Out of the Box Solutions to YOUR Problems: A Starter Kit

B'SD

20 Tamuz, 5775

I've received feedback about yesterday's post, not all of it polite nor substantiated with facts. 

The controversy regarding the alleged safety of artificial sweeteners is a topic debated among medical professionals, let alone laymen. This US Library of Medicine/National Institutes of Health update provides some insight into the problem:   

Sugar substitutes: Health controversy over perceived benefits.

We need to think for ourselves, to research facts and to rank our priorities when it comes to making life-enhancing decisions. Allowing someone else to do the thinking for you can be problematic in many ways.

***

I'd like to move on to topic that can bring smiles to many faces and happiness in relevant hearts.

The EMPOWER Yourself book and this blog invite you to be creative in dealing with the issues of your medical or mental health. As I read this article, I knew it was something I'd like to share with you:

Mom Turns Her Son’s Hearing Aids Into Superheroes So He Would Feel Cool Wearing Them

Cochlear implants and other hearing aids can be difficult for children to wear because of the teasing or exclusion that they might suffer from their peers....

BOREDPANDA.COM

Want some inspiration to think out of the box, to independently find solutions to your medical and/or mental health issues?

Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. It's a starter kit, of sorts.





Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism.

Fill your mind with facts, fill your life with focused effort. 

Shop Online and Save Someone's Psyche - Yours, too!

B'SD

19 Tevet, 5774

Wintry weather has traveled the globe and I bet LOTS of people are happy to shop online. No need to slog through slush, ice, snow or biting winds. The digital experience can prevent colds, stress and maybe more.

If you're wondering what to give as presents to people in need of financial and emotional solutions to medical and mental health problems, follow the suggestions below.

There’s a reason that medical and mental health professionals recommend It’s MY Crisis! And I’ll Cry If I Need To: EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. Read how one of them saved his life with it on the back cover:

"I received EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge one week after I suffered my own medical crisis and found it very helpful. [It] will be of great benefit both in dealing with the fragile emotional health of sick patients and the stressful situation of the patient's caregiver… [with] very practical comprehensive information for dealing with a health-related crisis that is so seldom available to someone who is ill and preoccupied with their own troubles. Ill people are often compromised and often don't know where to look for guidance. Putting so much useful information at their fingertips will help them navigate the difficulties of a confusing medical system. Combined with [the author's] encouragement to never give up hope, the book will be of great aid to anyone with a sudden serious medical emergency." - Daniel Eisenberg, MD, Department of Radiology at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, PA; Assistant Professor of Diagnostic Imaging at Thomas Jefferson University School of Medicine; Medical Ethicist www.daneisenberg.com

World-renown psychiatrist Dr. A. Twerski chuckles gives http://booklocker.com/books/3067.html to patients on chemotherapy and to addicts in rehab. “They don’t call me much after that. “They feel better just reading the book!”

"She’s Jewish and I'm Christian, but the importance of the spirituality in It’s MY Crisis! was incredibly accurate.” Carl Phillips, ASTA Certified Hospital Consultant and Wesleyan lay minister http://booklocker.com/books/3067.html

"I read thru most of Yocheved Golani's book. Of course I found it almost personalized so I treat it as a resource guide. I will undoubtedly re-read after I get an overview but it is a great read and she is obviously quite a woman." - James Owen (Tzadok Osher) Herlands a'h

"The workbook is very good! We're glad we had you speak for our clients and supporters." Karen Traub, co-founder Jewish Caring Network http://booklocker.com/books/3067.html

"Yocheved Golani's guide issues a powerful 'can-do' message to those most in need of it... A person facing a serious medical threat needs to believe that… positivity and determination make a difference… Golani sets out a compelling argument for taking action: help yourself, get help from others, strategise, maximise whatever you've got. Do whatever needs to be done to get well and overcome your illness, even when you don't feel like it. It could save your life. It could save the life of your loved one… this combination of the can-positive attitude and the do-positive action lessons extend far beyond the medical sphere to life challenges whatever they may be. They are lessons we can't afford to ignore!" – Life Coach Y. Ives, England

"... Yocheved Golani has created a wonderful resource for those going through... life crises. Written with hopefulness, optimism... Yocheved’s book inspires and guides us to meet our own challenges with strength, determination, resilience, and faith." Shiela Strauss, Ph.D., NIH Public Health Researcher USA

"What an incredible wealth of information: spiritual, philosophical, psychological, medical, etc! The book is filled with sound ideas and sage advice. I recommend it to everyone!" – Rabbi Danny Myers, Menorat HaMaor in Ramat Bet Shemesh, Israel

Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge.  The publisher ships as soon as you place your order right here.

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism.

Find solutions simply and pleasantly. The book is filled with them.

   

Drug Recall Alert!

B'SD

16 Iyar 5772


My colleague Star Lawrence has an interesting FYI for anyone taking prescription or over-the counter medication at Uh-Oh RECALL!

