The Dawn of Neurodiversity

Filed Under All Posts, Health, Prudence Baird | 11 Comments

April is World Autism Awareness Month. In the United States today, one of every 150 children born will be diagnosed with autism, an incurable neuro-developmental disease that impacts an individual’s ability to interact socially, to communicate and to manage his or her own behavior around transitions, new routines, people and new information.

Prudence Baird is getting a master’s certificate degree in Autism Spectrum Disorders and has a personal interest in brain development, as her youngest son suffered anoxia at birth and has a diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome. She shares her views on a different kind of diversity.

One of my dreams is time travel to the time when humans numbered in the millions instead of the billions. Doesn’t that seem exciting—raising a glass of ale with Wm. Shakespeare, hanging with Jesus on the Mount, seeing firsthand the Great Pyramid at Giza being built?

But let’s not fool ourselves. If we should suddenly drop out of the ether into an earlier time, it wouldn’t be that easy for us to blend in with the natives. Our words (even if they were understood) would be misconstrued and misinterpreted. What we take for granted—having our own teeth at age 50 or just being able to walk in public as a single woman—would be considered weird and somewhat threatening. Chances are we’d be burned at the stake or beaten with sticks within moments of touchdown.

Our brains, our reasoning abilities and our collective unconscious have evolved over the millennia, much more so than our bodies. Read more

Come Back Little Mojo

Filed Under All Posts, Connie Stetson, Health, Relationships | 11 Comments

What is it about the libido and midlife? Connie Stetson tells it like it is.

Okay ladies—as Joan Rivers would say, “Can we talk?” I’m going to go there—middle-aged SEX.

When I was young and juicy and single, I was really hot. I was a devotee. When I was in a relationship, I was a faithful and an enthusiastic lover. When I wasn’t committed, I was…let’s see…how did we say it back in the day? Hmmmm… oh yeah, “a good sport.” I couldn’t wait for that breathless, heart pounding, heightened moment of letting go and falling into a hot, steamy embrace.

I loved going out and meeting a new guy. I was a believer in the third date. Delaying, anticipating, teasing and finally releasing myself into that exquisite moment, well, I just looked forward to it so much. It never even occurred to me then, that I would ever feel differently. Yet, here I am at 57, in pretty good shape for an old broad, menopausal to be sure, and yet I almost never even think of SEX. I can’t believe it.

Not all of the older couples I know feel this way. Read more

Is it Hormones or is it Me?

Filed Under All Posts, Carine Fabius, Health, Relationships | 12 Comments

Is it hormones or the economy?  Am I just a bitch or do I have multiple personality disorder?  It’s so easy to blame weird moods on hormones that I figure it must be something else.  Aren’t clichés and lazy, hackneyed, knee-jerk reactions meant to be busted?  For some reason, my husband sees no earthly reason not to blame my shifting moods on my hormones.

Like a dummy, I recently asked him, “Do you think the reason we’re bickering so much lately is because my hormones might be making me overreact?”  His response was such an unqualified and enthusiastic yes that for a minute there I thought he’d decided to take up ballet—such was the bounce in his step and high-flying leap to foregone conclusions.  Right then and there I knew it had to be something else.  Like maybe he was the one in a bad mood?

However, like so many of us, I am given to self-analysis; so, just in case, I called my gynecologist to ask if the recent adjustment to my bioidentical hormone formula Read more

Let the Good (Prozac) Times Roll!

Filed Under All Posts, Health, Humor, Prudence Baird | 15 Comments

Nowadays, physicians whip out the prescription pad when women my age cross their thresholds. Hot flashes? Prozac! Empty-nest blues? Prozac! Husband suffering midlife crisis? Prozac. (Why the wife must medicate herself when Goofus makes a damned fool out of himself is beyond me, but hell, if being stoned helps women avoid committing manslaughter, I’m all for it!)

My first brush with Prozac came in 1989, after I had been unceremoniously dumped by a chinless mama’s boy. I’m not sure which depressed me more—that I had settled for a guy who still wet his pants, or the fact that said pants-wetter had dumped me first.

The next business day, I was first in line for legal drugs of any kind. The psychiatrist, who looked to be about 12 years old, pressed several samples of 150 mg. Prozac into my hands. “Take your first one after dinner tonight. You won’t feel any effects for two weeks,” he promised.

Like hell I won’t!  Read more

Wigging Out

Filed Under All Posts, Cathy Fischer, Courage, Health | 23 Comments

Breast Cancer update: I had donated my breasts to science last June, got new ones (no they’re not bigger), went on Tamoxifen and thought I was back to the “new” normal. But, things have changed. I’ve since decided to go the chemo route, based on second and third opinions, and to cover all my bases. I’ve had one treatment thus far and, as predicted, my hair started falling out precisely two weeks after my first chemo blast. I kept a diary of sorts: from hirsute to hairless, in just three days.

Hair Fall-Out: Day One

I’m taking my wig for a test drive today. My hair is starting to come out. It’s much shorter, since I cut it a couple of weeks ago to the nape of my neck; so it’s not as bad when I see a sink full of hair. But, it’s no frickin’ picnic.

I’ve long been a shedder. Lots and lots of hair: hair to spare. How long until bald patches happen? When do I go for the military buzz cut? When my part resembles parting of the Red Sea?

I put the La Charme wig cap on my head. I pulled the nylon (as in pantyhose) cap down over my face, and looked like I was ready to rob a bank. I really didn’t want to draw that much attention to myself on my first outing, so I pushed it back, which reminded me of the actresses of days gone by—Gloria Swanson, Garbo, those true glamour girls of Hurrell’s Hollywood portraits. I was ready.    Read more

Get Lost in Space with TED and his Cool Friends

Filed Under All Posts, Health, Melissa Howden, Miscellaneous | 2 Comments

It’s easy to get lost on the Internet in the web of virtual information, bloggers, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and the like. The one place I don’t mind spending hours on the Web is with Ted: Ted.com, to be precise. Ted signifies Technology, Entertainment and Design: Ideas Worth Spreading. As an idea junkie myself I’ve set aside an hour or so a week to listen to a couple of talks from the Ted Talks archive where according to Ted’s website, “The world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers are challenged to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.” It would be possible, easy in fact, to debate the concept of who are the most fascinating thinkers and doers but to my mind that would be a waste. The talks for me are about expansion, expanding thought, challenging attitudes, inspiring action and nurturing hope.

I first got hooked when someone sent me one of the most widely-viewed Ted Talks, Jill Bolte Taylor’s My Stroke of Insight in which Jill, a brain scientist, describes having a massive stroke and the observations she made as it happened. Learn what Jill discovered about the nature of consciousness and then keep going. When video talks have the power of a peak experience I’d say it’s worth getting lost with Ted.

Learn more about Jill Bolte Taylor >>

Try Slowing Down

Filed Under All Posts, Cathy Fischer, Health | 6 Comments

“For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.” —Lily Tomlin

Do you ever feel like the world is moving too fast? I’m reminded of the 1960s cartoon The Jetsons when during the closing credits George would walk the family dog Astro on the outer space treadmill, then a cat would show up making the dog go wild, the leash would break causing George to go round and round the treadmill, defying gravity of course, and hanging on for dear life while yelling to his wife, “Help! Help! Jane. Stop this crazy thing!”

Well, that’s how I’m feeling right now. “Stop this crazy thing!”

The election is behind us and I don’t know about you, but I am exhausted! Read more

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