We had another very good turnout for our coffee and chat this month. Ten of us met up to look at poster designs and stickers for our group. We were also particularly concerned about kidney care this month and how we can all do our best to manage this sometimes difficult element of lupus. Mel is interested in putting together a working party to look at holistic ways of taking care of our kidneys. This will probably lead to a series of short talks that will take place outside of our usual coffee and chat dates. We think that this will be really interesting and hopefully helpful. Next months formal meeting will take place at 10.00am 17th May 2013 before the coffee and chat.

World Peace Cafe

Peace Garden

We had a very successful meditation and lunch at the Bodhisattva Kadampa Buddhist centre in Hove. A few of us met up and took part in a 20 min relaxing guided meditation, followed by a delicious vegetarian lunch in the World Peace cafe. It was a very calming and enjoyable experience and a really good way to destress. As well as the lovely cafe you can also relax and unwind in their gardens. Follow this link to find out more about what’s on offer at the Buddhist Centre in Hove.

It seems like it’s been a long cold winter, which has stretched well into spring this year!  It’s thought that around 60% of people in the UK are vitamin D deficient and I’m one of them! Vitamin D is a hormone produced in the skin after being in the sun, it can also be found in some foods like oily fish. People with lupus are even more likely to be short of vitamin D due to our need to minimise our exposure to sun. The steroids we may take can also reduce our ability to absorb vitamin D. Symptoms of low vitamin D are fatigue and muscle pain. It also plays a role in the immune system so a shortage of it has been linked to diseases like MS. You can find out if you are vitamin D deficient by taking a  blood test and if you are low in it, you can improve your levels by taking a  supplement. This article explains how a recent study by a team at Newcastle University has proved for the first time that there is a definite link between vitamin D deficiency and energy levels. The Mirror also published this article  just over a week ago about  how our poor UK weather is resulting in more people suffering from a vitamin D deficiency!