You may, if you've read my writing for any time, recall I was diagnosed in 1987 with Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease which eventually morphed into mostly Lupus. Though today I am in remission almost three years, back in the late 80's early 90's I wasn't doing so well. My pulmonary physician referred to me in his notes as "unfortunate" and "steroid dependent". He had sent me to pulmonary rehab which in the end really didn't do much for me. Well, it did depress me. I was at a lowpoint emotionally and physically.
Not having a washer or dryer I would take my clothes two blocks away to the local "Duds N Suds". One day during my lowpoint I was there and a lady who was dressed as though she were really poor came up to me and asked me if I knew that God loved me. I said "yes i do". That lady turned and walked out then and I never did see her again. Interestingly she didn't have any laundry with her. I believe to this day and always will believe that she was an angel sent from God to remind me......to pick me up and remind me and give me hope. Because hmmm I really hadn't been living as though I knew God loved me. On some level I knew it. I just needed a kick in the pants. The love in that lady's eyes and her question was more than a kick in the pants. Those few moments changed my life.
Those few moments contributed as much or more to the remission I would finally achieve as did the nutrition and nutritional supplements I added to my foodplan. Do you know someone who is chronically ill? You can be their angel. When you feel like there's nothing more for you but dying, that because of illness you don't have much left in you to contribute, that there is no hope of wellness and then someone cares enough to reach out to you and tell you God loves you, and that they care about you; that changes your life. It creates hope. Puts a fire under the will to live and gives renewed worth to a life. You can change someones life. Go hug somebody and make sure they know God loves them. He does.
Wishing you wellness and joy!
Pam Murphy,B.S.,RRT enjoys helping others improve and support their health thru nutrition and supplements. Visit her at: http://discover.vitamarkpower.com if you're interesting in helping others too.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Wishing You.....A Death-Defying Christmas
Here we are in the midst of another end-of-the-year holiday season. Like a lot of people do during this season, I've been reflecting on this past year and am looking forward with gleeful anticipation to this next year. Have you been reflecting on your life? Are you where you want to be and are you doing what you are meant to do? Are you busting-at-the buttons happy?
It is my belief a great deal of the angst in life stems from people not understanding their purpose in life and not having a passion for what they currently do and/or the life they currently lead. To me that is monumentally tragic. Life is to wondrous and to great an adventure to not be passionate about it.
At least in part of my life I can honestly say I am doing exactly what God means for me to do (i.e. sharing wellness) and I can see a not-to-distant future when I will be able to do so without any of the current distractions in my life. My life truly began the moment I understood my life's purpose. You know what? There is a tremendous joy in knowing your life's purpose. With all my heart I hope you know that kind of joy!
As you reflect on the past year I want you to know something. I want you to know that miracles are within your reach and within your own mind. Do not scoff at that statement. Rather give it your most serious consideration. The quality of your life depends on your understanding the truth of it.
Do You know how special you are?
Do you know your life's purpose?
Are you living your life's purpose?
Do you know you have all you need to create a miracle in your life?
Do you understand the impact of words and thoughts on the quality of your life?
Consider the words of Maya Angelou:
"Words go into the body. So they cause us to be well and hopeful
and happy and high-energy and wondrous and funny and cheerful.
Or they can cause us to be depressed. They get into the body and
cause us to be sullen and sour and depressed and, finally, sick."
Words are important. Thoughts are important. What kind of words or thoughts are you holding inside of you. You have a choice as to what kind of words and thoughts you hold near you. Positive or negative. Words and thoughts can be death .......or death-defying.
What are you choosing to hold within you?
My gift to you this holiday season is a short movie. I hope you will
take 3 minutes to watch it and an hour to consider it.
Click here: http://tinyurl.com/tcyrv
Wishing you wellness and joy,
Pam Murphy,B.S.,RRT
This post may be reprinted in your newsletter or blog only with the following resource box:
Pam Murphy,B.S.,RRT has a thriving network marketing wellness business, is completing a Masters in Holistic Nutrition and enjoys mentoring others in both improving their health and financial freedom. http://pamsnutritionstore.com
It is my belief a great deal of the angst in life stems from people not understanding their purpose in life and not having a passion for what they currently do and/or the life they currently lead. To me that is monumentally tragic. Life is to wondrous and to great an adventure to not be passionate about it.
At least in part of my life I can honestly say I am doing exactly what God means for me to do (i.e. sharing wellness) and I can see a not-to-distant future when I will be able to do so without any of the current distractions in my life. My life truly began the moment I understood my life's purpose. You know what? There is a tremendous joy in knowing your life's purpose. With all my heart I hope you know that kind of joy!
As you reflect on the past year I want you to know something. I want you to know that miracles are within your reach and within your own mind. Do not scoff at that statement. Rather give it your most serious consideration. The quality of your life depends on your understanding the truth of it.
Do You know how special you are?
Do you know your life's purpose?
Are you living your life's purpose?
Do you know you have all you need to create a miracle in your life?
Do you understand the impact of words and thoughts on the quality of your life?
