This is the beginning of a journey to form an association to offer help, support and information to those with chronic illnesses. Each one following their own path, each one running their own marathon of life in a victorious way.
I'm an ESL teacher, a translator,an artist and a lover of peace, life and beauty. I have been fighting and living with different chronic illnesses since 1999 when I was diagnosed with a pituitary tumor. Words like Cushing's, hypothyroidism then Hashimoto's, metabolic syndrome and recently generalized postictal epilepsy ,pineal calcification and cortical atrophy have been very real to me.......I have won many battles and have lost a few but I do plan to finish the marathon of life in triumph I expect to reach the finish line,already traced for me by God's finger.
Philippians 3:13-14
Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Dioko in greek means to follow or press hard after, to pursue with earnestness and diligence in order to obtain, to go after with the desire of obtaining.
As we face many storms faith is like an anchor that keeps us from drifting and casting away in order to continue our journey, sometimes facing frightening waves, sometimes on dry desert land or cold inhospitable weather .
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
mĕcillah
As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion
chayil
A Heart Set on Pilgrimage Psalm 84:5 Set in the context of coming to worship before God, the Psalmist speaks of the hunger & thirst for God (vs 1-2) of those who long for intimate encounter with God. Since God is infinite and we finite, we often look to surroundings that speak to us of God (vs 3-4). But intimacy with God is not found in physical surroundings - thus this quest for intimacy with God becomes a journey or pilgrimage (vs 5) of the heart. We at River of Life are on spiritual pilgrimage - both individually and collectively.
“Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.” Isaiah 54
Winners were drawn randomly from participants in our study who completed Stage 1 and the Survey of Artistic Influences. We have been most pleased by the quality of art that we have received and the excitement level about this study. There will be a second drawing for participants who complete Stage 1 and the survey later. Each winner will receive a check for $50. The winner's names and artworks are pictured below. The awards are sponsored by the Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria.
I was happy and very pleased to participate in this study ! It was specially exciting to receive one of the $50 awards all the way from Australia.
We set our watches back one hour last sunday, I had an abscense seizure while driving today, "I woke up" when the car's tires slightly brushed the sidewalk. This kind of thing had not happened to me since taking my medicine. I was on my way to have some blood test, without coffee, breakfast or medication. I wonder if that's why it happened........the doctor in ER said he doubted it and I shouldn't drive anymore. Doing some research I found some relationship between the pineal gland ( mine is calcified) and Epilepsy and another interesting article about reajustment of internal rythms when switching from daylight to standard time...... some peole do have problems to adjust.
Another factor in epileptic activity could be a malfunctioning Pineal Gland. In 3 PubMed articles the Pineal Gland, as well as it's neurohormone melatonin are discussed in relation to epileptic seizures. Significant changes were found in "day-night melatonin levels during convulsions, consistent with the hypothesis that melatonin has an inhibitory function on central nervous system activity." (1) Patients with epileptic seizures had "a significantly lower urinary secretion of melatonin, which may indicate that melatonin has a protective effect on seizures" (2) and the Pineal Gland and melatonin "exert a major influence in the control of brain electrical activity and have been shown to be involved in seizure and sleep mechanisms." (3)
My particular attention got attracted by the Pineal Gland as a magneto sensitive organ. Former SSRI-AntiDepressant users reported that the electrical shocks, zaps or shivers through the head (brain) and/or body, as well as the light flickering in the head, increased in severity when working behind a computer monitor. Computer monitors are known to radiate low frequency electromagnetic waves. Knowing that electromagnetic fields (EMF) affect serotonin, melatonin and the Pineal Gland, these electromagnetic waves could therefore trigger epileptic activity by altering the functions of the Pineal Gland. Here is a field of research to establish if these post-SSRI-Antidepressant side-effects are indeed epileptiform of nature and if forebrain seizures -whether serotonergic, dopaminergic or cholinergic- as well as the Pineal Gland are involved.
The biological clock is linked with circadian rhythm, which is a roughly-24-hour cycle in the physiological processes of living beings, including plants, animals, fungi and cyanobacteria. The term "circadian" comes from the Latin circa, "around", and dies, "day", meaning literally "about a day." The formal study of biological temporal rhythms such as daily, weekly, seasonal, and annual rhythms, is called chronobiology.
MOST people had little difficulty changing their watches and clocks when the country switched last week from daylight to standard time. Shifting their bodies, however, was another matter. Twice a year -- and for frequent long-distance travelers, far more often than that -- the human body is asked to readjust its internal rhythms to suit the whims of society. The adjustment, nudged along by social influences as well as sunlight, often takes days and in some cases weeks before the desire to sleep and eat, as well as a dozen other daily body rhythms, matches the new clock time.
Now, however, researchers who have spent decades studying the factors that set internal time clocks and the disruptions wrought when people's body clocks run too fast or too slow believe that a pill may eventually help people better adjust.
The pill would contain a minute dose of the hormone called melatonin which is produced by the pineal gland, a tiny organ buried in the center of the brain.
Melatonin -- not to be confused with the skin pigment melanin -- is secreted in a daily rhythm or cycle. Affectionately dubbed the Dracula hormone, melatonin production is stimulated by darkness and inhibited by light. In animals, the melatonin cycle is a timekeeper that serves to trigger seasonal breeding. Since humans do not breed seasonally, the role of melatonin has long been obscure and biologists suspected it was just an evolutionary relic.
Researchers at the Oregon Health Science Center in Portland believe they have now found a role for the melatonin cycle in humans: It helps set the timing of the body's biological clock.
