I went to Emory for an ultrasound today at the bequest of my Doctor, for my liver. My liver enzymes have been quite high over the past two years now, and no one has discovered why. When I was first diagnosed with Gastroparesis, the theory was that it was because of stones in my liver. They went in and relaxed my sphincter that doles out bile from my liver, removing a "gravely type sludge," as my doctor put it, from where my gallbladder used to be. The Doctor at Emory told me that with Gastroparesis, there should be no pain. Every time a doctor tells me that, I want to laugh in their face and correct them. Tell them that if they had Gastroparesis, they'd feel differently. Everyone I've talked to that has been diagnosed, even with mild Gastroparesis, has dealt with some sort of pain.
So, a good friend and fraternity brother of mine, picked me up and took me to Emory. I was led into the room with the ultrasound machine. I laid down on the table and lifted up my shirt for the procedure. I was happy to say that there were butterflies painted on the ceiling tiles so that I actually had something to focus on. The lab tech started and pressed the probe down on such tender parts that had been giving me such pain. I bit my lip and squeezed my friend's hand because it hurt so much. I had an emesis bag, just in case I needed it.
I looked away because it hurt too much. My friend said the lab tech was making awful faces and she had a feeling that they found something wrong. Of course, the lab techs won't tell you anything - it's a liability factor. She had me turn to my side and looked at my kidneys as well. Then, we were done. The procedure probably took half an hour of thorough investigating with a very painful probe. Ultrasounds normally aren't painful, but I've been experiencing pain in my upper right side. I didn't start retching until we were in the car. Anytime a doctor or someone presses on my upper right side and my stomach - I vomit. Thankfully, it waited until I was home. I fell over on the toilet and vomited up what I tried to eat for lunch today - considering I haven't eaten in a while. I was thankful I had something to vomit up besides bile. I realize how bad that sounds but I've been throwing up nothing but bile for days, my throat welcomed some relief.
I've been coughing a lot because my throat is irritated from vomiting. The doctor will receive my ultrasound report in a few days and call me with the results. I'm nervous because my liver enzymes are high and I don't know what that means. I've never been so nervous. Will I have to have more surgery? Will someone take me seriously? I need some help. What I'm doing right now is not living - it's awful.
The only solace in the past few days have been my husband, who is a wonderful and caring man, and reading outside in the sunshine.
I am anxiously awaiting the results and to wonder where to go from here.
In the meantime, I've made an appointment with a psychologist because I am determined to prove to these doctors that the anxiety didn't get worse until after I had Gastroparesis. The doctor I saw before, not at Emory, at Mayo, told me that this was all in my head an all anxiety related. I want a doctor to evaluate that and tell me that it's not true. I just need someone to listen to me. I can't make up vomiting or pain like this. It's immobilizing. My friends and family see me suffer and I barely recognize my own reflection in the mirror because of my hallowed out, pale face, and the dark circles under my eyes. I think it will be good to have someone to speak with anyway, but I want someone to validate me and say that my GP is legitimate and that it's not caused by anxiety. That made me angry more than anything when the Mayo doctor told me that. I think he only did so because he correctly assumed that I'd be a complicated case, and he didn't want to deal with me personally.
I'm keeping track of my symptoms in a written journal, along with how I feel. A GP friend of mine told me about an app available called MySymptom Tracker. It's $3 in the Google Play store but worth it. So, I track my vomiting, medications, mood, etc on my phone as well. You can download it and bring it in with you to your doctor, which I find useful. I document everything. It's a good habit to have.
I feel like I'm preparing for battle. I'm going to fight to be healthy again.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Monday, September 16, 2013
Gastroparesis Journals, Poetry, and Mentorship Program
I have a favorite poem that I wanted to share with all of you. It has been my favorite since high school. It really spoke to me because for the past few days, I've been very sad. Sometimes, it just seems like the Gastroparesis (GP) cycle is endless. Also, it feels like I'll never get better. I'm not usually so negative, but vomiting for the past three days and having the new doctor write me off just made me a bit depressed. Then, I thought about my favorite poem. It has always spoken to me and cheered me up when I've been at my lowest. It made me realize that I need to keep going. That things will get better and that I have the best Gastroparesis Warrior network that anyone could have.
The meaning behind the poem is this:
There are several pen pal groups in the Gastroparesis community, so I wanted to put out a warning to everyone:
We've added a mentorship program to the group so you can get or give support to another member of our community. I am excited to see all of us build stronger relationships with each other and hope you'll join. Facebook has implemented a mentor/mentorship app in the groups now. I have turned it on in our group. There are a lot of mentorees that could use mentors, so far!
If you would like to read about the program, it's below:
https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/08/people-can-now-find-mentors-and-mentees-in-groups/
If you would like to sign up to be a mentor (and please don't be nervous about it, because you could really make a difference in someone's life. If you are worried about mistakes, don't be. Mistakes are a learning tool anyway - it's not a mistake if you can learn from it. Plus, instead of having a pen pal group, this is easier and more personal) or a mentoree, please see the left sidebar of the group that says "Mentorship" and here is a link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/strongerthanGP/mentorship_application/
Here's how the program works:
You sign up, match yourself with a partner, and get helpful conversation starters each week so you get to know each other better better. It's up to you how much time you want to spend together and what goals you want to work towards. It's a new feature FB just implemented and I thought it would be a great idea to add it to the group. I just wanted to point out that option, in case you would be interested in it. It is an option to the left of the group’s feed, under “mentorship.”
Please feel free to send the group link to any friends who might be interested in joining. If anyone is added to the group by another member, it's automatically declined, for the groups' safety. I have stories about this for why I made it a rule. If you have any questions, you can contact me, Emily Randolph Scherer. We just want to make sure that each group member wants to be here, and they also need to answer the questions. But, on a positive note, we LOVE having new members! <3
SMART PHONE APPLICATION - MYSYMPTOMS
If you have a smart phone, my friend Sarah recommended an app to me. It's called MySymptoms: Food Diary and it's a diary for your phone. You can add your medications, what you eat, how often you get sick, all of your symptoms, stress levels, sleep quality, energy level, bowel movements, and more. It's easy to keep up with it.
I downloaded it at the Google Play store.
The only drawback is that it's $2.99 for the application, but it's worth it since we all carry our phones with us everywhere - even when we go out to eat (as rare as that happens).
You can download your data and give it to your doctor as well. I downloaded it and would highly recommend it to anyone with Gastroparesis. It's easy to learn how to use and it is easier to add things to your phone than to write them down sometimes. But I know that we all carry phones with us. I'm still going to use my Gastroparesis journal and write in it but I'm also going to keep track of things on my phone now too. It never hurts to have a back up.
This is my Gastroparesis Journal. It's actually River Song's journal replica from Doctor Who.
Keep a written journal. Write down the date in each entry.
You do want to make it as detailed as possible and you might notice a pattern in yourself.
I started a Gastroparesis journal, which you know of from previous articles in this blog. My Gastroparesis diary is really useful when I'm not near my computer to blog. Write down what time you wake up, what time you take your medicine, what you took, what time you eat, how much you eat, and what you ate. Write down what time you get sick, with what you were sick with, how much, and make it as detailed as possible. Write down any questions you think of to ask your doctor, since the visits with them go by so quickly and you may forget your questions. My doctor actually copies my journal for my chart. This way, you can eventually recognize a pattern with yourself - what makes you sick and maybe what doesn’t. Since every GPer Is different, this is a way to find out what works for you. I know GP is trial and error when it comes to diet, but this written record (I have to admit, my brain fog and memory are terrible so it’s good to write things down) will help you so much. I even print out research or positive things and paste them or tape them in my journal too. I carry it with me everywhere, even when I actually get to leave the house and go to the pharmacy or the doctor. It can be a spiral notebook, binder, you can buy a blank journal from amazon or in a store, you can make anything a GP journal. Give it a try and see if it works for you.
It really helps to keep track of what's going on with my body for my doctor, including questions so that I don't forget to ask since I don't get a whole lot of time to talk to the doctor. I write in mine daily. I keep track of my medications, when I attempt to eat, when I vomit, if I have a bowel movement, and the times of all of it. I also vent in it because it's not healthy to keep your feelings bottled up, and writing helps me cope, but everyone has different coping mechanisms that help them. Your gastroparesis journal could be as simple as a spiral notebook. I would highly suggest that you start one, if you don't have one already, because it really does help keep track of things, especially if you have a hard time remembering things like I do. I call it, "GP brain."
