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2024 was a rough year for us. However, I really can’t complain too much because some really good things happened, as well.
The best part of the year was adopting Torvi. She’s been such a radiant beam of sunshine in our lives and fits in perfectly with our weird little family. We love her so much!
While we weren’t able to have as many adventures as we would have liked with our camper van, just bringing it home was definitely a highlight of our year. Plus, we were still able to have some adventures with it, all of which were awesome.
On a similar note, all of the time Mike and I spent together (and with the kitties) is always a good thing, whether it’s hiking, biking, or just hanging out and playing a card game.
Another great highlight of the year was that I switched jobs! After 17 years in the same one, I was beyond burnt out and ready for a change. My new job is exactly what I was looking for and I’m extremely grateful for it.
The last good thing about this year was that after 7 months of terrible digestive issues, I finally received a diagnosis and am now recovering from a surgery to fix things. Having a chronic illness means dealing with a melodramatic body and despite taking care of myself, issues sometimes pop up as a complication of my illness. It’s a huge relief to be moving on from this!
Here’s to health and happiness for everyone in the coming year!
Two weeks until Christmas - time is going so fast.
As you know that start of 2016 was a sad time for us with the passing of my brother and Peter's Dad a few weeks later. It seems as though it will finish with more stress and worry. My daughter's partner is in hospital with a rare life threatening illness called idiopathic autoimmune hemolytic anemia. We don't know what triggered it, but his red blood cells are being destroyed and he is being sustained by blood transfusions as needed until they can work out what the best treatment will be. My daughter is trying to be strong when she is with him, but it is taking it's toll on her and their young daughter. Stay strong Craig - you can beat this.
I hope 2017 is a better year.
It was great :-)
From Wiki:
A gluten-free diet (GFD) is a diet that strictly excludes gluten, a mixture of proteins found in wheat and related grains, including barley, rye, oat, and all their species and hybrids (such as spelt, kamut, and triticale). The inclusion of oats in a gluten-free diet remains controversial, and may depend on the oat cultivar and the frequent cross-contamination with other gluten-containing cereals.
Coeliac disease, also spelled celiac disease, is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects the small intestine.Classic symptoms include gastrointestinal problems such as chronic diarrhoea, abdominal distention, malabsorption, loss of appetite and among children failure to grow normally. This often begins between six months and two years of age. Non-classic symptoms are more common, especially in people older than two years. There may be mild or absent gastrointestinal symptoms, a wide number of symptoms involving any part of the body or no obvious symptoms. Coeliac disease was first described in childhood; however, it may develop at any age. It is associated with other autoimmune diseases, such as diabetes mellitus type 1 and thyroiditis, among others.
Posted on: fixedandflowing.blogspot.com/ on Sep. 22, 2009.
Where: Solterreno, Vall de Laguar, Spain
When: July 1, 2009
(Title from the Tracy Chapman song "Say Hallelujah")
I heard from the doctor, and it turns out that it IS mono, as we originally thought, although I also have a particularly persistent Strep B infection. It is NOT some horrible viral or autoimmune awful after all, and I am SO relieved. I just have to get some (more) penicillin for the strep, and take it easy for another month or two, and everything is going to be FINE. Holy crap. I am so relieved I can't even stand it!
Casper died this morning from the result of an aggravation of his condition diagnosed as "autoimmune hemolytic anemia".
He was a companion and a friend to me and my family and we will miss him.
Edit: I will accept suitable group invitations but I ask you not to post any "award codes" please. Thank You.
I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that I had surgery last week and now I have a hole in my head. I am getting bone grafts and will be taking the next year to heal. The good news is that they suspect they removed the source of my autoimmune problems, migraines, loss of appetite and a long list of health problems. Time will tell.
Thank you for keeping your comments respectful to my models and appropriate for safe groups.
©2014-2017 Camile Eon Productions
All Rights Reserved
My daughter's two dogs playing yesterday. just a for fun shot. There is a miracle connected to this shot, 3 months ago the little one could barely move and had no life to him. Had some sort of autoimmune illness. Months of pills, shots and care has restored him to his normal pesky self.
My thanks to all of you who stop, look and comment. I will be sure to check out your photostream.
I've been having some interesting days lately. I think God throws them in to make sure you're not taking life for granted :)
I woke up one morning to find my eye really sore. It was red and too sore to open but too sore to be left shut. I went to a walk in clinic and the doctor there diagnosed me with iritis. Iritis is an eye disease commonly linked with autoimmune diseases, leukemia, lymphoma, and other malignancies and can also cause blindness. It's a scary thought...losing your sight. Especially being so keen on photography.
But God had other plans...because amazingly, as fast as my eye became infected...it became uninfected a few days later and aside from a slight pupil dilation for a few days it was back to normal.
Also...saw Dark Kight today...amazing. So dark and scary but so good! Go see it if you haven't
And on top of all that good, I also received a proposal of marriage! Go me. You can read it here.
*Thanks to EM for the link ;)
*Edit - I am not engaged. Follow the link
The St. Petersburg political prisoner Sasha has been in prison for a year soon. The court case has not yet been closed. The case is being delayed due to the lack of precedents for such cases. For spreading allegedly false information about the Russian armed forces, the girl faces up to 10 years in prison.
At the same time, Sasha suffers from a number of autoimmune diseases, which makes her stay in prison unbearable.
I apologize for being so far behind on my 52 weeks. Between some camera problems/computer, getting sick, and being out of town, I'm finally able to upload something for you.
This post is not only for the 52 weeks group, but it also serves as a cry for help. We are STILL stumped with Dakota's hair loss. Her body hair has returned to normal (more or less) however her nose continues to get worse.
To recap, we've ruled out mange, thyroid issues, autoimmune disorders, ringworm, and hormonal disorders. She has started to itch her nose just a little, however the appearance of the area has not changed (aside from expanding). Still no inflamation, blisters, or anything that would indicate some sort of trauma. Antibiotics did not work.
Please see below for additional pictures and information.
About 5 months ago I received a diagnosis that finally explained my symptoms. In a way it was a relief to hear the doctor's words, but more so it was a heavy realization that none of this would go away.