The biological clock is thought to reside in a small patch of brain cells known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus. The nucleus receives nerve fibers directly from the retina, which is presumably how the body's own internal clock is kept locked in rhythm with the pattern of light and dark outside.
Although light is the primary setter of the biological clock, the Oregon researchers believe the melatonin cycle also has an influence. They report in a paper just published in Chronobiology International that a small dose of melatonin will delay the daily rhythm of the biological clock when given in the morning and advance it when administered in the early afternoon or evening.
My son was diagnosed two years ago with epilepsy. He is now 8 years old. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced the seizures to be brought on by change of season or with daylight savings time. My son has had two grand mal seizures of which the first one occured in October of 2004, with that, he was placed on meds and sure enough in October 2005 another grand mal. I am very worried as October is rapidly approaching us. Has anyone else out there experienced this? I certainly do not feel that it is coincidental. Hope to hear from you!Thanks and make it a great one!
Hi There:I've been back on seizure meds really since I was 16 (but I was originally diagnosed at age 5 - had a 4 yr. break from meds). I'm now 32. I do find during the 'spring ahead/fall back' jazz I may have a minor seizure.For me, it's not really the "time change" that triggers the seizures. It's the change in routine that comes with that. Lunch is sooner/later, I gain/loose sleep. Things go all out of whack for a few days and it takes time to adjust.For me, any change in routine - whether it's time zones, sleep patterns Sat/Sun versus during the week, when I eat during the week -vs- weekends, times I take my meds, etc. all can trigger seizures.Perhaps your 8 yr. old is like me and needs life to be consistent - breakfast, lunch, supper, bedtime all the same, time of meds the same....get in a grove, stay in that grove.The time change or any little thing that throws that off - may trigger a seizure.Not to say you gotta be paranoid or anything.There are things that can be done, and meds put in place.There's a reason I take clobazam. It helps. And, any time my life goes all screwy I get told to take a bit extra.Keep a seizure journal of things that were different the day that your son had a seizure - that will help you put together common links bigtime!Hope this helps a little.Back to work for me
I'm still translating every week and doing great! I encourage you do not give up, get your brain some mental exercise!
I was able to translate for 4 hours with a 5 minute break in between! one doctor once told me I wouldn't be able to do that eventually.
Opinions............... that's what they are. One must not let oneself be strictly guided by one of them, rather look for your own one, investigate, ask, pray, prepare yourself, take care, take your medications, don't give up, allow yourself to be guided by a supreme authority over your destiny.
Adults with epilepsy often complain of difficulties with language (especially difficulties in coming up with words), but for most of them the problems are not severe enough to be classified as a bona fide aphasia. The exceptions are those whose seizures develop as a result of a specific lesion, such as a stroke or brain tumor, that affects the language zones in the area of their left temporal lobe. Some people with partial forms of epilepsy claim to have problems with comprehending language, but these symptoms nearly always are mislabeled. Instead of a language disturbance in itself, most of these people are reporting a difficulty with comprehension because they have a problem in some other area of cognition. Reduced attention or memory impairment is commonly at the root of the trouble.
Although cortical activation patterns associated with language processing vary to some degree in normal persons (Burton, Noll, & Small, 2001), even greater variation is typically seen in persons with aphasia. It is not entirely clear why cortical activation varies more in the aphasic population, but it is likely that both cognitive and neurophysiological factors play a role. To better understand patterns of cortical activation as measured using fMRI, it will be useful to discern factors that influence the temporal and spatial aspects of the BOLD signal. One of these factors may be fMRI task difficulty. Recent studies utilising functional neuroimaging have demonstrated that brain activation is influenced by the complexity and difficulty of the experimental task—as task difficulty increases, so does cortical activation.
The organisation of language in the brain of multilingual people remains controversial. Using a high temporal resolution 12-channel near-infrared continuous wave spectroscopy system, we have demonstrated that it is possible to monitor non-invasively, comfortably and, without the interferences due to intrinsic limitations of positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), cortical oxygenation changes in the Broca's area in response to translation of short sentences and language switching. Eight Dutch students proficient in English translated aloud from their native language into English or vice versa or alternating (switching) short visually presented sentences. These tasks provoked, in the left inferior frontal cortex which includes the Broca's area, a consistent and incremental rise in oxyhaemoglobin accompanied by a smaller decrease in deoxyhaemoglobin. The investigated cortical areas surrounding the Broca's area showed no uniform and consistent oxygenation changes upon the three different translation tasks. These results confirm that Broca's area is involved in the translation process and its so called activation is unaffected by the direction of the translation. In addition, these results strengthen the role of near-infrared multi-point measurements as a powerful tool for investigating the spatial and temporal features of the cortical oxygenation changes during language processing.
Neuropsychological studies have suggested that a prefrontal lesion can impair idiom comprehension. We tested the role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in idiom processing by using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in normal participants.
The study of bilingual aphasics allows us to describe dissociations and double dissociations between the different subcomponents of the various languages. Furthermore, symptoms peculiar to bilingual aphasia were reported (pathological mixing and switching and translations disorders) which allowed the correlation of some abilities specific to bilinguals with particular neurofunctional systems. Another approach to the study of the bilingual brain is of the experimental type, such as electrophysiological investigations (electrocorticostimulation during brain surgery and event-related potentials) and functional neuroanatomy studies (positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging). Functional neuroanatomy studies investigated the brain representation of languages when processing lexical and syntactic stimuli and short stories. Neurophysiologic and neuroimaging studies evidenced a similar cerebral representation of L1 and L2 lexicons both in early and late bilinguals. The representation of grammatical aspects of languages seems to be different between the two languages if L2 is acquired after the age of 7, with automatic processes and correctness being lower than those of the native language. These results are in line with a greater representation of the two lexicons in the declarative memory systems, whereas morphosyntactic aspects may be organized in different systems according to the acquisition vs learning modality.
