moms helping moms find a new normal
One of the most frustrating aspects of autoimmune disease, for patients and physicians alike, is often the confusion and uncertainty surrounding the diagnostic process. Because autoimmune diseases are very commonly first misdiagnosed one or more times before being definitively labeled “autoimmune”, this process – which in many cases is dependent on a
Energy management and balancing expenditure versus conservation is an important issue for even the most healthy among us. For those suffering from autoimmune disease, for whom fatigue is often a major factor and symptom, proper management is crucial, as both a means of alleviating overall fatigue and ensuring that one has enough energy for the most significant daily activities. Here we consider some aspects of
As autoimmune moms, we have a *ton* on our plates: juggling our own autoimmune symptoms (or that of our kids) and overall health, trying to be good moms to our kids, keeping up with the house, cooking, and our family activities. It sometimes doesn’t seem possible to balance anything else or add anything in. There are moments when pulling your hair out and screaming at
Are there any insurance coverage issues with autoimmune conditions – could I be cut off from health benefits (e.g., with small employers not subject to the new health care law) if I do not disclose a condition at the time it is known? One of the most important protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is that it helps those with preexisting
What am I required to disclose about my health to an employer, either during a job interview or at the start of a job? The ADA says that you do not have to reveal your disability to a potential employer during the interview process. You need only disclose information about a health condition if you wish your employer to make special accommodation for you in
The use of probiotics in various applications has become quite prevalent over the past two decades, as some physicians have become convinced that a microbial imbalance in the gut may be responsible for a host of maladies. This is especially true for gastrointestinal disorders, but it may be implicated in a host of other conditions as well. Here we examine the possible connection between autoimmune
The human immune system contains complex and powerful machinery capable of keeping us healthy under most circumstances, by attacking a myriad of active and potential pathogens simultaneously. On occasion, as seen with autoimmune disease and other conditions, this system malfunctions, yielding various disturbances in these immunological mechanisms. Here we discuss the possibility of autoimmune disease affecting the body’s normal immune function, hindering it from doing
People with multiple sclerosis can experience a number of symptoms of varying severity in varying cycles. Symptoms often come and go—you feel yucky, you feel better, then, pow! You’re back to feeling awful again, sometimes with the same symptoms, sometimes with a whole new set. Each cycle of this debilitating disease can last months or even years. The symptoms experienced by people with multiple sclerosis
Autoimmune Disease: The Clean Eating Cookbook, by Lisa Poloniato Marchese, CHN, is a clearly written, easy-to-use and wonderfully supportive cookbook, especially for novice cooks like me. But the cookbook is more than a variety of recipes for appetizers, main courses, snacks and smoothies. For me, simply, the cookbook offers hope. After going gluten-free nine months ago and not getting the expected symptom improvement for my