I'm also going to share a few images that have gotten me through the past few days. I usually cut out images I find like this and put them in my diary to remind me to be strong.
"'If'Poem can be found at: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/46473
By: Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!"
The meaning behind the poem is this:
"‘If‘ by Rudyard Kipling: About the poemThe meaning of the poem can be found here: http://englicist.com/summary-analysis/poem-if-rudyard-kipling-summary-explanation
The poem ‘If’ by the India-born British Nobel laureate poet Rudyard Kipling is a poem of ultimate inspiration that tells us how to deal with different situations in life. The poet conveys his ideas about how to win this life, and after all, how to be a good human being.
The poem, written in 1895 and first published in ‘Rewards and Fairies’, 1910 is 32 lines long with four stanzas of eight lines each. It is a tribute to Leander Starr Jameson. The poem is written in the form of paternal advice to the poet’s son, John. You may read more about the poem at Wikipedia.
For the theme, as already told, the poem basically tells us the conditions that we should meet to succeed in life and make this life happy and a beautiful one. The whole poem is written in a single complex sentence. So all the subordinate clauses begin with ‘if’ and the main clause concluding the entire theme comes at the end, and the poem ends with a full stop.
This structure of the poem was important to achieve the conditional goal. The poet speaks of the achievement at the end, after discussing all the requirements to reach there. This structure is actually symbolic in suggesting that you can get the rewards only after you have fulfilled the preconditions. Moreover, this makes the readers eager to know what would happen when we meet all these conditions, thus retaining the curiosity and interest till the end.
And, as the main theme of the poem is a combination of so many if’s, the title ‘If’ is an apt one for the poem."
There are several pen pal groups in the Gastroparesis community, so I wanted to put out a warning to everyone:
**WARNING** Any Pen Pal groups that you join is to get to know people. If you feel comfortable, friend them, and then share your private information with them. The admins should NEVER ask you for your personal information, unless you get to know them and you want to share your information with them as pen pals, but that's if you are comfortable enough. Just be careful. Your personal information should not be posted on the wall for all to see, because you never really know who is looking at it. The admins try to screen our groups carefully, but occasionally, we miss someone who may be a scammer.
I just wanted to caution anyone who is joining a pen pal group because I've had that happen and it's a very scary feeling, especially if someone tries to steal your identity. I've had this happen to me, which is why I just want to caution people to be careful. Pen pal groups can be amazing because they make you feel less isolated and alone, and it's nice to get real mail instead of spam for a change. Just be diligent. And your information should NOT be in the files section of the group for all to see. Pen pals usually only need your address and maybe your birth month and day to send you things on your birthday. You don't have to give them the year unless you know that person and trust them completely. I'll reiterate, just be careful with who and where you give out your personal information.
We've added a mentorship program to the group so you can get or give support to another member of our community. I am excited to see all of us build stronger relationships with each other and hope you'll join. Facebook has implemented a mentor/mentorship app in the groups now. I have turned it on in our group. There are a lot of mentorees that could use mentors, so far!
If you would like to read about the program, it's below:
https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/08/people-can-now-find-mentors-and-mentees-in-groups/
If you would like to sign up to be a mentor (and please don't be nervous about it, because you could really make a difference in someone's life. If you are worried about mistakes, don't be. Mistakes are a learning tool anyway - it's not a mistake if you can learn from it. Plus, instead of having a pen pal group, this is easier and more personal) or a mentoree, please see the left sidebar of the group that says "Mentorship" and here is a link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/strongerthanGP/mentorship_application/
Here's how the program works:
You sign up, match yourself with a partner, and get helpful conversation starters each week so you get to know each other better better. It's up to you how much time you want to spend together and what goals you want to work towards. It's a new feature FB just implemented and I thought it would be a great idea to add it to the group. I just wanted to point out that option, in case you would be interested in it. It is an option to the left of the group’s feed, under “mentorship.”
Please feel free to send the group link to any friends who might be interested in joining. If anyone is added to the group by another member, it's automatically declined, for the groups' safety. I have stories about this for why I made it a rule. If you have any questions, you can contact me, Emily Randolph Scherer. We just want to make sure that each group member wants to be here, and they also need to answer the questions. But, on a positive note, we LOVE having new members! <3
SMART PHONE APPLICATION - MYSYMPTOMS
If you have a smart phone, my friend Sarah recommended an app to me. It's called MySymptoms: Food Diary and it's a diary for your phone. You can add your medications, what you eat, how often you get sick, all of your symptoms, stress levels, sleep quality, energy level, bowel movements, and more. It's easy to keep up with it.
I downloaded it at the Google Play store.
The only drawback is that it's $2.99 for the application, but it's worth it since we all carry our phones with us everywhere - even when we go out to eat (as rare as that happens).
You can download your data and give it to your doctor as well. I downloaded it and would highly recommend it to anyone with Gastroparesis. It's easy to learn how to use and it is easier to add things to your phone than to write them down sometimes. But I know that we all carry phones with us. I'm still going to use my Gastroparesis journal and write in it but I'm also going to keep track of things on my phone now too. It never hurts to have a back up.
Keep a written journal. Write down the date in each entry.
You do want to make it as detailed as possible and you might notice a pattern in yourself.
I started a Gastroparesis journal, which you know of from previous articles in this blog. My Gastroparesis diary is really useful when I'm not near my computer to blog. Write down what time you wake up, what time you take your medicine, what you took, what time you eat, how much you eat, and what you ate. Write down what time you get sick, with what you were sick with, how much, and make it as detailed as possible. Write down any questions you think of to ask your doctor, since the visits with them go by so quickly and you may forget your questions. My doctor actually copies my journal for my chart. This way, you can eventually recognize a pattern with yourself - what makes you sick and maybe what doesn’t. Since every GPer Is different, this is a way to find out what works for you. I know GP is trial and error when it comes to diet, but this written record (I have to admit, my brain fog and memory are terrible so it’s good to write things down) will help you so much. I even print out research or positive things and paste them or tape them in my journal too. I carry it with me everywhere, even when I actually get to leave the house and go to the pharmacy or the doctor. It can be a spiral notebook, binder, you can buy a blank journal from amazon or in a store, you can make anything a GP journal. Give it a try and see if it works for you.
It really helps to keep track of what's going on with my body for my doctor, including questions so that I don't forget to ask since I don't get a whole lot of time to talk to the doctor. I write in mine daily. I keep track of my medications, when I attempt to eat, when I vomit, if I have a bowel movement, and the times of all of it. I also vent in it because it's not healthy to keep your feelings bottled up, and writing helps me cope, but everyone has different coping mechanisms that help them. Your gastroparesis journal could be as simple as a spiral notebook. I would highly suggest that you start one, if you don't have one already, because it really does help keep track of things, especially if you have a hard time remembering things like I do. I call it, "GP brain."
I'm also going to share a few images that have gotten me through the past few days. I usually cut out images I find like this and put them in my diary to remind me to be strong.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
From August Until Now
As of right now, my medication list is extremely long.
I'm taking:
Linzess 290mg - once daily
Phenergan 25mg - three times daily
Zofran 8mg - three times daily
Vicodin 10/325 - four times daily (for my lower back - I keep straining it vomiting and may have shifted the spinal cord stimulator out of place)
Xanax 0.5mg - four times daily
Celexa 20mg - once daily
Implanon - birth control I need to call and get replaced
Restoril 15mg - twice at bedtime for sleep
Trazadpne 50mg - three times daily
Protonix 40mg - twice daily
B-12 Injections
I feel like this when it's time to take my medications:
I saw my doctor in Augusta about what to do since none of the doctors here are listening to me. He was going to recommend a great GI doctor to me but I guess he got side tracked. I'll have to call him and find out the person. None of the ones up here seem to care and they've managed to convince my husband that this is all in my head due to anxiety. My Augusta doctor wanted me to go to the ER but I refused. Instead, he gave me medications and my sister took me to her house and made my comfortable.
I've been managing to eat small amounts here and there. Yogurt and maybe a bite or two of bagel. Nothing substantial.
I started my period on the 23rd - and it made my GP TEN TIMES WORSE! I'm not the only one who suffers this way. I wonder what the connection is between GP and hormones? I want to bookmark this to come back to it and research it later.
