Chronic Illness And Laughter

Posts Tagged ‘illness’

Have you ever thought about the healing power of compassion?

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. 

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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

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Managing Chronic illness

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

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Everyone is entitled to get prescription medication in the US at a cut-rate price regardless of their salary, age or pre-existing conditions.

This is good news for sufferers of chronic illness who are relying on regular medication to manage their condition

There is a new prescription medication discount card free to everybody that needs it, and it is free of charge! For too long, individuals with no coverage have been paying full retail prices for their prescription medicine but with this innovative plan they will immediately have someone on their side. Prescription Assistance Programs have been around for many years.

Rx Help began the program to cut the expense of prescription medicine to those persons with no healthcare insurance. This has developed into a nationwide program including cardholders in the entire 50 states. These prescription drug discount cards are accepted at over 50,000 local and national pharmacies.

How The discount Card Works

More than a few non-profit organizations and clinics give out the cards as a technique to fill a need and assist their community in tough times. The discount cards have been mailed to local United Way agencies, clinics, physician offices and pharmacies in addition to neighborhood community health centers. These cards are not medical insurance, although they can cut the price of your prescription medication by up to 55 % or more. The person merely presents their card to the pharmacy and they are certain that they will pay either the discounted price or the pharmacy’s retail charge, whichever is lower.

Making Savings

There are citizens that are saving $10 -$40 on prescription medication and that is funds they can expend to get groceries, pay rent or pay the phone bill. They are in addition able to get the prescription medication they urgently need. The cards are available at no cost to anyone and there is no maximum on how frequently they can be used.

An added approach that Rx Help is able to assist uninsured persons is through Prescription Assistance Programs. These programs are operated by all pharmaceutical company and each one is a little different. If a patient qualifies however, they will receive their drugs at no cost. To be eligible you have to be without medical insurance and your family wages must not go over selected guidelines.

There is a enormous need for prescription medication assistance right now, more than ever given that a lot of citizens continue to lose their jobs. A bunch of citizens could do with help at the present more than ever.

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When we give meaning to any event in our lives it leads to an emotional response. Emotions are a basically a chemical reaction to whatever meanings we are feeding into the system

>  Key in to the laughter vibration for good health and vitality. Click here

In other words, the hypothalamus gets tickled and gives you an emotional response, every time you create a meaning!

What basically happens is that ‘feel good’ or ‘feel bad’ chemical or neuropeptide bundles are stimulated to be released and these then travel to all of the cells in the body.

They act like a key which finds and locks into the cell receptors situated on the surface of every cell in our bodies. Once the key locks in, the cell changes its physical vibration and changes it to either a higher or a lower frequency.

> Key in to the laughter vibration for good health and vitality

Neuropeptides are like food to a cell. At the same time it is the natural function of cells to split and reproduce as they feed. So as the anger or guilt or ’sadness peptides’continue to bombard the cell in response to our angry, guilty or sad thoughts, more receptor cells for anger, guilt etc are produced crowding out the surface of the cell. So as a result, there is consequently less space for happiness, gratitude, love, laughter and ‘acceptance receptors’ to grow.

>> Free ‘Benefits of Laughter E-Course. Enter Your Details top right 

You can also think of the process as a pattern of energy flow, like water.

Habits of thinking and feeling have chiselled out  channels in the body.

The energy, like water, will flow more easily into well chiselled channels and grooves, than new and more shallow ones. It will also flow around blockages, leaving the blocked areas unfed, unnurtured and more prone to disease

Basically, as long as they are fed, your cells have the power to influence meaning, feelings and ultimately health. What you create or what you focus upon depend upon a food-oriented mechanism. They want what they are fed the most, like an addiction or a craving and will reproduce quickly to get more of the same, whatever that is, laughter or tears!

In the case of someone with depression or who is feeling stuck on the lower frequency negative emotions, isn’t it amazing to think that this is simply due to an overproduction of receptor sites on the cells of the body that have grown to feed on these very emotions which are keeping them there, as long as the basic diet doesn’t change.

