Always Sick Chick LOVES Chronic Illness Cat!

I've been following the Chronic Illness Cat on Facebook and just now learned about Chronic Illness Cat on Tumblr!  

What is the Chronic Illness Cat? It's a meme for always sick chicks (and guys too) to laugh about their chronic illnesses and the stupid things other people say about them.

I made a few for the Facebook page that I thought were rather witty.  Actually, I was kind of on a roll and feeling very very obsessed with it.  Memes are addicting!

What would your Chronic Illness Cat have to say?

Are Sick People Punished for Being Sick?

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeAs I seek full-time work, I have often wondered if it's possible that employers might throw out my resume simply because I'm "The Always Sick Chick."

It's possible.  People don't want to hire someone who might take a lot of sick days. However, without that income, my family and I would be homeless and starving.  So what's a sick chick to do?

And what if you left a previous job because you were too ill to continue working?  Even if you have gotten better since then, many employers might look at you as more of a liability to their company than an asset.  

Potential Employers Discriminate Against Sick People?  Check!

Always sick and in need of insurance?  Well, you might be out of luck.  Insurance companies drop people who are too sick all the time.  Additionally, they have prevented people from obtaining insurance due to pre-existing conditions, even if they had insurance when they became ill and lost it due to unavoidable circumstances.

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeNew healthcare laws have been put in place to protect people from such practices, but until those go into effect, people who are sick right now without health insurance are suffering.

Health Insurance Companies Discriminate Against Sick People?  Check!

Do I have solutions to these problems? No, I do not.  I suppose this is more of a rant after I read a story about a woman with rheumatoid arthritis in the UK who is losing her NHS coverage piece by piece. 

Did you read her letter?  Don't you just want to go visit her and give her a hug?  It's heartbreaking.

Do I have a point?  Not really.  I'm just bummed.

Related articles

• Sick pay ruling 'will affect small insurance holders staffing levels' (premierlinedirect.co.uk)
• Lots of people cant fire their insurance companies. #exactly (amanwithaphd.wordpress.com)
• End the Worst Insurance Company Abuses (honolulu4rpres.wordpress.com)

Recipe for a Gluten Free Life by Mrs. G.F.: Cheater Sweet and Sour Chicken

Wanted to try a new recipe today. I got some pork chops instead of the chicken. Not sure how different it would be with chicken, but the pork chops weren't bad.

Not sure if I liked it or not. It smells pungent...like way to much cider vinegar. Yuck. I think less vinegar and more pineapple juice would be better. I might do it with regular apple juice, because I have this strange itch on the roof of my mouth that I sometimes get when I eat pineapple. I'm starting to think I'm allergic to it. *sigh*

Yes, another fruit to add to my long list of foods I'm allergic to. No bueno.


Recipe for a Gluten Free Life by Mrs. G.F.: Cheater Sweet and Sour Chicken

How to Avoid Text Neck - Swagbucks TV

YOWZA!

I've never heard of text neck, but I'll tell you what...watching this video made me stretch my neck back and all around trying to prevent a straight spine.

The spine is naturally curvy, but overuse of texting where you are leaning forward to text your friends on a phone is straightening out your spine around your neck causing pain and discomfort known as "text neck".

And the patient in this story is a teenage girl whose spine is straightened almost completely in her neck causing horrible pain and discomfort and a touch of ARTHRITIS.

YIKES!

I think I'll be rotating my neck around all day today, and holding my phone up to my face while texting from now on instead of slouching over.

Anyone else think we'll have an entire generation of hunched over old folks with big humps on their backs due to excessive texting?

How to Avoid Text Neck - Swagbucks TV

When the Pharmacy doesn't have your Drugs...

Image via WikipediaSeriously, what would you do if a medication that you relied on wasn't available or there was a shortage?

That's what's happening in Charlotte, NC right now, as the ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) medication Adderall is in short supply.

What would you do?

