|
My Grandmother |
My Mother and me |
My daughter Jenny |
Four Generations
The differences between Native or Indigenous
People
and Non Natives become clearly
evident in our Health Issues.
In my own family there are
several dominant illnesses
which
are also quite common among most Native People,
Diabetes, High Blood Pressure and Heart disease,
most commonly
Congestive Heart Failure.
Native People suffer from a
myriad of other illnesses:
Bipolar Disorder, Chronic
Obesity, Crippling Arthritis,
Depression, Lactose
Intolerance and the
extraordinarily painful, debilitating,
Fibromyalgia.
Other Health conditions that we share
are: Chemical,
Drug and Alcohol intolerance,
Jaw Displacement,
Migraine headaches, severe insect
reactions and Dyslexia.
Until I used a computer I had
no idea that I was dyslexic.
When you write with a pen, your
brain has time to make corrections,
but when you are typing on a
keyboard and not looking
at your writing, it cannot make
these corrections.
What you end up with, like I
do, is a page full
of words with letters reversed.
Diabetes, which has been
linked to obesity,
can bring serious
complications with vision,
as well as life
threatening circulation problems.
If you have it, please do not
do as my grandmother did,
she ignored her Doctor and cheated
on her diet
frequently with the expected
consequences.
In many cases, our chronic
obesity is related to poor
food choices, lack of exercise
and a little DNA.
Over 30 percent of Native
people are obese.
The
highest incidence of
chronic obesity in Natives still remains
with those living on
Reservations whose limited access
to healthy food sources and
proper Health care,
which makes
staying fit nearly impossible.
High unemployment, drug or
alcohol dependency and the
resultant Depression only exacerbates the
situation.
Many Native children are born
with extra teeth,
as mine were, which most likely
will need to be
removed and braces used
to fix the remaining ones.
Lazy eye, another common Native
affliction,
which can cause some
nasty headaches,
can be helped with a series of
exercises.
My daughter and I both have
this.
A good Optometrist
pointed out that this was
the cause of our failure to
stay awake when reading.
It seems that our eyes/brain
get so tired of trying to
focus on the writing, that it
just puts us to sleep.
Which it always does.
Natives also have an extra bone
in their feet.
My feet were x-rayed when I was
a child and the Doctor
told my mother something was wrong with
me,
that I had a bone that didn't belong where it was.
He had no idea and neither did
we, that most Native
people have this extra bone in their
feet.
Shoes can be challenging if you have very high arches,
as I do.
Bone spurs are common and may
require surgery.
Foot problems can be ongoing, our feet
it would
seem, were never meant to be in
shoes.
The most serious Foot problems
are related to Diabetes.
Although these conditions and diseases do not
solely
affect American Native People,
we do seem to
carry the heavy
end of the burden.
Many of our friends and family
have one or more of these
Health Issues, which can be stressful
and depressing,
having multiple afflictions is
very tiresome,
especially for children and the
Elders.
Quite often when Natives who
live off Reservations,
go to see a Doctor, they fail
to mention their Native Heritage.
This omission can hinder Health
Histories which are critical
to the Doctor being
able to make an accurate diagnosis.
Some Doctors are now beginning
to be aware of these
Native Disease links and can
help with more targeted,
specific diagnosis and
treatment plans.
But when neither the patient,
nor the Doctor are aware,
it can lead to years of painful
suffering, often needlessly.
My daughter suffered for months
during the
first year of her life
because we did not know that she was
Lactose Intolerant.
Neither we, nor her
Pediatrician, knew about the Native link to
this condition which caused
her reactions to Dairy products.
So, what can we do to help
ourselves, our loved ones and our friends?
It is really so simple.
Make those close to you or who
care for you
aware of your Native Heritage.
It might be advisable to wear a
health alert bracelet in
some severe cases where time in
treatment is critical.
Read books, learn to Google,
talk to people, ask questions of
your Doctors, friends and
relatives, educate yourself about
these Diseases that affect us as a Race.
The more we know, the more we
can do to prevent complications
from our own particular group
of Native Health Issues
and help us to take better care
of ourselves.
The links below are to Native
Health Organizations and
care
givers who offer services specifically for Native People.
A Clinical Report on the
Prevention
and Treatment of Diabetes in Children
American Academy of Pediatrics
Association of American Indian
Physicians
AAIP
Native Americans and Diabetes
American Diabetes Association
Special Populations: American Indians and
Alaskan Natives
Health Finder
Native American Health
A great list of web resources
for Native Health.
Healthy NJ
Native American Specific Links
HIV Center of Excellence
This is the main page for this
Government Agency
at the US Department of Health
and Human Services.
Indian Health Service
Cancer Center at Mayo Clinic
Native Circle
Heart Fact Sheet
NHLBBI
National Indian Child Welfare
Association
NICWA
National Indian Health Board
NIHB
National Indian Women's Health
Resource Center
NIWHRC
American Indian Resource Center for
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
One Sky Center
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Last edited
November 20, 2008
Kola visits
since 09-18-08
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