By Kelly Kilpatrick

The heparin debacle is the only thing that’s going to be on my mind each time I pop pills or open a bottle of medicine, along with the question of how safe the drugs we use are. It’s an irony of sorts that the very drugs that are supposed to save lives end up taking them in a bizarre twist of events. The blame game has been going on for a while now with the Chinese government, the FDA, Baxter which was responsible for the manufacture of the drug and Scientific Protein Laboratories (SPL) which sourced the powder that heparin is made from, throwing the ball to the others’ courts even as they tried to wash their hands off the situation.

On one hand we hear stories of the FDA’s financial troubles, the reason being cited for the failure to inspect SPL’s Shanghai plant. And other the other we see statements from Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research that the FDA bungled badly and got the names of the factories mixed up when conducting inspections.

The SPL factory is guilty though, of deliberately adding over-sulfated chondroitin sulfate to the heparin pipeline because of a shortage of raw material from pigs (the main compound in heparin powder) following the blue ear virus and it’s destructive effect on the pig population of China. Considering that drug companies all over the world outsource their manufacturing operations to countries like China, not for the cheap man power but for its bountiful pig population, a situation like this is bound to happen each time a shortage occurs and the factory is not able to keep up with the demand for the drug.

No matter how stringent the rules are, the truth is that as long as there is room for error, both from the human fallibility factor and from the possibility of animal diseases, mix-ups like this are bound to happen. So what then is the alternative, one that’s safe and cost-effective? Rensselaer Polytechnic researcher Dr. Robert Linhart and his team have successfully demonstrated the value of the synthetic heparin that they’ve manufactured. While it has proved to be safe so far, it remains to be seen if it can be produced in large amounts in a cost-effective manner.

Till then, for the millions of people who depend on heparin and similar drugs to prevent heart disease, there’s no alternative but to cross their fingers each time they take their medication and hope that nothing untoward happens. 

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By Kelly Kilpatrick

There’s a reason they call it the life cycle – we’re helpless at birth, we grow into self-sufficient adults, and we revert back to helplessness as we age; the cycle of life is complete at death. While most of us are not averse to and always enjoy looking after little children, we’re reluctant to get our care-giving side to kick in when it comes to looking after the elderly, especially those who are ill and need special care. While some do it for the perks that come later (where there’s a will, there’s a motive), there are others who are genuinely dedicated to their old parents or relatives and do everything they possibly can to give them the best care till they die a peaceful death. It’s the latter kind who end up running themselves ragged in their zeal to be good caregivers, and neglect to take care of themselves. For these caregivers and others like them, here are a few “ME” tips:

    * Don’t let your patients get to you: Children and the elderly are more alike than we realize – they’re masters of manipulation. They know how to feed your guilt and get you to do things for them that they’re perfectly capable of doing themselves. They make you feel miserable if you so much as show the slightest signs of refusing them. If you give in to them once, you’re bound to give in to them at all times, fearing the tantrums and/or snide remarks that are too difficult to handle. Put your foot down firmly if you feel they’re taking you for granted, without feeling guilty about it, or you’ll end up resenting their demands for your time and attention.
    * Don’t end up becoming a patient yourself: Look after yourself well so that you’re well enough to take care of those who depend on you. If you neglect yourself, you may end up falling ill and unable to care for yourself or for the people who live with you. Eat healthy food, get in an hour of exercise, and get out in the fresh air once every day.
    * Set aside time for yourself: Make some “ME” time everyday so that you can enjoy doing the things you love most. Schedule these activities when you know you are not likely to be interrupted, like when your elderly charges are down for an afternoon nap or late at night after they’ve retired for the day.
    * Don’t feel disappointed if you’re not appreciated: Care-giving is often a thankless job, and you’re bound to feel depressed and resentful if you expect appreciation for looking after your elderly parents or relatives. While some people are grateful, others think that it’s your bounden duty to care for them. You know you’re doing it out of the goodness of your heart, and that should be enough thanks for you. Expecting gratitude when none is forthcoming is only going to end in disappointment and regret.
    * Spend time with other people like yourself: Most people don’t understand the stress and loneliness that are a part and parcel of caregivers’ lives, unless they’re caregivers themselves. Spend some time each week meeting people in situations similar to yours so that you have a forum to share your feelings and frustrations.
 

