Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease that is targeting more teens every year. Diabetes can be caused by resistance to insulin.  the most important thing when trying to understand Diabetes its very important to understand the process, which is a normal process. 

According to the health guide from the New York Times several things happen when food is being digested: 

• A sugar called glucose enters the bloodstream. Glucose is a source of fuel for the body.
• An organ called the pancreas makes insulin. The role of insulin is to move glucose from the bloodstream into muscle, fat, and liver cells, where it can be used as fuel.
• People with diabetes have high blood sugar. This is because:
• Their pancreas does not make enough insulin
• Their muscle, fat, and liver cells do not

People with diabetes have high blood sugar. This is because:

• Their pancreas does not make enough insulin
• Their muscle, fat, and liver cells do not respond to insulin normally
• Frequent urination
• Unusual thirst
• Extreme hunger
• Unusual weight loss
• Extreme fatigue and Irritability

They also included different types of Diabetes which helped me understand the differences between each one:

• Type 1 Diabetes is usually diagnosed in childhood. Many patients are diagnosed when they are older than age 20. In this disease, the body makes little or no insulin. Daily injections of insulin are needed. The exact cause is unknown. Genetics, viruses, and autoimmune problems may play a role.
• Type 2 Diabetes is far more common than type 1. It makes up most of diabetes cases. It usually occurs in adulthood, but young people are increasingly being diagnosed with this disease. The pancreas does not make enough insulin to keep blood glucose levels normal, often because the body does not respond well to insulin. Many people with type 2 diabetes do not know they have it, although it is a serious condition. Type 2 diabetes is becoming more common due to increasing obesity and failure to exercise.
• Gestational Diabetes is high blood glucose that develops at any time during pregnancy in a woman who does not have diabetes. Women who have gestational diabetes are at high risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease later in life.

If you have any of these symptoms it is important that you visit your primary doctor. 

The following website is a website you can use to check your symptoms, it can also help you determine your risks for pre diabetes. 

http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/prevention/diabetes-risk-test/

 I hope this  helps! 

xoxo

Is your last text worth dying for?

image http://mashable.com/2010/03/08/att-texting-driving/

Hi everyone! I hope you guys enjoyed your weekend! This past weekend I realized that a lot of us are very careless when we drive! Many recent accidents have been caused because of people who choose to text while they were driving, and sadly most of these accidents end up deadly. This year on September 12, 2010 we had “Don’t text and drive Awareness day", in order to raise awareness of the dangers of texting while driving.

According to CNBC while going 70 mph it takes the average person to brake:

• 0.54 seconds unimpaired

• 4 feet talking on a cell phone or legally drunk

• 36 feet if reading email

• 70 feet if texting

• According to Dr. Strayer from the University of Utah "a driver is 4 times more likely to be in an accident if they are talking on a cell phone while driving, and 8 times more likely if they are texting while driving".

I wanted to share a sad story about a girl who didn’t think texting while driving could wait:

“Mariah West was a devoted texter.

At 18, she could hold dinner conversations with her family while surreptitiously texting with friends, hiding her cell phone under the table.

Everyone in the Rogers, Ark., high school senior's circle had warned her about texting while driving; they'd see her car swerve and know what she was doing. It cost her her life.

Last May, on the day before graduation, Mariah was driving to a Minor League Baseball game in Springfield, Mo., texting with the player who'd invited her. As she was sending him a text, she lost control of the car, which clipped a bridge, skidded on its roof along the edge of the bridge and flipped back into oncoming traffic.

Mariah, who had been getting directions to the Springfield Cardinals' stadium, was partially ejected, her skull crushed, says her mother, Merry Dye, 45. The last message Mariah got: "Where U At."

Story written by By Larry Copeland from USA TODAY

It's really important for us to spread the awareness in order to stop drivers from texting while driving. I personally forget sometimes how dangerous it is, and I remind myself every time I think of doing it. At the moment we might think that it’s really important to send a text to someone, but I am sure it’s not so important that you are willing to risk your life for it.

Look at the last text you got on your phone, is that text worth dying for?

