Re: Re: Nasal Sprays and Allergy Meds

[Guest guest]

Thanks to all of you for your response

to my concern of allergies and sinus

issues. And I thank all of you again

for continuing to allow me to be a part

of this group after all I did do some

upsetting recently. Many thanks

and blessings to all of you.

Michele

" Ms. Michele "

[Guest guest]

,

Everyone has the right to ventilate. If you can't do it with people who are

in similar situations or at least were in a similar situation who else can

you talk to? I think most of us understand the huge frustration you are

feeling and I am sure that no one really took it personally.

I don't really have time to read most of the posts however I have read a

few about allergies. Medications for allergies are fine but if you are not

removing the allergens from the environment you may not have as much success as

you would like. I started helping parents of children with asthma remove home

allergens years ago when asthma medication was very limited. Often we could

reduce the child's symptoms and rate of attacks by reducing the home allergens.

In the last fourteen years I started doing it with kids with ADHD and later

autism and again saw enough positive results that I think it is worth trying

for all kids. I address how to do this in our Parent Handbook we give to all

new patients in our clinic but I will separate that part out and make it into

a separate handbook if there is a need for it from families who are not in

our clinic. Please email me at work _autismclinic2@..._

(mailto:autismclinic2@...) and let me know if you are interested. We

will provide

for the cost of mailing or a donation to the children in our clinic who are

underinsured. We do fundraisers to provide scholarships for these children but

it seems we cannot even come close to keeping up with the demand:(

Kathy on RN, MSN

NNY Center

[Guest guest]

Michele,

We all have rough days...

You know, I think sometimes we forget to remember ourselves in this mess,

but it takes its toll us on us as well as as our kids... I remember this

study on aging and stress that was done a few years ago and they had chosen

a mom with a child with autism as the " stress model " for the article... I

think it was in TIME... not sure, though. I think the article below

probably came from this study.

Sorry it's so long, but I'm posting it anyway because it shows that the

stress we feel is very real and it affects how we function. During the

times when my kids are doing reasonably well I'll realize that I feel so

much more under control... so much calmer... almost sedated... compared to

how I feel constantly when things are more " off " . Some days I think it's a

wonder we do as well as we do, because dealing with is pretty hard to

bear, and the more affected a child is, the more difficult it is for the

parents (times infinity).

I think that's one reason we this group works... it enables us to draw

strength from one another when our load is heaviest and provide strength

when we are able. Some days it's one way for us, some days it's the other.

My personal theory is that by being here for one another we can slow down

those telomeres at least a bit!

NEW YORK TIMES

Too Much Stress May Give Genes Gray Hair

By BENEDICT CAREY

Published: November 30, 2004

Some stressful events seem to turn a person's hair gray overnight.

Now a team of researchers has found that severe emotional distress - like

that caused by divorce, the loss of a job, or caring for an ill child or

parent - may speed up the aging of the body's cells at the genetic level.

The findings, being reported today, are the first to link psychological

stress so directly to biological age.

The researchers found that blood cells from women who had spent many years

caring for a disabled child were, genetically, about a decade older than

those from peers who had much less caretaking experience. The study, which

appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also suggests

that the perception of being stressed can add years to a person's biological

age.

Though doctors have linked chronic psychological stress to weakened immune

function and an increased risk of catching colds, among other things, they

are still trying to understand how tension damages or weakens tissue.

The new research suggests a new way that such damage may occur and opens the

possibility that the process can be reversed.

" This is a new and significant finding, " said Dr. Bruce McEwen, director of

the neuroendocrinology laboratory at Rockefeller University in New York.

He said the research provided some of the clearest evidence yet " of the

price in wear and tear on the tissues that everybody pays during a stressful

life. "

" And we know as we get older, " Dr. McEwen continued, " we have a greater

tendency to put on fat, to develop heart disease and diabetes. "

In the experiment, Dr. Elissa Epel and Dr. Blackburn of the

University of California at San Francisco led a team of researchers who

analyzed blood samples from 58 young and middle-aged mothers, 39 of them

caring for a child with a chronic disorder like autism or cerebral palsy.

Using genetic techniques, the doctors examined the DNA of white blood cells,

which are central to the body's immune response to infection.

The scientists focused on a piece of DNA, called the telomere, at the very

tip of each cell's chromosomes.

Like the head of a split matchstick, the telomere shrinks each time a cell

divides and duplicates itself.

Cells may reproduce themselves many times throughout life to repair and

strengthen their host organs, to grow or to fight disease.

A chemical called telomerase helps restore a portion of the telomere with

each division.

