World Lupus Day May 10
May 10, 2008
If you are a fan of the television show “House”, you just might have heard of LUPUS before, as it seems to be Dr House’s default diagnosis most of the time. But really the most common response I get when I tell people that I have suffered from Lupus for 19 years is, “Lupus …what is that?”
So…What is Lupus (SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS OR SLE)
Lupus is the Latin word for wolf. The term has been associated with the disease since the 10th century. Erythematosus means redness. It is said that the name was given to describe the skin lesions, which typically are red and perhaps at that time in history were thought to resemble the bite of a wolf. Of course, not everyone with lupus has rashes or skin lesions, in fact, it seems that no two Lupus sufferers ever have exactly the same symptoms.
The Disease.
Lupus is an autoimmune disease. A normal healthy immune system recognises and destroys bacteria and viruses. With autoimmune diseases, however, the immune system starts to attack objects that are not foreign, becomes hyperactive and attacks normal tissue.
With lupus, the immune system produces antibodies that attach themselves to various structures in the body. These antibodies in the tissues can cause inflammation, damage and pain.
Although lupus can affect anybody, 90% of lupus patients are women. Of these, 90% develop the condition during their child bearing years.
Lupus is a very changeable disease that also mimics alot of different conditions and is therefore usually difficult to diagnos. While it has many characteristic symptoms, most patients will never experience all of them and no two patients experience identical symptoms.
The severity of the disease also varies. In some patients symptoms appear suddenly and are relatively severe, while in others the disease remains at a low level for several years before diagnosis.
Lupus runs an unpredictable course. For some people, symptoms subside after treatment of the initial acute attack. For others, periods of “remission” are punctuated by”flare-ups” of disease.
Lupus can affect any or all organs of the body.
People of all races can have lupus; however, African American women have a three times higher incidence than Caucasian women. Statistics show that Lupus is also more common in women of Hispanic, Asian, and Native American descent.
Symptoms.
Lupus symptoms can vary greatly from person to person, but below is a list of symptoms that might indicate the presence of lupus in an undiagnosed person.
* Achy, painful or swollen joints
* Persistent fever
* Prolonged, unexplained, extreme fatigue
* Skin rashes, including a butterfly shaped rash across the cheeks and nose
* Pains in the chest
* Anemia
* Protein in the urine
* Sensitivity to sun or ultraviolet light
* Hair loss
* Blood clotting problems
* Fingers turning white and/or blue in the cold
* Seizures
*Persistent mouth or nose ulcers
Lupus can cause disfiguring rashes and scarring, multiple miscarriages, kidney, heart and lung failure, impaired neurological function, strokes, heart attacks and death.
Many people with lupus are unable to maintain employment or attend school because of extended Lupus-related absences and hospitalizations. A majority of those affected must live with debilitating pain and profound fatigue which greatly affects their quality of life.
Can I Catch Lupus?
No, Lupus is NOT contagious, not even through sexual contact.
Getting Help.
Most states of Australia have Lupus support groups
World Lupus Day.The benefits of awareness and early diagnosis are the primary reasons that Lupus organizations around the world, large and small, have agreed to unite to observe World Lupus Day and conduct activities that call attention to the need for improved patient health care services, increased research into the causes of and a cure for Lupus.
So now the next time you hear that someone has Lupus you will not be left wondering, “What is Lupus?”
Club 21, “girl world” exposed: binge drinking, bullying, low self esteem and distorted body image.
May 6, 2008
Queensland school girls have formed an exclusive club, known as Club 21, which encourages members to be ranked between 1 and 21 based on their thinness, good looks, binge drinking escapades and popularity with boys. This number is then drawn on their hand for all to see.
The club not only operates at St Patrick’s Mackay, but has gone global via the internet and chat rooms.
This story has caused significant shock in the media. However it is unlikely this type of bullying - of each other and those who didn’t make it into the club - came as a shock to many teen girls. It was likely no surprise to their teachers either, who witness the various manifestations of the “Compare and Despair” game that teen girls are so good at playing, in playgrounds right across Australia. Recent studies show three out of five teen girls report being teased about their appearance at school.
When I was a teen girl at high school much of lunch time was spent rating our peers. It was our own little real life version of the magazines we grew up with that asked us, in virtually every issue, to decide whether particular clothes were in, or whether a celebrity was hot or not. We felt powerful playing these games - we may not have been able to control many elements of our lives, but we tried to control how we looked through diets, and we could definitely control each other through ridicule.
We may not have had a number reflecting these scores branded on our hands, but the scores were branded on our psyches.
The rules in girl rating games, both then and now, are not difficult to follow. Be considered hot by your peers and in particular by boys - and score points. Getting a highly desired boyfriend means an instant advance to the top of the club. I was lucky enough to have landed the school “spunk” at one stage and was elevated from classroom “brainiac” to the girl everyone wanted to know almost over night. He dumped me a year later for a girl considered even hotter - at just 14 she was already a model appearing in women’s magazines and parading in labels sold only to rich thirty-somethings. My dream run at the top of the charts was destroyed.
