Finding the best assisted living facility for your loved ones can be difficult. There are hundreds
of facilities to choose from, and you don’t want to choose a bad facility where your loved ones
can be hurt or mistreated. Your loved ones may also have special needs that most assisted living
facilities do not cater to. If you need help finding the right assisted living facility, then visit the
websites below to find the best facilities in your area.
We live in a fabulous world today where we can choose a specialty healthcare facility for children over individual facilities. These specialty facilities not only benefit the child(ren), but the entire family. I am talking healthcare facilities like the Hospital for Special Surgery. Facilities as such, have everything that is needed at your fingertips to care for your child’s special healthcare needs. Continue reading »
Many people are under the assumption that ringworm is a worm under the skin. Let me assure you, ringworm is NOT a worm. Ringworm is a contagious fungus spread by animals and humans. This isn’t to be confused with jock itch, athlete’s foot, ringworm of the scalp or beard, or toenail fungal infections – these are all forms of ringworm that appear differently on the body than the actual ringworm of the skin. All forms of ringworm fall under tinea corporis – the formal name of the fungus.
Humans can contract ringworm through:
**What you are about to read is the account of a mom’s battle with malignant pleural mesothelioma. It’s a true story, sad and yet, very touching. I felt compelled to help her spread the word of her battle – a battle that any mother could be a victim to. Today, Heather’s hope is to bring awareness to this awful disease and how it took a village to help her through a very difficult time of her life.**
I had heard “it takes a village to raise a child,” but I never understood it until after 
I had my daughter. When she was born on August 4, 2005, I had no clue that my life was about to change in ways I couldn’t imagine.
Upon returning to work, I experienced a constant tiredness and shortness of breath. I was tempted to dismiss it as normal, new-motherhood exhaustion, but couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that something else was wrong.
After a full battery of tests, I was diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the tissue that lines the lungs. Apparently, I had been exposed to asbestos as a child, causing me to suddenly develop this deadly cancer 30 years later.
Most of us have heard of the West Nile Virus and the Triple E virus (Eastern Equine Encephalitis), but have you heard of Dengue Fever? Dengue Fever a mosquito born illness and is a serious arboviral disease that is increasingly creeping into the US from other countries – primarily tropical countries. People have been diagnosed with Dengue Fever in Florida, Texas, and other southern states. There is severe pain associated with the disease; and due to this pain, you may hear one refer to Dengue Fever as the ‘break-bone fever’ and the ‘bone crusher disease.’
Four closely related viruses of the genus Falvivirus are the cause of this disease. Transmission begins when a mosquito bites an infected person that has the virus. In turn, that infected mosquito bites another person infecting that person. Nearly a week later, the mosquito can still transmit the virus to a healthy person. Should one get bitten by another mosquito during roughly a 6-day duration – that person is a source for infecting the mosquito. The disease is not spread from person -to- person; however, it can be spread by exposure to an infected person’s blood – just as HIV or Hepatitis B is spread.
Do you suffer from INTENSE leg, torso or digit cramps? I’m not talking just a charlie horse – I’m talking cramps that take your breath away and make you stop whatever it is you’re doing. I had suffered with these types of cramps until recently. The cause – my cholesterol medication – Simvastatin.
Back a couple, three years ago I was put on two long-term medications at the same time. One for my cholesterol and one a blood pressure med. Not long after taking both meds, it came to be where I would get these massive cramps in my torso. I did some research online, reading medical forums and researching the intricate of each med. I learned that the cholesterol med I was on could be causing these, which is what I suspected was the cause, as I know Lipitor has similar side effects.
At my next doctors appointment, I expressed to my physician how I was getting these horrible cramps. I told her how one day when I was driving that one came along that hit my chest area. This incident scared me half to death because it felt like it was so close to my heart. To make the incident worse – I was in a line of traffic and I had to keep the car moving. She didn’t seem all that concerned and assured me my heart was fine.