What are you waiting for?

 image http://www.quitcigarettesnow.net

Another important cause to me is to raise the awareness of smoking, and what it can do to you. The primary reason the doctors gave my doctor for the cause of his illness was that he was an everyday heavy smoker. This caused his arteries to become clogged, and then his body created blood clots causing him to first suffer from thirteen cardiac arrests followed by a stroke. Smoking , can not only cause heart disease but it can also cause other diseases such as lung cancer, emphysema, and other types of life threatening cancer, and diseases.  I know that although some smokers try to quit smoking, it seems almost impossible to them because of the nicotine that cigarettes contain which is highly addictive. I really believe that if people become aware of the way smoking can change your life in just a matter of second, and can almost tear apart a family then maybe they'll think twice the next time they want to buy a pack of cigarettes.   

The following website is a website that I think is very informative and gives different steps to help you quit:

http://www.smokefree.gov/ 

This website contains information on 

• Benefits of quitting
• depression basics
• medications that can help you quit
• secondhand smoking
• stress & smoking
• & also withdrawal

One of the things I enjoyed the most about this site is that it contains a section where you can speak to expert consultants who can help you and your desire to quit. You can contact them by phone, email, or even instant messaging. This feature is very convenient to those of you who are very busy, and can't find the time to talk to someone about your addiction. 

I hope you take some time to look at this website, and if you know someone who is having trouble quitting, then share this website with them and maybe you can make a difference.

His House Children's Home

 image ww.hhch.org

His house children’s home is a cause that is very close to my heart. His House children’s home is an orphanage that is located in Miami Gardens, Florida. I first came to know this orphanage because of my church, we used to go there once a month after church on Sunday's to help out with the children, and have a picnic for them, These children made me realize how truly blessed we are to be able to live at home with our families, and those who care about us. Many of these children came from either parents who were abusive with drugs, or from parents who were abusive with them, and also from parents who neglected their children. His House gives a warm home to these children, and they give them love, and try to instill Christian beliefs in them, in hope for a better future for these children. 

When I first went to volunteer at His House Children’s Home, I didn’t think I would make a big difference since there were so many people going from my church, but when I got there I realized how many children there were and how much each of them really needed our love, and our time. I feel lucky that I was able to spend time with them, and it made me feel like although I was able to only spend a couple of hours with them it really made a difference to them. I would really encourage you guys to get involved with your community even if it’s not at His House Children’s Home, but anywhere so that you can make a difference in someone’s life.

Colon Cancer

image www.CCAlliance.org

About two years ago I went with my mom to the hospital to have a colonoscopy test done that her doctor requested. It was supposed to be about a two hour procedure that ended up turning into a week stay. I was waiting for her in the waiting room alone when about an hour later her doctor came out to speak to me about the test. I was waiting for the doctor to come out, and to tell me that everything was ok, and she was ready to go home, but instead he pulled out a picture from the exam, and began to show me pictures of the cancer she had in her colon. This was one of the hardest moments that I have ever experienced, and I can imagine it was for my mom also. All I could think about was that I was going to be left without my mom, and with a sick father, and even though this was the one moment in life where I  would have felt completely alone, I didn’t, I really felt like God was with me the whole time, and never left my side.
This happened in December right before Christmas, and although it seemed like it was going to be the saddest Christmas's it was actually the Christmas where I felt the most blessed, and grateful. I was very thankful that God provided for my mom to be able to go to the doctor, and for them to find the cancer in time before it spread once again.

It’s very important for Adults, and anyone with a history of colon or any type of cancer to have screenings done. The average age in the United States that men and women begin to have screenings is at the age of 50, but because of the increasing rate of colon cancer doctors are recommending that both men and women begin to have screenings at the age of 45. I think it’s really important that we spread awareness for people to begin to become screened at early ages, so that the number of cancer survivors like my mom can increase.
If you want to find out more information on screening, and colon cancer you can visit the website that I used http://www.coloncancerfoundation.org/anyage.htm.  
xo

Depression & Anxiety

Image yourteen.org

I was thinking of something that I could talk to you guys about, and I decided to talk about depression, and anxiety. In our everyday lives we are faced with a lot of different challenges, and situations that are sometimes more than we think we can handle. Although God will never put us in a situation that he thinks we cannot handle, these situations are sometimes a lot to deal with.

I think that many of us don’t deal with things in the right way. Like me for example instead of expressing how I might be feeling about a situation, I keep my emotions inside and I don't really talk about them, this is something that isn’t healthy. Different studies that I’ve recently read about show that those who keep all their fears and anxieties bottled up tend to suffer from depression, and also different forms of anxiety.