Consider the words of Maya Angelou:
"Words go into the body. So they cause us to be well and hopeful
and happy and high-energy and wondrous and funny and cheerful.
Or they can cause us to be depressed. They get into the body and
cause us to be sullen and sour and depressed and, finally, sick."
Words are important. Thoughts are important. What kind of words or thoughts are you holding inside of you. You have a choice as to what kind of words and thoughts you hold near you. Positive or negative. Words and thoughts can be death .......or death-defying.
What are you choosing to hold within you?
My gift to you this holiday season is a short movie. I hope you will
take 3 minutes to watch it and an hour to consider it.
Click here: http://tinyurl.com/tcyrv
Wishing you wellness and joy,
Pam Murphy,B.S.,RRT
This post may be reprinted in your newsletter or blog only with the following resource box:
Pam Murphy,B.S.,RRT has a thriving network marketing wellness business, is completing a Masters in Holistic Nutrition and enjoys mentoring others in both improving their health and financial freedom. http://pamsnutritionstore.com
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Cancer and Nutrition: Revisited Fairly
In a recent post I was hard on doctors who tell cancer patients not to take nutritional supplements. I spoke in anger and disappointment and did not evenly cover the topic. I am deleting that post. In fairness I need to address this issue again.......
You see there is a controversy regarding certain nutrition supplements and cancer. Consider the information in the following links:
http://www.lef.org/protocols/prtcl-153.shtml#humanresearch
http://www.lef.org/protocols/prtcl-153.shtml#animalresearch
Recent studies have been positive on the use of antioxidants:
http://www.newstarget.com/021070.html
None of these above articles discuss the use of glyconutritional supplements. Glyconutrients are not vitamins, antioxidants, minerals or amino acids. They are in a class of their own. There are so far eight known necessary glyconutrients (ie monosaccharides). These are discussed in Harpers Biochemistry, a medical textbook. Though there are four Nobel prizes which discuss cell to cell communication and the integral part these monosaccharides play in cell to cell communication, glycobiology is a young field and not well understood yet by the vast majority of physicians. There is however, a Glycomics Conference every October in which increasingly more physicians are learning this information. http://www.endowmentmed.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=40
Case studies and research point to a positive benefit with dietary supplementation of glyconutrients:
http://www.fisherinstitute.org/bestcancer.htm
http://www.fisherinstitute.org/cancer.htm
http://glycoscience.org/ (search "cancer")
What I most wanted to get across is that folks need to educate themselves and not rely solely on physician input. Doctors are not gods; nor should we expect them to be. They are not trained in nutrition. They are largely educated by pharmaceutical companies. I learned this the hard way in my battle with Lupus. Had I not taken responsibility for my life and wellness; had I solely relied on my physicians input I would either be dead or in a wheelchair and in a nursing home today; instead of celebrating over two years in remission. My physicians did not value nutrition and didn't know about glyconutrition. Thru all the years I battled Lupus, not once did any of my physicians ask me about my diet. Has yours?
You see there is a controversy regarding certain nutrition supplements and cancer. Consider the information in the following links:
http://www.lef.org/protocols/prtcl-153.shtml#humanresearch
http://www.lef.org/protocols/prtcl-153.shtml#animalresearch
Recent studies have been positive on the use of antioxidants:
http://www.newstarget.com/021070.html
None of these above articles discuss the use of glyconutritional supplements. Glyconutrients are not vitamins, antioxidants, minerals or amino acids. They are in a class of their own. There are so far eight known necessary glyconutrients (ie monosaccharides). These are discussed in Harpers Biochemistry, a medical textbook. Though there are four Nobel prizes which discuss cell to cell communication and the integral part these monosaccharides play in cell to cell communication, glycobiology is a young field and not well understood yet by the vast majority of physicians. There is however, a Glycomics Conference every October in which increasingly more physicians are learning this information. http://www.endowmentmed.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=40
Case studies and research point to a positive benefit with dietary supplementation of glyconutrients:
http://www.fisherinstitute.org/bestcancer.htm
http://www.fisherinstitute.org/cancer.htm
http://glycoscience.org/ (search "cancer")
What I most wanted to get across is that folks need to educate themselves and not rely solely on physician input. Doctors are not gods; nor should we expect them to be. They are not trained in nutrition. They are largely educated by pharmaceutical companies. I learned this the hard way in my battle with Lupus. Had I not taken responsibility for my life and wellness; had I solely relied on my physicians input I would either be dead or in a wheelchair and in a nursing home today; instead of celebrating over two years in remission. My physicians did not value nutrition and didn't know about glyconutrition. Thru all the years I battled Lupus, not once did any of my physicians ask me about my diet. Has yours?
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Uncommon Courage: A Life of Significance
There came a time during my long journey with Lupus when my mother asked me how to cope with illness. She was well into her journey with Shy-Drager, a very debilitating version of Parkinsons. To say it's difficult when the roles in life turn is an understatement. I wish I had been full of wisdom at that moment. Maybe in a small way there was some wisdom in what I said.