I was diagnosed with Hoshimoto's disease, a genetic autoimmune disease that attacks the thyroid. The thyroid gland, which is part the endocrine system, produces hormones that coordinate many of the body's activities.
Its unfortunate to accept that extreme exhaustion, anxiety, depression, immune attacks, nausea, and sickness are what both my present and future look like. My symptoms will maintain or get worse. Some days feel normal and easy but most take more effort than they used to.
Despite this, I do not want to look at my life through the lens of limitation. I may be cold and sleepy all the time, I may not be able to "handle" as much as other people, but I will still live this life that God gave me no matter my circumstance.
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11
Epstein-Barr Virus, commonly known as EBV, is a member of the herpesvirus family. It is one of the most common human viruses and affects millions of people worldwide. EBV is primarily known for causing infectious mononucleosis, often referred to as "mono" or the "kissing disease."Read more… shorturl.at/beZ8d
Benni got dropped off at 8:30 this morning with Lauren, business owner, coming out to get her with gloves and mask. Benni is a smart dog so didn't have a problem with Lauren's new look.
But, my heart broke when Lauren told me she has Lupus and just got diagnosed with another auto-immune disease so has to work alone to save her new business, which she bought last July.
She previously had reached the point of hiring 2 more groomers and a dog washer. Today she'll do just Benni and all by herself. When I asked for a picture she said, "sure" and then, "I'm smiling!"
Between the home remodel and my constant autoimmune problems it has been a long winter! I do love the early morning blue light in winter, shown here lighting up the dirty tire tracks in the snow.
Home sweet home for Harvey the border collie.
But what a rotten year he is having. You can see a shaved patch and stitches on his side from his recent biopsy. He's looking more than a little worse for wear due to illness. But he'll still take your leg off if he's in the mood to!
:>)
“I’m restless. Things are calling me away. My hair is being pulled by the stars again.” -Anaïs Nin
For the past year, I’ve dealt with a very demanding job while being a caregiver for my elderly parents. Our adventures, as a result, have been limited. To help with the stress, I asked for a demotion at work. While my boss didn’t want to lose me in my current position, I was very lucky that she was 100% supportive of me and helped me get the position I was asking for. It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made and now that I’ve been doing it for a while, I would never go back to my old job.
Just this one change has freed up a lot of time for me, allowing for us to start taking more adventures again. Lately, I find myself itching to take a longer adventure, something we haven’t been able to do for quite a while and, to be honest, I just haven’t had the energy for until recently. Stress + an autoimmune illness leaves me being more of a homebody, but I’m ready to take a long road trip again. I’m definitely restless for one!
Notebook from Top Flight, bandana from Bioworld.
“I want to be alone…with someone else who wants to be alone.” -Dimitri Zaik
After being without a van for almost 2 years, we’re very happy to have one again!
It’s much easier to keep hydrated & keep up on my health routine traveling this way. That means I feel much better overall & don’t risk flare-ups with my chronic illness as much.
We also don’t have exposure to cleaners & other chemicals lodgings use, which we both react to. Breathing easier is a huge bonus!
A van also lets us stop to rest when needed, regardless of where we are & the weather.
One of the biggest perks, though, is that we can stay in nature & solitude more. Decent lodgings are often in cities or have a lot of other people around. This is much more our cup of tea!
Wow, I didn't make a single post in 2016, and here's why.
It's been a long and horrible year in my life, the worst I have ever had. I have been struggling with a mysterious illness since last February, which basically involved swollen and painful joints, numbness and tingling as well as dizziness and fatigue. Things got worse and worse until about June when I had to stop working (I am a self employed gardener) and devote myself full time to my health problems. I have not received a definite diagnosis yet, but after seeing many GPs and a couple of rheumatologists they think it is an autoimmune condition called psoriatic arthritis.
To be honest, it's been a devastating time. Not only the illness but the loss of my work and I have only just been able to cope with getting through the day for long periods of time. The drugs they recommend for the condition suppress the immune system and are highly toxic and dangerous and were developed as chemotherapy drugs just after the second world war. Most of these drugs have serious side effects including frequent infections, increased cancer risk, bone marrow damage, mouth sores etc etc. Sounds tempting huh?
Needless to say, I have sought out natural therapies and after about six months I am finally back on my feet and about 80% recovered. Not. Fucking. Nice.
Anyway, as you can imagine photography has been put to one side while I get myself sorted out, but I have started taking little trips out again and managed a few images from my local beech woods a few days ago. Conditions weren't great so I tried a bit of intentional camera movement to bring some life to the images. Pretty pleased with the results. Bring on 2017 :)
Brisbanes Story Bridge at Blue Hour. Taken on 8/6/2010, it was lit with teal to support International Myasthenia Gravis Awareness Month. Myasthenia Gravis (MG) is an autoimmune neuromuscular disorder that affects voluntary muscles Approximately 10-15 out of 100,000 individuals in Australia have been diagnosed with MG. However, MG is considered under-diagnosed and the prevalence is thought to be much higher. Myasthenia Gravis is considered a Rare Disease.
Some people are purposefully stung or injected with honey bee venom! This procedure is called Apitherapy. Honey bee venom is reported to relieve and sometimes cure symptoms of autoimmune diseases such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, and arthritis. The American Apitherapy Society states that bee venom is also beneficial for a variety of other problems including eczema, psoriasis, warts, laryngitis, emphysema, asthma, and glaucoma! For more information, visit the American Apitherapy Society at www.apitherapy.org.
MALLORY LIVES! A happy picture taken July 2nd. Little did I know that 2 weeks later our cocker spaniel Mallory would be fighting for her life. On July 15th as if a switch had been flipped she began bleeding externally and internally. She was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder that threatened to kill her from the inside out. Her own immune system was eliminating her blood platelets faster than her bone marrow produced them. Without platelets blood has very diminished capability to clot. After some extraordinary treatment for a week in the veterinary hospital she has come home well and is almost her usual self! MAY THE LITTLE MIRACLE CONTINUE!
