I'm reading a really mind-blowing book called "Never Be Sick Again."
It somehow manages to confirm everything I ever suspected about the origins of disease, the shortfall of modern medicine, the destructiveness of the American lifestyle, and the resilience of the human body, as well as the possibilities of becoming completely well, despite what we've been told about chronic illness.
Unfortunately, it's going to involve giving up junk food and eating a lot of vegetables. I'm already doing that, but it's going to involve even more changes than I've already made. I already knew that sugar, nutrasweet (and other artificial sweeteners), dairy, white flour (and for me, all wheat), meat were off the list for me and for the most part I've made peace with all that.
But rice cakes? wow, it never even occurred to me that rice cakes were unhealthy. I've eaten enough rice cakes to start another Great Wall of China! Oh well.
But back to the bottom line of this book: there is only one disease, and that [...]
Read more
OK well after all this wondering what all my shoulder pain is about, we have something of an answer. We've all been guessing at what it might be. If you're looking for a frozen shoulder to cry on, you'll have to look somewhere else. My shoulder is not frozen. I have a mass on my arm. The humerus, to be exact. The funny bone. the one that runs from your elbow to your shoulder. I'll tell you what's funny: the things that run through the mind when you finally get a diagnosis for something you've been suffering with for years: "a HA! it's real! i told you so! Oh crap! it's real! is it going to kill me?"
A mass. that sounds so... massive. What does it mean? a mass of what? So of course I can't get any kind of game plan or more specific diagnosis until I go to an orthopedic guy/ gal. Sign. I hate limbo. I don't even like to do the limbo. But I can't go to the doctor anytime in the next couple days. I do guitar lessons and performances. I can't just cancel those unless i'm nearly dead. So I [...]
Read more
I've had this notion for years that I'd write a book about my adventures as a patient.
Over the past year, I thought about it more than usual, and boom- a book deal fell into my lap! It's a small press- Tell Me Press- doing interesting books.
My book, which I've been secretly working on since fall of 2008, is slated to come out in late 2010. It's a collection of humorous essays such as "You Can Biopsy When I'm Dead: My 15 Least Favorite Medical Procedures," and "Top 10 Annoying Things to Say to Someone Who's Just Been Diagnosed."
I've gathered a few pictures for possible inclusion in the book, ranging from attractive to mildly humiliating. My famous $40 wig will hopefully make it into the photo section.
It has been copy-edited (they fixed my typos and grammatical errors- I made a lot so the editors would feel needed), rewritten and is now in the hands of the typist and the graphic artist.
Watch for the final product and big reveal Fall 2010.
So there's this new theory floating around amongst microbiologists about the cause of autoimmune disease (and allergies): we are overly hygienic. We're too clean. We don't have enough germs and parasites living in our body, so we are out of balance. It's an interesting theory, and I will certainly entertain the idea (although I'm not about to swallow a pound of tapeworms).
The part I disagree with is *why* we have an imbalance. Autoimmune diseases are most rampant in "developed" (a.k.a industrialized, or Westernized) countries. The microbiologists posit that what those countries all have in common is lots of hand washing, caution about germs,etc. and they think that's the issue: Kids don't play in the dirt enough, we wash our hands too often, etc.
Let me just say- I ate plenty of dirt as a kid. I played in a sandbox (where the cat sometimes pooped). We had recess at school twice a day, and no one washed their hands after. We shared a water fountain through my senior year. As soon as we [...]
Read more
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system, and is one of those "things that don't go away by ignoring it." In fact, it never really goes away and stays away.
Why would I "out" these people?
1) they're already "out"
2) to point out that many of these folks have continued their demanding career in show biz, despite being diagnosed with a serious illness. I think it even made some of them funnier. Not Neil Cavuto, though.
Annette Funicello
Teri Garr
Clive Burr (Iron Maiden drummer)
Neil Cavuto (Fox news)
Lena Horne
Jonathan Katz (comedian)
Hal Ketchum
David Lander ("Sqiggy" from Laverne and Shirley)
Richard Pryor
Clay Walker (country singer)
Montel Williams
http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/