Pac-Man and our health

Okay, I am beyond excited about this collaboration between technology and molecular biology~ and wanted to share a link with you today from NPR. First, this is a great flu-season topic to cover, as we are surrounded by so many dealing with colds and various other bugs that can complicate our lupus or autoimmune disease self-management. Secondly, ...

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Saturday ,January 21, 2012 Autoimmune Diseases & Syndromes, Diagnosis, Health, Internet, Lupus, Research No comments

MLWT Musings Member Offerings

In the Celebrations edition of the MLWT enewsletter, I introduced a new column “Community Sharing.”  I will be announcing three topics that come into my email inbox on a regular basis and I am asking those of you who receive the enewsletter to send back your responses so that I can post them here on ...

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Thursday ,January 19, 2012 Autoimmune Diseases & Syndromes, Books, Chronic Illness, Communication, Community, Coping, Fibromyalgia, Lupus, Networking, Resources, Social Support, Stress Mgmt No comments

Teaching this ‘old’ dog some self-care tricks

With the return of my lupus symptoms during the holiday ‘flare’, I’ve been making a more conscious effort to notice the decisions I make in treating them. Usually, I only take two medications to manage my lupus and it’s affects on my kidneys.  Those two medications are an immunosuppressant CellCept ® and the ACE inhibitor/diuretic brand name Lisinopril .  ...

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Saturday ,January 14, 2012 Behaviors and Patterns, Chronic Illness, Coping, Lupus, Resources, Self-Care, Strategies, Treatment Approaches and Perspectives No comments

2012: The Year of ‘There and back again’

I always look forward to the New Year, full of potential and new experiences.  I no longer make resolutions, only because they come with them old pressures and negative mental tapes of past failures that I’d rather not have hanging over me as I start things off. I’ve learned to simply take one day at ...

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Monday ,January 2, 2012 Chronic Illness, Coping, Lupus, Personal Stories, Self-Care, Treatment Approaches and Perspectives No comments

How do I see my Illness?

I missed the deadline for the PFAM this month, but Leslie has graciously allowed us to submit late and here is mine. I offer both in-person and online Discovery Sessions that focus on wellness – not just illness, but the overall concept of health as “...a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.” (Straub, 2012)  ...

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Wednesday ,December 21, 2011 Ankylosing Spondylitis, Arthritis Information, Autoimmune Diseases & Syndromes, Chronic Illness, Creativity, Fibromyalgia, Health, Holidays & Socials, Internet, Lupus, MLWT, Oregon, Pain management, Personal Stories, Scleroderma, Self-Care, Social Support, Stress Mgmt, Vancouver No comments

Being more attentive in my own care

I have been exploring mindfulness practices during my three month hiatus from the blog and have discovered some amazing changes in my own health and well-being.  I stepped away from it in the last week and feel things reeling back out of control, so I know it was doing me some good. In case you don’t ...

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Sunday ,December 11, 2011 Autoimmune Diseases & Syndromes, Chronic Illness, Community, Fibromyalgia, Holistic, Lupus, Self-Care, Strategies No comments

Newest MLWT Guest Writer, Eric Suarez, CPT offers support for our fibro community

I would like to introduce a new MLWT Guest writer, Eric Suarez, who is a fitness trainer and author of a new book focusing on living healthy with fibromyalgia.  As I have been working on building more resources for those of you here in thePacific Northwest facing this particular health challenge, I came across his ...

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Tuesday ,October 25, 2011 Chronic Illness, Fibromyalgia, Guest Blogger, Lifestyle, MLWT, Oregon, Pain management, Resources, Self-Care, Sports & Fitness, Washington No comments

And the band played on…with you being your own best conductor

As you already know, I co-lead Oregon Living Well With Chronic Conditions workshops here in the Portland area (although, they are statewide both in Oregon and Washington under the same name – for more information about Oregon workshops, visit the OR Living Well website).  These workshops emphasize learning how to be your own best self-manager ...

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Friday ,October 7, 2011 Behaviors and Patterns, Chronic Illness, Lupus, Oregon, Self-Care, Stress Mgmt, Washington One comment

New Directions for MLWT

When this MLWT network began, my role was to act as a collector of stories.   Building on the research I conducted on lupus peer-led support groups here in Oregon, I continued to interview, research, review content and take part in as many conversations I could with regards to what ‘support’ means to those of us living ...

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Tuesday ,September 20, 2011 Chronic Illness, MLWT, Oregon, Social Support, Washington No comments

Disability: The Chronic Illness version of the Fork in the Road

If you were unable to attend last Saturday’s presentation by MLWT Guest Writer Cheryl Coon on the nuts and bolts of disability insurance inOregon, it was a great success.  She not only offered us an overview of the step-by-step process, but she also spoke specifically about considering disability options for challenges faced with Fibromyalgia.  Namely, that ...

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Monday ,September 19, 2011 Chronic Illness, Disability resources, Fibromyalgia, Guest Blogger, Local Resources, Oregon, Washington One comment

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