When I studied pharmacology I asked one professor how many doctors can keep up with the MUSHROOMING lists of ever-new drugs on the market? He quietly admitted that most practitioners use their own formulary (a limited list or stock of medications) year after year, hardly ever adding or subtracting items. 

They have so much continuing education to do, patients to see, procedures to perform, travel between appointments, meetings to attend etc. Plus they need sleep, eating and recreation time. NOBODY can keep up with the worldwide pharmacopoeia (the collected listings of all known drugs) and all the reading material that goes with it. 


Yes, patients must educate themselves. See Drugs, Herbs and Supplements at MedLine Plus.
Be sure to see this brief description of Prescription of Drugs Not Listed in a Clinic's Pharmacopoeia for another 1000 or so, too. 


Always study the foldout that comes with your prescription. Life-saving information is supposed to be in there. Use it.

Want to know how to get past 
those rude, impatient, maybe clueless 
members of the medical profession 
whom Star mentioned in her blogpost?


Be sure to read the 

Three Easy-to-remember Things You 
Can Do to Preserve Your Health 

section about how to advocate for yourself 

despite rude or indifferent medical personnel, 
plus

Listen to the Person Before You 
- Lessons for Caregivers

 in

Buy EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge TODAY!


Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.

How to Stay Warm Despite the Deep Freeze Around the World: Here's How

B'SD





22 Tevet 5769

News updates about unusally cold condtions around the world are cause for concern.

Older people and ill people with lower levels of physical defenses and protections require more precautionary measures for staying warm and safe.

Everyone else would do well to follow the advice below (italics and illustrations mine), too:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH NIH News
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
For Immediate Release: Friday, January 16, 2009

HYPOTHERMIA: A COLD WEATHER RISK FOR OLDER PEOPLE

Almost everyone knows about winter dangers such as broken bones from falls on icy steps, sidewalks or streets. But cold weather also can cause an important, less obvious danger that can affect older people. Older adults are especially vulnerable to hypothermia, which can be deadly if not treated quickly. The National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has some advice to help older people avoid hypothermia.

Hypothermia occurs when a person's body temperature drops below normal and stays low for a prolonged period of time. With advancing age, the body's ability to endure long periods of exposure to cold is lowered.

Older people also are at risk for hypothermia because their body's response to cold can be diminished by certain illnesses such as diabetes and some medicines, including over-the-counter cold remedies. In addition, older adults may be less active and generate less body heat. As a result, they can develop hypothermia even after exposure to relatively mild cold weather or a small drop in temperature.

The best way to identify someone with hypothermia is to look for confusion or sleepiness, slowed or slurred speech, shivering or stiffness in the arms and legs, weak pulse or low blood pressure, poor control over body movements or slow reactions. If you suspect that someone is suffering from the cold and you have a thermometer available, take his or her temperature. If it's 96 degrees or lower, call 911 for emergency help.

The NIA has information to help you prevent hypothermia. Here are a few tips:

-- Wear several layers of loose clothing when it is cold. The layers will trap warm air between them. Tight clothing can keep blood from flowing freely and lead to loss of body heat.

-- Wear a hat, scarf, gloves or mittens, and warm clothes when you go outside in cold weather. A significant amount of your body heat can be lost through your head, and hands and feet are the first body parts to get cold.

-- To keep warm at home, wear long underwear under your clothes, along with socks and slippers. Use a blanket or afghan to keep legs and shoulders warm and wear a hat or cap indoors.

-- Make sure your home is warm enough. Set your thermostat to at least 68 to 70 degrees. Even mildly cool homes with temperatures from 60 to 65 degrees can trigger hypothermia in older people.

-- Check with your doctor to see if any medications (prescription or over the counter) you are taking may increase your risk for hypothermia.

Because heating costs are high, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has funds to help low-income families pay their heating bills. For more information, contact the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (1-866-674-6327) or the Eldercare Locator (1-800-677-1116).

The NIA has free information about hypothermia. To order the fact sheet, Hypothermia: A Cold Weather Hazard, or the brochure, Stay Safe in Cold Weather, call toll free 1-800-222-2225. Hipotermia: El Peligro de las Bajas Temperaturas is also available. These and other free publications on healthy aging can be downloaded from the NIA Web site

http://www.nia.nih.gov/.

The NIA leads the federal effort supporting and conducting research on aging and the medical, social and behavioral issues of older people. For more information on research and aging, go to .

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- The Nation's Medical Research Agency -- includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov/.

###

Click on this news report about how some people cope with the cold by using a sense of humor.

Here's one more tip from me: Bake, roast or cook warm foods to heat your body and kitchen but DO NOT use your oven to heat your home. The dangers of doing that (e.g., uncontrollable fire, carbon monoxide poisoning, scorched children) are severe.

Get LOTS MORE stay-healthy tips when you click on I WANT TO BUY YOCHEVED's BOOK!

To your good health,

Yojeved Golani
Coping with a Medical Crisis?
Make the Changes You Need in Your Life