Fibro, HGH and DHEA...

You mean you're STILL looking for what's going wrong?

I know I keep going on and on on about Human Growth Hormone "Deficiency" (I have trouble with the term but that will have to keep for another post).  You may very well be thinking, "here we go again," but there really is good reason to go on about HGH today!  Last night on twitter I happened to mention that blood work from the visit to the endocrinologist was slowly trickling in. Yawza!  My doctors and I are in a bit of a surprised state.

Fortunately, my thyroid tests are thus far all normal.  That is, the thyroid medication and dosage seem to be working a treat.  So it looks like THAT seems to be under control though to be perfectly honest with you, I personally have a problem with all thyroid testing and its accuracy.  (Another post, folks!)  But be that as it may, we need to look elsewhere for what the REAL problems may be and today we have two clues as to what may be causing me to feel as sick as I did back in 2001, if, that is, it's not the worst I've ever felt.  Period.

My doctor checked for a hormone called DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone).  This is not new territory for me. For those who aren't familiar with DHEA, this is a hormone that both men and women make and is released by the adrenal glands, located above each kidney.  This hormone is necessary for many bodily functions including resistance to infection, muscle toning and energy level.  In the past, I've actually been low in my DHEA level and have had to take supplements to get my levels where they should be. 

DHEA levels can actually fluctuate based on pain levels, nutrition, sleep and the presence of other diseases. Consequently, the levels should be taken (in the form of a blood test) periodically, some even advise every month or two.  (If we tested me every month or so for everything, I'd have no blood left, so we do so only about every year or so!)  Normally, DHEA levels decline with age - isn't that often the case?  Sigh!  In the past few years my DHEA levels have been pretty much spot on (hallelujah! Something that's right with moi!).  However, my most recent test shows that my level is about a third of what it should be.  (What luck!)  My doctor will be prescribing DHEA in pill form - again - to be taken once a day and we should be set on that front.  To tell you the truth, I've never felt much of a difference in taking the DHEA, but it makes the guys so happy that I just let them get their jollies with me when they can.  (Did that sound improper?  I assure you it wasn't meant to be anything but amusing!  I get my jollies where I can as well!)

However, the part that HAS intrigued me is that in taking my most recent blood work we checked out my HGH levels again, just for "fun," and there we were in for a surprise! (See previous links to HGH posts here, here, and here.)  

To be boringly accurate, one doesn't actually check for hormone levels but for by-product levels of IGF-1 (Insulin-dependent growth factor 1).  This chemical has a very long half-life so a random blood test will give the doctor a good idea of how much growth hormone has been released from the pituitary gland in the brain over the last few days.  As we age we make less and less growth hormone: this is normal.  However, as Bennett described in the literature beginning back in 1992, HGH levels in people with fibro are all too often low and in 1995 Bennett showed that growth hormone injections improved the quality of life for his fibro patients.  However, because adult growth hormone deficiency is thought to be rare, expensive and hard to obtain, doctors do not check levels of IGF-1.  Because they do not see cases of growth hormone deficiency the concept that it is rare in adults got solidified in physicians' minds, further complicating a convoluted history. (Understatement!)

OK, time to take a step back for a moment in order to understand the whole myth, "secrecy" and even legend of the whole HGH issue, though in very "Cliff Notes" style.  The whole issue became muddled when abuses began with the misuse of HGH.  In children, who indeed DO need HGH in enormous amounts in order to grow, etc, the hormone was suddenly abused by some doctors and parents who had children who did NOT have HGH deficiency but because they wanted their children to become better athletes and thus the whole system got out of whack.  Further complicating the system was when ADULTS wanted to look younger and abused the hormone for cosmetic reasons.  Do we even need to go into the abuses on behalf of adult athletes?  

The government tried to control the abuses of the hormone and imposed controls which the insurance companies took advantage of, thus making a cluster you-know-what.  When I was diagnosed with HGH deficiency in 1999 it took two YEARS for HGH to be approved on behalf of all agencies involved and we could not buy any for love or money, even though I was lying in the hospital dying with all of my organs shutting down when, finally, the HGH was shipped to us via courier.  It's still very difficult to get HGH (not available in a pharmacy but only each month, still via courier, after a call for a delivery time, date and place each and EVERY month! Talk about restrictions!).  HGH is still very difficult to obtain with lots of testing needed to "satisfy" all the powers-that-be, although much easier to obtain than back in 2001.  Now you have the back story in a nutshell, though trust me, a book could be written on this alone.

