Taking The High Road

Before your trip:

Plan your itinerary so that you can acclimatize slowly to the high elevation, by ascending over two or more days. Even if you are attending only the NIPS workshops, not the main conference, consider spending a night in Denver before coming up to Breckenridge. (Shuttle transportation is available from the main conference site in Denver to the workshops in Breckenridge.)
Be sure to bring mild analgesics (ibuprofen, aspirin, or acetaminophen) for headaches or discomfort.
If you cannot avoid going from low altitude to Breckenridge in one day, or if you already know you are susceptible to altitude sickness, ask your physician for a prescription for the carbonic anhydrase inhibitor acetazolamide (Diamox). This medication accelerates acclimatization by increasing excretion of bicarbonates, re-acidifying the blood, and stimulating respiration. (For contraindications and information on possible side effects, see the drug database links below and consult your pharmacist or physician.)
During your trip:
Limit strenuous activity on your first day in Breckenridge.
Drink lots of water, and eat light high-carbohydrate meals.
Avoid alcohol and sleeping medications

This tip is brought to you by: AltitudeSickness

Acupuncture or Not?

According to research presented on November 12, 2001 at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology in San Francisco, acupuncture helped relieve symptoms such as pain and depression in women with fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is a disorder that causes muscle pain, stiffness, and fatigue. It affects about 2% of Americans, mostly women. Dr. Daniel Feldman, head of Rheumatology at the Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and lead author of the research presented, commented, "[Fibromyalgia] patients not getting enough results from drug therapy should try honest acupuncture. It really works."


This tip is brought to you by: New Research Shows Acupuncture Helps Relieve Fibromyalgia Symptoms
ImmuneSupport.com

Wear it Proud

Make sure that you always wear a medic-alert bracelet or necklace. This will alert others to your condition.

Digestion Problems

Several clinicians have observed a significant correlation between symptoms of autistic spectrum disorders and an impaired ability to adequately digest wheat and dairy proteins. Incompletely digested proteins and peptides can be absorbed into the bloodstream, where they may stimulate undesirable immune and inflammatory responses. Systemic uptake of these irritants may be increased by intestinal dysbiosis, food sensitivity, inflammation of the mucosal tissue, and increased intestinal permeability—all conditions which commonly exist in autistic individuals.

This tip is brought to you by: Klaire.com

Questions?

If you have any questions about your medications or your diet, you should be sure and contact your doctor immediately.

Sarcoidosis

Most people with sarcoidosis can lead a normal life. The sarcoidosis patient should follow his or her doctor´s directions. When drugs are prescribed, they should be taken faithfully just as the physician directs.

It is particularly important that sarcoidosis patients do not smoke, and avoid exposure to dust adn chemicals that can harm the lungs.

Even after sarcoidosis heals, and symptoms go away, patients should have a check-up and an eye exam every year.

This tip is brought to you by: Sarcoidosis Pulmonary Guide

Holding On To Hope

If you are tired and running out of hope, remember that with time, as a child grows toward adulthood, some of the symptoms of Autism may lessen or even seem to disappear all together. Many of the behaviors that haunted them before can now be changed with intervention. The majority of adults with Autism will still have different characteristics manifested in them throughout their life. The good new is that many Autistic individual can grow up to be productive members of society who live on their won and are very much employable.

Do´s and Do Not´s of Foot Care

Do not try to cut corns or calluses or remove them with any over the counter medications unless your doctors approve.

Do put a moisturizing lotion on the dry skin on your feet.

Acceptance

Because patients with Alzheimer´s disease have a tendency to experience long-term memory as short-term, they may regress back to other times, other places in their lives. These remembrances of "yesterday as today" are very real for them and the only choice you have is to accept that this is now their world." Do your best to comfort and console them, especially with their difficult memories.

Learning Is Important

Learn about your disease and about the signs and symptoms of ketoacidosis and hypoglycemia.

Understanding!

Five steps to help you help your child

Follow the steps below and you will gain some very important information that will dramatically improve your child's ability to do well in school.

Understand the causes of learning difficulties

Recognize the skills necessary for fast and efficient learning

Find out what skills are weak

Learn what needs to happen to improve learning skills

Take specific steps that can help your child or student gain the skills needed to become a successful student.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

If you´re concerned you may have CFS, ask yourself these questions:

Do you sometimes feel as though it´s too much of an effort to get out of bed in the mornings (or any time)?

Do you feel tired in an unpredictable manner during
the course of the day (and in the course of the week)?

Do you feel that the condition worsens, to a certain extent, with physical, mental and emotional efforts?

If excessive tiredness is preventing you from enjoying life, you may want to consult your physician.

Gluten Free Diet?

Over 500,000 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with some form of autism.

Studies have shown that the inability to break down certain foods may affect neurological processes in some children, causing autistic behavior.

The proteins found in wheat, rye, oats, barley and dairy products (Gluten and Casein) are not completely broken down in some autistic children.

Gluten/Casein proteins are similar. For best results both should be eliminated for a trial period.

A Urinary Peptide Test can detect any protein that is not fully broken down and digested.

Contact your physician or health professional to have this simple, yet conclusive test done.

This weeks tip is brought to you by: Autism and the Gluten Free Diet

Barefoot or Not

Never go barefoot as bare feet can be injured easily.

Exercise

Exercise regularly. Your doctor will probable set you up with some type of a program.

Small Cuts Can Be Serious

When you are diabetic, even a small cut or blister can lead to some very serious problems. To help to prevent some very dangerous infections, you need to wash and inspect you feet every day.

Medications

It is extremely important that you take all medications that are prescribed by your doctor. Take them the way that he has prescribed them and do not stop taking them without his permission.

What is a Disability?

International Classification of Impairment, Disability and Handicap (ICIDH):

Impairment - any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological or anatomical function.

Disability - any restriction or lack (resulting from an impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range of activity considered normal for a human being.

Handicap - a disadvantage for a given individual that limits or prevents the fulfilment of a role that is normal for that individual.

Migraines

Migraines are a particular form of recurrent headache that often runs in families. According to the International Headache Society, "migraine headache pain must have four of the following characteristics: one-sided, pulsating or throbbing, at least moderate if not severe, and worsened by ordinary daily activities such as climbing stairs or housework." In addition, "the pain must be accompanied by either nausea or else sensitivity to light and noise. There must be no evidence of other disease and at least 4-5 attacks before a physician can be confident of the diagnosis."

(Taken from the American Council for Headache Education - ACHE)

Test Test Test

Test your blood or urine for sugar often. Your doctor will set you up on a schedule that he will want you to follow.

Two Kinds of Memory

There are basically two kinds of memory - long-term and short-term. Long-term memory generally takes several months to form a single memory, but it has the potential to last a lifetime. Alzheimer´s disease usually affects the ability to create short-term memory. This results in the common occurrence of sufferers remembering past memories as though they happened yesterday.