The words feeling down and being sad often mean more for a sick person than the lines of a familiar song.

Feeling down can describe your mental outlook or, maybe even, your general state of health. Feelings of being sad can linger for more than an hour, a day or a week. How are you coping?

If you suffer with Fibromyalgia (FMS) or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS or ME/CFS), you may find that you go through some pretty rough times because you feel terrible and -stark truth- you may not be getting well -or- your health may not be improving. You actually may need more interaction with your caregiver- more often and on a deeper, more personal level than you normally experience together. It’s common to find solace in talking to friends, however, please don’t indulge in a lengthy pity party. Remember: your goal is to find your way out of depression or depressed mood, not wallow in its misery too long, or worse yet, indefinitely.

With much of the world getting ready for a season change, know that the fall months can sometimes trigger a change in your symptoms, too, or aggravate feelings of depression. Instead of giving into that process, I urge you to listen to today’s Health Matters Show. We’re talking about this topic and some tips for dealing with this important health issue, including how to make the best use of a caregiver or friend.

The podcast today is 7 minutes 46 seconds. Play it here or feel free to download. Then continue down the page for the rest of this post.

Should you naturally assume that you’re depressed? Please don’t. Having actual clinical depression may or may not be a diagnosis for you. It depends on many things. In the meantime, study and learn more about “depression”. If you still feel blue, contact a medical or psychiatric professional to help you handle this potentially serious health problem.

*Note: there are lots of people who would love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to write a comment below. Share how you beat mild or strong depression, how depressive symptoms are affecting your life and about your ongoing struggles with this challenging part of long-term illness => DEPRESSION. Comment if you struggle with feeling down, being sad or you want to speak out about depression. **Feel free to use a fictitious name if you like, but keep your story real. Reach out and share your struggles and your successes. If your story is meaningful, it may help other people who are struggling.

Then “share” this post on Facebook, Twitter, Digg or wherever you hang out online. Thanks so much and have a happy, healthy day!
Cinda Crawford, host of the Health Matters Show

Do you need a little help for CFS?

Could you use 4 CFS Survival Tips?

If you’re like most people, you need all the help for surviving CFS that you can get and with less stress. And, you need the help now!

4 Easy Survival Tips to Keep in Mind:

1: Except on the hottest of hot days, take a hooded jacket or coat with you wherever you go.

Most CFS folks cannot stand drafts and they sure can’t stand the cold. What is worse is trying to remember where your unbrella is or if you brought it with you at all. If you always always wear or bring along a hooded outer wrap, you’ll be safer. You won’t risk getting soaking wet or freezing cold…even in air-conditioning. Spring showers and hot, summer weather are coming!

This tip is close to a tip I’ve written about previously for Fibromyalgia…dress in layers. Dressing in multiple layers works because you can put on or take off clothes as your body’s temperature regulation needs require. This extra tip works marvelously when you’re truly sick with chills or fever -and- when you’re suffering with menopause, too!

2: Design and set up an old-fashioned, flat-type plastic box to hold your pills and supplements. Mark each section of the container with the name of the RX or OTC (over-the-counter) compound, the strength and how many times you’re supposed to take it each day. That way there will be less chance of you grabbing the wrong pill when you’re bleary-eyed and tired.

Also, if you can get in the routine of pulling out your “box” when you get up each morning, you’ll be more apt to remember to take your meds on time and as you should. *If someone else is helping you, a caregiver, he or she also can more fully understand and see what you need. Remember that being a caregiver isn’t easy and the easier you can make it for them to help you, the more satisfied the arrangement is for all concerned.

I find that a plastic box designed to hold fishing lures works great for me. I’ve always picked up cheap ones at the dollar store. They usually are designed with small and large sections. That way I can put the bigger, horse-pill-sized vitamins in the bigger sections and smaller pills in the smaller sections. Each container usually has a plastic “lock” which helps to keep it closed, but if that breaks you can use a huge rubberband to keep it shut tight. Such a box will help you stay organized for traveling.