Back to today...

I just learned that my most recent IGF-1 level had dropped from a normal value about six months ago to a much lower level now.  This is quite unheard of.  We normally go to my endocrinologist to make sure that my IGF-1 level is not too high since as I age, we need to keep the level at the number that someone my age would need and NOT any higher.  Now here we are, stunned to find ourselves with a much lower number than what we ever could have imagined.

This is also surprising because my dose of HGH had not changed for many years, since 2001, in fact.  The last time my levels were taken was in September.  What could have happened to change a number so quickly or even to change it at all?

There are several possibilities that come to mind:

• Although my pneumonia was probably developing earlier, it wasn't diagnosed until October 11.  The pneumonia may have weakened me and made me more prone to develop a lower hormone level.
• At about the same time, I had my gall bladder and stones removed.  This is major surgery (as I found out the hard way!) and is a major stress on the body.
• The holidays certainly didn't help my general health.
• The remodeling and redecorating (which seems to be a permanent state of affairs here in this house) has most definitely not helped.
• We've gone from a family which has had embarrassingly great health (except for MOI - must give that caveat again!) to a family with embarrassingly BAD health with each family member undergoing major surgery in the last year and a half.  Talk about stress and worry!

At any rate, I include this info because again, I really want people out there to realize that DHEA and HGH levels are so important and frequently problematic in fibro.  Please do yourself a favor and talk to your doctors about this if you have unexplained fatigue, low stamina and muscle weakness.  Also, a deficiency of these hormones can make you flabby (as I can attest!) and unable to lose weight, no matter how much you try (again, I can attest!  Sadly!).  Again, previous posts go into other aspects of lack of HGH (see search box if need be).

I don't know that we've found my Red October in the Hunt for it (see previous posts on that) but at least we have one small explanation for my recent deterioration. We just need to see if this is yet another red herring or the real deal.

As always, hoping that everyone's feeling their best, only better.  Ciao and paka.



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Masks: Fighting Dehydrated Skin & Pores

The weather here has been horrendous because of the cold temperatures and that's not good news for skin, especially CFIDS/ME/CFS and/or fibro nor hypothyroidism skin.  Once we factor in the "windchill" factor it's been hard for even normal, healthy people to function.  I'm in bed (yay!) resting up as much as possible, sleeping off and on a lot, hoping like mad that my body finally realizes that I'm trying to work WITH it and not against it.  So far the body's not getting the message, but I keep trying, and keep on truckin', as we would say waaaay back when.

With this freezing weather, the central air heating is working steadily and my skin is getting more dehydrated each day.  I've been too exhausted and in too much pain to keep up washing my face properly and to take advantage of these in-bed days by doing all sorts of "girlie" things. However, yesterday I couldn't take it any longer and decided it was time to try to get back to taking care of my skin.

Ahhh.  And there's been another complication to add to the entire aging fiasco:  my face has been extremely dehydrated from all the high fevers I've been running.

Last night I took a bath that was entirely too warm for this time of year.  It was an oh so wonderful feeling, though the hot temperature is "bad" because the skin gets too dry and dehydrated and then is compounded by my NOT putting any moisturizer on my body because usually I can't stand anything on it. I did "do" my face since, hey, as I always say, the face is sacred!  I thought I'd try one of the paper or cloth-like masks, which are filled with product and you put on your face for a certain amount of time.  Since pores are something I'm always battling against, I thought I'd give the Masqueology Pore Minimizer I'd purchased this past summer a try.  (Why do I keep saving these things for a special day?  Half the time I wouldn't recognize a special day if... well, I just wouldn't and all those things I save go way past expiration dates or out of style...  but I know, back to topic at hand!)

I love these sorts of masks in general.  They are loaded with product and so easy to apply in bed.  Better yet, you use it and then discard.  (Hallelujah!  I have enough clutter in my life!)  After my face was clean, I laid back in bed for 20 minutes and let the mask work its magic.  This was easy to do because I was absolutely exhausted and drained from the entire bath experience and in shell shock as to how much of my hair keeps falling out.  OK... Sigh, I know: again, back to topic at hand!