While I consider myself outdoorsy and would love to go backpacking, sleeping in tents under the stars, that’s just not in the cards for my outdoor time.
I have a chronic illness, and roughing it can unfortunately cause flare ups for me. As hard as it was, I’ve learned to respect my limits and having a van will help me to travel comfortably while giving me peace of mind.
If I do have a flare up while traveling, I now have a comfortable place to rest no matter where we are along with a bathroom for those times I become ill. I’ve learned to manage my illness quite well and those incidences have become fewer, but no matter how well you travel, it’s always a bit stressful and stress is one of my biggest triggers.
I’m extremely grateful (and, I recognize, privileged), to have this van. While it’s just a thing, it’s something that gives me freedom to satisfy my wanderlust, have new adventures, and create memories with Mike.
Unrelated note- our old van had an outdoor shower, but it was stored inside the back door & was a pain to get out. We never used it because of that. This van has it on the driver’s side (the panel next to the door) and it’ll come in handy when we need to clean off dirty things. It’s much better quality and a breeze to get out. Quite nice!
I joke about many things but not illness. I have been ill for 20 yrs following a bout of Hepatits where I was bed ridden for 4 yrs, I was totally let down by the medical profession and deja vu has struck again. My wife following Pneumonia has had ME for nearly 12 yrs, she has been bed ridden for 2 yrs and 8mth. In Oct 2012 it was decided that she had to be admitted to hospital else she would die. 8mths on we are still waiting. This month is ME Awareness and I do all I can to raise it.
In the galley, there is a large sink, microwave, and induction stovetop. We especially love that it has the stovetop because this will give us more options for eating healthy and we can now cook no no matter the weather (we only had an outdoor cookbook with the old van). There is also a fridge that’s a bit larger than our old van as well as a water heater, which is something we didn’t have in our old van. Having hot water will be very welcome! Besides being able to take showers, it’ll make washing dishes easier and help us keep clean overall.
The door to the right is the wet bath. Not having a bathroom in our old van usually wasn’t a problem, but there were a few times when we really could have used it. It’ll help during emergencies and will also allow us to boondock longer while staying cleaner. Body wipes can only cut it for so long! We have a larger water tank than we did before, too, which is a welcome upgrade.
This van also has a heater and air conditioner, two more things our old van didn’t have. Due to my chronic illness, my body doesn’t regulate extreme cold or heat well. Having temperature control will help tremendously and give us more options for where we visit since we won’t be as dependent on the weather. In the past, we’ve had to cut a few vacations short and head home because of it being too hot for me to tolerate while having no way to cool off.
The couch in the back has ottomans and reclines, so we can get very comfy. It also turns into a comfortable queen bed. We both need this and as we get older, that need will only increase, especially after driving a lot or being active. Good sleep and rest can make a huge difference in how anyone feels.
A huge upgrade with this van is the power system. We now have propane, the batteries are larger, the roof has solar panels, and there is a built-in generator. We can be off grid for a long time before running out of power! Update- we have found that the solar makes a really nice difference in how long the power lasts!
We’re also loving having more headroom and a hard top. While we enjoyed having the pop top of our old van, we much prefer this. Mike doesn’t have to duck down, the hard top makes things quieter (having the pop top up was basically like sleeping in a tent), it’s something that’s not dependent on the weather, and we don’t have to worry about it breaking. Another bonus of the hard top is that the awning will cover the entire side of the van when it’s really hot (the sun came in with the pop top up and roasted us at times).
We’re thrilled to have this van to adventure with!
There is a superhighway between the brain and GI system that holds great sway over humans
"There is a muscle that encircles the gut like a lasso when we are sitting… creating a kink in the tube," Giulia Enders explains in Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ. She calls the mechanism "an extra insurance policy, in addition to our old friends, the sphincters" (you have two sphincters – keep reading) and cites studies showing that squatters, with their unkinked guts, are less susceptible to haemorrhoids and constipation.Enders, a 25-year-old student at the Institute for Microbiology in Frankfurt, inside an underground public lavatory in central London. "Is there a toilet in this toilet?" she asks when she arrives. There is not, a barista tells her. The Victorian urinals, abandoned in the 1960s, have been converted into cafe with booths and stools, and no room for anything else.After a dash to a pub loo above ground, Enders talks with infectious energy about the wonder of the gut. She has been delighted to discover how many people share her fascination with a subject that can suffer for being taboo. "Even today in the taxi, I told the driver what I was doing and within about two minutes he was telling me about his constipation," she says in perfect English, which she owes to a year of study in the US. "And it's not just him. It's ladies with chic hair at big gala dinners, too. Everyone wants to talk about it."Enders first got noticed after a self-assured turn at a science slam in Berlin three years ago. Her 10-minute lecture went viral on YouTube, and now, weeks after completing her final exams as a doctoral student, she is a publishing sensation. Her book, called Darm Mit Charme ("Charming Bowels") in Germany, has sold more than 1.3 million copies since it came out last year. Rights have been sold to dozens of countries.
Her way into the gut is a lightness that some reviewers have found too childish or lacking in scientific rigour to be taken seriously. But there is something compelling and refreshing about her curiosity and popular approach. "When I read the research, I think, why don't people know about this – why am I reading about it in some paper or specialist magazine? It's ridiculous because everyone has to deal with it on a daily basis." After she explains the inspiration for her fixation (the suicide of an acquaintance who had had severe halitosis, and her own teenage skin condition, which turned out to have been caused by a wheat intolerance) Enders starts at the end of the digestive tract with what she calls the "masterly performance" that is defecation. "There is so much about the anus that we don't know," she says, reaching for a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie. "The first surprise is the sophistication of our sphincters… you know about the outer one because you can control it, but the inner one nobody knows about."
This inner opening is beyond our conscious control, releasing waste material into a sort of anal vestibule where, in Enders words, "a small taster" hits sensor cells that tell the body what it's dealing with and how to respond using the outer sphincter. This opening, and our mouths, are the recognisable and controllable ends of a system that, stretched out, would be almost as long as a bus. But it's the bits in between, and their link with the rest of our bodies, including our brains and emotions, that really interest Enders.
