Express Migraine to Congress!...

Our ‘Express Migraine to Congress!’ campaign is launched at the wonderful suggestion of Vicki Gewe!

Vicki sent a book to Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate HELP Committee, and I sent a copy to each of my senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. Seven books are on their way to Congress now!

AND for every book sold in this effort, we will donate $1 to the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy. You can make a dual impact with your purchase.

Anyone can purchase a book for Congress to promote awareness and migraine research here: http://www.wordmetropress.com/congress.html. Simply make a note in the PayPal purchase form which Senator or Representative you would like to receive your book.

Members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which oversees the National Institutes of Health are listed, and members of the Health Committees are indicated with an asterisk. So you can target a committee member or Congress person of your choice.

I’ll display recipients’ names or districts in blue as they’re chosen so we don’t duplicate efforts.

Along with your book we’ll send a letter (See Congress letter page) with your name, address and purpose or if you wish to write your own letter and e-mail it to me, I can include that.

The Momentum for Migraine is building! More articles appear in the media as more public people speak up as migraineurs. Cindy McCain has entered the fray as a migraine advocate, and as Teri Robert has mentioned, the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy (AHDA) is planning another Headache on the Hill event.

It’s a great time to help Congress understand how much migraine has been neglected and how much attention and funding it needs.

Thank you so much for all you do for migraine understanding and advocacy!

Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week...

Shared by Teri Robert (thank you) – and completed by me:

30 Things About My Invisible Illness, Migraine

Anyone who has Migraine disease or another headache disorder knows what it’s like to live with an invisible illness. People can’t see our illness. There are no outward signs. Invisible illnesses are easy for “healthy” people to ignore. This adds to the burden of disease and makes lives even more difficult.

Each year, National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week is observed to educate the public and raise awareness about invisible illnesses. One of the blogging activities this year is a “meme,” 30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know. So, here’s my meme… (more…)

yes, we still need ‘painful’...

Imah Widai

I’m Mad as Hell and What I’m Doing About It…

Yes, we still need painful and frightening migraine art

…and everything else possible to help the migraine awareness effort!

Well, National Headache Awareness Week (June 7-13) is reaching its end, but our efforts to promote awareness and understanding while advocating for more research and better treatments must go on!

Dedicated migraine professionals, advocates and overcomers are leading the charge online with excellent, informative migraine and headache sites, providing support and sharing knowledge and experiences. Some can be found on this blog under Resources and more will be added here soon. (more…)

April awareness and advocacy activities...

The week of April 20 and so much you can do!

MIGRAINE, anytime, urgent: Contact your senators and urge them to sponsor S 660, the National Pain Care Policy Act of 2009,  to improve  “research, education, training, access, outreach and care” for all painful conditions, including migraine. It’s fast and easy to send an e-mail to your senators through the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy. (more…)

Michelle Obama’s garden grows...

The White House garden planting, 4/9/09

Michelle, Michelle, our country’s belle,
How does your garden grow?
No pesticides, no herbicides,
Just healthy children in a row!

If you’ve missed the buzz (and I’m not referring to the healthy sound of insects) over the First Lady’s organic garden, there are still plenty of places to catch up and a petition to sign if you’d like to support organic.

The Mid America CropLife Association (MACA), wasn’t too pleased that the White House garden would be organic; and in fact, two representatives of the association who “shuddered at the thought” wrote the First Lady a letter, published and discussed here on La Vida Locavore, encouraging her to consider using “crop protection products.”

You can read a perspective from the agricultural industry and call to action for MACA members here.

My mother has fun telling about the ‘crop protection method’ used in their Michigan farm garden while she was growing up. SHE pulled the weeds and hand-picked fat, juicy bugs from the plants. We had fun doing that with our children in our gardens, too, although I’m sure they picked (and ate) more fresh garden goodies than bugs off those plants every time!

advocating migraine research and underst...

Speaking of advocacy… to all of you who wrote to your representatives via Headache on the Hill efforts last month, here’s a big fat THANK YOU from Teri Robert, the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy (AHDA) and me.

If you didn’t participate last month, you can always be an advocate for migraine and headache disorder research and understanding. You can send e-mails to your representatives at any time and ask them to help increase awareness and research funding for migraine disease and all headache disorders.

Let’s have some real cheese action with our w(h)ine!

Want this badge?

baby, oh, baby – mmm… rocket...

By the time your baby’s eyes open to see the world for the first time, he or she is already contaminated with up to 300 potentially toxic chemicals. This month we learn from the CDC that many brands of baby formula contain a chemical used in rocket fuel, perchlorate. When mixed with water containing the same chemical, this formula becomes a more potent toxic cocktail for our babies in their first precious months of life!

If there is no other issue that makes you cry like a baby, have a tantrum over this one.

Read the report with things you can do, documentation and a perchlorate timeline; it will make you sick, particularly if you live in California or Texas.

We don’t yet know all the ways these chemicals impact human beings — autism, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer, ADD, ADHD, learning deficits, infertility, or the disease that too often invades my mind – migraine?!? We are poisoning our environment and ourselves.

In California, we’re fortunate to have Sen. Barbara Boxer and  Rep. Henry Waxman working to advance the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act. Where do your representatives and senators stand on it? Most have Web sites with phone numbers or easy forms for you to contact them, find out and tell them what you think.

Please read, research, be aware, call or write to your local, state, and federal representatives, vote, join activist organizations, and be heard. We try to save or protect the whales, the dolphins, the wolves, the wilderness… how about trying to protect our babies — and in turn, save the humans?