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By Kelly Kilpatrick

Achieving personal well-being means taking the time to nurture several parts of your life so that each are healthy and strong. In this busy world, it can be difficult to find the time, and sometimes it’s difficult to know how to break out of your current patterns. From eating right to building strong relationships and securing personal finances, the following resources will give you the tools to help you find your way to a happier existence.

Healthy Living

From getting enough sleep to changing the way you buy goods and spend money, these resources will give you plenty to consider about living your life more healthily.

1. Choosing Voluntary Simplicity. Follow this family as they have made a conscious decision to live life more simply and in a much more fulfilling way.
2. 9 Little Known Ways to Sleep So it Counts. Waking up from a full night’s sleep feeling exhausted is no good. Follow these tips to help you get the most from your sleep.
3. Six Sleep Tips. Using relaxation and visualization, these suggestions will help get you on your way to a good night’s (or day’s) rest.
4. Holistic Approach to Wellness. Being healthy is usually the goal for most people, yet it is easy for the balance in life to get disrupted and result in ill health. Read this article to examine your life and make sure you balance each of the facets to ensure continued good health and well-being.
5. 11 Odd but Simple Ways to Improve Your Health. Move beyond simply improving diet and exercise with these interesting suggestions.
6. 7 Simple Ways to Burst Out of Bed Each Day. These tips on taking a few extra steps to overall health will do more than just help those who struggle to get out of bed each morning. 
7. Top Ten Health & Wellness Gifts: For the Mind, Body, and Spirit. These are gifts worth getting all year round.
8. Whole Longevity. Find out how healthy living can increase your longevity and quality of life with the articles on this site.
9. Prevention is better than cure. This article about holistic healthcare explains how prevention is the best form of healthcare.
10. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, this comprehensive site offers information about specific forms of medicine, clinical trials, research, training, and more to help you stay healthy.

Nutrition

Eating well and putting the right types of foods in your body are important to ensure you are in top shape. These resources will help you get the best nutrition.

11. Superfoods. Goji berries and cacao nibs?  Learn what is so special about these superfoods and others that you might be more familiar eating with this podcast. Be sure to listen to the other installments in the superfoods series.
12. Top 15 Diet Hacks. This list offers tips on how to shift your eating habits to a more healthy style.  Don’t forget to read the Comments for more tips.
13. Organic Guide. Included in this blog are posts about organic-relevant news pieces as well as many organic food topics such as growing your own sprouts, finding a good juicer, and recipes.
14. Five Easy Pieces of an Organic Diet. Having a hard time going organic? This article will help you get started while making the biggest environmental impact.
15. 10 Tasty, Easy and Healthy Breakfast Ideas. They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Here are some suggestions for what to eat and how to do it when you are short on time in the mornings.
16. Nutrition Fact Sheets. Get a wide variety of fact sheets ranging from kid’s nutrition needs to benefits of chewing gum to weight management.
17. Antioxidant Benefits From Drinking Green Tea. Learn about how antioxidants help your body and why green tea is such an excellent source.
18. Do You Get Enough Probiotics In Your Diet?.While this blog post is specifically focused on weight loss, it does an excellent job of explaining why probiotics are important for your body.
19. Holistic Health Nutrition Facts. Browse this blog for tons of information about nutrition and keeping your body healthy. Topics include omega-3 fatty acids, preventing heart disease, and the health benefit of minerals.
20. 7 Fish Oil Benefits Proven by Research. Taking a fish oil supplement is incredibly beneficial to your body. Choosing a high-quality fish oil will ensure the best results and eliminate any "fishy" taste from the supplement.
21. Body-for-LIFE 10 Nutritional Guidelines. Even if you are a very active person, you cannot discount the importance of nutrition. These tips tell you how to get the most out of your workout with better eating habits.

