As I sit here working on this article my 4-year-old son hangs out with me with a little cold and fever. I keep telling him he needs some medicine but all he has said since he got out of bed is "I'm better now. I'm all better." How much does our attitude effect how well we deal with our illness and our level of happiness?
Everyone copes with challenges in their lives in different ways. For...
So, you know you're eating out too much, you've added a few pounds, and the cost is starting to get out of hand. But with your busy schedule and limited energy, where do you start to find the right meal planning idea that will work for your family? Are you one of the people who check with a search engine online about how to plan a spaghetti dinner?
Here are five suggestions to get you...
If you live with an invisible illness, you may find the emotions of coping with people's doubts about it can be harder to manage than the disease itself. Most of us with a chronic illness must eventually accept our condition. In order to live our best life, we need to educate ourselves about the disease and make well-researched decisions about treatment.
Those with illness, however, have no...
Upon the diagnosis of an illness everyone, including your doctor, likely tells you to go to a support group. Research has shown that support groups can be extremely helpful in how one copes with disease. And yet, not everyone finds a group to be the answer to the kind of support for which they are searching. Like any kind of group, there are some support groups you will "click" with and others...
A survey recently conducted by Rest Ministries, the largest Christian organization that serves the chronically ill, asked people to "List some of the programs or resources a church could offer to make it more inviting comfortable." Below is a sampling of some of the 800+ responses, all of which could be done in 20 minutes or less.
1. Send out encouraging emails.
2. Make sure the...
Book Review: "YOU: The Smart Patient: An Insider's Handbook for Getting the Best Treatment," by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz
I picked up the book "YOU: The Smart Patient: An Insider's Handbook for Getting the Best Treatment," by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz up a few years ago, not knowing that soon "Dr. Oz" and his cheery advice, even when discussing the most personal of issues,...
"You look great today. You must be feeling a whole lot better?" "You haven't really experienced chronic fatigue until you've had twins and worked full-time!" "I think it you sit around thinking about your pain too much. Just get out of that house more and it may just heal itself." "If you really wanted to get well, you'd get serious about taking that juice I recommended. I don't understand why...
Did you recently make resolutions for the New Year?
- I'm going to exercise more
- I'm going to lose some weight
- I will try to get rid of my bad habits
- I won't let little things get to me any more
- I'm going to start making wiser choices about money
We've all been there. And we've all faced March 23rd rolling around and feeling like a failure because some of those goals haven't...
Mommy moments come in all forms of days at the beach, backyard BBQs, or kids reading groups at the library. These are all wonderful times to get to know other mothers and share in wearing out your kids, as well as gaining some understanding from other parents. But the number of women who live with chronic illnesses such as fibromyalgia and diabetes continues to grow, the spontaneity of these...
When your wife has a chronic illness, though you may love her no matter what, it can be hard for her to get into a romantic mood. Physical pain from the actual illness to weight gain or loss, bloating, and less-than-fun symptoms of medication can all be a deterrent to some romantic moments.
It's important to know that you are not alone. Nearly 1 in 2 people live with a chronic illness in the...
