Crohn's Disease Relief

Asacol SR Coupon

Asacol SR
End Date: 05/31/2010
Offer: $25 off or 60 free tablets
Local Pharmacy Coupon

via www.needymeds.org

For those taking Asacol SR (mesalamine), see if you can use the coupon linked above. Courtesy of needymeds.org.

Trick Yourself into Being Happy?

When you have some major "ouchyness" going on, the happiness kick the world seems to be on might not seem like something you can manage.  And when you're grumpy the last thing you may want to do is read some cheesy life advice from people who tell you that it's your own fault if you're not happy healthy and perfect.  (No, I am not the world's biggest fan of the Secret.)

However, I am a fan of being happy-ish.  I particularly enjoy being content.  I even like being giddy and having fun every once in a while.  I also like giving other people advice, (right?) so when I read an article on HowStuffWorks.com about the "Top 5 Ways to Trick Yourself into Being Happy" I was intrigued.

So I perused the list and have cut it down into a nutshell for you especially for the "Crohnnies."

1.  Hang out around smiling people.  Don't forget the ancillary side of this which is that sometimes you should avoid those people who suck the happiness out of you.  Like Toxic Friends.

2.  Eat a healthy meal.  In specific they note: that complex carbohydrates -- like legumes and whole-grain breads release glucose slowly for a lasting "happy."  Folate from spinach helps the production of serotonin. Proteins like fish, meat and beans have some of the same chemical that make up dopamine - tyrosine and phenylalanine.

So perhaps a happy menu might be:

Lentil Soup

Nice lean steak, fish, or other protein rich entree

Creamed spinach

3.  Try the The 5% trick from zenhabits.com.  It goes like this - say to yourself "If I were 5 percent more responsible today, I would _________" .  This will help identify things in an incremental and bite-sized manner.

4.  Spend money doing something nice for someone else.  I say donate to the World Food Programme or the CCFA.

5.  Workout - even just once. Turns out people who worked out and then stopped were happier than people who didn't try it in the first place.  This is a tough one for me as a lot of workouts leave me exhausted and sore.  That's not happy.  I need to get out and about and get just small amounts of activity.

Free Sample Lanacane Anti-Chafing Gel

If you go to lanacane.com. they are offering a free sample of Lanacane Anti-Chafing Gel.  I am thinking that this could be handy for sensitive tummies that rub on clothes, not to mention other parts of the body the can get hot and chafe in the summer.  :-)

Here's the product description from their products page:

Lanacane™ Anti-Chafing Gel soothes and prevents chafing caused by friction such as repeated rubbing of skin on skin or skin on clothing. It helps skin heal by reducing further damage from chafing.

What to Do When You are Discouraged

Life comes with a lot of ups and downs. Probably one of the most important life skills to have is determination and the ability to overcome frustration.  This is not one of my strong suits.  I generally struggle with something, decide I don't like it, then give up and try something else.  This is great in terms of my ability to try new things.  This is not great in terms of me having to come to terms with being a "quitter."  That's not the way I envision myself as a kick butt tough girl.  (OK, I am not a kick butt tough girl either, but you have to have goals, right?)

 

My 6 year old son Ben is a lot like me.  He's very smart, very sensitive, and does not like criticism or frustration.  I would like to be able to teach him not to get discouraged, and to keep trying something until he gets it.  But how can I teach him a skill that I am not so great at either? 

 

As a person with a chronic illness, it is all too easy to give up to discouragement.  I have a built in excuse.  And when I get depressed, all I want to do is sleep anyway.  I am lucky if I can do the simple normal stuff in life, let alone attack tasks that are tricky and take practice.  I mean lets get real.

 

Probably the ultimate answer here is that you have to pick your battles.  If it is something really important to you, keep going through the frustration and through the discouragement.  When the frustration threatens to get too much, take a break.  After your break, try it another way.  Take your time and don't be afraid to ask for help.  Other times, I think its OK to let go.  If you try something and its not for you, try something else.  You do not have to succeed at everything you do.  Most successful entrepreneurs have had at least one failed business before they make it big with a success.  They keep trying something different until they get it right.  But that doesn't mean they don't have a lot of failures along the way.

