New Blog

Okay here is the url for my new blog: The Short and Happy Life of Kanani Knudson

www.kananilee.blogspot.com

School's Out For Summer

Well, school is out and classes are completed. I ended up getting three A's and two A-'s. One of the A-'s was in the class I was writing this blog for.
I feel like I've run out of health topics to write about anyway, so I am going to stop writing on this blog. I think I will start a more personal blog. I will put the link for that on this blog once I create it. So for now, goodbye.
Thanks for reading,
Kanani

Life After Cancer

Hey guys,
Sorry I haven't written in a while. I've been busy working on this video. I know there are a few problems with it. A)lighting was horrible so I had to filter it to make it visible and it ended up really hazy. B)there are some weird clips at the beginning and end that weren't supposed to be in there.
But even with those few problems I think the story really came through well.
Let me know what you think.

What the Hell are Shingles?

Last week my boyfriend was complaining about a rash on his stomach. He is the type that will complain about an ailment but do nothing to try to cure it. So, while I did my long distance comforting technique of suggesting possible treatments I knew he would just let it sit and hope for the best.
A couple of days went by and it had only gotten worse. He finally showed it to his parents and they scheduled an appointment for him at their naturopath (if you don't know what that is, it's basically a doctor for hippies).
I got a call the night after his appointment...
Him:"I have herpes! I'm gonna die!"
Me: "What!?"
Him: "My rash, it's herpes!"
Me: "Oh, that's not that bad."
Him: "Not that bad? Isn't it one step down from AIDS?"
Me: "What? No. Everyone gets herpes. Chicken Pox is a form of herpes. Cold sores are herpes. Everyone gets it."

According to the Medline Plus online medical encyclopedia herpes zoster or shingles is caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox. After a bout of chicken pox lies dormant for many years shingles may appear as a recurrence of the virus. Shingles most commonly affects people over 60 years old and people who had chicken pox before they were one year old. Shingles can also appear in individuals with weakened immune systems, such as those with cancer, atopic dermitis, HIV infection, or AIDS.

Me: What!? AIDS!? Maybe he was right...?


To be continued...

Exercise your brain

While exercising your body is important, it is also important to work out your brain. Especially as people get older and retire they tend to neglect their critical and strategic thinking skills.
The most available way to exercise your brain is to work on crossword, sudoku, or other word and number puzzles that you can find in daily papers or online. An additional perk to doing these puzzles is that they are fun and also reduce stress- obviously.
Check out these websites for online puzzles:
Sudoku
Crossword Puzzles
Text Twist

Symptom Checker

If you have been sick or concerned with mysterious symptoms click HERE.
This is a cool online program offered by WebMD that lets you enter all of your medical information so that you can pin point possible diagnoses without having to see a doctor. After having had several unpleasant experiences with doctors in the past few months I was very excited to find this. This is also a useful tool for those of you who don't have medical insurance and/or don't visit doctors, as a rule.

Five exercises you should never do.

Just sharing a quick story I thought was informative. The information about sit-ups and bicycle crunches was especially useful.
Iron out the Kinks

Got Stress?

I do! I do!

I don't know if it's the ever-closer end of the school year, the fact that I'm anxiously waiting to hear back about the internship I applied for, or the fact that I have to figure out how to live in Seattle on $100 a week if I do get the internship, but I am stressed.

So, of course, I turn to the faithful Internet to figure out how to deal with it. If you're feeling like I am, perhaps this will help you too.

I searched Ladies Home Journal online for some common and not-so-common stress busters.

Some soothing habits that I already knew about include: yoga, taking a bubble bath, lightening your work load, going on vacation, getting more sleep, and drinking tea. But, they also had some tips that might surprise you. They say sex is a natural stress reliever. Also forgiving a grudge and practicing religion can reduce stress. I guess shuffling off your responsibilities into the hands of someone else- god or other, would help reduce stress. They also suggest something called biofeedback, where "sensors are used to measure your temperature, muscle tension, or heart rate and translate them into lights or sounds."

Something I like to do to relieve stress is to take a shower, change my sheets, and put on clean pajamas and new socks. A clean start and a good night's sleep can make you feel very refreshed.

I also searched Better Homes and Gardens online for foods that contain vitamins and minerals that naturally reduce stress.

They say, the best stress fighting foods contain zinc, iron, folic acid, antioxidants, and B-vitamins.

They suggest a diet containing asparagus, beef, milk, cottage cheese and fruit, almonds, blueberries, tuna, and cornflakes or crispy rice cereal.

I suggest not eating all of these at the same time.

To read the facts on each of these foods click HERE

My visit to the gastroenterologist

After giving in to my concerns about the black vomit I had several weeks ago I went to see a gastroenterologist.
I checked in and began filling out my medical history before I was called in to the examination room. Once there the nurse asked me what was wrong with me. It told her all the things I had filled out on my medical history, and then she left. Shortly after the doctor entered and after a quick glance at the computer started asking me more questions about what was wrong with me. Now I know it's important to ask questions to so that they can get a good idea of what is wrong with me, but do I really have to tell them three times! By that time I was feeling very much like I was in an interrogation room.
Tears started streaming down my face, and I can only assume that the doctor thought I was very upset about my health, but in fact I was feeling threatened and frustrated. Finally he took me out and had another nurse take my blood. Tears were still streaming down my face so the nurse treated me like I was hysterical about getting my blood taken. I didn't mind so much. It was nice to have someone try to soothe me.
My blood was taken to see if I had a bacteria that causes ulcers to grow in the stomach. Since I don't smoke or drink that was the only reason I would have an ulcer. The test came back negative and the doctor came to the conclusion that I had retched so hard that I caused my esophagus to bleed a little bit-the black substance. He then assured me that I'm a "healthy young girl." While that may be true, I'm now not so sure that I don't suffer from social anxiety disorder. :)