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Crohns Disease Chronicles: November 2005
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Thursday, November 17, 2005. Recipe of the week: Chilli Soup. My recovery continues - might write about it soon. Instead, I thought I'd post this recipe, which went down well on the first Expert Patient Programme 'Living Well' course I taught. 175g minced beef / lamb / turkey / veggie mince. 2 garlic cloves crushed and chopped. 1 red chilli chopped (seeds removed) or 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder. 1 teaspoon cocoa powder. 1 tin chopped tomatoes. 600ml stock - beef, chicken or vegetable. Last post from France.
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Crohns Disease Chronicles: September 2005
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Sunday, September 04, 2005. Getting on with life. Okay, it's been a while since I posted. The good news is my absence is not down to ill health but because I've been able to do other things apart from sit in front of a computer screen. I do need to be very careful though. Doing a bit too much has lead to physical meltdown on more than one occasion. One evening out a week is fine, but two is not. I think I have self-managed my life and my Crohn's disease reasonable well. I have resisted the temptation...
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Crohns Disease Chronicles: My cat and my Crohn's
http://crohnsdiseasechronicles.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-cat-and-my-crohns.html
Tuesday, September 25, 2012. My cat and my Crohn's. When I’m laid up in bed with my Crohn’s I inevitably have the cat tucked up with me. She looks at me and perhaps sees that something isn’t quite right. Yet I most definitely seem more cat-like when I’m ill. There is none of the usual crazy rushing about, going out and running up and down the stairs like I’m seriously constipated (as if) or I’ve got the worst catnip withdrawal symptoms ever. Cats are good people-watchers. Mine often looks at TV or lo...
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Crohns Disease Chronicles: What ESA claimants with IBD need to know
http://crohnsdiseasechronicles.blogspot.com/2011/09/what-esa-claimants-with-ibd-need-to.html
Thursday, September 29, 2011. What ESA claimants with IBD need to know. Having lived through the stress and humiliation of being found fit for work when I wasn’t, I wouldn’t want to see anyone else go through the same experience. The assessing doctor got away with doing a shoddy job because I hadn’t done my homework. And I assumed - wrongly - that I would be assessed fairly and competently. I hadn’t been asked this question in my assessment. Websites have plenty of useful info and links. I) loss of contr...
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Crohns Disease Chronicles: December 2013
http://crohnsdiseasechronicles.blogspot.com/2013_12_01_archive.html
Thursday, December 26, 2013. The best Christmas present. I got a phone call on 23 December from a really nice guy at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). I'd sent off a form back in mid-August to transfer from Incapacity Benefit (IB) to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). IB has now been phased out. I heard nothing between mid-August and Monday's phone call. Not even a letter to acknowledge the receipt of my form (although I still received my money, so I know they'd got the it). The diary of a ...
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Crohns Disease Chronicles: September 2011
http://crohnsdiseasechronicles.blogspot.com/2011_09_01_archive.html
Thursday, September 29, 2011. What ESA claimants with IBD need to know. Having lived through the stress and humiliation of being found fit for work when I wasn’t, I wouldn’t want to see anyone else go through the same experience. The assessing doctor got away with doing a shoddy job because I hadn’t done my homework. And I assumed - wrongly - that I would be assessed fairly and competently. I hadn’t been asked this question in my assessment. Websites have plenty of useful info and links. I) loss of contr...
crohnsdiseasechronicles.blogspot.com
Crohns Disease Chronicles: January 2014
http://crohnsdiseasechronicles.blogspot.com/2014_01_01_archive.html
Wednesday, January 01, 2014. A happy and healthy 2014? It's 3.00am and I'm wide awake. I've got those 30mg of prednisolone sleepless nights. The first night on six tablets I did manage an almost normal sleep, but that was down to three hours the following night. Yesterday it was an hour and a half and tonight I shut my eyes for 20 minutes and then was woken by the second salvo of New Year's fireworks. I am wide awake and looking forward to breakfast already. By "we", I mean me and my health care team....
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Crohns Disease Chronicles: January 2011
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Wednesday, January 26, 2011. Since last year's general election, the new coalition government have unleashed an ideological assault to dismantle Britain's welfare state. And it's the lives of people with long-term health conditions and disabilities that will be the collateral damage. The smokescreen for these 'reforms' is a relentless barrage of headlines screaming:. BENEFIT SCROUNGERS ON £95,000 A YEAR. 75% ON SICK ARE SKIVING. Or variations on these theme. Don't get me started or I wont stop! In an int...
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Crohns Disease Chronicles: October 2006
http://crohnsdiseasechronicles.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_archive.html
Tuesday, October 31, 2006. Why we need the NHS. A couple of conversations over the past few days have got me thinking about how much we do need a functioning NHS to deliver new treatments for Crohn's and Colitis. There are some exciting developments in new treatments for IBD - particularly the anti-tnf biological treatments like infliximab - and the drug companies are putting in a lot of resources. The NICE guidelines from 2002, when Infliximab was licensed for the treatment of Crohn's disease in the UK,...
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Crohns Disease Chronicles: February 2011
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Friday, February 11, 2011. I made what feels like a big step this week. I have reduced the number of medicines I take by two. Partly inspired by the new Medicine Waste. Campaign, I looked through my prescription and asked myself "do I really need to be taking this? The second was Pentasa, a drug that isn't licensed or recommended for use with small-bowel Crohn's diseases, which is what I've got. This class of drugs (5-ASAs) are used mostly in Ulcerative Colitis or when Crohn's is found in the colon.