I purchased this book a few weeks ago, as I have been having some serious problems with intimacy due to my pain-riddled body. As it is such a taboo topic, I thought maybe a book would explain the situation more clearly, and perhaps give me some suggestions on how to …
Read More »Young Adult Cancer Patients Need a Break!
Did you know that every year almost 70,000 young adults between the ages of 15 and 40 are diagnosed with cancer? Did you also know that the survival rate for this age group has remained the same over the past three decades? Fortunately the Livestrong Young Adult Alliance is working …
Read More »It Worked For Mona Lisa
I had a doctor growing up who nicknamed me Mona Lisa. He said I hid behind my smile. I was a mystery to some doctors partly because if they asked how I felt, I would grin and respond with, “I’m fine.” He would say that he could see the wheels …
Read More »What was I thinking?
What was I thinking? I was supposed to post to The Fight Like A Girl Club over a week ago. As a power team writer, I write on topics related to the disease I fight, ankylosing spondylitis, and post once a month. Unfortunately I’m fighting AS which means that I …
Read More »Visitors Welcome! Well…It Depends.
During my journey with cancer, visitors who appeared at my bedside delivered an array of reactions–no two were the same. It taught me a lot about what to tell someone going through cancer and how to treat them. What I really didn’t want was to be treated differently because of …
Read More »Are you a Cancer Previvor?
A previvor by definition is a word used describe those who have a higher risk for cancer due to close family history or due to certain genetic mutations (like the BRCA1 or BRCA2), but do not have a cancer diagnosis. According the non-profit organization FORCE (Facing Our Risk of Cancer) …
Read More »Making Long Hospitalizations More Pleasant
Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of leukemia treatment is the long hospitalizations most patients must endure. This is because the chemotherapy given to most people with leukemia is very strong and wipes out much of their bone marrow, leaving just the stem cells behind. It takes several weeks …
Read More »When A Loved One Is Addicted
When someone you care about uses drugs—and this includes excessive alcohol use—it can wreak havoc in your relationship and in your life. After all, if you care about this person, you are enmeshed with him or her mentally and emotionally. You may be physically bonded through blood, marriage or living …
Read More »The Medication Situation
Many of us take medication to treat Fibromyalgia and ME/CFS, whether it be Lyrica, Cymbalta, Gabapentin, etc…in addition to our routines of light exercise and good diet. Some of us cannot tolerate these medications, due to MCS (multiple chemical sensitivities). Fibromyalgia almost instantly equals getting all of the strange and …
Read More »People Who Play Sick Online – How To Recognize Them
Munchausen by Internet is a term coined by psychiatry professor Dr. Marc Feldman to describe the online manifestation of the mental disorder called Munchausen Syndrome, i.e., people who fake their own illness. People with Munchausen by Internet join online social groups and pretend to be ill because they crave the …
Read More »