I told her my philosophy was to just keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep going and that's what she had to do too. We agreed we would do that together for as long as we each could. Then we had a discussion about what we each wanted and didn't want in regards to medical treatment. We made each other promises to safeguard each others dignity in the event we couldn't do it for ourselves. There were no tears during our conversation, but in the years since her passing I have often wilted into tears when remembering it. I kept my promise to her, there was no medical intervention with feeding tubes, IV's or medical machinery at the end of her journey.
Thinking back on the difficult times of my lupus journey I can say it's really not a simple thing to do to "keep going" when in the grip of 24/7 pain, shortness of breath and overwhelming fatigue. In fact, when faced with an incurable illness it takes an uncommon courage to even want to keep going. There were many times when I begged God to take me home.
But at the time when my mother and I had our conversation, I simply thought that to put one foot in front of the other and keep going was all I knew to do and certainly didn't think of it as courageous. To me it was just survival. In fact, everything I did; changing my diet to one without processed foods, being a guinea pig for an investigational drug, reframing my thoughts, exercising when I was physically able and my physician would let me, incorporating daily
meditation, trying glyconutrient supplementation, was all, I thought, just a matter of survival. Not just to stay alive, but to keep my lifestyle and my independence.
But I've been told by four different people in the last few months that they view me as courageous. As I sit here pondering my journey to remission I have a hard time thinking of myself as courageous. It blows my mind that anyone thinks of me as courageous. My journey to remission wasn't about courage, and though I thought it was about survival, it really wasn't even
about survival; it was about having a significant life. Everyone wants their life to mean something. I have always thought one of the worst things about chronic illness is the loss of human potential. Illness illustrated to me very clearly the insignificance of monetary success and about personal growth and living a life of significance. Financial freedom means nothing if you're not also making a difference.
It takes real courage to live a life of significance. It takes insight, (some would say wisdom), to understand you can live a significant life even if you are coping with a seemingly incurable illness. Sometimes that is hard to see when you're living with 24/7 pain and little hope for respite. When illness strikes and your dreams suddenly seem unreachable; you must understand your illness, no matter what you no longer can do, does not make you any
less important to the world. You must understand every existence is significant. By putting one foot in front of the other and keeping going you are, in fact, living a life of significance. You are giving value to life. There is nothing more noble.
So whatever hardships you are coping with in your life; change the things in your life which are negative or don't promote wellness and keep on keeping on. You are precious and your existence is significant.
Wishing you wellness and joy
Pam Murphy,B.S.,RRT
http://pamsnutritionstore.com
I told her my philosophy was to just keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep going and that's what she had to do too. We agreed we would do that together for as long as we each could. Then we had a discussion about what we each wanted and didn't want in regards to medical treatment. We made each other promises to safeguard each others dignity in the event we couldn't do it for ourselves. There were no tears during our conversation, but in the years since her passing I have often wilted into tears when remembering it. I kept my promise to her, there was no medical intervention with feeding tubes, IV's or medical machinery at the end of her journey.
Thinking back on the difficult times of my lupus journey I can say it's really not a simple thing to do to "keep going" when in the grip of 24/7 pain, shortness of breath and overwhelming fatigue. In fact, when faced with an incurable illness it takes an uncommon courage to even want to keep going. There were many times when I begged God to take me home.
But at the time when my mother and I had our conversation, I simply thought that to put one foot in front of the other and keep going was all I knew to do and certainly didn't think of it as courageous. To me it was just survival. In fact, everything I did; changing my diet to one without processed foods, being a guinea pig for an investigational drug, reframing my thoughts, exercising when I was physically able and my physician would let me, incorporating daily
meditation, trying glyconutrient supplementation, was all, I thought, just a matter of survival. Not just to stay alive, but to keep my lifestyle and my independence.
But I've been told by four different people in the last few months that they view me as courageous. As I sit here pondering my journey to remission I have a hard time thinking of myself as courageous. It blows my mind that anyone thinks of me as courageous. My journey to remission wasn't about courage, and though I thought it was about survival, it really wasn't even
about survival; it was about having a significant life. Everyone wants their life to mean something. I have always thought one of the worst things about chronic illness is the loss of human potential. Illness illustrated to me very clearly the insignificance of monetary success and about personal growth and living a life of significance. Financial freedom means nothing if you're not also making a difference.
It takes real courage to live a life of significance. It takes insight, (some would say wisdom), to understand you can live a significant life even if you are coping with a seemingly incurable illness. Sometimes that is hard to see when you're living with 24/7 pain and little hope for respite. When illness strikes and your dreams suddenly seem unreachable; you must understand your illness, no matter what you no longer can do, does not make you any
less important to the world. You must understand every existence is significant. By putting one foot in front of the other and keeping going you are, in fact, living a life of significance. You are giving value to life. There is nothing more noble.
So whatever hardships you are coping with in your life; change the things in your life which are negative or don't promote wellness and keep on keeping on. You are precious and your existence is significant.
Wishing you wellness and joy
Pam Murphy,B.S.,RRT
http://pamsnutritionstore.com
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