World Lupus Day May 10

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

Queensland

New South Wales

Victoria

Tasmania

Western Australia

South Australia

Internationally…. USA and UK.

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.

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

Essentially for Women’s Health, Wealth & Happiness Convention

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!

Book now!

Mon.thly

Mon.thly is an interesting new website. It’s a easy tool to help you keep track of your menstrual cycles.

Each time you start a new period, login and add the date to your Mon.thly account. After a few months, it will be able to predict given you past history when your next cycle will start. It will also act a a record of your menstrual cycles that can be hand for your medical reasons, or for your records. You can also set it to send you a reminder of your next estimated start date.

Mon.thly’s interface is super simple and discrete. A handy free tool if you like or need to chart your menstrual cycles.

Need a new style? Online makeover tool

Taaz is a new free and easy site that allows you to upload a photo of yourself, and have a virtual online makeover.

Try out over 4000 of the hottest cosmetics colours from brands such as Revlon, Chanel, Maybelline and more. As well as 100’s of the latest hairstyles and colours all from the comfort of your home. You can create the perfect new look, or something for a special occasion.

Start by uploading a digital photo. The software will map out your face. Then you can go to town experimenting with a palette of thousands of colours and shades in products ranging from foundation and concealer to multi-tone eye shadow, lip gloss and contact lenses. Try out a new hairstyle or colour and your make over is complete.

When your done, the results are so realistic. You can easily test what best suits your face, a long with the helpful tips from Tazz along the way you can really pick what is best going to compliment your features.

You can then save or print or your new look and take them a long to your hair or makeup stylist to show the look you are after. Or use them as avatars and profiles in social networks or save and share your makeover with friends and other tazz users for ratings and comments.

What Women Want

BCG is putting together a book called What Women Want. They are hoping to capture responses on the needs, wants, goals and aspirations of more than 25,000 women from all walks of life in developed and developing countries around the world for their book.

They will also be interviewing 15-20 leading women from around the world about their life stories, their advice on success, their reconciliation of life trade-offs and predictions about the future.

They are hoping to obtain 1,000 responses in Australia and 300 responses in New Zealand within 30 days.

So would you like to contribute to this exciting study? Here’s how you can help.

First, if you are female, complete the survey. The survey itself will take about one hour but please don’t let that put you off because it contains some interesting, reflective questions, and we really appreciate your involvement. The responses are completely confidential and your anonymity can be assured.

We are trying to obtain responses from women across all age, income, education and geographic groups, and would really appreciate it if you can forward the survey to a broad range of women (eg women in your family, your school friends, work colleagues, mothers group etc).

International Women’s Day

March 8 is International Women’s Day, a global celebration each year of the economic, political and social achievements of women in the last 100 years.

2008 marks the 100 year anniversary of the day that started it all, and changed the lives and history of women for ever.

On the 8th of March 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding more rights for women. The right to vote and the right to better working conditions. Many women of the time worked in appalling conditions, earned half that of men’s wages, died prematurely from poor health and didn’t have the right to vote.

IWD has been celebrated in Australia since 1928, when the first rally was held in Sydney calling for equal pay for equal work, an eight hour day for shop workers, no piece-work, a base wage for the unemployed and paid annual holidays.

International Women’s Day is about remembering the battles long fought to build a society that is just and fair to all its members. A society in which diversity, tolerance, safety, social justice and equality between women and men is a given. And its about celebrating what women have done, are doing and can do in the future.

IWD is also a time to contemplate those areas of women’s lives where more can be done. Women’s access to education, health care and paid labour has improved. However, there are still many places where women do not have all the same rights and opportunities as men. Despite all the work being done, women around the world are still suffering as victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and discrimination.

In celebration of International Women’s Day, spare 2mins to please join UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman in support of UNIFEM’s campaign to Say No to Violence against Women! Add you name to an ever-growing movement of people who speak out to put a halt to this shameful human rights violation. One in 3 women and girls may be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in their lifetime. Shocking, isn’t it?

Geek Girl Blogs

Are you a girl+geek+blogger?

Geek Girl Blogs is a fab site packed with girly geeky goodness. There are over 80 blogs listed and growing in their blog roll and combined RSS feed, showcasing some of the wonderful women in the IT industry from all over the world. The girls are also on facebook.

Calling all geeky girl bloggers in Sydney!  There are 2 events organised for this month in Sydney if you would like to go along and meet some other great liked minded girls. Catherine has all the details about when and where.

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