At first I thought the solution was a tiny bit on the sticky side and wasn't sure I'd like that.  There was a bit of excess of the product after the mask was in place and I used it on my extremely dehydrated arms, elbows, shoulders and even my 30 inch arm/hand scar.  Within a couple of minutes those areas - which are so hard for me to keep hydrated - were no longer sticky, but extremely soft and well on their way to being hydrated.  I couldn't wait to see what would happen to my face after 20 minutes.

Simply the idea of these "cloth" masks thrills me because there's so little muss and fuss. They're extremely popular in Asia and since the Asian market is so far ahead of us in quite a few beauty areas - the BB and CC creams are great examples that come to mind - I thought I'd give them a second try.  

Furthermore, I love how this mask came to be.  According to sources I read, "Masqueology worked with top Korean dermatologists to develop a rayon-cellulose fabric that best delivers product into the skin and paired with a patented pro-vitamin D3 gel that fights UV photo-damage."  The first time I used another "cloth" mask is explained just a little bit here with an embarrassing picture of moi. I've learned from my mistakes and won't be doing a repeat of that again for the world to see.  I also thought I'd done a proper review but evidently not.  Will do so in the future.  Sorry!  That's what you get with fibro-brain!

But back to the mask at hand: the "cloth" is extremely thick so in that sense it's easy to work with - it's not about to tear as you adjust it to your face.  It's quite cold (it felt absolutely wonderful for someone who's been running fevers and getting clammy constantly) and the product consistency feels quite a bit like the gelatinous aloe vera - that is, slimy.  This, it turns out, is to our advantage because it helps the mask adhere to the face so much better, stay where you put it and not dry up after 20 minutes.  In fact, after I removed the mask I bunched it up, squeezed what product was left into my hand and then spread it again on my elbows, arms, decolletage and shoulders: heaven!!!  And so very soothing!  The slimy feel lasts only a moment or so.  It's not much of a factor in my book.

But back to the beginning: I ended up even covering my eyes with my mask and all but the nostrils of my nose. To cover the eyes, mouth and nose areas is optional, though breathing was most certainly not optional!  (Right? Right!)  While waiting for the twenty minutes to pass, I talked to hubs who had been watching TV but found my face with the mask ever so much more entertaining.  Poor hubs: he's under the mistaken impression that I'm the only female out there who does this sort of stuff to her face and when assured otherwise, he's then so pathetically happy that he was born a male.  

Anyway, while he gawked, I thought about what I'd read on the Masqueology web site and here's what the key ingredients are and what they do, taken right from the Masqueology web site, words and all.  In other words, their PR people probably went a little overboard as PR people generally do.  However, they weren't too awfully far from the truth!

"Benefits:
• Minimizes the visible appearance of pores [so-so]
• Refines skin’s overall texture and appearance [agreed!]

Key Ingredients:

Comes in a 3-pack.

• Sodium Hyaluronate [incredible, all of it!]:
Helps skin absorb more water effectively
Reduces any sort of trans-epidermal water loss 
Small molecular size makes it especially penetrative
Holds 1000 times its weight in water
• Panthenol [fantastic!]:
Improves hydration
Reduces itching and inflammation
Accelerates and improves healing of epidermal wounds
• Mushroom Extract [great!]:
Reduces inflammation and irritation
Impacts the appearance of lines and collagen production
Helps brighten, fade sunspots and acne scars
Prevents cell breakdown and exfoliates the skin
• Ceramide 3 [yep!]:
Repairs damage to the skin’s moisture barrier
Smooth away wrinkles and crows feet
Repairs skin tone"

Perhaps what is best is what Masqueology does NOT contain:
-Parabens
-Sulfates
-Synthetic Dyes
-Petrochemicals
-Phthalates
-GMOs
-Triclosan

In the past I've tried quite a few products with Hyaluronic Acid, and while they helped somewhat, they were not enough to really combat the severely dehydrated skin associated with fibro, CFIDS (etc) AND hypothyroidism.  In fact, I thought that it was simply my skin and that I couldn't expect better since we do have such funky skin.  However, I was so wonderfully mistaken with this cloth mask and its abundance of product.  This product worked like a charm.  I'll need to retry my other products with Hyaluronic Acid because at this point I like the Methodology best, even better than the Clarin HydraQuench Cream, the Clarin HyraQuench Cream-Mask and Clinique HydraQuench Bi-phase Serum.  And though it kills me to say it, I think I like it better than even the Sisley Express Flower Gel.  I want to say, "say it isn't so, Joe!"  So another testing of said products needs to be done!  (Especially since they're sitting in the cabinets lonely and waiting for me to start using them again!)

