adplus-dvertising
Connect with us

Health

‘Birding saved me,’ says Ancaster author with Lyme disease

Published

1 year ago

 on

When Bob Bell goes birding, something remarkable happens — his pain goes away.

The Ancaster resident becomes so engrossed in nature that he forgets about his chronic Lyme disease.

When his symptoms were at their worst, Bell used a cane and “couldn’t walk more than a couple hundred yards.”

“Now I go birding and I can walk eight, 10 kilometres a day,” he said.

300x250x1

“I’m not trying to say birding is a cure. It’s a coping mechanism.”

Bell talked about the mental and physical benefits of birding while sitting in his backyard facing the Dundas Valley Conservation Area on Monday. He was scanning the skies for a rare black vulture that had been spotted that morning in Toronto’s High Park and was thought to be winging its way west.

“Birding saved me,” Bell said.

“Every morning, it’s not a question of what am I going to do, it’s where am I going to go today? Which trail do I want to walk? And off I go. It’s given me a real spark and purpose in life.”

 

Bell is unsure how he contracted Lyme. His work as an exploration geologist took him around the world, and in the fall of 2013 he was bitten by several unknown insects while in southern Africa.

Shortly after getting home to Canada, he walked through tall grass where he may have unwittingly encountered a Lyme-carrying tick.

His symptoms started shortly thereafter, with a high fever and body shakes.

He felt better after a few days and “forgot all about it.” But about a month later he was hit with “a whole cascade of weird symptoms” that included “awful” muscle pain, crepitus affecting his joints and profound fatigue.

“Clearly something really drastic was coming on,” said Bell, who was in his late 50s at the time.

Bell said his doctors were skeptical he had Lyme disease. They ruled out other conditions with similar symptoms but had “no interest in trying to understand why I had what I had.”

He finally went to the United States, where he was diagnosed with Lyme, put on “huge doses” of antibiotics and was told to avoid sugar, starches and other foods that could interfere with the medication.

Bell said he developed severe societal anxiety that made crowds and noise impossible to handle, and his cognitive abilities were hampered to the point that he sometimes had trouble counting out change to buy a newspaper.

He knew his days as a high-flying mining executive were numbered.

“It was really frustrating. I was doing a job I absolutely loved — being paid to be on a treasure hunt,” said Bell, who went on sick leave before retiring in late 2015.

He spent the first winter of his forced retirement looking out the window at the feathered visitors who frequented his bird feeders.

“I love watching birds live their lives. They work so hard and they’re so industrious,” Bell said.

 

“The more you learn, you just can’t help but be impressed with birds and in love with them.”

Bob Bell uses birding as a coping mechanism for the pain of Lyme disease, and has written a book about it called Out of the Lyme Light and Into the Sunlight: Birding as Therapy for the Chronically Ill, due to be published on Nov. 15 by Hancock House.

As an unexpected bonus, he added, “While I was so focused on thinking about birds, my mind was off my aches and pains.”

He joined the Hamilton Naturalists’ Club and went on a birding field trip the following spring. From then on, Bell said, “I was just hooked.”

He branched into bird photography, participated in citizen science efforts like Project FeederWatch and began to give talks on birding, speaking to hundreds of people on Zoom during the pandemic as part of a push to have Nature Canada designate Hamilton a bird-friendly city.

“If I’d been interested in birding when I was working, I would’ve been fired because I would’ve been so distracted,” Bell said with a laugh.

Along with exploring his bird-rich home turf, Bell “makes the pilgrimage” to Long Point in Norfolk County several times a year, especially during spring and fall migrations where tens of thousands of birds pass overhead.

He is especially grateful for the fellow birders who took him under their wing.

“I didn’t think at my age I would make brand-new friends,” he said.

Bell tells his story in a new book, “Out of the Lyme Light and Into the Sunlight: Birding as Therapy for the Chronically Ill,” due to be published on Nov. 15 by Hancock House.

The first-time author hopes his story will inspire readers with a chronic illness to seek out their own joy.

 

“I wrote from the heart,” Bell said. “My goal is to share my passion and give them hope.”

 

 

Source link

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Health

RCMP warn about benzodiazepine-laced fentanyl tied to overdose in Alberta – Edmonton Journal

Published

1 hour ago

 on

April 19, 2024

By


Grande Prairie RCMP issued a warning Friday after it was revealed fentanyl linked to a deadly overdose was mixed with a chemical that doesn’t respond to naloxone treatment.

The drugs were initially seized on Feb. 28 after a fatal overdose, and this week, Health Canada reported back to Mounties that the fentanyl had been mixed with Bromazolam, which is a benzodiazepine.

