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Sunday, 27 July 2008

What An Eye Opener! WHO best health care list:




The World Health Organization (WHO) has made a list of all countries, from best to worst in health care. Though USA believes it's the best, it is not even in the top 35! Canada is #30! No wonder the biggest tourism industry is now "Medical Tourism", where state-of-the-art hospitals in various countries offer faster, cheaper services with top quality doctors and treatment. Here is the WHO list:


There is a sentence you can click on to view the countries alphabetically, also.

So many of the top countries are countries that offer the patient every possible remedy, not just expensive prescriptions. They recommend natural medicine, alternative treatments, nutrition, and they consider the whole body and spirit and mind together, not just dividing it organ by organ like other medical systems do. It's called "Holistic" medicine, where they consider the person as a whole, and everything that is happening in his life, like diet, work, exercise, habits, stresses, environment. I wish USA and Canada would do this more often. In 1900 the American Medical Association decided to bar any Dr. who suggested "quackery", which they defined as natural treatments. In those days a Doctor's bag was likely to contain strychnine, mercury (both very toxic), morphine, and a half dozen other chemicals.


ADEQUATE PAIN CONTROL FOR ALL WHO SINCERELY NEED IT:

While browsing around, I found that there is an online course available to international doctors, to educate them more about adequate pain control in chronic illnesses that can be MORE painful than cancer, and that people live with for many more years than cancer. I wish every Dr. knew about this and would take this 12 hour online course. Doctors seem to know very little or care very little how devastating severe pain is to quality of life, and what a contributor it is to divorce and suicide. The course is created by the University of Wisconsin. If you are interested in suggesting this to your Dr. or clinic, it's at

Posted by Bluebirdy at 15:42 6 comments  

Monday, 21 July 2008

Not So Bad After All-Need a bit of help.

One blogger friend told me that when she tried to get a new template, she lost ALL of her blog, including all of her comments and posts. I am so grateful I didn't lose those. It only took a couple of hours to get things back on my blog. Now I am just missing a few things that I need your help with.

I don't know how to find the blogs of my friends who visit often, so if you saw your blog listed here before, or if you visit me often, please leave a comment so I can find your blog and put it in my blog roll.

I also need to know how to find a sentence I had that said "Thanks for visiting my blog, have a great day in *lists your city here* ." I don't know what that's called or how to find it.

I also had a picture that was animated that said "I am a child of God", I hope I can find that again.

I wanted a 3 column template instead of 2, but I don't know how to back up my whole blog so I can change the template, then get all the information back in the new template.

I had a painting in the title area of my blog, and I don't know how to make it show up. When I go to "layout" and edit the title area, the painting is there, and it asks me if I want it to show up behind my title or instead of my title. I have tried it both ways, and the painting won't show up! Any suggestions?

Thanks and blessings,
Bluebirdy

Posted by Bluebirdy at 21:52 11 comments  

OHH NOO!!!


Notice that everything in my blog disappeared except for the posts? It took me months to collect all those links, websites, blogs, widgets, songs!! I'm so frustrated! I hope it doesn't take months to try to do it all over again! I believe there's a reason for everything, but I don't see the reason for this yet! Another lesson in patience, I guess. I hope to have everything back the way it was soon. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Bluebirdy

Posted by Bluebirdy at 15:01 4 comments  

Saturday, 19 July 2008

WHAT/WHO ARE WE?

WE ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS GOING THROUGH A 
SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE.

WE ARE SPIRITUAL BEINGS GOING THROUGH A 
HUMAN EXPERIENCE.

Posted by Bluebirdy at 15:57 3 comments  

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Friday, 18 July 2008

God Said No



God Said No

I asked God to take away my habit .
God said, No.
It is not for me to take away, but for you to give it up .

I asked God to make my handicapped child whole ...
God said, No.
His spirit is whole, his body is only temporary

I asked God to grant me patience.
God said, No.
Patience is a by-product of tribulations;
it isn't granted, it is learned.

I asked God to give me happiness.
God said, No.
I give you blessings; Happiness is up to you.

I asked God to spare me pain.
God said, No.
Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to me.

I asked God to make my spirit grow.
God said, No.
You must grow on your own! ,
but I will prune you to make you fruitful.

I asked God for all things that I might enjoy life.
God said, No.
I will give you life, so that you may enjoy all things.

I asked God to help me LOVE others, as much as He loves me.
God said...Ahhhh, finally you have the idea.


THIS DAY IS YOURS~ DON'T THROW IT AWAY.




