COMING SOON: Archives of the Vagina: A Journey through Time

by Dr. Margaret Aranda

For my Caring Friends, here's a preview of my newest book, written before the doctor dropped me on the floor in March, 2013. I wrote this book (many of you will understand) because I'm not sure if I'll live long enough to see my daughter live through all the stages of womanhood: the maiden, the mother, and the crone.

                                   Book Cover Photo. Archives of the Vagina: A Journey through Time.

The book starts with my first period, and is very tongue-in-cheek humorous, because we all know where we were when we started our first period. Then I go through history, sociology, anatomy, and the endocrinology of the ovaries.

I discuss what Aristotle thought of menstruation and menopause, how William T. Stead is a hero we never hear about for rescuing children out of prostitution in London's brothels. This book is filled with the sociology of menstruation, including whether women on their periods can fly a plane, and whether women who are camping on their periods attract bear attacks that lead to death.

One of the most surprising statistics that I learned in my research and interviews of women is that in the USA, in women over 45 years old, 40% have had a hysterectomy. Of these, nearly 50% have had normal ovaries removed without proper Informed Consent. I dedicate an entire chapter to "Ovarian Conservation" (i.e., keeping your ovaries), and give you all the risk factors you need to know so you can put yourself on the Chart to see if you are at risk for ovarian cancer, and hence should get them removed. So my next book will be Hysterectomy can be Hell. I hope to get an Army behind me on this one, because it will take a Movement to change our culture. And changing a culture always means that people won't like you. Believe me. I've been there before.

I discuss the HPV vaccination for girls aged 11-12, starting your period, how to put in a tampon, and introduce what most women don't know: the menstrual cup, and the nondisposable pad. I promote a certain program that helps girls in Africa obtain menstrual pads so they don't have to miss school, be drop-outs, get pregnant, contract HIV, attain a lower socioeconomic status, and die earlier than the girls that are more educated. So expect a Movement there, too, ladies and girls.

I go through the Women's Health Initiative and basically tear it to shreds, because it had, in my opinion, no application to women in menopause suffering symptoms of vaginal dryness and hot flashes. I let you skip a very medical chapter if you would like, but I also put it in there for medical personnel to evaluate it for themselves. I dissect menopause and give the man's perspective, too, hopefully leading men to more self-discovery and compassionate understanding. Pretty funny stories there, too, my friend.

The last half of the book is dedicated to such things as Invisible Diseases, the Low Glycemic Diet, Immunonutrition and Fish Oil, Telemeres, Living for not only Health & Wellness but also for Quality of Life, Caregiving (and the effects on women, by ethnicity), Long-Term care, and death and dying. I empower you to ask questions, eat Spoon by Spoon, and Don't Fall when you are elderly. I tired of seeing women come into the Operating Room for hip fractures from a fall. You need to know your bone density, and take your Vitamin D or Calcium. The role of an Endocrinologist in your care can not be underestimated. I also believe that Cenegenics has an excellent program for Concierge Medicine, private pay by cash, that is mostly utilized by Presidents and CEOs of companies. They are mostly men. This needs to change, because there are plenty of millionaire women out there. And women need to stop spending all their time nurturing others, and start spending some time nurturing themselves. So I took all this knowledge in my head and told it to you before my traumatic brain injury and DI occurred; and I thank God that I did it.

There. I said it. My opinion rings throughout this book, and it is backed up by over 200 Stanford-quality references that are NIH-funded. I list them all for you, and many of them are dated in 2012 and 2013. Nothing but the best for you, my friends. Nothing but the best. Be prepared to learn, to grow, and to  ROCK your WORLD. You can PRE-ORDER the book (February launch date perhaps) on The Aranda MD Shoppe. My official site is Coming Soon....and I hope you like it. 

God Bless You in all that you do.

The World of the Walking

by Dr. Margaret Aranda 

She was a very ordinary girl, one you would never notice in a crowd. At twenty-six years old, her long brunette hair complimented her petite figure with a flair, and she smiled all the time. She woke up and no doubt, mind you. In thirty minutes flat, she would be turning the key and driving to her job.  

Yesterday, she was in The World. The World of the Walking. In The World of the Walking, everyone in this World can just get up and walk whenever they wanted to. In the little self-centered minds of most people, it was all taken for granted. The World of the Walking is where everything is. It is the standard. The World of the Walking means that you can get up and walk and perform the activities of daily living. She went about her business in The World of the Walking, making phone calls, sending texts, writing, writing, going to work, running errands, writing again, forgetting to stop for groceries. She went anywhere she wanted to, and timed everything out by looking at her watch or her cell, and simply decided where she had to be, and WaLa! she was there. The World of the Walking was a "painless" or "free" kind of Heaven that it seemed only the formerly disabled seemed to appreciate the most. Today, she has dysautonomia and can't stand up without fainting. Walking now seemed more like flying. 

Now see that there is a doctor confined to a wheelchair. He's in the World of the Walking, too. He is there on time to work every day. He has to push buttons and everything is hard, but he does it. The function level is high. So he may be mad at me, and rightfully so, but he really is in the World of the Walking, because he operates within their guidelines virtually every day. He gets out of bed. He's not plastered onto the mattress. He is only able to move from point A to point B because he's in the World of the Walking. So I learned that this is the goal: 

Stay in the World of the Walking.

