BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

LIVES DERAILED Excerpted from The Autoimmune Epidemic: Bodies Gone Haywire in a World Out of Balance -- and the Cutting-Edge Science that Promises Hope ~~~~~~~~ Most of us, at some juncture in our lives, have played out in our minds how devastating it would be to have our doctor hand down a cancer diagnosis or to warn us that we are at risk for a heart attack or stroke. Magazine articles, television dramas, and news headlines all bring such images home. But consider an equally devastating health crisis scenario, one that you rarely hear spoken about openly, one that receives almost no media attention. Imagine the slow, creeping escalation of seemingly amorphous symptoms: a tingling in the arms and fingers, the sudden appearance of a speckled rash across the face, the strange muscle weakness in the legs when climbing stairs, the fiery joints that emerge out of nowhere -- any and all of which can signal the onset of a wide range of life-altering and often debilitating autoimmu...

By Lisa Copen (excerpts) "I don't understand why you won't at least take his phone number; he's a Christian and he specializes in herbal remedies. He could heal you and then you could share his success with everyone and that could be your ministry…" I was standing in the buffet line at a special dinner for committee members of an international revival that had come to town. Some would go as far to say that those attending this dinner were the who's who of local women in ministry, and I was proud to be among their company. Despite their involvement and leadership in ministry, however, this group of women was healthy-bodied and provided many examples for me to share about how, as a church body, we can increase our awareness and understanding of those who live with chronic conditions. When one committee member asked why I was appointed as the disabilities coordinator I shared a few words about my ministry. She in turn asked me what drugs I was on because ...

by Toni Bernhard, J.D. The Stigma of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome I've been sick since 2001 when I failed to recover from what appeared to be an acute viral infection. It has left me mostly house-bound, often bed-bound. In effect, I've had the flu without the fever for almost ten years: the aches and pains, the dazed sick feeling, the low grade headache, the severe fatigue. It cost me my career as a law professor; it cost me the ability to be active in the lives of my children and grandchildren. Because I meet the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) case definition, I've been given the diagnosis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). Although there have been some promising developments (a possible connection to a retrovirus; the presence of unique proteins in the spinal fluid of CFS patients), as of this writing, there's no proven cause and no cure. This is not surprising, given that so little money is allocated for research into this debilitating illness. Why? One reason i...

In 1995 I was working hard at a large, "white shoe" corporate law firm. They had offered me manager training and I said no. The politics at this place were such that if you weren't a "yes" person - you didn't get anywhere. Sorry, I am not a "yes" person. I had re-entered counseling after 10 years of infertility treatment had yielded yet no results. My marriage was circling the bowl. I not only didn't feel like a woman - I felt like nothing. I buried myself in work. I became the go-to person the partners or most demanding lawyers would call to help with whatever cases they were on. I worked evenings so when most people were on their way home, I was on my way to Wall Street. I worked in a dark, airless office. My work was highly detail oriented and often very sensitive & confidential in nature. It started slowly. And I kept attributing my symptoms to something else. Allergies, stress, PCOS. The metallic taste in my mouth, the buzzing in ...

Pain IS a four letter word. I have been struggling with chronic and escalating pain for the last 14+ years. Pain that cut my career short, made me dependent on others (which I hate), caused me to make poor decisions and stopped me from interacting with life the way I'd like. Dworkin came to a conclusion about pain long before medical science proved her right. Something I know too well - chronic emotional, mental and verbal abuse leads to conditions which cause pain. Non-stop, unrelenting fatigue. A personal trauma 5 years ago gave me a near heart attack and landed me in the hospital more times than I could count. The reminder of it is with me every day, every month when I take my medications for PTSD. My abuser from that incident goes on without any remorse towards me, reassuring me that I am nothing and blaming me for telling the truth. My own late mother called me "useless" once I was sick and said things to me about my pain and disability too painful for...

by Kent Holtorf, MD -- ImmuneSupport.com I found this out 15 years ago when trying to get a diagnosis other than " its all in your head " for the reason I was: paralyzed at the time on the left side, unable to eat, in excruciating pain that defied words, unable to walk more than 2 feet without falling over, and running a fever that would not go away. When a doctor who knew what she was talking about looked at the already done CAT scan and blood work? My diagnosis jumped out at her. She was appalled that it was missed but not surprised. Other doctors? Dismissed it as nothing simply because they didn't understand it or were uninformed. Because they were uninformed? stupid? unwilling to deal with a chronically ill patient? pressured by the insurance companies to get rid of chronically ill patients? or all of the prior?   A question that is often raised by patients is “Why doesn’t my doctor know all of this?” The reason is that the overwhelming majority (all b...