Selections from our EMAILS and NEWSLETTERS
March 2001
BD Barcodes
Dr. Koop & CFIDS
National
Fibromyalgia Partnership
Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder
Alternative Medicine
Websites
What is CFS/CFIDS?
Federal Tax
Withholding for SSDI
Help Reviewing Lab Test Results
CFS/Seabiscuit/Hillenbrand in Washington Post
Member Quote
Smiles
Introduction
Welcome to CFSupport Group News! To receive all of our emails and newsletters, please join our email list and Yahoo!
group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CFSupport
.
As a member of our CFSupport Yahoo group, you would be able to browse
and search our
archives, use our Calendar of local and national groups, download
files, use our rideshare database as well as receive current updates of
interest regarding
CFS/M.E., fibromyalgia, and related illnesses. We keep the number of emails to less than one per day on average.
BD Barcodes
Do you use BD products such as syringes? Alcohol swabs?
Through the end of 2001, BD will make a donation to diabetes research
for each barcode from bottoms of boxes or products for diabetes care.
If you are using the stuff for CFS, send them anyway. Cut out barcodes
and send them to Benefit Diabetes Program, PO Box 5940, Young America,
MN 55558-9940.
Dr. Koop & CFIDS
C. Everett Koop’s Web site, koop.com, has an
article on “elusive illnesses” which
includes CFIDS. The article includes fact sheet and resource link. The
CFIDS section features an interview with Kim Kenney, CEO of the
Association, and information on Georgetown University study
on the effectiveness of NADH as a treatment for CFIDS.
Added 05/06: The website is now DrKoop.com and the above article is no longer there. An overview, symptoms, and treatment of CFS are given in this link:
http://www.drkoop.com/ency/93/001244trt.html
National
Fibromyalgia Partnership
The Fibromyalgia Association of Greater Washington Inc
(FMAGW) will be known as the National Fibromyalgia Partnership Inc
(NFP). Its quarterly journal Fibromyalgia Frontiers tracks and
reports on new medical research related to FM and associated
conditions. It has established a toll-free phone number,
866-725-4404. The website is www.fmpartnership.org
.
Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder
Free book on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: "Hope for
Recovery Understanding PTSD" offered by the PTSD Alliance, explores
memory flashes, irritability, sudden anger, detachment from loved ones & other symptoms. Automated: 877-507-PTSD (7873). info@ptsdalliance.org
(Links added 05/06.)
Alternative Medicine
Websites
What is CFS/CFIDS?
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is defined as a
debilitating and complex disorder characterized by profound fatigue,
pain and cognitive problems not improved by bed rest. These symptoms
may be worsened by physical and mental activity. Persons with CFIDS/CFS
function at a substantially lower level of activity than they were
capable of before the onset of the illness. Recent studies estimate
more than 800,000 Americans are suffering with CFS. For more
information, see our What is CFS/FM? Page and inquired about joining The CFIDS Association of America, www.cfids.org,
704-365-2343.
Federal Tax
Withholding for SSDI
One you can have tax withholding from your social
security disability income payments. Call SSA at 800-772-1213 for Form W-4V (PDF) from www.irs.gov
or print one from link. There are 4 choices of how much money is to be withheld: 7%, 15%,
28% and 31%. This may help some avoid having to pay estimated tax
quarterly if their benefits are taxable.
Help Reviewing Lab Test Results
Here's a web page called "How to interpret your blood test
results." It is more description of what the tests are for than how to
interpret, but still helpful in understanding laboratory test results
such as BUN and the electrolytes. www.amarillomed.com/howto.htm
.
CFS/Seabiscuit/Hillenbrand in Washington Post
Author Laura Hillenbrand (of our group!), who suffers
from CFS, just released the book Seabiscuit about horse racing and the
Depression. The book got a really uplifting review
in the Washington Post on March 9th, page C01. Here is a small excerpt from the article, "Against the Odds: Laura Hillenbrand Surmounted Illness To Cross the Finish Line With 'Seabiscuit' "
By Jennifer Frey.
Hillenbrand tells all their stories with incredible
empathy. There is good reason for that. Just 33 years old, she can't
walk more than a block without becoming extremely tired. Her morning
shower exhausts her. Vertigo causes the words on her computer screen to
dip and weave as she types. Her live-in boyfriend, Borden Flanagan, has
to help her with the smallest of needs.
Hillenbrand has chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), a
condition that can be so disabling -- as it is in her case -- that it
leaves many of its victims cloistered from the outside world, lucky to
be able to perform the most basic daily tasks. There is minimal
treatment, and there is no cure.
Random House editor Jon Karp "once said that
Seabiscuit is a metaphor for my life, and he's right," Hillenbrand
says, seated in an upright chair in her living room. "The subjects that
I've written about -- the men and the horse -- were radically different
individuals, but the one thread that pulls through all of their lives
and through the events that they lived through together is this
struggle between overwhelming hardship and the will to overcome it.
"It's a central theme in this book, and it is
the central struggle of my life as well."
If anyone would like to write Jennifer Frey, the author
of the wonderful Post article about Laura Hillenbrand, she can reached
at freyj@washpost.com
.
Member Quote
"I remember the day I felt strong enough to cleanup
breakfast with out taking a nap first, I was having a great few moments
until I realized that I had been reorganizing the refrigerator to make
room for the 4 slice toaster." - Lolly
Smiles
Silly puns to bring a smile to your day :)
What do you get if you feed lemon to a cat? - A sour puss.
What do you have if you have 20 rabbits all in a row and
they all back up one step?
- A receding hare-line.
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