The doctor at Emory yesterday wants me to get an ultrasound for my liver. She's worried about my high liver enzymes. She switched around my medication and wants to see if that helps. I wanted to scream at her that my medicine has been switched around before with no relief! Ugh! But I understand conservative measures first. It just SUCKS. I have to follow up with her in six weeks.
I woke up yesterday and vomited directly into a trashcan. I wonder why I couldn't do that in front of the doctor? *sigh*
Oh well.
But, I have a new phone now so I'm easier to get in touch with. My old phone stopped charging.
Hang in there and keep fighting. I'm working on an article coming up about stress relief and how to manage stress. I just wanted to check in.
The top picture is before I ate, the bottom picture is after I ate.
I'm taking:
Linzess 290mg - once daily
Phenergan 25mg - three times daily
Zofran 8mg - three times daily
Vicodin 10/325 - four times daily (for my lower back - I keep straining it vomiting and may have shifted the spinal cord stimulator out of place)
Xanax 0.5mg - four times daily
Celexa 20mg - once daily
Implanon - birth control I need to call and get replaced
Restoril 15mg - twice at bedtime for sleep
Trazadpne 50mg - three times daily
Protonix 40mg - twice daily
B-12 Injections
I feel like this when it's time to take my medications:
I saw my doctor in Augusta about what to do since none of the doctors here are listening to me. He was going to recommend a great GI doctor to me but I guess he got side tracked. I'll have to call him and find out the person. None of the ones up here seem to care and they've managed to convince my husband that this is all in my head due to anxiety. My Augusta doctor wanted me to go to the ER but I refused. Instead, he gave me medications and my sister took me to her house and made my comfortable.
I've been managing to eat small amounts here and there. Yogurt and maybe a bite or two of bagel. Nothing substantial.
I started my period on the 23rd - and it made my GP TEN TIMES WORSE! I'm not the only one who suffers this way. I wonder what the connection is between GP and hormones? I want to bookmark this to come back to it and research it later.
The doctor at Emory yesterday wants me to get an ultrasound for my liver. She's worried about my high liver enzymes. She switched around my medication and wants to see if that helps. I wanted to scream at her that my medicine has been switched around before with no relief! Ugh! But I understand conservative measures first. It just SUCKS. I have to follow up with her in six weeks.
I woke up yesterday and vomited directly into a trashcan. I wonder why I couldn't do that in front of the doctor? *sigh*
Oh well.
But, I have a new phone now so I'm easier to get in touch with. My old phone stopped charging.
Hang in there and keep fighting. I'm working on an article coming up about stress relief and how to manage stress. I just wanted to check in.
The top picture is before I ate, the bottom picture is after I ate.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
My New Facebook Page - Emily's Stomach - Please Like it in Support
As many of you know, I've been working on my own page affiliated with GNE. LaShelle and I are trying to branch out to reach a wider audience. If you could give Emily's Stomach a like, it would be amazing. I want to make a difference and this is my way of branching out to help the GP community. If you could share my new page, Emily's Stomach (www.facebook.com/emilysstomach) with friends, family, and loved ones, I would be most grateful. I will be posting interesting things in the next few days and would like your support. Without your support, I feel useless and unproductive. This gives me purpose right now, since I can barely leave the house.
You can read below of what I plan to accomplished with my page.
Thank you and stay strong in the fight!
NO AWARENESS, NO RESERACH, NO CURE!
Emily's Stomach is my page that I just started. It's my own page but it's affiliated with GNE and the link is here: www.facebook.com/greensnoteasy. If you read the About section on my page, there are other useful links that you might be interested in. The more support you have, the better things will be!
My page is different. I will post motivation, inspiring pictures as well as my blog articles, which contains information on Gastroparesis (GP). I will also post any new research or advancements on GP that I can find. I’m a researcher at heart and I love sharing research that I find. However, we ALL stand together, united, for the GP community.
I will still be working with LaShelle, admining the GNE Facebook page, but we're branching out to cover different things and to spread more awareness. We’re also trying to reach out to find those who suffer with GP that may not have anyone with support to turn to.
If you could share my page with family, loved ones, and friends, I would appreciate it. All are welcome to learn about GP and to be motivated. Spread the word about my new page because the more people we can reach, the better our research will be and the more awareness we’ll have!
The link to my Facebook page, and my contribution to the GNE community is: www.facebook.com/emilysstomach
Stay strong in the fight! You are NEVER alone! You are more than welcome to friend PM or meme on the page or on Facebook if you need someone to talk to. I’m always hereto listen.
Eventually, I hope all of the GP groups will get together and work as one since we are all working towards a common goal, which is to help the GP community.
My motto is: No awareness, no research, no cure.
Stay strong in the fight! You are NEVER alone! NEVER! You can also follow the ES Page on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/emilysstomach
My Other Pages/Groups/Blogs:
Emily's Stomach Blog - this is a blog I've started to help me through Gastroparesis as well as helping others through my own experiences. The link is here: www.emilysstomach.com
Emily's Stomach - affiliated with Green's Not Easy and gives you information and motivation about Gastroparesis. Also, to help out beginners. The link is here:www.facebook.com/emilysstomach
Laughing Through Gastroparesis (Public FB Page) - the object of this page is to make people smile because laughter is the best medicine! The link is here: www.facebook.com/laughingthrugp
Laughing Through Gastroparesis (Private FB Group) - A collaboration of GPers and non GPers posting humor to make us all feel better and laugh. The link is here: www.facebook.com/groups/laughingthrugp/
Blogs for Gastroparesis - a closed group where people can post their blog entries for others to read. You do not have to be a blog writer to join but GP blog writers are encouraged to join and share so that we can share blog traffic with each other. The link is here: www.facebook.com/onemillionforGP
The pages I admin are:
Gastroparesis - The link is here: www.facebook.com/gnewithgp
Gastroparesis and Me - The link is here: www.facebook.com/GPAndMeGlobal
Secretly Green - A closed group for those who want private posting. The link is here:www.facebook.com/groups/SecretlyGreen/
One Million Likes for Gastroparesis - The link is here: www.facebook.com/onemillionforGP
Gastroparesis and Diabetic Support Group - The link is here: www.facebook.com/onemillionforGP
Tats for Gastroparesis - The link is here: www.facebook.com/TatsForGastroparesis
You can read below of what I plan to accomplished with my page.
Thank you and stay strong in the fight!
NO AWARENESS, NO RESERACH, NO CURE!
Emily's Stomach is my page that I just started. It's my own page but it's affiliated with GNE and the link is here: www.facebook.com/greensnoteasy. If you read the About section on my page, there are other useful links that you might be interested in. The more support you have, the better things will be!
My page is different. I will post motivation, inspiring pictures as well as my blog articles, which contains information on Gastroparesis (GP). I will also post any new research or advancements on GP that I can find. I’m a researcher at heart and I love sharing research that I find. However, we ALL stand together, united, for the GP community.
I will still be working with LaShelle, admining the GNE Facebook page, but we're branching out to cover different things and to spread more awareness. We’re also trying to reach out to find those who suffer with GP that may not have anyone with support to turn to.
If you could share my page with family, loved ones, and friends, I would appreciate it. All are welcome to learn about GP and to be motivated. Spread the word about my new page because the more people we can reach, the better our research will be and the more awareness we’ll have!
The link to my Facebook page, and my contribution to the GNE community is: www.facebook.com/emilysstomach
Stay strong in the fight! You are NEVER alone! You are more than welcome to friend PM or meme on the page or on Facebook if you need someone to talk to. I’m always hereto listen.
Eventually, I hope all of the GP groups will get together and work as one since we are all working towards a common goal, which is to help the GP community.
My motto is: No awareness, no research, no cure.