Activation studies also claim that the inferior frontal cortex just in front of the Broca’s area relate to semantic tasks. For example, Petersen et al., (1988) found inferior frontal activation when subjects generated verbs associated with nouns compared when they repeated the nouns. Also, making judegments about whether sentences contained synonyms or only closely semantically related words acvtivated the left inferior frontal lobe, and decreased activation in the left inferior prefrontal cortex has been reported during repeated semantic processesin of both words and pictures.
The expectation that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex may be involved in translating, especially in the context of switching between languages, comes partly from neuropsychological case reports. The frontal lobes can play an important role in language processing with respect to inhibiting a pre-potent response (e.g. Burgess and Shallice, 1996). Indeed, damage to this region in bilinguals can lead to inadvertent language mixing in both conversation and picture naming (Stengel and Zelmanowicz, 1933) and does produce impaired performance in numeral naming during unpredictable language switching in which the language of response is cued by a change in the colour of the background (Meuter and Humphreys, 1997). Numeral naming, as pointed out earlier, contrasts with translation and so it remains unclear whether or not dorsolateral frontal activation will necessarily increase in translation or in language switching during translation.
Since the early discoveries of the language–brain relationship(Broca, 1856; Wernicke, 1874; Geschwind, 1965; Goodglass, 1993)there has been a long debate about which cortical and subcorticalareas support language processes. The classical brain lesion–behaviourapproaches suggest the following interpretation: patients withleft hemisphere posterior (temporoparietal) lesions includingWernicke's area speak fluently and produce at least parts ofa sentence with seemingly correct syntactic structures. However,their speech and their comprehension reflect limitations toprocess content words such as nouns and verbs (e.g. Berndt etal., 1997). The underlying deficit in these patients has beendefined either as a deficit in the semantic representation ofthe mental lexicon (Zurif et al., 1974) or as a deficit `inaccessing and operating on semantic properties of the lexicon'(Milberg and Blumstein, 1981, p. 381; Blumstein et al., 1982).
Awesome Inspirational Awareness event! Among these courageous ladies crossing the Sea of Cortez was Patricia Kohlmann who has already crossed " El Canal de la Mancha".
Their message is "take care of yourselves through exercise and regular medical check ups."
El Sudcaliforniano.
An example of courage and resistance was given by these eight professional swimmers Mónica Ramírez, Edna Llórens, Nelly Becerra, Patricia Guerra, Nanes Maza, Patricia Kohlmann, Nora Toledano and Patricia Kohlmann by swimming open sea across the channel between the bay of La Paz and La Isla del Espiritu Santo , in an action to favor the prevention of uterine cancer.
This event was promoted by the XIII City Counsil of La Paz, with the name "For them ..............the Sea of Cortez", in order to prevent and create awareness on the serious problem breast and uterus cancer represent and how they can be cured if detected on time.
La Paz, Baja California Sur.- Un ejemplo de coraje, valor y resistencia es el que dieron las ocho nadadoras profesionales Mónica Ramírez, Edna Llórens, Nelly Becerra, Patricia Guerra, Nanes Maza, Patricia Kohlmann, Nora Toledano y Patricia Kohlmann al cruzar a nado en mar abierto el canal marítimo entre la bahía de La Paz y la isla Espíritu Santo, como una acción en pro de la prevención del cáncer cérvico uterino.
Este evento promovido por el XIII Ayuntamiento de La Paz, el cual llevó por nombre "Por ellas... el mar de Cortez", se realizó para prevenir y concientizar a las mujeres sobre el grave problema que representan el cáncer de mama y cérvico uterino, los cuales si se detectan a tiempo pueden ser curados.
En punto de las 7:00 am, la alcaldesa de La Paz, Rosa Delia Cota Montaño, en la playa de Balandra dio el disparo de salida a estas atletas que establecieron un récord al recorrer a nadando casi 45 kilómetros en 11 horas con 35 minutos.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Just coming out of another sleeping episode............. 3 days of lots of vivid intense dreams, crying and screaming, trying to open my eyes and "come back". Terrifying experience of feeling dead yet I remember feeling a moment's peace while praying and singing a beautiful song of worship, I can't sing in real life but in my spirit I can sing beautiful songs for my God.
Narcolepsy · characterized by excessive sleepiness associated with REM sleep phenomena such as: 1. Cataplexy a) sudden temporary episodes of paralysis with muscle tone, precipitated by strong emotion b) occurs in most cases 2. Sleep paralysis a) a transient and generalized inability to move or speak during the transition between sleep and wakefulness b) typically occur while falling asleep c) the paralysis is flaccid, and usually complete d) episodes usually last only a few seconds, and less than one minute 3. Hypnagogic hallucinations a) occur while falling asleep
Scientists have recently discovered that people with narcolepsy are lacking in hypocretin (also called orexin), a chemical in the brain that activates arousal and regulates sleep. Narcoleptics generally do not have as many the Hcrt cells or neurons that secrete hypocretin, inhibiting their ability to fully control their alertness and tendencies to fall asleep. Scientists are working on developing treatments to augment hypocretin levels and to alleviate narcolepsy symptoms by addressing the cause of the disorder.
