Chronic Bits 

Sure you are! So make yourself a fan, and post a photo, link, whatever...at our new ChronicBabe Facebook page.

We dig the site WRDL, where you can plug in any URL or feed link and get a gorgeous word graph. Here's ChronicBabe.com today. (Click on the graph to see it larger.) Fun!

"I think illness is a great litmus test...If you have relationships that survive this stuff, then those are the relationships you'll keep forever," she says in a new Boston Globe article. We love that! Read the piece for a great intro to Laurie, then go buy her new book: Life Disrupted: Getting Real About Chronic Illness in Your Twenties and Thirties.

We LOVE the pain scale at 20 out of 10, and we also dig their edition of Change of Shift, a nursing blog carnival. Enjoy!

Today is National HIV Testing Day. If you haven't been tested, get on it, Babes! It's easy to find a testing site near you.

The good people at Shrink Rap are hosting Grand Rounds this week, and their theme is so good it hurts. Check out the iPhone that has icons for every contributor.

The Diabetes TalkFest site is relaunched with a new look and tons of new features. Check it out, DiabetesBabes!

Our pals at How to Cope with Pain are holding a contest, with prizes for readers who participate in the blog. Check out the rules and prize list, and make your voice heard. Today is clearly the free stuff day. Any freebies for the Editrix out there? ;)

Crispy Cat candy bars are by far our favorite in the whole universe. And they're holding a contest: Send them photographic evidence of the best/most creative use of Cripsy Cat Candy Bars in a vegan dessert. Just e-mail your submission in the form of a JPEG, and the winner gets a FREE mixed case of our delicious Organic Candy Bars and other fun swag. Awesome!

Laurie Edwards (author of the brand-new book Life Disrupted: Getting Real About Chronic Illness in Your Twenties and Thirties) will be the guest expert on syndicated health columnist Judy Foreman's Health Now, a Healthtalk Internet radio show, which airs Wednesday, June 25 at 8:30 EST. Want to ask her a question on the show? Register at HealthTalk now and send your in question.

WebMD reports the FDA has approved the antidepressant Cymbalta for treatment of fibromyalgia, almost a year after it approved Lyrica, the first drug ever approved for treating the condition. FibroBabes rejoice!

Marianas Eye is hosting this week's Grand Rounds straight from the South Pacific. Lovely!

The DiabetesMine Design Challenge is a competition "designed to foster innovation in diabetes design and encourage creative new tools that will improve life with diabetes." Rock!

We know it disgusted us. This feature from WebMD analyzes ingredients in a typical frozen meal, some of which were just downright shocking. Makes us happy to own slow cookers and rice steamers.

Editrix Jenni has found her favorite new blog: Barking Dog Shoes. Cute shoes! That are comfortable! With scoop on new styles and sales! Seriously, Babes - get thee to this blog.

The American Pain Foundation (APF) is hosting a live online chat with Brenda Murdough MSN, RN-C, which will "explore the relationship between chronic pain and depression, how to recognize depression and some helpful treatment options and ideas." To participate, first sign up for PainAid (APF's online community) and then you can log in to reserve your space in the chat.

Courtesy of MedGadget, we learn of the new Personal UV Monitor, which lets you program your optimum tanning time. Editrix Jenni, a pasty lady by nature, is intrigued. She keeps trying to get her 15 minutes of UV-free each day to absorb the recommended vitamin D, but not get sunburned. Tricky!

The New York Times recently ran a piece on CFS: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome No Longer Seen as 'Yuppie Flu' by David Tuller. A Chronic Dose author Laurie Edwards has solid commentary on the piece, so read on.  

MedGadget, as always, keeping us up on the latest technological revolutions: The M-POWERED car was just introduced by Medtronics, a Lincoln sedan that "incorporates a patient's continuous glucose monitor with a dashboard to make driving safer for those who can go from 120 to 60 mg/dl within a matter of seconds," according to MedGadget.

We've been fans of NHS Blog Doctor and Dr. Crippen for ages, and it's always fun when he hosts Grand Rounds. He gives great color commentary and funny images, and packs in a ton of information. (And it's always nice when a ChronicBabe contribution is selected for inclusion.) Check out Grand Rounds at NHS Blog Doctor today!

You've got to read this terrific article in the Chicago Reader about improvisational comic TJ Jagodowski, who's been living with an unnamed illness for NINE YEARS and still has the cojones to get up on stage night after night. ChronicPal Anne Ford writes a great profile, doesn't she?

Grand Rounds is fresh at The Happy Hospitalist, and ChronicBabe is part of the fray. Not sure why he thinks we Babes are scary...but happy to be involved in this Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon edition.

We've got 'em. Courtesy of Allergic Girl, check out these food allergy travel tips and put them to good use, Babes.