Another one of our goals in producing Health Tips for Success is to help you and your family find solutions to those little ups and downs in life that tend to keep all of us from being as successful as possible. We hope you find this issue of Health Tips for Success to be useful in some small way, as you and your loved ones travel life’s different paths. All articles are derived from published materials, educational sources and years of experience for each author. Of course, in times of need, no e-newsletter should ever take the place of your family doctor or professional counselor. If you have comments or questions, please drop me a line at drfrank@drhuggiebear.com.

Significant risk factors, such as uncontrolled high blood pressure, massive obesity, uncontrolled diabetes, severely elevated cholesterol, previous stroke, heart attack or blood clots, are reasons to avoid all estrogen based hormonal replacement therapy (HRT). Some women experience such severe hot flashes, fatigue, and mood swings during menopause, they are willing to literally do anything to make those symptoms go away. After discussing your menopausal lifestyle changes and these risks, if you and your doctor agree you need HRT, he will probably wish to use the lowest dose that works in order to decrease your overall risk. Most doctors are avoiding combined HRT with estrogen and progesterone due to a much greater side effect risk.

Doctors have identified a new disorder affecting persons with mostly abdominal obesity called “The Metabolic Syndrome”. Diabetes starting later in life tends to be associated with high levels of insulin instead of low levels. Apparently, these higher than normal levels of insulin increase arteriosclerosis or hardening of the arteries between 200 and 300 percent. When combined with this type of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and a large fat stomach significantly increase your risk of a heart attack or stroke. The good news is that the risks from the Metabolic Syndrome can be really lowered by weight loss, exercise, and control of blood sugar and cholesterol or lipids.

There are many scales used to help individuals assess or grade depression. Most allow you to assign numbers to your responses to determine if your symptoms are suggestive of mild, moderate or severe depression.

In general, these rating scales are probably more useful in evaluating how you are doing after starting treatment for depression. A lot of doctors feel that if you have any symptoms of depression and can tell that these symptoms are having a negative impact on your way of life, you should be evaluated and possibly treated for depression.

The following list of depression signs and symptoms is provided to allow you to evaluate your well-being and not to determine the severity of a disease. Let me caution you that a lot of people initially deny they have symptoms of depression and if you are to benefit from this little self-test, you must be honest in your answers. After all, if you can’t be honest with yourself, then whom are you kidding?

• Feeling blue, sad or down more than usual
• Crying for no reason or over little things
• Feeling just as tired when you get up as when you went to bed
• Having problems getting to sleep, awakening early, going back to sleep
• Sleeping too much and frequently tired during the day
• A change in appetite, either weight gain or weight loss without really trying
• Can’t concentrate or focus well; your mind seems foggy now
• Can’t seem to complete things because you lose interest or get bored easily
• Everything seems to be on your shoulders and it makes you irritable
• Can’t make decisions easily and avoid taking responsibility
• Don’t enjoy being around other people, socializing or doing things like you used to
• Don’t have fun or do your hobbies anymore
• Don’t like yourself or what you have become
• Often feel useless, un-needed, or in others way
• Often think about death or dying whether it’s about others or yourself

If you answered yes to more than 5 of these symptoms or signs, then you probably have some level of depression. If you have either of the last three symptoms of worthlessness or thoughts of death, then most doctors would agree you are moderately or severely depressed and should see a doctor very soon.

Depression and the communication problems that go with depression are probably the third or fourth most common causes of divorce. Just being depressed saps your energy and keeps you from performing at your peak level. Millionaires with “rags to riches stories” often tell of how they had to defeat their depression before they could get a grip on their economic problems. When they were successful at beating depression, most went on to be very successful in life.

From the experience of treating thousands of depressed persons, I know it’s hard for anyone to be successful in life and constantly try to fight off depression. If you have the symptoms, please visit your doctor soon and consider treatment. Have a happy life!

Most advocates become advocates not because they feel they have natural talents that would make them a good advocate, but because they are "drafted".