Heredity appears to be a factor in narcolepsy, but environmental triggers also play a strong role. Research is also investigating these triggers.
Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder caused by disruption of hypocretin (orexin) neurotransmission. Injection of hypocretin-1 acutely suppresses TRH and TSH release in rats. In contrast, subchronic administration does not appear to affect the hypothalamo-pituitary-thyroid ensemble in animals. We explored (in 7 patients and 7 controls) whether hypocretin deficiency impacts circulating TSH levels and circadian timing of TSH release in narcoleptic humans. Plasma TSH concentration profiles (blood samples taken at 10-min intervals during 24 h) and TSH levels in response to TRH injection were analyzed by Cluster, robust regression, approximate entropy (ApEn), and deconvolution. Circulating TSH levels were lower in patients, which was primarily attributable to lower pulse amplitude and nadir concentrations. TSH secretion correlated positively with mean 24-h leptin levels (R2 = 0.46, P = 0.02) and negatively with amount of sleep (R2 = 0.29, P = 0.048). Pattern-synchrony between 24-h leptin and TSH concentrations was demonstrated by significant cross-correlation and cross-ApEn analyses with no differences between controls and patients. Sleep onset was closely associated with a fall in circulating TSH. Features of diurnal rhythmicity of circulating TSH fluctuations were similar in patients and controls, with the acrophase occurring shortly after midnight. Thyroxine and triiodothyronine concentrations were similar in patients and controls and did not display a diurnal rhythm. The response of plasma TSH levels to TRH was also similar in both groups. Sleep patterns in narcoleptics were significantly disorderly compared with controls, as measured by ApEn (P = 0.006). In summary, circulating TSH concentrations are low in hypocretin-deficient narcoleptic men, which could be attributable to their low plasma leptin levels and/or their abnormal sleep-wake cycle.
The relation of nyctohemeral variation in plasma TSH to sleep-wake cycles was examined in 10 normal young men who had their sleep polygraphically monitored and their blood sampled every 20 min for 24,36, or 48 h periods. Studies of normal sleepwake cycles in which sleep was allowed from the usual bedtime to 0630 h totalled 21 nights (night = 1840-0620 h) and their corresponding 16 days. TSH was measured by a sensitive RIA. On 17 nights, the mean nightly TSH significantly exceeded that of the day's and, on 18 nights, clear nyctohemerally maximal peaks in TSH were seen in the 2100-0100 h interval. Greater amplitude, duration and rhythmic repetition over several nights distinguished 2100-0100 h maxima from a background of persistent briefly episodic release. These nyctohemeral peaks were pre-sleep maxima, as rises uniformly began, and on 15 nights, the peaks occurred prior to the onset of sleep. The peaks clustered within the 30 min just before (12 nights) or after (3 nights) entry into sleep. TSH release then declined across sleep. Other evidence suggestive of an inhibitory influence in sleep upon TSH release was that sleep began early on the 3 nights without clear 2100-0100 h TSH maxima and that the mean 2100-0100 h TSH peak was significantly reduced when sleep began prior to the usual 2300-0000 h interval and significantly increased when the onset of sleep was delayed or postponed. After a 24 h baseline, 4 men underwent phase-reversal of their sleep-wake cycles for 48 h, in which sleep was shifted to the 1100-1830 h interval. On the first wakeful night of reversal, the 2100-0100 h peak began normally, but, in the absence of sleep, the enhanced TSH release then simply continued across this night, delaying achievement of the nyctohemeral maxima. On the second wakeful night of reversal, the maximum in mean TSH lay in the same 0400-0600 h interval as that of first reversal night, and the mean 2100-0100 h peak was no longer evident. The TSH of the second 24 h of reversal also was significantly reduced, suggestive of a negative feedback effect of enhanced release of the first reversal day. No shift of basal pre-sleep TSH peaks to the 0900-1300 h interval or of sleep- enhanced TSH release was seen during reversal. Thus, despite the persistence of TSH's nyctohemeral rhythmicity across acute sleep-wake reversal, its pattern changed significantly in relation to shifts in sleep. We currently view these results as consistent with the origin of TSH's nyctohemeral rhythmicity in a circadian mechanism whose expression is subject to modulation by the inhibitory influences of feedback and sleep.
How do we learn? And how do we retain that information? The field of synaptic plasticity, which addresses these questions, has exploded in recent years. In this timely lecture, Dr Robert Hawkins discusses the role of the hippocampus and temporal lobes in handling memory and compares them in their respective roles and capacities of transmitting and storing memory. Focusing on the important neuronal phenomenon known as long-term potentation, Dr Hawkins illustrates the synaptic plasticity that occurs when neurons process and store memory information.
The hippocampus and the neocortex play a symbiotic relationship in how memory is processed (or discarded). The hippocampus has a "time-limited role" in storing memories: It learns things in a single trial yet has a small capacity for storing this information. In contrast, it is thought that the neocortex requires more than a single trial to learn information, yet its capacity is limitless, its storage of memory is permanent; whereas in the hippocampus, the memory is vulnerable to "accidents" (i.e., brain injuries). Interestingly enough, memory goes through a series of stages: encoding, consolidation, an accident-prone stage where the memory can be "forgotten," and the final stage where the hippocampus helps the neocortex "rehearse" the memory so that it is securely stored in it. After the amalgamation of the memory is complete, the hippocampus can forget the memory and quickly learn new ones. But how do we get good at what we do after that memory is stored? The brain clearly shows that practice makes perfect indeed. By discussing different types of learning, such as priming, classical conditioning, habituation, and sensitization, Dr Hawkins shows the phenomenon of long-term potentiation (LTP), wherein if you give a series of high frequency electric stimulations to a neuron synapse, the synapse potentiates or strengthens. Therefore, it becomes more sensitive to transmitting information. This gave rise to the idea of the Hebbian potentiation: If you have presynaptic action potentials at approximately the same time as postsynaptic action potentials, then the synapse between those cells would get strengthened. The biological mechanisms behind LTP involve AMPA-type receptors for glutamate and calcium flux channels, which stimulate a number of kinases. LTP has tremendous implications not only for learning but also for strengthening memory (and hence learning) and in those whose memories are failing. If we practice a task, are we voluntarily potentiating specific synapses? Those are the types of questions for future investigation.