What makes this latest story of highly organised girl competitiveness newsworthy is the use of technology to spread the ranks.
In my early years as a teacher in High Schools, I found it relatively easy to intercept notes critiquing other girls. Technology means these same messages can now can reach thousands of recipients in moments. Harmful messages found on toilet walls could be scrubbed off - it is much more difficult to delete messages once they have gone global.
The potential for misuse of the cyber world is alarming. But we cannot blame the internet alone. It is after all merely a tool, it is all too easy to blame the evils of technology rather than examining why our society has become more and more toxic for our young people.
Just why has girl self hatred gone mainstream and global?
Years of watching reality TV and being invited to rank contestants and evict / put below the yellow line / vote off those not entertaining enough or thin enough or sexy enough to keep us interested have no doubt played a role. And if Paris can get famous for being rich, thin and for sleeping around why can’t they? Elements of the media have been most hypocritical in their reporting of this incident. They have judged these girls harshly when these young women have really only responded to the fodder they have been fed by these same image obsessed magazines; magazines that perpetuate the misconception that success is dependent largely on appearances and sexual desirability.
This incident is also a sad reflection of a society that makes our girls feel lonely. When they cannot find real connection at school, or at home, they look for it in cyber world and find all their deepest and darkest fears and fantasies fed on sites that promote eating disorders as a lifestyle choice, sites celebrating images of “girls gone wild” trashed and flashing their breasts at parties.
The reality is many women play this same compare and despair game too. Studies have shown that while up to 65per cent of teenage girls think they are less beautiful than the average girl, 84 per cent of women over 40 think they are less beautiful than the average woman. A survey released by the Australian Women’s Weekly just last week found that only one in six women were happy with their weight, one in five had such a poor body image they avoided mirrors and 45 per cent would have cosmetic surgery if they could afford it. Binge drinking appeared to be rife too, with a third of the women surveyed drinking too much and one in five women admitting she had been told she had a drinking problem.
As grown up women we no longer rank ourselves from 1-21 but many of us do get up in the morning and let the number that flashes up on our scales dictate our mood for the day.
Many of us tell our daughters they do not need to change in order to be beautiful while we rush for botox. We tell them inner beauty counts whilst we invest in plastic surgery and devour magazines that tell us that it is really only about air brushed perfection after all.
We may saddened by Club 21, but why are we shocked? Girls cannot be what they cannot see. If even the grown up girls are comparing and despairing, is it any wonder that our daughters do not know what “I am me, I am ok” looks like?
Let’s not blame the victims here. After all, these are young girls - pushing boundaries, exploring and making mistakes. We shouldn’t fall into the easy trap of simply making these girls out to be uber bitches. Rather, they are a sad reflection of the times. We need to dig a little deeper and address the toxic messages our girls are fed and ensure these are countered with positive body image programs and messages of strength and resilience.
By Dannielle Miller, CEO Enlighten Education.
Enlighten was founded in 2003 and is now a national network of passionate, talented women who believe that by entering our young girls’ world and engaging them, they have the capacity to be a voice of difference and facilitate meaningful conversations around gender and identity. Enlighten works in schools on programs designed to develop positive self esteem and a healthy body image in young women. The company was recently announced as the 2007 National Small Business Champion, Children’s Services.
Dannielle delights in working with thousands of teenage girls across Australia, and with the media as a guest expert on teen issues.
She is this Year’s NSW /ACT Small Business Champion Entrepreneur.
Her blog on all things girl related can be found at Enlighten Education
Polka Dot Bride-Women Blogging Monday
May 6, 2008
Polka Dot Bride
Polka Dot Bride from our Top 100 Australian Women Bloggers at#96.
An Australian wedding blog dedicated to helping you plan your dream wedding. Polka Dot Bride has an abundance of unique, stylish, fresh and quirky wedding ideas for Australian, where it can be hard to source that something extra special for your big day.
Also offering regular giveaways. This month Pokla Dot Bride are giving you the chance to win yourself a gorgeous wedding gown by Henri Josef valued at $AU1400. Find out how you can win.
Covering everything you need for your wedding from engagement to your reception, wedding gowns, locations and more. There is some really amazing and beautiful goodies within her blog, almost makes me want to get married myself to try some of her ideas out!
Essentially for Women’s Health, Wealth & Happiness Convention
May 2, 2008
Lyndsey at Essentially for Women has a great offer for All for Women readers. She would like to invite you all to attend a wonderful Health, Wealth & Happiness Convention in Sydney or Melbourne with the compliments Essentially for Women and All for Women. The tickets are normally valued at $199. We are totally committed to making a difference in the lives of women around the country and trust you will enjoy being part of this amazing 2 day event.
Unleash your true potential and accelerate your success at Essentially for Women’s Health, Wealth & Happiness Conventions being held in Sydney 12/13 May and Melbourne on the 15/16 May. Network with inspiring women and discover tools and strategies that will set you up to win in business and in life.