If any of my meds were suddenly in short supply, I would freaking lose my mind.

My youngest, 4 years old, and I rely on rescue inhalers.  What if those weren't available?

Both of my children and I carry epi-pens around in case of accidental ingestion of a food we are allergic to.  We could die without it!

Not to mention that I also take Prozac and Effexor and suddenly ceasing these medications is what caused a shoot out in VA Tech several years ago.

According to the above source, however, the reason is clear: increased demand.

Well, damn!  Make more!  Supply and demand, people!  Make more pills, make more money, make more people happy!  The cycle continues. What's the problem?

Wait...what is this about the DEA?

Oh!! Okay, I see...now that I read more about this issue, apparently there are college students who are abusing Adderall and snorting it like it's cocaine or just taking the medications the way they are supposed to be taken (orally) in order to study harder.  And those who can get their hands on a prescription will sell each pill for $5-$10 each.

So a few twits abuse the drugs and the DEA waltzes in and creates a shortage to prevent abuse?

Even if that means hurting people who are using the medication as directed and under the supervision of a doctor?

Are you serious?

The DEA strikes again.  Thanks, jerks.  First the medical marijuana dispensaries in California, and now a war on ADD medications.  Can I just say that YOU SUCK?!

Related articles

• FDA is finding attention drugs in short supply (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• ADHD Drug Shortage: Coming Soon to a Pharmacy Near You (blippitt.com)
• Attention Deficient Drugs Are Short in Supply As DEA Issues Quotas - Generics Are Exhausted First Leaving Only Expensive Name Brand Drugs Available (ducknetweb.blogspot.com)

Health Goals for 2012 New Years Resolution?

Image via WikipediaEveryone has a weight loss goal for their new year's resolution.

Do you ever just say "I want to feel better!"?

Last year, my goal for 2011 was just Getting Healthier.  Part of that, at some point, was losing some weight.  All of which I gained back during Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Oy!

Getting Healthier in 2011 was a running theme for me, and it will continue to be in 2012 with some differences...a very narrow focus, at least, to start with.

I'm starting with - Get more sleep!  Go to sleep at the same time each night. Wake up at the same time every day.

I will go from there.

I have to keep going to the YMCA, or I'll lose my membership, so I will have to work out every-so-often, but it's not a goal at the moment. Right now, I just need more sleep. With more sleep comes more energy.  No more of this staying up until 1 AM on the weekends and throwing off my sleep schedule garbage.  It's no good!

What health goals do you have for 2012? And don't say lose weight!

Wait, before you answer that, look at the time....GO TO BED!

Related articles

• How to stick to a New Year's resolution (taishalwalker.com)
• The 5 Tricks to Keeping Your New Year's Resolutions (self.com)
• Accomplish Your Fitness Goals in 2012 (myfoxphoenix.com)

News Flash!

Image via WikipediaJenny McCarthy is not a doctor!

I know! I'm also surprised!

As a spokesperson for the anti-vax movement and how vaccines supposedly cause autism, you'd think she knew something about science.  But her stance on vaccines and her understanding about scientific studies and data prove that she has no friggin idea what she's talking about.

As vaccination rates have dropped, the autism diagnosis rates have gone up.

Explain that to me, please, Jenny McCarthy.  How do vaccines cause autism when less kids are getting vaccinated and more kids are being diagnosed with autism?

If you want the real scoop on vaccinations, turn on your streaming Netflix and search for "The Vaccine Wars".  Very eye opening information in there from doctors and scientists who have done the studies that anti-vaxers and Jenny McCarthy are crying out for but choose to ignore because the results aren't what they wanted.

"Oh, that study says vaccines are safe.  That means the study is wrong, because we already know that vaccines are dangerous!"

That's not a direct quote, but it might as well be.  Because, as you can see, anti-vaccine folks have already made up their minds that vaccines injure children's fragile little brains and bodies, so any evidence to the contrary is met with hostility and defensive criticism. 