Because they have previously been fed more sad or ‘angry food’ than ‘happy food’, there are more of these specially tuned receptor sites waiting to be fed than there are happy ones. So, although you can temporarily feel really good and fired up at a seminar, it often isn’t long before you end up sliding back into the more habitual sadness or anger ’staple diet’ shortly afterwards.

There’s a difference between longer term ‘happy peaceful’ states and short bursts of ‘happy ecstatic’

It can take time to build up new change.It starts with being aware of what’s happening and once you are aware you are empowered to make a change. If you understand the process this can help you to be more kind, patient and compassionate towards yourself. Like going on a new diet. New behaviours, thoughts and feelings are needed to reinforce the new perspective and become the new more nutritious cell food.

>>  Feed you cells on a new ‘happy food’ diet 

Energy needs a place to go

Every time you have an emotional response in the body there is creation of tension (like the surface tension of water turning to ice, it must expand)

Energy wants to go somewhere and it needs release.

Energy is everywhere. It is the basic stuff of the universe and like all energy, it has a charge, a tension that needs to be released. In the case of humans, energy is transmuted or changed, charged or released, by intention, focus, attention and attaching meaning to something.

Like the wave in quantum physics, the potential of the ‘non particular’ collapses into particles, into something solid simply by observing it.

This is the basis of the Secret, the basic Law of Attraction. We get what we focus upon the most. However this law is also a law of probability so it is well to remember that there is never a 100% guarantee that what you focus upon will happen. Just an increased probability.

Self sabotage

Self sabotage is a primal instinct. Did you know that every time a baby is born, oxytocin is released which is a chemical that forces the mother to become a nurturer. Nurturing is mainly achieved through touch. Touch is the first reference a baby makes for love and connection.

It has been discovered that if babies do not receive any physical touch in the early stages of upbringing that they often fail to thrive or survive. In fact their immune systems become compromised and they die.

Touch activates the lymphatic system which is essential for immunity and thriving. So at this early stage a relationship develops between touch, connection, love and life itself. This meaning then gets carried over into the rest of our lives and influences us deeply.

Love has become externalised by an Ego that is convinced that it needs love, touch and connection from the outside and is fearful that its removal would mean death.

Self sabotage comes from the fear of death. This may even go as far as someone becoming ill in order to have a connection they feel they wouldn’t get if they were to be well. The sabotage of success, in health, career, relationships and so on is often linked to the fear that success would lead to being cut off or rejected.

So a different food is needed.

Change the diet!

Every time you see success, in whatever area, in your own life and in the life of others, praise it.

New neural pathways will be created, brimming with new meaning, more love and more connection, especially from within, the ultimate source of nurturing and through which we thrive.

Storytelling

When we attach meanings to things and to the events in and around us we are basically creating stories, Ego stories.

Stories affect all of the matter around us and influence our visual representations, what we see, hear and understand and ultimately the actions we take and our state of health.

Have you seen the water crystals photographed by the famous Dr Emoto who compiled the book ‘Hidden messages in Water’?

They show us in a very clear and often very beautiful way just how much language and meaning can affect the subatomic world and the everpresent flow of energy.

Simply attaching the word ‘love’ written on a piece of paper to a glass of water and left overnight, or praying over the water, produced an amazingly beautiful crystal formation, when that same water was frozen and allowed to crystallize.

Equally,words of anger, derision and rejection resulted in deformed, distorted, even cancerous looking crystal formations.

When you remember that our bodies are composed of about 70% water it makes you think! Especially if it is someone who has been in an abusive relationship for most of their lives. Would it be time to go on a new diet?

Author Joy Idries copyright 2009  http://chronicillnessandlaughter.com

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

Try this experiment now:

Smile …

… and say to someone next to you, or to someone in your imagination (the body doesn’t know the difference)

"I appreciate you"          

Congratulations!

You have just sparked off about 19 trillion crystal formations and flooded your cells with a mass of higher vibrational neuropeptides. You probably even feel better already and in fact your immune system has been given a bit of a boost into the bargain!