The Seahorse in the Brain There is a seahorse in the brain, called the hippocampus, from the Greek for “seahorse”. The illustration below shows the seahorse shape, while the red rectangle in the CT image shows the location of the hippocampus. (In the large image, the brain is shown in grey, superimposed over a whitish background with a shadow. The "seahorse" faces left.)
The beautiful hippocampus promotes memory and spatial orientation. Since Alzheimer’s especially affects the hippocampus, memory and navigation are the first faculties people with Alzheimer’s lose. The hippocampus is uniquely susceptible to damage from stress. Researchers at McGill University in Quebec followed people for five years. Those who coped poorly with stress had shrinkage of the hippocampus and loss of memory and other functions.
The cerebral cortex is the folded gray tissue that covers the surface of each cerebral hemisphere. It is responsible for language, music, calculations, imagining, thinking and planning. It controls our ability to move our arms, legs, head, eyes, tongue—any body part we can move deliberately. It determines our intelligence, emotions, and personality. It also processes sensory information for vision, hearing, and speech. Almost everything we do consciously depends on the cortex.
The neocortex is the part of the brain that takes responsibility for sensory perceptions, conscious thought, and language. Humans have a neocortex that is considerably larger than that of other mammals, making it an ideal target for research on human cognition, which relates these skills. Several theories exist regarding human cognition. For instance, some believe that the higher level of cognition present in humans is due to the larger size and greater complexity of the neocortex. In another theory, different types of cells in the neocortex, which other mammals do not have, are responsible for our higher levels of cognition. Chandelier cells, which are shaped like candlesticks, are of particular interest to the authors of this study. While other species have these cells, they tend to be more complex in humans. Therefore, they might be responsible for humans' higher levels of cognition thanks to a more complicated or differently organized system of communication.
In my case I let go of bitterness. I'm not usually a bitter person, I have learned to forgive and firmly believe in the power of forgiveness yet I was deeply hurt by the fact my family sees me as a very strong woman and could not understand when I felt sick and helpless with all the symptoms of Hashimoto's disease. A hyper and under active thyroid caused by an autoimmune condition.
My TSH was 0.09 and I was expected to be brave, strong and self controled! My dose was lowered for the first time since 1999
I have, of course, done everything I know of physically to heal my thyroid, and I’ve done a lot of emotional work in this area - but was still having to take thyroid hormone to be healthy.
Until my first retreat that was.
While I was there I started getting symptoms of thyroid hormone overdose which was very unusual - so I halved my dose (which I haven’t been able to do for years), and I have been fine every since and am actually feeling better than ever!
I’m sure that the actual action of fulfilling a vision and achieving a goal that put me in a position of strength has made the impact that has always been needed to start true healing.
I’ll keep you posted on how I go with this, but it’s been four weeks now on a half dose and I’m doing well and about to wean off completely.
This has been an amazing experience for me to see where true healing can lie, and it isn’t just in the physical.
Depression can have its source in our body, soul or spirit. Our body can affect our soul and spirit and vice versa. For example: if one has a low thyroid function it may affect the soul (for example the emotions) leading to depression which then affects one's spiritual life. Affecting our spiritual life does not mean it changes our standing or position in Christ, it means things like a less productive outreach/ministry and a more self-oriented prayer life.
Research since the 1990's has helped clarify this whole issue and there is now better understanding on the causes and solutions. The brain's frontal lobe (behind the forehead) is now known to be intimately involved in emotional well-being. It is recognized that one of the characteristics of virtually all depressed people is a significant decrease in the frontal lobe's blood flow and activity. The main cause of impaired frontal lobe function is a harmful lifestyle—the same cause of most of our physical diseases.3
There is now no question that reductions in frontal lobe function lie at the core of depression. Complimenting this research is the finding that depressed children have significantly smaller frontal lobes than non-depressed children. The evidence indicates that frontal lobe problems are the cause and not the effect. The frontal lobe's proper function requires adequate blood flow and nerve chemistry.
As fog veils a beautiful meadow, so depression clouds life itself; existence becomes dreary and dark. It has been described as darkness visible. One can go to bed feeling fine only to wake with an overwhelming gloom that cannot be explained or escaped. With proper nutrition, lifestyle changes and a renewed way of processing the events of our lives we can break through that fog into a sunny day.
"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones"
I know that I can remove a part of the frontal lobe without any noticeable changes in the individual's personality or physical performance. This is what makes brain surgery possible. We know what will happen to the patient if some part of the brain is damaged, and we know what will not happen. And with modern techniques, such as microsurgery, we can access any part of the brain causing minimal or no damage.