Article content

300x250x1

Mounties say this is the first recorded instance of Bromazolam in Alberta. The drug has previously been linked to nine fatal overdoses in New Brunswick in 2022.

The pills seized in Alberta were oval-shaped and stamped with “20” and “SS,” though Mounties say it can come in other forms.

Naloxone treatment, given in many cases of opioid toxicity, is not effective in reversing the effects of Bromazalam, Mounties said, and therefore, any fentanyl mixed with the benzodiazepine “would see a reduced effectiveness of naloxone, requiring the use of additional doses and may still result in a fatality.”

Photo of benzodiazepine-laced fentanyl seized earlier this year by Grande Prairie RCMP after a fatal overdose. edm

From January to November of last year, there were 1,706 opioid-related deaths in Alberta, and 57 linked to benzodiazepine, up from 1,375 and 43, respectively, in 2022.

Mounties say officers responded to about 1,100 opioid-related calls for service, last year with a third of those proving fatal. RCMP officers also used naloxone 67 times while in the field, a jump of nearly a third over the previous year.

Recommended from Editorial

  1. Constable Sam Hakim (centre) and Edmonton Police Service Recruit Training Class 156 graduate from training during a ceremony at Edmonton City Hall, Friday June 16, 2023.

    ‘On an upswing’: Edmonton police seeing fewer officers leaving the force, more recruits

  2. Edmonton city police helped RCMP obtain search warrants at two rural properties west of the city before the seizure of roughly $440,000 in stolen property, including vehicles, snowmobiles, tools, trailers and firearms.

    RCMP net $440K in stolen property after searches in Breton and Parkland County

Share this article in your social network

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Health

CFIA continues surveillance for HPAI in cattle, while sticking with original name for disease – RealAgriculture

Published

6 hours ago

 on

April 19, 2024

By


The Canada Food Inspection Agency will continue to refer to highly pathogenic avian influenza in cattle as HPAI in cattle, and not refer to it as bovine influenza A virus (BIAV), as suggested by the American Association of Bovine Practitioners earlier this month.

Dr. Martin Appelt, senior director for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, in the interview below, says at this time Canada will stick with “HPAI in cattle” when referencing the disease that’s been confirmed in dairy cattle in multiple states in the U.S.

The CFIA’s naming policy is consistent with the agency’s U.S. counterparts’, as the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has also said it will continue referring to it as HPAI or H5N1.

300x250x1

Appelt explains how the CFIA is learning from the U.S. experience to-date, and how it is working with veterinarians across Canada to stay vigilant for signs of the disease in dairy and beef cattle.

As of April 19, there has not been a confirmed case of HPAI in cattle in Canada. Appelt says it’s too soon to say if an eventual positive case will significantly restrict animal movement, as is the case with positive poultry cases.

This is a major concern for the cattle industry, as beef cattle especially move north and south across the U.S. border by the thousands. Appelt says that CFIA will address an infection in each species differently in conjunction with how the disease is spread and the threat to neighbouring farms or livestock.

Currently, provincial dairy organizations have advised producers to postpone any non-essential tours of dairy barns, as a precaution, in addition to other biosecurity measures to reduce the risk of cattle contracting HPAI.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | All Podcasts

Wake up with RealAgriculture

Subscribe to our daily newsletters to keep you up-to-date with our latest coverage every morning.

Sign Up
More Options

Wake up with RealAgriculture

jQuery(document).ready(function($) {
$(“#homesub”).validate(
rules:
first_name:
required: true,
minlength: 2
,
last_name:
required: true,
minlength: 2
,
email:
required: true,
email: true,
minlength: 2
,
state:
required: true,
,
role:
required: true,
,
“listid[]”:
required: true,
minlength: 1

,
messages:
first_name: “Your first name is required.”,
last_name: “Your last name is required.”,
email: “Please verify your email is correct.”,
state: “Your state/province is required.”,
role: “Your role is required.”,
“listid[]”: “Select at least one list is required.”

