Before I sleep? Well, that was kind of the case this weekend. I got seriously obsessed with learning everything possible about the art of Travel Hacking. Fascinating, really. The more I learn, the more accessible traveling feels to me. Well, in the financial sense at least. Obviously, I won't be flying far or often unless I get a bit healthier. But 2 hour flights to see friends & family? Not only could I manage that (possibly with some FM-amplified jet-lag, but I can hang...) but it might actually do my health some good in the long run! (Being broke, sick, alone and steeped in mine & everyone else's unhappy is not a good balm for any ailment, I think!) And who knows, if I get REALLY good at this travel-hacking stuff, maybe I can manage some trips to have a real vacation, preferably somewhere with a good alternative health facility nearby, or even just the straight trip to the alternative health facility.
My dream place, if I could get the local rate, is this little hot springs resort in South America that did wonders for me in the day I spent there years back.
It's picturesque, the waters are magically healing, lots of international travelers (to meet or just observe in shock; like the ones wearing a singlet and a speedo last time I went...) a doctor on staff, massage/physiotherapists, cozy cabins with fireplaces, amazing grounds complete with flowing river at the foot of a volcano...and a yummy restaurant that serves organic veggies grown on the grounds. I bet it wouldn't be hard to find an authentic native-american shaman close by, either. (Cuz at this point, my soul needs as much healing as my body, if not more! Call me crazy, but if a mini-healing from a shaman in the OC can make me feel so amazingly different, at least for a bit, I can't even imagine what a natively-born and taught one could do!) It's a couple of hours outside the city though, so after the flight, I'd definitely have to stay in the capital to recover, then endure a couple hour drive the next day, but it'd be worth it I think...
Dreams, dreams, dreams. Well someone like me can't survive without them, and most of my old ones went down the drain years ago, when I found I couldn't get well, along with my 20s. So I shall dream...
If you'd like to help, consider clicking on the image in the right sidebar that says "Become a Travel Hacker". It costs a dollar to sign up for a 14 day free trial, and if you do sign up, I will get bonus miles to put towards my plane tickets/lodging! Or click this link: bit.ly/M12NQY
(If you have decent credit, it's actually ridiculously easy to rack up miles, but being chronically ill can make you chronically broke if you can't work, and the thousands of dollars of medical bills from when I lost my insurance don't help. but I still found a debit card and a secured card that earn some miles, woo!)
Many thanks! And who knows, maybe you'll discover some of your own dreams are closer than you think!
Oh! I finally got around to revamping the site! I wanted a lighter feel, and after a bit of tweaking, I found it. Yay! Changed the name, too, so, still the same author, same blog, just different look and name. Let me know what you think!
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Updates on LIfe, the Universe, and Well, Everything...or Not Much at All!
Hi Everyone, hope this finds you well! Myself, well, physically, not so great, lots of tummy troubles & flu-y symptoms, a definite rollercoaster. It seems like every time I seem to have things under control, I run out of a vital supplement. So some days I've felt pretty okay, and then the next few I am all weak and sweaty and nauseous and tachy and have to stay in bed. On the bright side, I have two rooms to myself, so I can choose! A nice perk since my bedroom is pretty dark all but a couple of hours a day, and the other one is as bright as the day outside. (Insert smiley face here.) I'm really going to miss the views of all the lovely green foliage around here when I have to go...
Now, aside from that, namely, emotionally, I've been doing well. There's an offer on the place, so no more potential buyer appointments to worry about. (Well, really, that hasn't stopped them from coming, I even took the sign down, but for some reason a few still had my number. Only now I don't feel obligated to answer or open! Ha!) I stopped the IV treatments, because they weren't helping as much as quickly land I'd hoped, and most of all, I couldn't take driving out there on a weekly basis! The original plan had been to get an Rx and get them in Mexico, which is a couple of hours away, so I could get them cheap and have them administered at home, but I think I let myself get talked out of that.