Well…I already knew that, and what she had to say, didn’t solve my issue. These cramps got worse over time – something I didn’t think could possibly happen because they hurt so much to begin with. Then my fingers started to lock up on me. Then my toes began to lock up on me. The odd thing about the digits locking up – they only did so once I went to bed.
After tolerating the locking of the digits for a few weeks – I had enough. I took myself off the Simvastatin since it made the most sense to start with that med first considering what I had learned through my research. Within just a few days – ALL the cramping went away. No more fingers or toes locking up. I decided at that point, I was done with this med altogether.
So, if you suffer from intense cramping like I describe – take a look at your cholesterol medication. You could always take yourself off it and see what happens. If the cramps don’t go away, then you know the cause isn’t that medication, and you’ll need to explore further.
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(Image courtesy of Mayo Clinic)
Thrush doesn’t always look like this. It can look like extreme redness of the mouth, tongue and throat.. The white patches aren’t always as prominent as seen in this picture either. At times, thrush may bleed. Sometimes the thrush will go away on its own but not always. When it doesn’t, an anti-fungal med is given which can be in the form of oral, liquid, or lozenges.
Artificial sweeteners – could they be making you sick? Seriously!!!
Could they be the reason for your muscle aches? Fibromyalgia? Memory loss? Nausea? Vomiting? Headaches? Let me tell you about a 7-yr. journey that I lived a few years ago that I wish I never had.
It all started when I became pregnant for my daughter. I immediately came down with morning sickness that lasted my entire pregnancy. To combat the morning sickness I was told to take ginger. When that didn’t work, several other prescription meds were prescribed at different times throughout the pregnancy. Not one of them worked. For nine months my trash barrel was my best friend. I couldn’t wait to get that baby out of me so the nausea and vomiting would go away.
That day finally came. My daughter arrived and I was never so elated – not because I had given birth to this beautiful healthy baby girl but because the nausea and vomiting would finally be gone. That thinking turned out to be only wishful thinking. I was still nauseated day after day…week after week…month after month with an occasional day of relief. I was still vomiting – but not as often as I did when I was pregnant.
For the next six years I suffered with nausea. I was in and out of the doctor’s office. I had my stomach meds changed several times. I had a gastroscopy, which showed nothing. One doctor did an ultrasound and told me it was my gall bladder causing the grief and it was removed. Not one of these procedures cured my ailments. I was still very miserable. I was beside myself…why was I so sick? I kept asking myself – why can’t the doctors find a cure? It came to the point where I was determined to find the cure myself except I didn’t have a whole lot to work with.
All I had to work with was what I knew aggravated the nausea beyond belief – my beloved diet Pepsi, coffee, and tea. Each time I tried to drink one of these beverages – I couldn’t get passed a few sips. Then one day while grocery shopping, I decided to try a new soda that came out on the market with 1/2 the sugar. My thought was 1/2 the sugar is better than full sugar. It surely wasn’t my diet Pepsi, so I wasn’t all that eager to try it after getting it home, and it just sat there for quite some time.
Then the day came when my daughter was graduating from kindergarten. I actually felt fairly well that morning – something that happened on occasion. Great I thought to myself let’s see if I can sustain this feeling for the day. Maybe, just maybe, I would be able to enjoy her graduation. I did, but I did not sustain feeling well for the entire day.
We left the graduation and went home. It wasn’t until after I had been home a 1/2 hour and I started feeling ill again. Why? I didn’t understand – I was just fine a few minutes ago. So I decided to backtrack my day up until then. I began to think about what I had eaten so far that day. I had a half can of that new cola before heading to the graduation. At the graduation, I had a bite – just one bite – of a brownie. I then went home, opened another can of that same soda, and drank half of that. That’s all I had so far – nothing more nothing less.
Thinking about this carefully – the only thing that remotely related to what I already knew aggravated the nausea was the new soda. I began to think – what does that new cola have in it that the diet Pepsi had in it? What do they have in common, if anything? To the can I headed. I read the ingredients on the can – it contained an artificial sweetener. My mind started working – the coffee and tea I loved – I always added Sweet ‘n Low – an artificial sweetener to it, the diet Pepsi contained an artificial sweetener. Now what? Where do I take this information?
