Sunday, August 31, 2008
Those Mayo Clinic folks are so smart
Autonomic neuropathy
ARTICLE SECTIONS
* Definition
* Symptoms
* Causes
* Risk factors
* When to seek medical advice
* Tests and diagnosis
* Treatments and drugs
* Prevention
* Lifestyle and home remedies
* Coping and support
Coping and support
Living with a chronic illness or disability presents daily challenges. Some of these suggestions may make it easier for you to cope:
* Set priorities. Decide which tasks you need to do on a given day, such as paying bills or shopping for groceries, and which can wait until another time. Stay active, but don't overdo.
* Seek and accept support. Having a support system and a positive attitude can help you cope with the challenges you face. Ask for or accept help when you need it. Don't shut yourself off from family and friends.
* Prepare for challenging situations. If something especially stressful is coming up in your life, such as a move or a new job, knowing what you have to do ahead of time can help you cope.
* Talk to a counselor or therapist. Depression and impotence are possible complications of autonomic neuropathy. If you experience either, you may find it helpful to talk to a counselor or therapist in addition to your primary care doctor. There are treatments that can help.
Reprints and permissions icon Reprints and permissions
April 15, 2008
By Mayo Clinic Staff © 1998-2008 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER). All rights reserved.
ARTICLE SECTIONS
* Definition
* Symptoms
* Causes
* Risk factors
* When to seek medical advice
* Tests and diagnosis
* Treatments and drugs
* Prevention
* Lifestyle and home remedies
* Coping and support
Coping and support
Living with a chronic illness or disability presents daily challenges. Some of these suggestions may make it easier for you to cope:
* Set priorities. Decide which tasks you need to do on a given day, such as paying bills or shopping for groceries, and which can wait until another time. Stay active, but don't overdo.
* Seek and accept support. Having a support system and a positive attitude can help you cope with the challenges you face. Ask for or accept help when you need it. Don't shut yourself off from family and friends.
* Prepare for challenging situations. If something especially stressful is coming up in your life, such as a move or a new job, knowing what you have to do ahead of time can help you cope.
* Talk to a counselor or therapist. Depression and impotence are possible complications of autonomic neuropathy. If you experience either, you may find it helpful to talk to a counselor or therapist in addition to your primary care doctor. There are treatments that can help.
Reprints and permissions icon Reprints and permissions
April 15, 2008
By Mayo Clinic Staff © 1998-2008 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER). All rights reserved.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
I am the anti-Obama
I don't think it was really meant as a compliment when I was referred to as the anti-Obama.
But it does have a sound like 'anti-Christ' and that leads to a strange topic that has floated on my periphery of my thoughts.
Why Obama? Usually, ones asks of fate or god or whatever, why? when something terrible is happening. But this time it is something good. In fact, this is one of the few times I have found something good happening in the world, at least something good and newsworthy also.
Obama has this magnificent oratory gift. He has optimism and hope. He comes across as young and vital and at the beginning of his gifts. It is stirring. And moving. And unsettling.
He had nothing. Absent father. Absent mother. Far off siblings. No family connections. No money.
And he cruised through the experiences that beat the crap out of me. College he made grades and friends easily. After college he slid smoothly into a decent job. Along the way he figured out what he wanted to do with his life. Then he did it. He married the right person. She never left him. He had beautiful children. He got into every school he applied to. He has not been fired or laid off from work. He did not have his energy sapped by an endless series of meaningless low paying jobs. He is healthy physically, mentally and emotionally. He is self-confident. He does not need anyone. He moves forward.
And I struggle to get out of bed everyday. I struggle to take a breath. I fail and fail and fail again. And start all over, only to fail. Then I wallow in negativity and hopelessness. And it seems that I am fairly normal. In fact, I am rather successful and positive depending on who you compare me to, in all my wallowing glory.