Certain regions of the brain are especially important to daily living. We call these the "eloquent" brain areas. These include the speech, motor, and visual areas. If there is even the slightest damage to eloquent brain tissue, the results can be disastrous to the quality of life of the individual. We think twice before operating in these areas. Other regions of the brain are more redundant. Take the anterior (front) part of the temporal lobe, for instance. Removing nearly the entire temporal lobe on one side will cause no harm to the patient. Not even a skilled neuropsychologist can detect any changes after a succesful temporal lobe removal.
The ancient motto of the medical profession is "Primum non nocere", which means: First, do no harm. This is the ultimate test for the neurosurgeon: Often we need to do harm in order to heal. We must decide whether the benefits will be greater than the harm done. There are great risks involved in brain surgery, and the difference between success and disaster is literally microscopic.
Inevitably, great failures happen. The most difficult part of being a neurosurgeon is learning to live with one's failures. When a disastrous complication occurs, and they do, the burden is great. The patient was in my hands, and whatever happened was the direct consequence of my actions, and the responsibility is mine alone. The way I've learned to live with it is by the realization that all of medicine is about probabilities, not about absolutes. There is always a certain inherent element of failure and misjudgment which can never be eliminated.
An interesting phenomenon of frontal lobe damage is the insignificant effect it can have on traditional IQ testing. Researchers believe that this may have to do with IQ tests typically assessing convergent rather than divergent thinking. Frontal lobe damage seems to have an impact on divergent thinking, or flexibility and problem solving ability. There is also evidence showing lingering interference with attention and memory even after good recovery from a TBI (Stuss et al., 1985).
At a given time, a single neuron may receive input at hundreds of these. Researchers have long known that information is stored when the strength of these connections change, a process called synaptic plasticity.
In neuroscience, synaptic plasticity is the ability of the connection, or synapse, between two neurons to change in strength.There are several underlying mechanisms that cooperate to achieve synaptic plasticity, including changes in the quantity of neurotransmitter released into a synapse and changes in how effectively cells respond to those neurotransmitters. Since memories are postulated to be represented by vastly interconnected networks of synapses in the brain, synaptic plasticity is one of the important neurochemical foundations of learning and memory.
How does the visual cortex learn to “see” and interpret visual information from the outside world? How is information stored in the brain? After all, the brain has no central processing unit to control actions and no memory storage banks to keep track of information. There is only a vast network of interconnected neurons. Today, there is good evidence in support of the notion that learning and memory occur at the synaptic connections that exist between neurons of the brain. The idea is that events in the outside world cause particular patterns of activity in populations of neurons in the cortex. In turn, these activity patterns bring about changes in connective strengths among cortical neurons. Such changes, which are known under the name of synaptic plasticity, are a means of storing information in neuronal circuits. Synaptic plasticity may thus ensure that subsequent presentations of similar although perhaps non-identical stimuli elicit more or less the same activity patterns, thus resulting in a form of recall and detection mechanism.
THE AMAZING WONDERS OF OUR BRAIN! DO NOT WASTE THIS AWESOME CREATION!
by Pat Garcia
Be informed to be formed. Do not allow yourself to acquire information just to increase its storage within your brain cells, acquire it to be formed, to be shaped, to apply it and become wise.
Wisdom is the result of applied knowledge, therefore the information and knowledge you gather should come from a source that will fill you with information data that is true to physical laws as well as spiritual laws. Time is so precious and should not be wasted with false imaginations and false circumstances. So much pretending, so much doubts and what ifs, carrying burdens of the past sure stores information that has no use for us ... unless we learned something valuable from it, unless we applied all our resources, all our faith to keep walking and help others to overcome adversity.
Isaiah 43:18-19 says, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."
We walk by faith which comes from hearing and reading and feeding ourselves, all senses involved with all that which is good and noble, all that which will edify ourselves and others, all that which will grant us the passion to pursue higher and higher plenitude of richness in our lives.
Richness of hidden treasures that we can only find if we move along our paths of life, or by working in our fields and gardens. Movement is a vital motion, mobility, our bodies are full of non perceived amazing movement, like the activity patterns that bring changes known as synaptic plasticity, the ability of the connection between two neurons to change in strength which are involved in storing information in neuronal circuits within our brain.
Connections that change in strength ............... even in the deepest inner parts of our brain cells!
"Everyone's future is out there but not completely known. The path isn't always smooth and flat but we all have to move forward. Some, at best, stumble blindly. Others walk by faith."
These adjectives mean adhering firmly and devotedly to someone or something that elicits or demands one's fidelity. Faithful and loyal both suggest undeviating attachment, though loyal applies more often to political allegiance: a faithful employee; a loyal citizen.
True implies steadiness, sincerity, and reliability: "I would be true, for there are those who trust me" Howard Arnold Walter. Constant stresses uniformity and invariability: "But I am constant as the northern star" Shakespeare. Fast suggests loyalty that is not easily deflected: fast friends. Steadfast strongly implies fixed, unswerving loyalty: a steadfast ally. Staunch even more strongly suggests unshakable attachment or allegiance: "He lived and died a staunch loyalist" Harriet Beecher Stowe.
"Fortes in Fide” (Strong in Faith) 1 Peter 5:9
stereos ster-eh-os' stiff, that is, solid, stable (literally or figuratively): - steadfast, strong, sure.
pistis pis'-tis
persuasion, that is, credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly constancy in such profession; by extension the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself: - assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.
One day you realize life has molded you to become faithful. After deceptions and decisions of forgiveness, glancing back to the road behind you, you can grasp the thought that it can never follow you but rather you can follow a new chosen path and amazingly gather days and days of faithfulness to your every thought and idea, deep down to the core of all inner values in your heart.
