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Healthy Living: Can Yoga Help Reduce Symptoms of Chronic Illness? — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

Back in March, I told you about yet another invisible illness that I’ve had the pleasure of being diagnosed with. Fibromalgia. It was also at that appointment where I learned of the 20+ pounds I had put on in less than a year. And it wasn’t like I was at my ideal weight before that time either. For the first time in my life, I actually weighed more than I did when I was pregnant. It was then that I decided I must begin to take eating healthy more seriously. Aside from not being able to fit into my skinny jeans, the extra weight was exacerbating all of my invisible medical problems.

Since then I’ve lost about fifteen pounds, and I’m starting to think there might be a chance that I’ll be able to finally get back down to my ideal weight. The main problem I’m facing now, is my inability to exercise. It’s not that I have an aversion to exercising, it’s because I also have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (here are some videos that might help you understand), and one of the most devastating symptoms is something called post-exertional malaise. Basically, even though I need to exercise to be healthy and lose weight, just a little bit of exercise can make my fatigue and pain much worse.

I know that yoga would be the best type of exercise for me to try, and I’ve always wanted to try it. But, up until now, I thought yoga was the type of thing that would be too difficult to learn how to do on my own. And then I came across a book on yoga, that was written specifically for people with Fibromyalgia. I was a little skeptical at first, but I was also ready to give something new a try. So, I emailed the publisher, and asked them to send me a review copy of Yoga for Fibromyalgia: Move, Breathe, and Relax to Improve Your Quality of Life by Shoosh Lettick Crotzer.

When I received the book, I was happy to see that it was an easy read, and included many pictures of the yoga positions it was recommending. It’s not a book that claims to be a cure for Fibromyagia, but rather a book that aims to improve the quality of life, of anyone suffering with this debilitating illness. There are positions for reducing pain and fatigue, improving sleep, and maintaining flexibility. If you are living with Fibromyagia or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I think you would find this book very helpful. I’ve only just begun to learn these yoga positions, but I intend to make them part of my personal healthy living program, and I’m hopeful that this will be just the type of exercise that will help me.

Here are some other BlogHers that are blogging about yoga…

From BlissChick - 8 Triggers For Centering Yourself

I started this week writing about becoming imbalanced over the weekend (which happened for a variety of reasons). I have spent the whole week getting back to myself, doing all the things I know I have to do to be in my center, to feel good and to be productive.

And this got me to thinking about reminders. Remembering to be centered. Remembering what is important. Remembering what we value and where we want to put our energy.

From Somebody Heal Me - Meditation & Yoga Can Reduce Migraines

Researchers speculate that yoga, meditation and deep breathing help prevent migraines by raising serotonin levels.

From BlogHer contributing editor Mipmup

The popularity of yoga is undeniable. Research varies, but it is estimated that from 15 to 28 million people practice yoga in the United States alone. And with good cause. Yoga “asanas,” or postures, benefit the body physically, mentally and spiritually. Besides keeping fit, yoga is being used to treat HIV/AIDS, depression, heart disease, cancer and anxiety disorders. So who’s blogging about it?

the accidental yogist, as the name implies, finds herself unexpectedly exploring yoga after a knee injury.

Notesgirl has written up a complete step-by-step yoga practice for digestion and stress relief.

the ohmtastic blog is the blog of the founder of ohmtastic lifestyle apparel. She has a useful post on reducing injury during practice.

Everything Yoga, the blog of a registered yoga teacher, posts about the “prenatal yoga trend.”

Are you blogging about yoga? Are you using yoga to help reduce symptoms of chronic illness? I hope you’ll let me know what you think in comments.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
at catherine-morgan.com, The Political Voices of Women, and The Care2 Election Blog

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Fibromyalgia: An Invisible Disease? — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

I try not to be a complainer, but last week I was seriously not feeling well. I actually resorted to sending a message to the other women in my community to ask for help (and I’ve never done that before).

I thought I would take tonight’s post to talk about what was wrong with me last week, because I know many women are suffering with the same problem.

The good news is, I finally found a doctor in Florida that believes in my diagnosis. I was only changing doctors because I needed someone closer, I had long since given up on finding a doctor that actually understood or had compassion for my condition. So, you can imaging my shock when I went in for my initial appointment, and the doctor told me that not only did he understand what was wrong with me, but he wrote the book, literally. Can you believe it? What are the chances of that happening? I have to admit, my first thought was…This guy can not be from Florida.