Stress Management

Stress causes health issues as well as mental strain. Eliminate stress from your life with this list of tips to help you achieve a sense of calm.

22. Meditation Oasis. A companion to their podcasts, this blog offers guided meditations. Be sure to sign up for the podcasts, too.
23. Tips for Managing Stress. While created for university students, this list of suggestions is great for anyone feeling the strains of stress.
24. 20 Ways to Eliminate Stress From Your Life. Some of these are simple and others a bit more drastic, but you are sure to find some solutions to the stress in your life.
25. How to Practice Buddhist Breathing Meditation. Follow these simple steps to establishing an ancient form of breathing meditation sure to help you find your inner peace.
26. 6 Ways to De-Stress. These tips focus on a more global approach to living a more stress-free life.
27. The Top 10 Steps to DeStress. Use these suggestions to create a way of living that produces less self-expectation and pressure.
28. Natural Stress Relief. Combine the suggestions in this article with other stress relievers such as exercise and getting enough sleep to combat the stress in your life.
29. Five Tips to De-stress Your Life. This article offers suggestions on making changes to the way you live in order to live less stressfully.
30. Top 10 Stress Relievers: The Best Ways to Feel Better. Take these actions to reduce stress instantly. Make them a habit and you may avoid feeling that stress creep back into your life.
31. Stress Management: How to Reduce, Prevent, and Cope with Stress. From Helpguide.org, find information about stress, tips and resources to reduce stress, and more.
32. Tips for Beating Stress. Get a common sense approach to life that will help you live less stressfully in this article.

Exercise

Use these resources to get your body in shape and give you more energy to get through your busy day.

33. How to Increase Physical Activity When Time is a Problem. These 20 tips will get you moving even when you don’t have a moment to spare.
34. Bike About. The posts in this blog offer much more than just biking with thoughts on healthy eating, hiking, and more.
35. 5 Exercises for Everyone. You don’t have to buy a membership to a gym to get your exercise, and these tips will show you how.
36. Top 42 Exercise Hacks. These ideas will motivate you to take the first step or to continue to exercise when your motivation flags.
37. Abdominal Exercises–Best Ab Exercises–Core Workout. Many experts believe when you strengthen your core, you strengthen your whole body. Try these exercises to do just that (and get flat abs as a bonus).
38. The Everything Yoga Blog. Read the posts to gain information to improve your yoga practice or visit some of the other blogs and sites included here.
39. Free Picture Galleries of Hatha Yoga Poses. These helpful photos and accompanying text will improve your yoga practice whether at home or in class.
40. Ten Cheapest Ways to Exercise. If money is a concern, it shouldn’t stop you from exercising. Follow these tips for easy and inexpensive ways to do it.
41. 10 Ideas to Get You Exercising. If you are feeling stuck but want to get moving, read these suggestions for motivation.
42. Trying Fitness. This blog offers tons of suggestions for ways to get yourself moving in the name of fitness.

Attitude

Sometimes a simple change of attitude can create a whole new perspective on life. Find out how to do that with these resources.