"Medical diagrams show the small intestine as a sausage thing chaotically going through our belly," she says. "But it is an extraordinary work of architecture that moves so harmonically when you see it during surgery. It's clean and smooth, like soft fabric, and moves like this." She performs a wavy, pulsating motion with her hands. Enders believes that if we could think differently about the gut, we might more readily understand its role beyond basic digestion – and be kinder to it. The great extent to which the gut can influence health and mood is a growing field in medicine. We speak of it all the time, whether we describe "gut feelings", "butterflies in our stomachs", or "pooing our pants" in fear, but popular understanding of this gut-brain axis remains low.
A primal connection exists between our brain and our gut. We often talk about a “gut feeling” when we meet someone for the first time. We’re told to “trust our gut instinct” when making a difficult decision or that it’s “gut check time” when faced with a situation that tests our nerve and determination. This mind-gut connection is not just metaphorical. Our brain and gut are connected by an extensive network of neurons and a highway of chemicals and hormones that constantly provide feedback about how hungry we are, whether or not we’re experiencing stress, or if we’ve ingested a disease-causing microbe. This information superhighway is called the brain-gut axis and it provides constant updates on the state of affairs at your two ends. That sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach after looking at your postholiday credit card bill is a vivid example of the brain-gut connection at work. You’re stressed and your gut knows it—immediately.
The enteric nervous system is often referred to as our body’s second brain. There are hundreds of million of neurons connecting the brain to the enteric nervous system, the part of the nervous system that is tasked with controlling the gastrointestinal system. This vast web of connections monitors the entire digestive tract from the esophagus to the anus. The enteric nervous system is so extensive that it can operate as an independent entity without input from our central nervous system, although they are in regular communication. While our “second” brain cannot compose a symphony or paint a masterpiece the way the brain in our skull can, it does perform an important role in managing the workings of our inner tube. The network of neurons in the gut is as plentiful and complex as the network of neurons in our spinal cord, which may seem overly complex just to keep track of digestion. Why is our gut the only organ in our body that needs its own “brain”? Is it just to manage the process of digestion? Or could it be that one job of our second brain is to listen in on the trillions of microbes residing in the gut?
Operations of the enteric nervous system are overseen by the brain and central nervous system. The central nervous system is in communication with the gut via the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system, the involuntary arm of the nervous system that controls heart rate, breathing, and digestion. The autonomic nervous system is tasked with the job of regulating the speed at which food transits through the gut, the secretion of acid in our stomach, and the production of mucus on the intestinal lining. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, or HPA axis, is another mechanism by which the brain can communicate with the gut to help control digestion through the action of hormones.
This circuitry of neurons, hormones, and chemical neurotransmitters not only sends messages to the brain about the status of our gut, it allows for the brain to directly impact the gut environment. The rate at which food is being moved and how much mucus is lining the gut—both of which can be controlled by the central nervous system—have a direct impact on the environmental conditions the microbiota experiences.
Like any ecosystem inhabited by competing species, the environment within the gut dictates which inhabitants thrive. Just as creatures adapted to a moist rain forest would struggle in the desert, microbes relying on the mucus layer will struggle in a gut where mucus is exceedingly sparse and thin. Bulk up the mucus, and the mucus-adapted microbes can stage a comeback. The nervous system, through its ability to affect gut transit time and mucus secretion, can help dictate which microbes inhabit the gut. In this case, even if the decisions are not conscious, it’s mind over microbes.
What about the microbial side? When the microbiota adjusts to a change in diet or to a stress-induced decrease in gut transit time, is the brain made aware of this modification? Does the brain-gut axis run in one direction only, with all signals going from brain to gut, or are some signals going the other way? Is that voice in your head that is asking for a snack coming from your mind or is it emanating from the insatiable masses in your bowels? Recent evidence indicates that not only is our brain “aware” of our gut microbes, but these bacteria can influence our perception of the world and alter our behavior. It is becoming clear that the influence of our microbiota reaches far beyond the gut to affect an aspect of our biology few would have predicted—our mind.
For example, the gut microbiota influences the body’s level of the potent neurotransmitter serotonin, which regulates feelings of happiness. Some of the most prescribed drugs in the U.S. for treating anxiety and depression, like Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil, work by modulating levels of serotonin. And serotonin is likely just one of a numerous biochemical messengers dictating our mood and behavior that the microbiota impacts.
Most of us can relate to the experience of having butterflies in our stomach, or to a visceral gut-wrenching feeling, and how often are we told not to ignore our “gut-instinct” or “gut-feeling” when making a decision.
Even from our simple slang, it’s clear just how symbolically connected the gut is to our emotions. Now, there’s tangible proof to support these popular metaphors.
We all have a microbiome, and they are as unique as our neural pathways
Research has shown that the body is actually composed of more bacteria than cells. We are more bug than human! Collectively, these trillions of bacteria are called the microbiome. Most of those bacteria reside in our gut, sometimes referred to as the gut microbiota, and they play multiple roles in our overall health.
The gut is no longer seen as an entity with the sole purpose of helping with all aspects of digestion. It’s also being considered as a key player in regulating inflammation and immunity.
A healthy gut consists of different iterations of bacteria for different people, and this diversity maintains wellness. A shift away from “normal” gut microbiota diversity is called dysbiosis, and dysbiosis may contribute to disease. In light of this, the microbiome has become the focus of much research attention as a new way of understanding autoimmune, gastrointestinal, and even brain disorders.
The benefit of a healthy gut is illustrated most effectively during early development. Research has indicated just how sensitive a fetus is to any changes in a mother’s microbiotic makeup, so much so that it can alter the way a baby’s brain develops. If a baby is born via cesarean section, it misses an opportunity to ingest the mother’s bacteria as it travels down the vaginal canal. Studies show that those born via c-section have to work to regain the same diversity in their microbiome as those born vaginally. Throughout our lives, our microbiome continues to be a vulnerable entity, and as we are exposed to stress, toxins, chemicals, certain diets, and even exercise, our microbiome fluctuates for better or worse.