Furthermore, I liked the anti-inflammatory ingredients, which worked well with the itchiness on my arms. I'd used that excess product well for a problem I just spoke about in Friday's Tidbits last week.  (Darn!  Wish I'd thought to put some of that product along my back!  Next time?)

At $8 a pop, this mask is pricey but if you compare it to a facial by a professional, then it's a huge bargain.  I liked this much better than the few professional facials I've had in the past, so....

And finally, if you're going out for the evening, I can see spending a little bit of extra time and using this mask before putting on makeup, etc.  It just gives a nice finish to the skin.  It'd also be great to take on a trip or vacation since the packette is so thin, non-bulky and there'd be nothing to drag home! 

Altogether, I'm so glad I bought the three-pack and look forwards to using it again soon. Masqueology is available at Amazon, Sephora and Dermstore dot com.

In the meanwhile, I hope everyone is feeling their best, only better.  Ciao and paka! 

Is Pacing Over-Rated?

  

Not my little room, but you get the idea.

It's truly amazing that in our CFIDS/ME/CFS and/or fibromyalgia world, we are never able to let our guard down.  Do so and continue ahead at your own peril.  The world, it often seems, is full of danger and you proceed as if you are in a minefield. (Can more clichés be added here?) Spontaneous acts achieve nothing, it seems, but add a bit of spice to our lives, though often at a price we're not always sure we want to pay. (Hopefully, clichés are now ended!)

I had a rough time of it last Friday.  It had been a rough week. I'd finally reached a point where I was overwhelmed by the insomnia, the migraines and dealing with the whole thyroid situation. Constant were the aches and huge pains I was experiencing and a plethora of symptoms I'd either not registered or have mercifully forgotten.  I was exhausted, too, by the fact that my painkillers were not relieving me of any of the nastiest parts of this DD and so I decided to go with Plan B, sigh.  When things are going too poorly, I get to a point where Plan B appears to be the only means of escape.

And I hear you!  What the heck is "Plan B," right?  Well, it's my version of Lamaze, the kind I started and honed as a child.  

I started experiencing migraines at an early age and ended up with a means of distracting from the pain without realizing I was doing so, or even acknowledging the pain was there in the first place.  My mom honestly never believed children get "headaches"; she was completely convinced that they only cause them.  So, I suppose my little grade school brain finally found a means of escape: do some mindless physical work to distract yourself from the pain.  As I wrote in Friday's post (link), that means of distraction turned into cleaning floors, and by the time I reached high school, I always had bright sparkling floors, be they washed and waxed or vacuumed within an inch of their lives.

Sadly, these days the only "mindless" work I can do is dust and, ironically - or according to "Murphy's Law" - it's the one household chore I absolutely abhor.  I LOVE to clean, but the DD has taken this pleasure away from me as well.  However, I thought SURELY I could dust!

And how the house needs dusting, and a bit more!  Any room near areas where our old wood floor under the old carpeting was uncovered and refinished was thick with dust, despite our previous attempts to solve this problem.  Any rooms near areas where wallpaper was taken down and then said walls spackled and sanded before being painted, are also full of dust.  We had air cleaners going, but they weren't able to accomplish much under the circumstances.  Consequently, between a few symptoms of the hypothyroidism and the dust, I was coughing an awful lot, not to mention that my voice was always hoarse.

So, on Friday I was in dire straits, a particularly bad day.  The insomnia, the thyroid, the pain, the sad look of the room where I keep my much-feared computer, the area where I put the finishing touches on my posts and often choose to tweet from was REALLY getting to me.  What could I do BUT turn lemons into lemonade, again?  It would be a risk, but talk about desperate times!  And talk about the need to feel better about things in the long-run!  Desperation was oozing out of me.

So, I decided that the books in the bookshelves needed to be dusted - thus finding what I thought was the "mindless chore" I so desperately needed.  Nothing comes easy, however. I did need to add a bit of complexity to the job by getting rid of anything on the bookshelves which wasn't a book.  I finally decided that if I couldn't pitch it, I'd go the chicken's way out: stick it into one of the kid's old rooms which is already a disaster area and thus have only one central disaster area to contend with later.

I know, it's double work in some people's eyes but I belong to the school of cleaning that thinks it's best to make one central mess to work from.  For me, perhaps precisely because of fibro-brain, it's the best approach.  Decisions are hard to make and the whole point of the exercise, after all, was to do a MINDLESS chore.  I'd already decided that the physical part be darned.

