Resources

1 September 2007

Invisible Illness Awareness Week

National Invisible Illness Awareness Week is coming up – September 10-16, 2007! And don’t let the word "national" scare you off – this is a worldwide event! Make it your own and come and participate!

What is an "invisible illness", you ask? Well, if you’ve ever had someone say to you,"You don’t look like you’re sick", then you know what I’m talking about! Chronic daily headache, migraine, cluster – you don’t carry around a crutch, or have red spots on your face, but you’re still sick!

This might also include things like fibromyalgia, diabetes, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression and heart disease. This week is a time to bring together people who live with invisible illnesses, and those who love them.

Visit www.invisibleillness.com over the next few days for more information, stories, stats, articles, and lots of other goodies. Get involved! And let’s fight all chronic illness until it’s gone…

21 February 2007

Live Webcast about migraine – today!

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Thanks to The Daily Headache for pointing this one out to me. Today at 7pm Eastern time there will be a broadcast on the topic “Why Do Women Get More Migraines Than Men?” There are the common answers to this question, but it’s worth digging a little deeper, because in the end a lot of questions remain.

Two experts will be on the panel. The one I’m most familiar with is Christina Peterson, MD, the author of the very popular book The Women’s Migraine Survival Guide, which I know many of you have found helpful (it’s one of the current winners of our Reader’s Choice Awards).

The other is Dawn Marcus, MD, a specialist in the treatment of chronic pain in general, as well as migraine.

I might miss this one, because I’ll be watching my kids (speaking of family responsibilities), so I’d be interested to hear your comments about the broadcast. If you register, you can ask questions – go! Ask! Hopefully we’ll all learn a little more that can help women specifically who are dealing with migraine disease.

Register for the webcast on women and migraine here. I imagine you’ll be able to watch a replay of the broadcast if you miss it.

19 December 2006

Headache and migraine blogging tour

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It’s about time again to visit some headache/migraine/cluster/etc blogs for a few good recent posts…

Often at this time of year, HeadWay has suggested some gift ideas for someone with migraine or headache. It’s time for someone else’s suggestions – check out these holiday gift ideas.
You’ve read before about one of migraine’s “friends” – thyroid disease. For some newly updated information, read Thyroid Disease Can Be Linked To Headaches and Migraines
Can you relate? Most of you know The Monster
We’re always looking for ways to get to sleep – ah yes, Sleep, Sweet Elusive Sleep
The title says it all – ugly dog, bad day
An interesting perspective on the spiritual side (or perhaps moral) of medication – medication: crutch or life line

For more recent posts from bloggers like these, check out the Migraine Blogs, Headache Blogs page.

25 September 2006

New ways to encourage your friends

James Resources 2

How do you encourage someone who is sick? That’s challenging enough, but what about someone with a chronic illness? What about someone that is sick over and over, or even every day? Running out of ideas? This might be the book for you.

Lisa Copen lives with rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia, diseases that are debilitating and yet invisible. She began an organization known as Rest Ministries, a Christian support to those with chronic illness. So she knows what it’s like to need encouragement, and also to encourage others.

Lisa Copen has written a book that might be a help if you’re looking for new ways to help someone with chronic illness. It’s called, Beyond Casseroles: 505 Ways to Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend. It’s just what it sounds like – 505 quick, point form easy to read ideas that you can use. Now of course they all aren’t for everyone – some may sound trite to you, others will be just what you’ve been looking for. But isn’t that always the case? The book assumes you know your friends, and that you’ll know which ones will be appropriate. After all, your friend will appreciate the extra effort and thoughtfulness.

This book is written from a Christian perspective, but most of these ideas will work well for anyone. At under US$5, it’s reasonably priced. It seems that helping someone else often makes us feel better. And who knows? If this book is on your shelf, maybe someone will think to try some of the ideas on you too.

8 September 2006

Other bloggers – fixed?

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I’ve been featuring other bloggers here for a long time, but today I came across some problems. First, my post from August with some recent entries from other bloggers got damaged somehow, and some of the links didn’t work. So if you didn’t see the post or couldn’t get the links to work, please go back and have a look.

And, as our regular visitors may know, I’ve had some ongoing challenges with my permanent page which shows recent posts from headache and migraine bloggers. Well, everyone, that page is now greatly improved. I’m still working on making it great, but now it’s at least pretty good. Most of you should be able to see the posts, and it seems to load fairly quickly.

So please, go and check out these blogs from migraineurs, chronic headache sufferers, clusterheads, and more. Sometimes they write about pain, sometimes just about life, but it’s another reminder that we’re not alone.