The gut as second brain
Our gut microbiota play a vital role in our physical and psychological health via its own neural network: the enteric nervous system (ENS), a complex system of about 100 million nerves found in the lining of the gut.
The ENS is sometimes called the “second brain,” and it actually arises from the same tissues as our central nervous system (CNS) during fetal development. Therefore, it has many structural and chemical parallels to the brain.
Our ENS doesn’t wax philosophical or make executive decisions like the gray shiny mound in our skulls. Yet, in a miraculously orchestrated symphony of hormones, neurotransmitters, and electrical impulses through a pathway of nerves, both “brains” communicate back and forth. These pathways include and involve endocrine, immune, and neural pathways.
At this point in time, even though the research is inchoate and complex, it is clear that the brain and gut are so intimately connected that it sometimes seems like one system, not two.
Our emotions play a big role in functional gastrointestinal disorders
Given how closely the gut and brain interact, it has become clear that emotional and psychosocial factors can trigger symptoms in the gut. This is especially true in cases when the gut is acting up and there’s no obvious physical cause.
The functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) are a group of more than 20 chronic and hard to treat medical conditions of the gastrointestinal tract that constitute a large proportion of the presenting problems seen in clinical gastroenterology.
While FGID’s were once thought to be partly “in one’s head,” a more precise conceptualization of these difficulties posits that psychosocial factors influence the actual physiology of the gut, as well as the modulation of symptoms. In other words, psychological factors can literally impact upon physical factors, like the movement and contractions of the GI tract, causing, inflammation, pain, and other bowel symptoms.
Mental health impacts gut wellness
In light of this new understanding, it might be impossible to heal FGID’s without considering the impact of stress and emotion. Studies have shown that patients who tried psychologically based approaches had greater improvement in their symptoms compared with patients who received conventional medical treatment.
Along those lines, a new pilot study from Harvard University affiliates Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center found that meditation could have a significant impact for those with irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. Forty-eight patients with either IBS or IBD took a 9-week session that included meditation training, and the results showed reduced pain, improved symptoms, stress reduction, and the change in expression of genes that contribute to inflammation.
Poor gut health can lead to neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders
Vice-versa, poor gut health has been implicated in neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. Disturbances in gut health have been linked to multiple sclerosis, autistic spectrum disorders, and Parkinson’s disease. This is potentially related to pro-inflammatory states elicited by gut dysbiosis-microbial imbalance on or inside the body. Additional connections between age-related gut changes and Alzheimer’s disease have also been made.
Further, there is now research that is dubbing depression as an inflammatory disorder mediated by poor gut health. In fact, multiple animal studies have shown that manipulating the gut microbiota in some way can produce behaviors related to anxiety and depression. (Maes, Kubera, Leunis, Berk, J. Affective Disorders, 2012 and Berk, Williams, Jacka, BMC Med, 2013).
Our brain’s health, which will be discussed in more depth in a later blog post, is dependent on many lifestyle choices that mediate gut health; including most notably diet (i.e., reduction of excess sugar and refined carbohydrates) and pre and probiotic intake.
The brain-gut connection has treatment implications
We are now faced with the possibility of both prevention and treatment of neurological/neuropsychiatric difficulties via proper gut health. On the flip side, stress-reduction and other psychological treatments can help prevent and treat gastrointestinal disorders. This discovery can potentially lead to reduced morbidity, impairment, and chronic dependency on health care resources.
The most empowering aspect to the gut-brain connection is the understanding that many of our daily lifestyle choices play a role in mediating our overall wellness. This whole-body approach to healthcare and wellness continues to show its value in our longevity, well-being, and quality of life: that both physical and mental health go hand-in-hand.
sarahallegra.comThis photo is another part of my Enchanted Sleep series, on living with myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME, more commonly known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or CFS, in the US. The fact that the US calls it CFS instead of ME as the rest of the world does is a big problem, though it might seem trivial at first.
The name Chronic Fatigue Syndrome came about in the mid 1980s to create an insurance loophole so patients could be denied coverage. The disease ME has been around forever, under a wide variety of names, but it is rarely given a new one purely to hamper giving aid to those who have it. There are numerous articles all over the web about it, but I especially like the ones at Name Us and The Hummingbird Foundation.
The name Chronic Fatigue Syndrome sucks. Fatigue is a symptom, not the illness itself. Not only is it very unhelpful in actually describing the disease, it's patronizing and trivializing. Because the definition of CFS is so broad, almost any chronic illness (and many mental illnesses) can be made to fit within them. This has greatly contributed to the widespread belief that people who claim to have CFS aren't really sick, that, at best, they're suffering from clinical depression.
Depression is an evil bitch too, and I have experienced both, but it is not the same thing as ME. Here's a simplified example of one of the many differences between depression and actual ME: when you're depressed, things that once brought you joy no longer do, and you feel unmotivated and apathetic about everything. When you have ME, you long to be able to do the things that once brought you joy, but your body will not let you. Many times, having ME will bring on clinical depression, but the depression is a symptom of the disease, it is not the disease itself.
There is a big movement to officially change the US's name from CFS to ME, bringing us up to speed with the rest of the world. Obviously, I am very much in favor of this. Even places where the disease is called ME and the medical community agrees it's a real, physical illness, it's hard to get taken seriously, by the public or medical community. There is still a lot of ground to cover before we get the recognition we need.
This photo is about the lack of attention and care we with ME have had, and the horrible effects of what merely changing a name can do to a whole group of people. The girls are shown discarded, piled like trash... the medical community doesn't like problems it can't fix and seems like it would much rather we suffer in silence than attempt to get whatever help we can. Since the research is pointing more and more to ME being a neurologic disease, specifically of the central nervous system, I wanted to highlight the spines and necks, and the added feeling of fragility it added was a bonus.