I have always counted on God to help me with everything I’ve been through, but lately I have also started to express my feelings especially throughout this blog, and to talk to people about how I feel. I wish that I would have done this from the beginning especially with my father’s sickness, because I think it would have been easier for me to cope with the situation. 

It's really important for you to always express how you feel, and to always be able to talk to someone about what you’re going through. This website that I found shows different symptoms of depression which can lead to different anxiety issues.

Some of the different symptoms they mentioned are:

• unusual or sad mood that doesn't go away
• lack of energy or tiredness
• feeling anxious, empty or numb
• getting headaches and stomach aches
• not eating, and losing weight
• not being able to sleep, or waking up early

It’s important that if you have any of those symptoms I’ve listed or that are on the website I shared with you that you reach out for help before it becomes a threat to your health.

This address of the website i found is http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=240&id=2079&np=298.

This website also shares different links to other websites that talk about challanges you may be facing.

I hope this somehow helped some of you.

xo

I created my first podcast telling you guys a little about my blog and why i choose to blog about this.
I hope you enjoy it!

American Stroke Association

image stroke association.org

Hey guys this next website that I want to share with you guys is a website that was very useful to me with my dad. As I told you guys before my dad had sixteen cardiac arrests, and a stroke that left him paralyzed with severe brain damage, and only eighteen percent of his heart working . A lot of people find it hard to believe that he was able to survive all of that, but God has always been with him through everything. After he came home from being in the hospital for three months a lot of things changed. He wasn't able to function like the same dad he was before, but he was still my dad that I loved, and I was really happy to have him back home with me. 

Now that he was back home there were a lot of different precautions that had to be taken in order for him to be as healthy as possible. For example he wasn't able to eat through his mouth at first because the muscles in his throat didn't work properly, and there was a great possibility that he could choke, so he had to be given liquid supplements through a tube in his stomach. He recently passed what they call a "food test", and he is now able to take liquids that are thickened for him through his mouth. He isn't allowed to eat certain foods like spinach or green peas, because they interfere with the medicine he takes for his heart. We also have to try to help him lift his arms, and legs so that he doesn't accumulate blood clots. These are only some examples of things that have to be done for him daily.

Although the doctors gave us all the directions on that to do for his condition, this website www.storkeassociation.org was very useful to my mom who is the person who's always taken care of him. This website gives you other examples different precautions that should be taken with someone after they have a stroke. They also share different stories that I find inspiring and useful. These stories are of real caregivers like my mom who have gone through the same obstacles she goes through on a daily basis, and also for the family members like me and my little brother. 

I hope you guys found some of this information useful!

xo

Reach Out

Hi again everyone! I'm really excited to share some new stuff that i found for you guys. I really liked this website that i came across, because they not only focus on one subject but various different ones. The website address is www.reachout.com.

image reachout.com

Different subjects that they focus on are

• Loss and grief
• Family relationships
• School pressures
• Drugs, Alcohol & Tobacco
• Romance, Sexuality & Pregnancy 

I think these are a lot of issues that many of us deal with on a day to day basis. Some of you might feel like you have no one to talk to but the truth is that websites like these are willing to give you examples of real people who have been in the same situation that you might be in now.
With all the things Ive been through with my mom and dad there's times where i feel like i don't really feel like talking to anyone about how i feel, but with a website like this i don't have to. I can read about people who are going or have been through the same situation and see what advise they have for me. i can also see how they were able to overcome what they went through.

I hope this was helpful for some of you!

Susan G Komen for the Cure

Hi everyone! I've been researching different charities online that might be helpful to some of you. While searching I came across a charity that is very special to me.

The name of this charity is the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer charity. This is a charity which has been useful to me after my mom was diagnosed with breast and, colon cancer a couple years ago.She was able to have both cancers removed during an operation, and she then had to have radiation therapy.

A year later my mom had just been laid off from work and had no health insurance. It was time for her yearly check up for recurring any recurring breast or colon cancer. I reached out to Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation after researching different charities online to see if there was anything they could do. They were very helpful, and not only gave me support, but they were also willing to answer any questions i had.

They also gave me the great advice of getting in touch with a local hospital in my area, and they were able to perform the cancer checkup test on my mom for no charge because she qualified for the hospitals financial assistance plan. Her breast exam came back negative, and we are still waiting for the results of her colon exam.

By reaching out to this particular charity i was able to help my mom receive the care that she needed.