On the Internet I went. I searched, searched, and read article after article I could find on artificial sweeteners. I learned the following about artificial sweeteners. Many of them contain aspartame. Aspartame contains phenylalanine, aspartic acid, and methanol (wood alcohol). Well…you know that methanol? That is a poison. Aspartame contains 10% methanol. Methanol enters the small intestine and is absorb by the body. From there, the methanol is metabolized to form formaldehyde (use to embalm bodies) and to formic acid (found in the sting of red ants). The EPA states one should limit 7.8 grams per day in a person’s diet – they consider that safe.
Shockingly, an 8oz. serving of diet soda contains 14 mgs.! And how many cans of diet soda a DAY had I been drinking over the years – like many, many years? WAY too many. There were days when I would have 5 or 6 cans, some days even more. This isn’t including all the coffee I drank too. Considering this poison builds up slowly in one’s body, I was literally being poisoned from the consumption of the soda I drank, right along with any other food products containing artificial sweeteners containing aspartame. In addition, the phenylalanine levels in my body were more than likely much higher than they should be from the combined meds I was taking and the choice of beverage consumption over the years – thus building up and causing nausea as well. This is because phenylalanine is added to diet soda and certain medications.
You ask why was the onset of my issues when I became pregnant? That’s because I must have been one of those pregnant women showing similar symptoms of the disorder described below:
“A (rare) “variant form” of phenylketonuria called hyperphenylalaninemia is caused by the inability to synthesize a coenzyme called biopterin, which can be supplemented. Pregnant women with hyperphenylalaninemia may show similar symptoms of the disorder (high levels of phenylalanine in blood) but these indicators will usually disappear at the end of gestation.” (quoted from wikipedia…very simple detailed definition)
Sadly, my symptoms did not go away at the end of gestation which suggested to me – the levels of phenylalanine in my blood had to have been pretty high for them to continue on and torture me.
Though, through all my research, one article suggested to lay off ALL products containing artificial sweeteners for one month to see if there was any change. At this point I had nothing to lose but everything to gain. Despite how much I loved these beverages and the foods I thought were saving me calories, I had to give them up to see if I’d see a change, because I wanted no more than to feel well again. And GUESS WHAT??
Come the forth week of staying away from all food and drink products containing artificial sweeteners – the nausea was GONE – completely gone. My daughter will be 15 in a few months and I’ve been nausea free since she was 6.5 yrs old. I no longer ingest anything that contains any type of artificial sweetener. NO sucralose, no NutraSweet, no Splenda, no Sweet ‘n Low, no saccharin – not a taste of anything with any kind of artificial sweetener in them…nada!
Artificial Sweeteners Seizure Causing You Say? Absolutely!
Another lesson learned about artificial sweeteners – my son has a seizure disorder caused from a brain hemorrhage. I had started sending Crystal Light with him for lunch when he started adult services. I was receiving incident reports sent home with him day after day saying he had a seizure. I thought the direct support employees didn’t have a clue what they were talking about because I hadn’t seen a seizure for years. Come to find out, the seizures were real and were from him consuming the Crystal Light. After a discussion with his neurologist, I learned that anyone with a seizure disorder should not ingest any artificial sweetener other than sucralose. Guess what? Sucralose isn’t happening either. NO artificial nothing for my kids, knowing what I know now, and what we’ve been through.
If you suffer from ailments like headaches, dizziness, depression, vomiting or nausea, abdominal pain, seizures, vision changes, Fibromyalgia, joint pain, anxiety, or any other unexplained ailment that you can’t seem to get relief from, I highly suggest you looking at your artificial sweetener consumption. One great article to read regarding health effects of artificial sweeteners can be found at medicinenet.com.
If you’re a soda drinker – you may find this article worth reading: Medical Monday – Soda – Cancer Causing? Facts That Might Make You Cringe!
