Crohn's Disease Relief

Funny For the Day

I stumbled across the funniest website called McSweeey's Internet Tendency.  It has some of the most obscurely funny lists I have ever seen. 

This one, however, had me break out laughing until my kids has to ask me what what so funny.

New Anxiety Medications for Coping With Economic Gloom

Funniest one: Nojoblin.  I  think I am on that.  I have now been laid off for more than 6 months.  My biggest fear was having to be out on disability and not be able to work.  Now I am perfectly capable of working, want to work, motivated to work, have fantastic job skills in Information Technology, over 12 years of experience as an email adminstrator, and...  unemployed due to recession.

Free Sample of Curcumin Dietary Supplement

I heard about a Freebie offer to try a Free Sample of Curamin Curcumin dietary supplement that I wanted to pass along.  Personally I'd just as soon make some Turmeric flavored rice.  I mean, I take so many pills I don't want to add one more.  However, I present the idea just in case you want to give it a try this is a perfect way to try it with a free sample.  I liked that this manufacturer did not have all kinds of crazy claims, and presented some good articles about the benefits of Curcumin.

According to the manufacturer:

Curamin is an all-natural dietary supplement. It is a powerful formulation of: Curcumin, curcuminoids, dl phenylananine, Boswellia and Nattokinase.

Video Spoof - Healthy Americans Against Reforming Medicine

This video spoofs the US Republican rhetoric against health care reform and the single payer plan. It's humor, but to me its a bit too realistic to actually be a laughing matter.

Who's behind the anti-health care reform rhetoric? Meet HAARM: Health Americans Against Reforming Medicine. Find out more: http://www.haarm.org

Folk Remedy for Crohn's - Coconut Macaroons

There are a lot of people who swear by this folk remedy: two coconut macaroons a day to keep Crohn's disease diarrhea at bay.  I have no idea if there is a scientific or even anecdotal evidence that two macaroons a day will help Crohn's, but I do know that they are tasty.  They don't seem to bother my Crohn's and they remind me of Passover holidays, which is nice.  Also, my kids and husband don't like them which means that they don't disappear like most of the rest of the food in my house.

Nutritionists do agree that the mono-unsaturated fats in coconut oil are very healthy fats.  In particular virgin coconut oil contains lauric acid, "a medium-chain fatty acid."  According to the folks that make all natural Jennies Macaroons:

This is the fatty acid that your digestive tract converts into the powerful anti-microbial monoglyceride called monolaurin.

Possible Future IBD Treatment Shows Promise

Biotech firm Compugen Ltd. announced today that their "novel peptide antagonist" called CGEN-25007 was shown to reduce IBD-type inflammation in mice. 

Apparently they induce colitis in the mice and then treat some of them with the peptide agent and some without.  The mice who were given the CGEN-25007 got better while the other mice suffered wasting disease.  (Poor mice!)

Here is a quote from the press release about   Compugen's new drug agent:

These results suggest that CGEN-25007 could have a potential therapeutic utility to treat IBD and other autoimmune diseases with a strong inflammatory component, such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Best and Worst Foods for Crohn's Disease

OrganizedWisdom.com has a nice slideshow listing "the Best and Worst Foods for Crohn's Disease."  This is basic stuff - no amazing new information, but it might be good for getting ideas for low residue meals and snacks.  This also would be great for a newly diagnosed person to peruse to get an idea of what to eat with Crohn's and what not to eat with Crohn's.

Fortune Article on Adult Stem Cell Treatments

I found a good informative article from Fortune magazine online about the future and current prospects of adult stem cell treatments.

500 mile, eight day waverunner journey for Crohn's

Richard Wolpert, former President of Disney Online and now a Tech Entrepreneur, rode a personal watercraft 500 miles offshore in a 8 day journey to fund Crohn's research.  He had earlier helped found the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America Camp Oasis a camp for kids with Crohn's.

This journey through the Bahamas was a fundraiser for the camp as well as the Pediatric IBD program at Cedars Sinai Hospital, and the IBD Support Foundation.

Wolpert has had Crohn's since he was a child, and was diagnosed at 13.  He said that he wanted to help raise awareness for the disease.

Here is a great quote from Richard's web site: BahamaChallenge.com:

The Challenge: I feel that I owe a lot of my success to Crohn’s Disease. At a young age it taught me that life does have obstacles, and can be challenging however when faced with these challenges, with perseverance, hard work, optimism, and the help of family and friends you can thrive.
This adventure will be challenging. It will include an initial 80 mile ocean crossing of the Gulf Stream from Florida to the Bahamas, several days through and around the Bahamas, and back across the Gulf Stream. All of the equipment shown below and more will be needed (I am personally paying for everything for the trip, 100% of donations will go directly to the charities). I will be by myself the entire trip. No chase boat, no other waverunners.

Weather Aches and Pains Index

Here's something cool a friend of mine showed me today - Weather.com now has an aches and pains index that rates from 1-10 the aches you might experience from the weather.

Those of us who feel like walking barometers and wake up in the morning saying that your trick knee tells you that it is going to rain today will love this feature.  My sinuses and migraines tell me when there is a weather pressure change coming, and my aches and pains (knees, hips, backs) tell me when it's damp.  It's going to be interesting to follow the aches and pains index and see if they hold true.

Excercise Your Brain

I was reading about a new test medical professionals have developed that may help identify people who need further diagnostic testing for Alzheimer's and other types of dementia.  The test called TYM (test your memory) includes things like "name 5 animals that start with the letter s" and how well a person can copy a sentence. 

Alzheimer Test Your Memory Test on AJC.com.

I have also heard that people who do puzzles, handcrafts, and other activities that exercise the brain have slower rates of mental aging.  My grandmother played bridge nearly every day, as well as scrabble, rummy, and lots of other games.  She lived with all/most of her faculties intact into her 90s. I have a theory that when you retire it's important to take up hobbies and activities that make you exercise your brain.

If you are staying home recuperating from a Crohn's flare, or out on disability -- the same goes.  Whether it be Sudoku, Brain Age on the DS, Bridge, MahJong, Bunco, Crossword Puzzles, Jigsaw puzzles, woodworking, knitting....  whatever it is keep those fingers and brain cells working. If you can find a community of like minded people to get together with that's even better because it will keep the social parts of your brain going too.  I go to knit night at a local yarn store and that is my thing.  I also love to play the game Scrabble Cubes on the computer at worldwinner.com.  I enjoy Sudoku - but I am SLLOW at figuring them out.  My hubby can do the huge 5 puzzle super sudokus but I like to stick to the "nice and easy" ones.