EiR Blog

In case you aren’t familiar with the term, chronic diseases are broadly defined as conditions that last over a year and require ongoing medical attention. These often limit certain activities of daily living, and the most widespread ones are diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. These are the leading causes of disability and death all across the globe, and it is important to say that these can also negatively affect sexual function, among many other things. If you want to learn more about how chronic illnesses can affect your sex life, just keep on reading. Here is everything you need to know about this subject, so check out our useful tips and get informed! How can chronic illnesses affect sexual function? They can negatively affect sex drive Chronic illnesses can affect your sex drive in more ways than you can possibly imagine. First of all, the effects and side effects of...

For those coping with chronic neuroimmune disease, everyday tasks can be much more difficult and exhausting. Not only do these diseases cause painful, irritating symptoms, but having to explain and excuse them can take an emotional toll. If you’re someone who is dealing with a chronic immune deficiency or disease, making sure that you’re prepared to deal with flare-ups and awkward situations is a critical part of living your life. While it’s not always convenient, taking little steps to prepare for flare ups can soothe your symptoms, social life, and any anxiety that comes with coping.   Building a Toolkit   Immune diseases can manifest themselves in a broad variety of ways, and symptoms look different for every person. If you’ve been living with a disease for a longer period of time, you’re probably aware of the triggers that can cause issues for you, and knowing is half the battle....

As most people are looking forward to Christmas and the Holiday period with the promise of plenty of festive cheer with family and friends, the mere thought of it can send those of us affected by chronic illness into a panic. As a child and teenager suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) I still throughly enjoyed Christmas and New year's celebrations, after all what kid doesn't love opening gifts and gobbling down festive feasts? As an adult things are rather different and dealing with the fatigue, pain and other symptoms of chronic illness during the Holidays can cause a lot of stress and really get you down...if you let it. This year however, I am determined to find as many reasons as possible to be cheerful and to enjoy the next few weeks to the fullest! I know everyone has different health concerns and different circumstances but I hope you can all...

Most people suffering from environmental illnesses experience gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms of some kind, or show other signs that something is not quite right in the gut. Perhaps tests such as a comprehensive digestive stool analysis (CDSA), or equivalent, reveal an imbalance in the normal balance of bacteria, yeast, and other microbes that is essential for overall health. Research has revealed pathological changes in the composition of the gut flora (gut dysbiosis) in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, and autism...and this is a relatively new area of study so this may only be the tip of the iceberg. The most common (and most widely accepted) finding has been the presence of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) in IBS, ME/CFS and fibromyalgia. Healthy individuals have very little bacterial growth in their small intestines (most gut microbes reside in the colon) - SIBO is the presence of large numbers...

The following is the Preface and Introduction to an extensive 26 page article on Lyme disease and tick-borne infections (TBIs) by Kate Bloor (followed by a link to the full article in PDF format). Kate argues that a coordinated effort is required, from  government policy at the top down to local community efforts at the bottom, to prevent the spread of TBIs and the incidence of Lyme disease, which as many will know is extremely difficult to treat once it becomes chronic. It is focused on the UK but the information is relevent to those of you in the US, Canada, and elsewhere.  If you or any of your loved ones suffers from Lyme disease, TBIs, or multi-system illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (often misdiagnosed Lyme disease), I urge you to read the full article and take action to implement its recommendations.   POLICY ON LYME DISEASE (AND TICK-BORNE INFECTIONS) IN ENGLAND AND THE...

So, I again find myself writing on my positive experience with a LifeWave patch...this time the new Aeon product which is aimed at reducing stress and its consequences, both as a standalone product, or as part of LifeWave's Y-Age system which also incorporates patches designed to increase levels of glutathione and carnosine in the body. Having last year completed a Bachelor of Science degree in nutritional medicine, including a dissertation which involved performing a systematic review of the medical literature, I am quite familiar with the 'hierarchy of evidence' which is revered in academia, and perhaps most of all in medicine. In modern medicine if an intervention does not have numerous randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and systematic reviews of such trials supporting its use it is dismissed as useless or a scam. Now I understand the rationale behind this system and to a point agree with it. Living with a...

For those who are not regular visitors to The Environmental Illness Resource, I am a 31 year old male from the UK and was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) in March 1991 around the time of my 12th birthday. Recently my parents moved house and my mum dropped off a box full of old photos of me from my childhood. Looking through them I was struck by how happy I looked as a child. This was clearly the purest type of happiness borne out of freedom from worry and a true zest for life and the excitement of discovering new things every day. Naturally, it's easy and 'normal' to lose these things as we get older, but even more so when a chronic and misunderstood illness such as ME/CFS deprives you of many of the things that most people take for granted. As I found photos of myself as...

 There is no doubt that chronic illness involves a lot of suffering, a lot of soul searching, and a great deal of loss, both of one's capacity to continue doing all the things that bring enjoyment and of self-esteem and fulfillment in life. But what if chronic illness could be turned into a positive experience? This summer I completed a bachelors degree in nutritional health and was awarded first class honours by the University of Greenwich, London. At 31 I was beginning to think I would never obtain a degree after being forced to drop out of a computer science course at the University of Sheffield aged 19 due to ill health - this was therefore a great achievement for me. However, the degree was supposed to be followed by a year of clinical training to become a nutritional therapist/nutritionist. A recent downturn in my health as forced me to...