Posted by Bluebirdy at 15:04 5 comments  

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Tuesday, 15 July 2008

Butterfly Symbol



*~*~ WHAT THE CATERPILLAR THINKS IS THE END~
THE BUTTERFLY KNOWS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING ~*~*
Coincidentally, both the Lupus Society and the Fibromyalgia Association use the butterfly as their symbol, and I have them both. The Lupus Society uses it because of the butterfly rash that most Lupus patients get on their face, and I'm not sure why the Fibromyalgia Association uses it, but I have my own theory. The quote that I have written under this amazing picture of hundreds of Amazon blue butterflies on a tree, can symbolize how we think our life is over, that we think everything has ended; when in reality, our bodies have just entered a cocoon mode, where we must be still, and acknowledge and seek God's help; and it's a learning, growing, healing and changing period. A time for separating yourself from the world more often, and getting closer to God. We may no longer be able to do the things that we could do as a caterpillar, but there are new things we can do while in the cocoon, and even more we can do as a butterfly, which I consider to be the days we feel better and can reach out to others, or write or paint or express ourselves in new ways. We can share wisdom, spirituality, empathy, compassion with others that we learned while in the cocoon, and we will find our spirit and personality have changed from a lowly caterpillar, to a butterfly whose spirit can soar, with the methods we have learned to comfort ourselves and others. Some use faith, some use meditation, some use positive thinking, some use other things or a combination of things, but being ill can bring blessings and lessons
that we can never get or learn in any other way. These lessons may not come automatically. It takes study, prayer, learning from others who have been in the same situation, and patience. In spite of the overwhelming frustration we bear now, we can learn more valuable lessons than those who have never dealt with chronic pain. Wisdom we can take with us into the next world.
Blessings, Bluebirdy

Posted by Bluebirdy at 15:46 7 comments  

Prayer Journals, anyone?


I think I will start my prayer journal today, writing columns for
1) the date,
2) the person,
3) the need, and
4) when the problem was resolved.
    Then my fibrofog won't make me forget some that need prayer. I was surprised to find out that so many people have a prayer journal, that you can even buy pre-printed ones in Christian bookstores and online Christian bookstores. I talked to the owner of one of these stores, and she said it seems to have been created shortly after the internet was created; when people were meeting so many people online that needed prayer.
     How many of you have a prayer journal?
Blessings,
Bluebirdy

Posted by Bluebirdy at 14:20 2 comments  

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Saturday, 12 July 2008

Chronic Pain Affects Brain Function

This is a brain scan. On the top left is a normal brain, on the right is the brain of a Fibromyalgia patient. There are much fewer active areas, which accounts for the lack of concentration, and the "fibro fog" syndrome. On the bottom left is a brain of a normal person, on the right is the brain of a person with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Again, parts of the brain seemed to have been burned out. The article below offers a theory of how this happens. If the picture is too small, click your right mouse button on the picture, save it to your desktop, then view it from there, where you can probably enlarge it. I got this from www.fibrohugs.com .
Hello all;
This was on my news station last night, and I wrote to them to find out the source, which they sent me. On the news story, they showed an actual EEG (electroencephalogram) which showed the brain ALWAYS being busy, even when sleeping. It is the body and the subconscious trying to adapt to the pain. This causes exhaustion, depression, forgetfulness, lack of concentration, and sensitivity to extremes of hot, cold, noise, light, crowds, extended physical activity, and emotional stress. It wears on your nerves and makes everything else in life MUCH more difficult than it is for a healthy person. Another proof that "If you have your health, you have everything", because when you are healthy, you can work yourself out of any problem, and can accomplish almost anything you want. I have wondered why I have changed so much, in so many ways, I guess this explains it. I saw other articles about actual brain damage from pain, because the brain cells that stay active 24/7 for years eventually burn themselves out. Now I see why I can't do as much as I used to and why I need more help just for daily living.
You're all in my prayers.
Blessings

Chronic pain seen altering how brain works

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Brain scans of people in chronic pain show a state of constant activity in areas that should be at rest, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday, a finding that could help explain why pain patients have higher rates of exhaustion, lack of concentration (often called pain fog), depression, anxiety and other disorders. They said chronic pain seems to alter the way people process information that is unrelated to pain.

Chronic Pain Harms Brain's Wiring

FRIDAY, Feb. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Chronic pain can disrupt brain function and cause problems such as disturbed sleep, depression, anxiety and difficulty making simple decisions, a U.S. study finds.