I am going along to the Sydney convention, so I hope to see you all there!
During the 2 day event you will discover how to …
• Overcome the fear of self promotion
• Establish & create lasting rapport
• Overcome client objections
• Step outside of your comfort zone
• Take control of your emotions
• Put a stop to negative self talk
• Develop a plan to achieve your goals
• Manage your time more effectively
• Increase your energy and vitality
• Get out of debt and create wealth
Find out more about this convention and the Women who will be presenting and how you can secure your free tickets. The special offer of free tickets is limited, so get in quickly to reserve your spot!
Top Australian Women bloggers updated
May 1, 2008
1st of May, and it’s time for another Top 100 Australian Women bloggers list update.
During the month we saw Alexa overhaul their ranking system, which is part of part of the numbers I use to put the list together. There have been a few jumps up and down in the rankings, most notably Skelliewag plunging from her months of sitting at 1st place to 13th.
We have 12 great new or returning blogs to the list, welcome girls!
- Loobylou
- Not quite Nigella
- Lightenings Blogworld
- Towards Sustainability
- Planning with kids
- provers31-woman
- Careful what you wish for
- SewDelish
- no regrets
- Chocolate Suze
- Fig & Cherry
- Kid style file
Women Blogging Monday- All things cupcake
April 28, 2008
Trying to decide how to pick a Woman bloggers to feature is really hard, I want to feature those in the Top 100, but also others as well . So this week I have gone with my super most favourite blog in my reader at the moment..yes, you guessed it..it’s about cupcakes!
All things Cupcake
All Things Cupcake is a site for the cupcake obsessed. If you aren’t obsessed with cupcakes, you will be! These girls do a great job updating this site daily, so you are always going to get your cupcake fix.
This isn’t just one Woman blogger, there are 10 that contribute to keeping this blog fresh and tasty everyday.
They share all kinds of cupcake goodness, from gifts, clothes and jewellery and where to buy them to tattoos (my favourite) and real cupcakes and their delish recipes!
All things Cupcake
ANZAC Day
April 25, 2008
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Lest We Forget
Nature babycare - Good for baby, good for Mother Earth
April 23, 2008
I often think that it is really hard to be environmentally friendly when you have babies and small children. There is so much washing, so much wasted food, so much packaging and SO MANY NAPPIES.
I will admit that I like the convenience of using disposable nappies. I know many cloth nappy users don’t find it to be extra work but for someone as domestically lazy as me, even part time cloth usage pushes me to my laundry-duty limits on any given day (and add in the stretch of wet days we’ve had recently exacerbates the issue) … so I was delighted to have the opportunity to try the Nature babycare range of disposable nappy products, a more environmentally friendly disposable nappy system.
The Nature Babycare nappies are made from GM-free corn which is 100% biodegradable, and a chlorine-free pulp – better for baby, better for the environment. The nappies come in a range of unisex sizes and as it happens, my 3.5 year old boy (not yet toilet trained) and my chubby ten month old girl both fit into the size range for the size 4 (9-20kg) nappies.
The nappies have a slightly ‘papery’ feel on the outside, but are certainly soft enough to be comfortable for baby. I found them nice and trim while still being absorbent enough to use as an overnight nappy on both my baby and toddler. We have had no leakages or nappy rashes using the Nature babycare range – and with children who are prone to red bottoms, this was important to me.
On a very slight downside, the adhesive tabs can lose their stickiness a bit by the time it comes to wrap them up for disposal, especially if you’ve had to reposition the tabs a few times during the dressing process with a wriggly baby – however this is not enough of a reason to avoid using these nappies (especially given how many tabs I’ve inadvertently ripped off other ‘premium’ brand disposables during normal use).
I also used the Nature Babycare wipes (RRP $5.39/70 pieces) and nappy sacks (RRP $2.98/50 pieces). I particularly liked the disposable nappy sacks, which have a softer feel and much less chemical/fragrance smell than the main brand available at our local supermarket. The wipes clean well, with a good amount of moisture (I really don’t like it when wipes are dripping wet or nearly dry!), and no chemical smell. I usually use sorbolene for nappy changes but I felt like these wipes were gentle enough on my children’s skin while cleaning thoroughly. My husband is a big fan of the wipes and bags, preferring them to our usual brands.
Nature babycare nappies are available at Coles and Woolworths supermarkets at a RRP of $21.99 a packet, although I have seen them cheaper during sales cycles. While they are comparable price-wise with the leading brand of premium nappy at its RRP, when the major brand is on sale there is enough of a difference in price to make cost a consideration for budget-conscious families (not to mention comparing it to the cheaper brands of nappies). I think for part-time disposable users (either overnight, or combined with cloth nappies) these nappies are ideal, and also for families who can afford to pay a little more for a nappy that is a better option environmentally.
On a balance, I was impressed with the performance of the nappies and will look for the other Nature babycare products to use.
You can find more information on Nature babycare products at http://www.naty.com
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