How Not Taking Care of Yourself Can Kill You

A few days ago I heard that my former cleaning lady, a lovely young woman, has terminal liver cancer. *#@* is what I thought! She's not even forty, with two young children and a loving self that gives and gives. How can this happen?

The part of the story that really made me sad was that she had been having many symptoms for many weeks and continued to ignore them, work through them and caretake everyone else around her until the cancer had progressed into an inoperable form.

I've been hearing a lot of these stories lately. A friend's husband died a few months ago from lung cancer - not even a smoker. He had an unusual cough that persisted for about 6 months before he went to have it evaluated.

And, at my recent women's retreat almost every woman had a story to share about significant illness or hospitalization as a result of ignoring signs of stress. These women admitted that they did not really know the signs that their body was giving them that they were beginning to run on empty until an injury or illness completely laid them out.

Why is it that we ignore our body's signs and signals that something is not working well? Is it fear? Is it the thought that it will just resolve itself and go away? Is it that we feel that there is not enough time to go and take care of ourselves?

I've been having some difficulty with my asthma these last few weeks. A very new occurrence for me and one that I've been a bit worried about. But, I haven't been to the doctor yet, choosing instead to continue to increase the usage of my inhaler.

What is more important than our good health? And, as we age, it becomes something we have to think about more and more.

As women we often are focused on taking care of everyone else - often to the detriment of our own health.

The bottom line is though - if you are sick, incapacitated, or goddess forbid dead, who will take care of your loved ones then?

Are you getting regular checkups? Here's what you should be doing at least once a year:

• General physical with blood tests
• Pap Smear
• Dental exam and teeth cleaning
• Eye exam

And, if you have particular health issues, you need to follow your doctor's recommendations for care and treatment.

Don't ignore your symptoms. Take care of yourself so that you are around a long time for your loved ones.

I'm going to the doctor today to check out this asthma. Is there anything that you need to making an appointment to check out?