Chronic depression is a mental illness that millions of people experience to some degree each year. All types of things can trigger depression in anyone, such as trauma, grief, getting laid off, and money worries. The chances are high that you know someone with depression. Did you know some depression triggers aren’t as common as […]
The Surprising Causes of Depression —
My biggest victories are invisible. My wins are much larger than the pounds pressed or reps gotten. Below the surface of my bodybuilding there are two key life events. The first is a sweet inspiring moment. The second is bitter. The latter’s aftermath threw me into a prison of confusing contradictions. Long before the kidnapping, […]
Before — Owning It
Sometimes you feel that you can’t face the battle. Sometimes you don’t feel courageous at all. Sometimes it all feels too much. Too overwhelming. Sometimes you feel that you just can’t go on.
On days like this, when you’re fighting all the darkness, is there something you can do? Are there steps that you can take? It can often be helpful if you have ideas at hand – for you won’t have the energy to think at those bleak times. So here are some thoughts; a few things that you could try:
1. Acknowledge how you feel. Don’t try to sugar-coat it. You need to be authentic; you deserve to be authentic. Also, you can’t keep pretending, or keep faking how you feel. Eventually you’ll crack, and the feelings will seep through.
2. Work on developing a self-care routine. It will give you something to look forward to, and…
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Welcoming Monday back is not an easy thing to do, especially when the weekend went by fast and you might have not felt well. It is exceptionally difficult for me beginning the week because as I already said in my last post I felt awful all weekend because of getting the 3rd COVID vaccine, which I still do not regret getting. The truth is sometimes in life we must do things that are not enjoyable, but do them for good reasons. Our lives are full of choices we have to make and we should make these choices to the best of our abilities and try to never live with any kind of regrets.
I am sure none of us are completely ready for a new week, but that choice is completely out of our control. However, what is within our control is the way we move forward with the week…
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I have already made it well-known how upsetting I have found the COVID-19 virus and those that are refusing to get the vaccine that is free. My husband and I both got the first two vaccines as soon as we were able, which was at the beginning of the year. On Friday after work, we both got the third vaccine/booster. After the first two vaccines, the only side effect that was felt was fatigue. Of course, I received the 2nd vaccine shortly after we lost our cat Chloe and that could have been where some of the fatigue was coming from, or it could have been the vaccine.
I am not sharing the following information to deter anyone from getting the vaccine but am going to share my experience. I felt fine on Friday evening and only had a little soreness on the arm where the injection was given…
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Welcome to the weekend edition of Today in History. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the post. Have an awesome weekend. 1901 First barrel ride down Niagara Falls On October 24, 1901, a 63-year-old schoolteacher named Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to successfully take the plunge over Niagara Falls in a barrel. 1945 The […]
Today in History October 24, 2021 —
Photo by Emil Bju00f6rkman on Pexels.com “When you look at a field of dandelions you can either see a hundred weeds or a hundred wishes” Unknown
Just Pondering —
I’m so glad you are enjoying the new weekend tradition. We learn something new each week, even if it’s weird. I love hearing your comments! Being compassionate to others–as well as oneself–leads to greater happiness Snow-bones are the lines of snow or ice left at the sides of roads after the rest of the snow […]
Fun Facts That Will Amaze You —
I love to save money on items I’m already purchasing and there are two Apps that you add to your browser that will help you save money if there is a coupon code available or promotion going on. Ratuken I can’t tell you how much I love Ratuken! They have paid me so much money […]
Two Of My Favorite Frugal Finds —
Have a great weekend! So glad you stopped by today and look forward to hearing your comments. Melinda
Friday Quote —
Invisible Disabilities Week is an important week of education and awareness of invisible illnesses. This type of awareness is critical from educating the public about invisible illnesses but also to help raise awareness for those who may have one of the illnesses listed. About the awareness week The Invisible Disabilities Association (IDA) began hosting Invisible Disabilities […]
Invisible Disabilities Week —
“If the pain was deep, you will have to let go many times.” Yung Pueblo
We often feel surprised by how long the pain lasts. By the fact that we’re not free – even years after the trauma.
There are no easy answers.
There is no magic bullet.
The memory is ingrained and it doesn’t go away.
Letting go is a process we repeat a million times.
Every time it helps a little. Just a little – not a lot.
It’s a hard reality. A truth we’d rather not embrace.
But we are making some progress, every time we let it go.
It is no fun to only view today as Wednesday! It is better to view today as making it to the halfway part of the week, which means we are much closer to the weekend we all look forward to! How has your week been so far? I think y’all know that my week did not start all that great, but I also think dwelling on the negative does not help anyone. Everything unpleasant on Monday and Tuesday cannot define how my week will stay.