And, as is often the case with those of us with the whole CFIDS/etc and fibro fiasco life challenges, I went too far.  When hubs arrived home late from work, he ended up helping me "close up shop" for the day.  Books and all sorts of debris were all over the floor and walking through was like navigating your way through a minefield.  I might be a mountain goat who has no problems getting through, but let's just say it's a good thing hubs never joined a circus.  He'd have served well as dinner one night for the lions - after not mastering tight-rope walking.  But patience?  I have very little of it and he has it in spades.  I suppose that's part of what make us such a great team.  So floors were cleared and one section of the bookshelf was BEAUTIFUL.

As the evening progressed, I complained that my leg with the neuropathy was hurting and cramping and I then spent half the night dealing with THOSE pains in addition to the stuff I had relieved for a few hours while "just dusting."  Hubs was a bit annoyed, giving me sidewards looks that said loud and clear, "you SHOULD have been in bed resting."  I, in turn, was giving looks back to him that said, "you don't have to deal with migraines, do you?"  There was so much non-verbal communication going on that we could have written a long book from it and it wouldn't have taken much to turn it all into an unpleasant verbal conversation as well. (Joke, I think!)

So, going back for more of the "I-can’t-learn School of Irene's Science," on Saturday I decided to do yet another section of the bookshelves.  In my defense, I'll say that I hadn't slept for two days and two nights so not only was I in a desperate state but my judgment was just a TAD on the impaired side.  My foot was swollen even more, tight to almost bursting, my head was still throbbing ("throbbing," such a tiny word for what was really going on!) and I thought that the satisfaction from a job well done and a pretty room would be just the ticket to make me feel better, albeit only psychologically.  But hey!  Don't put down the psychological reinforcement and satisfaction.  Sometimes it's all you have!

After a few hours hubs arrived home.  Imagine how NOT surprised he was to see me hauling books, wiping them off, moving them from room to room, all while doing a seemingly good imitation of "Hop-Along Cassidy" because my foot was more swollen than before and putting any weight on it was close to excruciating pain.  Helping me clean up my mess, we ended up with an almost sparkling little room.

...and a surprise at the end.  To make a long story shorter (what?  This IS the short version of it all!) I ended up with cellulitis of the foot (and hands?). I'd spent so much time at the computer the day before (another Lamaze-type diversion) that the fluids built up in my legs, and then who knows what else happened?  Perhaps between the books and the manicure I gave myself, bacteria got into my system and bad magic took place.  Whatever it was, my hands were swollen to the point that I could barely bend them, my foot was swollen to the point where I started looking things up on the Internet (never a good idea when so desperate). My foot had become red, a rash had developed AND the foot that's always ice cold was suddenly hot as well.  In fact, I was shivering and running a fever.

So, moral of the story?  There's a lesson for me to be learned here, but I know myself well enough that I probably won't learn for next time, though I should.  But the joy I now feel when I see the room clutter-free and dust-free was and IS worth all the pain.  For me, it was a wise investment as hubs shakes his head at what he considers to be my insanity.  But a pretty room can never be underestimated as a healing power.  Now when I go to the feared computer, I get great satisfaction seeing bookshelves that are full of old friends I've not seen in ages.  The air cleaner has worked much magic in getting rid of the dust that was stirred up, despite the best dusting cloths. I can breathe clean air, not sanded-down air when I come into the room.

And, most importantly, when it comes down to healing: I had a "marathon sleep" of 12 hours. Yippee!  Really!  With the help of an anti-inflammatory and the antibiotic the swelling has come down enough where it isn't pain off the charts.  The fever is gone, the rash is on its way out, though my skin DOES have a reptilian look to it, the scaly look from the swelling and fever, a classic reaction to what went on.  The blue-black hue has left my nail beds.  I can see that things will soon be right with the world.

But sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, despite the cost.  As long as everything is capable of healing - that is, I'm not at risk of losing any more body parts - I'm thrilled I took the risk and made some headway into a huge project.  I've said it often enough: sometimes to survive, you need to come out of the normal protective shell you're forced to live with.  Sometimes you just can't keep calculating every step you take and every move you make.  Sometimes fighting this CFIDS and fibro animal is not rest but a feeling of accomplishment and that you've had your way, not allowing the illnesses to defeat.  Pacing, I think, is simply too over-rated.  There!  I've said it, and THAT in and of itself makes me feel better.