Researchers at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago used functional MRI to scan brain activity in people with chronic low back pain while they tracked a moving bar on a computer screen. They did the same thing with a control group of people with no pain.

In those with no pain, the brain regions displayed a state of equilibrium. When one region was active, the other regions calmed down. But in people with chronic pain, the front region of the cortex mostly associated with emotion "never shuts up," study author Dante Chialvo, an associate research professor of physiology, said in a prepared statement.

This region remains highly active, which wears out neurons and alters their connections to each other. This constant firing of neurons could cause permanent damage.

"We know when neurons fire too much they may change their connections with other neurons or even die, because they can't sustain high activity for so long," Chialvo said.

"If you are a chronic pain patient, you have pain 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every minute of your life. That permanent perception of pain in your brain makes these areas in your brain continuously active. This continuous dysfunction in the equilibrium of the brain can change the wiring forever and could hurt the brain," Chialvo explained.

These changes "may make it harder for you to make a decision or be in a good mood to get up in the morning. It could be that pain produces depression and the other reported abnormalities, because it disturbs the balance of the brain as a whole," he said.

The study was published in the Feb. 6 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

Chialvo said the findings show that, along with finding new ways to treat pain, it's also important to develop methods to evaluate and prevent disruption of brain function caused by chronic pain.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about chronic pain.

Sources:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/health/20080206-0500-health.html

http://www.marshallnewsmessenger.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/brai/612365.html

Posted by Bluebirdy at 11:54 2 comments  

Friday, 11 July 2008

FINALLY! Help For Couples Facing Illness!


80% of couples where one or both have a chronic illness end up in divorce. There has been almost no guidance for these couples, and counselors rarely know how to counsel the chronically ill person, much less the married couple where an illness is involved. This is a very under-developed, neglected area of research and help. When I looked for books on the subject a couple of years ago, I found 3. One was by a bitter, frustrated husband who still stayed with his wife, one was by a man whose wife would die soon, so there was nothing about continuing to live with illness, and another was kind of a journal or therapy book by a couple, just expressing their own feelings, but no guidance or helpful ideas.
I have just ordered this book from http://www.amazon.com/ . I am looking forward to it getting here. What's even better is that they have started a website to help couples facing illness. Of course it's called http://www.couplesfacingillness.com/ . If you go there, you can read pages from the book, and watch a short video about the couple that wrote it. William and Jamey July. He has a Ph.D. and she is a former athlete.
I am hoping that so many couples will find this site that it can grow and perhaps become the biggest site for helping couples with illness. I hope they can help lower the divorce rate of us who need companionship most of all. They may even be able to change the stigma of marrying a person with an illness.
I believe that illness takes you out of the world, and keeps you closer to God. Just as a blind or deaf person uses his other senses to make up for the blindness or deafness, we develop our spirituality to bear the inadequacies and inabilities that we live with. Visit this website if you are half of a couple facing illness. I think you will make some great discoveries. Maybe my new marriage CAN last forever!
Blessings
Bluebirdy

Posted by Bluebirdy at 19:15 0 comments  

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THANKS For all your prayers!

I want to thank you all for your prayers. I do feel a difference when people pray for me, and I think that the episode of partially losing my vision may have lasted longer without prayer.
    I did panic at first, but then had to calm myself down because I was alone here and had to think of what I should do.  I called my Dr. to tell him that I woke up and could not see clearly, everything looked like I was looking through frosted glass. I wondered if it could be a stroke or something, due to having heart symptoms all week, but he said he was quite sure that the lupus had now caused enough damage to causes Multiple Sclerosis. He said that he had suspected MS for a while, but this confirms it, and even if I did go to the E.R. that night, and got the tests, there is nothing that can be done for the vision problem anyway, and that it usually passes in a week or 10 days. I was pretty upset. I could not imagine not being able to see for a week to 10 days and taking care of myself alone...and trying to help Mom who lives with me!  But it only lasted about 2-3 days. It was a REAL growing experience to teach myself to be calm and not panic, and not be completely frustrated by not being able to do anything for myself, and being afraid that I might be like that forever, and fearing about my future.  I felt the walls to get to the bathroom and felt my way to my little beverage fridge to get Ensure nutrition drink or water or an apple, so that did me for 3 days.
     Mom ended up in the E.R. that night because there was a terrible storm rolling in, and when the weather changes quickly like that, our lupus really decides to attack us, and it hits in different ways each time and in each person. For her it was her kidneys, kidney pain is overwhelming and also they are not cleaning her blood like they should, so she is full of infection which has come out with infected sores on her back.
     I wish I had a bit more notice, I would have asked her to take our cousin, who offered to go with her, she was neglected for about 9 hours, then seen, and not given any treatment. What a waste. I have always gone with her, so she never knew about the neglect and abuse from our hospital when you go alone. I don't think she'll try to go alone again.
     Last July I was told I have 1 year to live, so I was waiting until the end of this month to celebrate that I beat that doctor's opinion, and then when I lost my vision, I did start to wonder if the Dr. knew something I didn't know. The Dr. said it will happen again and again, which is upsetting. I need my husband here if that is going to happen.     
     We are dealing with the highest up people involved in getting my husband here because of family hardship, so we will see what the Lord decides. 
     Thanks again!  GOD BLESS MY ONLINE FRIENDS!
Blessings,
Bluebirdy
    

