Raynaud's Awareness Week / Month 2012

An annual health campaign is held every February, aiming to create a greater understanding of Raynaud's among the general public.

There are several institutions/organisations, who organise little campaign, usually on any Sunday from February. But it is not possible for everybody to attend these campaigns may be too far away from there town. And few people are uncomfortable about telling others that they have Raynaud's.

So we created an event on facebook. Unlike the other campaigns, this is not aimed only at general public. But we also aim this event towards the patients of Raynaud's.
Lot of patients lack about the knowledge about Raynaud's. In last few days, I advised a lot people about Raynaud's, through facebook and some contacted me on my e-mail through this blog.
When I told them something to stop or start they said, "I didn't know it was good/bad for us."
So me, and my fellow friends from facebook created this event.


Raynaud's Awareness Week 2012 (February 1 to February 10)
In this event:

• We expect everybody to share their knowledge, personal experiences, their troubles or funny incidents with Raynaud's.
• Discussion about "My symptoms and problems and and what makes it better." (Its ok, if a user doesn't want share. We respect everybody's privacy.)
• Gain more information medicines/home-medicines/solutions on Raynaud's.
• In an all, have fun, get more information about Raynaud's, talk a lot, and meet new people from all around the world.

I hope whoever has Raynaud's and hears about this event, will join this event.
Me and my fellow friends from facebook are looking forward for this event.
We are hoping that people from all around the world will join this event.
If you, or someone from your family or friends have Raynaud's, then you are more than welcome to join this event.
You are welcome to join this event even if you are a doctor.

As this is an online event, we don't have to go anywhere, just sitting infront of the computer or mobile is all what is required.
Even today, there are lots of misconceptions and lack of information about Raynaud's, and that's what we are trying to do,
spreading knowledge about Raynaud's.


Though originally created as "Raynaud's Awareness Month", this event has been scheduled only for 7 days, to avoid it being stretchy and stale, and to make it more active and fun.


And, don't expect somebody else to do the task.
Do what can you do!
And invite your friends!
:)

We want to unite everybody under the same roof.
So we have to invite all the known people related with Raynaud's before some other roof is created.
:D
So please spread as much word as you can.
:)

Warm Wishes,
Kiran :)

Post Script:

        This event turned out be very successful, but we will not stop here, yes we expect more. So, because of the "public demand" we created one more event for 2013. For more details on that event, please visit:

http://raynauds.blogspot.com/2012/02/raynauds-awareness-week-month-2013.html

                (Post script added on February 13th)

Warm Regards,
Kiran Nayak :-)

End of Line <

Raynaud’s Awareness Ribbon

There is no official symbol or awareness ribbon for Raynaud’s Phenomenon.
On facebook, me and my friends discussed about this issue.
Though not with the symbol, we came up with an idea of ribbon.
The colour combination is the outcome of this discussion.

Though I worked on this image all by myself, the credit for the idea goes to all the users who participated in the discussion mentioned above.


In the following image, we have used "the three colours", as quoted by a friend of mine in the discussion mentioned above, "red-white-blue, since those are the stated colours our fingers and toes turn..."

We (the creators of the ribbon, including the ones who came up with the idea), hereby give permission to use this Ribbon, as long as it is being used in relation with Raynaud’s Phenomenon, AND as long as credit is being given to Kiran Nayak, for coming up with ribbon's idea.

Mazel tov!

The Credits:
Kiran Nayak, the one who started the discussion regarding ribbon.
Rosemary Erickson, the one who came up with idea of the three colours.
Liz, who cleared the confusion/doubts about turners syndrome.
There are two more beautiful ladies, but as per their request, I am not going to mention their names.

Regards,
Kiran :)


Edit:

The image uploaded above is not a completey square.
So, I creaeted one more image, of 1400x1400 pixels.

 
Here is the link to the group where the ribbon was conceived:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/raynauds/


Warm Regards,
Kiran :)

Raynaud's Disease and Lupus

Our target here, is not to give complete information about lupus,
The target is, to give so much information about lupus that a patient of Raynaud's can get an idea about lupus.

A General "About":
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, often abbreviated to SLE or lupus. People with lupus produce abnormal antibodies in their blood that target tissues within their own body rather than foreign infectious agents. Sometimes lupus can affect many different body systems, including the skin, heart, lungs, kidneys, joints, and/or nervous system.
        One out of three patients of lupus generates Raynaud's Phenomenon.

Signs and Symptoms:
Common initial and chronic complaints include fever, malaise, joint pains, myalgias (muscle pain), fatigue, and temporary loss of cognitive abilities. Because they are so often seen with other diseases, these signs and symptoms are not part of the diagnostic criteria for SLE. When occurring in conjunction with other signs and symptoms, however they are considered suggestive.

SLE is one of several diseases known as "the great imitators", because it often mimics or is mistaken for other illnesses. SLE is a classical item in differential diagnosis, because SLE symptoms vary widely and come and go unpredictably. Diagnosis can thus be elusive, with some people suffering unexplained symptoms of untreated SLE for years.

For more and detailed symptoms of lupus, please  visit following website.
The symptoms are described there in very normal english.
http://www.londonlupuscentre.co.uk/lupus/symptoms/


There are four different types of lupus:
systemic lupus erythematosus,
discoid lupus erythematosus,
drug-induced lupus erythematosus,
and neonatal lupus.

Regards,
Kiran :)