I loathe these people...

This has nothing whatsoever to do with Migraines, but I'm so angry that I had to post about this. It's still a pain trigger. A pain in the ass. I received this email this morning:

Dear friend,

My name is Sgt. David Pam, I am an American soldier with Swiss background, serving in the military with the army's 3rd infantry division. With a very desperate need for assistance, I have summed up courage to contact you.

I found your contact particulars in an address journal. I am seeking your kind assistance to move the sum of ( $ 25 million u.s. dollars ) Twenty Five million united states dollars to you, as far as I can be assured that my share will be safe in your care until I complete my service here, this is no stolen money, and there are no danger involved.

Source of money:
Some money in various currencies was discovered in barrels at a farmhouse near one of Saddam¡¯s old palaces in Tikrit-Iraq during a rescue operation, and it was agreed by staff Sgt Phillip Brain and I that some part of this money be shared among both of us before informing anybody about it since both of us saw the money first. This was quite an illegal thing to do, but I tell you what? No compensation can make up for the risk we have taken with our lives in this hell hole. Of which my brother in-law was killed by a road side bomb last week.

The above figure was given to me as my share, and to conceal this kind of money became a problem for me, so with the help of a British contact working here and his office enjoy some immunity, I was able to get the package out to a safe location entirely out of trouble spot. he does not know the real contents of the package, and believes that it belongs to a brithish/american medical doctor who died in a raid here in Iraq, and before giving up, trusted me to hand over the package to his family in united states.

I have now found a much secured way of getting the package out of Iraq to your country for you to pick up, and I will discuss this with you when I am sure that you are willing to assist me. I want you to tell me how much you will take from this money for the assistance you will give to me.

One passionate appeal I will make to you is not to discuss this matter with anybody, should you have reasons to reject this offer, please and please destroy this message as any leakage of this information will be too bad for us soldier's here in Iraq. I do not know how long we will remain here, and i have been shot, wounded and survived two suicide bomb attacks by the special grace of god, this and other reasons i will mention later has prompted me to reach out for help, i honestly want this matter to be resolved immediately.

If you are willing to assist me and also that you will not betray me as soon as the fund gets to your hand,please kindly get back to me.

I will expect a straight answer from you. Yes or no. All correspondences will be via email, for now.

Please Send me an e-mail via my private email address: sgtdavidpm1@yahoo.com
as you receive this letter for further discussion and more clarification.

Best of luck,
Sgt .David Pam

He will expect a straight answer from me?! Of all the nerve!

This kind of email usually just mildly irritates me, but this one totally pissed me off. I find it particularly heinous that he's claiming to be an American soldier. He's no soldier, and I am not his "friend." How dare he claim to be an American soldier! Our soldiers do not deserve to be defamed in this fashion.

If any of you receive this or similar emails -- please, please, please do not be taken in by them. No matter how sincere they may seem, they are a scam. People who need help transferring money, paying for medical care for loved ones, and other such issues do NOT blindly email strangers.

If anyone who perpetrates such scams happens upon this blog, I have one thing to say to you... There is a special place in hell for you. May you reach it soon!

Shalom,
Abi

Art exhibit accepting submissions on Migraine and other pain

American Pain Foundation and The HealthCentral Network: Call for Artistic Submissions for Creativity and Pain Exhibit

Deadline for Entries is September 20, 2007

The American Pain Foundation (“APF”) and project partner The HealthCentral Network, Inc. (www.HealthCentral.com) is accepting entries for the 2007 APF Pain and Creativity Exhibit. This online exhibit will showcase all contributing artists and their work, including visual arts, inspirational videos, poetry, and quilt squares. Select submissions will be chosen for special promotion by APF. The Pain and Creativity community will be ongoing, but to be considered for special honor in the Exhibit, and at the APF’s 10th Anniversary Celebration in October, submissions must be received by September 20th. Entries can be submitted at www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/apf/

“HealthCentral.com is pleased to be working with the American Pain Foundation to host the Pain and Creativity Exhibit—a virtual space where anyone can share their painting, drawings, sculpture, and video with other individuals dealing with pain,” said Bill Allman, General Manager of HealthCentral. “Art can play a major role in expressing and working through chronic pain, and we believe that the Pain and Creativity Exhibit offers a flexible, supportive environment in which to do this.”

“Recognizing that we are all creative and have the power to turn adversity into opportunity, we would like to expand our Pain and Creativity network to connect artists and their expressions of pain through an online exhibit of creative work,” said Will Rowe, Executive Director of APF. “Our hope is that the submissions to the Pain and Creativity Exhibit come in a variety of forms, including film, sculpture, words, painting and quilt blocks, from people who have pain or from people who are affected by pain.”

