Health
Mental and physical health are both important components to wellness and whole body health. Better health is a goal to work towards over the course of a lifetime. This section of Thrifty Mommas Tips explores issues such as child poverty, infertility and disability. With a heavy focus on women's and children's health issues, you will find content about rare eye disease, infertility and invisible brain injuries. Health care advocacy is also discussed in this section. Learn how to advocate effectively for your child or parent within the health care and education systems. Caregiving is exhausting and rewarding work. I have several tools for supporting your child at camp, home, school and in after school activities. There's nothing simple about achieving or maintaining wellness. But knowledge is the key to making smart choices. Knowledge aids in building better health for you and your family. As a child diagnosed with the inflammatory bowel disorder, Crohn's disease, I have over 30 years of experience navigating systems and experts. All of that experience comes into play here as I share how I have learned to live with a chronic illness and chronic pain. In this health section of Thrifty Mommas Tips, there is heavy concentration of topics like anxiety disorder, Crohn's disease, infertility, in vitro fertilization and FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum disorder). Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder also crops up from time to time. Use this section to increase your knowledge and arm yourself with tools to feel better and live with intention.
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4 Easy Ways to Save Money on Your Next Pair of Contact Lenses
While eyeglasses are more common as a corrective tool, many individuals opt for contact lenses for multiple reasons. One of the most prominent is how they provide more natural vision from all angles, as they sit right on the eyeballs. Aside from this, contacts have the advantage of being without frames, which means they don’t block the peripheral vision, and they are less likely to be affected by surroundings. This means they’re not as prone to falling out, and they’re not at risk of smudging or fogging up. Given the above, contact lenses are an essential expense for many people who rely on them for clear, unencumbered vision. More specifically, a Global…
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Take the 30-Day Mindfulness Challenge Now!
Time for a mindfulness challenge! No better time than the present. At least, that’s my current philosophy. So, some of you probably know that mindfulness here is an ongoing battle. Or, should I say has been an ongoing issue. Ironically, or curiously, I think that I have actually achieved more mindfulness during the pandemic than ever before. My Previous Experience One year I made mindfulness my word of the year and it was the worst word of the year experience that I had ever had. That’s right. I have successfully chosen a word of the year for many years but could not make that one work. My mind wandered too…
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My 2021 Word of the Year, Finally
“I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart: I am, I am, I am.” ~ Sylvia Plath Sylvia knew. Post may contain affiliate links as a service to readers. I receive a small commission from purchases made via qualifying links. Words This year, it has taken me exactly a month to find my 2021 word of the year. Why? Well, I wasn’t convinced I’d bother to choose a word of the year. Wasn’t it a ridiculous assumption to make that a year would bend to meet the shape of a word. I mean after 2020, haven’t we all seen that life is nothing if…
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Five Chronic Illness Lessons I Have Learned.
Lately I have been thinking a lot about how having a childhood illness shaped me, as a person, as a teen and an adult. I’ve asked myself often what, if any chronic illness lessons, I got out of that experience. Some of you know I have Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease, also now thought to be an autoimmune disease, without a known cause or cure. I was diagnosed at 14 after a period of months when pounds melted off my frame faster than you can even imagine. My abdomen hurt all of the time, as in so much cramping that I thought I would pass out. Sometimes I still…
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30 Day Health and Wellness Challenge and Printable
Well here we go again! Lockdown threatens to disrupt any progress on my fitness routine. But hopefully not for long. That’s why I am sharing this 30-day health and wellness challenge. Make a Commitment to Health & Wellness I have done my best to maintain a health and wellness schedule for years now. It’s part of my life and I need that as a parent and as someone who has chronic pain and Crohn’s disease. Working out to maintain health and wellness is not an option for me. So, from the start of the pandemic to today, I have been seizing all of the opportunities to get fit. Getting and…
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The Simple Art of Walking
Or How I Don’t Want Your Pity Walk Became Let Me Get a Sweater and My Shoes) With gyms closed for much of the past year, I have discovered the value of the simple art of walking. We walk in all the weather, sometimes alone but often together. That’s been a highlight of this year actually. Walking. Discovering the art of walking has been an unexpected positive in a year too full of negatives. The Art of Walking It started as a way to get the kids moving and a means for me to get my steps in for the day. Way back in March, when the pandemic was new…
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Don’t Let This Rare Eye Disorder Go Undiagnosed
“This VKC blog is sponsored and supported by Santen Canada Inc.” A rare allergic eye disorder affecting children and adolescents is often missed by parents and can cause lasting damage. VKC, vernal keratoconjunctivitis, usually strikes during main allergy seasons, but it can also be present all year round. VKC is a relatively rare disorder. Public awareness is very low,” says Dr. Michael O’Connor, Pediatric Ophthalmologist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO in Ottawa), and Past-President of the Canadian Association of Paediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (CAPOS). Common Symptoms of This Eye Disorder With a range of symptoms that mimic allergies and pink eye, VKC can easily be overlooked, but there…
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Getting My Gym Legs Back – Returning to the YMCA
After seven months of working out in my basement, I am moving on. This was the month that I found my gym legs again returning to the gym in person. Here’s how I found my gym legs again and here’s how it’s going so far… Deciding to Leave the Basement The decision to return to the YMCA near my home was not without a whole lot of introspection, hand ringing and anxiety. In fact, it kind of surprised me that I had anxiety returning at all, but after seven months of basement workouts, there it was. Nerves. Let’s face it the nerves were not unwarranted. I mean look around and…
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I am Not Invisible – FASD at School and How to Help
This FASD at School post is by my daughter, Ainsley Schuck. September 9th is FASD (International Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder) Day, so we thought we’d share it now as school resumes. I have an invisible disability, but I am not invisible. I kind of want my IEP (individual education plan) to say that. I’m not invisible and I am trying, but I need help. It’s a double standard in the schools and in life that some with visible disabilities are treated differently than others whose disabilities are not so easy to see. Clearly, most people with any disability struggle with perceptions and support in society. But I am also here…
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Brain Exercises to Keep Your Cognitive Abilities In Shape
Post may contain affiliate links as a service to readers. I make a small commission via qualifying links. Your brain is a muscle and like any muscle, using it keeps it in shape. When muscles aren’t used, they atrophy and lose muscle tone. The same is true for your brain. It’s important to retain your cognitive nimbleness and keep your mind alert so that you can continue to perform mental tasks with ease. Here are some strength training exercises designed to keep your brain active and in shape as you age. Brain Exercises Learn new things. Experts believe that when the brain is passive and unengaged, it will atrophy. The…
