dahlia in my garden: Rio Fuego in Coleus leaves

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Tuesday-Newsday #131

Time for Tuesday-Newsday! There are three Featured Blog Posts this week: “The Art of Letting Go – Making New Year's ‘Anti-Resolutions’," "Happy New Year: Time to think how we can make our lives the best that they can be in 2014,” and “Creating Beauty From a Life of Chronic Pain.”

Let Me Know: If you’d like me to watch for articles on your pain condition, just drop me a note in the comments section below. 

WARNING:  My goal is to provide the most up-to-date news I can, which you can then take to your personal doctor and debate the merits of before you try it. I do not endorse any of the docs, treatments, info, and meds in anything I post nor can I guarantee they are all effective, especially not for everyone. As is the case with any health info, ALWAYS get your doctor's opinion first!
====++++====++++====++++====++++====++++===


~* RX ALERT: VOLUNTARY DRUG RECALL *~



*OBAMACARE & MEDICARE: WHAT YOU *NEED* TO KNOW

If during the holidays you missed my last post, I highly recommend that you look at Tuesday-Newsday #130 and particularly focus on the section on Obamacare - and why doctors are warning us. This is very very important to everybody, but especially for chronic pain / illness people like us. 

Here are three more stories you need to read:


Experts: Medicare Reimbursement Cuts Potentially Devastating to Pain Doctors & Patients

Walgreens Offers Month Of Prescriptions To Backlogged Obamacare Enrollees
“(The company says) it will provide a month's supply of certain prescriptions at no upfront cost to (patients) who have not yet received a plan identification number... (They want) to make sure customers had no interruption in their prescriptions.”


*CHRONIC PAIN NEWS













*INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASES












*LYME DISEASE





*SICKLE CELL ANEMIA








*FEATURED BLOG POSTS

by Lisa Lorden Myers

by Jan Sadler of Pain Support UK


Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Tuesday-Newsday #130

Time for Tuesday-Newsday! There are three Featured Blog Posts this week: “Surviving the Holidays When You’re in Pain,” "Feeling Grinch-y? What you can do when merry and bright wears thin," and “It’s time for ChronicBabe Bingo! BONUS: Free goodies!” 

Let Me Know: If you’d like me to watch for articles on your pain condition, just drop me a note in the comments section below. 

WARNING:  My goal is to provide the most up-to-date news I can, which you can then take to your personal doctor and debate the merits of before you try it. I do not endorse any of the docs, treatments, info, and meds in anything I post nor can I guarantee they are all effective, especially not for everyone. As is the case with any health info, ALWAYS get your doctor's opinion first!
====++++====++++====++++====++++====++++===


*OBAMACARE / ACA - WHAT YOU NEED TO HEAR

       Note from me: Doctors have been testifying before a Congressional Committee over the past week about how Obamacare will affect them and their patients, and saying what they think should be done to protect us. One of the doctors who testified is a neurologist who treats MS patients. His full testimony can be read HERE and I urge you to do so! This is too important to ignore and just hope that it will all come out okay. 
       What the neurologist basically talks about is how patients with complex conditions like Multiple Sclerosis in many cases not be able to get access to care and treatments they need, medications for many will be unaffordable, and many top doctors/hospitals will be squeezed out, creating a smaller pool of specialists for those who need them most. One statement he makes is, “Simply having an insurance card that does not guarantee access to providers nor medications is useless.” 
       My own personal pain physician agrees. I’m starting to get really frightened about the future of medical care for you and me. I found a few interviews and articles online from a couple of different sources so you can hear what doctors are saying:


Click on the activated link over each doctors’ name in the article and you can read their entire testimony (and I highly recommend that you do so!)





One county health care services director warns, Enrollment doesn’t mean access... There aren’t enough primary care physicians, period."



*MEDICATION NEWS










*CHRONIC PAIN NEWS










*LUPUS








*ARTHRITIS - ALL TYPES






This interactive online workshop that will give you the knowledge, skills and confidence to manage your arthritis. Read more about and sign up by clicking HERE



*FEATURED BLOG POSTS


by Jenni Prokopy at Chronic Babe


Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Tuesday-Newsday #129

Time for Tuesday-Newsday! The Featured Blog Posts this week are “Time for Christmas” and POPF Holiday Mail program to Support a Family Fighting Pain.” Don’t miss them below!

Let Me Know: If you’d like me to watch for articles on your pain condition, just drop me a note in the comments section below. 

WARNING:  My goal is to provide the most up-to-date news I can, which you can then take to your personal doctor and debate the merits of before you try it. I do not endorse any of the docs, treatments, info, and meds in anything I post nor can I guarantee they are all effective, especially not for everyone. As is the case with any health info, ALWAYS get your doctor's opinion first!
====++++====++++====++++====++++====++++===


*MEDICATION NEWS








*CHRONIC PAIN NEWS













*MIGRAINE / HEADACHE

















*FEATURED BLOG POSTS

by Jan Sadler of PainSupportUK


POPF Holiday Mail program: Support a Family Fighting Pain 
This Holiday Season by Sending Words of Good Cheer!

This year the Power of Pain Foundation is starting a new tradition… a Christmas card for the special pain patient or caregiver in your life. Do you know someone who feels like they are alone; well we want to give them a little joy and cheer.