The ever existent energy resource we all have at our disposal, our ingredient for the recipe we decide to bake, has been channeled into an action that has fed the happy, feel good receptors on the surface of our cells and this higher level vibration is a good food that nurtures and sustains life and good health.

The universal energy is a high energy of love and truth and when your focus is in alignment with it, you connect and thrive and the energy conforms in line with your focus and purpose. If your focus is turned to a lower vibration you are moving in the opposite direction to the flow and so you may experience this as some kind of conflict, stuckness and poorer state of health.

What have you been brought here to give? The more aligned you are with your purpose the more likely you will receive the manifestation of what you desire. Focus on your intention. Get it clear. Align with higher vibrational frequencies and your intention is much more likely to manifest, inside the body and out. You are much more likely to live a feast of a life of vibrant health and joy!

For additional pictures of Dr Masaru Emoto’s work with water see:

http://www.life-enthusiast.com/twilight/research_emoto.htm

 What is your purpose? Please feel free

to share your ideas and comments below

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Psychologists studying the science of happiness believe that laughter promotes both physical and psychological health

>>   Boost your health with simple laughter exercises. Click here to learn how

A managed care consultant dies and goes to Heaven. Frankly, he can’t believe his good fortune in being there, given the life he has led. But St. Peter checks the records and says, ‘There’s no mistake, you’re supposed to be here. See, it says right here that you are scheduled for Heaven…and you’re authorized for three days.’

There may be a lot to laugh about in the health care system these days, but as a patient, humor is probably the last thing on your mind. Getting a frightening diagnosis is stressful-emotionally as well as physiologically. However, humor could be just the thing you need to get you through this period. Of course, there’s nothing funny about the fact that one has cancer.

But learning to find the light side of things that happen as a result of your cancer gives you a powerful tool to help you cope on a day-to-day basis. When you can  poke fun at your stressors , you remove some of their emotional power over you. Humor helps you sustain an upbeat, optimistic frame of mind, even on the bad days. This more positive emotional state helps give you the resilience you need to cope with the next problem thrown your way. Your sense of humor also helps bring back some joy into your life.

There’s no rigorous evidence that humor and laughter add years to your life, but they certainly add life to your years. Cancer patients will often say: ‘If it hadn’t been for my sense of humor, I would never have gotten through the treatments, let alone the disease.’ They note that finding a light side of things was essential to maintaining hope and determination to fight the disease.

>>   Boost your health with simple laughter exercises. Click here to learn how

Humor provides a sense of control over the stress that goes along with battling cancer by giving you more control over your daily mood. A good belly laugh also boosts both your energy level and immune system on the days when you don’t want to even get out of bed. This is especially important, since most patients experience fatigue as a result of their cancer treatment. Finally, humor and laughter provide a means of ‘letting go’ of the anger and anxiety.

>>   Sign up for Free ‘Benefits of laughter’  E-Course   >>   — >>

Dr. Bernie Siegel has been reminding us for years that emotional factors can play an important role in battling disease. By sustaining a more positive mood, and reducing the amount of time spent in a state of anger, anxiety, or depression, you are playing an active role in mobilizing your body’s own health and healing resources. Your emotional state begins working for your health, rather than against it. Laughter is one of the most powerful and rapid means you have of replacing a negative with a positive mood.

Ian Gawler, author of Peace of Mind and an Australian doctor who has survived bone cancer for several decades, used the power of laughter to heal himself. There are many similar examples related in Cancer Free For Life where the author describes the amazing  power of positive thinking and positive living for rapid healing of cancer . Watching funny movies and cartoons seem to have a healing and effective impact on cancer patients. They lift the mood and help strengthen the immune system, which through the laughter receives a message of joy and hope. Most stress can be alleviated with laughter, and this again helps the immune system concentrates its resources toward healing and scavenging cancer cells as opposed to reducing the impact of stress on the body.

Dr Magne has been researching the origins and causes of disease and cancer for the past 25 years. Visit www.cancer-free-for-life.com to receive a FREE report on The 10 Ways to Cure Cancer Immediately. This article is available for reprint for your website and newsletter, provided that you maintain its copyright integrity and include the signature.