I have decided to let go of most of the issues I was upset about early in the week. However, I am still terribly upset and frustrated about how awful the country I was born and raised in has allowed a deadly virus to continue to remain. The vaccine and masks are helping to end the spread and in turn not enable new variants. The…
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Thanks for stopping by today, I appreciate you and look forward to your comments. My artist, or not so artist rendering of a daisy. Have a great day! Melinda
Wordless Wednesday*Purple —
This is fabulous news for us AMN patients. Just a mouse, but you must start somewhere.
I was thrilled to read today about the mouse data that they announced today: human ABCD1 shows dose-responsive expression and activity
To my untrained eye, this is fabulous news, and so much better than the plethora of ways that we have seen to lower VLCFA. To actually move on our mutated gene sure looks great to me!
Keep at it SwanBio!
The good news is, we made it through Monday! How was your Monday? I will always be open and honest with y’all, so with that said yesterday was not one of those days I want to live through again. It started off waking up about 10 minutes before my alarm was going to go off, but not wanting to get up yet I was able to fall back to sleep, only to be awoken by the annoying and shrilling sound of the alarm. I would almost say it would have been better if I just stayed awake when I woke up before the alarm. I cannot stand the sound of an alarm clock and the sound of a microwave fills me with the same level of aggravation.
After the alarm annoyance, my workday did not get much better. It was busy and I do like it best like that, but…
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Buying a gift is deeply personal and can get complicated when trying to buy for a friend with a chronic illness or for one who has chronic pain. I have a few chronic illnesses of my own and thought it would be nice to put a list of year-round gift ideas. Silk pillowcase Ultrasonic diffuser […]
60 Year Round Gift Ideas For Your Chronically Ill Friends —
Happy Monday y’all! I hope you were able to have a relaxing and safe weekend. My weekend was decent, and a few things occurred the needed to. This will make more sense later in this post. I normally try to only share a motivational quote to start the week with a good mindset, which I am going to still do however, there are a few other things I would like to share with you.
In a previous post, I mentioned that I allow things to bottle up inside because I do not want to cause anyone else to feel overwhelmed and or upset, and I do not enjoy conflict. Well over the weekend through many tears I finally shared how I was feeling about a few things with another person. I think everything I was bottling up deep in my mind and heart just overflowed and I could not keep…
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Most of the time, I can’t sleep. So I take pills. A lot of the time, I get anxious. So I try to focus on my breathing or distract myself and sometimes I take pills. A lot of the time I feel like I am in pain. I don’t want to be “that person” who […]
Concurrency — A Patient Voice
Welcome to the weekend edition of Today in History. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the post. Have an awesome weekend. 1974 “Benji” opens in theaters On October 17, 1974, Benji, a film about a stray dog who helps rescue several kidnapped children, opens in theaters; it will go on to become a family classic. Written […]
Today in History —
While many of you (well, maybe some of the older folks) have heard about Lorenzo’s Oil, in this post, I describe the beginnings of the large placebo-controlled Lorenzo’s Oil study that I participated in at the Kennedy-Krieger Institute. Please, have a look!
Lorenzo’s Oil, a 4:1 mix of oleic erucic acid is extracted from rapeseed and olive oil. This stuff normalized the accumulation of VLCFA in the brain. It seemed like a straight forward enough solution; it should counter the disease and slow its progression.
The Oil had been studied for decades. In the beginning, they gave it to everyone, kids and adults, alike. Dr. Moser published data suggesting that if you gave it to boys before they became symptomatic, they had a better chance of remaining symptom free[1]. This, paper drew howls of criticism: he gave it to most anyone and there was no placebo-control. The analysis was based on a comparison to historic controls.
He had a problem. While some kids would grow up like me, relatively unscathed, others would take Zach’s path and not do so well. There was no way to know. This was the issue…
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I am tired of fighting for my birthright. My entire life I have balanced two opposing truths. My body is male. But since I was 5, I wasn’t allowed to think of myself as a boy. The assault destroyed that birthright. Believing my father was deeply ashamed and hated me, only compounded it. I have […]
Battleground — Owning It
ADHD Awareness Month is celebrated every October, with events and activities happening all across the country and now, around the world, on the ground and on the Internet, capturing the notice of numerous national, regional and local media outlets resulting in articles, interviews and feature stories. ADDA is a founding member of the ADHDAwarenessMonth.org coalition, […]
ADHD Awareness Month —
I’m so glad you are enjoying the new weekend tradition. We learn something new each week, even if it’s weird. I love hearing your comments! There are no seagulls in Hawaii. The sound of Darth Vader’s difficult breathing was made with a scuba regulator. Luke Skywaker was originally named Luke Skykiller A moonbow is a […]
Fun Facts That Will Amaze You —
“The reality is that you will grieve forever. You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will be whole again, but you will never be the same.” Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
You don’t ever forget that your partner was unfaithful. You don’t ever forget that you lost a precious child. You don’t ever forget the day your whole world fell apart. You don’t ever forget that you’re a victim of abuse.