And when a little baby is diagnosed with and dies of pertussis and the CDC traces the outbreak back to an unvaccinated child, they still defend their decision and say "Vaccines don't work, otherwise that baby wouldn't have gotten whooping cough!"  Idiots.  The baby only got one or two shots and needed more to be fully covered.  But your unvaccinated family caught it and gave it to the vulnerable baby.  Your lack of scientific knowledge and understanding...your stupidity just killed an innocent child.

Wake up, people!

Related articles

• No vaccines? No school! - San Francisco students, get your booster shots! (alwayssick.com)
• Jenny McCarthy plans to ring in 2012 with antivaccine propaganda on Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve (scienceblogs.com)
• Ringing in 2012 with...antivaccine propaganda? (sciencebasedmedicine.org)

Second Round Of Tests Find No Bacteria In Enfamil Baby Formula « CBS New York

Second Round Of Tests Find No Bacteria In Enfamil Baby Formula « CBS New York

Have you heard about this? A few babies have been getting sick with a rare bacteria that can be fatal, and has been fatal in at least once circumstance.

Scary for parents, right! I'm glad I don't have any babies right now, because that would seriously freak me out.

They thought it might be formula, but they keep testing the formula and the results keep coming back safe.

What could be happening? Well, I saw this dude on Fox News...I can't remember if he was a doctor or what, but he was on the news, so he must know what he's talking about, right? (You can go ahead and laugh, it's funny...haha)

Anyway, he said that if parents do the following things, it will make preparing formula at home safer for baby:

1. Sterilize the bottle and nipple by boiling them in water.

2. Boil the water before using it to mix the formula. Of course, mix the formula and allow it to cool before giving it to baby.

3. Make sure you wash your hands. Hold on, that should probably be number 1. Okay, do this first.

If you're really really worried, go with another formula.

And do yourself a favor, don't listen to the breastfeeding Nazis. While I breastfed both of our kids as infants, some people don't breastfeed for various reasons. Don't listen when they scream about how formula is poison, and that these infections are the proof. There's no evidence that it's the formula, so don't listen to the crazy people.

Health care reform battle tops health news for 2011

Health care reform battle tops health news for 2011

By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter

While no one story dominated health news in 2011, the ongoing debate over the legality of the new health care reform law was perhaps the most polarizing, with the case now set to go to the U.S. Supreme Court early in 2012.

Supporters of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which President Obama signed into law in 2010, claim the legislation will extend coverage to 30 million Americans. But opponents labeled it an unconstitutional intrusion of government upon personal rights, especially the "individual mandate" clause that requires Americans to purchase health insurance or face fines.

Some of the law's provisions, such as allowing children to remain on their parents' plans until age 26, or prohibiting insurers from denying coverage to those with preexisting conditions, were already helping Americans in 2011. Still, a Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll conducted in March found just 22 percent of respondents supported the individual mandate clause. The U.S. Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments on the law in late March.

Thanks, E.J. Mundell, or should I say "Captain Obvious!" ?

I'm totally kidding. It just seems, well, obvious, that health care reform was at the top of the news in 2011.

Obamacare

Public Health Option

Health Reform Bill

Pre-Existing Conditions Clause

Insurance Mandates

Oops, Insurance Mandates are Unconstitutional, according to the Supreme Court

...

Yup. 2011 was all about health care, or lack thereof. It was all about the comparison between America and other countries...the United States being the only country in the western world to not offer its citizens a public health care plan, universal health coverage, socialized medicine...whatever you want to call it.

Michael Moore's "Sicko" was discussed again even though his film was grossly exaggerated. Sorry, but I just don't like the guy. He lies and sells his lies to the American people. And, P.S., he's not from Flint, Michigan!

Anyway, I digress.

Whatever side of the aisle you're rooting for, it doesn't matter. The health care debate was raging in the Capitol, the media, and at every U.S. dinner table in 2011. And the debate, as far as I can see, isn't going to go away in 2012...it'll just intensify as the presidential elections come around full swing.