Stay strong in the fight! You are NEVER alone! NEVER! You can also follow the ES Page on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/emilysstomach
My Other Pages/Groups/Blogs:
Emily's Stomach Blog - this is a blog I've started to help me through Gastroparesis as well as helping others through my own experiences. The link is here: www.emilysstomach.com
Emily's Stomach - affiliated with Green's Not Easy and gives you information and motivation about Gastroparesis. Also, to help out beginners. The link is here:www.facebook.com/emilysstomach
Laughing Through Gastroparesis (Public FB Page) - the object of this page is to make people smile because laughter is the best medicine! The link is here: www.facebook.com/laughingthrugp
Laughing Through Gastroparesis (Private FB Group) - A collaboration of GPers and non GPers posting humor to make us all feel better and laugh. The link is here: www.facebook.com/groups/laughingthrugp/
Blogs for Gastroparesis - a closed group where people can post their blog entries for others to read. You do not have to be a blog writer to join but GP blog writers are encouraged to join and share so that we can share blog traffic with each other. The link is here: www.facebook.com/onemillionforGP
The pages I admin are:
Gastroparesis - The link is here: www.facebook.com/gnewithgp
Gastroparesis and Me - The link is here: www.facebook.com/GPAndMeGlobal
Secretly Green - A closed group for those who want private posting. The link is here:www.facebook.com/groups/SecretlyGreen/
One Million Likes for Gastroparesis - The link is here: www.facebook.com/onemillionforGP
Gastroparesis and Diabetic Support Group - The link is here: www.facebook.com/onemillionforGP
Tats for Gastroparesis - The link is here: www.facebook.com/TatsForGastroparesis
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
How to Stay Motivated
Most Gastroparesis suffers have a hard time staying motivated because we are always really ill. We hide it and it's invisible. In reality, we feel like zombies just going through the motions of the day, that is, if we can get out of bed. I found some images on Pinterest (but it didn't have a source) about Motivation that I would like to share with you, to help you through those difficult days that we all have with this terrible condition.
According to Pyschology Today (http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/motivation),
"How to Stay Motivated: Motivation is literally the desire to do things. It's the difference between waking up before dawn to pound the pavement and lazing around the house all day. It's the crucial element in setting and attaining goals—and research shows you can influence your own levels of motivation and self-control. So figure out what you want, power through the pain period, and start being who you want to be."
According to About.com. (http://psychology.about.com/od/mindex/g/motivation-definition.htm)
"Motivation is defined as the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. Motivation is what causes us to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge.
It involves the biological, emotional, social and cognitive forces that activate behavior. In everyday usage, the term motivation is frequently used to describe why a person does something. For example, you might say that a student is so motivated to get into a clinical psychology program that she spends every night studying.
Psychologists have proposed a number of different theories of motivation, including drive theory, instinct theory and humanistic theory.
Components of Motivation
There are three major components to motivation: activation, persistence and intensity. Activation involves the decision to initiate a behavior, such as enrolling in a psychology class. Persistence is the continued effort toward a goal even though obstacles may exist, such as taking more psychology courses in order to earn a degree although it requires a significant investment of time, energy and resources. Finally, intensity can be seen in the concentration and vigor that goes into pursuing a goal. For example, one student might coast by without much effort, while another student will study regularly, participate in discussions and take advantage of research opportunities outside of class.
Extrinsic Vs. Intrinsic Motivation
Different types of motivation are frequently described as being either extrinsic or intrinsic. Extrinsic motivations are those that arise from outside of the individual and often involve rewards such as trophies, money, social recognition or praise. Intrinsic motivations are those that arise from within the individual, such as doing a complicated cross-word puzzle purely for the personal gratification of solving a problem."
Lifehack.org, written by Gleb Reys, has tips on how to stay motivated as well,
How exactly do some of us manage to stay motivated most of the time? Here are just a few ideas you can try:
1) Find the Good Reasons
Anything you do, no matter how simple, has a number of good reasons behind it. Not all the tasks have the good reasons to do them seen at first sight, but if you take just a few moments to analyse them, you will easily spot something good. We also have many tasks which don’t need any reasoning at all – we’ve been doing them for so long that they feel natural.
But if you’re ever stuck with some task you hate and there seems to be no motivation to complete it whatsoever, here’s what you need to do: find your good reasons. They may not be obvious, but stay at it until you see some, as this will bring your motivation back and will help you finish the task.
Some ideas for what a good reason can be:
a material reward – quite often, you will get paid for doing something you normally don’t like doing at all
personal gain – you will learn something new or will perhaps improve yourself in a certain way
a feeling of accomplishment – at least you’ll be able to walk away feeling great about finding the motivation and courage to complete such a tedious task
a step closer to your bigger goal – even the biggest accomplishments in history have started small and relied on simple and far less pleasant tasks than you might be working on. Every task you complete brings you closer to the ultimate goal, and acknowledging this always feels good.
2) Make it fun
When it comes to motivation, attitude is everything. Different people may have completely opposite feelings towards the same task: some will hate it, others will love it. Why do you think this happens? It’s simple: some of us find ways to make any task interesting and fun to do!
Take sports for example. Visiting your local gym daily for a half-an-hour workout sounds rather boring to many of us. Yet many others love the idea! They like exercising not only because they recognize the good reasons behind it, but simply because it’s fun! At certain time of their daily schedule, they find going to gym to be the best thing to do, simply because nothing else will fit their time and lifestyle so perfectly.
I want to add that with GP, it might be hard to leave the house for the severe cases. But you can do basic stretches at home on your couch or in bed. It will make you feel better. I'm going to attempt to take yoga because it has deep breathing and will strengthen my muscles. LaShelle, one of my good friends, rides horses. Just going for a short walk will help.
Depending on how you look at it, you can have fun doing just about anything! Just look for ways of having fun, and you’ll find them!
A simple approach is to start working on any task from asking yourself a few questions:
How can I enjoy this task?
What can I do to make this task fun for myself and possibly for others?
How can I make this work the best part of my day?
The answers will pop up momentarily, as long as you learn to have the definite expectation of any task being potentially enjoyable.
Some of you will probably think of a thing or two which are valid exceptions from this statement, like something you always hate doing, no matter how hard you try making it fun. I don’t want to argue – you’re probably right, and that’s why I don’t claim everything to be fun. However, most tasks have a great potential of being enjoyable, and so looking for ways to have fun while working is definitely a good habit to acquire.
3) Take different approach
When something doesn’t feel right, it’s always a good time to take a moment and look at the whole task looking for a different approach.
You may be doing everything correctly and most efficiently, but such an approach isn’t necessarily the most motivating one. Quite often you can find a number of obvious tweaks to your current approach which will both change your experience and open up new possibilities.
That’s why saying “one way or another” is so common: if you really want to accomplish your goal, there is always a away. And most likely, there’s more than one way. If a certain approach doesn’t work for you, find another one, and keep trying until you find the one which will both keep you motivated and get you the desired results.
Some people think that trying a different approach means giving up. They take pride in being really stubborn and refusing to try any other options on their way towards the goal. My opinion on this is that the power of focus is great, but you should be focusing on your goal, and not limiting your options by focusing on just one way to accomplish it it.
4) Recognize your progress
Everything you may be working on can be easily split into smaller parts and stages. For most goals, it is quite natural to split the process of accomplishing them into smaller tasks and milestones. There are a few reasons behind doing this, and one of them is tracking your progress.
We track our progress automatically with most activities. But to stay motivated, you need to recognize your progress, not merely track it.
Here’s how tracking and recognizing your progress is different: tracking is merely taking a note of having reached a certain stage in your process. Recognizing is taking time to look at a bigger picture and realize where exactly you are, and how much more you have left to do.
For example, if you’re going to read a book, always start by going through the contents table. Getting familiar with chapter titles and memorizing their total number will make it easier for you to recognize your progress as you read. Confirming how many pages your book has before starting it is also a good idea.
You see, reading any book you will be automatically looking at page numbers and chapter titles, but without knowing the total number of pages this information will have little meaning.
Somehow, it is in a human nature to always want things to happen at once. Even though we split complex tasks into simpler actions, we don’t quite feel the satisfaction until all is done and the task is fully complete. For many scenarios though, the task is so vast that such an approach will drain all the motivation out of you long before you have a chance to reach your goal. That’s why it is important to always take small steps and recognize the positive different and progress made.
5) Reward Yourself
This is a trick everyone likes: rewarding yourself is always pleasant. I’m happy to confirm that this is also one of the easiest and at the same time most powerful ways to stay motivated!
Feeling down about doing something? Dread the idea of working on some task? Hate the whole idea of working? You’re not alone in that, I’m telling you!
Right from the beginning, agree on some deliverables which will justify yourself getting rewarded. As soon as you get one of the agreed results, take time to reward yourself in some way.
For some tasks, just taking a break and relaxing for a few minutes will do. For others, you may want to get a smoothie and even treat yourself to a GP friendly dessert. For even bigger and more demanding tasks, you may want to reward yourself by doing something even more enjoyable, like going to a cinema or taking a trip to some place nice, or even buying yourself something.