We may heal to some extent, and build a very different future.
Our partner may change, or we might marry someone else.
We might still have other children.
And our fortunes might reverse.
We might laugh, and find fulfillment, and decide ‘life must go on’.
Even so, we still remember – for we can’t erase those memories.
There will always be an ache for what could, and should, have been.
It…
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I can finally say, happy Friday y’all! How was your week? I hope you had a great week and you are looking forward to the weekend ahead of us. I do not think I could ever explain how glad I am this week is over. It has been a crazy and busy week, both at work and at home. Our poor cat was sick last weekend but was able to see his doctor on Monday. I knew he had another infection and thankfully the antibiotic he received has helped him to recover. He has been on medication for his asthma for years, but we are going to reduce the steroid because that could be the reason he continues getting sick. I think y’all know that I prefer my workdays to be busy, but with everything else going on in life, I really need a break!
Friday is always the end…
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I’m so glad you’ve joined me this week for another edition of Weekend Music Share. Michael McDonald and Doobie Brothers I Keep Forgetting Welcome back to Weekend Music Share; the place where everyone can share their favorite music. Feel free to use the ‘Weekend Music Share‘ banner in your post, and don’t forget to […]
#Weekend Music Share *Michael McDonal and Doobie Brothers I Keep Forgetting Live —
Have a great weekend! So glad you stopped by today and look forward to hearing your comments. Melinda
Friday Quote —
Forgiveness is not always the easiest thing to accomplish. You might feel as though you will never get over the pain someone else has caused with their wrongdoings. Even once the initial and immediate anger lessens, you may dwell on the betrayal you felt, instead of allowing it to fade away and become a distant bad memory.
The challenges that accompany forgiveness are in part because it is not well understood. Many think to forgive someone means you forget what took place or say the pain inflicted was not too bad and not a big deal or you can resume the relationship you once had immediately. None of this is completely true about forgiveness. It is more about letting go of your anger, hurt, and the need to seek revenge.
It is important to understand when we forgive another person for their hurtful, disappointments, deceitfulness, or any other negative act…
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What is Seasonal Affective Disorder? Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is an older term for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) with a seasonal pattern. It’s a psychological condition that results in depression which is normally provoked by seasonal change. The condition most often occurs in women, adolescents, and young adults. Many times people will start to see […]
Do You Have Seasonal Affective Disorder? —
Are you suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD? Seasonal Affective Disorder is a type of depression that comes and goes with the seasons. Many people experience worse symptoms in the winter months. One of the proven ways to help with SAD is a specific type of lamp or light therapy box that emits a […]
Updated Top 5 Lamps for Seasonal Affective Disorder —
“It is what it is, and you feel what you feel.”
The starting place for healing from a trauma in your life is taking that courageous, and very shaky, step of facing the truth of what happened to you.
That means allowing all the feelings to rise up to the surface, and experiencing the pain all over again.
But what do you do after taking that brave step – because you know, for a fact, that it’s going to feel awful?
In summary:
1. Give yourself time – take all the time you need – to deal with what comes up, and to mourn a million losses.
2. Allow the healing process to follow its own course. You can’t force the pace, or decide what it will look like.
3. Be patient with yourself, and especially during dark days. You don’t know how you will feel; you don’t…
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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an annual campaign to raise awareness about the impact of breast cancer. Join us as we RISE together to help uplift women in need. The past year has posed a challenge to just about everything, and breast cancer prevention is no exception. Although we saw setbacks in screenings and […]
Breast Cancer Awareness Month —
Thanks for stopping by today, I appreciate you and look forward to your comments. Have a great day! Melinda
Wordless Wednesday*Yellow —
IDEAS.TED.COM Mar 6, 2019 / Mary Halton If your self-worth seems to rise and fall according to what other people think, you’re not alone. But you can challenge this mindset and find a new way of valuing yourself, says psychologist Meag-gan O’Reilly. This post is part of TED’s “How to Be a Better Human” series, each of […]
Do you ever feel like you’re not enough? —
Everyone will encounter stress in life. Sometimes, this stress is entirely justified, and it’s all about how you respond to it. However, people will also experience unnecessary stress that can make them feel overwhelmed and affect their mental wellbeing, performance, and even relationships with those they love. Feeling overwhelmed is never a pleasant experience, and […]
4 Steps To Help When You Feel Overwhelmed —
TEDIDEAS.COM Jan 6, 2021 / Saundra Dalton-Smith MD Avalon Nuovo This post is part of TED’s “How to Be a Better Human” series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from people in the TED community; browse through all the posts here. Have you ever tried to fix an ongoing lack of energy by getting more sleep […]
The 7 types of rest that every person needs —
Happy Monday y’all! I hope you had a nice weekend and you are ready to start a new week. It seems like the weekends go by so fast and my weekend was a little stressful. Our poor older cat is sick again and he has many expressions so it is easy to know when he is not feeling well. It was hard for me because I was not able to do anything to help him feel better, but I did what I could offer him is comfort and love. I am confident he has the same type of infection he did a couple of months ago and he needs an antibiotic. I left two voicemails and one email for his doctor’s office, but will be calling them again right when they open. I am not a doctor, but I do think because he has been on a steroid for many…
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World Mental Health Day is an international day for global mental health education, awareness and advocacy against social stigma. It was first celebrated in 1992 at the initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health, a global mental health organization with members and contacts in more than 150 countries. This day, each October, thousands of […]
World Mental Health Day —
Back in the old days, I was pretty sure that a cure for AMN was just around the corner.