It's really ridiculous that we have to not only fight our bodies every day but all the ignorance, misinformation and prejudice. However, I am quite excited to introduce you to the documentary about ME, Canary In A Coal Mine! Not only is the film going to blow you away, I am also going to be partnering with them in some cool ways which I will share when the time comes :) For now, I'll leave you with an excerpt from their site:
"How would you begin to nourish your body if every food you ate, every object you touched had the capacity to cripple or heal you? How would you fill your life, and what would you toss aside, if you only had three hours a day to live it? What worlds would unfold before your eyes if everything you knew suddenly came to a grinding halt?
Canary in a Coal Mine is about how Myalgic Encephalomyelitis ("Chronic Fatigue Syndrome") may be an indicator of the human costs of our changed environment; a medical system that is ill-equipped to treat an illness that challenges its every assumption; and the power of a name."
I've already ranted enough for one day, so I'll finish up. For anyone wondering, fibromyalgia does seem to essentially be the same thing as ME, although there are disagreements about this. Lastly, wish me luck tomorrow as I get my next round of nerve-blocking injections to dull the constant pain I feel. It usually puts me out for a little over a week, but hey, maybe I can catch up on a lot of editing :)
Models: myself and Aly Darling.
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This is a hairless chimp named Cinder at the St. Louis Zoo. According to the Zoo's website, Cinder was diagnosed with alopecia areata, which “is a highly unpredictable, autoimmune skin disease resulting in the loss of hair on the scalp and elsewhere on the body." Despite this, she seems to get along well with the other chimps and lives a normal zoo life.
Best viewed on black here: 'Naked Ape' On Black
A VERY SAD NOTE REPORTED BY THE ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2009:
Cinder the Chimp dies at St. Louis Zoo
By Diane Toroian Keaggy
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Tuesday, Feb. 17 2009
Cinder, a 14-year chimpanzee at the St. Louis Zoo, died unexpectedly Sunday at the St. Louis Zoo.
Early results from a necropsy show no obvious cause of death. Further laboratory tests are being conducted on tissue samples, blood samples and bacterial cultures. Results are expected in three to four weeks.
"Her death is a huge shock to all of us who took care of and watched her grow up," said Curator of Primates Ingrid Porton.
Cinder was best known for her largely hairless coat. She had the autoimmune disease Alopecia universalis, which occurs in about two percent of the human population.
"Cinder’s unusual appearance never affected her relationships with the other chimps. Many people remarked that humans could learn a lesson from our group," said Porton.
Cinder was getting over a cold that had spread to seven of the Zoo’s 11 chimpanzees. When keepers greeted her Sunday morning, she had regained her appetite and no longer suffered from a runny nose or cough. Later that
afternoon, however, Cinder collapsed and did not respond to resuscitation attempts or emergency drugs.
The best way to view my photostream is on Flickriver: Nikon66's photos on Flickriver
Relapsing Polychondritis (RP) is an extremely rare autoimmune disease that attacks and destroys the cartilage and cartilage proteins in the body. The most common areas are the ears, nose and trachea. In this picture my ears, nose, eyes and trachea are involved. Notice how my nose is so swollen it is being twisted. At this point I had pretty significant hearing and sight loss and I had no voice. Not the best day.
Why does this always happen when Sam isn't around?? Heavy rain on its way soon!!! Sorry I haven't been around....my Penny has been very ill...they did blood testing and she has an autoimmune disorder that that causes the body to destroy red blood cells. She is very anemic. 😭 She's on prednisone but I'm not sure what the outcome will be on a 11 year old dog. We've had her that long! I've never heard of a dog having an autoimmune disease....I've had one myself that still messes me up.
Kodiak, my brown and white 1.5 year old Border Collie is having some health problems. In mid-February I noticed that his nose as starting to turn pink (it has been brown and healthy his entire life up until a few months ago). By the time March was ushered in, his nose was completely pink and had small sores that bled and blistered on and off.
The skin around Kodiak's eyes and in his ears also turned bright pink and took on the texture of elephant skin (rough and scaly). I experimented with altering his toys, diet, tooth brush (yes, I brush his teeth every day), and anything else he comes into contact with but his condition persisted.
After taking all the steps I could to ensure it was not cause by his environment I took him into the vet. I majored in animal (wildlife) science so I'm not completely clueless as to what causes symptoms like his. I had a feeling he was suffering from an autoimmune disorder; the vet agreed with me. Kodiak was scheduled for skin biopsies that very morning.
Kodiak had skin samples removed from the inside of his ear, the outside corner of his eye, and two places on his nose. He has sutures in all the aforementioned locations.
In this image you can see the two sutured locations on his bleeding nose. This photo was taken directly after he got home from his biopsy procedure.
Photographs are © Copyright Galactic Dreams (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on blogs, websites, or in other media without advance written permission from Galactic Dreams.
(purple for lupus awareness)
What is lupus?
Lupus is a systemic autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks the body's healthy tissue. There are many kinds of lupus, but the most common and severe type is systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), which affects many internal organs in the body. SLE most often harms the heart, joints, skin, lungs, blood vessels, liver, kidneys, and nervous system. The course of the disease is unpredictable, with periods of illness (called flare-ups) alternating with remissions.
The causes are believed to be environmental, hormonal, or genetic. There is no cure for SLE. It is mainly treated with medicines that suppress the immune system with the aim of keeping symptoms under control. SLE can be fatal, but life expectancy has improved over the decades. Over 90% now survive for more than ten years, many live relatively asymptomatically, and 80-90% can expect to live a normal lifespan.
more information on the link below
beta.nhs.uk/conditions/lupus/
Flying commercial airlines is always problematic for me. With my autoimmune illness I tend to catch every airborne virus on the plane and I bring them all home for my wacky immune system to masturbate to for a few months.
I'm still waiting for my private jet to come and whisk me away from all this. Apparently, private jets are currently outside the range of my household budget.
A self-portrait.
Dried wheat kernels from Sweden. These are about 38 years old! Believe it or not, when I lived on a farm in Sweden I sometimes helped with the harvesting of the wheat by driving a tractor....oh those were days long ago...