If you use it for that purpose, too, keep a copy of your prescriptions handy if anyone needs verification of what you’re taking. Even so, that’s better than trying to travel with twenty pill bottles rattling around in your bag. This type of flat box packs easily in the middle of your suitcase.

*Remember to be especially careful to keep the case out of the reach of small children. The pretty-colored pills might be a temptation!

3: Set up some type of easy-to-set alarm function on your cell phone. I believe all cell phones these days come with an alarm function. By setting up your daily to-do’s ahead of time, even what medications you’re supposed to take when, you’ll be more organized and fell less stress. My phone also comes with a calendar function. I put in my daily, weekly and monthly appointments and regularly scheduled fun activities, like going to water aerobics. Doing this one thing alone will help to keep you more organized, too, and on target. You’ll be able to accomplish what you want to do with less stress. See how easy this is? Just take the time to learn how to do the scheduling. If you can’t figure it out by yourself, get help.

*This type of scheduling also helps when you’re suffering with brain fog and low energy. All you have to do is keep up with your cell phone!

4: Let your home computer be your extra, back-up brain. Now what I mean is…don’t try to remember everything! That high an expectation can keep you stressed out and clawing your way through the perpetual brain fog trying to find the top of your to-do piles! Instead, allowing your home computer, I-Pad or whatever to store vital information can save you a lot of heartache, worry and self-chastisement. You can be this smart and feel less stress. WHOOPEE!

Dear one, let’s face it….we all forget things. Personally, I try to remember very little. I depend on these last two survival tips in particular to boost my brain power and my productivity. I stay happier and feel more in control when I incorporate this into my daily life. They also help my caregiver, my husband. He doesn’t have to do much for me anymore, but I find that he checks up on me. It seems to ease his mind when he sees that I’m handling myself well. That, in turn, helps him and we both live with less stress.

Do the four tips always work? No, but they do most of the time. Try these suggestions and let me know how you do. And, if you have other great suggestions yourself, please comment and leave them for other readers.

We’re all in this together!
Thanks, Cinda Crawford
Your host of the Health Matters Show

Emily Collingridge has written a new CFS ME (CFSME) or ME/CFS book, entitled Severe ME/CFS: A Guide to Living, which is acclaimed to be the first definitive reference book written specifically to help those people suffering with ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis). If is written about and to those individuals who are predominantly bedridden and in need of considerable care. If you are severely ill or your caregiver needs additional information, I would recommend you get a copy of this book.

Writing this work surely had to be a miraculous accomplishment for Emily Collingridge because she was so drastically ill for so long. She fell sick when she was 6 years old and that was 22 years ago!

(Learn more about Emily and her new book…

here, at the Association of Young People with ME.

Emily Collingridge, from London, learned the hard way. She became ill 22 years ago, at the age
of 6. She has now had severe ME/CFS for 12 years. At her worst she was blind, mute, doubly incontinent, tube fed and unable to move at all. Rare complications brought her close to death. Desperate to make severe ME/CFS a less traumatic experience for others, Emily has spent the last two years researching and writing Severe ME/CFS: A Guide to Living.

By all accounts, Emily Collingridge is an extraordinary young woman. I encourage you to order the book directly from the website. Here are comments I received via email as to them being able to ship the book overseas.

The guide has been written for UK patients, however it does include valuable information for all patients. We will however have to include postage (airmail) which will be added to the cost (£5.99) for the booklet for all overseas orders.

They provide an order form that you can print out, if you like.

You decide about the value of this book in your efforts to understand CFSME. I suspect it offers quite a bit of new information about the illness. Plus, it could be the perfect gift for the caregiver in your life. There never seem be enough good words of praise and gratitude to offer a true caregiver.

To all those suffering with CFSME or MECFS (whatever term you choose),
To your health, help, information, happiness and comfort,
I’m Cinda Crawford, your host of the Health Matters Show