Posted by Bluebirdy at 00:42 0 comments  

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Tuesday, 8 July 2008

Help-I'm a bit scared

Hi-
    I can barely see, not sure why, so this will be short, and Mom just went to the E.R.  I should have gone too, I guess. Good thing I learnee touch typing but forgive any typos, I am doing this without seeing what I'm doing.  We're both in pretty rough shapee, maybe due to stormss and fast weather changes, which is when we are our worst. I would appreciatee some prayer, I'll explain more when I can see more clearly. My wireless keyboard lives on my bed, the screen is on a chair next to my bed, so the computer is very accessible to me always. Thanks in advance for prayers for Mom and I.
Blessings,
Bluebirdy

Posted by Bluebirdy at 19:29 0 comments  

Monday, 7 July 2008

Romancing Your Husband Even When Sick

"Hot & bothered" has long referred to romance & those sparks of chemistry between you & the one you love, but if you have a chronic illness, romance may be the last thing on your mind. Chronic illness can quickly redefine "hot" to mean the symptoms of a thyroid condition, night sweats, or a hot heating pad. "Bothered" is something you feel every night when you are annoyed you can't sleep. For example, achy joints, a dog who snores from his resting place on your pillow, and a spouse that can sleep through anything. Romantic evenings may be the last thing on your mind in your home! Most people don't realize that nearly 1 in 2 people live with a chronic illness in the U.S.A. And when it comes to marriages, chronic illness and mental illness, does not have a good impact! More than 75% of these marriages end in divorce. It takes more than Valentine's Day romance a few days a year to keep a marriage alive and romantic. So, how do you create that romantic environment when you are in physical pain? I've got some creative romantic ideas to get some of that spark back! Put forth some effort. No more excuses. "I'm so exhausted, I don't feel that great. My body feels like it was run over by a truck." I've said them all. But guess what? If you have an illness you'll probably always be tired in a way normal people aren't tired. So put on some music and relax. The distraction of romance can make you forget about a great deal of the pain! Make romance a priority. That means not spending the whole Saturday cleaning your house and then being exhausted. Rest up, even if it's just so you can have a conversation without falling asleep. Do whatever it takes to be enthusiastic for your romantic evening. If you go out for a nice dinner, don't tell him over the menu, "I actually feel pretty sick, so I don't know what to eat. I really am going out just as a favor for you." (That won't turn your loved one on in the least!) Even if your romance is just dinner out, enjoy talking about some dreams you still have or what your hopes are for the future. Avoid talking about your illness or how it could change them all at the drop of a hat. You don't have to write romantic love poems. Just put together a mini-album of your favorite photos and include notes about your memories and how much he means to you. Surely your spouse does some things for you without complaint. Does he bring home your favorite ice cream? Throw in a load of laundry? Never expect you to iron or serve a five course meal? Write down all of the things you notice he does that you don't usually thank him for and give it to him as a special appreciation note. Women, get out of the grandma section of underwear and buy something red, black or anything that doesn't have waist bands wider than an inch. Stop being so self-conscious. Learn to text message with your phone and send him a messge that says something out of character for you. Be outrageously romantic, just make sure you send it to the right person in your phone book! Design some simple home-made coupons for something he would enjoy but typically wouldn't do because he feel he needs to take care of you or just spend time with you. For example, "Good for 5 guilt-free hours with your friends watching baseball." Don't even make him feel badly for doing things you can't do like taking a hike or going for a roller coaster ride. Perfect marriages will never exist, but a even a marriage that has an illness can be a huge blessing and not just a state of survival. Romance comes in many ways. I remember loving my husband more than ever the night I couldn't move because of a rheumatoid arthritis flare. I "slept" sitting on the couch and he spent the night on the floor beside the couch to comfort me every time I screamed from the pain. Love comes in many forms. One of the books I've bought all the couples in my life is "Love & Respect: The Love She Most Desires, the Respect He Desperately Needs" by Emerson Eggerichs. Men often feel loved when they are respected, women want to feel loved. Usually we are offering our spouse what we want, not what they need. Being aware of all of the little things we do each day that give one another love and respect, add up to romance when you least expect it.