Wisely, or not, I'm not sure...I don't know if it's brain fog if I'm in some kind of crazy state of denial or what but I repeatedly seem to underestimate my limitations...for all my planning to go to South America for treatment, I just realized a couple of days ago that the flight itself would may have been more of a problem than I'd let myself believe. This came about when, after sitting upright on the couch for a couple of hours, obsessing over my latest obsession, Travel Hacking, I started having those nasty symptoms I try and ignore that seem to be my nervous system going haywire from the strain. Just this sick feeling, cold and tingling feet & hands, dull burning ache where my back & neck meet, a feeling like I can't breathe, chest tight, muscles contracted, heart racing...It feels almost like a panic attack, really. (My point being, how in the world would I cope with that after a few hours on an airplane, stuck like a sardine in my Economy seat?) And the only thing that makes it better is lying down FLAT. (Which you can't really do in Economy class, though as I found out, you can in International Business Class!) I shudder to think...Sometimes even the slight elevation of a pillow won't do, the choking discomfort won't have it. I just have to lie down, flat, arms at my sides, and try to relax...a heating pad helps sometimes. I really don't know if this is a CFS---Dysautonomia thing, or if it has something to do with the concussion I had a decade or so ago.
Sidenote: This question has prompted me to do some research on degenerative disc diseases, and more recently, something called Arachnoiditis, an inflammation of the sheath that goes over the spine & nerves, both of whose symptoms seem to intersect with each other, and with mine... I've especially noticed lately that whenever my cervical spine pain does act up, I either have a sensation of feeling like I have a lobster, scorpion (those are kind of arachnoid-like, right?) or something gently but irritatingly clinging around my c- spine. I've also had some nights recently where I just couldn't get comfortable; out of desperation I pulled an old, cheap, curved memory foam pillow out of my closet, and finally that helped, but I noticed that the barely-perceptible but raw sensitivity I felt in my neck seemed to be a variety of nerve pain.
Anyhow, as I was saying, I have finally been getting to rest. No more weekly trips, no more dragging myself to one doctor's appointment after another. no more steeling my will and my brain to think so I can help people deal with lawyers, realtors, worrying about family... I've been keeping everything to a bare minimum, despite my ever-insistent (and since I got sick, rarely appeased) drive for productivity, and finally getting some real, actual, R&R! For once, I've enjoyed being sinfully lazy and demanded as little from myself as possible. Even showers! AWFUL, I know! But at the beginning there, I just didn't care. I didn't care about anything, couldn't make myself, no matter how hard I worked at it, it took super-human willpower to do much of anything. Ironically, I think it has something to do with tapering off my Zoloft, which the psychiatric intern had amped way up claiming sometimes anxiety took massive doses of before it responded, but it just kept getting worse. So after having it re-filled, I still kept it to a minimum and I don't know if it's that, or the rest, or both, but the anxiety is sooooo much better now, what a relief! Honestly, if my state of mind is good, being sick isn't so incredibly awful. I can make phone calls from bed. It's a good excuse to meditate, and I though I can't be on the computer long lying down flattish without killing my neck, that's not always such a bad thing. I'll take what I can get, because my time here is coming to an end, which means I'll need all my energy to sell stuff & pack & move it.
Which reminds me, my old plan is new again, I think I can handle the couple hour flight to a visit my cousin in a southern state, if she'll still have me. Despite the situation, I know it would be a mistake to stay and move in with my mother, just like I knew it would be a mistake to move here. (Love my parents, but there's a reason I moved out!) So I'm finding as many free ways to rack up airline miles as I can, and refusing to be anything but optimistic that it will all work out. Like a lovely graphic someone posted on Facebook today said, not all healing is physical, but spiritual as well, and laughter is good medicine. (Or something like that!) Who knows, maybe I'll even improve enough to fly further South...that would cut a couple hours off the flight at least...
Well, I'm hoping to revamp this blog a bit as well, the blue is a little well...BLUE for my tastes, so hopefully Blogger has some nice new templates for me to utilize. As soon as my hands stop killing me from the all Travel-hacking research! I am literally, so, so excited! Wish me luck!
