Ancestors and More!

I have been wanting to enter this post for a while now, but have been too tired to even think, let alone type! My sister sent me a very special Christmas Present and I have been working to add the few items needed to finish it. It is a history of my female ancestors, on my mothers side, back to the early 1800's. It is names and dates and places and pictures and stories. It is so very unique and amazing! Now I need to add some more pictures and stories for my daughter and her daughters and then they will do so in kind. Hence, I have been going thru pictures and becoming overwhelmed by the volume! The dedication, persistence and patience that something like this takes is not something that I come by naturally. Thankfully, my sister does! I told my daughter that I would get all of these pictures of she and her brother organized, instead of leaving them to her to take care of, after I'm gone. So now I'm committed . So many memories!

I have been reading while resting in my chair. A very different idea came thru the other day about getting vitamins into teenagers, especially during the winter months. This dad, who is also a molecular scientist, puts out bowls of vitamins to snack on, kind of like fruit or candy bowls. The kids and even their friends pop the pills as they walk by and they have begun to realize that all of them feel healthier and are having fewer illnesses!

His research has shown that vitamins are very safe and it has been repeatedly shown that proactively controlling micro-nutrients is necessary to optimize health. Sounds like a man after my own heart. Optimal nutrition is one of my mantras!

Another newsletter was talking about changing our health insurance in this country and around the world. This theory maintains that until we start taking personal responsibility for our chronic diseases, ie., diabetes, heart disease, obesity, etc., no amount of insurance can keep up with the costs, because of the aging societies, the money spent on chronic illnesses and the shrinking younger generations. This is happening around the globe. China is really about to hit the wall. Remember that one child rule, it's about to bite them! Personal responsibility...the cynic in me says, "Yeah, when pigs fly!" I've been saying that for years, but most people just rely on the prescription that the Dr. will write for them. Maybe a brainwashing campaign is in order! Oh, I forgot, there's already one going on, just not about health as a personal responsibility!

As Always...Healthy Days to You...Your Smiling Maven

Another Piece to the Puzzle??

Well…maybe. On one of the MS message boards, that I frequent, there was an article about a Dr. in Italy who has done some research on a “twisting” or blockage of the jugular veins. His theory is that most MS patients have this blockage or narrowing which causes a build up of iron in the brain. He has had some success by having these veins enlarged with angioplasty. Some people have reported a complete remission and others only a slight improvement in symptoms. So, MSers, who know their way around a computer, were off and running! Seems that iron overload was being researched as a cause of MS way back in the 1940’s. Then of course, as we all know, the pharmaceutical industry took off and when the Dr. died, so did his research. Well, the investigators kept looking and wondering. Now they are looking into a disease called hemochromatosis. This is a hereditary disease, primarily effecting people of northern European descent, which is also something that causes iron overload. It is very rarely diagnosed and is sometimes referred to as the “bronze” disease. Apparently one of the symptoms is a bronze looking skin tone. And then again, as with most diseases, not everyone will have the same symptoms. At any rate, iron overload, especially of the brain, could definitely be part of the puzzle. The hemochromatosis does not match my symtoms too much, but the blockage part would be interesting to know. I understand that there is more research going on now, even in the US and Canada. Time will tell if anything comes of it. My cynical opinion is that if big pharma is going to lose their $1000.00 a month therapies, the research will be discounted, as has started already!

It has been suggested that MS people should not take iron supplements (I never have) and do not eat foods that contain a high amount of iron. One of the foods that help to chelate iron is broccoli. Good, I eat a lot of that. The supplement that is recommended to help remove some of the iron is alpha lipoic acid. I just started taking that a few weeks ago. Maybe I will up the dosage. The suggestion just came across the board today, so I’m sure there will be a discussion soon. Alpha lipoic acid has been recommended for MSers as an antioxidant for quite awhile. The chelation is something new. Life is interesting to say the least!

Hope everyone is enjoying the New Year. On these gray days, I look forward to the next sunny days. We are getting longer and longer days and the sun will be warmer when we see it again! I love looking forward to spring!

Healthy Days to You...Your Smiling Maven

It's Twenty-Ten!!!

Well, HI! It’s the second of January, 2010, already! I understand that we, the “corporate” we, are saying twenty-ten, not two thousand and ten. It does make it seem easier to say. However we say it, it is here and moving on, already. That is the way December went. It just moved on! Getting ready for Christmas and a birthday and being ill, just took up all of the days and Christmas was here and gone before I knew it! Looking back I did enjoy most of the days, even with our uninvited illness. I think maybe children will do that for adults. They certainly do charm me and MDH.

It is said that our habits and personalities are formed by the time we are 6 years old. I think that for the most part this must be true. For me, New Years Eve is not a big deal. When we were younger, MDH and I attended our share of New Years Eve Parties, but we haven’t for quite awhile. Not interested and truth be told, we didn’t really enjoy most of the ones that we went to. Well, NYEve was not a big deal with my parents, as I was growing up, either, so I don’t feel as though I am missing anything. However, New Years Day was always a time of having a special meal and having family over. It was the last big meal of the Christmas Holiday Season at our house. So, that’s the way MDH and I have celebrated New Years for quite awhile now. Time with family and a lovely meal. Apparently, the new tradition for NYEve is lots and lots of fireworks. We have talked to two other people who said the same thing happened in their neighborhood. There was as much fireworks, from 9PM to 12:30AM, as there was on the Fourth of July! Quite amazing, really.

On Christmas Eve, my daughter and daughter-in-law both remarked about the actress Brittany Murphy's sudden passing. I said to them that I had read that they thought that perhaps the gal was taking a lot of Prescription Medications. Well, it has been confirmed, that 10 different prescriptions were found in and around her bedroom and bath. The poor girl didn’t have a chance. There were anti-depressives and anti-seizure and anti-biotic and anti-inflammatory drugs and a bipolar drug and a pain reliever and something for high blood pressure, too. Yes, I know that’s not ten. There were duplicate prescriptions for the same ailment for some of them. Apparently, it’s not cool to push narcotics if you are a film director or producer anymore. But it is certainly seems to be "Okey Dokey" to hook your star up to a pill pushing Dr. or Drs. and have them write out all sorts of prescriptions. Get the actor on the set, no matter the cost! That’s at least 4 actor/singers that I know of who have gone out on a legal drug overdose! There was at least one mother who didn’t have a Happy New Year or Merry Christmas! I have witnessed people in break rooms practice the game of “one-up-man ship” regarding who was on the most prescriptions or who had the highest dosage. This is a game that needs to be stopped! No one was ever born with a “prescription” shortage! (I read that somewhere)

Well, it is the time of year that people make resolutions. I haven’t ever been a fan of that either, but I have decided, in the last few weeks, that I need to “Be still and Know that I am God”. I know that in my brain, but with all that is going on in this country, I have allowed that truth to only be in my brain and not in my soul. So, I will make a conscious effort to block out the world this year and allow the Lord to speak to me and allow His truths to rule my life. I have been so blessed in this life. It’s time for me to appreciate it more.

May you all have a Blessed Year and Healthy Days to You...

Your Smiling Maven