#ill be able to tell if medication or various strategies work

[sondrox]

Infernal Tales Chapter 4 - You know what they say about doctors.

Summary: Vaggie meets Charlie in a hospital.

FFN: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13958950/4/Infernal-Tales

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33987667/chapters/85208218

For several days, Vaggie had a cold that refused to go away, at first she tried to ignore it and wait for it to go alone, but to no avail. She tried various medications, but they were of no use to her.

Eventually and without any other option, she had to go to a hospital.

While she waited inside, Vaggie gave herself a little massage on her forehead hoping to dissipate the fever in her, it was almost unbearable and made her feel like she was in hell.

A male nurse called her and took her into a room.

"In a moment a doctor will come," he told her, and Vaggie just nodded. As soon as the male nurse closed the door, Vaggie rested her head against the wall with her eyes closed.

This was stupid. And an absolute waste of time. She never liked hospital. Damn it, who liked hospitals anyways? They never gave her good news ever, not only that, they were extremely expensive, and then people ask themselves why other people decide to–

Her thoughts were blown away when she heard the door opened and heard a female voice.

"Hi! Sorry for keeping you waiting, I was busy with another patient. I'm Dr. Charlotte Magne, but you can just call me Charlie."

That was when she saw who to care for her and for the first time in days she was able to ignore her illness.

The doctor had a shiny white skin, a little more and she could be actual white. Long golden hair that reached her hips, with a white robe a little too small that hugged and wrapped her body, highlighting her curves.

But none of it was as bright as her smile, which lit up not just her face, but the entire room.

"Tell me, what is your problem?"

Only then did Vaggie come back to herself just before a trickle of drool trickled from her mouth.

Vaggie told her about her symptoms, to give her a better diagnosis, and "just to be safe." According to her Charlie, she gave her a standard checkup, for which she had to get quite close.

That's when Vaggie could smell her scent. She was mesmerized "Damn it smells like heaven." Vaggie struggled not to give away her reaction while Charlie checked her out.

"Ok, eyes good, knee too, heart’s turn..." She pulled out a stethoscope and placed it on Vaggie's chest.

"Concentrate." Vaggie thought. "Calm, straight, don't look at her, don't overthink it. Oh my god, I'm blushing right? Please someone tell me is not that obvious she's so–!"

"...Heartbeat…uhm, faster than average" Charlie said and smiled at Vaggie.

"Damn she knows!" She screamed in her mind.

In the end, after some other tests, she gave her some medicine and went back home.

The first thing she did right away was throw everything she had to do with apples.

In the following days Vaggie began to feel better, but she could feel some symptoms lingering, a voice in the back of Vaggie's mind telling her that she alone should continue taking her medication.

But on the other hand, a medical check-up wouldn't hurt anyone, right?

Vaggie was not once, not twice, not three times. If not a total of 6 times.

She sometimes found Charlie, sometimes not. The other times she would touch another doctor, one tall, conceited, arrogant and with a stupid smile that never fell off his face.

Oh, what Vaggie would give for a good punch in those teeths.

Those aggressive thoughts vanished the moment she heard the voice of the person she was looking for. She gave her a "Hello." with her optimistic tone, almost singing, so angelic.

"I'm starting to think that you do this on purpose," Charlie said.

Immediately all the alarms in Vaggie's mind exploded, she was convinced that she herself would explode.

"I don't see you as bad as the first time I saw you." She placed her hand on Vaggie's forehead. "Don’t take it as something bad, I’m just saying out of curiosity, I don’t know, is there some other reason why you're coming to see me?"

"Oh my God," Vaggie thought. Her mind raced through thousand ways it could go wrong. It would take a miracle to get out of this. No! No miracle nor luck! Vaggie would ask her out on her own with no help even if it's the last thing she does!

"I-not-you-can-want-you–"

Vaggie's babbling and her extraordinary failed attempt was interrupted by Charlie's laugh, an innocent and playful laugh, from one moment to the next it grew into a loud mocking laugh, the focus above Charlie's head seemed like the doors that would lead directly to her. to heaven.

But those ideas faded from her head when she saw Charlie's cheerful expression fade into a grim expression, as if someone had told her she didn't like animals.

"My God, are you okay?"

"Hey?" It was the only thing I managed to answer. What if it was okay? Why wouldn't she be?

“You are pale. Breathe a little, you."

To breathe? Nonsense, why would she be worrying about that…well, now that she mentioned it, Vaggie was having a little trouble breathing and she started to feel a little dizzy. Why was she suddenly seeing three Charlies in front of her? At that moment she felt something warm falling from her nose and down to her upper lip. She touched it lightly with her fingertips, uncertain what to expect, her surprise was certain to see that her finger was stained with blood.

Everything around her began to drift away from her.

Before she could say or do anything, Vaggie could not bear the weight of her own body and collapsed on the floor. The last thing she heard before everything went black was Charlie's screams of concern as she shook her body in the floor in alarm and called for help.

After a while, Vaggie woke up with some difficulty, she had to concentrate only on opening the iron curtains that she called eyelids. And as if that was not enough, a lightbulb blinded her eyes, forcing her to close her eyes again. She tried to cover the blinding light, but her arms were so heavy that she could do no more than drag them between the sheets like sacks of potatoes.

When her eyes finally adjusted to the light and the dizziness dissipated. Her senses could finally start working on finding out where the hell she was. The first, triggering clue she could pick up was the repetitive beep of the EKG by her bedside.

Had she really been admitted?

This suspicion was confirmed when she was able to move her head with a little more ease and she saw that she was dressed in the blue garment that was given to all patients in a hospital.

Just when she decided this was a pointless waste of time and she started to get out of bed, her bedroom door opened and she heard Charlie's voice.

"You woke up! You had me scared to death," Charlie said as she breathed relaxed with one hand on her chest and with the other hand, she carried a small table with some papers.

She walked over to Vaggie and sat next to her bed. "How lucky that I was with you at the time right?" She tried to ease the situation, but Vaggie didn't want to beat around the bush.

"What happened to me?" At the direct question, Charlie's smile fell a little, to hide it she quickly checked the table she carried with her and pretended to read it as if it were the first time, although she had actually already memorized it for a few hours.

"Well, you had a case of vasovagal syncope and…" Vaggie looked at her confused, obviously not understanding what she was referring to. “You passed out, basically. Looking at your vital signs it was easy to guess why. Unusual high blood pressure, for… well, basically anyone, especially a girl your age. And your good looks." That last part of her whispered to herself, covering her lips with the board for a moment. “I have to assume that not only are you going through a great deal of stress, but that amount of stress is common in your life. Work, perhaps? "

Vaggie pressed her lips together at her revelation, and she pressed them even tighter at the question. She knew she was going to happen sooner or later again. She nodded sadly and unsure.

"My boss...he’s an asshole."

"Yeah, I've heard that before." After that, Charlie continued to ask her routine questions, by the time they were done she prescribed some anxiolytics, Lorazepam, and made an appointment for her to see her again in a few days, which Vaggie found quite strange.

"Shouldn't these things be enough?" She said holding up her prescription in her hand.

“Generally, yes, but since you are prone to high levels of stress, you will need strategies, defense mechanisms, basically. And– ”Charlie stopped short for a second, at what she was about to say, as a small idea flew through her head.

She masked her small shock by clearing her throat. "And, also, a support system."

"People." Vaggie blurted out.

"Friends. A pretty girl like you must have lots. ”Vaggie reacted first with a blush on her face, before she fell into dismay.

"I..." Vaggie shrugged, unable to respond with anything else.

Charlie understood almost immediately and her face mimicked her patient's expression.

"It does not matter, for now just rest, tomorrow in the morning, if everything is in order we will release you and you can go home."

Vaggie nodded accordingly. Charlie went to attend to other matters, but in all that time she could not stop thinking about Vaggie, surely someone should call for her, someone should wait for her at home. Truth?

An hour passed. Two hours, four hours. She would check the phone every five minutes for something, whatever. A voice in her head told her to accept the reality of the facts. But her Charlie just clung, there must be someone who cared about that girl.

The next morning, everything was fine with Vaggie, so the hospital discharged her, but before she could leave, Charlie stopped her at her exit.

“Hey, I know nobody…you know…I just wanted to tell you that if you need help, you can call me whenever you want. I can give you my number. " She took out a pen, but she had forgotten to bring a piece of paper or something like that.

"Won't you have something...?" Charlie asked.

"Aaaaah..."

After being in awkward silence for a while, Charlie ended up jotting her phone number on Vaggie's arm as she giggled.

"You know," Charlie began. "If you want a date, a real date, I'm free on Friday."

The only response she got from Vaggie was a blush all over her face, instinctively she placed the back of her hand on her forehead.

"Are you blushing or is it your fever?"

"Yes."

Fun fact #1: This was directly inspired inspired for one of those "imagine your otp" posts in pinterest.

Fun fact #2: The original version of this episode included Vaggie getting shot by a guy trying to get medicine, that guy would threat Charlie with a gun, and before the guy could shoot, Vaggie would get in the way, but that seemed too exaggerated, so I went for something simpler.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel fanfiction #charlie magne #vaggie #charlie x vaggie #fanfiction #writing #fluff

[exigencelost]

this one’s gonna be rambly. this may or may not be a write-only post. continue reading at peril of wasting your own time.

I started to write this as an addition to that post about brain fog and capitalism:

Also, since I’ve now brought up ADHD, I’m just gonna clarify that this post isn’t in fact about ADHD. I know I opened with “unable to consciously direct your attention” and that that’s like, the signature ADHD symptom, and if ADHD people want to add thoughts on that subject go for it; but ADHD is not an illness, and this post is about illness. I’m not talking about “I can’t focus because of a basic static fact of how my central nervous system is wired” I’m talking about “I can’t focus because today, my brain decided to stop taking requests, and everything is either fluffy or way too sharp, because I am sick.” 