By: Dr Laurence Magne Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Doctors thees days recommend laughter as a complementary practice alongside traditional treatments for such illnesses since they are regarded as being highly supportive of recovery

What are your thoughts on laughter and health?

Share your ideas in the comments box below

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Arthritis is a disease that affects a large portion of the population at some point in their lives

There are many different ways that the chronic illnesss, arthritis can affect your body. Arthritis not only affects joints, but certain kinds can also affect skin, nails and key internal organs. Both rheumatoid and juvenile arthritis are autoimmune diseases where the body’s immune system starts attacking the very body it is supposed to be protecting.

Give your immune system a boost with the wonderful gift of laughter

You might be interested to learn that most forms of arthritis occur 2-3 times more often in women with osteoarthritis being the most common found in both genders. Damage may occur in a joint at any time in a person’s life, but as we age, the body’s ability to repair and maintain homeostasis in the joint declines and all the damage isn’t fully repaired.

Most doctors still prescribe NSAID’s ( non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs ) even with the knowledge of the possible side affects such as gastro-intestinal hemorrhage and kidney and liver failure. One of these NSAID’s, Vioxx, was removed from the market because it was found to cause heart attacks. Warnings against the uninterrupted use of these drugs abound even in the literature produced by the drug companies. However, both doctors and patients seeking relief from pain largely ignore the prohibition against chronic use.

The purpose of this article is to let you know there are alternatives to the dangerous drugs that are usually prescribed for arthritis patients. Millions are finding out about these with surprising results and you can too. You may have to open your mind a little, though. There is a saying, one can never learn that which they think they already know. If you will open your mind to the possibility of a pain-free life it could be yours.

Conclusion: Arthritis doesn’t have to mean a life of pain. Millions get relief everyday with  natural alternatives  and avoid the side affects drugs can have. Now you have to decide if you want to join them.

To learn about how many people are living pain-free lives through the use of a natural alternative to dangerous drugs go to http://www.thexanthonejuice.com to read, listen and see what is working so well for them.

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Have you ever heard that there is a gift in adversity? One of my all time favourite quotes from a Sufi saying is:

“When the heart grieves over what it has lost,

the spirit rejoices over what it has left”

The following article talks about how illness can become the turning point for a  beautiful transformation.

Following the diagnosis of a chronic or life-threatening illness, many patients will share that the illness was a gift. What changed for them and why? Illness can be the portal to personal, emotional and spiritual transformation.

When diagnosed with a chronic or life-threatening illness transformation begin the moment the doctor gives you the news. Transformation is the cornerstone of what will become your ally as you take on the challenges associated with your illness. The choice is up to you how you use these transformative powers. We’ve all heard the person who has been diagnosed with some horrendous illness who says that it was a gift. It may be difficult to believe or understand, but it’s really punctuating the transformation process, not the illness.

The difficult situation for many of us is that it takes some huge force of energy to shift us out of a life of complacency.

An illness diagnosis is certainly a catapulting event that throws you into a universe filled with questions and possibility.

What most don’t realize is that transformation takes focus, concentration and energy. It is an intentional activity. Following the diagnosis it’s the choice you make about how you will take on this health challenge.

The process of transformation is similar to that of the pilgrims who set out on long journeys to shrines hoping for healing. These individuals are called to embark on this journey to prove their commitment to getting well.

At the time they embark on this journey they do so without knowing what will happen every step along the way. Following your diagnosis your choice to empower yourself and make mindful and informed judgments about care is your pilgrimage. You are called and if you choose to heed the call, you’ll experience challenges, setbacks and triumphs that will invigorate your journey to wellness.

One of the obstacles related to transformation is that it can often be short lived. Studies from Johns Hopkins University show that once heart disease patients pass through the stage of being critical, they begin to revert back to their old bad habits of poor nutrition and lack of exercise. The goal is to experience the transformation and fortify the new activities with a commitment and a vow to continue these changes in hopes of putting the disease behind you.