 

How do you know when its OK to just give up, and when you have to keep fighting?  Listen to your heart - it always will lead you to what is important. 

Things to Try to Get Rid of a Migraine

As if Crohn's Disease wasn't enough, I suffer from some seriously bad migraine headaches.  There are some great prescription medications for migraines, and I recommend that you go see a neurologist to get checked out.  But here are some of the home remedies I use while I am waiting for the medications to work.

 

 

1.  Dark and quiet can bring blessed relief.  Tell everyone to leave you alone, let them order themselves a pizza for dinner, and go off duty.

 

2.  Cold pack.  I like the "Peas" brand you can get at CVS.  My migraines start in my upper back and neck and I will put an ice pack right on my skin on the back of my neck and shoulder blade and leave it there until it melts.  This is super cold but at this point my head hurts so bad that the pain from the ice is a nice distraction.  This seems to "freeze" some of my nerves and can really help my head.  I will at the same time put another ice pack on my head where the headache is, but for this one I like to wrap it in a silly scarf to take some of the chill off of it.  I also tend to move this one around as you will get ice cream brain freeze if you leave it in once place.

3.  Hot feel, cold head.  A friend of mine recommended this one to me.  It's a bit dicey because I am personally afraid I might pass out, but what she does is put her feet in a tub of very hot water while she puts an ice pack on her head.  I've done this with a heating pad on my feet and ice pack on my neck.  I think the trick here is to draw the blood away from the head and to the feet, thus relieving some of the pressure and or inflammation.

 

4.  Rice hot pack wrapped around your ears.  I like to do this one after the cold packs have melted.  I have a long tube filled with rice that I microwave for 3 minutes.  I have found that it is just long enough to cover both ears and I wrap it around my head so it goes over my eyes and coveres both ears.  For some reason this is very soothing.  I think covering the ears helps even out the pressure in my sinus cavities which in turn helps ease the pressure on the nerves.  Plus the warmth is relaxing.  Hopefully by this time my painkillers are kicking in and I can relax. 

 

5.  Home tens unit.  I have a little device I bought in a mall in Dallas that is sort of a home tens unit/massages.  You stick these little sticky gel pads on your skin and place the electrodes on the muscles and get a massage.  This actually seems to work, including the acupressure feature with two little pads you are supposed to put on the y of your hand in the headache acupressure spot.  Mine is the Be Smart Mini Massager.

 

6.  Caffeine can help.  I have found that the little energy shot drink "5 Hour Energy" works well.  It contains caffeine and also B vitamins and Niacin.  The caffeine is a vaso-dilator, and the niacin is as well and I think that is why this works.

 

7.  If my headache is not too bad, I find going out to the local nail spa for a spa pedicure is a great way to make myself feel better.  Get a deluxe pedicure with foot massage and see if the concept of reflexology can make your headache feel better.

 

8.  Similarly, a relaxing massage can help.  I like to ask for a light pressure and have them try stretching the back muscles that get shortened by the migraine, rather than try to knead out the knots.  Me and my knots are friends at this point, and working at them too much will just make me very sore the next day.  A stretching treatment on the other hand can really help.

 

9.  Take a very hot bath and dunk your head under the water.  When I told my mom about this she proceeded to tell me to "go soak your head."  Very funny mom.  It does help, though.  Except the hot water makes my feet itch so that's a whole 'nother problem. 

 

10.  Aromatherapy is worth a shot.  I have a little roller called "Mygrastick" that has a nice minty scent that is supposed to help get rid of a headache.  There's always "Head On" too, even though their commercials are terrible, its actually a pretty decent product to keep at your desk at work in case you are desperate for something to distract you from your headache.  Not going to do much for a real killer migraine but it might help a small one or get you through til you can go home and try cure number 1.