Then I decided not to add it because the post was already long and it detracted from message focus and also required me to think too hard about like, how do I phrase this so it’s clear I don’t mean “ADHD isn’t important/ neurodivergents aren’t invited to the sick person club” but rather “These are two different conversations and conflating them isn’t helpful,” and after a certain point that becomes a rabbit hole and, crucially, my brain is fuzzy today. (philosophical ramblings on the nature of illness under the cut)

But I am now Thinking about this topic. About ADHD and chronic fatigue, and the differential nature of not being able to do things. I’m also thinking about that post that was called “how to unfuck your house in the minimum time possible” or something, that gave fantastic advice for a person with ADHD and/or various forms of executive dysfunction and/or just a person whose house is dirty to like, organize and execute the the task of aggressive superficial house cleaning on a deadline. And reading it was so stressful to me. Because the advice, which was detailed and friendly and enthusiastic, described a physically impossible set of tasks. Which. I could go down another rabbit hole here about “you can do it!” type language and its impact on sick people, but I’ll try not to.  I did end up reblogging that post with a note that said “If you have chronic fatigue this absolutely will not solve the obstacles to you cleaning your house, and that’s not your fault.”

and like. Why did I need to do that? I really felt like I needed to add that. Why? The post was not claiming to be advice for chronic fatigue, the post wasn’t doing anything wrong, except not mentioning me, not mentioning sick people. Erasure matters; combating erasure matters; telling sick people that they exist matters and that’s a reason by itself; but I’m not trying to justify the impulse right now I’m trying to understand it, and like, get a handle on my Thoughts about the relationship between executive dysfunction management and chronic fatigue management. Disability liberation is a complex thing.   Personal context: I’ve danced around an ADHD diagnosis with multiple psychiatrists over several years. Probably I don’t have it. Probably what I have is a mixture of avoidant anxiety and brain fog from CFS or something similar, which can create very similar symptoms, including but not limited to the most obvious of “I sometimes cannot force my way through this difficult linear cognitive task.” 

Psychiatrists, in my experience, are only interested in the question “Do you have ADHD” as a precursor to the question “Should we put you on stimulants.” For a host of reasons, stimulants (at least in ADHD therapeutic doses) are probably a bad idea for me, so the ADHD discussion often ends in a stalemate: the answer doesn’t matter, the evidence is ambiguous, let’s move on. 

But it matters a little bit, I think. There is a difference between disorder and illness. There is definitely a difference between neurodivergence and illness. The three terms overlap and are interrelated and in a fully liberated world maybe we wouldn’t use any of them, but here we are in this world, and I think the distinctions are important. (Another rabbit hole I’m stepping around here: the social vs the medical model of disability, and why I think they are both better understood in the context of each other than either of them are alone.)

I have a line I say sometimes, when I want to reset a conversation because I don’t like where it’s headed, or when I just need to express frustration, which is: “Time management is a pyramid scheme.”  I cannot manage my time. The whole idea is preposterous to me. Time is a tenuous fluctuating infinitely powerful elemental force and I am like, not even clear on why you shouldn’t run the garbage disposal without the faucet on, you know? I’m not a match for time. I know my limits. 

A lot of people have suggested I take courses in time management because I told them I was too tired to stand up long enough to cook breakfast. I did not find this response to be helpful.

For a while I had, like, an almost-trauma response to people talking about ADHD-flavored time management strategies. 

I am sick in a way that means I walk through most of my life in a fog. This is not a complaint. I like fog. I mean literally, I find literal fog very beautiful and comforting, and I use it as a metaphor for my cognitive experience quite consciously. You see shapes in fog that are related to, but not identical to, the physical reality around you; your understanding of distance and presence is distorted in fog but not erased; when you walk through a fog you must be engaged in the constant project of imagining the world around you, of guessing its textures and colors based on tenuous evidence. This is what my illness does, a lot of the time: requires me to imagine my reality, rather than simply perceiving it. Another rabbit hole: explaining what I mean by that would take me hours to nail down. I’m not going to try very hard. Like I said, this might be a write-only post. Here’s me trying not very hard: My capacity changes every hour, every day, every week. It is difficult to remember where and how my body hurt yesterday, let alone this time last year. There is definitely no way to know what it will do next month. I hate keeping symptom logs; they feel like reading my own entrails. I refuse to answer mundane questions on scales of one to ten (“on a scale of one to ten how bad would you say that movie was?” “I wouldn’t”) because I refuse to do the work of computing infinitely varied reality to numbers, because when I was twelve years old I was asked over and over to rate my pain on a scale of one to ten and every answer felt like a lie and every answer was treated like a lie. Or—not so moralistic, no one got mad at me, exactly. Every answer was treated as though it were imaginary. If the answer changed, it was like I’d broken out of character. I thought there was a magic number that might make people understand that and how I was sick. There wasn’t. The whole thing began to feel like a process of imagination. The doctors and teachers and nurses were imagining a child who wasn’t me, who didn’t feel what I felt; I was imagining someone who could understand what was happening and help me. We were trying to conjure each other. To pick shapes out of the fog. 

I am never going to get an accurate sense of how much I can get done in an hour. There is no answer to that question. There are answers, plural, ranges based on predictive omens that are closer to reading the future in tea leaves than they are to using mercury to measure pressure. 

So, I can never plan what I will do with an hour. I can try to do things, and often I succeed. But I don’t get to sit down and say “X set of things will happen by Y time.” It doesn’t work like that. It never will. As far as I’m concerned, everyone else is just pretending that it works like that, and as long as they keep pretending everyone else feels that they have to pretend too, and so it goes on. Time management is a pyramid scheme. 

I have a document where I keep a list of things I need to do for work. In my experience, trying to divide that list by what day I’ll do what thing is an exercise of imagination, and not a very interesting one. As a sick person it is more effective for me to be always ready to improvise, always set up to recover from a sudden incapacitation, always ready to pounce on a sudden moment of cognitive clarity and physical function to do whatever is most important right now, than it is for me to try to make a schedule and stick to it. 

When I make plans with friends for the future I am reaching for a distant shape in the fog. I am asking someone: help me to imagine this thing. If we imagine it, together maybe we can make it come true. And when we get to the day of the plan we made, sometimes the shape emerges full-formed from the fog, and sometimes it dissipates, drifts out of reach. That’s okay. You have to always be ready to imagine something else. 

What did I start this post talking about? ADHD? Okay. I remember why I started on how much I can get done in an hour. When my psychiatrist sent me to an ADHD-informed attention management class, the teacher of the class told me that people with ADHD often have drastically inaccurate ideas of what they can accomplish in an hour. The teacher suggested that we all set a timer for an hour and start doing something and when it ends, see what’s done. Do that a few times, and then you’ll have your answer, and you can use that to make plans. 

I thought that was the stupidest thing I’d ever heard. What does today have to do with tomorrow? What does this hour have to do with the next?

It wasn’t stupid. It just wasn’t about me. Okay, finally, here we are: the answer to my initial question. Why is it important to differentiate chronic illness from ADHD, when we’re both slipping on the wet stone stairs of time?  Because the answers aren’t the same. And if you try to pretend they’re the same, then sitting in the back of that time-management class listening to someone offer solutions that have nothing to do with you, you become a little bit more invisible to yourself. The shapes in the fog shrink a little further away from you.

I don’t have an ending point here. feel free to add one of your own. 

#this post makes no attempt to do the accessible emphasis thing because i have no ability to identify what i should emphasize #disability #chronic illness #adhd #chronic fatigue #chronic fatigue syndrome #anxiety #not gonna tag long post bc there's a readmore #sick

[bestnaturalwaystoregrowhair]

Regrow Hair Home Remedies

Which would be the causes of baldness in women? There are a variety of reasons for this problem. However only one thing is for sure. You want to find out the reason for your problem and then start locating a treatment. Some of those get the strength, while some drop down. This leads to hair loss.

Hormones have the capacity to alter the normal functioning of different organs in your system. One of the changes is the hairloss. The hair starts receding due to hormonal imbalance. One key reason why women experience this problem is that they undergo from daily lifestyles. Even the way you dress can have an effect on your hair development.

It is important that you take great care of one's own hair loss. This means you will need to nourish it. There are a good deal of nutrients available in the market which can help you over come this problem. You can find some herbs which are known to take care of this illness.  This herb not merely stops hair loss but also stimulates the development of hair.

If you are one of the women who are suffering from hair loss, you can also try tea tree oil oil. This oil includes anti fungal properties. It combats bacteria which cause infection. More over it could stimulate the development of hair.

Besides these, you will find lots more hair thinning causes for ladies. Stress, aging, genetics, malnutrition, diseases like diabetes and a lot more are some of the causes.  Therefore, in the event you would like to grow healthy hair, it is always far better to take proper care of your wellbeing. You ought to take adequate sleep, eat healthful meals and avoid stress. A little bit of yoga, massage and massages can also stimulate your hair development.

Now there are lots of treatments and remedies available for preventing hair loss and treating hair loss causes. However it is extremely critical to have a personal consultation with a health care provider before using any treatment or supplement. A fantastic physician will be able to help you in deciding on the best treatment for the hairloss.

In addition to these treatments you'll find many products out there in the marketplace that can stimulate hair growth. The most usual of them is vitamins. There are various vitamins available which can improve the growth of your own hair loss. Vitamin B can be used to boost hair growth since it helps in providing nutrition to your own scalp that's extremely vital for hairloss. Vitamin C is another vitamin, which can improve your hair condition. If your hair gets enough nutrients it's going to look strong and healthy.

How To Regrow Hair Naturally

It's wise to use an all natural product as ingredients may not always be safe for you. Therefore it's prudent to choose a supplement which contains all of the essential vitamins. You shouldn't eat up vitamins or supplements without consulting a physician first. If your doctor tells you a vitamin can harm your health you need to go for it. There are also some herbs that can help to promote hair growth.  They work by increasing blood flow into your scalp.

Hair loss may impact both men and ladies. However, there is no reason to worry because there are tons of treatments available. Many people begin with topical creams and gels to shield themselves out of the stress and tension that they face daily. You might also make use of shampoos to wash your hair regularly. Taking proper diet plan and employing the correct vitamins can surely prevent hair loss and delay the effects of the disease too.