The areas that most people experience transformation are regarding stress, work/life balance and appreciation for family and friends. You may believe that you were scared into making these changes and at first that may have been the truth. When you are able to create a relationship with the changes is when you know transformation has taken place. It’s a shift in priorities. It’s the gift you give yourself to make better choices about how you spend your time and money. It sends a message to family and friends that you intend to be more present with them and intend on getting well to stay a part of their daily lives.

We hear the word transformation and feel it is mystical or magical. The truth is that when you decide to become informed about your health and your illness you have made a transformative shift. While going through treatment when you decide to leave the office on time and not take work home so you can spend time with your family; that’s a transformative action. Knowing what foods give you energy and build your immune system is a transformative experience. It’s not rocket science, but it must be a conscious decision on your part and it’s a commitment that needs to last a lifetime.

By Greg Katz

Surviving Strong
Mentoring those facing health challenges by inspiring, supporting and educating patients on personal health advocacy

Health Nutrition Supplements Deliver Your Best Possible Body

You need health nutrition supplements in your diet and exercise program for more than one reason. First of all, to burn off your fat stores you need these.

Womens health issues

A breakthrough in treating cardiovascular problems, osteoporosis and a wide variety of other health issues has recently been tied to a surprising source: vitamin K.  

Spa Sounds: How Music and Chants Contribute to Holistic Benefits

The voice also produces a waveform pattern that contains a great deal of frequency information that seems to relate to the physical and emotional health and balance of the speaker. Since every person’s voice is unique, the resulting …

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Can laughter be used as a stress reliever and coping strategy in difficult situations? It would appear so.

Learn how to reduce stress through laughter

During World War Two, the soldiers between their battles would laugh and have fun whenever and wherever possible, so that they would put the negative and unpleasant memories out of their minds.

Why? Because it is a known fact that you can’t be stressed, depressed, or plagued with anxiety when you are having fun. They needed this diversion to forget, if even just for a limited time, so that they could carry on the extremely difficult tasks and responsibilities that they were charged with.

It was the same on the home front. There were more songs, plays, movies created than at any other time in history. There were all kinds of social activities to cheer up and keep people positively charged. And it worked on both the battle front, as well as at home. This ultimately with winning strategies and skilled efforts combined to bring victory.

The resiliency of people is truly remarkable and when times are tough, as is the case to day, people can, and must cope with an optimistic view of the future.

This is more easily accomplished when  humor, laughter and playfulness are employed.

Humor and laughter help the person see a lighter and brighter side and help us focus on more creative and effective solutions.

People should also bear in mind that nothing is accomplished by adopting and maintaining a pessimistic perspective, as this only translates in negative thinking, attitude and action. Negative thinking can actually increase pain!

Life is short, live it to the fullest, love with all your heart, and laugh at every opportunity.

Learn how to transform pain into joy

Author: Gerry Hopman

For more information on how powerful humor, laughter are, visit Gerry’s web site at: http://www.humor-laughter.com

Gerry Hopman is Humorist, Humor Motivational Speaker and Author. He believes that humor is essential to balance in life and career.

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

Are Humor and Laughter Coping Strategies During Difficult Times?

Can humor and laughter help us in these difficult economic times. History tells us that this is indeed the case. 

The Importance Of Laughter

The importance of laughter in your life to keep you calm and happy makes perfect sense but is there really any evidence that this is true? Yes. And don’t take my word for it. This comes straight from the Mayo Clinic

Building Business Success: A Healthy Dose of Laughter

It can be used for coping, for saving face, for gaining status, for testing limits, for social control, and for bonding. Medical studies also show that laughter boosts levels of endorphins, the body’s natural pain killers 

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You should incorporate some humor in your life. What would it be like to go around in a serious state of mind all the time? You’ve got to laugh sometime.

Laughter is good medicine for you and you should prescribe it to yourself as much as possible. This is definitely stress buster material.

Check out some ways that you can laugh and release stress at the same time :

You must realize that having laughter in your life can increase your energy and take away any negative vibes that you may be feeling. When you laugh, you release the pent-up anger and frustration that has been bottled up inside you from being stressed. You can find some good comedy shows on television that are really funny.