Now, aside from that, namely, emotionally, I've been doing well. There's an offer on the place, so no more potential buyer appointments to worry about. (Well, really, that hasn't stopped them from coming, I even took the sign down, but for some reason a few still had my number. Only now I don't feel obligated to answer or open! Ha!) I stopped the IV treatments, because they weren't helping as much as quickly land I'd hoped, and most of all, I couldn't take driving out there on a weekly basis! The original plan had been to get an Rx and get them in Mexico, which is a couple of hours away, so I could get them cheap and have them administered at home, but I think I let myself get talked out of that.
Wisely, or not, I'm not sure...I don't know if it's brain fog if I'm in some kind of crazy state of denial or what but I repeatedly seem to underestimate my limitations...for all my planning to go to South America for treatment, I just realized a couple of days ago that the flight itself would may have been more of a problem than I'd let myself believe. This came about when, after sitting upright on the couch for a couple of hours, obsessing over my latest obsession, Travel Hacking, I started having those nasty symptoms I try and ignore that seem to be my nervous system going haywire from the strain. Just this sick feeling, cold and tingling feet & hands, dull burning ache where my back & neck meet, a feeling like I can't breathe, chest tight, muscles contracted, heart racing...It feels almost like a panic attack, really. (My point being, how in the world would I cope with that after a few hours on an airplane, stuck like a sardine in my Economy seat?) And the only thing that makes it better is lying down FLAT. (Which you can't really do in Economy class, though as I found out, you can in International Business Class!) I shudder to think...Sometimes even the slight elevation of a pillow won't do, the choking discomfort won't have it. I just have to lie down, flat, arms at my sides, and try to relax...a heating pad helps sometimes. I really don't know if this is a CFS---Dysautonomia thing, or if it has something to do with the concussion I had a decade or so ago.
Sidenote: This question has prompted me to do some research on degenerative disc diseases, and more recently, something called Arachnoiditis, an inflammation of the sheath that goes over the spine & nerves, both of whose symptoms seem to intersect with each other, and with mine... I've especially noticed lately that whenever my cervical spine pain does act up, I either have a sensation of feeling like I have a lobster, scorpion (those are kind of arachnoid-like, right?) or something gently but irritatingly clinging around my c- spine. I've also had some nights recently where I just couldn't get comfortable; out of desperation I pulled an old, cheap, curved memory foam pillow out of my closet, and finally that helped, but I noticed that the barely-perceptible but raw sensitivity I felt in my neck seemed to be a variety of nerve pain.
Anyhow, as I was saying, I have finally been getting to rest. No more weekly trips, no more dragging myself to one doctor's appointment after another. no more steeling my will and my brain to think so I can help people deal with lawyers, realtors, worrying about family... I've been keeping everything to a bare minimum, despite my ever-insistent (and since I got sick, rarely appeased) drive for productivity, and finally getting some real, actual, R&R! For once, I've enjoyed being sinfully lazy and demanded as little from myself as possible. Even showers! AWFUL, I know! But at the beginning there, I just didn't care. I didn't care about anything, couldn't make myself, no matter how hard I worked at it, it took super-human willpower to do much of anything. Ironically, I think it has something to do with tapering off my Zoloft, which the psychiatric intern had amped way up claiming sometimes anxiety took massive doses of before it responded, but it just kept getting worse. So after having it re-filled, I still kept it to a minimum and I don't know if it's that, or the rest, or both, but the anxiety is sooooo much better now, what a relief! Honestly, if my state of mind is good, being sick isn't so incredibly awful. I can make phone calls from bed. It's a good excuse to meditate, and I though I can't be on the computer long lying down flattish without killing my neck, that's not always such a bad thing. I'll take what I can get, because my time here is coming to an end, which means I'll need all my energy to sell stuff & pack & move it.
Which reminds me, my old plan is new again, I think I can handle the couple hour flight to a visit my cousin in a southern state, if she'll still have me. Despite the situation, I know it would be a mistake to stay and move in with my mother, just like I knew it would be a mistake to move here. (Love my parents, but there's a reason I moved out!) So I'm finding as many free ways to rack up airline miles as I can, and refusing to be anything but optimistic that it will all work out. Like a lovely graphic someone posted on Facebook today said, not all healing is physical, but spiritual as well, and laughter is good medicine. (Or something like that!) Who knows, maybe I'll even improve enough to fly further South...that would cut a couple hours off the flight at least...
