PULSE.

A SHADY DEAL: Look cool while fighting for better health with a pair of designer sunglasses on the cheap. At the fifth annual QVC's ``Cure by the Shore,'' you can buy a pair of shades by big-name designers such as Christian Dior, Gucci and Kate Spade at half price and all the money goes to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The shopping spree, hosted by Don Diamont of the daytime CBS soap ``The Young and the Restless,'' will be held from 10 a.m to 1 p.m. Saturday on QVC. To order, call [phone].

Like vintage shades? Now through Sunday, you can bid on eyewear worn by celebs such as Marilyn Monroe, Buzz Aldrin, Neil Diamond and Susan Sarandon on eBay's ``Seeing the Stars'' auction. The online auction will benefit the Discovery Fund for Eye Research, which includes Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Ophthalmology Research Laboratories and the Macular Degeneration Partnership, a public education program. To preview the items, go to www.discoveryfund.org/auction-update.html and place your bid at www.ebay.com. To learn more about vision-threatening diseases, call [phone] or visit www.amd.org.

- Barbara De Witt

SLICK IDEA: Bald is in - even the U.S. Army now allows enlisted men to shave their heads - but it's tricky getting a smooth shave. The HeadBlade Co. of Santa Monica has made an ergonomically designed scalp razor that you hold in your hand and ``comb'' over your head. It's $13 at Rite Aid stores, and can be used with Gillette Atra or Schick Ultrex blades. To make shaving your head even easier, the company has created HeadSlick, an ultra-lubricated, mentholated, unscented shaving cream, priced at $10.99 a bottle at Long's Drugs and Fred Segal in Los Angeles. For more information, see the company Web site at www.headblade.com.

- B.D.

Film personalizes fatigue syndrome 

When filmmaker Kim Snyder was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome in 1995, she knew one day she would make a documentary about the mysterious and misunderstood medical condition. The question was whether Snyder, bedridden for a year after suffering an acute viral infection, would recover to the point she could work again.

She did, and she drew upon her four-year battle for her documentary, ``I Remember Me,'' which won best documentary at the Denver International Film Festival in 2000. The film will play a special engagement at Laemmle Theatres' Monica 4-Plex in Santa Monica this weekend.

To make the film, Snyder traveled across the country to investigate chronic fatigue syndrome, once dismissed as ``yuppie flu.'' Chronic fatigue syndrome, an illness that affects the brain and other body systems, afflicts an estimated 500,000 Americans. Snyder examined outbreaks of chronic fatigue syndrome dating to the 1930s and interviewed medical experts. She also captured the stories of others fighting the illness, including women's soccer star Michelle Akers, director Blake Edwards and a high-school senior from Connecticut.

``It's been thought of as an upper-middle-class white people's disease brought on by stress and burnout,'' Snyder said. ``That's the myth. People think it's mind over matter. But it's no different from any other serious illness. The reality is it hits people from all walks of life, including kids.''

For a film with little marketing behind it, the response has amazed Snyder. She has received thousands of e-mails, not only from people suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome but from those with other illnesses as well.

``In the end, it's a film about loss and living through loss,'' she said. ``That's something every one of us deals with. Being 33 at the time, I felt pretty invulnerable. You don't think about getting sick. For me, (this project) was a journey to confront my own attitudes and society's attitudes toward sickness.''

``I Remember Me'' will be shown at the Monica 4-Plex, 1332 Second St., Santa Monica, at 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Call [phone] for recorded program information.

- Mariko Thompson

SUPPLEMENTAL BOOST: If you have questions about herbal remedies or vitamins, a new Web site, www.supplementinfo.org, is the place to go. The site, created by the Dietary Supplement Information Bureau, provides information on dosages, benefits and precautions for dietary supplements. Visitors also can view treatment options, natural and otherwise, to dozens of health conditions. According to the Dietary Supplement Information Bureau, three out of five Americans take dietary supplements regularly.

- M.T.

FITNESS ON THE FLY: Whether you're a regular business traveler or on a well-earned vacation, you know fitness can fall by the wayside on the road. ``Fitness for Travelers: The Ultimate Workout Guide for the Road'' (Houghton Mifflin; $14) by Suzanne Schlosberg is one way to get rid of the travel blahs. A contributing editor at Shape magazine, Schlosberg addresses all the reasons why travelers don't work out - lack of time, fatigue, jet lag, lack of gym facilities. A quick workout, even 10 minutes, is better than no workout at all, she says. Most can't be as dedicated as Chris Lehane, Al Gore's press secretary during the 2000 presidential campaign, who squeezed in his daily four-mile run at 5 a.m. For the merely mortal, Schlosberg suggests packing gadgets such as a jump rope or a pedometer for walking. The book comes with guides for cardio workouts, strength training with and without equipment, stretching and yoga. The section on nutrition is informative, providing the usual eye-opening calorie counts and fat grams. At Starbucks, for example, you're better off eating a giant cookie for breakfast than the coffee cake.

- M.T.

HEAT THERAPY: When you don't have an on-call masseuse or your own private hot tub to soak away muscle pain, slap on ThermaCare's new Air-Activated Heat Wraps. The low-level heat therapy wraps come in a variety of sizes to wrap around the back and other places, as well as arm patches and a specially designed lower-abdomen wrap for menstrual pain. Once you open the Air-Activated Heat Wraps, it takes about 30 minutes to warm up, but they'll last up to eight hours. The one-time use wraps are $6.99 each at drug stores. For more information, log on to www.thermacare.com.

- B.D.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1) no caption (sunglasses)

(2) KIM SNYDER

(3) no caption (HeadBlade Co. razors)

(4) no caption (book: ``Fitness for Travelers: The Ultimate Workout Guide for the Road'')