Crohn's Disease Relief

Drug Interactions and Warnings App on CNN Health

I found this great feauture on CNN Health where you can add all your medications to a "medicine cabinet" and it tells you all of the interactions and warnings.  Considering the amount of meds that the average Crohn's patient is taking... this is a good resource.

What's in your medicine cabinet?

It states on the page that the information content is provided by:

 

 

Report: Crohn’s, Colitis and Employment – From career aspirations to reality | Work Life Spirit

Researchers were surprised to note just how many people with IBD soldiered in to work, despite feeling ill (80%).

via worklifespirit.wordpress.com

Catharine Hinton has blogged about a report published by Crohn's and Colitis UK about work and career issues faced by people with IBD. As a full time worker this is of particular interest to me.

Considering I am wrestling with guilt over taking a sick day today, this hit home pretty well. I don't know why they would be surprised that 80% of IBD workers went to work despite feeling ill. If you feel bad a lot of the time you have to have a pretty high level of coping skills to be still working. Coping skills - we have them in spades.

Here is a link to the original report - http://www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk/downloads/research/Crohns_Colitis_Employment.pdf

Report: Crohn’s, Colitis and Employmennt

Cheap Deal on Scotts Wipes with Amazon Coupon Code 612 for $16.38

Here's a deal I read about on slickdeals.net and wanted to pass along.  Flushable wipes are totally the best when your Crohn's is acting up.

Get Scott Naturals Moist Wipes for 612-ct $16.38

To get the best price select Amazon Subscribe and Save.  It's super easy to cancel at any time, put on hold, or even order every 6 months.

Regular price: $21.83
Amazon S&S (15% off): $18.56
Coupon PAPERSNS (10% off): $16.38

Free shipping with Prime or with order of $25.00 or more,

Gets to 2.7 cents per wipe.

Book Received: Protecting Your Health Privacy

AuthorJacqueline Klosek contacted me last week to ask if I would be interested in reviewing her new book, Protecting Your Health Privacy.  She is not only a Pirvacy specialist and attorney, she is also a person with Crohn's Disease.  She has published 5 books in the realm of data privacy, and is working on her next book which will be about Healthcare reform.

I have already started reading the book.  It starts out with parts of the Physician's Oath that relate to patient doctor confidentiality.  Then she goes on to talk about the legal definitions (and sometimes lackthereof) of privacy.  Even though she is a lawyer writing about the legal aspects of the subject, her writing style is clear and understandable. 

As I read more of the book I will keep you updated.  One thing I noticed - the price on Amazon is close to $45.  Wow.  Very cool that she sent me a review copy but that puts it out of range for many patients.  She did tell me that they are working on formatting the book for Ebook readers.

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.

Over the Counter Medications Will No Longer be FSA Eligible in 2011

under the new law, these over-the-counter drugs would no longer be eligible FSA expenses after this year.

via www.cnn.com

I take full advantage of my Flexible Spending Medical plan, using it to cover over the counter medications like Tylenol Arthritis, Prilosec, and even Goodnights sleep pants for my 6 year old.

The newly passed Health Care reform package will change some of the details of what is FSA elibable in 2011. Over the counter medications will no longer be covered. So be aware and when you do next year's benefits enrollment make sure to take this into account in your calcuations.

Prevacid on Sale

If anyone is taking Prilosec Prevacid  - I saw on slickdeals.net that Amazon has a good price on it right now.

Prevacid 42 cheapest price seen here or in stores even with coupons.

Normal price $18.99

amazon subscribe and save, save 15%

$16.14.

14 and 28 count available with subscribe and save but this seems to be the best deal.

Free shipping.

Good Gifts for Someone in the Hospital

An online forum I frequent was having a brainstorm for ideas to give someone in the hospital so I thought I would put together a list.

I think its a good idea to remember when bringing stuff to the hospital that the person (and their family) is going to have to cart all the stuff home when they leave so try not to bring a bunch of big extraneous stuff.

• Nice smelling lotion
• Dry Shampoo
• Manicure Kit
• Tea bags and light cookies
• Jelly beans or hard candies
• Gift card for iTunes or Amazon MP3s
• People, US Weekly or some magazines with fluff content. Good for when you can’t concentrate on anything.
• Nice socks. The hospital floors are gross.
• Crosswords, Sudoku, easy puzzle book from the drug store magazine rack.
• Scratch off lottery tickets is an idea I saw. Could be fun.

Go Clean Your Shower

An analysis of 50 showerheads from nine U.S. cities found that about 30 percent harbored high levels of Mycobacterium avium -- a group of bacteria that can cause lung infections when inhaled or swallowed.

via www.reuters.com

I am sure I am not the only one who reads this study and then wants to go directly and clean their shower head. By the way - what you should do is periodically remove the shower head and soak it in a cleaning solution for getting hard water stains off.

How to clean a shower head? I use something CLR diluted with water. If you have to remove the shower head wrap it in a towel before using pliers or wrench to protect the chrome finish. Some people just use vinegar. I am sure that bleach would kill the mycobacterium, but one of the other benefits of cleaning your shower head is getting the mineral deposit buildup out of the holes so none of them are blocked up.

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Tell Members of Congress to Support the Health Care Plan

I just told my members of Congress that I want them to support the President's plan for healthcare. 

Tell Members of Congress to Support the Health Care Plan

Here is the personal message I added:

I suffer from Crohn's disease and was recently laid off.  My insurance company dropped my coverage even though I paid my COBRA payment as soon as I received the paperwork.  So scary!  I know I can be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition if I ever let my insurance lapse.  Let alone that I need to take care of my two young children.

My mother in law cannot afford any health coverage at all and is chancing it until she is the age where Medicare will become available to her.  The last time she had a health scare and was in the hospital it took her over a year to pay off the bill, a little bit at a time.  This is a crying shame.  This is a woman who worked all her life as a housekeeper and her last job was cleaning medical office buildings! 

Please get it together to come up with a way for American Citizens to have health insurance.  I don't care how you negotiate the deal - just think about your constituents who need affordable health insurance.

Thank you,

Marianne C
http://www.crohnsdiseaserelief.com

By the way, I was reinstated back into the insurance plan.  All it took was 8 phone calls and about 3 weeks with no coverage.  And that was AFTER I paid the bill.