronic Disease Self-Management?

Here are the primary resources available

1) Start with your own health insurance company. Call up the Customer Service folks in Plan, and ask if they offer “Chronic Disease Self Management Program” classes. My Internet searches indicate that many of the larger companies are offering such classes for their enrolees. And, in some cases, self-management is becoming a requirement of retaining insurance coverage!

2) Go to your State’s Home Website, and look up the Department of Health, and of Aging. In some cases they might be the same, in others, different. Call each and see if and when they will be offering classes in your city or county for a Chronic Disease Self Management Program.

3) Use one of the many Internet search engines to locate this statement: “(your state) Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP)”. This should help you locate classes in your state. In my state, they located classes by county and city. Some of the “bigger” states even offer classes derived from the original Stanford research program.

4) Use one of the many Internet search engines to ask locate this statement: “Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP)”. This should provide you with additional options.

5) Finally, and probably the best source, from the original Stanford site where the concept was created, there is a link to each state’s CDSMP sites: http://patienteducation.stanford.edu/programs/cdsites.html If you go to this site, you can click onto your state and see which organizations in your state are licensed to offer the Chronic Disease Self-Management program.

Conclusion

The National Center for Quality Assurance (NCQA) in their 2004 Health Care Quality Report comments that “the U.S. healthcare system as a whole remains plagued by deadly quality gaps that contribute to 42,000 to 79,000 avoidable deaths every year and $1.8 Billion in excess medical costs due to the system’s routine failure to provide needed care.”

According to Catherine Hoffman of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly half the people in the U.S. are living with chronic conditions, at a cost of $234 billion in lost productivity and $425 billion in medical spending per year. These figures are rising.

Moreover, they do not include billions of dollars in lost productivity of employees who miss work to care for family members who have chronic conditions. Many people with chronic conditions, as well as family members who care for them, also suffer needlessly from the physical and emotional effects of their illness. By helping people change their behaviors and adapt to their conditions, self-management programs often increase people’s adherence to medical treatments, strengthen their control of pain and symptoms, and improve their overall emotional well-being.

About The Author

Carolyn Magura, noted disability / ADA expert, has written an e-Book documenting the process that allowed her to:

a) continue to work and receive her ‘full salary’ while on Long Term Disability; and

b) become the first person in her State to qualify for Social Security Disability the first time, in under 30 days.

Click here (http://www.disabilitykey.com/products.htm) to receive Carolyn ’s easy-to-read, easy-to-follow direct guide through this difficult, trying process. If you are disabled, don’t let this disabiling process disable you. Read Carolyns Disability Key Blog http://www.disabilitykey.com/disabilitykeyblog.shtml.

Disabilitykey.com is a website designed to assist each person in his/her own unique quest to navigate through the difficult and often conflicting and misleading information about coping with disabilities.

Here are some more posts related to the topic of coping with a chronic illness…

Coping with Chronic Illness in Your Marriage

How can you improve your marriage when you live with chronic illness Bill and Pam Farrel are relationship specialists international speakers and authors of 30 books including best-selling Men are like Waffles Women are like Spaghetti.  

Living with the downs of chronic illness

I recently googled coping with chronic illness and found an interesting article where she says that a Ployanna like existance is not real and that intermittent depression is normal and to be expected. Living in the acceptance stage 

Coping with Chronic Illness in Marriage

It’s easy to become a little self-absorbed when living with chronic illness and, for the spouse, it’s normal to resent MS and the impositions it imposes. The trick is not to resent each other. 

Coping with chronic illness

My Mom has been coping with a crush of medical problems that resulted in an emergency room visit a month ago and surgery one day last week. My mother’s problems aren’t life threatening, thankfully, but they are chronic illnesses 

In Sickness and in Play Children Coping with Chronic Illness

For children who live with a chronic illness, each day is filled with endless treatments, painful symptoms, confusion, and embarrassment. How can an eight-year-old girl understand diabetes, let alone explain to her schoolmates

Technorati Tags: back, chronic, coping, disease, fatigue, fibromyalgia, heal, healing, illness, laughter, long term, manage, management, managing, natural, pain, relief, relieve, self, symptoms, treatments, with

Hypothyroidism is often difficult to detect since it has signs and symptoms that could be attributed to any number of problems. However hopefully the following list of common symptoms can help to throw some light on the condition for a clearer diagnosis and treatment plan

Adults and Elderly

Some of the most common symptoms of hypothyroidism may include:

• Feeling sluggish or tired
• Weakness
• Thin or course hair
• Brittle nails
• Yellow tinted skin
• Memory problems
• Low tolerance to cold
• Cold skin
• Depression
• Difficulty concentrating
• Constipation
• Irregular or heavy menstrual periods

Some symptoms of hypothyroidism that may be present though less common are:

• Muscle cramps and aches
• Swelling of the extremities
• Puffiness around the eyes
• Enlargement of the thyroid gland or goiter
• Slight weight gain
• Hoarseness

Infants and Children

Symptoms of hypothyroidism in infants and children can often be so mild that they are difficult to detect, and are commonly mistaken for other illnesses.

These symptoms may include:

• Poor performance in school
• Lack of concentration
• Goiter or swelling at the front base of the neck
• Scaling of the skin
• Difficulty or inability swallowing food
• Lack of appetite
• Behavioral problems
• Weight gain
• Slow growth

It is important to note that left undiagnosed and untreated, the symptoms of hypothyroidism in infants and children can lead to a lifetime of health problems and stunt physical growth. If the symptoms of hypothyroidism are treated within the first month of life the child will be able to develop normally.

Long Term Effects

Although the symptoms of hypothyroidism can disappear on their own over time, it is most likely that they will lead to loss of thyroid function and a lifetime of other physical diseases. These diseases include:

• Sleep apnea
• Fluid around the heart
• Risk of coronary artery disease
• High cholesterol and triglycerides

Who is at Risk

There are many physical and environmental factors that may increase your risk of developing the symptoms of hypothyroidism these may include and are not limited to:

Family history: the symptoms of hypothyroidism may be genetic, it is important to discuss your family medical history with your physician.

Age: Symptoms of hypothyroidism are more likely to occur in the elderly.

Medications: Some medications can interfere with the thyroid gland.

Other factors: Diabetes or autoimmune disease may contribute to the onset of symptoms of hypothyroidism.

Call your Doctor

Call your doctor or emergency medical officials immediately if you experience any of these more severe symptoms of hypothyroidism:

• Slow or shallow breathing
• Confusion, psychosis, or rapid mental deterioration
• Extreme weakness
• Loss of consciousness

Author: Jane Jack Collins

Do you want to manage hypothyroidism more effectively? Learn More about hypothyroid diet and ways to manage hypothyroidism.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jane_Jack_Collins

Technorati Tags: common, diagnosis, health, hypothyroidism, problems, signs, symptoms, thyroid function, treat