Mitt Romney's Health Plan

My main site doesn't deal with politics, and for good reason.

But I guess you can't discuss health issues without talking about health care in the United States, as it's a hot debate.

I used to live in Massachusetts when Mittens (er, um...I mean, Mitt Romney) was governor. I saw the Massachusetts Healthcare Plan in action, and I gotta say, it had it's ups and downs.

The ER waiting room was always crowded and a long wait. Actually, even when they weren't crowded, it was a long wait. I don't just mean the county hospitals either.

The doctors seemed over-worked and honestly didn't seem to give a crap. Probably because they were over-worked and under-paid, just like the rest of us.

My private hospital experience, however, was amazing for OBGYN care. It was a teaching hospital, and they accepted Tricare as payment in full (Tricare, for those of you who don't know, is an HMO for military and their families), so that's saying something.

Over-crowded emergency rooms with substandard care, but good prenatal care with top notch labor and delivery services, depending on the hospital, of course, and insurance was payment in full.

It's a toss up, really.

So, I guess you could say that I'm on the fence about what happened with Massachusetts health care.

That would keep me on the fence regarding the so-called "Romney Care" as well.

Bottom line, though - Mittens is too much of a flip-flopper, in my opinion. So, it doesn't matter what he offers us in the way of health care benefits. He'll probably do something totally different and claim he never promised us anything different despite the video evidence proving otherwise.

So, in essence, he's just like every other politician.

Wait, what were we talking about? Oy. Politics. Blah.

Civil War Surgical Tools

YIKES!

Makes you grateful that you live in the 21st century, doesn't it?
Yeah...I'm sorry, but that looks like something I'd cut a steak with...and I think I have that other tool and use it to tighten the screws on my kid's bike.  *shudder*  And that saw...the saw...ugh...yeah, I'd throw up.

I think if I had been in a situation where these tools were going to be used on me, I'd just tell them to kill me now and get it over with. 

Related articles

• Can you identify these surgical instruments? (frigzinternational.com)
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The Disadvantages of Alcohol as a Sleeping Aid - Swagbucks TV

The Disadvantages of Alcohol as a Sleeping Aid - Swagbucks TV

As one of my health resolutions is to get more and better sleep, I thought I'd start this blog with this handy video I found about using alcohol to help you sleep at night. My husband used to do this, though he doesn't drink anymore at all, and a recent trip to the psychologist taught me that doing this does not induce healthy sleep at all...it just makes you pass out, which isn't restful sleep.

So, if you're having trouble sleeping at night or falling asleep, don't drink alcohol.

To fall asleep, try drinking a big glass of water before bed, deep breathing exercises, or reading. Well, these things work for me at least. Get away from the computer, though. If you're like me, the light of the computer monitor keeps me awake. Same with the TV.

If you have chronic sleeping issues, it's best to see a doctor if possible. They have meds that help...a lot! *wicked grin* What? No, I'm not a pill pusher...pshaw...whatever. No, I'm just saying that sometimes we need some chemical help. I mean, seriously, I take Prozac and Effexor, so who am I to judge?

Welcome to the Blogger Version of Always Sick

Image by Monachromatic via FlickrIn order to reach out to more people, I have decided to start a blogger profile and blog to go with my Always Sick hosted site that I use on Wordpress.

I will mostly share things on this blog that don't fit anywhere else, and also to reach out to the Blogger community more.


I blog about health topics:  allergies, asthma, anxiety, acid reflux (and that's just the A's)...depression, dysthymia and other mental health issues, food allergies and food allergy activism, parenting children with special needs, etc...

I am a mommy with an epi-pen in one hand and a bottle of prozac in the other, and I'm just trying to get by with what I've got while trying to feel better in life.

Thanks for reading. :)

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• Weigh In On Posts for the New Year! (thefoodallergymom.wordpress.com)
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