INFORMATION ON WHEAT:
Wheat (Triticum spp.), is a worldwide cultivated grass from the Levant region of the Middle East. Globally, after maize, wheat is the second most-produced food among the cereal crops just above rice. Wheat grain is a staple food used to make flour for leavened, flat and steamed breads; cookies, cakes, breakfast cereal, pasta, juice, noodles and couscous; and for fermentation to make beer, alcohol, vodka or biofuel. Wheat is planted to a limited extent as a forage crop for livestock, and the straw can be used as fodder for livestock or as a construction material for roofing thatch. Although wheat supplies much of the world's dietary protein and food supply, as many as one in every 100 to 200 people has Coeliac disease, a condition which results from an immune system response to a protein found in wheat: gluten (based on figures for the United States).
Wheat originated in Southwest Asia in the area known as the Fertile crescent. The genetic relationships between wild and domesticated populations of both einkorn and emmer wheat indicate that the most likely site of domestication is near Diyarbakır in Turkey.
Wild wheats were domesticated as part of the origins of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent. Cultivation and repeated harvesting and sowing of the grains of wild grasses led to the domestication of wheat through selection of mutant forms with tough ears that remained intact during harvesting, larger grains, and a tendency for the spikelets to stay on the stalk until harvested. Because of the loss of seed dispersal mechanisms, domesticated wheats have limited capacity to propagate in the wild.
The exact timing of the first appearance of domesticated wheats is currently uncertain, but is either in the PPNA period (9800-8800 cal BC) or the early-mid PPNB (8800-7500 cal BC). Domesticated einkorn and emmer wheat has been identified at three PPNA sites in the northern Levant, Iraq ed-Dubb, Jericho and Tell Aswad, but both the dating and the domesticated status of these cereals is disputed. Domesticated wheats (and other Neolithic founder crops) are unambiguously present at early-mid PPNB sites in the northern Levant, such as Ain Ghazal, Abu Hureyra and Tell Aswad, and in southeast Turkey at Cafer Höyük and Çayönü. As a round figure, it is correct to say that wheats have been domesticated for about 10,000 years.
The cultivation of wheat began to spread beyond the Fertile Crescent during the Neolithic period, reaching the Aegean by 8500 cal BC and the Indian subcontinent by 6000 cal BC. By 5,000 years ago, wheat had reached Ethiopia, Great Britain, Ireland and Spain. A millennium later it reached China. Claims have been made for independent domestication of wheat outside the fertile crescent, but these lack evidence of the presence of wild wheats or of early domesticated wheat.
Three thousand years ago wheat was grown in the southern Oregon peninsula. Agricultural cultivation with horse-drawn plows increased cereal grain production, as did the use of seed drills to replace broadcast sowing in the 18th century. Yields of wheat continued to increase, as new land came under cultivation and with improved agricultural husbandry involving the use of fertilizers, threshing machines and reaping machines, tractor-drawn cultivators and planters, and varieties adapted to intensive cultivation (see green revolution and Norin 10 wheat).
Raw wheat can be powdered into flour; germinated and dried creating malt; crushed and into cracked wheat; parboiled (or steamed), dried, crushed and de-branned into bulgur; or processed into semolina, pasta, or roux. Wheat is a major ingredient in such foods as bread, porridge, crackers, biscuits, Muesli, pancakes, pies, pastries, cakes & cupcakes, cookies, muffins, rolls, doughnuts, gravy, boza (a fermented beverage), and breakfast cereals (e.g. Wheatena, Cream of Wheat, Shredded Wheat, and Wheaties).
100 grams of hard red winter wheat contain about 12.6 grams of protein, 1.5 grams of total fat, 71 grams of carbohydrate (by difference), 12.2 grams of dietary fiber, and 3.2 mg of iron (17% of the daily requirement); the same weight of hard red spring wheat contains about 15.4 grams of protein, 1.9 grams of total fat, 68 grams of carbohydrate (by difference), 12.2 grams of dietary fiber, and 3.6 mg of iron (20% of the daily requirement). Gluten, a protein found in wheat (and other Triticeae), cannot be tolerated by people with celiac disease (an autoimmune disorder in ~1% of Indo-European populations).
Source: Wikipedia
isn't always your best friend. Since early June I've spent the brightest part of each day either inside or under the shade of an umbrella with a bandage over my nose. It's overwhelming in many ways because first of all it gets in the line of vision and that's unacceptable to me since I do have vision issues from an autoimmune disease that attacks the thyroid and thus, the eyes.
Of course following the surgeons orders was easy. Keep it covered, no exposure to sunlight until it heals. Sure that's easy... so I wear a bandage for most of 6 weeks. Now that's depressing. The fact I had two different types of skin cancer surgically removed and a precancerous patch of skin along with it wasn't that depressing. Been there/Done that before but not to this extent. If you have never watched Cat Ballou you must do that because I compared myself to the gunslinger who rode the horse that made the movie well known. If you haven't seen the movie you'll never know quite how depressing this has all been.
Now I'm hunting my cameras... That was a long time to go cameraless.
For the main photo of my new blog. sickandpretty.net
I've been a published writer on and off for a few years - and had a blog or two in my time. This one is a little project I've been working on for awhile in my head, as a woman dealing with serious chronic illness - I have two autoimmune illnesses, as well as Bipolar I.
Keeping myself looking vaguely human for these photos as well as life in general is daunting task, I can assure you, particularly now that I'm not as young as I used to be! I've only just written the first post, but there is more to come soon. I'll be putting up my gallery there, too. Of course I'll still be here as well. But I'll be writing there!
Dried wheat kernels from Sweden. These are about 38 years old! Believe it or not, when I lived on a farm in Sweden I sometimes helped with the harvesting of the wheat by driving a tractor....oh those were days long ago...
INFORMATION ON WHEAT:
Wheat (Triticum spp.), is a worldwide cultivated grass from the Levant region of the Middle East. Globally, after maize, wheat is the second most-produced food among the cereal crops just above rice. Wheat grain is a staple food used to make flour for leavened, flat and steamed breads; cookies, cakes, breakfast cereal, pasta, juice, noodles and couscous; and for fermentation to make beer, alcohol, vodka or biofuel. Wheat is planted to a limited extent as a forage crop for livestock, and the straw can be used as fodder for livestock or as a construction material for roofing thatch. Although wheat supplies much of the world's dietary protein and food supply, as many as one in every 100 to 200 people has Coeliac disease, a condition which results from an immune system response to a protein found in wheat: gluten (based on figures for the United States).