43. Centre for Emotional Well-Being. This blog offers plenty of advice for those looking to improve their outlook on life. There is a heavy emphasis on body image.
44. 8 Powerful Ways to Rediscover Your Passion. It’s easy to get caught up in the rut of our daily existence. If you need to shake it up and rediscover yourself, these steps will help.
45. 5 Steps to Finding True Joy and Removing Sorrow. Learn how to identify and recognize emotional responses so that you can redirect the negative to a more uplifting, positive expression.
46. The Happiness Project. Join the experiment as this woman tries out all the various tips for finding happiness. Wednesday is tip day, so be sure to check in then for great ideas on finding your happy place in life.
47. Out of the Box: 11 Ways to Break Out of the Same Old Routine. Living in a routine can feel safe, but it can also hold you back from your potential. These suggestions will set you on a new path.
48. Work and Life: 15 Ways to Strike a Balance. With busy lifestyles today, it is easy to feel pulled in many directions. This list offers ways to find the balance.
49. 10 Quick Examples of Zen Living. Embrace these life lessons in order to find your joy.
50. The Positivity Blog. Become inspired to stay positive and find the beauty in life with the posts on this uplifting blog.
51. Wake Up Feeling Great with These 22 Tips for High Self-Esteem. These suggestions will have you feeling better about yourself and improve how you approach your life.
52. My 50. This tool will help you keep focused on your life goals by managing your list of places to go, things to do, and anything else you want to do in your lifetime.
53. 10 Surefire Ways to Kill Your Crabby Mood. A bad mood can affect your productivity, relationships, and the way you feel about yourself. Use these tips to rise above it.
54. Well Being Journal. This online magazine offers articles on mind/body connection, nutrition, health, and fitness.
55. 75 Simple Pleasures to Brighten Your Day. Some of these ideas will brighten your day just reading about them. Readers have left some of their own ideas in the Comments section below the list.

Relationships

Learn how to keep your relationships with family, co-workers, and friends strong and successful with these suggestions.

56. Managing Relationship Stress. From your job to family members to friends, this article helps you manage the stress when your relationships are going through a rocky time.
57. Friendship–Tips for a Special Relationship!. Everyone should read these tips for a reminder of how to treat the important people in your life.
58. Tips on How to Repair Your Family Relationship Rightly!. Families are so busy it is easy to forget the small things that keep them together. This article reminds you how to go about the small tasks that make a family united.
59. 20 Ways to Attack Shyness. If you have a difficult time coming out of your shell, this list is for you. Not only does it offer tips to get you going, it also explains a little about the mechanics of shyness.
60. 10 Ways We Hurt Our Romantic Relationships. This list lets you know what to avoid to ensure your relationship grows stronger instead of weaker.
61. Can Your Dog Help Fix Your Relationship?. Find out what the family pet can teach you and your partner about strengthening your relationship.
62. Building Healthy Relationships. From listening to humor to forgiveness, learn how you can build a healthy relationship.
63. 8 Ways to Strengthen Your Relationship. Learn what you and your partner can do to help keep your relationship growing with these suggestions.
64. 18 ways to improve your body language . Set a more positive tone about yourself by improving your body language. This list will tell you how to do it.
65. 10 Tips to Strengthen Families. Find how you can improve the relationship between parents and children with these suggestions.
66. Ways to Build, Strengthen, and Enhance Your Relationship. Taking care to do these five simple things may provide just what your relationship needs to make it last long term.

Spirituality

Whether or not you are religious, a sense of spirituality can open your life in a whole new way.

67. Spirituality & Well-Being Self Tests. Take these two tests to see how your body-soul connection lines up.
68. Spiritual Endeavors. This website offers articles, links, and more to help you in your spiritual journey–no matter what shape it takes.
69. Spiritual Teachings. With a focus on a variety of spiritual teaching traditions and both essays and links to other resources, this site helps you get started down your spiritual path.
70. Buddhist Studies WWW Virtual Library. Find anything Buddhist here from Zen Buddhism to Buddhist art.
71. Links Relating to Creation Spirituality. Hosted by Trinity United Methodist Church in Austin, TX, this site provides several links to resources for those interested in learning more about Creation Spirituality.
72. 10 Ways to Grow Your Spirit. From tying up loose ends to letting go to loving yourself, these suggestions will help you become more spiritual.
73. Tips For A More Effective Prayer Life. If prayer is a part of your life, these tips can help you get more from your daily practice.
74. Belief-O-Matic. If you are struggling to find a spiritual or religious path, take this quiz to help you determine which religion is best suited to your personality.
75. Cultivating Spiritual Virtues. This article offers a straightforward approach to ways you can expand your spirituality while embracing what is good in the world.
76. Beliefnet. No matter what you religious beliefs, Beliefnet has much to offer in the way of spirituality and religion.
77. Fitting Spirituality Into The Rest Of Your Life. It is easy to let important things slip away in the hectic nature of life, but this article tells you how you can find time for spirituality despite the busy day.