Well, I'm hoping to revamp this blog a bit as well, the blue is a little well...BLUE for my tastes, so hopefully Blogger has some nice new templates for me to utilize. As soon as my hands stop killing me from the all Travel-hacking research! I am literally, so, so excited! Wish me luck!
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Need Supplements? Great Deal!
Hi all! As you probably know, I am a BIG fan of supplements. I really don't know where I'd be without my supplements. My allergies would be COMPLETELY out of control without them, for one. My tummy, a disaster -- I'd probably have stopped eating just to avoid the discomfort. Not to mention the other culprits like inflammation, hormonal disturbances...Lately, I've even found that simple vitamins do have a noticeable effect on my immune system.
So, if you love your supplements as much as I do, I thought I'd share this link to Vitacost's website.
I used to refuse to buy supplements online (well, partly for budgetary reasons) mainly because I used to live near a great nutrition store with great prices, and family and doctors to see out there still, I would hold on until I went out there. That is, until I realized I could get airlines miles for shopping online AND this store has great prices & deals too, plus shipping is free if the order is over $49.
(They also have, health food, holistic beauty, and just about anything you could want to buy that's good for you...and then some!)
Also, if you're a big fan of the Garden of Life supplement line (which I am! Their probiotics & enzymes are like no others!) then check out the special below. FREE MULTIVITAMINS!
But don't forget to click on the link above first and register so we can both get our $10 credits!
http://www.vitacost.com/free-multivitamin-with-garden-of-life-purchase-se572e-se546e
Oh, and you can also get free samples with each order, the link is at the bottom of their site.
Hope this doesn't sound to advertise-y, but I sincerely think it's a win-win proposition!
So, if you love your supplements as much as I do, I thought I'd share this link to Vitacost's website.
http://www.vitacost.com/Referee?wlsrc=rsReferral&ReferralCode=30346064
(They also have, health food, holistic beauty, and just about anything you could want to buy that's good for you...and then some!)
Also, if you're a big fan of the Garden of Life supplement line (which I am! Their probiotics & enzymes are like no others!) then check out the special below. FREE MULTIVITAMINS!
But don't forget to click on the link above first and register so we can both get our $10 credits!
http://www.vitacost.com/free-multivitamin-with-garden-of-life-purchase-se572e-se546e
Oh, and you can also get free samples with each order, the link is at the bottom of their site.
Hope this doesn't sound to advertise-y, but I sincerely think it's a win-win proposition!
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Niacin for Anxiety? Who knew!
Niacin's Benzodiazepine-like Properties, a Case Study
Too good not to share. Right now I'm taking GABA because I've recently developed severe general anxiety so bad I couldn't even deal (who wouldn't, living like I have been for the past several years! And especially the last one!) and it works great, but it still weirds me out a little, because I don't quite know how it works (not that I'm not super thankful that it does, and WELL) though I did read about it at some point, and I'm not sure anyone does completely, since it's just a supplement... (But then how many drugs go on the market every day without enough testing or with faked/biased studies supporting them? I'd say the gamble's about the same!)
So yeah, I'd way rather take Niacin. (Fits in as part of Dr. Myhill's Mitochondrial Energy dealio, too, only thing I'm missing is the D-Ribose, which I think gives me tachycardia anyhow.) The only question would be, what effect will Niacinamide have on my orthostatic hypotension/blood pressure? I was taking it to see if it'd help my energy a couple of weeks back, and I seem to remember being really sleepy during that time, and sleeping well at night! Nice! What a luxury a good night's sleep seems to be lately...Heavenly... Love hearing about stuff like this, imagine, simple cheap vitamins we need anyhow instead of addictive drugs! I feel like we're making great strides in that area. Good job researchers! Now if we could just get them to stop with the stupid names for crappy illnesses, like our fav, CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME, and the one I learned today, Chronic Hyperventilation Syndrome. Not sure which sounds worse! (I mean, seriously? THAT'S what you want to call something that makes you feel like you're suffocating only you apparently are getting oxygen but can't use it (last post, first link) so you feel like you must either be dying or going crazy?) Okay, sorry for the rant. It's late, and I'm exhausted from filling out forms for Medicaid to see if I can get help cleaning this place cuz I can't manage much of anything lately...I think that's been one of the most annoying things about being sick and broke-- all the damned forms one has to fill out just to get help you need to get by, jeez! I so hope they approve me...probably help my case, AND then I will still have some health coverage if/when I have to move out of this county and lose my county medical program coverage...Fingers crossed....
