For those of us who take the blood thinner warfarin (brand name Coumadin) or similar drugs to prevent prevent clots, one of the scariest of life’s scenarios is an accident or fall. It’s especially scary for patients like me who, because of an acute tendency to clot, must keep their blood extra thin to prevent [...]

New research suggests that statins, traditionally used for cholesterol lowering, could be used in the management of patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), a blood clotting disorder that causes miscarriages, deep vein thromboses, and strokes. The new research shows that the statin fluvastatin could reduce the inflammatory proteins that are elevated in patients with APS. The [...]

Professor Anisur Rahman of University College, London, discusses the latest thinking on Antiphospholipid Syndrome, its causes and treatments in a 35-minute lecture delivered October 10, 2012, at the Royal Society of Medicine. The easy-to-understand video presentation, with slides, is available here.  (http://bit.ly/VORFdC) It’s a great resources to help educate physicians, patients, and their families. Antiphospholipid [...]

It’s a pleasure to have four of my stories published over the past few months in three different anthologies. Each story, in its own way, explores the theme of traveling with chronic illness. That’s something I think about often as a stroke survivor and autoimmune patient chained to a steady diet of blood thinners to [...]

This month the National Stroke Association is sharing information about migraine and stroke, including an article from the Better Health Channel on how to tell the difference between the two. I had mild migraines (with aura) for 20 years, which I dismissed as a mere annoyance. Until I had a stroke at 48, and learned [...]

I was slammed out of the blue ten years ago by a stroke that could have been prevented if I’d know the facts. Don’t let that happen to you or someone you love. Today, June 9, is APS awareness day – APS, the acronym for Antiphospholipid Syndrome, the blood clotting disorder that caused my stroke. [...]

  Am I Crazy? As an autoimmune patient with APS, as a stroke  survivor on blood thinners, people sometimes ask why I travel to places teeming with opportunities for disaster. “Places where medical care is thin, the water is often unsafe and the food chancy; places with infectious diseases, malarial mosquitoes, venomous snakes and the [...]

  It’s a jungle out there and I just can’t get enough of it! Come help me celebrate publication of my story “Why I Still Travel to the Wild” at a book party sponsored by Left Coast Writers. It’s  on Monday evening, November 14, at 6 pm at Book Passage San Francisco store at the [...]

The Australians call them ‘mozzies’–such a cute name–as though mosquitoes were just pesky little creatures that buzz and bite, one of the minor annoyances of venturing off the beaten track. I used to think of them that way, too, until I started traveling to the tropics and meeting people who’d had malaria, dengue fever (its [...]

September offers an unusual opportunity to hear the latest on developments in diagnosis and treatment of Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS) at a free one-hour webinar set for Tuesday, September 6, at 8:00 pm EDT (5:00 pm PDT). The discussion, sponsored by the American Society of Hematology (ASH), will include three presentations: Dr. Mark Crowther (McMaster University) [...]