As always, I hope that all are doing their very best only better.  (As if fibro-logic is ever going to win with me!)  I wish my old Russian Orthodox camp buddies and my relatives a Merry Christmas - we're always a bit out of sync with the rest of the world.  Ciao and paka!

Brushing Up On Your Makeup Skills

Laura Mercier and Chanel brushes and cosmetics

Since starting on one of my newest medical adventures, that of the hypothyroidism, (and another one of the battles described at this link as well) I've had a real problem with my face, the color of it, that is.  Fortunately (I suppose), I've always had to use foundation, so it hasn't been a problem to use a foundation now.  When I was young I needed it to cover my (many) freckles.  As I've aged it's been to cover freckles PLUS the hyper-pigmentation.  (OK, it's "age spots," shudder!)  The final nail in the coffin has always been that I've needed foundation to cover a bit of redness anytime I've ever been exposed to the sun in any shape, way or form.

However, since the thyroid problems began, my skin has been playing even more tricks on me.  Too often I turn ghastly pale.  Other days, I seem to have a yellowish cast.

Another however: a biggie!  I'm finally happy that in the past decade or so I haven't been able to make it to any store to buy foundation.  I need to order over the Internet and THAT becomes iffy at best, not to mention a bit expensive.

But finally, I have an upside!  No matter what color my skin, I have a shade I can work with.  Talk about an extreme case of making lemonade out of lemons!  Now I no longer need to feel guilty about having so many foundations.  Furthermore, because my skin is dehydrated one day and too oily the next, I have all the types of foundations to choose from as well, from powders to creams to liquids.  My only problem: making the right decision as to which foundation to try on my face on any particular day.  As many who are plagued with CFIDS/ME/CFS and/or fibromyalgia, I have a huge problem with decision-making.  (I can just hear hubby breaking out into hysterical laughter when he reads this last statement about decision-making.  Hey, Hubs! I'm a Libra who has to analyze everything ad nauseum, remember?)

At any rate, I had an appointment with my GP the other day.  Understand (if you will, please), that since I almost never go out, I try to make going to any doctor's appointment a dress-up day if at all possible.  But as I said, my face has been tricky lately. Too often I find that my foundation looks like a mask on my face. I've always maintained that makeup is only flattering when the skin underneath looks good and that bad color or pallor makes for Halloween-type looks.  And if you want to try to get away with the "no-makeup" or "flawless" makeup look, well, fuhgeddaboudit, as Robert De Niro would say.

However, yesterday was a success with the makeup job and yippee!  I'm delighted because by all rights it should have been a "mask" day.  However...

I love and have an obsession with makeup brushes.  (Yes, I've always maintained that I'm an odd duck!)  To make things worse - or much to hub's chagrin - I have an embarrassingly large collection of brushes, especially for someone who doesn't go out very often.  But I suppose where some people love crayons, I love brushes. While some can paint on canvas, I can't replicate a drawing of a basic tree.  So, makeup?  That must satisfy some sort of wish-I-were-an-artist part of me.  (Get back on topic, I know!)

Yet of all the brushes I own, I've never had a proper foundation brush. I've always thought my fingers were superior to any brush out there.  And I've been so very wrong.

I finally broke down and bought a couple of foundation brushes, stippling ones, and have used them three times thus far.  The verdict: I absolutely love them.  No mask-look on my face!  Each time, with the "before," my skin looked horridly pale or awfully red.  By the time I got the foundation on and blended, blended - and then blended some more, as Laura Mercier would say - the foundation became part of my face, only vastly improved.

So if you're having the same problems I've encountered and:

• want good coverage because of discoloration (breakouts, freckles, acne scars or *agh* age spots)
• want skin which looks rather youthful despite the DD
• want an even, air-brushed finish
• want a "fail proof" application despite shaky or inexperienced hands
• want to look age-appropriate without any wrinkles getting caked (*agh* again!)
• and want that "flawless" and "no makeup" look...

... Then consider getting a foundation stippling brush.  I'm "over the moon," that I finally did so!  The stippling brush is the one which has the little light ends and because of the combination of natural and "faux" fibers, it consequently has a light touch which lends itself to layering foundation, if need be.  It gives a very well-blended look with a wonderful sheen, with no streaks at all, of course!  I was naughty and treated myself to a Chanel foundation brush and I just happened to "find" another stippling brush in the Laura Mercier Ten Essential Brushes Collection which I purchased earlier in the year.  I'm sure any good quality stippling brush designed for foundation will give you great results as well.