But if you aren't in it, just do your best.

It's hard. But just do your best.

Searching for an Ambassador of Each Invisible Illness

We are looking for an "Ambassador" for each of the following Invisible Illnesses:

Familial Dysautonomia

Chiari Syndrome

Autonomic Nervous System Dysfunction

Lupus

POTS

Lyme Disease

Pure Autonomic Failure

Intracranial Hypertension

VasoVagal Syncope

Fibromyalgia

Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

Traumatic Brain Injury

Vertebral Artery Dissection or Aneurysm

Mystery Diagnosis

...and more.  

Duties: 

To be a Forward-thinking voice to the population.  To keep abreast of major news and breakthroughs, and to be available to spearhead the dissemination of information both toward the population and toward organizational nonprofit, government, and/or licensing groups.  All duties will be in conjunction with the other disease entities listed above. The person should be able to follow instructions, ask questions, do homework, and meet deadlines.  The person should be able to research key people in positions of authority, such as organizations, hospitals, public officials, or medical professionals, and obtain contact information.  The person should be able to professional address letters, send emails, keep an email list, organize letters to be sent to a government official or entity, and/or write an original letter representing others having the same disease.  The persona should be able to post FaceBook posts or comments on a page, and share the same page with others having Invisible Illnesses.  

Characteristics and Traits:  

The person should have the ability to get along with others.

The person should have the disease, or should be recovered from having the disease.

The person should have been a patient, with official medical records.  It is not necessary that the patient has a diagnosis; if the person has seen multiple doctors and still does not have a diagnosis, the Category would be, "Mystery Diagnosis".

The ideal person would have gone from doctor to doctor multiple times before a diagnosis was made.

The ideal person would have had the disease for a period of time before obtaining an official diagnosis.

The person should be respected as being an authority of the disease.  This includes being a patient, a caregiver, an epatient, a nurse, a doctor, or other health care professional.  

The person should have a presence on social media, which includes but is not limited to You Tube, Face Book, blogs, Twitter, MySpace, Friendster, Flickr, Photobucket, Vimeo, and Google Buzz.

The person should be a positive, outgoing, visible personality type that does not readily accept negativity, but embraces the positive side of life.

Application:

Part One. To apply, please submit an Essay that includes information on your background, disease, achievements, characteristics, social presence, experience, and attitudes.   Submit this in one paragraph of 500 words maximum.  This is the first half of your Application.

Part Two. The second half of the Application is an Essay on growth.  Submit this as your second paragraph of 500 words maximum.  Answer some or all of these questions:

The main theme for this Application is: 

"Time to Grow"

How do you want to grow as an individual?  

How do you see your disease entity 'growing' in the future?  

How do you see Invisible Illnesses grow as an entity?  

What changes do you see in the future?   

What changes can you make?

The maximum limit is 500 words.

Rules:

1.  Write your Essays, for a total of 1,000 words.  There are two Parts, each with a maximum of 500 words.  Please check spelling and word count before submission.

2.  Submit it via email. On the Subject line of the email, write AMBASSADOR SUBMISSION: CHIARI if it is for Chiari Disease.  Write AMBASSADOR SUBMISSION: FIBROMYALGIA if it is for Fibromyalgia.  Do the same for all other proper disease categories.  If you have an Invisible Illness that is not listed here please "comment" to this post below and provide the name of the Illness.  If it is approved, it will then appear in the list above.  

3.  Write your Essay in the body of the email.  Do not send Attachments or insert photos.  Use regular-spaced lines, no double spacing.

4.  Put your full name and phone number at the bottom of the Essay.

5.  Submit your Essay to: chooseaction@yahoo.com

6.  You may only submit One Application per person.  You may only submit one email.  To promote fairness, you must follow instructions or your Application will be automatically disqualified.  We can not stress this enough.  If you don't follow instructions, we apologize but your Application will not be considered.

7.  We apologize but we will be unable to verify receipt of each Application.

8.  By submitting your email Application, you agree that portions or the entirety of your Essays can be used to benefit society.  This includes the rights to book inclusion, posting to social media, newspapers, blogs, or other internet or hard paper sites.  You give up all rights to your Essay to Dr. Margaret A. Ferrante.  Essays will be made public, although the person writing the Essay will not be identified unless prior consent has been made.

9.  Copy and paste this information for use in your email:

NAME:

EMAIL:

PHONE: (      )            -

AMBASSADOR FOR WHAT DISEASE:

PART ONE (500 words maximum):

PART TWO (500 words maximum):

Please consent to use of your Essay by checking the box:

____  I understand that by submitting this email, I give up all rights to my Essays.  Dr. Margaret A. Ferrante may use them in whole or in part for a book, posting, blog, newspaper, or other media without limitation.  She will not use my name unless I provide previous consent.

8.  The Deadline for Applications is Saturday, December 15th at Midnight.  Applications submitted on or after December 16, 2012 are automatically disqualified.

9.  If you are selected as an Ambassador, you will be notified on Monday, December 24, 2012.   

Selected Ambassadors will be announced as soon as each one has accepted their position.  

Hat's Off to each one of you, and let the writing begin!  

We will open a new FB Page for all Ambassadors to represent Invisible Illnesses!