All Blog Posts Tagged 'autoimmune' (10)

Yes, it's true - it is possible to do your own intra-muscular injections. Intramuscular injections are quite easy to do yourself at home. As insurance becomes more problematic, doctor's office appointments become more expensive and the income many patients can direct toward basic health care declines, many patients may want to learn to self-inject their medicines, including B12. Of course the first thing to do is talk to your doctor. He/she may be reluctant to prescribe your B12 for home injec… Continue

Migraine and thyroid diseases such as Hashimoto's thyroiditis and Grave's disease are very often co-morbid (distinct diseases or disorders that are often seen together in pairs, or groups). This is important to know if you have either thyroid or Migraine disease because your PCP (primary care physician) and endocrinologist (gland doctor) will most likely not link your Migraine attacks and your thyroid together without prompting. Additionally, many neurologists who do not specialize in the care o… Continue

Yeah, I'm sick. So what. I can still smile. When I'm hurting so bad I can't function, I want to curl up in bed in my darkened room and sleep away the pain. When hubby wakes me up, I still smile at him. When I'm feeling good enough to be up and typing on the computer I am almost always happy. I may not feel good, but I can be happy at the same time. So, what's the problem? Can you see the joy in your life through the fog of a serious health condition? Many can't. I'm married to a card... much… Continue

One day, I got a phone call from my friend. She said, "Hey, didn't you tell me you liked to eat crawdads?" I said "Oh, yes!" Crawdads are Crayfish, a common food in the south and in Oregon where I grew up poor, living off the land. You can think of them as tiny, fresh water lobsters with an attitude. They hang out in streams and ponds and are easily caught if you know how. My friend said "We're draining the pond and there are a million crawdads in here if you want to hurry and come get… Continue

A recent study published in the journal Neurology is getting a lot of media attention, but a personal experience made me wonder whether researchers and the media might have missed an important connection. The study attempted to link migraine disease to an increased risk for thromboembolism (blood clot in a vessel) and… Continue

"The wolf" is sneaky. It's tricky. It hides. It pretends. It's ferocious. It kills. Lupus, "the wolf", is a disease often resulting in Migraine and other headache disorders. When living my early years in Oregon, spending time in the wilderness, I happened upon wolves in the wild. I've looked at them in curiosity and excitement, but never fright. For the most part, wolves would prefer not to be around people... not to be observed. I never looked at a wolf as something to be afraid of. Perhaps t… Continue

"You must be feeling so much better, you're looking so good!" Isn't it strange - there's not much else that can take an otherwise good day and turn it sideways... An Invisible Illness is hard. Not only are you sick and probably tired, but unless you go a few days without a shower, or forget to apply your makeup, nobody can see that you aren't your old self. You try hard to be stoic, ignoring the pain and working through the waves of tiredness and nausea so strong it may knock you… Continue

Most hormones can trigger a migraine when unbalanced or unstable. But one of the most under-diagnosed culprits is thyroid dysfunction. Common symptoms of thyroid dysfunction include headache, especially migraine, new daily persistent headache and chronic migraine. While physicians acknowledge the connection between thyroid and migraine disorders, they have yet to fully understand it – or migraine itself, for that matter. Symptoms of hypothyroid (not enough thyroid hormone) and hyper… Continue

A bill was recently proposed that would limit Medicare payments to doctors based on their performance. While I am concerned over the increasing cost of health care in general and usually all for rewarding good performance in hopes that those with poor performance will strive to improve, I can’t help but wonder if this bill will actually hurt those who need Medicare the most—those with difficult to treat diseases and disorders which may not show favorable performance for the treating physician no… Continue

Shoes in the entryway. MANY shoes in the entry! A laundry basket full of clothes (I don't know if they're clean or dirty!) A bright yellow cat litter bucket with soapy mop water, and a bright green and yellow mop handle sticking out of the top and across the doorway. Two Wal-Mart grocery sacks on a kitchen chair, and 3 days of mail on the table. A day's worth of dishes are neatly stacked on the counters (courtesy of my husband who had pity when a visitor arrived last night) and the dishwasher is… Continue