Interesting Resources

Well, my day started out the same as yesterday - I woke feeling fine, got Craig off to school, and my pulse went through the roof again mid-morning!  I got out of the shower and strapped on my new heartrate monitor, and my pulse rate was 145!!  Those showers are killers.  So, it's another Plan B day.  Today I actually got so far as to plan meals for the week and make a grocery list but had to once again postpone plans to shop.  Fortunately, there are still enough Trader Joe's ingredients for two more dinners!

Just wanted to pass along a few resources that have come to my attention this week:

• CureTogether is a website that surveys patients about symptoms and treatments for a variety of conditions, including ME/CFS.  Click on the tabs to see lists of symptoms, causes, and treatments reported by patients, a graph showing treatment effectiveness (not much on the high effectiveness side, of course), or to take their survey to add your own information to the data, which I did yesterday while stuck on the couch.  It's interesting, though I think they're using the term "treatment" loosely (it includes things like "rest more" and "avoid people who don't believe in CFS" as well as actual treatments).  Take a look for yourself.
• NIH is starting a Listserve for ME/CFS, which they'll use to communicate new information.  Here is a blog post from Phoenix Rising that explains how to sign up (it's quick and easy).  Besides the benefit of getting the information, signing up will also help to show NIH how many people care about ME/CFS because they closely track participation.  I signed up.
• For those battling Lyme disease as well as CFS, I read an excellent summary of the recent ILADS Conference on BetterHealthGuy.com.  Lots of interesting - though sometimes conflicting - information here on treatment approaches.

So, that's it for today.  I'm going to attempt a quick trip to the corner drugstore to pick up a prescription and more milk.  Not quite what I had in mind for today, but that's Plan B!