Pat Garcia
“Faithfulness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the life of the intellect - simply a confession of failures”
Oscar Wilde
“Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind.” Marcus Tullius Cicero
The value of faithfulness By Clifford Rawley
What is faithfulness? This word defines a relationship. There is no faithfulness in the abstract. A trustworthy person is faithful to people who need him. His promises can be counted upon. He will fulfill his obligations. Family members, friends and fellow workers can depend upon this person to remember his duties in service to others. Unfaithfulness in a relationship where we have invested our hopes causes deep pain in the human heart.
Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18-19 (King James Version)
When I need help and things seem like they are falling apart it helps me to read in the Bible to learn about who God is, and how He works in our lives. Isaiah was well aware of God’s past faithfulness to the nation of Israel. God was perhaps reminding us that nothing is impossible to Him; His arm is not too short to rescue us from any trouble. Because of God's past faithfulness, we can absolutely trust His present and future faithfulness.
God's wants us to place our hope solely in Him for the future. In Isaiah’s day this hope was evidenced in the history of Israel, which remembered God's saving acts. In the midst of an exile to a foreign nation and the destruction of their country and families, Isaiah teaches the people not to dwell on the "former things," because God has promised to do something completely new and miraculous.
As I do my best to patiently endure today’s trials and tribulations, how awesome it is to know that my God is capable of doing so much more than what I can even conceive as a solution. Not only is He capable of rescuing His children in miraculous ways, He delights in it!
Father God, thank you for not limiting yourself to my small and feeble prayers. I am lost without your grace and Spirit leading me through the wilderness and deserts of this world.
René Descartes, who dedicated much time to the study of the pineal gland, called it the "seat of the soul" . He believed that it was the point of connection between the intellect and the body.
The image above is of intermediate filaments in the brain in the region of the pineal gland
More than 75% of people suffering from mental disorders in the developing world receive no treatment or care. A new WHO programme launched today, on World Mental Health Day 2008 highlights the huge treatment gap for a number of mental, neurological and substance use disorders. Across Africa for example, nine out of ten people suffering from epilepsy go untreated, unable to access simple and inexpensive anticonvulsant drugs which cost less than US$5 a year per person.
WHO is now calling on governments, donors and mental health stakeholders to rapidly increase funding and basic mental health services to close this huge treatment gap. The programme, Mental health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP): Scaling up care for mental, neurological and substance use disorders asserts that with proper care, psychosocial assistance and medication, tens of millions could be treated for diseases such as depression, schizophrenia, and epilepsy and begin to lead healthy lives, even where resources are scarce.
“Governments across the world need to see mental health as a vital component of primary health care. We need to change policy and practice. Only then can we get the essential mental health services to the tens of millions in need”, said Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization.
It's difficult to make people understand Thyroid dysfunction, it does not affect talent or responsabilty it only slows a person down, it takes a while to "start the engine running" if metabolismn is low.
Meera Jasmine reportedly has been suffering from Thyroid dysfunction for quite some time.
The talented National Award winning actress Meera Jasmine recently was shown the door from a film produced by director Shankar’s ‘S’ Pictures. The main reason given was that Meera never turned up for the shoot before 11 a.m., making things difficult for the director and the crew. Meera Jasmine is reportedly putting forth such a condition to all the producers and directors who approach her for their films, stating that she won’t be turning up at the shooting spot before 11 a.m. If it is okay for them, she is ready to sign on dotted lines; otherwise they might as well look for some other heroine, she reportedly tells them. Now it’s heard that all this is not without a reason. The reason reportedly is that Meera has been suffering from Thyroid dysfunction and it makes her get up everyday only by 10 a.m. and not before that. If Jasmine gets up before the above-cited time, her face reportedly swells making it ugly and it takes some hours before the face gets back to its normal shape. Meera, who has been keeping this under wraps, has now started speaking openly about the ailment so that her problem is understood and she is not mistaken or branded as an ‘unprofessional’ actress.
What a nice surprise to run into this video of my dear Joe Ichull whom I translated for many times in the past . It was a blessing and a priviledge. At the present time I have dates to translate from here to December, which is something I really want t get into more. I love it and I have done it in spite of cortical damage! A little nervous at first but once I was flowing it felt just like always. I thank God for my memory it's being restored.
I translated for Joe hours and hours of conferences, sermons and speeches thoughout the Baja for many years. There were future plans for the translation of one of his books but I haven't seen him lately. He has been a friend, a mentor in spiritual knowledge, a wise and trusted guide for me and my family. He's from Nigeria,and from what I found out he is presently living in California.
I HAVE always been a very active sort of person, running marathons and playing squash. The first time I had an attack of epilepsy was 25 years ago. It was a shock to me.
It was weird – I was walking along the road from my house to my dad’s, when I had a dreamy feeling. The next thing everything was blank.
I came around about 10 minutes later in front of my own house.
I went to my doctor immediately – I was scared stiff as I thought I was losing my mind. But after talking to the doctor he told me the only thing that could have caused an attack of epilepsy could have been a head trauma.
The only thing I could remember was that a week before a lad hit me and I passed out, knocking my head on the road.
The doctor referred me to the local hospital, which then referred me to the Walton Centre, in Liverpool.
It ran tests – including an EEG and MRI scan – and the results showed I had a scarring on the temporal lobe section of the brain.
They told me it could have been the punch that caused this, but by looking at my notes they saw that I had meningitis when I was six years old.
