Why I Won’t Give Up My Day Job: A Nurse’s Inspiration to Write

My communication skills as a nurse are much stronger than my communication skills as a person. In a patient’s room, I can lay out the plan of care, explain the diagnosis, and encourage a discussion about sentiments and feelings. But when the nurse hat comes off, it becomes a bit harder. I’ll admit I have difficulty expressing my feelings, but give me a computer or a pen and paper and I can bring up every thought and emotion that runs through my head. My feelings are unchallenged and remain fixed on the page. Nobody can change, question, or contest them. That is the reason why I continue to write. It has become my catharsis.

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Take Control of Your Habits and Discover How Powerful You Really Are

“Your beliefs become your thoughts, 

Your thoughts become your words, 

Your words become your actions, 

Your actions become your habits, 

Your habits become your values, 

Your values become your destiny.” 

― Mahatma Gandhi

The reality is that you – and the life you lead today – are the result of your habits. Changing habits can seem difficult to accomplish at first, but success is a result of your habits.

If you think about it, you’re living out your habits every day. From how early you get out of bed, to your morning routine, how you dress, walk, exercise, interact with others and even what you habitually think about and how you respond to the world.

These habits got you to where you are today…

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Real Food on a Budget: BushelBox to the Rescue!

Keeping a healthy lifestyle budget-friendly is important to us around here. Here, we tell you about five ways to make the alternative lifestyle more budget-friendly. At the top of that post, you’ll see our advice to share real food and natural health items with friends, which is exactly what we want to tell you about today.

Below, contributor Jaclyn shares how our sponsor BushelBox can help you save money and get your hands on real food and other natural living items on a budget

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Nurse staffing levels are the ‘surprise’ key to stroke survival, finds study

Researchers found having the optimal number of nurses available to care for patients in an acute stroke unit was the best predictor of survival – after other factors like age, blood pressure and the severity of the attack were taken into account.

“This proved to be a very clear and consistent predictor of stroke survival”

Phyo Myint

Just one additional trained nurse per 10 beds could reduce the chance of death after 30 days by up to 28%, according to the study. Meanwhile, the chance of death a year after someone had a stroke was cut by 12%.
The study, by the University of Aberdeen and the University of East Anglia, was based on data from eight hospitals in the East of England concerning nearly 2,400 acute stroke patients.

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Butterflies in My Stomach: The Brain-Gut Axis

Ever had that horrible sensation of butterflies in your stomach before giving a speech? If so, then you have experienced one of the common ways in which the brain interacts with the gut to influence our thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. In fact, the brain and gut are inextricably linked, to the point that we often don’t realize the important role this link plays in our psychological health. Disorders such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Functional Constipation illustrate how important the role of our thoughts and feelings are on our gut function. In this article, the link between the brain and the gut in our physical and psychological wellbeing will be discussed.
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Dealing with the Looming Cloud of the Possibility of Early Death

Five years ago, I had breast cancer. To rid myself of it, I had chemotherapy, radiation and a double mastectomy.
Flash forward five years. One day, I noticed a strange, bright red splotch on my breast, the breast where the cancer had been. The doctor did a biopsy of it, and the results came back malignant. It was an angiosarcoma, and the suspected cause was the radiation treatment I’d had five years before. This was a very rare form of cancer that, again, results sometimes from the radiation itself. That which was meant to heal me, made me ill.
On June 10, 2016, I had surgery to remove the cancer.
Fine and dandy. They got clean margins. Then, something awful happened. I was told that I had to have a CT scan to see if the cancer had spread throughout my body. (Nobody told me this beforehand.)
Enter fear, despair and disappointment. Enter the possibility of cancer and, therefore, the possibility of early death.
How am I dealing with this looming cloud of grief that is hanging over my head?
Below are some of my most useful techniques.

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The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs

“Come and get your pills! We are selling pills with side effects guaranteed! Gastric bleeding, sir? These can erode your stomach lining and kill you.” Setting up a mock market stall called The Honest Pharmacy was just the start of The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs (BBC One) – a blend of science documentary and social experiment which was both eye-opening and surprisingly entertaining.