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Living and Blogging with Chronic Illness — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

I was surfing the BlogHer Health and Wellness Blogroll, looking for something to write about tonight, and I came across a new blog on living with autoimmune disease. As you might already know, I live with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and other chronic health problems…So, I decided to do tonight’s post, on living with chronic illness.

The new blog I discovered on the BlogHer Blogroll is - Life in the Autoimmune Lane

My name is Michelle and I decided to start a blog about my illness and my life. I became sick about 2 years ago and at that time I didn’t know what was happening to me. 2 doctors, 3 neurologists, and 1 rheumatologist later I now know that I have a couple of autoimmune diseases; still working on a definite diagnosis… So far I have Mixed Connective Tissue Disease, Dermatomyositis, and most recently what they think is the early stages of Rheumatoid Arthritis.

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This is a post I wrote for my “Living With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome” blog.

Here is a 30 second PSA on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome by the CDC…

Finding Acceptance When You Have An Invisible Disease — by Catherine Morgan

When you have a chronic illness, acceptance of your diagnosis is key to your successful treatment. But for patients with CFS, acceptance doesn’t come easily, and that’s because they are surrounded by people that minimize their condition. Even though the CDC has said that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is as debilitating as MS and Lupus, when you tell someone you have CFS, they either assume you are lazy or that you just need to get more sleep. Everyone from medical professionals to friends and family, have advice about what you should be doing or what you are doing wrong.

A patient with CFS ends up fighting not just the disease and it’s symptoms, but also the stigma of this disease. That might not sound like a big deal…But people with chronic illness, are generally much more successful at managing their disease, when they have support from the people in their life (friends, family, doctors). However, many patients with CFS don’t have the luxury of a strong support system (or any support system at all), due to the stigma surrounding this diagnosis. For this reason, the sooner this disease is legitimized by the medical professionals, the better it will be for those of us who suffer with it.

Tides are turning, and more research is being done…Where there was once no hope, there is now a glimmer.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Fighting For Acceptance

Imagine if you knew you had an illness but other people didn’t believe you, including your doctor and your loved ones. Such is the experience of many people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). Because it is difficult to diagnose, those with CFS have to fight to have their condition recognized. A new study interviewing 14 people on the psychological experience of CFS finds two major obstacles to acceptance (Dickson, Knussen & Flowers, 2007):

1. Negotiating a diagnosis
Many found their symptoms were trivialized - they were even diagnosed with a different condition such as depression. Doctors were generally cynical about their condition and this prolonged distress at not receiving a diagnosis. A diagnosis meant legitimization.

2. Negotiating CFS with a loved one
Other than the doctor, those with CFS faced the greatest problems with their loved ones. Partners appeared not to believe the condition was real. There was a perception that CFS was being used as an excuse to avoid planned activities. As a results those with CFS felt abandoned and isolated. — read full article

Also See:

My Statement To The Chronic Fatigue Advisory Board

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The Invisible Toxins In Everyday Products — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

A disturbing story came to light this week, from CNN’s Planet In Peril series. Our children are being exposed to such high levels of industrial chemicals, that studies are showing many of them to have up to seven times greater levels in their blood than their parents. Think about that for a minute. If their levels are this high now…How high do you think they will be by the time they are adults?

With so many cancers and chronic illnesses being blamed on environmental causes…How sick do you think these children might be by the time they are parents? How many might be unable to be parents? We are talking about chemicals that are known carcinogens, and known to be in products we and our children are using every day. It’s a much larger problem than I had ever realized…especially for our children.

Of course, we can not be sure how these exposures will affect our children’s future health, only time will tell. But, if these studies are any indication, the future is very troubling.

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Redefining Yourself From Healthy and Successful to Successfully Living with a Chronic Illness — by Catherine Morgan (cross posted at Living With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome)

This issue is so important, and that is because; When you suffer from chronic illness, although you are being treated (even successfully), going back to your former life before you were sick may be impossible. I hear this all the time from others suffering with CFS and FM, and I am certain it holds true for many others suffering with chronic disease as well. The biggest problem, is that many of us “define” ourselves through our work, or what we do for a living. Quite frankly, this is a bad idea even if you are a healthy person. None of us “are” our work. Our work is not who we are, it’s simply what we do. But, we all know it doesn’t always feel that way, especially when out of nowhere, we are unable to do what we do.

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