Hair loss is a very common problem for men and women. Even though it has a tendency to be common in men, it may also happen in guys. There are several unique reasons for this kind of problem. One of the most typical reasons is hormonal imbalance. Listed below are some of the hair loss causes and treatments which are readily available.

The worries in your life may cause hair thinning. It might happen as a result of the hectic schedule that many people lead. There's not enough time and energy to properly care for of someone's hairloss. This may result in hair falling out faster than normal. You may want to try to simply take a relaxing hobby like meditation or yoga.

Besides worry, excessive hair brushing or styling often leads to hair loss.  Your hair should be brushed or styled lightly. Do not use any product such as hair spray in your own hair. This can cause more hair to fall out than normal.

Hair Products To Regrow Hair

If you're on a certain drug prescribed for a health condition, this may impact your hairloss. You will find drugs which have the capacity to decrease if not stop baldness. Speak to your doctor about any of it and whether this could be one of the causes. Still another drug proven to lead to hair thinning is betablockers. If you are going through chemotherapy, talk to your doctor about whether or not the drug you're carrying might have this side effect.

Baldness can be caused by hereditary components.  If this really is how it is for you, you will find matters you could do in order to combat this problem. Should you go bald at a very young age, you might need to go through medical treatments so that you will grow out your hair.

Hormones can also result in hair thinning. Estrogen, both DHT and testosterone all play a role in leading baldness. If you are on hormones, you ought to get a way to diminish the amount of each one.  When these nutrients are absorbed in the scalp, they also promote healthy hair growth.

Stress can also be considered a variable. If you're constantly worrying, you may well be distracted from other elements of one's own life. You may begin to feel melancholy and lack focus. One strategy to combat this is by practicing meditation or yoga. This may help you deal with stress in your life.

There are lots of baldness causes that you can address. Talk to your doctor if you believe that has become a problem in your life. There may be things you may do in your home to enhance the state of your hair. Exercise, eating correctly, stopping smoking and taking vitamins and herbs may all help to boost hair development.

There are additional hair thinning causes on the market that you cannot change. Included in these are and genetics. If both of them are the cause of one's hair thinning, there's not anything you can do on it. Even in the event that you've got great genes and also have consistently had beautiful hair, you could unexpectedly come to be bald. That is due to genetics and heredity, which means you can never have the ability to reverse it.

Can Lost Hair Come Back

You will find a number of health conditions that could lead to baldness too. If you are suffering from thyroid disease, diabetes or Lupus, you might experience an unexpected hair loss.  Each of these illnesses necessitates specific treatment so as to combat the problem. It's important to talk to your doctor and learn what options are offered for your requirements .

In some cases, the hair loss causes aren't readily discovered. Hair loss occurs in people of all ages.   In either circumstance, the best way to deal with it's to produce a meeting with doctor. The sooner you get started, the easier it will be to recover your healthy hairloss.

Finding the baldness causes which are causing you to get rid of your hair is an important step in avoiding the loss of one's hair. Once you know why, you can take steps prior to fighting the problem. You will no longer have to worry about how to avoid balding.

Click Now For Further Info:

http://powersfromnature.com/how-to-regrow-hair/

[joshuafinleycom]

A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO CBD ADVERTISING

A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO CBD ADVERTISING

by Richard Fong | 16 Apr 2019 | Blog, Cannabis Advertising | 0 comments

Whether you’re just starting your CBD business, or you’ve already launched, you may be concerned about the legal issues surrounding this burgeoning industry.

First off, know that you’re not alone. Market researchers believe the CBD (cannabidiol) industry will grow to $22 billion by 2022, having already rocketed up to $591 million in 2018. For reference, this industry was virtually non-existent just a few short years ago.

CBD is legal to sell at the federal level as long as it meets certain requirements — it must be derived from hemp, not marijuana, for example. But advertising your CBD products is much trickier.

While you have little chance of getting into any kind of legal trouble by advertising CBD products, you may have a hard time finding platforms (social media, publications, etc.) that will support your ads. That’s because the platforms themselves are concerned about the legal implications of CBD advertising. They are held responsible for their content, so they take all the risk in posting such ads.

Likely, your CBD advertising won’t give you the same results as ads placed by businesses in more mainstream industries. That’s why you should also back up your paid ads with a comprehensive inbound marketing campaign.

This guide will give you the details on how to navigate this landscape. 

https://www.readygreen.com/cbd-marketing

FOLLOWING STATE AND FEDERAL CBD LAWS

CBD is still in a legal gray area. At the time of this writing, 47 states allow the sale of CBD products in some form, but they have a strict definition of what CBD is and which products must be labeled a drug.

You can see a state-by-state chart of the country’s various cannabis programs on the National Conference of State Legislatures website, including the names of laws that may affect you. For example, here’s the listing for California:

(Source: NCSL)

Most important is the distinction between CBD derived from hemp and CBD derived from marijuana. Because hemp presents only trace amounts of the psychoactive chemical Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), it is considered legal in most circumstances. Marijuana, made from the leaves and flowers of the cannabis plant, is still classified as a drug and isn’t legal in every state (yet).

States and the federal government generally regulate cannabis products based on their quantity of THC. Legal hemp products, including CBD, must have no more than 0.3% of THC present to be considered legal, although this percentage may be lower in some states.

Additionally, the FDA has heightened its concern about CBD products due to the number of erroneous claims made by some producers implying that CBD products have distinct medical benefits. At present, many of the medical benefits of CBD oils, salves, and other products have not been scientifically proven, at least not to the point where they are accepted by the federal government.

At the time of this writing, there is only one drug comprised of an active ingredient derived from marijuana to treat illnesses. Epidiolex (cannabidiol) is an oral solution used to treat epilepsy. Dronabinol, a synthetic cannabinoid, is used to treat nausea and vomiting, but it is man-made and not actually a cannabis derivative.

Even if you believe your products do have medical benefits, do not make medical claims in your advertising. Use generalized claims or testimonials, and back up any claims with evidence from reliable sources.

CBD ADVERTISING ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Since you’ll be selling your CBD products mostly to consumers, it’s natural for you to want to advertise on social media.

Facebook alone has 2.5 billion people using at least one of its apps, and platforms like Twitter and Instagram are still immensely popular.

Unfortunately, all the major platforms have policies that ban the advertisement of cannabis products, including CBD products. There are a few things you can try to get around these policies. But, for the most part, you won’t be able to deploy ads for CBD products.

Here’s how the three major platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram, approach CBD.

FACEBOOK CBD ADVERTISING

Facebook forbids advertisements that depict drugs and drug-related products, including CBD. Pipes and other paraphernalia are also included in their ban.

This, however, does not mean you are barred from advertising on Facebook just because you are a CBD company (although you may have trouble if CBD is in your brand name or you use cannabis imagery in your logo). Facebook’s policies apply only to the content of your ads.

If you can get creative with your ads, you may be able to get your ads accepted. For example, depictions of people on your team, acceptable stock photography, and language that doesn’t imply that you sell CBD products may all be accepted by Facebook.

Here’s an example of something that might work:

(Source: Living With Pain on Facebook)

Nonetheless, your ads may not be very effective if you can’t advertise the very product you sell.

Keep in mind that these policies only apply to Facebook’s ads. You should have no problem creating a business page and posting organically to the platform — just stay aware of their policies regarding user content.

TWITTER CBD ADVERTISING

Twitter also has strict rules regarding its advertisements. For example, the platform does not allow the following in any of its ads:

Drug dispensaries

Depictions of hard drug use

Accessories associated with drug use (paraphernalia)

Illegal drugs

Herbal and recreational drugs

The ban on advertisements for “herbal” drugs or supplements all but eliminates any chance of CBD companies advertising on the platform.

However, you should have no problem posting organically to Twitter to promote your business. You may also try to get around this policy by being creative, but you may run into the same issues as you would on Facebook.

INSTAGRAM CBD ADVERTISING

Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012, so all the ad policies that apply to Facebook apply to Instagram as well.

SNAPCHAT CBD ADVERTISING

In its advertising policies, Snap Inc. prohibits ads that “depict drug use or excessive drinking.” Ads for pharmaceutical and healthcare products can only promote “those products or services that have been approved by the local regulatory authorities in each of the countries targeted.”

For the most part, Snapchat will not allow any type of cannabis advertisements to run on the platform. However, you should be able to post organically.

REDDIT CBD ADVERTISING

Reddit does not currently allow ads for CBD products:

(Source: Reddit)

Sec. II.3 states the following: “Advertisers may not use the Platform to promote the use or sale of hazardous, dangerous, or injurious products or services, including products subject to consumer recalls, explosive materials or fireworks, recreational drugs or substances, weapons, guns, ammunition, explosives, tobacco products, and related products or services.”

CBD ADVERTISING ON GOOGLE

Aside from the major social media platforms, there’s no more powerful advertising hub than the king of search, Google. Google still controls 37.2% of the digital ad market despite some recent gains by Amazon and Facebook.

Unfortunately, Google doesn’t allow the advertisement of CBD products, either. In fact, unlike other platforms, Google lists CBD specifically in their list of banned products:

(Source: Google)

CBD ADVERTISING IN PUBLICATIONS

The one area where you may have luck advertising your CBD products is in specific publications, both online and in print. Each publication sets their own advertising policy, and it’s a safe bet that cannabis-friendly magazines like High Times and Cannabis Culture won’t bat an eye at your advertisement.

Other publications may be receptive to your ads as well.

You may have to reach out to each publication individually to place an ad, however. This can be a time-consuming process. But since most of these publications already have a baked-in audience, you could still see significant returns on your investment.

MARKETING YOUR CBD PRODUCTS

While “marketing” is often used as a catch-all phrase to refer to advertising, branding, PR campaigns, etc., inbound marketing and digital marketing are distinct from paid advertising, and they should be an essential part of your CBD sales and marketing strategy.

The two most important marketing strategies in the CBD space are content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO).

