The Anxiety Inside Me

May 17, 2013 by melissamuszynski

For the most part I am a positive, always-look-on-the-bright-side type of person. I can go with the flow, work with what I’ve got and still be happy. However, I do suffer from occasional anxiety and over the past two months it has crept up on me and really put a damper on my daily routine. I used to be able to go months, maybe even a full year without taking any medication, but lately, I can barely go a day; this is when I feel I’ve failed.  Read more...

Need to Know: Planning for Kindergarten with a Food Allergy

Apr 5, 2013 by Melanie

Earlier this week, Jen blogged about her apprehension toward her son starting kindergarten—a whole eighteen months from now—due to his severe allergy to peanuts, which can trigger a life-threatening condition known as anaphylaxis.  For the uninitiated, an anaphylactic reaction is a true emergency that requires immediate action to save a child’s life, due to its interference with breathing, circulatory and other functions.  Avoiding contact with the allergen in the first place is obviously the best way to manage a life-threatening allergy, but in the case of small children with food allergies, it’s not that simple.  You not only need to restrict certain foods at home and monitor what your child eats closely, but you must also be mindful of the total environment in which your child spends his day.  For the most sensitive of allergies, even a trace amount of the allergen will be enough to set off a reaction.  My cousin went into anaphylaxis on a childhood vacation, where the plain cheesecake served to him had been sliced with the same knife that was used for the raspberry walnut cheesecake.  It’s that serious.

Needless to say, it’s understandable that anxiety can set in at the thought of sending your child off to school for the first time with a life-threatening food allergy.  As Jen described, a large part of what makes this so scary is that everything is new.  Since I deal with the public schools all the time and I have some experience with kids with food allergies in this context, I thought I would offer an outline of how to prepare for starting school with a food allergy.  Read more...

Finding Lasting Happiness – A Work in Progress

Nov 8, 2012 by Michelle

I believe that all our happiness comes from within. I believe that we are the only ones that can create or destroy our happiness. It all comes from our minds – what we think about ourselves, about others and about our lives.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’ve had a life-long struggle with anxiety. It wasn’t until recently that I began to really understand that I was causing my own anxiety by the way I thought about things.

I’ve also been discovering that with this belief that I control my own happiness comes the realization that I can’t be attached to other people or material things. What I mean by that is I can’t allow my happiness to be dependent upon outside forces because if I do, I won’t have lasting happiness. Happiness will be fleeting and completely dependent upon the moods of the people around me, how much money I have at the moment, whether my car is or isn’t functioning properly and so on. And honestly, that’s how I’ve been operating my whole life until a few months ago.  Read more...

Dealing with anxiety – for good.

Oct 23, 2012 by Michelle

I’ve always considered myself to be someone with a higher than average level of anxiety. I’ve tried pretty much every suggested solution to calm my anxiety including anti-anxiety medication (which never really worked), working on my anxiety with a psychologist (who rocks but I still struggle), increasing exercise, limiting caffeine and sugar - you name it, I probably tried it. Some remedies might help temporarily, but the anxiety has always started to creep back in.

And then something happened…

I discovered Buddhism and meditation.

OK, now don’t worry, I’m not going to go on some religious rant. But what I love the most about this website, is that each blogger talks honestly and openly about what’s going on in her life. And for me, right now, my new-found love of Buddhism is having a big impact on me.  Read more...

Investigating Colic

Oct 5, 2012 by Michelle

Our blogger Carly has a friend whose 3 month old baby is extremely colicky. Trying to advise her today on what to say to her friend brought up some feelings from my own experience with this issue. You see, my daughter was colicky for SEVEN months straight. She would cry and cry and I would post countless Facebook status updates about the fact that I was losing my mind. Everyone has a suggestion for what you should do – run the hairdryer/vacuum, bounce them on a ball, turn the dryer on and let them lay on top of it, go for drives in the car, go for a walk etc etc. For me, and I know for many others, these suggestions only brought temporarily relief from the crying, if that.  Read more...