Hope for COPD

VACATION As I write this I am holding back tears. Some of you may remember that I went on vacation recently. This vacation was terrible. Do you know what it is like to have an aging parent that also suffers from anger issues? Someone that can be very controlling and manipulative? Abusive? The drive there... The entire drive was constantly, get in that lane... Turn here, turn there, hurry up and get in the other lane... WHILE listening to the GPS tell me what to do as well. He would demand I change lanes,even though there was a car right next to us that I would crash into if I listened to him. I was going too slow, too fast, not using the cruise control...  In Virginia, I got pulled over for speeding, 81 in a 70. The officer said I was doing 84, I didn't argue, and that my license was expired. So obviously I could not legally drive and my father took over. Swerving in and out of traffic and my daughter began to get car sick. So I asked him to stay in one lane and get a ...

27 Healthy Changes for COPD When you have COPD or any chronic illness, it is important to make sure that you are taking care of your health. We all fall into bad habits, or just lose track of goals. We need to eat right, but that microwaveable meal is so much easier to make! Right? Our goals vary as well. Some need to lose weight, while others need to gain a few pounds. But, what simple things can be done to boost our health and well being? Here are 27 easy things to do for your health. Simple changes, slowly over time, will be a huge benefit. Try one or two new things each day. Right after waking, drink a 6 ounce glass of water. Have smoothie for breakfast. The fruit and veggies will provide lots of nutrition and fiber. Skip your morning coffee and have your favorite tea instead. Caffeine in coffee  may cause a stress response in your body. Drink at least one, 6 ounce glass of water  for every 10 pounds you weigh each day. This will keep your body we...

Addressing Mental Health Before Stage 4 (#B4Stage4)  When we think about cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, we don’t wait years to treat them. We start before Stage 4—we begin with prevention. When people are in the first stage of those diseases, and are beginning to show signs of symptoms like a persistent cough, high blood pressure, or high blood sugar, we try immediately to reverse these symptoms. We don’t ignore them. In fact, we develop a plan of action to reverse and sometimes stop the progression of the disease.  So why aren’t we doing the same for individuals who are dealing with potentially serious mental illness?  When you or someone close to you starts to experience the early warning signs of mental illness, knowing what the risk factors and symptoms are will help to catch them early. Often times, family and friends are the first to step in to support a person through these early stages. Experiencing symptoms such as loss of sleep, feeling tired for n...

Stress Awareness Month #4 8 Items to relieve stress!  While I love movies, music, and games to help relieve stress... Sometimes, I am just not in the mood for them. Exercise, breathing, and humor, are things that work well too. But, what are some other things you can do? Well, here are MORE ideas on how you can reduce that terrible stress! Here are some of my favorite items! I am only suggesting one supplement, one I have used for many years. This B Complex can help provide energy, restful sleep, and is a immune system booster. Great for times of great stress, or as a general everyday supplement.  Nature Made Stress Complex Tablets My eldest daughter suffers from terrible anxiety and has found this first item to be something that really helps her. It is a great stress reliever too! And, I have to play with it when I visit her. LOVE this stuff! Kinetic Sand Because we have COPD, we must be careful of the air quality we are breathing into our fragile ...

#2 of the April Stress Awareness Month Series (games and humor) Here are a few more ways to relive some of that stress! I am a gamer, and find that games can help me become less stressed. Depending on your tastes and mood, there is a game out there for you. Whether it is online on your desktop or laptop, on your phone or tablet, or on a gaming system. You will never know until you try it.  Today, I am only including online games for desktop or laptop.  HUMOR!!! The best medicine! I am including a few videos to watch. Maybe not your taste in humor... But, you can find what you like on YouTube. That wonderful video service, with famous comedians, and even more YouTube personalities to keep you smiling.  GAMES: Here are some games to play right at your computer... Take a Walk Meditation Flowers Bubbul Aggressive Bee Sting Snowflake Memory Aggressive Destroy the Computer Flower Reaction The Pig If you have a gaming system, ...

April is Stress Awareness month.  Having COPD, or any chronic illness can cause your stress level to be elevated, consistently more so, than normal. Stress, is BAD for your health.  So, this month, I am choosing to focus on ways to reduce stress and organ donation. As it is also National Donate Life Month. I hope you enjoy the posts and find them helpful.  I created this series of posts to help bring awareness, find ways to combat stress, and let you know that you are never alone!  What is stress? Stress is a state of mental strain, emotional strain, or tension resulting from unfortunate or very difficult circumstance. Internally our bodies all react the same way to stress. Our muscles tighten, our breathing becomes more shallow, your heart beats faster, your blood pressure rises. Because our bodies are working so hard,  this depletes our energy and taxes our immune system.  Externally we freeze up, zone out, bec...

How relationships MAY change when you are chronically ill.  Finding out you are chronically ill, is challenging at best. But, there are other things you may find more hurtful. Please do not take this the wrong way. I want you to find a positive even in the event of a negative.  Here is a (by no means comprehensive) list of things I have experienced since finding out I had stage III lung disease. They are in no particular order, but I feel they are important to talk about. Knowing what to expect, makes the disappointment hurt a little less.  1. Your friends and family may doubt you. Google "invisible illness", it is any disease or defect that is not visible to other people. Because you look healthy, or "normal" people may not believe you are really sick. They may be down right nasty about it.  Now, there are ways to handle this. And, I am not here to tell you what is the correct way. Each person is different, and will need further explainin...

So this is 40! I wish I was 17 again, no wait... Maybe 21. The past week has been tough. My Uncle lives a block over from me. I saw flashing red and blue, and an ambulance. So I picked up the phone and called my Aunt to ask if everyone was okay. Nope, they were taking my Uncle to the ER. No diagnosis yet. So I took a little trip to Kentucky with a cousin. We get there and find out that another Uncle is in the ER, his pacemaker stopped working well. They sent him home and told him to go to the VA Hospital the next day. Then when we got home my father needed to go to the ER, turns out it was just a UTI, thankfully. Got home from that to find out my mothers cousins husband (LOL they were like sisters) is in the hospital, diagnosed with end stage liver cancer! WHAT???? That was the 5th, his birthday was the 8th, he passed away on the 9th. Tomorrow my baby brother will be getting married. Then I have to clean an office (I actually pay someone else to clean it, but I do some dusting)...

In the USA Mental Health Week is October 5th - 11th.  Please join me this week to talk about mental illness. It's TIME. I will be hosting a discussion in my group, HOPE for COPD at:  HOPE for COPD  on Facebook.  THURSDAY October 9th from 7PM-9PM CST.  Come talk about how mental illness affects you. Be it your self, a family member, or friend. Without open and honest discussion, the stigma will remain. The group is closed, only group members can see your posts. Your friends and family will not be able to see what you post in the group. So, you can speak freely. *One in four adults−approximately 61.5 million Americans−experiences mental illness in a given year. One in 17−about 13.6 million−live with a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder. *Approximately 20 percent of youth ages 13 to 18 experience severe mental disorders in a given year. For ages 8 to 15, the estimate is 13 percent. *Approximate...