Financial

Get control of your personal finances and make managing your money less stressful with these great resources.

78. When Times are Tight: 168 Frugal Tips to Make Your Dollar Stretch. Including tips from around the house, at the grocery store, and entertainment, this list will help you find ways to save your money.
79. mint. Manage your money with this free software. Connect with your bank, credit cards, and mutual funds to effortlessly gain control over your finances.
80. Zopa. This social finance company brings borrowers and investors together to work out loans that benefit both parties.
81. 35 Sneaky Ways to Improve Your Finances. These suggestions are simple and easy to implement. Follow these and watch your financial situation perk up.
82. Financial Planning: A Comprehensive Guide to Personal Finance. This guide from About.com offers great resources to help you make the most of your finances.
83. USA.gov Personal Finance. The U.S. government has created a list of resources ranging from bankruptcy to home ownership to retirement and estate planning.
84. 5 Tips for Getting Out of Debt (and Why). With credit cards so readily available, it’s easy to find yourself in debt. Here are five ways to find yourself in the clear.
85. wesabe. Getting out of debt can be a struggle, but not with wesabe. This free software helps you track spending and create goals towards getting out of debt or saving money.
86. AllBusiness Personal Finance Center. Find anything you could want to learn about managing your finances with this awesome resource.
87. 21 Strategies for Creating an Emergency Fund, and Why It’s Critical. Emergencies can send your finances tumbling. Follow these tips for creating a cushion so when the unexpected happens, you aren’t caught short.
88. BudgetTracker, Inc. Create and track your budget with this tool. It helps with bills, investments, bank accounts, and more.

Career

Most people spend the biggest part of their day at work. If you do, learn how to make that time enjoyable and successful.

89. Work Happy Now!. Learn how to love your job with the great posts on this blog. Recent topics have covered developing emotional intelligence and expanding your various networks.
90. A Balancing Act: Finding Balance Between Work and Life. This article offers a helpful perspective on the work/life balance while providing suggestions for ways to approach finding your balance.
91. Chief Happiness Officer. Written by a Danish consultant, this blog offers great advice on finding your happiness at work.
92. 5 Ways to Improve Your Productivity in the Office. This site suggests you focus on these five areas of your work to increase your productivity.
93. 11 Lifehacking Tips for Improving Productivity–and Knowing When That’s Not the Point. If you would like to boost your work productivity, these suggestions are sure to help you change your habits in a more productive way.
94. Top 10 Email Productivity Boosters. You don’t have to go away on vacation to know what it’s like to be overwhelmed by emails. These tips will help you stay on top of emails in an organized and professional way.
95. Instant Calmer: 11 Easy Answers to On-the-Job Stress. These helpful tips are easy to implement and will have you back on track and feeling calmer in no time.
96. Develop a Career Action Plan. Make sure your career goes the direction you want it to with a Career Action Plan.
97. 12 Tools to Recover from Procrastination and Get Things Done. Anyone who has a habit of putting things off until the last minute know the frustration of procrastination. Follow these suggestions to get things going and stay on top of your work.
98. Just a Minute: Dr. Z’s Top 5 Time Management Principles. For a more Zen-like approach to time management, follow these five suggestions.
99. All Things Workplace. This blog offers great career coaching advice to improve your experience at work.
100. BetterMondays. Find out ways to brighten your office, how to succeed at an interview, what not to do at work and more on this blog dedicated to helping people enjoy their jobs.

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