Think of some situations where the outcome ended up being pretty humorous. You can think on those and get a kick out of them. Let go of the complaining and murmuring.

- Go take in a comedy club. Check out the up and coming comedians at local venues in your area.

- Smile more often. If you’re not used to doing this, then start now. Did you know that smiling can be contagious?

Learn to spread your laughter and joy to others who need it. Not only will it help them, it will also help you.

Meditation is also a good choice for beating stress. You could spend 30 minutes to 1 hour per day doing meditation.

Here are some further bits of information and interesting links that you may wish to follow:

Meditation and Mindfulness

Meditation and Mindfulness Applied to Chronic Illness. Kevin, 39, is a meditating friend of mine who has been handicapped with Reiter’s Syndrome and Multiple Schlerosis for many years. 

Complementary And Alternative Medicine

Through in-person interviews and dramatized video vignettes that document the stories of people who recovered from chronic illness – including a five-year-old boy born with cerebral palsy, an osteopathic doctor with a brain tumor, … More important, several forms of CAM that incorporate information-medicine principles – such as meditation, deep breathing, massage therapy, and yoga – showed the highest increase in use among Americans in the last five years. 

Meditate Your Pain Away – Benefits of Meditation

The difference between previous studies and the new one lies in that the former have shown that teaching chronic pain patients to meditate is beneficial. But, very few studies of these have looked at pain processing in healthy people.

Living With Mental Illness – Anxiety Problems – How To Treat Anxiety

Different meditation techniques such as Thai Chi and Yoga are proven to have significant effect on treatment of anxiety problems. Regular meditation brings relief from the anxiety and stress related to them. 

Tools For Dealing With A Chronic Illness Or Life In General

A chronic illness provides you with an opportunity for reflection and self realization. Feeding your soul is just as important as feeding your body. It is vitally important that you find ways to nourish and replenish your soul. 

Living With Mental Illness – Effective Use of Relaxation Methods

Meditate daily. Practicing meditation daily can help keep one calm. It is the oldest way of keeping the mind still and peaceful. It has the power to induce inner peace and control anxiety at odd times. Try Acupuncture.

Article By: Scott Wells Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Scott Wells suggests www.drugabusefocus.com/117/ for those battling a drug or alcohol addiction or for those who love someone who is. Compassion is virtuous. Share or read alcohol or drug abuse stories today.

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You have one of the most powerful healing resources at your fingertips and it won’t cost you a penny. Yet it is priceless! What is it, you might say? It is the amazingly precious healing gift of laughter

Building a positive focus in your life which includes a regular dose of laughter can play a key role in supporting the body’s ability to cure illnesses through its own healing system.

Learn how to have a regular dose of laughter medicine daily for your pain

A man rushed into a veterinarian’s office carrying his limp, lifeless dog. The vet examined the animal and told the man the dog was dead. The man asked if there was any way the doctor could revive the dog. The doctor left the room and returned with a cat, who sniffed the dog from head to tail then looked up at the vet and meowed.

“Sorry,” said the doctor. “There’s nothing I can do.”
“Thanks for trying,” said the man with a sigh. “How much do I owe you?”
“Three hundred and fifty dollars,” replied the doctor.
“Three hundred and fifty dollars! Just to tell me my dog is dead?”
“Well,” said the doctor, “it was $50 for the office visit. The other $300 is for the CAT scan.”

Whether the above joke made you laugh or groan, it lightened your mood. And if you had been in pain, many scientists agree, it would have eased the hurt at least temporarily.

A fresh take on an old idea

The notion that  laughter is good for the body has been around for thousands of years, certainly as far back as the Old Testament. Proverbs 17:22 says, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Seventeenth century English physician Dr. Thomas Sydenham remarked, “The arrival of a good clown exercises more beneficial influence upon the health of a town than of twenty asses laden with drugs.” Or as Groucho Marx put it, “A clown is like aspirin, only he works twice as fast.”

How do you get a sweet 80-year-old lady to say the F word? Get another sweet little 80-year-old lady to yell *BINGO*!