Entrants can contribute poetry, prose, a digital photo of their artwork, or an inspirational video that tells the story of how pain can affect one’s life. Along with their submission, entrants also need to include a paragraph that describes how their piece of art represents their pain experience.

A related project sponsored by APF in conjunction with the Lagniappe Project of Baltimore is calling for the submission of quilt blocks for the inclusion in a quilt which will reflect the experience of pain. Quilts are a literal and figurative symbol of comfort and the joining of patchwork is a symbol of unity and community. Through the block design, construction, and joining to create a finished quilt, we hope that the artist finds comfort and unity. The finished quilts will be exhibited at the APF’s 10th Anniversary Celebration in October and will be used for fundraising purposes through the Celebration Auction and/or through other fundraising efforts. For more information on quilt square requirements, CLICK HERE.

The deadline for all submissions is Thursday, September 20.

* * * * * * * * *

About The HealthCentral Network
The HealthCentral Network, Inc. (www.healthcentral.com) is a new and unique online offering, comprised of over 30 general health and highly specific condition and wellness web properties, each committed to offering a voice in everyday and personal language people can understand and connect with at critical points in their lives. Each site provides timely, interactive, in-depth and trusted medical information (from Harvard Health Publications among others), and connections to leading experts and thousands of people who share their related experiences and inspiration.

About the American Pain Foundation
Founded in 1997, the American Pain Foundation is an independent nonprofit 501(c)3 organization serving people with pain through information, advocacy, and support. Our mission is to improve the quality of life of people with pain by raising public awareness, providing practical information, promoting research, and advocating to remove barriers and increase access to effective pain management. For more information, visit www.painfoundation.org.

Follow up to ERs from hell

As I followed ERnursey's blog after my last post, I came to like the lady. She took time to answer a couple of comments to her blog and explain the difference between her saying 'migraine' and migraine.

All in all, what she has to say is very similar to what genuine Migraineurs say. Here's a quote from one of her entries:

People with migraines are on preventative, anti-nausea and abortive meds. They come to the ER as a last resort when their usual medications have been tried and failed.

People with 'migraines' are not on any migraine management meds and will often state allergies to them. In fact they are usually allergic to everything but Demerol or Dilaudid.

It's rather sad that what could have been a productive discussion soured very quickly, especially when an ER doctor decided to continue it on his blog and deliberately "baited" the Migraineurs who were trying, for the most part, to participate in a civil, adult conversation. Then there was another ER nurse who has decided to be a total cretin, making comments such as "migraine is the new fibromyalgia.

It's clear that most of these people either have never been ill or they've been very fortunate that the medical professionals who treated them were their ultimate superiors in professionalism, compassion, and plain old human decency.

Still, good doctors and nurses are some of the most underrated people on the face of the earth. Everybody wants to fuss at them if there's the slightest problem; few people think to thank them.

IMO, patients and those doctors and nurses have more in common than the docs and nurses think. Bad experiences with people with 'migraines' have left some of them highly suspicious of everyone who even says the word Migraine. On the flip side, patients who have had the horror of a doctor who was an ass or incompetent (and, yes, as with any profession, there are good doctors and bad) often don't give other doctors a fair shake.

I can't help but be sad about some of the callous and unnecessary comments I read on those blogs over the weekend. Ah, well. A few of the people posting comments mentioned Karma, something I believe is very real. That gives me comfort and yes, brings a bit of a grin to my face.

Namaste,
Abi

Every wonder why some ERs are Migraine hell?

Most Migraineurs avoid the ER like the plague. We want to treat our Migraines at home -- conveniently, while retaining our dignity, and without taking up valuable ER space and time.

Another reason is that so many of us have been dismissed as having "just a headache" or even been accused of being a "drug seeker," there just to try to get opioids. We've encountered ER doctors and nurses who have treated us like dirt.

I understand fully that the two biggest reasons people give for being in the ER are back pain and Migraines. I fully understand that people who don't have Migraines often lie to ER staff and say they do to get opiods. I get it! Still, there are times when some Migraineurs have no choice but to go to the ER. Most of our doctors tell us to go to the ER if we're having the worst Migraine ever, if our meds we take at home didn't work and we're still in severe pain, or if we have stroke-like symptoms that we don't usually have with our Migraines.

But some ER doctors and nurses choose to view all Migraineurs as fakes or someone with a headache who doesn't need to be taking up their time. I'm not going to stoop so low as to view all ER doctors as nurses as behaving that way. They don't, but we don't have the luxury of picking and choosing who treats us when we must resort to the ER.