Searches for cannabis and CBD products have spiked due to recent changes in state cannabis laws, public interest, and because of the mounting evidence that CBD provides numerous health benefits. The public is hungry for information about CBD, so they’re turning to Google and other search engines to find it.

If you run a company that sells CBD products, you have a unique opportunity to take advantage of this jump in public interest. You should research the keywords your customers are searching and build out content to address their search queries.

For example, we did our own research into CBD keywords and started generating a list:

You may need special tools to get this information, but you can also use Google’s Keyword Planner if you have Google Ads account.

Once you have a running list of keywords, use them to inform the types of blog and web content you produce. Make sure you’re posting content regularly, so your audience always has something new to look at. Search engines also prioritize websites that are updated frequently.

In addition to keywords, focus on generating backlinks to your website. Backlinks tell search engines that your website is authoritative and worth listing in search results.

The best backlinking strategy is to create helpful, informative content that people want to share and link to. However, you can also consider some of these strategies:

Guest blogging for relevant websites and publications

Asking customers or other bloggers to review your product

Creating unique resources or tools that people want to link to

Writing press releases

Listing your business in directories

Remember, you only want quality backlinks from reputable sources, and you should prioritize websites that are relevant to your own, more information here.

GET HELP WITH YOUR CBD MARKETING AND ADVERTISING

Consider backing up your content and SEO strategy with social media marketing. Although most platforms will ban advertisements for CBD, you usually have the freedom to post about CBD, just as long as you don’t violate any user guidelines.

Create an email newsletter to keep your customers informed about the latest developments at your company. You can also share your most recent content.

Naturally, many of these marketing tactics can be difficult. If you have a brand-new CBD business, you may not know where to start.

If you need help navigating the challenging world of CBD marketing, contact us and click here. We’ll provide you with a free consultation and show you how you can beat your competitors online.

Original Source: https://www.readygreen.com/cannabis-advertising/a-comprehensive-guide-to-cbd-advertising/

from Ready Green https://readygreen1.blogspot.com/2020/06/a-comprehensive-guide-to-cbd-advertising.html source https://readygreen1.tumblr.com/post/622300279707205632

[richardjewellcom]

A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO CBD ADVERTISING

A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO CBD ADVERTISING

by Richard Fong | 16 Apr 2019 | Blog, Cannabis Advertising | 0 comments

Whether you’re just starting your CBD business, or you’ve already launched, you may be concerned about the legal issues surrounding this burgeoning industry.

First off, know that you’re not alone. Market researchers believe the CBD (cannabidiol) industry will grow to $22 billion by 2022, having already rocketed up to $591 million in 2018. For reference, this industry was virtually non-existent just a few short years ago.

CBD is legal to sell at the federal level as long as it meets certain requirements — it must be derived from hemp, not marijuana, for example. But advertising your CBD products is much trickier.

While you have little chance of getting into any kind of legal trouble by advertising CBD products, you may have a hard time finding platforms (social media, publications, etc.) that will support your ads. That’s because the platforms themselves are concerned about the legal implications of CBD advertising. They are held responsible for their content, so they take all the risk in posting such ads.

Likely, your CBD advertising won’t give you the same results as ads placed by businesses in more mainstream industries. That’s why you should also back up your paid ads with a comprehensive inbound marketing campaign.

This guide will give you the details on how to navigate this landscape. 

https://www.readygreen.com/cbd-marketing

FOLLOWING STATE AND FEDERAL CBD LAWS

CBD is still in a legal gray area. At the time of this writing, 47 states allow the sale of CBD products in some form, but they have a strict definition of what CBD is and which products must be labeled a drug.

You can see a state-by-state chart of the country’s various cannabis programs on the National Conference of State Legislatures website, including the names of laws that may affect you. For example, here’s the listing for California:

(Source: NCSL)

Most important is the distinction between CBD derived from hemp and CBD derived from marijuana. Because hemp presents only trace amounts of the psychoactive chemical Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), it is considered legal in most circumstances. Marijuana, made from the leaves and flowers of the cannabis plant, is still classified as a drug and isn’t legal in every state (yet).

States and the federal government generally regulate cannabis products based on their quantity of THC. Legal hemp products, including CBD, must have no more than 0.3% of THC present to be considered legal, although this percentage may be lower in some states.

Additionally, the FDA has heightened its concern about CBD products due to the number of erroneous claims made by some producers implying that CBD products have distinct medical benefits. At present, many of the medical benefits of CBD oils, salves, and other products have not been scientifically proven, at least not to the point where they are accepted by the federal government.

At the time of this writing, there is only one drug comprised of an active ingredient derived from marijuana to treat illnesses. Epidiolex (cannabidiol) is an oral solution used to treat epilepsy. Dronabinol, a synthetic cannabinoid, is used to treat nausea and vomiting, but it is man-made and not actually a cannabis derivative.

Even if you believe your products do have medical benefits, do not make medical claims in your advertising. Use generalized claims or testimonials, and back up any claims with evidence from reliable sources.

CBD ADVERTISING ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Since you’ll be selling your CBD products mostly to consumers, it’s natural for you to want to advertise on social media.

Facebook alone has 2.5 billion people using at least one of its apps, and platforms like Twitter and Instagram are still immensely popular.

Unfortunately, all the major platforms have policies that ban the advertisement of cannabis products, including CBD products. There are a few things you can try to get around these policies. But, for the most part, you won’t be able to deploy ads for CBD products.

Here’s how the three major platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram, approach CBD.

FACEBOOK CBD ADVERTISING

Facebook forbids advertisements that depict drugs and drug-related products, including CBD. Pipes and other paraphernalia are also included in their ban.

This, however, does not mean you are barred from advertising on Facebook just because you are a CBD company (although you may have trouble if CBD is in your brand name or you use cannabis imagery in your logo). Facebook’s policies apply only to the content of your ads.

If you can get creative with your ads, you may be able to get your ads accepted. For example, depictions of people on your team, acceptable stock photography, and language that doesn’t imply that you sell CBD products may all be accepted by Facebook.

Here’s an example of something that might work:

(Source: Living With Pain on Facebook)

Nonetheless, your ads may not be very effective if you can’t advertise the very product you sell.

Keep in mind that these policies only apply to Facebook’s ads. You should have no problem creating a business page and posting organically to the platform — just stay aware of their policies regarding user content.

TWITTER CBD ADVERTISING

Twitter also has strict rules regarding its advertisements. For example, the platform does not allow the following in any of its ads:

Drug dispensaries

Depictions of hard drug use

Accessories associated with drug use (paraphernalia)

Illegal drugs

Herbal and recreational drugs

The ban on advertisements for “herbal” drugs or supplements all but eliminates any chance of CBD companies advertising on the platform.

However, you should have no problem posting organically to Twitter to promote your business. You may also try to get around this policy by being creative, but you may run into the same issues as you would on Facebook.

INSTAGRAM CBD ADVERTISING

Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012, so all the ad policies that apply to Facebook apply to Instagram as well.

SNAPCHAT CBD ADVERTISING

In its advertising policies, Snap Inc. prohibits ads that “depict drug use or excessive drinking.” Ads for pharmaceutical and healthcare products can only promote “those products or services that have been approved by the local regulatory authorities in each of the countries targeted.”

For the most part, Snapchat will not allow any type of cannabis advertisements to run on the platform. However, you should be able to post organically.

REDDIT CBD ADVERTISING

Reddit does not currently allow ads for CBD products:

(Source: Reddit)

Sec. II.3 states the following: “Advertisers may not use the Platform to promote the use or sale of hazardous, dangerous, or injurious products or services, including products subject to consumer recalls, explosive materials or fireworks, recreational drugs or substances, weapons, guns, ammunition, explosives, tobacco products, and related products or services.”

CBD ADVERTISING ON GOOGLE

Aside from the major social media platforms, there’s no more powerful advertising hub than the king of search, Google. Google still controls 37.2% of the digital ad market despite some recent gains by Amazon and Facebook.

Unfortunately, Google doesn’t allow the advertisement of CBD products, either. In fact, unlike other platforms, Google lists CBD specifically in their list of banned products:

(Source: Google)

CBD ADVERTISING IN PUBLICATIONS

The one area where you may have luck advertising your CBD products is in specific publications, both online and in print. Each publication sets their own advertising policy, and it’s a safe bet that cannabis-friendly magazines like High Times and Cannabis Culture won’t bat an eye at your advertisement.

Other publications may be receptive to your ads as well.

You may have to reach out to each publication individually to place an ad, however. This can be a time-consuming process. But since most of these publications already have a baked-in audience, you could still see significant returns on your investment.

MARKETING YOUR CBD PRODUCTS

While “marketing” is often used as a catch-all phrase to refer to advertising, branding, PR campaigns, etc., inbound marketing and digital marketing are distinct from paid advertising, and they should be an essential part of your CBD sales and marketing strategy.

The two most important marketing strategies in the CBD space are content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO).

Searches for cannabis and CBD products have spiked due to recent changes in state cannabis laws, public interest, and because of the mounting evidence that CBD provides numerous health benefits. The public is hungry for information about CBD, so they’re turning to Google and other search engines to find it.

If you run a company that sells CBD products, you have a unique opportunity to take advantage of this jump in public interest. You should research the keywords your customers are searching and build out content to address their search queries.

For example, we did our own research into CBD keywords and started generating a list:

You may need special tools to get this information, but you can also use Google’s Keyword Planner if you have Google Ads account.

Once you have a running list of keywords, use them to inform the types of blog and web content you produce. Make sure you’re posting content regularly, so your audience always has something new to look at. Search engines also prioritize websites that are updated frequently.

In addition to keywords, focus on generating backlinks to your website. Backlinks tell search engines that your website is authoritative and worth listing in search results.

The best backlinking strategy is to create helpful, informative content that people want to share and link to. However, you can also consider some of these strategies:

Guest blogging for relevant websites and publications

Asking customers or other bloggers to review your product

Creating unique resources or tools that people want to link to

Writing press releases

Listing your business in directories

Remember, you only want quality backlinks from reputable sources, and you should prioritize websites that are relevant to your own, more information here.

