Celebrate CVS International Awareness Day with us
Join the CVS community on Thursday March 5th in raising awareness of CVS. Share your story on social media, like and share CVSA social media posts, donate to CVSA, create a fundraiser on our peer to peer page or on our Facebook page and/or wear blue we want to hear what you do! Be sure to share your photos, posts, tweets, videos and especially your stories on the CVSA page. Don't forget to use these hashtags #CVSA, #CVSAwareness.
  Do you wish you knew more about the Conference speakers? 
Over the next few months we will be highlighting all our speakers. 
  For more information on all the speakers see our next printed newsletter. 
The printed newsletter is a member only benefit!
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Dr. Venkatesan is a Professor of Medicine- Gastroenterology, Director of the Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome program for adults at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Dr. Venkatesan feels quality patient care requires careful listening to the patient’s own story of their problem, so as to understand the concerns and goals for care from the patient’s perspective. The best quality care requires going the extra mile to obtain the best possible understanding of the patient’s condition.  

When Dr. V (what her patients call her) was asked about the biggest problem in treating CVS, she responded "The lack of an understanding of the pathophysiology of CVS hampers the development of targeted therapies for this disorder. While some medications such as amitriptyline are effective, side effects can limit their use. Newer medications like aprepitant are effective but it is prohibitively expensive and is difficult to get covered by insurance due to the lack of trials in CVS."  
Dr Karen Cassiday is a lively, sought-after speaker and commentator on national media such as Nightline, The Today Show, Animal Planet, The Joy Behar Show, Huffington Post, public radio and many more. She is a TEDx speaker who shared her personal experience as a mother overcoming her own anxious perfectionism in the middle of Walt Disney World! She is the host of the Moms Without Worry radio show.  

When Dr. Cassiday was asked " How better can we help adolescents in managing the anxiety around CVS, she responded " The really rough part of having CVS that triggers anxiety for teens is twofold. There is anticipation of known pain and suffering and there is the uncertainty of not knowing how and when the condition of CVS will resolve.
Parents who want to help their teens with these two phenomena, need to respond with empathy and calm confidence in their teens ability to develop strength and resilience in the face of suffering. They need to talk to their child like this when their teen expresses sorrow, feeling victimized by CVS or hopeless about the future, I know that your life can still be good and you can still accomplish many things even though CVS might interrupt things. CVS is not going to define who you are."

Join Blynda, along with other CVS Sufferers and Caregivers on Monday March 9th for the monthly support call.
Thank you to all that set up fundraisers on Facebook with Facebook Donations!

Please note that due to Facebook's algorithms and privacy restrictions, CVSA is unable to determine the dates that fundraisers take place.
 
If your CVSA fundraiser raised more than $200 please send a screenshot to the CVSA office to receive your complimentary 1 year membership, please email  cvsa@cvsaonline.org .