The Magic Number

Self discovery is a wonderful thing and I believe we are evolving as individuals every day. But often those with a chronic illness reach a particularly bad patch during their lives, one which shatters their world.

From my conversations with various other people and professionals it seems the magic number for those with complex or chronic issues is that of 20-something. You reach 20-something and your health does a belly flop and you wonder where the good days went. I myself as a 20-something year old hit my bad patch roughly two years ago and it took me almost 2 years to stabilise and come to terms with my new ‘normal’. The biggest realisation was how stressful my life actually was and how it was impacting on my already problematic health.

We live in a world which is so fast paced and over scheduled that often we forget to take the time out for ourselves (which I am very guilty of) which is so vital when you have a complex or chronic health issue.  Having the ability to stop and say ‘leave me alone I need to do something for me’ is what has brought me to my new ‘normal’. For me it was a trip to Thailand before I realised that my job wasn’t helping my health amongst other things and after much anguish I made some terrifying (initially) sacrifices which in turn helped me stabilise, reduce my medication intake, become happier and less sore.

I am writing this now as with the lead up to Christmas everyone is stressed and sometimes we don’t even realise what the stressors are to remind us (including myself) all to do something each day for yourself, go for a walk, take up fencing, play with your pet, lie in the grass and look up at the clouds. If it all gets too much remember there are services you can access any time of the day or night to help you through the silly season, your health transitions and life. GP’s are a fantastic first point of contact but if your not comfortable talking to yours or you don’t have a ‘good’ GP then there are services such as below available for you.

At the end of the day we are all on this roller coaster together!
 

This Blog was contributed by:
Michelle Taylor
AWCH Youth Representative

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed here are solely those of the author in her private capacity. Information provided by blog contributors are not intended to replace qualified medical or other professional advise and for diagnosis, treatment and medication you should consult a health practitioner.

Children Immigration Detention

For many years now AWCH has advocated against the mandatory detention of children who are seeking asylum in Australia. The Australian Government, recognising the serious negative impact of detaining children who are claiming asylum has made a commitment to have no children in detention by 30 June 2011. That time draws close with still 1073 children remaining in detention centres around Australia and on Christmas Island as reported on 26 May 2011 in the National Times .

So what can be done? What can we, as AWCH members, do to ensure that children who arrive on our shores seeking protection have the same rights as our own Australian children particularly in the area of health and wellbeing?

First of all you can familiarise yourself with the facts so that you can have that well informed discussion. The Refugee Council of Australia and Chilout are both good sources. There are many myths floating around so become a myth buster – checkout the myths at the Refugee Council of Australia You can take action and join the GetUp Campaign and support the call for a national children’s commissioner at Early Childhood Australia. You can add a comment to this post, comment on AWCH Facebook page or write a letter to your local MP

Let’s keep the pressure up and see if collectively we can be successful in having no children in immigration detention by June 30.

AWCH Supports Action on Smoking and Health

May 31 2011 was World No Tobacco Day. Tobacco kills more than 5 million people per year. The World Health Organization (WHO) selected The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control as the theme of this year’s World No Tobacco Day. Take the quiz @ http://www.who.int/tobacco/wntd/2011/en/index.html . I did and scored 8 out of 10. I am sure you can do better. Let me know how you go.

AWCH belongs to a coalition of 41 organisations – Action on Smoking and Health Australia. Tobacco is Australia’s No.1 preventable cause of death and disease. Every year, it kills over 15,500 people – including one child every 10 days. It costs the nation over $31 billion – far more than the tax it raises http://www.nationaldrugstrategy.gov.au/internet/drugstrategy/publishing.nsf/Content/mono64 Currently ASH is campaigning in support of the Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill which has multipartisan support in the Australian parliament http://www.ashaust.org.au/default.htm

Anne Cutler, AWCH Program Manager