GET HELP WITH YOUR CBD MARKETING AND ADVERTISING

Consider backing up your content and SEO strategy with social media marketing. Although most platforms will ban advertisements for CBD, you usually have the freedom to post about CBD, just as long as you don’t violate any user guidelines.

Create an email newsletter to keep your customers informed about the latest developments at your company. You can also share your most recent content.

Naturally, many of these marketing tactics can be difficult. If you have a brand-new CBD business, you may not know where to start.

If you need help navigating the challenging world of CBD marketing, contact us and click here. We’ll provide you with a free consultation and show you how you can beat your competitors online.

Original Source: https://www.readygreen.com/cannabis-advertising/a-comprehensive-guide-to-cbd-advertising/

from https://readygreen1.blogspot.com/2020/06/a-comprehensive-guide-to-cbd-advertising.html

source https://readygreen1.weebly.com/blog/a-comprehensive-guide-to-cbd-advertising

[readygreen1]

A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO CBD ADVERTISING

A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO CBD ADVERTISING

by Richard Fong | 16 Apr 2019 | Blog, Cannabis Advertising | 0 comments

Whether you’re just starting your CBD business, or you’ve already launched, you may be concerned about the legal issues surrounding this burgeoning industry.

First off, know that you’re not alone. Market researchers believe the CBD (cannabidiol) industry will grow to $22 billion by 2022, having already rocketed up to $591 million in 2018. For reference, this industry was virtually non-existent just a few short years ago.

CBD is legal to sell at the federal level as long as it meets certain requirements — it must be derived from hemp, not marijuana, for example. But advertising your CBD products is much trickier.

While you have little chance of getting into any kind of legal trouble by advertising CBD products, you may have a hard time finding platforms (social media, publications, etc.) that will support your ads. That’s because the platforms themselves are concerned about the legal implications of CBD advertising. They are held responsible for their content, so they take all the risk in posting such ads.

Likely, your CBD advertising won’t give you the same results as ads placed by businesses in more mainstream industries. That’s why you should also back up your paid ads with a comprehensive inbound marketing campaign.

This guide will give you the details on how to navigate this landscape. 

https://www.readygreen.com/cbd-marketing

FOLLOWING STATE AND FEDERAL CBD LAWS

CBD is still in a legal gray area. At the time of this writing, 47 states allow the sale of CBD products in some form, but they have a strict definition of what CBD is and which products must be labeled a drug.

You can see a state-by-state chart of the country’s various cannabis programs on the National Conference of State Legislatures website, including the names of laws that may affect you. For example, here’s the listing for California:

(Source: NCSL)

Most important is the distinction between CBD derived from hemp and CBD derived from marijuana. Because hemp presents only trace amounts of the psychoactive chemical Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), it is considered legal in most circumstances. Marijuana, made from the leaves and flowers of the cannabis plant, is still classified as a drug and isn’t legal in every state (yet).

States and the federal government generally regulate cannabis products based on their quantity of THC. Legal hemp products, including CBD, must have no more than 0.3% of THC present to be considered legal, although this percentage may be lower in some states.

Additionally, the FDA has heightened its concern about CBD products due to the number of erroneous claims made by some producers implying that CBD products have distinct medical benefits. At present, many of the medical benefits of CBD oils, salves, and other products have not been scientifically proven, at least not to the point where they are accepted by the federal government.

At the time of this writing, there is only one drug comprised of an active ingredient derived from marijuana to treat illnesses. Epidiolex (cannabidiol) is an oral solution used to treat epilepsy. Dronabinol, a synthetic cannabinoid, is used to treat nausea and vomiting, but it is man-made and not actually a cannabis derivative.

Even if you believe your products do have medical benefits, do not make medical claims in your advertising. Use generalized claims or testimonials, and back up any claims with evidence from reliable sources.

CBD ADVERTISING ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Since you’ll be selling your CBD products mostly to consumers, it’s natural for you to want to advertise on social media.

Facebook alone has 2.5 billion people using at least one of its apps, and platforms like Twitter and Instagram are still immensely popular.

Unfortunately, all the major platforms have policies that ban the advertisement of cannabis products, including CBD products. There are a few things you can try to get around these policies. But, for the most part, you won’t be able to deploy ads for CBD products.

Here’s how the three major platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram, approach CBD.

FACEBOOK CBD ADVERTISING

Facebook forbids advertisements that depict drugs and drug-related products, including CBD. Pipes and other paraphernalia are also included in their ban.

This, however, does not mean you are barred from advertising on Facebook just because you are a CBD company (although you may have trouble if CBD is in your brand name or you use cannabis imagery in your logo). Facebook’s policies apply only to the content of your ads.

If you can get creative with your ads, you may be able to get your ads accepted. For example, depictions of people on your team, acceptable stock photography, and language that doesn’t imply that you sell CBD products may all be accepted by Facebook.

Here’s an example of something that might work:

(Source: Living With Pain on Facebook)

Nonetheless, your ads may not be very effective if you can’t advertise the very product you sell.

Keep in mind that these policies only apply to Facebook’s ads. You should have no problem creating a business page and posting organically to the platform — just stay aware of their policies regarding user content.

TWITTER CBD ADVERTISING

Twitter also has strict rules regarding its advertisements. For example, the platform does not allow the following in any of its ads:

Drug dispensaries

Depictions of hard drug use

Accessories associated with drug use (paraphernalia)

Illegal drugs

Herbal and recreational drugs

The ban on advertisements for “herbal” drugs or supplements all but eliminates any chance of CBD companies advertising on the platform.

However, you should have no problem posting organically to Twitter to promote your business. You may also try to get around this policy by being creative, but you may run into the same issues as you would on Facebook.

INSTAGRAM CBD ADVERTISING

Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012, so all the ad policies that apply to Facebook apply to Instagram as well.

SNAPCHAT CBD ADVERTISING

In its advertising policies, Snap Inc. prohibits ads that “depict drug use or excessive drinking.” Ads for pharmaceutical and healthcare products can only promote “those products or services that have been approved by the local regulatory authorities in each of the countries targeted.”

For the most part, Snapchat will not allow any type of cannabis advertisements to run on the platform. However, you should be able to post organically.

REDDIT CBD ADVERTISING

Reddit does not currently allow ads for CBD products:

(Source: Reddit)

Sec. II.3 states the following: “Advertisers may not use the Platform to promote the use or sale of hazardous, dangerous, or injurious products or services, including products subject to consumer recalls, explosive materials or fireworks, recreational drugs or substances, weapons, guns, ammunition, explosives, tobacco products, and related products or services.”

CBD ADVERTISING ON GOOGLE

Aside from the major social media platforms, there’s no more powerful advertising hub than the king of search, Google. Google still controls 37.2% of the digital ad market despite some recent gains by Amazon and Facebook.

Unfortunately, Google doesn’t allow the advertisement of CBD products, either. In fact, unlike other platforms, Google lists CBD specifically in their list of banned products:

(Source: Google)

CBD ADVERTISING IN PUBLICATIONS

The one area where you may have luck advertising your CBD products is in specific publications, both online and in print. Each publication sets their own advertising policy, and it’s a safe bet that cannabis-friendly magazines like High Times and Cannabis Culture won’t bat an eye at your advertisement.

Other publications may be receptive to your ads as well.

You may have to reach out to each publication individually to place an ad, however. This can be a time-consuming process. But since most of these publications already have a baked-in audience, you could still see significant returns on your investment.

MARKETING YOUR CBD PRODUCTS

While “marketing” is often used as a catch-all phrase to refer to advertising, branding, PR campaigns, etc., inbound marketing and digital marketing are distinct from paid advertising, and they should be an essential part of your CBD sales and marketing strategy.

The two most important marketing strategies in the CBD space are content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO).

Searches for cannabis and CBD products have spiked due to recent changes in state cannabis laws, public interest, and because of the mounting evidence that CBD provides numerous health benefits. The public is hungry for information about CBD, so they’re turning to Google and other search engines to find it.

If you run a company that sells CBD products, you have a unique opportunity to take advantage of this jump in public interest. You should research the keywords your customers are searching and build out content to address their search queries.

For example, we did our own research into CBD keywords and started generating a list:

You may need special tools to get this information, but you can also use Google’s Keyword Planner if you have Google Ads account.

Once you have a running list of keywords, use them to inform the types of blog and web content you produce. Make sure you’re posting content regularly, so your audience always has something new to look at. Search engines also prioritize websites that are updated frequently.

In addition to keywords, focus on generating backlinks to your website. Backlinks tell search engines that your website is authoritative and worth listing in search results.

The best backlinking strategy is to create helpful, informative content that people want to share and link to. However, you can also consider some of these strategies:

Guest blogging for relevant websites and publications

Asking customers or other bloggers to review your product

Creating unique resources or tools that people want to link to

Writing press releases

Listing your business in directories

Remember, you only want quality backlinks from reputable sources, and you should prioritize websites that are relevant to your own, more information here.

GET HELP WITH YOUR CBD MARKETING AND ADVERTISING

Consider backing up your content and SEO strategy with social media marketing. Although most platforms will ban advertisements for CBD, you usually have the freedom to post about CBD, just as long as you don’t violate any user guidelines.

Create an email newsletter to keep your customers informed about the latest developments at your company. You can also share your most recent content.

Naturally, many of these marketing tactics can be difficult. If you have a brand-new CBD business, you may not know where to start.

If you need help navigating the challenging world of CBD marketing, contact us and click here. We’ll provide you with a free consultation and show you how you can beat your competitors online.

Original Source: https://www.readygreen.com/cannabis-advertising/a-comprehensive-guide-to-cbd-advertising/

from Ready Green https://readygreen1.blogspot.com/2020/06/a-comprehensive-guide-to-cbd-advertising.html

[jenivadiamonds]

The Impact of Sudden Unemployment

 Preface

           The past seven years of my life have been a roller coaster of events that culminated at the development and successful launch of The Exponentials an online magazine and editorial that concerns itself with raising awareness on the issues surrounding unemployment and the impacts it has on the individual and the society at large. After being fired from my teaching job I have had for almost seven years, I became depressed and wallowed in misery, shame that came with what I saw as my downfall. It was during these hard times that my mum and siblings stuck with me and helped me build a career from scratch, and I found the most beautiful thing “love”. This story however would not be complete nor fair without the mention of the input of my now husband Chike Austin, a stranger turned best friend; confidant and business partner who pushed me to look outside the realms of teaching and helped me in building this business idea to what it is today. Am also appreciative of second chances, that brought my life together once again.