The value of laughter in helping to relieve pain began to attract significant attention in the 1980s when Dr. Norman Cousins in his book Anatomy of an Illness described how watching Marx Brother movies and reading humorous books and articles helped him recover from a life-threatening tissue disease. Cousins made it a point to enjoy a hearty belly laugh several times a day. He claimed that a few minutes of laughter gave him an hour or more of pain-free sleep. As a result, many pain centers around the country began to use humor therapy to reduce the level of pain medication needed by patients. There was even a movie made about real-life doctor Patch Adams, a physician who was totally committed to making his patients laugh as an essential part of his treatment.

How does laughter reduce pain?

Clinical staff consistently note that the primary benefit of humor therapy is that it serves as a diversionary tactic, that is, it takes a patient’s mind off the pain. A study published in the Journal of Holistic Nursing reported that patients who were told one-liners after surgery and before painful medication was administered perceived less pain when compared to patients who didn’t get a dose of humor as part of their therapy.

Why don’t bunnies make noise when they have sex? Because they have cotton balls.

Another study, this one published in the Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis, found that young girls with burns who were shown cartoons during very painful hydrotherapy said they felt less pain than similar patients who were not exposed to cartoons during the same procedure. A second theory of how laughter helps relieve pain is that it triggers the release of endorphins, the chemicals in the brain that can make us feel good.

Natural healing

Around the same time that the Cousins book appeared, the departing editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Franz Ingelfinger, noted that 85 percent of all human illnesses are curable by the body’s own healing system. Building a positive focus in your lifewhich includes a regular dose of laughter can play a key role in supporting the body’s ability to do just that. Laughing, in fact, has been shown to increase the body’s natural killer cells and T-cells, which are types of cells that attack foreign material in our bodies.

Laughter also keeps away negative emotions such as anxiety and depression, which tend to weaken the immune system.

Why are they called “hemorrhoids”. They should be called “asteroids”?

Research on stress-related hormones and humor has shown that laughter reduces at least four of the hormones associated with the stress response, including epinephrine, cortisol, dopac, and growth hormone. Some studies have indicated that laughter improves lung capacity and with improved lung capacity come improved oxygen levels in the blood, thereby alleviating ischemic pain or pain do to lack of oxygen-rich blood.

Internal jogging

According to Dr. William Fry from Stanford University, one minute of laughter is equal to 10 minutes on the rowing machine.  Laughter is a kind of “internal jogging” that exercises our heart and reduces blood pressure in the same way as does standard aerobic exercise. This kind of laughter exercise is well suited to sedentary people and those who are confined to a bed or wheelchair.

What did One saggy boob say to the other saggy boob? If we drop any lower people are gonna think we are nuts!

If you keep the Huh Huh Huh – going for long periods of time and increase the number of times you do it while at the same time shrugging your upper body you will keep the oxygen flowing to the cells that need it and you will be giving what you body need to begin to reduce your pain and speed healing.

And here’s a final fascinating fact: Researchers at St. Paul Ramsey Medical Center in Minnesota say that tears of laughter remove toxic substances that normally build up during periods of emotional stress…

So, whether you prefer Dirty jokes, Redneck jokes or Funny Photos the Internet has provide us with an unlimited number of resources not to mention the ton of emails that you get from your friends that they think are funny and they just have to send to you for some reason thinking that you have the time to read it and that you have nothing else to do. Maybe just read one a week and see how you feel.

If you do read a joke or see a funny photo and it does put a smile on your face learn to keep that smile going longer and feel how good you feel when you keep your head up and a smile on your face. Life will always be full of challenges but we should always be driven to seek those thing that give us Joy and Peace, so if a joke can give you 30 seconds of joy, read a joke and keep smiling.

If you enjoyed this article, and would like more information in alternative back pain treatments sign up for our Back Pain Advisory and you will join the nearly 1 million people that have received this life changing information. Please visit our new web site at http://www.losethebackpain.com/ for more free informative articles, videos and open forums.

By Steve Hefferon

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