Month: August 2015

Does this sound like you? You have heard that positive thinking can have such an amazingly powerful effect on your life. But maybe you are not buying into all that “good thoughts” power. You need proof.

So, exactly how does positive thinking reduce stress? What really happens inside your body when you adopt a positive as opposed to negative way of thinking? Let’s take a look.

Positive Thinking for Stress Management

The Mayo Clinic reports that using positive thinking as a stress management tool can lead to the following benefits:

• You live longer
• Instances of depression and anxiety are reduced
• Your natural defense system is boosted
• You do not catch as many colds (seriously)
• You develop excellent coping skills
• A lower risk of heart disease and heart related death

For some it is difficult to believe those benefits can come about simply by having a positive attitude. And honestly, it is not really the positive attitude in and of itself which delivers those benefits.

It’s the true and honest perception of reality that positive thinkers enjoy which reduces stress and then leads to those many benefits.

For instance, people with a positive mindset most of the time tend to see the world as it is. They apply no negative filters or preconceived beliefs about existence. They understand the mantra of mindfulness meditation – to focus on and live in the moment.

When you look at the world as a “now” experience, no pointless future-guessing and past negative experiences can influence your mindset and actions. Science has even shown that positive thinkers see more possibilities in their lives.

When you believe there are limitless options and possibilities and you look at the world through no negative filters, you are calm and peaceful, even in the face of difficult situations.

Stressing over what may happen is one of the biggest worries of the negative thinker. This never happens with someone who fosters positive beliefs.

They do not waste time creating possible “what if ” scenarios. Instead, they see only the present moment with very clear vision, and then they choose a course of action which delivers a positive result.

Physiologically, the process is very simple.

When your ancient ancestors encountered stress, it was often a life or death situation. What we call today the “fight or flight” reflex tells your brain that you are in a super stressful situation.

Unfortunately this still happens today, even when what you perceive as stress has a limited or nonexistent impact on your life.

But your body still releases hormones and chemicals that quicken your pulse, speed up your heart rate and make you see just about everything as a possible threat. When you view the world as it is, you see that most things today are nonthreatening.

Positive thinkers view the world with a very clear focus, so their bodies naturally create less stressful situations. This leads to fewer heart problems, less stress, anxiety and nervous problems, and a healthier, longer life.

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I am really stretching the vitamin D thing lately but I just saw some medical news out of a skin conference in Praugue that explained research that a certain kind of Vitamin D supplement was more effective that topical steroidal cream for getting rid of eczema, this is bound to be big news in my house.

Almost half of patients with steroid-resistant hand eczema had complete or near-complete clearance when treated with the oral vitamin D analog alitretinoin, according to data from two randomized clinical trials.

Almost 80% of patients who relapsed after alitretinoin withdrawal regained disease control when treated again with the 9-cis retinoic acid agent, Uwe Hillen, M.D., of University Clinic in Essen, Germany, reported here at the International Congress of Dermatology.

“Alitretinoin produced improvement in all of the individual signs and symptoms of chronic hand eczema,” said Dr. Hillen. “Patients who relapse after initial treatment can be effectively retreated with alitretinoin, suggesting it is a suitable, intermittent treatment option for the long-term management of this chronic, relapsing disease.”

So the question is how hard would is be to get alitretinoin prescribed for this. The other question is weather taking alitretinoin is a bit of overkill for most people that have eczema probably this is suspected to be the best treatment for people with very bad rashes.

“It’s Possible to Rid Yourself of the Irritation and the Embarrassment! You Don’t Have to Live with Eczema Any Longer!”In a great book a previous lifetime Eczema suffer wrote down her experience in a new guide called “Eczema Free Forever”. It contains everything you need to know to clear up eczema – from the inside out! You just need to have a strong desire to be rid of long-sleeve-loving eczema, once and for all.“Eczema Free Forever

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I have been fighting with Bursitis in my shoulder. Usually I have no problems with my shoulders but during my Kidney donation surgery I apparently had my arm pulled over my head for a few hours while the surgeons were removing my kidney and stitching me back up (not a normal way to get bursitis…).

There are a lot of Bursas (or Bursae) in our body, about 160 of them but the knee, shoulder and elbow are the most common. Actually when you get Bursitis in your elbow it is called Tennis Elbow… it is that common.

How Did I get Bursitis?

I didn’t feel any pain the first day or so but as I was starting to pull up my body with my left arm I would grab onto the side rail of the hospital bed and try and as I did this a few times I eventually got a sharp pain in my shoulder.

First I thought I had a tendon pull, or a muscle tear, but there was no swelling that I could see. Eventually I really dove into the non-muscle parts of my shoulder through some diagrams and found this kind of picture.

As you can see from the pink sac of whatever This sits right on top of your shoulder bones and whenever you move you arms up or down in any direction the muscles and bones will slide on to of the Bursa.

In my case I was even sore when I did not move my arm at all. There was just a constant pain that actually ruined my sleep

How to Treat Bursitis

First of all there is an infection version called Septic Bursitis and this is when you get an infection in that area through a cut. This is fairly rare and most often really we will get bursitis from repetitive strain.

So in my case I had a couple of drugs that I was able to use. Tylenol, which I used, and Advil, which I used a bit but is hard on your kidneys.

Now that I only have one kidney I am going to have to be a bit more careful.

Also in the past I would have used a NSAID like Naproxen which is a great anti-inflammatory.

The other very important treatment for Bursitis is ice. I iced my shoulder 3 or 4 times a day. Usually when I have a pain or stressed muscle I will alternate ice and heat but in this case we really do not need the heat for anything and just use the ice and leave it at that.

In the end my Bursitis went mostly away within a week and if I was a bit healther I would expect 4 days or so. The trouble is that once that Bursa is inflamed you really have to be careful with it for at least a few weeks. Anytime you stress it make sure you ice afterwards to make sure you are not going to hurt it again.

I found this great info from Medical News Today, and I paraphrase them here

The NHS (National Health Service, UK) recommends PRICEM – a self-care management approach. PRICEM stands for:

• Protection
• Rest
• Ice
• Compression
• Elevation
• Medication

Breaking PRICEM down into each part:

Protect the affected area – Some people place padding to protect the affected bursae from any blow.

Rest – Do not exercise or use the joints in the affected area unless you really have to. Let it rest. Bursitis is a condition that responds well to rest.

Ice packs – Ice packs can help reduce pain and inflammation. Make sure you do not place the ice directly on the skin, use a pack or towel. A small pack of frozen vegetables are ideal.

Raise the affected area – If you can, lift the affected area, raise it; less blood will gather there. This may help reduce the inflammation.

Painkillers – Ibuprofen is an effective painkiller for treating pain, it also reduces inflammation.

Steroids – For more severe symptoms the doctor may inject steroids into the affected area. Steroids block a body chemical called prostaglandin. Prostaglandin causes inflammation. Steroids may raise the patient’s blood pressure if used for too long, as well as increasing his/her risk of getting an infection. UK doctors are advised not to give more than three steroid injections in one year.

My Thoughts on These Bursitis Reccomendations

I did not find any good reason to use compression but in my case the elevation of my shoulder was a lot more comfortable then laying down flat.

Also the idea of a steroid injection is to me a very last resort. Although this almost always works for getting rid of the pain for a while it does a lot of damage to all of the area around it.

I only had an injection once, that was into my elbow (from sitting and working on a computer with bad posture for a long time) and it worked but I had to make sure that I permanently altered the way that I sat and held my posture so that the problem would not come back.

 

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