Your progress may not seem to others like anything worth celebrating – but take time and do it anyway! It is your task and your reward, so any ways to stay motivated are good. The more you reward yourself for the honestly made progress, the more motivated you will feel about reaching new milestones, thus finally accomplishing your goal.
Mix and match
Now that you have these five ways of staying motivated, it is a good moment to give you the key to them all: mix and match! Pick one of the advices and apply it to your situation. If it doesn’t work, or if you simply want to get even more motivation, try another advice right way. Mix different approaches and match them to your task for best results.
Just think about it: finding good reasons to work on your task is bound to help you feel a bit better. Identifying ways to make it fun will help you enjoy the task even more. Finally, if you then plan a few points for easier tracking of your progress and on top of that agree on rewarding yourself as you go – this will make you feel most motivated about anything you have to work through.
Here is a Youtube video on how to stay positive and motivated: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWCHuMMBg4k
Ten Hidden Reasons to Stay Motivated Source: http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/motivation_articles.asp?id=196
Everyone tells us to stay motivated. Our friends, our co-workers, our relatives say to keep going, don’t quit. Sometimes, though, you ask, "Why? Why try my hardest when it ends in disappointment? Why go through something when it’s going to hurt? Why?"
Because it’s going to be different this time! Because you can’t accomplish anything that you give up on. Disappointments and failures happen to everyone. The difference between those who reach their goals and those who don’t is staying motivated. If you’re motivated, you’ll keep going. If you keep going, eventually you’ll reach your goal.
Need more reasons? Here are 10 of our ‘hidden’ reasons to stay motivated. Use one or all of them to keep the fire burning inside you.
1. Confidence
How did it feel after that first walk around the block? Or when you finally walked the stairs at work without losing your breath? Or even leaving the house? The more you accomplish, the more you’ll believe in yourself.
2. Fit into that dress
It’s been hanging up in your closet for two years now, just waiting to be thrown on for a night on the town. All it takes is for you to go that extra mile and stay on track. Before you know it, those two years will be ancient history. This would probably be better for milder cases of GP.
3. Make the week easier
Ever felt like a week was taking forever? It feels like Friday, but it’s only Tuesday? This happens when you’re not working towards anything. When you have a goal in mind, you’ll want to cook that GP friendly dinner or have friends over 0 or leave the house to meet them. The week will not only go faster, but be more enjoyable.
4. Gives you purpose
Every once in a while, we need a good reason. The ‘wow’ effect
Picture this: Walking into a store, you run into someone from high school, and their eyes light up. They gasp, "Wow, you look great!" (Again, this is probably for the milder case of GPers, but I don't think any of us want to hear the next sentence). By sticking with your goals, this can happen. Watch the "wows" add up.
8. Spread the spark
When friends and family see how hard you’re working, they’ll wonder how they can reach their own goals. Guess who they’re going to look to for help? By staying motivated, you’ll not only help yourself, but others too. This is very true. I've been helping people by admining on Facebook. You don't have to leave the house on your worst days but you can still be motivated to make a difference.
9. Keep gaining experience
The more you do, the more you will learn and understand. You’ll discover which tactics work best for you and which ones don’t. It’s like weeding out the garden - not the most enjoyable job in the world, but when you’re done, all that’s left are beautiful flowers. Keeping sticking with it and soon it will be all flowers for you. Here it is, right in front of you. Eat the GP approved diet (it can be found in LaShelle's blog at: http://gnewithgp.com/2013/07/03/gastroparesis-signs-symptoms-testing-treatments-and-a-gp-diet/) that’s going to jump start your day, go for your morning walk, or walk to the driveway and grab the newspaper. When you’re motivated, you have a reason to do what you do.
5. For your kids
And your grandkids. And their kids, too. The healthier you are, the longer you’ll be around to watch your kids grow and to spoil your grandchildren. They’ll want you to be around as long as possible; consider this just another present.
6. Power of momentum
It’s a scientific fact – something in motion tends to stay in motion. Momentum builds quickly and can lead to great results. Suddenly, you’re not only working for the goal, but also to keep your streak alive. Even more reason to reach your goals.
Stress will take a toll on your body. It's better to set goals and have small victories that will give you a boost and make you feel productive. I know that since I was diagnosed, my independence has been stripped. I've worked since I was sixteen but now, I can barely leave my house because I'm so violently ill. That's why I started my Laughing Through Gastroparesis Page (www.facebook.com/laughingwithgp). I also started a "secret" Laughing Through Gastroparesis group so that people can help collaborate and keep the chronically ill smiling. You don't have to be a GPer to join. You can join the group at this link: http://www.facebook.com/groups/487370524687206/.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Relaxation & Breathing Techniques from Mayo in Jacksonville
I know that this is a repost for me but I have better copies of the documents that you can actually read, now that I've scanned them in. The doctor told me that all of my issues stem from anxiety but I believe he's wrong. My anxiety didn't get worse until my stomach issues became worse. However, if you have issues sleeping or if you are having a panic attack, this will help. I've had to deep breathe out of panic attacks and talk myself out of it, especially in the car. I hope this will help you. Again, this was handed to me by Mayo but I wanted to save others thousands of dollars to be handed these pieces of paper.
If you click on the images, they'll open in PDF format so that you can read it better.
I apologize about the spill on the last two pages. I managed to spill soda on it while reading the sheets in the car when my husband jerked the wheel.
If you click on the images, they'll open in PDF format so that you can read it better.
I apologize about the spill on the last two pages. I managed to spill soda on it while reading the sheets in the car when my husband jerked the wheel.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Information about Gastroparesis and Traveling with GP
These papers were given to me by the Digestive Health Alliance (https://www.facebook.com/DigestiveHealthAlliance?directed_target_id=0) and Crystal Saltrelli, which you can find her link to her Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/CrystalSaltrelliCHC?fref=ts. All credit goes to Crystal for writing about traveling, I'm just sharing it because it's great information.
So, What IS Gastroparesis?
I found these three different images that explain what Gastroparesis is. The sources are located on the images above.
I haven't had time to upload these documents to share until now, but they were given to me at the Mayo Clinc. I hope they will prepare you for travel as well as help to explain Gastroparesis to friends and family. Feel free to pass these along but be sure to credit the writers. If you click on the images, they'll open in PDF form so that you can read them better.
Information about Gastroparesis
Treatment options and information about Traveling With a Feeding Tube can be found by clicking here: http://www.emilysstomach.com/2017/09/treatment-options-for-gastroparesis.html
These images go into detail about the Gastroparesis diet and nausea that comes with it.
For more information on the Gastroparesis Diet and Recipe ideas, please click here: http://www.emilysstomach.com/2014/01/the-gastroparesis-diet.html
So, What IS Gastroparesis?
I found these three different images that explain what Gastroparesis is. The sources are located on the images above.
I haven't had time to upload these documents to share until now, but they were given to me at the Mayo Clinc. I hope they will prepare you for travel as well as help to explain Gastroparesis to friends and family. Feel free to pass these along but be sure to credit the writers. If you click on the images, they'll open in PDF form so that you can read them better.
Treatment options and information about Traveling With a Feeding Tube can be found by clicking here: http://www.emilysstomach.com/2017/09/treatment-options-for-gastroparesis.html
These images go into detail about the Gastroparesis diet and nausea that comes with it.
For more information on the Gastroparesis Diet and Recipe ideas, please click here: http://www.emilysstomach.com/2014/01/the-gastroparesis-diet.html
Gastroparesis Patients vs Drug Seekers
A few nights ago, my roommate had a friend over who works as a nurse in an emergency room. She asked me about my gastroparesis (GP) and why I've gone to the emergency room for it. I tried to explain the basic symptoms of gastroparesis and how much pain it causes, especially when you haven't eaten in over a week on top of dehydration. The first thing she said to me was,
"Most patients with Gastroparesis I encounter are drug seekers."
I want to explain why we are not drug seekers for those who may know little to nothing about GP and why that comment bothered me so much. I also want to educate people in what gastroparesis is, and does to the body. I wanted to tell her, imagine the worst stomach bug that you have EVER had, now imagine throwing up constantly and projectile vomiting. Your abdomen would hurt, right? You would use muscles you normally do not engage. Now, imagine that not letting up for weeks at a time. When would you go to the emergency room and would you complain of pain?