The Impact of Sudden Unemployment

“I have lost my job.” Saying this loud to my sick mum Tessy sounded so alien. I felt ashamed and concerned at the same time about the possibility of the hard times ahead. No matter how casual the statement may sound, its impacts on an individual are immense and far reaching. Thousands of individuals, not just in the United States but globally, lose their source of income every day; this trend is not a preserve of underdeveloped nations rather also hugely affects an alarmingly high number of people in developed economies too. According to Marinescu Ioana (17), “the impacts of not having a stable source of income for a long time can be quite devastating - especially for individuals who have families, since their inability to provide spells doom for those who are dependent on the fired individual”. Losing my job had come as a shock not just to me and my colleagues at work, but also to my mum, who knew how much I was dedicated to my professional life. Prior to this I had the perception that the loss of a job came because of bad luck and lack of commitment on the part of the employee; but having to go through it gave me a new perspective on the issue; I no longer felt callous toward unemployed individuals.

The news had evidently hit my mother way harder than it hit me; I felt guilty. “What are we going to do,” my mum stammered amidst the uncontrollable tears running down our faces since I first broke the news. I will get another job; two, if I have to I replied, trying to mask the uncertainty that all of a sudden seemed so real. She looked so lost, I realize the situation was more serious than I really had thought it was. The look on her face said a lot of the deep thoughts that must have been razing through her mind at the time. She became really sick immediately I finished my highschool. She was beautiful with long dark hair and also very healthy looking, until suddenly from what we thought was a little fever to so many years later of a deteriorating illness. At the time, my elder sister was finishing from college, so I had to work as a teacher in a local elementary school, took care of our mum and also went to adult night school, so that my sister wouldn’t have to drop out to help at home. We had gone through our share of arguments and fights but never for once had I seen the defeated look she had at this moment. It broke my heart to see the worries in her eyes.  I saw the fear that everything might come crashing down at my feet, which was a scary thing to witness. I felt I understood am almost about to lose my mind just looking at my sick mother look defeated.

For over two years, the school I worked for has been laying off employees who were working in other locations that had been opened in various parts of the country as part of a long term-strategy to incorporate a lean workforce. This had been triggered by the decline in funds and incomes due to the economic crisis that was crippling the world economy. It was a little kept secret that the Education Ministry at the time was embezzling the money mapped out for developments and reconstruction, prior to the economic crisis and had even done worse under the new management that had taken over after the ousting of the previous management team. There had been hushed rumors among the workers that we all were in a sinking ship however none of us wished to resign just yet, hoping that things might turn around for the better and the downsizing would not affect the branch we were working in. When the downsizing at the office began with the firing of a few non-academic staffers, things began spiraling and going to work every day was like a game of Russian roulette. As I headed to work each morning, I kept wondering who would be let go that day or week. The impact of such a stressful work environment coupled with the uncertainty of whether you will be out of work tomorrow had taken a toll on the performance of the employees and within a few weeks there were reports of various complaints that had been filed by the parents and teachers as well. 

Over the course of my working and adult life I had not any bank loan and this gave me a relief that I might have it a little easier than some of my colleagues. The in-home lesson job I had taken up at few of my pupils house, had also aided me in clearing the student loan that I had accumulated over my days in college. As such in comparison to how bad some of my colleagues had it, I would argue that I had it a little bit easier. Additionally, I was lucky to have helped my dad complete the payment of the mortgage that we had taken on the family house. As such, this meant that my immediate concern was to ensure that I took care of my personal needs, my mum’s medical bills and most of the time daily meals for me and my younger ones. However, this was made more complicated by the lack of any meaning full savings and this meant that I had to find a job quickly. Despite all these concerns now I knew that the supplies that were already in the house and the few hundred dollars that I still had in my account would at least give me the start I needed. I decided to take a week off to get my thoughts straightened out before deciding on the next best course of action not just for me but for my family. Thinking about it now, I realize this decision was made of the shock that I was in at the time which could not allow me to plan my thoughts. at the time it seemed the most logical and reasoned thing to do.

As the week progressed, I did almost nothing to salvage myself from the situation that I had found myself in, except the effort to link up with some of my old friends and relations contacts, some of whom I had not seen or talked to in over three years. It was at this time that I got an interesting email from a long time contact I had been in contact with during my carefree days as a caterer, baker and home delivery cook. Beyond these futile attempts at getting over my now regularly grumbled mood and constant state of depression, I maintained my status as a passive sore unemployed loser. As the weeks rolled by depression was becoming more and more of a reality as households needs and bills began to pile each day. Things had gone from bad to worse; I had been out looking for menial jobs with no success and it was no secret that also things were getting bad at the home front. I would regularly get home, so tired from walking around or sitting at a place with a childhood friend who also had been ousted from his high paying job only to lose all his money, house, and family. This was where I was headed, I kept telling myself.

During this period, my mum kept urging me to revive my freelance translating career, though I knew it could pay, I somehow succeeded in putting it off for a long time. This was undoubtedly one of the lowest points of my life. I had fallen from a level where I was able to provide a comfortable life for my family to where I was depending on a few scraps here and there. It was however through him that I was finally able to get a breakthrough soon to receive an urgent translation order with an attractive pay. This opened a lot of doors not just in terms of opportunities to finally earn some cash and raise myself from what was evidently going to be a story of personal destruction. With a high level of expertise and long-term experience coupled by the urge to get things right, soon enough I had more than a few referrals from various parts of the world. With the high quality of writings, and even though the freelancing gig could provide a temporary reprieve from the lack of a way to provide for the basic needs in the home front, I fully realized that it would not go for long. 

Amid my adversities, I became acquainted with a client named Chike all the way from Africa. This client played an important role in my subsequent redemption from the low depths of life that I had resigned myself to. The name according to him was given to him by his grandmother based on the time he was born; which was the late evenings when the village goats were coming back from the grazing fields. Despite the huge and probably incomparable cultural and social circumstances and settings, which both of us had been born and raised, it was hard to imagine how he would have ended up being friends and playing a huge part in both of our futures. At first, he wanted a part of his novel to be translated and rectified in terms of subject verb agreements and all the rules of professional writing, (Carley, Micheal, and Phillipe Spapens), and I accepted his request for the same. After the first part was approved and the interest that the progress had raised in me, I was interested in asking him about the rest of the novel and whether it would need any type of help considering that the first part had been successfully published. 

After several days of correspondence, managing and working together on the book, we ended up becoming very good online friends. Just like me, he too was once unemployed and had taken up the gig of writing opinion editorials for some of the little-known online magazines and newspapers. With a common interest on the writing and publishing field for income, we continued to talk about the differences that existed between both countries in terms of job opportunities and the quality of life for citizens in our respective countries (Marinescu, Ioana, and Roland Rathelot). I soon introduced him to my mum and family, through video calls that were later to become a norm for a long time and he too introduced me to his family. It was a surprise to both of us that indeed there were various fundamental similarities that were apparent between both nations and the similarity in challenges facing people from developed countries such as our great USA countries. The challenges faced, the concerns used by lack of job opportunities, the impacts that this phenomenon uses not just on the individual and their family but on the nation was also a topic that never failed to come up every time we conversed.

It was during these kinds of conversation that my perspective on work changed, Chike had a very interesting view of how work should be viewed especially in the current technological world. Technology has exponentially grown to a point where an individual does not need to be at a locale to be part of a workforce. This has fundamentally hanged the concept of the workplace and the work setting through enabling individuals to work form any given place if they have access to the internet and a personal computer. Chike encouraged me to look for opportunities from diverse industries and areas other than just sending my credentials and applications to companies working within the Educational industry alone. This helped me a lot in quitting the mentality that has been commonly characterized by the saying that ‘The man is for work, not work for the man.” It was during this journey of self-discovery that I came to realize and discover what I truly wanted out of life both in a personal level and at a professional level. It was also during this time that I felt that I had the inspiration to identify my goals in life and consequently developed the plan to do so. 

           While this seems like fate, it was during one of our long conversations on life in Nigeria and the United States that the idea of developing an online magazine and platform was born. At first, we intended that the site would cater for the professional unemployed individuals all over the world could post online jobs and share experiences was born. This however was just but an idea and we knew that making it a reality would not only be challenging but would require a substantial amount of financial backing, money which at the time we did not have. First, it would be important to do the necessary research and get all the legal documentation ready not just in the US but also back in Nigeria. While I was preparing myself in the US, I was surprised two-days later when Chike got in touch saying that his part in the Nigerian capital had been complete. It came as surprise only to learn that most if the regulations covering the use and ownership of most sites in the nation were not under any sort of regularized framework. While this was a shock it also was an advantage not just to us but it meant a lot more people in and around the nation would easily access the site. Chike, my soon to be business partner, planned and flew to the US and stayed with us for a few months before moving out to his own apartment.

Life was beginning to take a good shape, and I felt that I was finally doing something that was not only fulfilling but had the potential to really take off and earn me and my family a comfortable lifestyle. At this point my mum had started recovering, she had seen me through the worst part of my lowest points in life and now I could see a spark of light at the end of a long and dark tunnel. I soon visited the bank and after asking for loans from close friends and confidants, who still had trust in me, we were able to fully fund the development of an operational online magazine and editorial that also supported the posting of various jobs at a fee. Within a year from the date the site went live, traffic had grown substantially and soon we had to move from the garage office that we were occupying and rented a bigger office space. The journey to where we were at that time had been full of ups and downs but we had finally managed to capture a small but important piece of the online magazine market with significant income. Sometimes, I am surprised that I can still identify myself with my old self before I lost my job, despite the life changing experience I went through. However, I believe this can be attributed to the strong and sometimes commanding nature of the people who were able to guide and push me during the lowest points of life when I thought I would never again be able to provide for my family. The role of Chike and his family towards the successful redemption and bounce back cannot be understated; as I look at my family now, and the smiles they have I know we will be able to overcome anything together.