For the next month or so I was in a daze. I was put on the drug Tegretol – like most medications there were side-effects. I felt like a zombie, I was lethargic and not scared of anything. I had to take it three times a day.
Eventually I contacted an epilepsy support group. The atmosphere here was like a family, they also confided in me and they reassured me.
My type of epilepsy is complex partial. I always get an aura (warning) and the next thing I’m on auto pilot. Ten minutes can pass, I can enter the house lock the doors and phone my wife.
The next thing I come around panicking with no memory of where am I and what day it is. This can last for about five to 10 minutes and then everything comes flooding back.
The worst thing about epilepsy for me is this problem with my memory.
At the time of the diagnosis I was shocked about the clinical approach towards epilepsy – did they know how scared I was? It felt to me like there was no emotion.
Kristina Foster and Sarah- Elizabeth Clark brave enough to say " the disease doesn't define you" and "It is not who I am" Kristina Foster is not afraid to speak up when it comes to talking about epilepsy; in fact, the teenager recently shared her story on the steps of Capitol Hill. The Kempsville High School senior was selected to speak on the west front steps during a press event in celebration of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act Victory Rally on Sept. 17. "I love doing things to support other people with epilepsy," said Kristina, 17, who was diagnosed in the sixth grade. "A lot of people feel ashamed of epilepsy because of the stigma surrounding it, but the disease doesn't define you." Source: hamptonroads.com Sara-Elizabeth Clark, a seventh-grader organizing the third annual Sara's Walk for Epilepsy This young girl really inspires and motivates us all to do the best we can in spite all circumstances.Her words and optimistic attitude after a living all her life fighting against epilepsy and leading a winner's life, her web site where she declares her refusal to be classified as a child with idiopathic benign epilepsy saying "It is not who I am" can be of motivation and inspiration to others. She has inspired me and taught me new valuable priceless lessons as I read about her life and words."It is not who I am"Of course not .....you are a blessing! Sara-Elizabeth Clark "Epilepsy hasn't changed my life in any way besides the fact that I'm helping others with it," she said. "It's a good thing, if you put it to the right use." GARDINER - This is not a story about the hundreds of volunteers, the donors, the committee, SUNY New Paltz staff, nonprofit groups or national radio personalities who have all gotten behind a walk to raise money for epilepsy patients on Saturday. This is a story about the 13-year-old girl who put it all together. Sara-Elizabeth Clark, a seventh-grader at New Paltz Middle School, is organizing the third annual Sara's Walk for Epilepsy at the SUNY New Paltz campus Saturday to benefit the Epilepsy Foundation of Northeastern New York. She said she got the idea when she saw her family participating in events to raise money for autism, breast cancer and other conditions. "I wanted to know why there weren't any epilepsy walks," she said. Clark has idiopathic benign childhood epilepsy, but the address for her Web site - http://www.itsnotwhoiam.com/ - underscores her refusal to be defined by it. She'd rather be known for what she does; hence the walk. Source: patgarcia-marathonoflife.blogspot.com
"Mrs Garcia welcome into our hearts.Your site is beautiful and inspiring.Naigation is great and the history is a reminder of your quest.Congratulations on your wedding anniversary and keep telling your story.The world needs more people with your will and determination.Keep up yhe good work.Pierre from the THEE QUEST team of Pierre & Pierrette.Montreal Canada.Married 37 years,3 children and 6 grandchildren."
"Beautiful and inspirational. Your blog is lovely. I imagine writing it is a very therapudic excersize. Keep up the wood work. Postitive thoughts for you!"
"Your site is very inspiring and I really loved it. Being disabled myself, even though I was just looking at your site so I could get credit for mine I still enjoyed looking and reading. Keep writing because people are reading"
"Gostei do teu website. Tem muitas informações, e conta um pouco da tua doença. Desejo que sejas vencedora. O aspecto visual do blog é bonito e a navegação é rápida. Boa sorte. "
"This is the testimony of a true winner at life who doesn't focus only on her amazing struggle but sheds her lucidness and wisdom to help and encourage others."
"Hi Patricia, I have sent your foot patches and pads. Please let me know that you received them. thank you I enjoyed visiting your site, how powerful your messages were. Your drive and determination, plus others is admirable. I wonder, I have natural detox foot patches on my site. If you are interested in trying them, I will send you a 10 detox foot patches and 10 foot detox pads for free. No obligation, I want to offer you my help. Please let me know if you are interested. thank you for sharing"
"I really liked your site. The title page loaded fast and took my attention very quick. Good information and a lot of work has been put into this. Great work!"
"What a wonderful inspiring website. I will put a link on my other site allaregodschildren.com I think everyone should take the time to come and read the testimonys on this page. Maybe then they will want to fight, and LIVE> Bless You for sharing! Bonnie Eagle"
"I found your articles interesting to read. You had verious topics and many clinical studies to learn about. It shows how messed up this world is with illness and disease. It is nice to see a site that people can share their story with one another."
"This is a very well designed blog with great content..I would like to help you with your problems, rather then see you live with them. A man with a 3rd stage prostate cancer was treated and reversed in 3 weeks. The clinic that does these things like this is in Educador."
"I like the look of your site - nice format and organization. It also takes a lot of courage to write about personal health - good job and I wish you the best."
"This website opened very quickly. The layout is Great. And it touched my heart. I have seen a lot of websites, but this is a very Strong person. God Bless you."
"Your Website is absolutely wonderful. I really enjoyed reading about how living with a chronic illness buids courage in someone's life. Thank you for having such a positive blog in the Internet. I bookmarked your site. Congratulations."
As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion
