“I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming... suddenly you find - at the age of 50, say - that a whole new life has opened before you” ~ Agatha Christie

We, the Baby Boomers of America, are constantly inundated with emails, tweets, and TV ads about the latest and greatest anti-aging products we simply must try.  Last week alone, I was sent an email about bifocals that correct “computer and reading vision” (what’s computer vision?), a LinkedIn alert about a new anti-aging night cream “accidentally discovered” at a cancer research center, and a new diet to eliminate cellulite. When I searched “anti-aging” on Twitter, there were hundreds of tweets promoting absolute must-have anti-aging skincare programs, diet and exercise advice, and discoveries in supplements.  Discover the Fountain of Youth!  Cosmetic surgery will restore your youthful glow!  Stay healthy looking with my new product! Start eating these anti-aging foods!

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

Now, I must admit, it’s tempting to try some of these products.  After all, there are times when I look at myself in the mirror and ask where those fine lines come from and why are they showing up on my face.  I’ve always been diligent about skincare by using gentle cleansers and moisturizers that stand by their “pure” ingredients.  (Compared to 26-letter words of ingredients that sound like a foreign language.)

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.” ~ Sophia Lauren

As you know by now, I have always followed the advice of Dr. Andrew Weil.  Here is his view on anti-aging products:

“The best ways to maintain skin health aren't very glamorous and certainly aren't overly costly: good nutrition, adequate water and essential fatty acids intake, and daily use of a good antioxidant multi-vitamin and mineral supplement. Beyond that, I recommend avoiding excessive use of soaps and skin irritants and protecting the skin from the sun, which causes cumulative damage that eventually shows up as wrinkles, age spots, or other discolorations. Another root cause of aging and deteriorating skin health is inflammation, which is often imperceptible. Still, it can result in such skin problems as sensitivity, puffiness, extreme dryness, hyperpigmentation, lines, and wrinkles.”

 “It is a mistake to regard age as a downhill grade toward dissolution. The reverse is true. As one grows older, one climbs with surprising strides”. ~ George Sand

I admire Jennifer Siebel, a woman I’ve written about in a prior post (Empowering Our Children..and Ourselves).  Her award-winning documentary Miss Representation champions equal rights for women by fighting sexism and challenging the media’s disparaging portrayal of women. One guest blogger on her MissRepresentation.org was Nicole Weider, a former model who founded Project Inspired and Me Without Makeup.  She challenges young girls to love who they are and what they look like.  She wants them to understand they don’t need tons of makeup to feel beautiful.  She’s received hundreds of photos from girls who, according to her rules, wear no makeup and describe what they like best about themselves.  It’s an EMPOWERing technique to illustrate her point.  I wonder whether a website with this theme would work well with people aged 50+.  Would we send a photo of ourselves wearing no makeup and list what we like most about ourselves?  Hmm.

“The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives the passion that she shows. The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years.” ~Audrey Hepburn

Good Housekeeping ran a test on anti-aging products and was awarded their “Top 22 Products That Really Work”. They say these products do more than hydrate your skin. They allegedly minimize lines on your face and lips and promise to make you look “better”.  I have always been skeptical of these claims, mainly because I’ve used the gamut of lotions and serums from Oil of Olay to Origins to La Prairie.  Ultimately, my pocketbook was lighter, and my skin looked the same.  But it’s more than looking better – it’s also about feeling better.

We, the women of the Baby Boomer generation, have the opportunity to not only enjoy our Second Chapter but also to realize that the way we look on the outside is as beautiful as who we are on the inside.  We must live our life according to our beliefs, yet we must also follow a path toward total confidence in our look and feel.  Depending on what source you look at, the average life expectancy of a woman in 1900 was around 50 years old.  Today it is approximately 80 years old (I have seen several charts that say 88 or older).  What does that mean?  It means we have more time than we used to work on ourselves (inside and out), time to work toward our dreams, time to make our bodies healthier, and, when we look in the mirror, time to say out loud that we’ve earned every wrinkle and fine line, and we are damn proud of it!

“With age come the inner, the higher life. Who would be forever young, to dwell always in externals?”  ~Elizabeth Cady Stanton

 I want to share an article on HealthCentral.com I thought was exciting and informative entitled, “Taking Care Of Your Skin Inside and Out.”  It offers sage advice for all of us.  In the meantime, let me know how you feel about anti-aging products and whether you agree or disagree with anything I've said.  I’d love to hear from you – good, bad and everything.  Thanks for reading my post!

 Please hit REPLY and leave a COMMENT – let me know your thoughts!  You may subscribe to my blog by clicking on the SUBSCRIBE button on the page's top right-hand side.  Check out past posts under “Recent Posts to Keep You Empowered.”  Please share my blog and pass it around. Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER:  Comments from An Empowered Spirit are brought to your attention on topics that could benefit you and should be discussed with your doctor or other medical professional. I am not medically trained, and my posts are journalistic and not instead of medical advice. An Empowered Spirit and its author will not be held liable for any damages incurred from using this blog or any data or links provided.

Frank McCourt published his first book, Angela’s Ashes, when he was 66.  He received The Pulitzer Prize and The National Book Critics Circle Award the following year.

A few years ago, I wondered what I wanted to do with my life.  Yes, I was nearing 50 and, like a woman in her 20s who’d recently graduated from college, I wondered what the future held for me.  I never thought I’d be at the same crossroads I visited thirty years ago.  But there I was, holding my yearning in one hand and my self-doubt in the other.  What was a girl to do?

Depending on how you look at it, this time of your life can be exciting or unhappy.  The power to feel the thrill and challenges awaiting you is within your control.

I was always envious of people who knew at an early age exactly what they wanted to do.   I had floundered between jobs, from publishing to real estate to healthcare, always trying to find myself.  I managed my work life as I thought I should, working nine-to-five jobs that, in the end, ended up being unfulfilling but earned a steady paycheck.  Was this all there was?

Julia Child launched her first cooking show at the age of 51.  F. Murray Abraham received his first good role and won an Academy Award in “Amadeus” at age 47.

Someone recently asked me, “What would your 20-year-old self say about making yourself happy?”  Surprisingly I didn’t miss a beat.  The answer was already on the tip of my tongue.  “Write.”

There it was.  I said it out loud.  I suddenly felt a release of emotions I’d kept deep inside me for years.  Why ignore that little voice that says precisely what we need to hear?

So I decided to rely on my writing ability and focused on issues that mattered to me most.  Then I jumped full steam ahead and voraciously read everything I could get my hands on about how to create a blog, the use of social media in blogging, and how to reach a targeted audience.  A month or two later, I was hired by a reputable health website where I could write articles and answer questions for my peers with Multiple Sclerosis (something near and dear to my heart).

At age 65, Colonel Sanders (Kentucky Fried Chicken) took his money from his Social Security check and began to open franchises.  Less than ten years later, he sold the franchise to a corporation for 2 million dollars.

I am sticking with my dream of writing - shaping, molding, and making it my very own.  I am committed to doing this as my life’s work and plan a daily schedule around it.  It demands a deep respect for the written word (love) and a dedication and commitment to an audience (love).  The downside is it can be very lonely sometimes (not crazy about it!).  It has been rewarding beyond all measure as I meet others on this journey that are like-minded, generous of heart, and ready to offer constructive criticism and high praise.

Rodney Dangerfield was a last-minute replacement on The Ed Sullivan Show and became the surprise hit of the show.  He was 46 years old.

I am a big fan of Don Miguel Ruiz, who wrote in his book “The Four Agreements” about being “impeccable with your word.”

“Your word is the power that you have to create…

Through your word, you express your creative power.  It is through your word that you manifest everything…

What you dream, feel, and are, will all be manifested through the word.” 

So what is your inner voice trying to tell you?  Listen to it.  We all have one.  It’s been there all along to guide you.  Perhaps we’ve been too caught up in our busy lives to take the time to listen to it. Open your heart and soul and listen to the truths of that voice.  Follow your passions in your Second Chapter.  Hey, you never know.  Someday I may be writing about you!

Please subscribe to my blog by clicking on the SUBSCRIBE button.  Check out “Recent Posts to Keep You Empowered” and browse through past comments under “Comments to Enrich Us.”  Please share my blog and pass it around… Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER:  Comments from An Empowered Spirit are brought to your attention on topics that could benefit you and should be discussed with your doctor or other medical professional. I am not medically trained, and my posts are journalistic and not instead of medical advice. An Empowered Spirit and its author will not be held liable for any damages incurred from using this blog or any data or links provided.

“Medicine sometimes snatches away health, sometimes gives it.” ~Ovid

 For some time, my husband has experienced horrific back pain due to a herniated disc.  An excruciating, unimaginable pain could turn the most formidable Olympic wrestler into a wailing crybaby.  In the past, he’s turned to prescription medications that have dulled, yet not eliminated, the pain.  He’s had physical therapy, and twice a day (when he feels better), he goes on our inversion table, trying to push the disc back into place.

Perhaps the most drastic solution he’s tried was the cortisone injections he received from his physician.  A shot of cortisone (an anti-inflammatory medication) is given, along with a numbing medication, to provide temporary relief to the affected area.  He’s received several courses of this treatment occasionally with some positive results.

But wait!  Hold the phone!  What’s this?  The latest scare concerns the same cortisone injections he once received and the seven people who died from them.  As of late Sunday, there were reports of 91 cases in 9 states of rare fungal meningitis, all linked to contaminated steroid injections.  According to CNN.com, the patients contracted meningitis after being “injected in their spine with a preservative-free steroid called methylprednisolone acetate contaminated by a fungus. The steroid is used to treat pain and inflammation.”

 “Stuff that's hidden and murky and ambiguous is scary because you don't know what it does.” ~Jerry Garcia

Is there anything that we can do, as patients and consumers, about having full disclosure on a medication or procedure we need to have?  Are we at the mercy of the drug companies who manufacture these drugs and the compounding pharmacies who copy them?  Do we need to choose between harming ourselves with drugs or living with pain without them? That reality both angers and scares me and renders a feeling of complete helplessness.

I am proud to be part of a great MS community of friends I have found on Facebook and Twitter.  They are like-minded people who listen, support and advocate for each other.  Our disability creates the need for a better quality of life, and we always reach out to help one another.  Over the past 16 years, numerous FDA-approved MS drugs have been on the market.  Yet we are still guinea pigs, suffering many challenging side effects over the years and sometimes even death. (See Tysabri and the controversial CCSVI).  Sometimes the medication we take to make us well makes us sicker.

“Friends show their love in times of trouble.” ~Euripides

So what can we, the consumer, do to protect ourselves?  How can we continue to advocate for better care from our doctors, better communication from drug companies, and better awareness of problems surrounding our medications?  Here are some ways I’ve found to change the feeling of helplessness to being more in control of choosing what we put into our bodies:

 1.  Drugs@FDA: FDA US Food and Drug Administration site.  Use this site to locate an FDA-approved medication.  It lists the drug's name, its form (capsule, liquid), and possible side effects.

2.  Daily Med: By the National Library of Medicine, this site provides “high-quality information about marketed drugs and information including FDA labels (package inserts).
3.  CDC (Centers for Disease Control): You can check medications on the market.  In this case, I checked the “Multistate Meningitis Outbreak Investigation” to read an update and summary on the current situation of the outbreak.

4. Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board: If you go to a compounding pharmacy, you may use this site to see whether it is accredited.  According to the site, “While all pharmacies must meet licensure requirements, PCAB-accredited pharmacies have gone the extra mile to demonstrate that they comply with nationally accepted quality control, quality assurance, and quality improvement standards.  This helps assure that the patient receives quality medication.”

5.  Call your local State Health Department and/or clinic and hospital:  If you are like us and have a question about a current problem with a medication, ask whether the issue is ongoing or if it is being resolved.

6.  Peer Reviewed Journals:  Once again, knowledge IS power. Take the time to read up on the medication you were prescribed.  Peer-reviewed journals are the perfect place to start. According to The University of Texas (Austin) website: “Peer Review is a process that journals use to ensure the articles they publish represent the best scholarship currently available. When an article is submitted to a peer-reviewed journal, the editors send it out to other scholars in the same field (the author's peers) to get their opinion on the quality of the scholarship, its relevance to the field, its appropriateness for the journal, etc.  Publications that don't use peer review (Time, Cosmo, Salon) rely on the editors' judgment of whether an article is up to snuff. That's why you can't count on them for solid, scientific scholarship.”

Regarding our health, we must do all we can to make the best choices for our loved ones and ourselves.  I hope what I’ve offered you here has been helpful, and I encourage you to leave a comment to let me know your thoughts on all I’ve said.   Let’s empower ourselves!

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Please subscribe to my blog by clicking on the SUBSCRIBE button.  Check out “Recent Posts to Keep You Empowered” and browse through past comments under “Comments to Enrich Us”.  Please share my blog and pass it around… Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER:  Comments from An Empowered Spirit are brought to your attention on topics that could benefit you and should be discussed with your doctor or other medical professional. I am not medically trained, and my posts are journalistic and not instead of medical advice. An Empowered Spirit and its author will not be held liable for any damages incurred from using this blog or any data or links provided.