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Even More and BBC link

Finnish Open Dialogue: High recovery rates leave many psychiatric beds empty

This is a guest post written by Daniel Mackler the filmmaker. His three films show alternative methods of healing people with psychosis. In all the films relationships are ultimately what heal. Loving, healing relationships. Please visit these posts to look at the trailers and read a bit about each of his films. Here and here and here. You can purchase the films here.

All the films are now available for free viewing on youtube now as well. If you’ve not seen them yet, it’s well worth taking the time to do so.

The below article was written as a result of a conversation that Daniel and I had. He revealed that the psychiatric hospital he visited when making his last film, built in the 1950s was mostly empty. They don’t need the beds because their success rate is so high!

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President Barack Obama’s ambitious 1-million-person personalized medicine study

President Barack Obama’s ambitious 1-million-person personalized medicine study began to take shape this week with the announcement of four medical centers that will recruit volunteers starting this fall. A fifth center aims to sign up 350,000 participants by blasting the general public with ads coming soon to your web browser or mobile phone.
The White House’s announcement yesterday of $55 million in awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) fires the starting gun for the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) Cohort Program. The plan is to recruit 1 million or more people who are willing to share their health and genetic information over many years to help researchers develop individualized treatments. Other countries have similar studies underway, but the U.S. version aims to be larger, more diverse, and more patient-centric—participants will help shape the study and be able to see their data. NIH Director Francis Collins calls it “the largest, most ambitious research project of this sort ever undertaken.”
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What’s up, doc? Tell me over my smartphone, please

This year, a German businesswoman arrived in Washington DC and promptly developed a painful sinus infection. She searched online and found a local doctor, Suzanne Doud Galli. But instead of ordering a taxi to visit Dr Galli’s office, the patient arranged a virtual consultation via her smartphone from the comfort of her hotel room, with the help of an app called HealthTap.

The app’s algorithm matched the patient’s symptoms with Dr Galli’s expertise. Dr Galli prescribed medicine and sent the prescription electronically to a pharmacy near the patient’s hotel — all in about 10 minutes.

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Home Remedies for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Some of the home remedies for chronic fatigue syndrome include the use of bee pollen, maca root, iodine, B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, ginseng, licorice, astragalus, alfalfa, oats, St. John’s Wort, and valerian root, as well as certain behavioral remedies including acupuncture and chiropractic care.
This unfortunate condition afflicts millions of people around the world, and while the small percentage in terms of the global population often leaves this disease below the radar, it can significantly affect the lives of those who suffer from it. Unfortunately, there is no clear cause of chronic fatigue syndrome, although experts believe that it can be a result of genetic, environmental, infectious, biologic, and psychological factors. That may seem like a wide range of possibilities, so most people treat the symptoms rather than whatever may be causing the condition. It is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis or post-viral fatigue syndrome. Someone is diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome if they experience the symptoms of the condition for more than 6 months.

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Low Stomach Acid: The Risks, the Symptoms, and the Solutions

The multi-billion dollar antacid industry has you believing that stomach acid is bad for you.
While you may use antacids for heartburn relief or indigestion, they are not a cure for what causes these problems in the first place.
Contrary to popular belief, indigestion is usually caused by low stomach acid - also called hypochlorhydria- and it affects up to half of our population.¹
Treatment that further neutralizes stomach acid can make your digestion worse.

Why Stomach Acid is Good For You

Stomach acid or hydrochloric acid (HCl), is a very powerful digestive agent, and much more important than you realize.

HCl's important functions include:

• Breaking down proteins into the essential amino acids and nutrients your body needs in order to stay healthy.
• Stimulating your pancreas and small intestines to produce the digestive enzymes and bile necessary to further breakdown the carbohydrates, proteins and fats you eat.
• Preventing disease by killing pathogenic bacteria and yeast normally present in food.

As you age, your stomach acid tends to decrease anyway. Add a poor diet of processed foods and you may find that you have both digestive and immune problems

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