I learned that there had been a transgenic X-ALD mouse model for many years, and I kept hearing about the grand gene therapy trials that were right around the corner. Still, things were not happening as I would have liked. At the time (mid-to-late 90s), efforts were limited to re-purposing old medications; not exciting. Still, I readily volunteered for the few trials that I could find. The ones that I remember tried lovastatin and a couple different ways to use 4-Phenylbutyrate.
I went into these studies with great optimism, and I guess, naïveté. I was certain that these tiny experiments of 12 people would work and turn my disease on its head. None of them did.
By this time, I had been in the pharmaceutical industry over 5 years, and thought that I knew pretty much everything. I guess the problem was, in my roles, I had it easy, the…
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Chronic pain can be challenging to live with, especially when relief from the pain is rare. Pain can make falling asleep and staying asleep feel almost impossible. Unfortunately, the vicious cycle of pain and lack of good quality sleep can cause an individual’s overall health and wellbeing to worsen.
There are numerous causes of chronic pain, but there are also many causes for increased pain at night. Of course, some causes for pain are well known, but not all the causes are as well known. The increased pain at night is like clockwork and gets increasingly worse around the same time every night. For anyone living with pain, you are not alone. It may be helpful to understand some of the reasons for the worsening of pain at night and possible ways to counteract the pain.
1. Body position can play a major factor in increased pain at night. Laying…
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I’m so glad you are enjoying the new weekend tradition. I love hearing your comments! African lions catch about 20% of the prey they chase. Dragonflies catch 95%. A “cronut” is a cross between a doughnut and a croissant. Amazon.com was originally called a cadabra. A human loses about a million skin cells per 24 hours. Rabbits […]
Fun Facts That Will Amaze You —
We all have many facets to our personality, many of which don’t show up in our blogs. I wanted to share more about the other parts of my life that make me a whole person. Photo by Daria Shevtsova on Pexels.com Love Home Design, all aspects including color. I love looking at Real Estate every […]
More About The Whole Me —
This week there was a school shooting that injured four people. The teen got into a fight and pulled out a 45 caliber handgun from his backpack. I won’t go into what’s wrong with Texas gun laws and how a teen was able to get a gun. I will say that his parents knew he […]
National Bullying Prevention Month —
Have a great weekend! So glad you stopped by today and look forward to hearing your comments. Melinda
Friday Quote —
I am pleased to be selected by ALDConnect as a Peer Mentor. It is my hope that I am able to help AMN-afflicted men better understand their disease and the scary thoughts that many of us feel as we come to terms with our diagnosis.
Many thanks to the folks at ALDConnect for the opportunity to get more involved in the community.
1. “I’m no good at …”
Say instead: “It’s just a skill, and something I can learn.”
2. “I’m such a failure …”
Say instead: “I got it wrong, and everybody makes mistakes.”
3. “There’s no point in trying …”
Say instead: “It may be hard, but I can take it step by step.”
4. “Nobody likes me; I don’t have any friends …”
Say instead: “It doesn’t really matter what these people think of me. There are others who will recognize my value and worth.”
5. “I hate myself. I deserve to be rejected …”
Say instead: “I am beautiful inside, and have value and worth. I deserve to be loved and treated well.”
“This is the beginning of loving yourself. Welcome home.”
Stress can be a huge factor in our lives that drags us down and makes everything ten times more difficult. Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do about stress outside of just running away from it unless you deal with the root cause. When it comes to working at home, there are countless things that […]
How To Keep Stress Levels Low When Working From Home —
We, humans, are complicated creatures capable of expressing thousands of emotions. This site shows you that anxiety and stress are common across the natural world, and animals have many ways of showing it. Unfortunately for us, humans can also be very good at hiding those emotions too, so it isn’t always possible to tell how […]
Can You Spot The Signs A Friend May Be Feeling Stressed? —
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