So, send us their address and we will get the joy of delivering holiday greetings to patients around the world. The cards and personal messages from you will be sent out on December 15th so they arrive just in time for Christmas. Thanks for providing a welcome “touch of love” for our pain community members during the holiday season.

Each year we will also collect cards between October and early December and then distribute them through the mail, at hospitals, and in other pain management locations.

There are several ways to be part of the Holiday Mail program for the pain community. In addition to sending your own cards, let POPF know who you believe needs a card and special message this year!

*Send your cards for distribution to:

Power of Pain Foundation
38556 N. Dave Street
San Tan Valley, AZ 85140

Or email info@powerofpain.org with the recipients address 
and your personal message.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Tuesday-Newsday #128

Time for Tuesday-Newsday! The Featured Blog Posts this week are “Giving Thanks” and “Steve McQueen and the Missing ‘P’.”

Let Me Know: If you’d like me to watch for articles on your pain condition, just drop me a note in the comments section below. 

WARNING:  My goal is to provide the most up-to-date news I can, which you can then take to your personal doctor and debate the merits of before you try it. I do not endorse any of the docs, treatments, info, and meds in anything I post nor can I guarantee they are all effective, especially not for everyone. As is the case with any health info, ALWAYS get your doctor's opinion first!
====++++====++++====++++====++++====++++===




*MEDICATION NEWS










*PATIENT NEWS











*CANCER PAIN















*FEATURED BLOG POSTS

by Arlene Alonzo Grau

by Mark Maginn

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving: My ‘Self-Challenge’ to Focus on Gratitude This Holiday Season

Living with daily chronic pain is a struggle. However adding in all the seasonal festivities, gatherings, food, family, and traveling -- plus our own self-expectations can raise our emotional and physical pain to new levels.

I think the hardest thing during the holidays for me, besides the usual issues of pacing myself and feeling frustrated at how my pain limits my activities - is to stop being negative and acknowledge my life is full of blessings. This year I want to experience the holidays differently. I want to see and feel joy every day. It's often hard to look outside ourselves, so I am making a promise to not just ‘count’ my blessings but to literally 'see' them. 

I'm going to take at least one photo of something I’m grateful for every day from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day and create a keep a Gratitude Album. I've never kept a gratitude journal before, and I think that since I am a visually creative person, photographs will resonate even more with me. I believe I need to tangibly acknowledge God is in my life, in my new city, in my new church, in our first home, the first time away from family. 

I’m starting my Gratitude Album right now, with a photo below of an incredible sunset I took a couple days ago while standing on my front porch. The incredible intensity of color, the unusual cloud patterns, and the brilliant light all make me grateful for the beauty of the evening sky. Even though my pain tends to be higher at that time of the day, I can’t deny I was captivated beyond myself when I watched that amazing light show. (I’m also grateful for all my blog followers!)

I challenge you to keep a Gratitude Journal or Album yourself this holiday season. I hope that we will all find a deeper appreciation for what we have, who we are, and all that is around us despite our pain and difficulties in life.

Happy Thanksgiving & Blessings to All,
~Shannon
Sunset in the Las Vegas sky from my front porch.


Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Tuesday-Newsday #127

Time for Tuesday-Newsday! The Featured Blog Posts this Thanksgiving Week focus on gratitude. Both posts were written by Laura Morris at A Grateful Road: Living Life in Gratitude” and “Your Appreciation Challenge.”

Let Me Know: If you’d like me to watch for articles on your pain condition, just drop me a note in the comments section below. 

WARNING:  My goal is to provide the most up-to-date news I can, which you can then take to your personal doctor and debate the merits of before you try it. I do not endorse any of the docs, treatments, info, and meds in anything I post nor can I guarantee they are all effective, especially not for everyone. As is the case with any health info, ALWAYS get your doctor's opinion first!
====++++====++++====++++====++++====++++===


*CHRONIC PAIN NEWS

This survey will help educate the FDA on how Fibro affects your life, what treatments & Rx help you, and is completely anonymous








*MEDICATION NEWS








This report is from the American Pain Society and The American Academy of Pain Medicine 



*BACK PAIN

























*FEATURED BLOG POSTS

Both posts are by Laura Morris at A Grateful Road:


Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Tuesday-Newsday #126

Time for Tuesday-Newsday! The Featured Blog Posts this week are: “‘Tis the Season – Don’t ‘Give’ til it Hurts” and “I Am Not a Slob, I have an Invisible Illness.”

Let Me Know: If you’d like me to watch for articles on your pain condition, just drop me a note in the comments section below. 

WARNING:  My goal is to provide the most up-to-date news I can, which you can then take to your personal doctor and debate the merits of before you try it. I do not endorse any of the docs, treatments, info, and meds in anything I post nor can I guarantee they are all effective, especially not for everyone. As is the case with any health info, ALWAYS get your doctor's opinion first!
====++++====++++====++++====++++====++++===


*CHRONIC PAIN NEWS









I have also written a blog post on this subject which includes other helpful suggestions. You can read it HERE



*MEDICATION NEWS







*COMPLEX REGIONAL PAIN SYNDROME (CRPS) / REFLEX SYMPATHETIC DYSTROPHY (RSD)














*MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS













*FEATURED BLOG POSTS


by Lisa Copen of Rest Ministries