After two years of starting our business, Chike and I started dating. Although I knew I had a thing for him through all the years of being two unemployed online friends trying to make ends meet. A year after we went out the first time he proposed, and we later got married at the Notre Dame Catholic Church Houston, Texas. It was a glorious day in our lives, because I got to meet his mother, whole family and friends that flew in to be part of our beautiful day. Also if I must say, the life we are living now was of our own making. You have to get up and move on, life waits for no one. Do not procrastinate or feel defeated, you will get there, it might only take time. Our business is flourishing, so am grateful to God and the universe for bringing us together through unemployment. From my bad experience I got to be with someone I love and do something meaningful with my life again. According to (Margaret Linn, Richard Sandifer, Shayna Stein) on the article “Effects of unemployment on mental illness and physical health.” Our mental health has a lot to do with our emotional and physical health. We humans are relentless, we can do anything we set our minds to.

                        Work Cited

 Carley, Michael, and Phillipe Spapens. “Sharing the world: sustainable living and global equity in the 21st century”. Routledge, 2017.

Edward Moore, Kennedy. “The challenges before us”. Am Psychol. 1984 Jan;39(1):62–66. American Public Health Association. Web. June 13, 2019.

Margaret W., Linn, and Richard, Sandifer. Shayna, Stein., “Effects of unemployment on mental and physical health”. 75, 502-506. NCBI (May 1985). American Journal of Public Health. Web. June 13, 2019. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1646287/pdf/amjph00281-0056.pdf

Marinescu, Ioana, and Roland Rathelot. "Mismatch unemployment and the geography of job search." American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 10.3 (2018): 42-70.

Marinescu, Ioana. "The general equilibrium impacts of unemployment insurance: Evidence from a large online job board." Journal of Public Economics 150 (2017): 14-29

[runthejoint-blog]

The Perfect Storm



Treatment begins



Sitting in the Consultant’s office on July 1st, 2 and a half weeks before my 30th birthday I was told that my anti-CCP antibodies were strongly positive at 189. A normal reading of 0-17 is considered normal, if it had been 25 there might have been some doubt, a test here or there may have been done. But 189 was definitive. My diagnosis is seropositive rheumatoid arthritis.

What follows is a blur of medical jargon, various definitions of ‘normal’, numerous explanations of how for now I am ‘abnormal’ or have a ‘new normal’. Very little is known about what causes rheumatoid arthritis. It can be genetic (there is no history in our family), it can be the result of stressful events (hi there, last 12 months of my life), putting your body under too much high intensity physical exertion (guilty as charged) or a plethora of other factors. I will never know how or why I became classified as seropositive rheumatoid arthritis. I’ve decided there is little point dwelling on it or speculating, it makes an already stressful and frustrating situation even more so. As my dear friend Debra who herself has suffered a life-changing physical event over the past few months (and far more catastrophic than my own) says: This is our new normal. As my Consultant summarised it; everything has come together in a perfect storm for you and right now, as you sit here, you are in the eye of that storm, but it’s my job to help you weather it.



And then he said something that I appreciated more than anything else he could have said at that moment. He told me it was ok to feel angry and frustrated. For someone who doesn’t sit around for long (unless I have a good book in hand), who feels that I haven’t lived the day without getting my heart rate up to threshold and who is more comfortable in cycling kit/running shoes/a swimsuit (not in the glamour photoshoot sense, more submerged in water) being on enforced rest partly through medical advice, but also because my body just can’t do it right now it is the most frustrating, dare I say, depressing prospect. He told me he knew it was deeply unfair. That someone who was referred to a cardiologist earlier in the year for having a heart rate so low it scared my own GP was now confined to a largely sedentary period. 



Signs of a great doctor, in my opinion, are if they take the time to explain a condition and its treatment, but most of all, that they leave the decision-making for treatment with you. After all, it is your body after all. So I could start a course of steroids (they work well short term, but we all know steroids long-term is a really terrible idea), I could start on the most common form of treatment - Methotrexate (it is the magic pill for many, but has some horrific-sounding side effects and takes quite a while to build up into your system), I could take on a combination of daily steroids for a short term period of a month or two with a weekly dose of Methotrexate with a chaser of folic acid (to help reduce the risk of toxicity to the liver - told you the side effects didn’t sound a barrel of laughs) or I could do nothing (he didn’t advise this, if I thought I felt bad now, come back and see him in a few months, crippled and begging). So unsurprisingly we settled on the combination therapy of steroids in the short term whilst I get Methotrexate into my system. So now I have a drug diary (I am yet to take the plunge and buy a natty plastic pill organiser with the days of the week on - the OAP version of pants with the days of the week on from when you were a small child?!) and have a fortnightly visit to the GP surgery for blood tests to keep an eye on liver and kidney function and blood toxicity. In a couple of weeks I will have my follow up appointment with a base chest X-ray - partly to monitor whether the RA starts to affect my lungs, but also to spot whether the drugs damage them too (win-win, or lose-lose) and have had to enter territory hitherto unknown to me: being kind to my body and listening to it.


A new normal

For too long my training strategy for cycling or more recently running was to push through the pain. Don’t worry if your lungs/knees/hamstrings/shoulders/feet hurt, the pain will be temporary. Just finish this effort. Get that PB. Shave all of a second off your previous time. No one else is probably at all interested, but to me (and someone whose own addiction to similar behaviour had too much of an influence on me at the time) that was what mattered. I may agonise for hours, days, weeks afterwards that I hadn’t done well enough in my (or their) eyes. When I finished running a 5k, 10k, 10 mile or half marathon distance I found it impossible to say to myself: well done for getting out there, that head wind made it tough, still further than you’ve run before. Instead it was, why didn’t I run as fast or easily as before, why can’t I run as well as so and so, why do I feel so tired? I actually probably felt so tired because I was overtraining, not eating enough and not getting enough rest. Unlike cycling where you can tuck in with a pack or sit on someone’s wheel, it’s very hard to fake it with running. It has to be your own effort and only your mind and body can really be in control of what happens.

I have no training strategy right now. I have some ideas. I have hopes (many) and dreams (a few). I turned 30 a couple of weeks ago and rather than celebrating with an epic bike ride as I would have done any other year I had a quick dip in the sea before focusing my celebrations on cake consumption. I’m trying to swim as much as I can, initially I would swim in the sea before or during my work day as a relaxation for both body and mind. Some recent storms and a busy period at work have meant that I’ve started swimming in the local lido instead. It’s taking some adjusting going from an empty, endless ocean to swimming in a busy and chaotic pool. It’s not just the number of people that are different though. I have to force myself to relax when swimming in the pool, to not focus on what others are doing, not panic that I’m not swimming fast enough. I am trying to only look at my watch to see what time I get in and then make sure I’m out in time to shower and get to work. My addiction to pace is never far away though. I try and force it from my mind. Breathe deeply and say it doesn’t matter, but it lurks in the shadows, wanting to overtake my thoughts. This worry about not doing well enough and not putting in as much effort as others or getting as good a result as in the past (when I was at peak fitness) at times can be all-consuming and soul destroying.

A couple of months ago a very close friend said they had quit Strava (the cycling, running and swimming recording app) as they were fed up with the negative feeling that had when they couldn’t cycle following an operation and seeing others out and about made them feel worse; not to mention feeling like they had to agree to cycle with people for fear they would see their ride and would feel cut out. I said I had toyed with the idea for a while, and the closest I had got at that point was to stop following a huge number of people and focus instead on those who I was really interested in seeing out and about and who I didn’t feel I had to ‘compete with’; both in terms of cycling and running performance, but increasingly with sport:life balance. Then another friend on hearing my diagnosis and my frustration said to throw away the Garmin, stop looking at Strava and cycle based on feel and not by numbers. And so I did. I logged out on my phone and have filed the app away. I don’t miss it in the slightest. My only regret is that there are some people who aren’t on other social media platforms that I actually used Strava to keep in touch with. I know a number of you reading this probably use Strava and for a long time it kept me motivated, particularly when I moved to the States and didn’t know anyone or have the confidence to join the local bike club. Waking up and seeing that friends at home had gone out for a ride got me moving. But then the pleasure went. I would spend too long looking at it, comparing my times and in the end not being able to see why I might not be improving at something. Getting frustrated seeing that other people (who were at a completely different stage of life to me) could spend so much more time cycling and running than I could. Now I see Strava very negatively as a platform for people to log their rides and get boosted by those around them. It’s not real interaction. For many it’s not a healthy tool; it’s something that makes them feel inadequate, for others it’s a way to show off their results - yes you got a PR at your ParkRun, but do you really need to tell the whole world. When did running or cycling have to be dictated by your watch or a little screen on your handlebars? Why not just get out there and enjoy being with those you are with, or focus on the no doubt beautiful surroundings? There are t-shirts that say ‘If it’s not on Strava did it even happen?’ and ‘If I crash, someone pause my Strava’… I get that these are tongue in cheek, but for some people this really is their concern. This little orange app on their iPhone increasingly rules their life, their training routine is dictated by it. Not only is it concerning to me from a mental health point of view, but from a physical standpoint too. I will never know whether my RA was caused by too much physical exertion, it’s certainly a possibility. The number of people I know who have chesty coughs they can’t shift because they feel they need to keep cycling even though they are ill (to hit their Strava weekly mileage target), who end up with aches and pains by trying to keep up with their friends’ annual mileage and work beyond their physical limits or in the most extreme cases take unnecessary risks on the bike to get a KOM or QOM on a ‘segment’ increasingly astounds me. I know that these thoughts may not be popular, and it’s just my personal opinion of Strava from experience. If you use it and enjoy it, keep at it. But take a few minutes and think, do you enjoy it for the right reason? Do you ever do stuff you shouldn’t in hope of seeing a little gold circle, cup or crown? Is it really worth it?