No two GPers are a like - we are all different in some way, but that doesn't make us any less ill.
According to the Mayo Clinic (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/gastroparesis/DS00612)
I am also going to add pain to the symptoms. That needs to be taken into account because I know that if I try to eat with Gastroparesis, my stomach starts spasming and doesn't stop until I vomit everything up. That's not even mentioning the pain my esophagus feels after vomiting up so much food/liquids.
Image credit: Flicker
Just like you, probably, I *hate* going to the Emergency Room. But I must go if I want nausea relief because I can't keep down pills, or fluids. I ask for pain medicine after the doctor presses on my stomach because I cry. I've been crying for a week now because of the pain. I read something on Physician's Weekly that I would like to quote that sums up how I feel,
"When a person goes to the ER it’s because their pain has become too much for them to handle on their own. You then need to take into account the fact that anybody who is in pain wants not to be in pain and the faster the better. Please don’t judge us too harshly because people like myself who live with chronic pain want our pain to go away as soon as humanly possible. Chronic pain is a hideous disease. It never gives you a moment’s peace. When we with chronic pain go to an ER then you can be certain that we’re at a level of desperation for the pain to stop that we are willing to endure the terrible irritation of waiting in an ER. Waiting in an ER when they are in pain makes people anxious. It’s a well-establish fact that anxiety magnifies the perception of the pain that someone is experiencing."
Image credit: Aubrey O. and Tiffany W.
Now, there's a difference in being legitimately sick and just seeking drugs.
According to Physician's Weekly about drug seeking behavior(http://www.physiciansweekly.com/drug-seeking-behaviors-emergency-department/),
Here are some common schemes of drug seeking behavior according to Acpinternist.com(http://www.acpinternist.org/archives/2002/04/drug_abuse.htm),
In conclusion, there are several differences between chronically ill patients who may need medication to survive or even try to function while others just want to get high. At my most recent ER visit, the nurse told me I was the true emergency (dehydration and pain) and that he had gotten things like tooth aches all day. I know Gastroparesis is an invisible illness and most people think it's in our heads until they see our labs. That's another key difference.
Keep fighting to educate those out there who may still be skeptical of the illness. We shouldn't be punished because of lack of education. We should try to educate as many health workers whom we may come across. They need to understand what it's like throwing up or feeling abdominal pain with no end in sight. It IS different for us if we need medication, IV medication, to control it until we can get a handle on it ourselves. Sometimes, we do need that extra help and the hospital is the only way that we can get it.
"Most patients with Gastroparesis I encounter are drug seekers."
I want to explain why we are not drug seekers for those who may know little to nothing about GP and why that comment bothered me so much. I also want to educate people in what gastroparesis is, and does to the body. I wanted to tell her, imagine the worst stomach bug that you have EVER had, now imagine throwing up constantly and projectile vomiting. Your abdomen would hurt, right? You would use muscles you normally do not engage. Now, imagine that not letting up for weeks at a time. When would you go to the emergency room and would you complain of pain?
No two GPers are a like - we are all different in some way, but that doesn't make us any less ill.
According to the Mayo Clinic (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/gastroparesis/DS00612)
"Gastroparesis is a condition in which the muscles in your stomach don't function normally.
Ordinarily, strong muscular contractions propel food through your digestive tract. But in gastroparesis, the muscles in the wall of your stomach work poorly or not at all. This prevents your stomach from emptying properly. Gastroparesis can interfere with digestion, cause nausea and vomiting, and cause problems with blood sugar levels and nutrition.
There is no cure for gastroparesis. Making changes to your diet may help you cope with gastroparesis signs and symptoms, but that's not always enough. Gastroparesis medications may offer some relief, but some can cause serious side effects. Signs and symptoms of gastroparesis include:
Vomiting
Nausea
A feeling of fullness after eating just a few bites
Abdominal bloating
Heartburn or gastroesophageal reflux
Changes in blood sugar levels
Lack of appetite
Weight loss and malnutrition"
I am also going to add pain to the symptoms. That needs to be taken into account because I know that if I try to eat with Gastroparesis, my stomach starts spasming and doesn't stop until I vomit everything up. That's not even mentioning the pain my esophagus feels after vomiting up so much food/liquids.
Just like you, probably, I *hate* going to the Emergency Room. But I must go if I want nausea relief because I can't keep down pills, or fluids. I ask for pain medicine after the doctor presses on my stomach because I cry. I've been crying for a week now because of the pain. I read something on Physician's Weekly that I would like to quote that sums up how I feel,
"When a person goes to the ER it’s because their pain has become too much for them to handle on their own. You then need to take into account the fact that anybody who is in pain wants not to be in pain and the faster the better. Please don’t judge us too harshly because people like myself who live with chronic pain want our pain to go away as soon as humanly possible. Chronic pain is a hideous disease. It never gives you a moment’s peace. When we with chronic pain go to an ER then you can be certain that we’re at a level of desperation for the pain to stop that we are willing to endure the terrible irritation of waiting in an ER. Waiting in an ER when they are in pain makes people anxious. It’s a well-establish fact that anxiety magnifies the perception of the pain that someone is experiencing."
Now, there's a difference in being legitimately sick and just seeking drugs.
According to Physician's Weekly about drug seeking behavior(http://www.physiciansweekly.com/drug-seeking-behaviors-emergency-department/),
"Studies have been conducted on screening tools to identify drug-seeking behaviors in chronic pain patients, but few have provided quantitative data on such behaviors in the ED (Emergency Department). With this in mind, Dr. Grover and colleagues performed a case-control study examining the relative frequency of various drug-seeking behaviors in drug-seeking patients as compared with all ED patients. The study was published in the January 2012 Journal of Emergency Medicine. 'Our goal was to provide emergency physicians with information as to which drug-seeking behaviors are most commonly used by drug-seeking patients,' says Dr. Grover. 'Identifying behaviors that are most commonly used by drug-seeking patients may help evaluations of patients suspected of drug-seeking behavior.'”
A retrospective chart review of 152 drug-seeking patients and of age- and gender-matched controls was conducted, with the authors noting several drug-seeking behaviors that were exhibited over 1 year. Drug-seeking patients accounted for 2,203 visits to the ED, averaging about 14.5 visits per patient per year. For the control group, patients accounted for 315 visits to the ED, which is an average of 2.1 visits per patient per year. Patients in the drug-seeking arm reported their pain level as 10 out of 10 more often than control group patients (Table 1). Additionally, drug-seeking patients occasionally complained of pain levels greater than 10 out of 10, while the control group had no instances of these events. Drug-seeking patients were also significantly more likely to request medications parenterally.
The odds ratios for both requesting parenteral medication and reporting pain levels greater than 10 out of 10 were significantly higher than all others observed in the study (Table 2). These were the most predictive of drug-seeking behavior, while a non-narcotic allergy was less predictive. However, the odds ratio for a non-narcotic allergy was greater than 1, and was still a behavior that was more commonly used by drug-seeking patients than the control group. For other studied behaviors, the confidence intervals were too wide to allow the authors of the study to meaningfully interpret the data."
Here are some common schemes of drug seeking behavior according to Acpinternist.com(http://www.acpinternist.org/archives/2002/04/drug_abuse.htm),
"Most scammers try to get the doctor to write a prescription or gain access to a prescription pad so they can write a script themselves.
Patients will sometimes say they're from out of state and the pharmacy won't fill their prescription. They try to evoke the practitioner's compassion to continue the medication.
Other times, a patient you've never seen before will present with a prescription, ask you to refill it and promise to schedule an appointment next week. If you fill that prescription, you've been had.
Some patients will misrepresent their medical condition to induce you to write a prescription. Others will use the old standby excuses: 'I lost my prescription,' or 'I didn't have enough money to fill the prescription and it expired.'
Drug abuse is a developing phenomenon. It starts with patients losing prescriptions, not being able to track the amount of prescriptions or claiming that the doctor wrote the wrong prescription.
A concatenation of events often indicates abuse rather than serendipity or accident. A single transaction by itself does not mean abuse. But if your record shows repeated violations, you are not only denying what's going on, but also making yourself vulnerable to DEA or even patient litigation."