Too good not to share. Right now I'm taking GABA because I've recently developed severe general anxiety so bad I couldn't even deal (who wouldn't, living like I have been for the past several years! And especially the last one!) and it works great, but it still weirds me out a little, because I don't quite know how it works (not that I'm not super thankful that it does, and WELL) though I did read about it at some point, and I'm not sure anyone does completely, since it's just a supplement... (But then how many drugs go on the market every day without enough testing or with faked/biased studies supporting them? I'd say the gamble's about the same!)
So yeah, I'd way rather take Niacin. (Fits in as part of Dr. Myhill's Mitochondrial Energy dealio, too, only thing I'm missing is the D-Ribose, which I think gives me tachycardia anyhow.) The only question would be, what effect will Niacinamide have on my orthostatic hypotension/blood pressure? I was taking it to see if it'd help my energy a couple of weeks back, and I seem to remember being really sleepy during that time, and sleeping well at night! Nice! What a luxury a good night's sleep seems to be lately...Heavenly... Love hearing about stuff like this, imagine, simple cheap vitamins we need anyhow instead of addictive drugs! I feel like we're making great strides in that area. Good job researchers! Now if we could just get them to stop with the stupid names for crappy illnesses, like our fav, CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME, and the one I learned today, Chronic Hyperventilation Syndrome. Not sure which sounds worse! (I mean, seriously? THAT'S what you want to call something that makes you feel like you're suffocating only you apparently are getting oxygen but can't use it (last post, first link) so you feel like you must either be dying or going crazy?) Okay, sorry for the rant. It's late, and I'm exhausted from filling out forms for Medicaid to see if I can get help cleaning this place cuz I can't manage much of anything lately...I think that's been one of the most annoying things about being sick and broke-- all the damned forms one has to fill out just to get help you need to get by, jeez! I so hope they approve me...probably help my case, AND then I will still have some health coverage if/when I have to move out of this county and lose my county medical program coverage...Fingers crossed....
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Product Curiosity: EMS Unit
Man, if I keep spending so much time in bed I'm seriously thinking of trying one of these Electric Muscle Stim Units! (Before I realized this shoulder/arm/hand thing was probably a pinched nerve deal, I was freaking out a little over not being able to exercise because I was having such a hard time holding my torso up, and my knees are threatening to re-emerge into their -thankfully- long-at-bay tendency towards tendonitis, ickh.) Nifty little thing, huh?
EMS Muscle Toner
Study from the National Institute of Health Supports EMS as Exercising Muscles
EMS Muscle Toner
Study from the National Institute of Health Supports EMS as Exercising Muscles
New Names for Old Symptoms: Hypocapnia
Recently, as I may have mentioned, I had yet another round of blood tests done.
This time, the only abnormality was a new one: Low Carbon Dioxide.
"Seriously? I thought, Low Carbon Dioxide? What's that even supposed to mean?"
(Besides making me feel a little crazy, because if anything, I tend to feel like I'm not getting enough oxygen...actually, that's a huge one when I'm really run down, for example, the last times I worked. And it's being bugging me a little lately, I've been doing the sighing thing you'll read about below again lately.)
The doctor didn't even mention it, so I decided I'd Google it later to see if it mattered, or, if as happens often, it just slipped her mind. Well, it's been a crazy month, so it took awhile, kept slipping MY mind.
The other night I finally did, and was surprised to find these articles:
Hypocapnia (Low Carbon Dioxide in Blood)
and here's a second one: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Causes & Treatments
and a third:Chronic Hyperventilation Syndrome (apparently it's a real thing! Although like the author of the first link, who can bear another "syndrome" being added to their list?)