I’m an avid Coke drinker – have been since the switch from Diet Pepsi years ago – which I will share the reason for that (something you’ll want to read if you drink diet soda) with you next week. Needless to say, after reading a very disturbing article on Care2.com regarding soda, I feel compelled to share what I learned. The facts I share might just make you cringe and not ever want another soda again. My question is why is the FDA allowing these on the market if they are shown to be cancer causing?
Let’s start with the Caramel coloring:
In 2011, the nonprofit Center for Science petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to ban the artificial caramel coloring used to make Pepsi, Coke, and other colas brown – for the best interest of the public. Why? These colorings contain contaminants found to have caused cancer in animals. These colorings being: 2-methylimidazole and 4-methylimidazole. The only reason these colorings are added to the equation is to color the beverage brown. California is big on banning certain chemicals in their state – often making it so certain products can’t be shipped to CA. Proposition 65’s list of chemicals that are known to cause cancer states “16 micrograms per person per day of 4-methylimidazole is enough to pose a cancer threat, and most popular brown colas, both diet and regular, contain 200 micrograms per 20-ounce bottle.”
How’s that grab you? Doesn’t settle well with me. Let me have my soda but get rid of that coloring – I could care less what color the soda is!
Soda…causing water pollution?
Yes, those nasty artificial sweeteners that don’t break down in our bodies when ingested – are excreted in our waste. Our waste is then headed towards waste water- treatment plants, rivers, and lakes. Swiss scientists discovered in 2009, through water samples, that the water being sampled contained saccharin, sucralose (aka as Splenda is NOT an all natural sweetener), and acesulfame K – all which are used in diet sodas. In the US – 19 municipal water supplies found the presence of sucralose.
How about accelerating aging?
Both diet and regular sodas contain phosphates – or phosphoric acid. This is a weak acid that is found in many whole foods like meats, nuts and dairy products. Studies have shown though that this acid can lead to kidney and heart problems, osteoporosis, and muscle loss. To make matters worse, one study suggested it could accelerate aging – killing rats 5 weeks earlier who were given this acid compared to those rats that weren’t. Can it get worse? Yes, soda manufacturers have been increasing the amount of this acid in their products over the past few decades.
That Mountain Dew you love could = “Mountain Dew Mind.”
Mountain Dew contains a ton of sugar causing cavities which dentists have labeled children who drink a lot of Mountain Dew with having a “Mountain Dew Mouth.” What’s worse though, is that it also has medical providers concerned thinking there maybe a new medical condition on the rise called, “Mountain Dew Mind.” What the cause of this is the ingredient, brominated vegetable oil (BVO), which is added to Mountain Dew to prevent the flavoring from separating from the drink is the same ingredient is also an industrial chemical used as a flame retardant in plastics! This same ingredient found in other citrus based soft drinks and sport drinks. This chemical has been known to cause memory loss and nerve disorders when consumed in large quantities. BVO has lead researchers to suspect that flame retardants contained in furniture foam, can build up in body fat, infertility, possible cause of behavioral issues and lesions on the heart muscle.
Aluminum Cans are Lined with WHAT?
Not all, but nearly all, aluminum soda cans are lined with an epoxy resin called bisphenol A (BPA). This resin is used to keep the acids in the soda from reacting with the metal. What else is known about BPA? It interferes with hormones and has been linked from infertility to obesity, diabetes and some forms of reproductive cancers.
High Fructose Corn Syrup? An issue?
Very well could be. That ingredient in soda is derived from corn. In the US, 88 percent of what is grown is genetically modified to resist toxic pesticides or engineered to create pesticides within the plant itself. There are no human studies to prove whether or not these crops are safe. Studies done by independent scientists have found that in animals, crops that are genetically modified (GMO’s) are linked to accelerated aging, damage of the digestive tract, and infertility.
If you’d like to read the article in its entirety visit care2.com. They actually publish a newsletter and I happen to love it. It’s full of great insights on many topics.