In conclusion, there are several differences between chronically ill patients who may need medication to survive or even try to function while others just want to get high. At my most recent ER visit, the nurse told me I was the true emergency (dehydration and pain) and that he had gotten things like tooth aches all day. I know Gastroparesis is an invisible illness and most people think it's in our heads until they see our labs. That's another key difference.
Keep fighting to educate those out there who may still be skeptical of the illness. We shouldn't be punished because of lack of education. We should try to educate as many health workers whom we may come across. They need to understand what it's like throwing up or feeling abdominal pain with no end in sight. It IS different for us if we need medication, IV medication, to control it until we can get a handle on it ourselves. Sometimes, we do need that extra help and the hospital is the only way that we can get it.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
My Face
My face. I almost didn't recognize it in the mirror. My face carries my head, held high, with flashing fierce green eyes. My eyebrows are more relaxed on my face as well as the lines by my eye and forehead. My eyes dance and flicker green at you with specks of gold thrown in. My smile glowed,and I smiled at everyone,very brightly - as bright as the sun! My lips look look pursed and strained. Additionally, my skin is a grayish hue and there are dark circles under my eyes!
The person I was looking at wasn't smiling, didn't look great, and just looked really tired.But most of all, I look so unhappy!
I had this realization in my bathroom a few minutes after this picture was taken.
The person I was looking at wasn't smiling, didn't look great, and just looked really tired. She didn't look like me, or what I perceived me to look like. I guess I've never really paid attention to those small details in life because there are just too many big details to think about. To be honest, I have never spent much time in front of a mirror because I had been raised a tomboy.
I know sickness and stress have made things worse. I have never been a beauty queen or anything, but this picture does me me feel self conscious about my appearance. But, I feel trapped at the same time because most days I'm too sick to do anything about my appearance. What do you do about this at home?
But, it is MY face, so I will love it because I love myself.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
How to Stay Positive - Especially, in Difficult Situations
I know sometimes when you're in the darkness, it's hard to find any light. I can't tell you how many times that I've been kicked while I'm down or just feeling down. Sometimes, I feel like there's nothing left to fight for. When you're chronically ill, this isn't a new feeling. Everyone experiences some depression when fighting a long term illness. With Gastroparesis, it comes and goes. I'm going to share some tips I've found online to help you find your way back up to stay positive and to keep fighting.
Thirteen Ways to Stay Positive by Wikihow - you can click HERE.
According to the article,
How to Train Your Brain to Stay Positive - Article can be found by clicking HERE.
According to the article,
That leads me into the next article I found:
How to Stay Positive in Challenging Times which you can read by clicking HERE.
According to the article,
There is one other article that I think you should read and it's at Live Your Life Well. It describes tools, much like the articles I've just quoted, that could help you too. Click HERE to read it.
I know it's hard to stay positive, but look inside yourself and find one positive thing that's happened to you today. Mine was that I was able to leave the bed. It seems such a small thing but it's the little victories that make you pick yourself up to keep fighting.
Thirteen Ways to Stay Positive by Wikihow - you can click HERE.
According to the article,
1. Examine your situation. What's causing the pain you are feeling? This is going to be key to working your way back to positive territory.
If it's situational—for example, you got fired, it's pouring down rain, and on the way home with all your office belongings in the car, that little spare tire that you've been running on gives up the ghost, leaving you stranded on the other side of town—you're going to need a different set of "positive" tools than if you have been diagnosed with a melanoma.
External factors can be dealt with by taking positive steps to repair or at least address the root problem as best as you can. Whatever the primary cause of the suckage, that cause must be addressed first. You may or may not be able to solve the problem, per se, but at least knowing you're taking positive steps forward is one less weight to have to carry, and it will help you improve your outlook. It will not be easy, of course, or we wouldn't be calling this "sucking."
If it's physical or mental—maybe you're bipolar, or suffer chronic depression—you must balance any attempt at "being positive" with an understanding that the reality is, it's going to be an ongoing battle for your own survival. Because depression will undermine even the strongest of wills, you will need help to maintain—or at least be reminded of—a positive outlook. Counseling, psychotherapy, and the right combination of medication will play a crucial role in helping to keep you from sinking into that very dark place that is the essence of depression. Be patient, but don't look for miracles. It may be that you will need the help of professionals throughout your life to maintain a generally even keel.
2. Don't give in. When you're in the middle of a suck vortex, those words will have little meaning, because everything you know in your bones to be true is telling you that giving in would be so easy to do.
People will tell you "just get over it," or "get a grip." They know—and you know—that if you were to look objectively at the sum of your life, that it's not as bad as it feels; there are many people whose lives are measurably worse than yours. So what! Their lives, no matter how terrible, are not your life, and your situation is unique to you.
Don't try to "get over it." If one could "will away" depression, there would be no need of doctors or drugs. What you can do is understand why you feel like you do, and explain to your would-be counselors that you wish it were that easy, and that you appreciate their concern. Don't push them away—at the very least, you can be positive that they are there for you, however clumsy and unaware their platitudes may be. Who knows, their bumbling efforts may even provide some amusement or distraction!
3. Take care of your body and soul. Given that you are probably an emotional wreck in a world of sewage, swimming in the debris of whatever damage the suckage has wrought, this is not the time to become a world champion hotdog eater, consumer of tubs of ice cream, or finding the bottom of the bottle of Jack. Treat yourself well, even though you feel like hell. How, you ask? Here are some ideas:
Give your pet some love. They know you're not their normal human, but the beauty of pets is unconditional, unquestioning love. Be playful with them, find a simple game that amuses both of you (the fake ball-throw is always a canine favorite), and let yourself forget your troubles for 5 or 10 minutes. It won't solve your problem, but it will lighten the load.
My personal advice is to contact a GP friend - either by phone or on Facebook. Get all of your anger out/frustration/sadness out. The person on the other end of the line understands completely.
Another bit of personal advice I'd like to throw in is to write. Writing has always been my stress outlet and it helps me cope with isolation and sadness.
4. Cut back on the caffeine drinks. You don't need to quit, but cutting back will help reduce chemically induced anxiety and stress, and smooth any recovery time.
Exercise your body. It may be a sport you enjoy, yoga, cross training, or even a simple walk in the park. But keeping your body active will help your outlook.
Throw yourself into a hobby you enjoy. Whether it's art, photography, music appreciation, or building a ship in a bottle, focusing on something other than the suck factor will give your mind some time off for good behavior.
Join a community that you're not already part of. It could be a support group for whatever you're going through, or a group of people that share your love of Lord of the Rings, or a charity such as Habitat for Humanity. You may find solace and purpose in ways you never imagined.
Do not crawl into a hole and disappear. Your friends and loved ones probably know your life sucks. They may or may not be able to help you directly, but they can give you emotional and moral support.
Sleep. You don't need to be told this. Your body is probably begging you for it when you are in the middle of hard times. You may actually be drawn to sleep all day. While that might feel good at the moment, it only puts off the inevitable, so try to maintain good sleeping habits. Maintain a consistent sleep schedule, but allow yourself some leeway. If you sleep fitfully for half the night, then finally fall asleep at 4am, don't get up at 6:30 unless you absolutely must. Let your body get about 8 hours for the best results.
5. Seek help immediately. Yes, life sucks. Sometimes, it can become overwhelming to the point where you figure that swallowing a bottle of pills, or a 9 mm, will be preferable to another day of pain. If those thoughts start to invade your senses, deal with them as if your life depended on it—because it does.
If you're just starting to have those thoughts, speak to your physician or your therapist. They may prescribe something to help steer you back to the center, emotionally. It may be the act of talking about it is therapeutic enough, but don't assume that. Leave that call to the professionals.
If you're at a more advanced stage, thinking about last meals, what to write, how you'll do it, and if anybody will even care (or that this will "teach them a lesson"), stop whatever you 're doing. Pick up a phone. Dial 1-800-273-8255, and tell them what's on your mind. If your urge is not quite immediate, go to Google, and enter "suicide hotline." The results should include the number above, plus local resources that can help, no matter what the cause.
Note that if your in the end stage of a terminal illness, the above suggestion may be not be the best course. Some countries, and one State in the United States, permits physician-assisted suicide—its purpose to provide for a quiet, controlled departure from this world.
Some Tips:
Remember to laugh. Laughing is a natural way to release tension.