To illustrate the attitudes of some ER personnel, I'm offer you a quote from a blog entry written by an ER nurse:

"...If we have to do a patient satisfaction score, let's ensure that they are only given to the people who really needed to be in the ER to begin with. And that leaves out the vast majority of the prompt care patients. Don't give them to the 'back pain' and 'migraine' crowd, give them to the pneumonia, kidney stone etc and make sure to give on to everyone that was admitted..."

Now, to illustrate an ER doctor's attitude, here's part of a reply he wrote to Teri Robert's comment on the original blog entry:

"...Headache without neuro symptoms? Sorry, we have to see the sick patients first. Please wait in your room."

This, my friends, is pathetic. The ER nurse describes herself as "A hardworking ER nurse trying to survive until retirement and if I can have little fun or have a positive impact on someone's life, all the better!" Positive impact on someone's life? I'm sure she does, but I'm equally sure she's had some cases where she had a very negative impact.

If you'd like to take a look at this blog entry, it's called "Another Blog Voice on Patient Satisfaction Scores."

Shalom,
Abi

Migraine and Stroke -- Video

Migraine and stroke risk, although nothing to sound extreme alarm bells over, is definitely something all Migraineurs should know about. It's in our best interests to talk with our doctors about how we live and what we can do to reduce other risks of stroke.

Looking around today, I came across a blog entry by Teri Robert at MyMigraineConnection that features two YouTube videos. These videos were made by a woman who had a stroke that her doctor attributes to Migraine.

Take a look at this blog entry and the videos in Video from woman who had stroke from Migraine.

Shalom,
Abi

Diagnois is the first step with Migraines

It's estimated that half of those living with Migraine disease haven't been diagnosed. I know several people whom I really think are among the undiagnosed.

Take Sylvia (not her real name) for an example. Sylvia has severe, throbbing "headaches" accompanied by:

• heightened sensitivity to light (photophobia) and sound (phonophobia),
• horrid nausea,
• and mood swings.

Sylvia is certain they're not Migraines, so certain she won't even mention them to her doctor. She told me, "They can't be Migraines 'cause I don't have that aura thing." That's a common misconception about Migraines. The reality is that only about a quarter of us have aura.

Actress Marcia Cross is a Migraineur and was part of a campaign to educate people and encourage diagnosis. Here's video of a television commercial from that campaign.

Please, take Ms. Cross's advice and see your doctor if you have unexplained "headaches."

Shalom,
Abi

Wikipedia has really gone too far!

Dear Friends,

I would seldom even consider doing something like this, but I've been driven to it. I'm asking that we ALL stop using Wikipedia. You may think I'm exaggerating, but they are setting back Migraine DISEASE advocacy by years in the minds of anyone who takes them seriously.

Somewhere along the line, some misguided soul decided that the experts who had worked on the Migraine page and added many, many valid references were wrong; that Migraine is a disorder, NOT a disease. For proof, they went to the NINDS site, which most of us realize is always years behind current science. They also went to the NHF site. Now, on the NHF site, there are places were Migraine is referred to as a disease and some where it's referred to as a disorder. The "discussion" went into their dispute resolution process, and they will hear no more discussion on it, even from some of the world's leading experts in the field.

My blunt and honest opinion -- what started out as a good idea has turned into a site that sucks. There are all these "editors" who don't know their butt from a hole in the ground who think they're experts because they know how to go read a couple of web sites. They don't care how old the data is that they find; they only care about winning their point.

So, let's just stay away from Wikipedia. There are plenty of good sites. Wikipedia is no longer among them, and I see little hope for their return to sense and good information.

Whining about Migraines -- Here's some honesty!

It can be really hard to know what to say to someone suffering with a Migraine or headache. You want to be kind, sympathetic, helpful. I would imagine that if you're a professional in the field -- educating, supporting, and advocating for Migraineurs -- you have to walk a fine line. You'd want to do all that being kind, sympathetic, but you might not know how to handle (drum roll, please)... the whiners and drama queens! OK. I've said it, the "w" word. Some of us can be whiners. If you frequent message boards, you know the type. About once a week (if you're lucky, it's ONLY once a week), they post virtually the same "vent" they posted the week before. Some of them will even ask for advice. The problem is that they never take anyone's advice, and they never get off their butts and do anything about their situation.

I don't think I've used this word to describe Teri Robert before, but she's brave. Yesterday, she wrote a blog entry entitled "Yes, Migraines and headaches are awful, but don't be a whiner or drama queen!" Damn! I almost spit coffee all over my monitor when I read it. She was more diplomatic about it than I could have been, but that's Teri. If anyone knows what a Migraineur goes faces, she does. If anyone understands the dangers of falling into whining, she does.

What Teri did in her blog that maybe nobody else knows how to do is to explain the difference between "venting" and "whining." She even explains how to vent without whining.

Way to go, Teri, and thanks!

Namaste,
Abi