Food allergy fodder.

Having been hyper-aware of my own aversions for quite some time now (I break out in hives just thinking about littleneck clams!), it seems to me that food allergy awareness is at an all time high.

In light of that, I heard just the audio from this Portlandia clip and nearly wrecked my car I was laughing so hard. Just watch, that’s all I can say: Allergy Pride Parade

Medifactulous.

“Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.” —Mark Twain

For me, one of the hardest things about learning and growing with a chronic illness is deciphering between the so-called truths around your disease and the cold, hard facts. What is the right treatment (for you)? How do you balance the opinions of your friends and family with your doctor’s expertise and your personal instincts? When should you turn off the internet, close your medical dictionary and take the next step?

Honestly, I’m not sure. I only know that everyone’s situation is unique. Personally, I like to equip myself with as much knowledge as possible and the more tools I have, the better. With that in mind, Medify is one of the newest arrows in my quiver. I just started using the site and really love what I’ve discovered so far (it is still in beta though, so make sure and let them know if you see something that can be improved).

Medify allows you to see real patient experiences, easily discover new scientific evidence around the treatments and diseases you’re interested in tracking, and even build connections around relevant current research with physicians and other experts. My favorite part? Everything is 100% vetted by medical researchers — and that’s more than I can say for most health news these days. Mark Twain would be proud.

(Happy New Year!)

What are some of your favorite new health tools? Let me know and I’ll share my findings in the next month.

Cure-all or quack remedy?

I get a lot of advice from people who don’t have Crohn’s disease or Wegener’s about what I should be supplementally taking and/or eating — and last time I checked, none of them were nutritionists or doctors (she says, cynically). I know, I know...everyone is just trying to help.

I’m all about the science though — and perhaps that is why I absolutely love this infographic (left) from Information is Beautiful around the scientific evidence for many health supplements (thanks for pointing it out Lindsey!).

View the interactive map here. And throw out that giant bottle of resveratrol already.

Twitter goodness

I’ll keep this one short because this story is just so awesomely succinct (and a bit older, but every time I read it I smile).

@ChrisStrouth tweeted “sh*t, I need a kidney” and then got one. Read more here = stories.twitter.com/chris_strouth

Many other great Twitter stories here = stories.twitter.com

Missing the bigger picture, literally.

First, let me apologize. I have been a very bad blogger over the past few months, but I have a great excuse — I was getting married! And then I took a well-deserved break in Indonesia with my new husband for some surfing, sleeping, eating and relaxing.

So while I’m being a bad blogger — and talking about marriage/weddings — I’ll just continue and write a post about something that has nothing, really at all, to do with chronic illness (beyond the fact that it made me sick to my stomach). I read this piece earlier today and could not stop shaking my head in disbelief: Suit Against Photographer Seeks Re-Creation of Wedding After Divorce

Allow me to summarize. A man who was married in 2003 and is now, not surprisingly, divorced from his wife, sued his photographer for missing the last 15-minutes of their wedding. More specifically, the last dance and the bouquet toss. The suit was filed in 2009, six years after they were married at the tipping end of the statute of limitations.

As someone at the beginning of the marriage journey, I just couldn’t believe this story, so I felt obligated to share in the absurdity of it all. But then again, I have amazing pictures of my wedding — and above is what happened in the last 15-minutes instead of the bouquet toss. (Thanks Hunter!)

(above) John and Paul Clark in what was later deemed “Clark and Stormy.”

Panama-monium.

On a flight a few days ago I flipped open my in-flight magazine to this page (left) and thought, “Wow.”

If you can’t read it well enough (sorry, bad photo), it says, “If you are a tourist and have a medical emergency Panama gives you free insurance for 30 days.”

Now I’ve of course heard about medical tourism for more than a decade, but I’ve never seen an advert as like this — and I have to say, for someone like me, who just spent a boatload of dinero on my medical evacuation insurance just in case something happens on our honeymoon to Southeast Asia, this is super-compelling. Seguro al Turista. Basically — tourist security. What an idea. To read more, visit the Panama tourism site here.

I wonder though — what happens on day 31...?