Crohn's Disease Relief

Prozac Kitty - Just Gotta Laugh

Whenever I am having a rough day, I find that those silly LOLCats can always cheer me up. Me and my teenage niece have this in common. 

I once read an essay that was deconstructing the LOL Cats and how they are really an example of schadenfreude.  (laughing at other people when they are down, really)  I don't think that's all it is, though.  To me they represent the ability to express human pathos in the guise of cute or funny animals.  Like cartoons, the LOL Cats are allowed to say things we might not feel comfortable saying about human beings.  But they're animals so it's safe.  So we can enjoy the pathos and the humor.  Plus LOL Speak is just hilarious.  We take the butchering of English to the extreme but it's ok - cause its just kitties, right.  No pressure.  Just funny.

Here's your Medical Themed LOLCat of the week.  No extra charge for the mini-essay on the true meaning of LOL Cats. It's just part of the full service I provide here at Crohn's Disease Relief.  Cause laughter is the best medecine.  But sometimes you need a little Prozac. I hear the generic zoloft is a good vintage this year as well.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

The only doc

At 2 am Thursday, Ivers rested. She’d gone 48 hours without sleeping, eating, or even sitting down.

How did she handle being the only doc?

“I don’t know,” she says. “I think automatic mode kicks in.”

via pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com

From Dr. Gupta's blog - the story of Dr. Louise Ivers who happened to be at a meeting in Haiti during the earthquake. This story relates how she was the only doctor in the area and was trying to treat hundreds of people with no supplies or medication. An amazing story.

Dr. Gupta hasn't been on the air because he is performing trauma medicine instead of reporting. The right thing to do, and I applaud it.

While Crohn's disease sufferers have our own things to deal with, it's nothing like what people in Haiti are going through this week.

Just Gotta Laugh

This made me bust out laughing and I had to share.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

MediClim - Weather Health Warning System

Sign up to MediClim^® for FREE and you will begin to get your health forecast the day before your health problem may be aggravated due to changes in the weather. You will also gain access to our forums where you can meet people with health problems similar to your own. MediClim is a FREE service currently available to everyone in Canada, the USA (lower 48 states), the UK, Ireland and France.

via www.mediclim.com

This is interesting. You sign uo for your location and tell them what your ailments are and then they send you a warning when the weather is going to be something that may aggravate your condition.

Changes in the weather are one of my strong migraine triggers, so I can really see this as being useful. From the Crohn's disease perspective, the acheyness that comes along with damp cold weather affects me as well.

Realistic Resolutions From Dr. Oz - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

This is the time of year when many people declare New Year’s resolutions to lose weight or exercise. But such broad resolutions aimed at better health are often tough to follow. I asked Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of “The Dr. Oz Show” and director of the Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine Program at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, to share his ideas for simple and practical resolutions you can keep. Here they are:

via well.blogs.nytimes.com

There are some great ideas here. And very do-able.

Eat together as a family at least once a week.

Do 7 minutes of yoga a day.

Go to bed earlier.

Keep nuts or healthful snack in your purse or pocket. (Maybe not nut for Crohn's Disease peeps!)

Make space in front of your TV for stretching/exercise.

Floss.

Get a pedometer.

I would like to add a couple of things to this great list.

Go meatless one day a week. Try roasted stuffed squash, pasta with veggies, or lentil stew. Red and yellow lentils are more easy for me to digest than most other types of legumes.

Eat fish one night a week. Try buying frozen fish fillets so you have fish on hand. Or get wonderful fresh wild salmon and marinate it in a bottled teriyaki sauce.

Can't Eat or Drink, But He Sure Can Write

I just read a blog post by Roger Ebert that really moved me.  Since some Crohn's patients will be on feeding tubes or TPN I think this might be an interesting read.  Roger talks about how what he misses most is not so much the actual eating but more more the social aspect of meals.

He also writes about how as he lost the ability to eat and drink certain memories became very vivid.  Roger's post has a lot of of pathos, and made me think about appreciating things in life.

I posted a comment - that he might not be able to eat, drink, or talk, but he sure can write.

Five 'eating better' foods to slip into your diet in '10

Five 'eating better' foods to slip into your diet in '10

via www.cnn.com

Another of those great lists of healthy foods for the new year. But how do these 5 new "in" foods stack up for people with sensitive Crohn's digestive systems?

1. Rye and Oats. The health benefit is in the healthy fiber. But we Crohnie's know that fiber can be an iffy proposition if you are in a flare. I personally like the very thin rye bread done Swedish style with a light coating of butter, smoked salmon, cream cheese, or a bit of green onion or chives. But not during a flare, right. Oats can be very constipating for me personally and I can't eat them unless I am in in a good frame of health. Barley is good - I like it and I think its especially good in soups. When cooked very soft in a soup I don't think it would bother my stomach.

2. Soy. Sure, good stuff. Not so much edamame though as it is too fibrous. Tastes great though. If you were in no-flare mode it might be ok.

3. Salmon and other oily fish. Bring it on - great stuff and it has anti-inflammatory properties. Go with wild salmon, mackerel, sardines, herring, fresh tuna, trout, etc.

4. Red wine. Definately off my personal list cause it gives me heartburn and headaches. Oh well. I stick to a shot of brandy. :-)

5. Green Tea. Yum, its good to me and never has bothered me a bit.

High fat diet increases inflammation in the mouse colon

"There is convincing evidence that increased intake of red meat, processed meat and alcohol can increase risk of colorectal cancer, whereas greater consumption of dietary fiber, milk and calcium might decrease risk,"

via www.sciencedaily.com

This article makes me want to eat some nice healthy fish, with steamed veggies for dinner tonight.

Happy new year everyone and wishing you a year as free from inflammation as we can get it.

Two Kinds of Autoimmune Diseases Postulated by Genome Study

Based on their analyses, the researchers suggest autoimmune diseases fall into at least two different groups: one containing rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis and another containing multiple sclerosis and autoimmune thyroid disease.

via www.genomeweb.com

I am not going to pretend to understand all the science on this one, but it's pretty interesting. Stanford University researcher Atul Butte worked with a large team to study meta data gathered "genome-wide" association data various autoimmune diseases to try to find ones that seem to go together or not.

They found there seems to be at least two types of autoimmune diseases, and having one of the types might actually reduce the risk of having others of the other type.

I bet I can guess that Crohn's disease belongs with the rheumatoid arthrisis and ankylising sponylitis side of the house. Why do I guess this? Because I happen to know that people with Crohn's have a higher risk of also having those two diseases. In fact rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's share some biologic treatments such as Remicade and Humira.

I will be very interested in hearing more about this study. My personal theory is that the genetic component makes us susceptible to the disease, but the disease itself might be triggered by some environmental factor such as MAP bacteria.