Thinking positively means hanging on to hope and looking for new possibilities at the time when life's gotten too hard. It means striving against its challenges, however extreme. It means hanging on to what is good in yourself if everything else gets swept away and valuing your compassion, your warmth, your capacity to find beauty. There is always the sky, there is always a dewdrop on a weed. Speaking broadly, there is always tomorrow.
When you think positive, positive things do happen, in times of crisis it's hard but remember as hard as it seems the world does not owe us anything. Things happen for a reason. Stay strong, this is just a chapter in your life.
Be positive and active.
If the above fails for you, take the Buddhist view: Life is difficult. The fallacious thought is that we can change that. In accepting that life indeed is difficult, we begin to make it less painful...not less difficult.
To "go for it," simply get up and do it. If there's even the smallest voice inside saying, "Get up!", to do what it says; just dive in! Turn off the computer, turn off the TV, and get going!
When you think positively, you begin to view the world around a little more gently; you tend to look on the better, clearer side. Being resentful will render positive thinking useless.
Find a friend and talk it out. Ask them just to listen. Sometimes telling the situation out loud you hear it from outside your own head and see the situation more clearly. Talk therapy is great.
Leave bad fears in the past,don't let them ruin your future because its your future that your future that counts the most....
Love, forgive yourself. Don't be harsh on yourself.
How to Train Your Brain to Stay Positive - Article can be found by clicking HERE.
According to the article,
You can learn to cultivate resilience by training your brain to stay positive when times are tough.
"People tend to have a cognitive bias toward their failures, and toward negativity," says Matthew Della Porta, a positive psychologist and organizational consultant. Our brains are more likely to seek out negative information and store it more quickly to memory.
Related
Work Positive in a Negative World Work Positive in a Negative World
By Joey Faucette
Of course, that bias is not always bad. Acknowledging problems and facing failures can lead us to better solutions. But too often, we go overboard, and beat ourselves up for our failures or let ourselves dwell in the negative.
By consciously increasing our focus on the positive, we start to even the balance. We find a happy medium where we can address failures and challenges without letting them get us down, leaving us more motivated, productive, and likely to succeed.
Try these three tips to help you train your brain to stay positive:
1. Express gratitude.Negative events loom large unless you consciously balance them out. "When you're faced with challenges, it's important to take stock of what's going well," Della Porta says. Thinking about the good in your life can help balance that bias, giving your brain the extra time it needs to register and remember a positive event.
To help your brain store positive events, reflect on what you're grateful for and why at least once a week. Write down your blessings, such as the opportunity to pursue a career you love or a family that supports you. If you prefer a daily habit, then keep a nightly log of good things that happened that day. "Just keep it very short," Della Porta says. "If you try to hammer [gratitude] home, then it becomes mundane." Day One, a journaling app for Apple devices ($4.99), or OhLife, a free email-based journal, can to help you do this.
2. Repeat positive affirmations. As any politician or advertiser knows, the more often you hear a message, the more likely you are to believe it. The same goes for messages about who you are and what you are capable of doing. By repeating positive affirmations with conviction several times each morning, you are training your brain to believe them. "Over time, you'll start to internalize them," Della Porta says. Repeat your affirmations silently if you feel self-conscious.
Choose two to three affirmations that represent your values and goals, such as 'I can handle whatever comes my way,' 'There is plenty of time,' or 'I’m getting better every day.' The repetition will influence the way you interpret negative events, making you more resilient. "Especially if you're predisposed to negative thinking, this can be extremely effective," Della Porta says.
3. Challenge negative thoughts. Each time a negative thought arises, we choose how to respond. If left to our own devices, we tend to dwell. Our brains home in on negative events so they seem much bigger and more significant than they are. To combat that, start by imagining the thought as separate from yourself, as something you can observe and deconstruct. "Get in the habit of distancing yourself instead of dwelling," Della Porta says.
Next, challenge negative thoughts that are unfairly self-deprecating. For example, if your start up doesn't get the traction you hoped, you might think, "I'm a failure." That's untrue and unproductive. Instead, practice interpreting the same event differently. You might say, I worked really hard but I didn't account for a quirk of the market, so I'm disappointed, but now I’m going to try again with new information. That interpretation is gentler, truer, and more proactive. "At first, [this strategy will] be hard and you’ll think it doesn't work," Della Porta says. "But over time, it'll become automatic and negative thoughts will be less likely to come up. No one does this naturally; you have to learn and practice."
Read more: http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/225683#ixzz2XLKRcKIx
That leads me into the next article I found:
How to Stay Positive in Challenging Times which you can read by clicking HERE.
According to the article,
Are you having trouble staying in a positive state of mind when challenging circumstances present themselves? The universal laws state: So without, so within. Everything is a mirror. We cannot change the reflection, but we can change the original (ourselves), and then, automatically, the reflection changes.
Here are my top five keys that can help you cultivate not only a positive mindset, but also the feeling state necessary for the positive law of attraction. The more you focus on bringing awareness to accepting and loving yourself, the more your inner beauty and harmony are reflected in your outer circumstances.
1. Relax and Accept - Relax and accept the challenging situation. Don't fight it, because that will make it worse. The more relaxed you are, the more productive you are. Creativity arises out of a relaxed state. And it's creativity that you need to come up with solutions to the situation you are in. Notice that I use the word "situation" and not the word "problem." There is no such thing as a problem, only a situation. When you shift your perspective and see the situation as it is, without negative commentary, then you come up with creative solutions, and/or you find the right person to help you.
2. Watch the Mind- Make a practice of watching the thoughts of the mind with non-judgment and compassion for yourself. It is not the thoughts that are the problem, it is our identification with them that creates stress and anxiety.
For five minutes a day, sit with eyes closed, body relaxed, and observe the thoughts of the mind. You don't have to censor them, or force them to be other than they are, simply observe with non-judgment, and let them pass by.
Over time, you become less identified with the thoughts, and more connected to your creativity, wisdom and clarity.
3. Create Positive Thoughts - A powerful way to undermine the influence of negative thoughts on your wellbeing is to create a practice of saying positive thoughts to yourself. At the beginning, these might seem tedious or silly, but, believe me, it works! The easiest way to break a bad habit of self-judgment and criticism is to create positive phrases that you repeat to yourself as often as possible. Even if you don't really believe them in the beginning, say them anyway! Over time, they become a habit and the negative thoughts simply dissolve.
4. Surround Yourself With Positive People - Be alert to people who like to complain, bad-mouth others, and/or have a depressed outlook on life. Avoid them. Keep yourself in the company of positive thinking people. This is a powerful way to keep yourself in a positive energy field that will lift you rather than bring you down. Your life is not determined by outside circumstances, but rather by how you respond to those outside circumstances.
Remember that all things are possible, there is a lot going on that is unseen to you.
The more you keep yourself on a positive vibrational level, the greater your chances of having positive outcomes to challenging situations.
5. Be Grateful, Laugh, Celebrate - Be grateful for what you have. If things are really bad, be grateful for being able to breathe, get out of bed in the morning, use your legs. Be grateful for the sunrise and sunset, for the beauty of the sky, the trees, the birds and flowers. There is always something to be grateful for. Put your focus there and celebrate what you have. Laughter is a powerful attractor factor. Seek out ways to bring more laughter into your life. You will be amazed at the miracles that occur.
Meditation: Befriending the Mind
Benefits:
When you befriend the mind you are surprised how radically life can change. It becomes much easier to dis-identify from the mind's constant chattering and see yourself, and life's situations, with more clarity and objectivity. You see life's dramas with perspective and compassion, and insights and understandings arise naturally.
Directions:
Find ways to befriend your mind. The mind is our bridge from the subconscious to the conscious, our gateway of expression to the outer world. Be grateful for it. Find ways to appreciate the insights, understandings, and creativity it brings. See it not as an enemy but as a friend.
As this friendship with the mind deepens, your mind no longer disturbs you. You are not fighting it; you are simply letting it's thoughts pass by.The mind and the ego want to make it complicated, but it is not. Life sings a different tune when you are not controlled by the mind. Your natural joy, spontaneity, self-acceptance, love and compassion arise quickly and easily.
There is one other article that I think you should read and it's at Live Your Life Well. It describes tools, much like the articles I've just quoted, that could help you too. Click HERE to read it.
I know it's hard to stay positive, but look inside yourself and find one positive thing that's happened to you today. Mine was that I was able to leave the bed. It seems such a small thing but it's the little victories that make you pick yourself up to keep fighting.
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