Wheat originated in Southwest Asia in the area known as the Fertile crescent. The genetic relationships between wild and domesticated populations of both einkorn and emmer wheat indicate that the most likely site of domestication is near Diyarbakır in Turkey.
Wild wheats were domesticated as part of the origins of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent. Cultivation and repeated harvesting and sowing of the grains of wild grasses led to the domestication of wheat through selection of mutant forms with tough ears that remained intact during harvesting, larger grains, and a tendency for the spikelets to stay on the stalk until harvested. Because of the loss of seed dispersal mechanisms, domesticated wheats have limited capacity to propagate in the wild.
The exact timing of the first appearance of domesticated wheats is currently uncertain, but is either in the PPNA period (9800-8800 cal BC) or the early-mid PPNB (8800-7500 cal BC). Domesticated einkorn and emmer wheat has been identified at three PPNA sites in the northern Levant, Iraq ed-Dubb, Jericho and Tell Aswad, but both the dating and the domesticated status of these cereals is disputed. Domesticated wheats (and other Neolithic founder crops) are unambiguously present at early-mid PPNB sites in the northern Levant, such as Ain Ghazal, Abu Hureyra and Tell Aswad, and in southeast Turkey at Cafer Höyük and Çayönü. As a round figure, it is correct to say that wheats have been domesticated for about 10,000 years.
The cultivation of wheat began to spread beyond the Fertile Crescent during the Neolithic period, reaching the Aegean by 8500 cal BC and the Indian subcontinent by 6000 cal BC. By 5,000 years ago, wheat had reached Ethiopia, Great Britain, Ireland and Spain. A millennium later it reached China. Claims have been made for independent domestication of wheat outside the fertile crescent, but these lack evidence of the presence of wild wheats or of early domesticated wheat.
Three thousand years ago wheat was grown in the southern Oregon peninsula. Agricultural cultivation with horse-drawn plows increased cereal grain production, as did the use of seed drills to replace broadcast sowing in the 18th century. Yields of wheat continued to increase, as new land came under cultivation and with improved agricultural husbandry involving the use of fertilizers, threshing machines and reaping machines, tractor-drawn cultivators and planters, and varieties adapted to intensive cultivation (see green revolution and Norin 10 wheat).
Raw wheat can be powdered into flour; germinated and dried creating malt; crushed and into cracked wheat; parboiled (or steamed), dried, crushed and de-branned into bulgur; or processed into semolina, pasta, or roux. Wheat is a major ingredient in such foods as bread, porridge, crackers, biscuits, Muesli, pancakes, pies, pastries, cakes & cupcakes, cookies, muffins, rolls, doughnuts, gravy, boza (a fermented beverage), and breakfast cereals (e.g. Wheatena, Cream of Wheat, Shredded Wheat, and Wheaties).
100 grams of hard red winter wheat contain about 12.6 grams of protein, 1.5 grams of total fat, 71 grams of carbohydrate (by difference), 12.2 grams of dietary fiber, and 3.2 mg of iron (17% of the daily requirement); the same weight of hard red spring wheat contains about 15.4 grams of protein, 1.9 grams of total fat, 68 grams of carbohydrate (by difference), 12.2 grams of dietary fiber, and 3.6 mg of iron (20% of the daily requirement). Gluten, a protein found in wheat (and other Triticeae), cannot be tolerated by people with celiac disease (an autoimmune disorder in ~1% of Indo-European populations).
Source: Wikipedia
Winter gave ground grudgingly this year. We are still having temperatures below freezing some nights. One night last week it got down to 20F (-7C), pretty unusual for this time of year.
Granger has been with us for 15 months. He's about halfway there in terms of being a happy working dog. He has made enormous progress given how shut down he was when he came here.
The boy looks more and more like a Maremma, a breed that's closely related to Pyrs. He's got good LGD reflexes, but he's still somewhat of an escape artist which limits the areas where he can work.
He's a good boy.
I've had a six-month bout of autoimmune arthritis. (Rheumatoid symptoms but with a negative RF test.) I'm doing much better now that I'm taking a fairly nasty drug. They'll try to move me onto something a little less drastic soon. I'm genuinely grateful that there are modern, science-based treatments for this kind of thing, When I was kid in the 1950's, this kind of disorder put people in wheelchairs or worse with depressing regularity.
My dad passed away on Wednesday afternoon. He was battling autoimmune hepatitis, a rare liver disease, but it had been diagnosed too late. He was the best man I ever knew, no one could have asked for a better dad. I miss him terribly though I know that he’s now at peace.
Let's see a show of hands; who has heard of Spoon Theory?
Spoon Theory was coined by a woman named Christine Miserandino on her blog. She wrote an entry where she describes to a friend what living with lupus was like, using a unique metaphor where table spoons represent energy loss. You should really just read her entry because I can't do it justice.
Since this entry was written, it traveled quickly across the chronic illness communities, and has been adopted by many other diseases to help explain themselves to healthy people. Even though it was written specifically with lupus in mind, many of the neurological/autoimmune illnesses share so many symptoms, it has become extremely useful to a wide variety of people suffering from numerous ailments, including Chronic Fatigue. It has become something of a doctrine to the chronically ill who have trouble being understood by the rest of society, and I wanted to pay tribute to the huge influence it has had with this self portrait.
Side note: the very, very sweet Veronica Ricci gave me the vintage dress I'm wearing in this photo. Isn't it pretty? I love it :)
This is the last month of my campaign to raise funds for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome research! There is a desperate need for more answers about the disease. From now until August 31s, 50% of all profits from print sales and my online self-discovery-through-photography course Introspective will be donated to the CFIDS; an organization actively doing research into CFS. You can also donate directly to the CFIDS, of course. Please help spread the word about this; the more people this reaches, the better!