So, the weird part is this feeling of inevitability about Obama. He always seemed to walk on water. Whatever he tried he succeeded at. And wondering does the US deserve him?
I mean he is the real deal. He does care about people. Maybe not persons but definitely about people. He has held onto his ideals. He did set a path for himself and follow it. He does seem to answer to a higher calling. His drummer does seem to have an inside track to elevate the human spirit. Do you see where I am going with this? I can't put into words this feeling because I just hate the crackpot idea it seems to be. But I can't help wondering, who is calling him? and why?
But it does have a sound like 'anti-Christ' and that leads to a strange topic that has floated on my periphery of my thoughts.
Why Obama? Usually, ones asks of fate or god or whatever, why? when something terrible is happening. But this time it is something good. In fact, this is one of the few times I have found something good happening in the world, at least something good and newsworthy also.
Obama has this magnificent oratory gift. He has optimism and hope. He comes across as young and vital and at the beginning of his gifts. It is stirring. And moving. And unsettling.
He had nothing. Absent father. Absent mother. Far off siblings. No family connections. No money.
And he cruised through the experiences that beat the crap out of me. College he made grades and friends easily. After college he slid smoothly into a decent job. Along the way he figured out what he wanted to do with his life. Then he did it. He married the right person. She never left him. He had beautiful children. He got into every school he applied to. He has not been fired or laid off from work. He did not have his energy sapped by an endless series of meaningless low paying jobs. He is healthy physically, mentally and emotionally. He is self-confident. He does not need anyone. He moves forward.
And I struggle to get out of bed everyday. I struggle to take a breath. I fail and fail and fail again. And start all over, only to fail. Then I wallow in negativity and hopelessness. And it seems that I am fairly normal. In fact, I am rather successful and positive depending on who you compare me to, in all my wallowing glory.
So, the weird part is this feeling of inevitability about Obama. He always seemed to walk on water. Whatever he tried he succeeded at. And wondering does the US deserve him?
I mean he is the real deal. He does care about people. Maybe not persons but definitely about people. He has held onto his ideals. He did set a path for himself and follow it. He does seem to answer to a higher calling. His drummer does seem to have an inside track to elevate the human spirit. Do you see where I am going with this? I can't put into words this feeling because I just hate the crackpot idea it seems to be. But I can't help wondering, who is calling him? and why?
Monday, August 04, 2008
Things That Suck
Unemployment and underemployment. Not keeping limits on the H1-B Visa program. Companies, including a certain unnamed multi-national, are hiring and training college graduates from India instead of from the U.S. Industry needs to work more closely with schools to build a workforce for the future and be incentivized to focus on more than short term profits that boost stock prices and executive bonuses.
The mortgage crisis. The push for short term profits drove the mortgage crisis we are currently experiencing. Lenders dropped their standards for making loans during a clearly speculative market period in order to cash in on the short term profits. The industry could easily have averted this crisis by taking responsibility.
But that's the trouble with working for a corporation. Individual responsibility is strongly discouraged. If you try to take an ethical stand for even the smallest principle, you will be pulverized. Literally pulverized.
The corporate world controls by fear of layoffs. And crushes anyone who takes an ethical stance. The Corporation is a soul-crushing, spirit sucking, vat of congealed evil dressed up in a suit and worshiping at the alter of the devil named quarterly earnings.
The mortgage crisis. The push for short term profits drove the mortgage crisis we are currently experiencing. Lenders dropped their standards for making loans during a clearly speculative market period in order to cash in on the short term profits. The industry could easily have averted this crisis by taking responsibility.
But that's the trouble with working for a corporation. Individual responsibility is strongly discouraged. If you try to take an ethical stand for even the smallest principle, you will be pulverized. Literally pulverized.
The corporate world controls by fear of layoffs. And crushes anyone who takes an ethical stance. The Corporation is a soul-crushing, spirit sucking, vat of congealed evil dressed up in a suit and worshiping at the alter of the devil named quarterly earnings.
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