What a difference a year makes…

This time a year ago I was completing day one of 14 days and 1,000 miles of back-to-back cycling to complete Land’s End-John o’Groats. I was probably at one of the fittest points of my life, certainly in terms of cycling. Little phased me. The lumpier the ride, the better. The longer the distance, the bigger the challenge, the more it would push me physically, the more appeal it had. And then my body said enough. 

Looking back there may have been signs as far back as a year ago that I was beginning to have some issues with my body, but on the whole the 14 days whilst a challenge were totally achievable. Today I feel exhausted if I work a full day in the office and try and do some form of gentle exercise whether swimming or Pilates (two sessions in and I’m disappointed to report there is no sign of a six pack yet). The sofa is my territory on weekend afternoons. Not out of choice, but out of necessity when I run out of steam.

I don’t know what lies ahead in terms of physical challenge, whether I can expect to be able to sign up for some multi-day challenges next year or some one day classics. I am trying to focus on the here and now, getting out there if I feel good, but also not chastising myself if I feel whacked. At the beginning of July I ran a 10k trail run with a very good friend. We had planned it pre-diagnosis and I thought of it as a kind of last hurrah (I still don’t know if I’ll ever be allowed to get back to running), and how hard could 10k be? Well to say I ran it would actually be a complete lie. I managed two miles before my lungs, heart rate and feet started to wail and the heat of the hottest day of the year got too much. And so began a highly frustrating walk-run routine. I would walk and recover and think I could run, only for a few minutes later to feel completely wiped out once more. As we eventually neared the finish line (a 10k course which was actually over 7 miles) I was told there was a small climb to the finish and I spurred the man next to me on to run to the line and in the last moment managed to get my foot over the line in front of him (the finish strong mentality is still very much there, thanks Kevin!). As we crossed the line and I hugged my friend, something completely unexpected happened. My face and clothes that were soaked through with sweat and from being hosed down by spectators, were now being moistened by salty tears, uncontrollable tears flooding down my cheeks. I was frustrated. I was angry. I was mourning my former self. I mourn the fact that a few months ago a 10k was effortless, that a few months ago I had planned to run the 50km ultra marathon of the same event, that I will go home and be wiped out for days by it. 

I constantly have to tell myself that it’s good I can still exercise at all, that I still have a fairly normally functioning body that means in time I will be able to cycle again, that I can swim, do yoga, Pilates and walk. And I should be grateful for that. I feel bad that I moan so much when a couple of close friends have become stricken by incredibly unfair events in recent months and currently are not able to use their bodies much at all. I feel guilty and selfish that I get so angry at feeling so restricted. I laugh when friends tell me they admire my positivity (I feel so lacking in positivity). Nothing stops the emptiness and inadequacy I feel at not being able to get out and live the life that until a few months ago I thought was unlimited.

[rickmaniacforever-blog]

Searching for Greatness

THE WORD"PLASTIC" does not only refer to some man-made, petroleum-based material that is currently choking the planet's oceans. Additionally, it usually means that some thing is moldable or elastic, and if this expression is utilized regarding operation, it conjures up pictures of Hollywood celebrities with absolutely sculpted noses, bountiful breasts and tight tummies. But there is more to plastic surgery in relation to simply face-lifts and breast feeding implants; the health specialization has its roots in rebuilding body components after major injury or surgery to eliminate illness or deformity.

Whether you are attempting to improve your bust for aesthetic motives or rebuild a breast following a mastectomy to take care of breast cancer, then the more plastic surgeon will be your physician that will assist you realize your objective.

These surgeons frequently work on a selection of various body parts. In each one these cases, you would like to have an experienced attorney who has worked in plenty of similar scenarios.

"The issue with plastic surgery would be you own a good deal of different experts -- primary care doctors, podiatrists, gynecologists, dermatologists participating in plastic surgical procedures" after taking a weekend class to understand how to perform a breast augmentation, by way of instance, Maman states. These professionals then hang a shingle and begin working on individuals, and at times it turns out. "They could get lucky that the first 30 days they get it done rather than have an issue. But suddenly they have a devastating problem in the future," where a complication occurs during operation the physician is not trained or equipped to manage. Fixing the problem can take a few, expensive surgical surgeries.

There is nothing inherently illegal in practicing out your field of specialization, though Maman notes that he would probably be held responsible for prosecution if the process went wrong. "As a naturopathic plastic surgeon, then I will decide that I will get rid of a brain tumor should I need. There is no state law which prohibits you from doing this. As soon as you've got a medical level, you can do anything you desire. The issue is, I really don't understand how to do this and the patient is not likely to perform well."

"The important thing is selecting a plastic surgeon who is board-certified from the American Board of Plastic Surgery, interval," he states. The ABPS accounts there are approximately 6,800 board-certified plastic surgeons practicing in the USA.

Maman says it is important to check out the site of surgeons you are considering to ascertain their qualifications. "Everyone under sunlight states in their bio they're a naturopathic physician. Which board certified is the secret." It's possible to confirm if it's the surgeon you are considering is accredited by the ABPS throughout the site .

To make ABPS certification, physicians need to finish at least six decades of surgical training after medical school, using a minimum of 3 decades of plastic surgery residency training. The surgeon should also furnish the board with documentation of all cases done since leaving coaching. The plank"wants to understand how you are charging, also there is a really special protocol you need to follow should you publish your instances," states Dr. Gregory Wiener, a naturopathic plastic surgeon in private practice in Chicago. "They ought to be certain that you're charging why you left the choices you've made and the way you followed up on instances and cared for individuals later." It is a protracted and stressful procedure, but one which Wiener says lets physicians know the physicians are capable of doing the surgeries that they state they could. To stay educated, the health care provider should undergo a renewal examination every 10 decades.

Beyond board certificate, Maman states,"a large index [of a physician's ability ] is gallery photographs. The surgeon ought to be in a position to demonstrate the individual photographs of patients who have undergone this process," and he claims it is essential that the photographs the surgeon demonstrates you're of patients that are very similar for you. "Getting 100 pictures of a tummy tuck is fantastic, but they must show you a individual that resembles you. Not every individual is precisely the exact same. An individual may be lean, an individual may be fat. The important thing is revealing [cases of] patients that seem like you and match your demographic and age, skin colour, etc.."

Maman says you need to also ask the physician for testimonials from prior patients. "We provide our patients the chance to talk with an earlier patient who is experienced that process. And , I attempt to fit them. I am not likely to have a truly 62-year-old woman who has experienced a tummy tuck speak having a 32-year-old lady because their encounters will be wholly different. I attempt to fit them as tightly as you can," he states.

Many times, these processes don't result from the desirable aesthetic result , leaving patients with illnesses that may lead to disfigurement. "I have seen a great deal of individuals return with issues that I wind up fixing," Wiener says.

Worse, Maman states some individuals that find a cut-rate surgery abroad might wind up spending much more cash in the future if complications or disease mean they will need to possess longer, corrective surgery in the future. "It is incredibly dangerous. From the U.S. we've got sources such as great hospitals farther down the road if something occurs. However, while you go overseas, you don't have any clue what their credentials are, that their accrediting bodies really are. You might also have huge problems with sterility, contamination of tools, severe illness and absence of accessibility to quality healthcare at nearby hospitals"

Even inside the U.S., Wiener says remaining closer to home might be the better choice. Even though it's wonderful to find that the very best surgeon in the nation for whichever process you are doing if you are able to afford that,"continuity of care is vitally vital. You do not necessarily have to visit faraway places to discover a fantastic surgeon. Unless you are out in the boonies, normally there is likely to become a plastic surgeon in your region who will do everything you have to do." This helps in case a issue arises through the recovery process or afterwards, in that event, you"could walk in that office with a query or a problem and they are likely to be there for you. That is vital," he states.

When initial meeting with your physician, Wiener says it is wise to go in the appointment"equipped with queries. Ask in their certificate. Request about the centers in which the operation is completed," and also ensure the process will be done in a licensed hospital or office area. "Request about what happens if there is a crisis. Ask about the restoration and the risks of this process. Ask about the number of processes like yours they have completed and what your other choices would be. Ask to see images of this physician's work. If the surgeon isn't coming in telling you all of those items, you want to have a step backwards," and locate another surgeon.

Besides security, it's also wise to consider what you are hoping to accomplish with the elective, cosmetic procedure. Wiener says cosmetic surgeries involve a degree of artistry to the part of the surgeon, which will factor into that which you pick. "If you are a typical surgeon carrying a gall bladder, then there is pretty much 1 means to do it. With plastic surgery there is all sorts of nuances. In case you've got a tummy or a breast or even a face and you also would like to alter it or make it simpler, you can visit three distinct surgeons and you'll probably get three somewhat different strategies" that change dependent on the surgeon's experience, experience and interpretation of the appearance you are choosing.

And herein lies a possible stumbling block for a number of patients. Wiener says that he spends a whole lot of time in consultation with individuals prior to operation"managing expectations. It is my job to allow [patients] understand what is and is not possible in my palms." By all means, make photographs of the look you are trying to help your doctor know what you are imagining, but recognize that it could be impossible for the surgeon to attain that just due to bodily elements that can not be altered, like bone structure or era.

SCHEDULE A CONSULTATION

Interested in know about your plastic surgery options?  Whether you are thinking about having cosmetic surgery, a non-surgical procedure or have had prior surgery and are seeking additional touch-ups, it is critical to work with a skilled plastic surgeon that specializes in facial procedures. Dr. Robert Sheffield is a board-certified facial plastic surgeon at SB Aesthetics offering services to those in Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, San Luis Obispo, Oxnard and Ventura, CA, and the surrounding communities.  Dr. Sheffield offers patients a customized treatment plan and is available to answer your questions. To schedule a consultation, call 805.318.3280 today.

SB Aesthetics

https://sbaesthetics.com 2320 BATH ST #203 SANTA BARBARA, CA 93105 P: [phone] E: [email protected]

#santa barbara #plastic surgeon