When your child, your student, or someone you care about is not being treated fairly you simply can't look the other way

-- SOMEONE has to be their voice.

If you are one of these "drafted" advocates, don't despair. You can still be an extremely effective advocate. Let's take a quick look at the key ingredients to effective advocacy:

1. Focus on the Individual with Special Needs
   
   An effective advocate is focused on what is truly important, the individual you are advocating for. It's not about "winning" the power struggle, it's not about "showing off" all the laws you've learned, and it's not about "punishing" the people you feel have let you or your child down. Are you focused on the needs of the person you're advocating for? Do you understand things like:
   
   => How he or she learns most easily.
   => His/her core values -- things that are vital to include in any futures planning.
   => What inclusion supports are critical for him or her to be successful.
   
    
2. A Constant Desire to Learn
   
   An effective advocate understands that more is being learned all the time in the field of special needs. New types of technology are constantly being developed, new learning strategies are researched every day, information sharing is becoming more and more efficient. So to provide the best supports for the person you care about -- you need to stay tuned in to the information flow.
   
   This can mean reading books, subscribing to newsletters, taking workshops, participating in online conferences, and doing research online or at your local library or resource center. The Web offers a wide range of resources from those that are diagnosis specific to those that take a wider view of the special needs field as a whole.
   
    
3. The Ability to Stay Organized
   
   It doesn't help to do research or highlight sections of the regulations if you can't find what you need, when you need it. Having an organized notebook or filing system of advocacy information is absolutely vital in this world where the paper constantly multiplies! Don't let chaos and clutter threaten your advocacy efforts.
   
   Visit this page for simple instructions on how to put together your own Advocacy Notebook.
   
    
4. Knowledge of the Law
   
   I make the point in one of my workshops, that even the most confident and talented advocate cannot succeed without knowing the rules. Advocacy is like a 3 legged stool -- take away any of the legs (knowledge, skills, confidence) and the stool tips over.
   
   You can't win a game where you don't know the rules and you can't be an effective advocate if you don't know your legal rights. If you are advocating for a student, study up on the laws regarding special education services. To assist an adult, study the laws regarding adult issues like accessibility, housing, and employment.
   
    
5. A Network of Personal Support
   
   Few activities in life are as emotionally and physically draining as advocacy. The pressure is high because the quality of someone else's life rests in your hands and yet the "system" is set up so that at very few moments do you have total control. The result -- a struggle to use your skills to ensure that the group system does what is in the best interest of the person you care about.
   
   It's not hard to see why advocates need a reliable system of emotional support. Making use of online communities, support groups, and family resources can often be the difference between success and burn-out.
   
    
6. Basic Computer Skills
   
   In this day and age the most efficient way for any advocate to gain the information they need is online. Unfortunately, not every advocate feels comfortable with their computer. Learning some basic computer and/or Internet skills can make your journey quicker, easier, and less frustrating. So can setting up your computer so that it becomes an asset and not another hurdle. For example, software can allow you to listen to a web page article instead of reading it or dictate advocacy notes out loud and have your computer type them up for you.
   
    

Being an effective advocate can be a formidable challenge, but by arming yourself with the essential tools you can make this difficult task a little easier, a little less stressful, and a lot less lonely.

Valuable resources and newsletters for your family!

Kid Safe Web Surfing

 

Worried about your 6 to 14 year old surfing the web safely?  Then Garfield Island may be the answer! This software application is easy to install and lets parents protect their children while having loads of fun on the web. Garfield Island includes kid safe browsers, “talking e-mail”, closed chat rooms, and allows parents to select and allow or restrict access from a list of over 7,500 pre-screened websites. You can even customize the access list to expand your kid’s on-line experience. Garfield Island may just provide you with peace of mind while allowing your child the freedom to explore his.

Printed and video learning materials for behavior problems of all types are available from the A.D.D. Warehouse. This is one of the best sources for ADHD books and learning-teaching programs.