What amazes me, is that I'd never heard of this before! Especially since I tried to figure out what it was, but it seemed so bizarre, because I would feel like I was suffocating to the point where I thought I was forgetting to breathe, was yawning & sighing like crazy, and felt SO weak I actually looked up TB to check the symptoms of the infamous Consumption to make sure I didn't have it, because all I knew was I felt like I wasn't getting enough air, and like I was dying. I even begged my Dad to hook me up with an oxygen tank from his work! (He wouldn't/couldn't, but in his usual fashion, kept saying he'd look into it. While I sat around suffocating.) Some doctors would tell me it was asthma, and then I started going to the ER, and they would tell me my oxygen levels were great!(Asthma seems okay now that I take an anti-histamine daily, but the Hypocapnia still acts up.) You'll have to see the links for the full articles, but here are some of the symptoms, and yes, they do echo those of POTS...
made me feel so fabulous in the past...fingers crossed this goes better than the C or Myer's Cocktail or whatever I had last week... Well off to quit abusing my appendages, maybe meditate some and nap... Gotta build myself up for that drive, now that I think of the Hydrogen Peroxide as it relates to the Hypocapnia, I want it more than ever...So tired lately, can't seem to get enough rest, and there's so much to be done, haven't even begun to start having things packed...I'm dying to be out of my housing situation, but not dying to go give up the tranquility, foster kitties, & space here. Think good thoughts for me please...
The other night I finally did, and was surprised to find these articles:
Hypocapnia (Low Carbon Dioxide in Blood)
and here's a second one: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Causes & Treatments
and a third:Chronic Hyperventilation Syndrome (apparently it's a real thing! Although like the author of the first link, who can bear another "syndrome" being added to their list?)
What amazes me, is that I'd never heard of this before! Especially since I tried to figure out what it was, but it seemed so bizarre, because I would feel like I was suffocating to the point where I thought I was forgetting to breathe, was yawning & sighing like crazy, and felt SO weak I actually looked up TB to check the symptoms of the infamous Consumption to make sure I didn't have it, because all I knew was I felt like I wasn't getting enough air, and like I was dying. I even begged my Dad to hook me up with an oxygen tank from his work! (He wouldn't/couldn't, but in his usual fashion, kept saying he'd look into it. While I sat around suffocating.) Some doctors would tell me it was asthma, and then I started going to the ER, and they would tell me my oxygen levels were great!(Asthma seems okay now that I take an anti-histamine daily, but the Hypocapnia still acts up.) You'll have to see the links for the full articles, but here are some of the symptoms, and yes, they do echo those of POTS...
- shortness of breath for no apparent reason
- frequent sighing or yawning
- chest pains
- heart palpitations
- sweating
- syncope (fainting)
- dizziness
- trembling
- slurred speech
- cold, tingling, or numb lips or extremities
- nausea or irritable bowel syndrome
- aching muscles or joints, or tremors
- tiredness, unsteadiness, or diffuse weakness
- restless sleep, insomnia, or nightmares
- sexual problems
- anxiety or phobias
- fear that perhaps you're a hypochondriac
- dry mouth
- pressure in throat or difficulty swallowing
- bloating, belching, flatulence, or abdominal pain
- impaired memory or concentration
- confusion / disorientation
- tinnitis (ringing in ears)
- headaches
- blurred vision, tunnel vision, double vision, or flashing lights
- tachycardia (rapid pulse)
- depression
- erratic blood pressure
made me feel so fabulous in the past...fingers crossed this goes better than the C or Myer's Cocktail or whatever I had last week... Well off to quit abusing my appendages, maybe meditate some and nap... Gotta build myself up for that drive, now that I think of the Hydrogen Peroxide as it relates to the Hypocapnia, I want it more than ever...So tired lately, can't seem to get enough rest, and there's so much to be done, haven't even begun to start having things packed...I'm dying to be out of my housing situation, but not dying to go give up the tranquility, foster kitties, & space here. Think good thoughts for me please...
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