,
submitHandler: function()
$.ajax(
type: “POST”,
url: “https://www.realagriculture.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php”,
data:
action: “realag_cc_process_subscribe_onclick”,
form: “homesub”,
data: $(“#homesub”).serialize(),
,
dataType: “html”,
timeout: 30000,
error: function(response)
console.log(response);
,
success: function(response)
$(“#homesub”).html(response);
,
);

);

});

Categories: Disease outbreaks / Livestock / News

Tags: /

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Health

Toronto reports 2 more measles cases. Use our tool to check the spread in Canada – Toronto Star

Published

20 hours ago

 on

April 19, 2024

By


/* OOVVUU Targeting */
const path = ‘/news/canada’;
const siteName = ‘thestar.com’;
let domain = ‘thestar.com’;
if (siteName === ‘thestar.com’)
domain = ‘thestar.com’;
else if (siteName === ‘niagarafallsreview.ca’)
domain = ‘niagara_falls_review’;
else if (siteName === ‘stcatharinesstandard.ca’)
domain = ‘st_catharines_standard’;
else if (siteName === ‘thepeterboroughexaminer.com’)
domain = ‘the_peterborough_examiner’;
else if (siteName === ‘therecord.com’)
domain = ‘the_record’;
else if (siteName === ‘thespec.com’)
domain = ‘the_spec’;
else if (siteName === ‘wellandtribune.ca’)
domain = ‘welland_tribune’;
else if (siteName === ‘bramptonguardian.com’)
domain = ‘brampton_guardian’;
else if (siteName === ‘caledonenterprise.com’)
domain = ‘caledon_enterprise’;
else if (siteName === ‘cambridgetimes.ca’)
domain = ‘cambridge_times’;
else if (siteName === ‘durhamregion.com’)
domain = ‘durham_region’;
else if (siteName === ‘guelphmercury.com’)
domain = ‘guelph_mercury’;
else if (siteName === ‘insidehalton.com’)
domain = ‘inside_halton’;
else if (siteName === ‘insideottawavalley.com’)
domain = ‘inside_ottawa_valley’;
else if (siteName === ‘mississauga.com’)
domain = ‘mississauga’;
else if (siteName === ‘muskokaregion.com’)
domain = ‘muskoka_region’;
else if (siteName === ‘newhamburgindependent.ca’)
domain = ‘new_hamburg_independent’;
else if (siteName === ‘niagarathisweek.com’)
domain = ‘niagara_this_week’;
else if (siteName === ‘northbaynipissing.com’)
domain = ‘north_bay_nipissing’;
else if (siteName === ‘northumberlandnews.com’)
domain = ‘northumberland_news’;
else if (siteName === ‘orangeville.com’)
domain = ‘orangeville’;
else if (siteName === ‘ourwindsor.ca’)
domain = ‘our_windsor’;
else if (siteName === ‘parrysound.com’)
domain = ‘parrysound’;
else if (siteName === ‘simcoe.com’)
domain = ‘simcoe’;
else if (siteName === ‘theifp.ca’)
domain = ‘the_ifp’;
else if (siteName === ‘waterloochronicle.ca’)
domain = ‘waterloo_chronicle’;
else if (siteName === ‘yorkregion.com’)
domain = ‘york_region’;

let sectionTag = ”;
try
if (domain === ‘thestar.com’ && path.indexOf(‘wires/’) = 0)
sectionTag = ‘/business’;
else if (path.indexOf(‘/autos’) >= 0)
sectionTag = ‘/autos’;
else if (path.indexOf(‘/entertainment’) >= 0)
sectionTag = ‘/entertainment’;
else if (path.indexOf(‘/life’) >= 0)
sectionTag = ‘/life’;
else if (path.indexOf(‘/news’) >= 0)
sectionTag = ‘/news’;
else if (path.indexOf(‘/politics’) >= 0)
sectionTag = ‘/politics’;
else if (path.indexOf(‘/sports’) >= 0)
sectionTag = ‘/sports’;
else if (path.indexOf(‘/opinion’) >= 0)
sectionTag = ‘/opinion’;

} catch (ex)
const descriptionUrl = ‘window.location.href’;
const vid = ‘mediainfo.reference_id’;
const cmsId = ‘2665777’;
let url = `https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/58580620/$domain/video/oovvuu$sectionTag&description_url=$descriptionUrl&vid=$vid&cmsid=$cmsId&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=640×480&ad_rule=0&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=`;
url = url.split(‘ ‘).join(”);
window.oovvuuReplacementAdServerURL = url;

300x250x1

Canada has seen a concerning rise in measles cases in the first months of 2024.

By the third week of March, the country had already recorded more than three times the number of cases as all of last year. Canada had just 12 cases of measles in 2023, up from three in 2022.

#ont-map-iframepadding:0;width:100%;border:0;overflow:hidden;

#ontario-cases-iframepadding:0;width:100%;border:0;overflow:hidden;

#province-table-iframepadding:0;width:100%;border:0;overflow:hidden;

console.log(‘=====> bRemoveLastParagraph: ‘,0);

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending