Spondyloarthritis’s link to the gut: biomarkers
This week’s research is brought to you by my inability to leave anything that can be researched alone. I recently had a blood test report that there’s a good chance I have ulcerative colitis (UC), a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Constant back and forth with doctors leaves me worried that this will end up being nothing, yet hoping that it will be something. Especially since I’ve already mentally accepted that it could (probably) be something. Countless times in the past I’ve had doctors get excited because a test seemed to show something. Inflammation! A positive blood marker! A little something here on this x-ray! And then they run…
Alfred the Great was disabled
Too often, it’s assumed that disability has no place in the lives of heroes and pioneers. At times, it’s even been actively removed from their stories. Alfred the Great had a chronic illness for much of his life, and by any modern standard, he was disabled. “Great” and “disabled” aren’t antithetical, and “weak” and “disabled” aren’t synonyms. But for many years and to many people that was believed to be the case, and disability has been erased from some versions of Alfred’s story. Alfred the Great was king of Wessex, in England, in the late 9th century. He is credited with the creation of modern England. He unified the English…