------------------
Get a free download of 200 Ways to Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend from "Beyond Casseroles" by Lisa Copen when you subscribe to HopeNotes invisible illness ezine at http://www.restministries.org/ . Lisa is the coordinator Rest Ministries' many websites, is an author and co-ordinator of Invisible Illness Awareness network. View all articles by Lisa Copen Syndicate Lisa Copen Articles

Posted by Bluebirdy at 23:04 0 comments  

Sunday, 6 July 2008

VARIOUS CAUSES OF FIBROMYALGIA


I have been writing an article about all the theories of the cause of Fibromyalgia.  So far I have found about 8 theories of causes, but one was really interesting. This month I have seen more comments than usual about how severe people's pain is. I wondered if it could be due to weird weather, quick weather changes or barometric pressure, but since my fibro friends live everywhere from New Zealand to Canada, that couldn't be it. Then a few days ago I read about something called "Solar Flares".  That is when fireballs are spit off the sun. Solar Flares affect the electricity of everything on earth, including communications, satellites, cell phones, TV, computers, radio, and they affect all EMFs, (Electro-magnetic Forces), and one of the theories I found is that EMFs cause fibromyalgia.       
     Therefore, if Solar Flares affect all EMFs, and EMFs affect Fibro, then Solar Flares would affect us.   So I went to the NASA sites and another space study site to learn more about Solar Flares, and sure enough, 2008 is a VERY active year for Solar Flares. They act up or settle down in cycles, and this year is a very active cycle. I wasn't able to find a month to month reading to find out if the past month has been more active than the first part of the year though, but since the solar flares affect the magnetism and the EMFs on earth, this might be why we are all struggling so much.
     One day all I did was study about EMFs and how they affect health. There was no fibromyalgia before microwave ovens,  color TVs, cell phones, wireless communication, satellites. There is no way to avoid EMFs on earth. Even those living in the most remote areas of the earth get EMFs from satellites and wireless communication going around the earth, but there are things you can buy that are EMF barriers. Some are a scam, some are not. I am in process of studying those right now. One is like jewelry and you can wear it or put it on the bedside table and it is a protection for 6 feet around it. The way it works is that every object, even solid metal and gems, the atoms vibrate. It can be seen under a microscope. Some gems and metals vibrate at the same tempo as human cells vibrate. Jewelry with that metal and gems would be a barrier against the EMF waves that vibrate at a rate different than the human body. There are also electrical devices that you can plug into any socket in your house, and it changes the EMFs to a different rate of vibration, so that it matches that of the human body. They have scientific data to show how it works, and its effects.
 
     So to all of you who have been suffering for the past month or so more than you have ever suffered before with fibro, I think that is your answer. Blame it on the sun. The good news is, that it is a cycle, and that it will lessen and end until 11 years from now when it will hit its peak again.
 
Here are the other causes of fibromyalgia that I have found.
  1. Slow metabolism 
     http://www.naturalnews.com/023452.html
  2. Too many intense stresses over a long period.
  3. An especially bad accident or illness or trauma from which the patient never fully recovered.
  4. Environmental toxins and chemical overload.
  5. Leaky gut syndrome. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaky_Gut_Syndrome
  6. Electromagnetic frequencies (EMFs)-- (there was no fibro before microwaves, cell phones, home computers, etc.  There was rheumatism that only made muscles hurt, it was not a full "syndrome" like fibro.)
  7. Nitric oxide dysfunction- http://www.geocities.com/tenthparadigm   
  8. Solar Flares and CMEs (http://hesperia.gsfc.nasa.gov/sftheory/spaceweather.htm)
Do you know of any others that I could add to this list?
Blessings,
Bluebirdy

Posted by Bluebirdy at 15:30 2 comments  

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Tuesday, 1 July 2008

HAPPY CANADA DAY!







THANKYOU GOD FOR A COUNTRY OF PLENTY,

OF PEACE, BEAUTY, CLEAN NATURE,
AND TOLERANT PEOPLE!!





Posted by Bluebirdy at 20:16 2 comments  

DO NOT WORRY


Posted by Bluebirdy at 19:39 4 comments  

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