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Medify: A Cool Website for Research

As caregivers, researching about our loved ones conditions can be time consuming and confusing and I'm all for trying to make life simpler. 

I was thinking about writing about the benefits of aromatherapy and dementia when I discovered the website Medify. Medify basically looks at millions of research articles and arranges them in an easy to understand overview that can help you to put it to work. As they say:

"Our goal is simple: to help you and your family more easily navigate, stay current, and manage the often complex process of finding answers, while empowering you to get help from those you trust most."

 As I just discovered the website, I'm still learning about it but so far it's easy to use and you don't have to join to do the research. Joining the site ( for free) will allow you to save your research and create a private online support community that you can invite friends to, share your links, updates and other info and request help from others in your community. I also like the fact that that the information is "100% vetted by medical researchers" and that they comply with the HONcode  standard for trustworthy health information.

The site is in Beta so some diseases are harder to find and there are some errors in their terms (I looked at a study for spina bifida on speech training with computers and the acronym in the study was LSD (letter-sound) but Medify had it under LSD as in the drug) but there is still information there on related conditions that can be a good starting place for further research.

All in all this is a good site and I'd recommend it for those who are new to research as a starting point.

10 Things I Hate to Hear as a Caregiver

I know I've done it, I've said these things to other caregivers. I even say these things to myself sometimes. These are 10 things I hate to hear as a caregiver:

10. "I don't know how you do it." (Neither do I)
9. "Why don't you get out more?" (Because I can't)
8. "Take care of yourself." (Duh)
7. "I know how you feel." (Realy? You must be that empath from Star Trek)
6. "You have nothing to feel guilty about." ( I have my own reasons)
5. "Why aren't you working?" (See number 4)
4. "Why are you so tired?" (Because I'm chief cook and bottle washer as well as nurse and   doctor and....)
3. "There's nothing that wrong with them." (Just because they look well doesn't mean they don't need care)
2. "I know someone with.....and they died." (Ugh.)
1. "You're an angel to care for them." (No I'm not. I'm doing it because I love them.)

What's the thing you most hate to hear as a caregiver?