But after 10 to 50 divisions or so - the number varies by tissue type and

health, and biologists still do not understand the system well - the

telomere gets so short that the cell is effectively retired and no longer

able to replicate.

People born with a genetic disease called dyskeratosis congenita, which

causes accelerated shortening of telomeres, die young, usually by middle

age, most often as a result of complications from weakened immunity.

Change in telomere length over time, in short, is thought to be a rough

measure of a cell's age, its vitality.

And when the researchers compared the DNA of mothers caring for disabled

children, they found a striking trend: after correcting for the effects of

age, they calculated that the longer the women had taken care of their

child, the shorter their telomere length, and the lower their telomerase

activity.

Some of the more experienced mothers were years older than their

chronological age, as measured by their white blood cells.

" When people are under stress, they look haggard, it's like they age before

your eyes, and here's something going on at a molecular level " that reflects

that impression, said Dr. Blackburn, a professor of biochemistry and

biophysics.

The researchers also gave the women a questionnaire, asking them to rate on

a three-point scale how overwhelmed they felt by daily life, and how often

they were unable to control the important things in their lives. The women

who perceived that they were under heavy stress also had significantly

shortened telomeres, compared with those who felt more relaxed - whether

they were raising a disabled child or not.

" Some of the women who had a lot of objective, real stress also had a low

perceived amount of stress, and the next step is trying to understand what

it is that promotes this kind of resilience, " said Dr. Epel.

She said the group had plans to test the effect of meditation, mindfulness

training and yoga on both perceived stress and telomere length.

A form of counseling called cognitive therapy, in which people learn to

temper their responses to stress, could also help, psychologists say.

Personality and upbringing almost certainly account for some of this

difference, however. In 2003, researchers who followed some 850 New

Zealanders from birth to 26 reported that variations in a single gene helped

predict which children would later become susceptible to depression, after

stressful events like divorce or unemployment.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have shown, in monkeys,

that warm and attentive rearing of offspring can protect young animals from

precisely this genetic variation, promoting resilience in genetically

vulnerable individuals. Cold or abusive rearing, psychiatrists say, can have

the opposite effect.

" All of these factors intertwine to make up how a person handles stress, "

said Dr. Glaser, director of Ohio State University's Institute for

Behavioral Medicine Research, who with his wife, Dr. Janice Kiecolt-Glaser,

has documented the effect of stress on immune function. " We now have

evidence, from a broad range of fields, from studies of wound healing, of

inflammation, of vaccines, and now of cell age that really make the case "

that stress can cause real harm.

Experts caution that the telomere study needs to be replicated and that no

one has yet shown convincingly that psychological stress significantly

shortens people's lives. And it is far from clear exactly how fretting over

a child's learning disability, say, can cause a parent's telomeres to

shorten before their time. Although researchers know that emotional strain

of this kind prompts the release of stress hormones, like cortisol, which

over time can damage cells, no one knows how these hormones or other

stress-related toxins affect telomeres.

" Right now, that is the black box, " said Dr. Blackburn, " and that's what

we're going to study next. "

[Guest guest]

Very true! I am always thinking I have to take care of myself so I can

take care of my son in case he never becomes self-sufficient but tests

I've had just seem to be inconclusive. They have found that I have

Mitral Valve Prolapse but that is about it. I don't think modern

medicine can catch anything unless you are about dead. Personal opinion

only here, Jerri Caroline Glover wrote:

> ,

>

> You're so right about many of the parents being ill, and I think what you

> are doing is very wise... we definitely need to take time to look after

> ourselves. It's not a selfish thing to be concerned for our own health...

> on the contrary, it's what we NEED to do so that we can be " all there " for

> our children.

>

> How many of you have even had a physical in the last year or two (don't

> answer me... please just do it if you haven't!). I think in caring for our

> kids we tend to put ourselves last on the " to do " list... and never get to

> the bottom of the list.

>

> Caroline

>

>

>

>> From: meljackmom <meljackmom@...>

>> Reply-< >

>> Date: Sun, 01 Oct 2006 14:55:53 +0000

>> < >

>> Subject: Re: Nasal Sprays and Allergy Meds

>>

>> Thanks for this great post Caroline. In addition to the stress, I

>> think alot of us as parents are also ill, immune-compromised,

>> allergy-ridden , etc. So we have a double problem....being

>> chronically ill and being mentally stressed by caring for an ill

>> child. The overall stress we place on our bodies in an effort to

>> cope with both of these things is enormous, and builds over the

>> years. I have reached my brick wall and need to see a specialist.

>> Thought I would share with you all to PLEASE DO A SELF CHECK and

>> make sure you are doing OK....it is so easy for us to ignore

>> ourselves.

>>

>>

>

>

>

>

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