So, if you're well enough to get out to go to any Christmas or New Year's Eve parties, even though your skin is telling you to stay home, these foundation brushes may be just the ticket to make yourself look and feel awfully special!  If your skin needs tender loving care, a foundation brush may be your best friend for looking even more "invisibly" sick!  (Groan?)

As always, I hope everyone is feeling their very best, only better.  Ciao and paka!


(NOTE: Top picture background is Laura Mercier's Ten Essential Brush Collection makeup kit in red, which included the gorgeous translucent handled brush pictured as well.  The black handled brush is the Chanel foundation brush.  The CC cream (review here) and one of the Chanel liquid foundations are also pictured, review of the Chanel foundation coming up soon.)

Comment & Answer: Gallbladder & Thyroid

The countdown is on for Christmas Eve: in days gone by....

In the comments section I was asked a question regarding what sort of thyroid problem I had, as well as a remark about the gallbladder and gallstones. I thought I'd address my answer as a post, given the complexity of the issues, especially when chronic illnesses such as "our" CFIDS/ME/CFS and fibromyalgia are thrown into the mix.  Furthermore, my answer was delayed more than the usual (sorry!) because my neuro-transmitters were again on strike.  I also wanted to check my medical info with a source.  So here we go!

After an initial gallbladder or gallstone attack and ER run in awful pain has been endured and experienced (why we can't experience things like a concert instead of ER visits is way beyond my comprehension) your doctor will normally send you on to the next step, the ultrasound:

• to further ascertain if you do indeed have stones
• to get an idea of how large they are
• to see if they pose a threat to the all-important bile ducts
• and "other considerations."

After that report comes in, depending on what was found during the ultrasound, the next step is the HIDA scan. This test is important because it will tell you if your gallbladder is functioning properly.  In other words, is your gallbladder working at 80% capacity, at 50% capacity, at 20% capacity?

After all the tests are done, a decision then needs to be made as to what to do with the stones and gallbladder.

So to get to what the reader who had a "bag full" of stones wanted to know or was commenting on, here's the rub:

The gallbladder may be healthy and functioning but because of the stones, it may well be having trouble contracting back to its normal size after a meal because the stones are there, taking up space and can irritate the interior of the gallbladder.  On the other hand, the gallbladder could be "shot," working at a barely functioning rate because of a host of problems.  That's why the HIDA scan is needed.

In my situation, my scan showed that my gallbladder was working at only 20% efficiency and that was two years ago.  Medically speaking, I should have had the surgery then.  However - and this is the BIGGEST "however" a woman can EVER make - my daughter's life was in danger and we almost lost her on more than a few occasions.  Our lives completely revolved around her for almost two years, and that included her two adult brothers caring and giving up weeks of their lives to help with the support needed during hospitalizations.  I was by her bedside 24/7 with each hospitalization, with a 20-minute break for shower, etc, once I got too mangy.  We, her family and her many doctors, all fought hard to keep her alive, a long and complicated story that reads less like fact and more like fiction.

The last thing I needed was to be out of commission for three weeks because we never knew when she'd suddenly need to be rushed to the ER locally or to the "major medical center" hours away by ambulance.  Now, what’s wrong with that sentence I just wrote?

Idiot Irene! (I just addressed myself here, not any other Irene!)  A gallbladder operation puts you out of commission for much more than three weeks!

All in all, before going home, my surgeon gave me three separate, serious, in-depth talks on how incapacitating a gallbladder operation is.  That is, I couldn't climb any stairs for a week, one flight allowed after a week, and so forth.   I wasn't to pick up anything heavier than 8 lbs at most and on and on and on. Furthermore, I got hand-outs galore explaining this problem, that anatomy, that procedure, everything but the proverbial kitchen sink.  Sheesh!

My surgeon even gave me recovery statistics for gallbladder surgery which said that after:

• 3 weeks, there is 20% recovery
• 6 weeks, 50% recovery
• 3 months, 80% recovery
• Greater than 4 months, 100% healed.

And yet, I still left the hospital thinking that what I'd gone through was no more serious than a hysterectomy, appendectomy or tonsillectomy.   It took a reader (thank you Melissa) warning me in no uncertain terms how serious gallbladder surgery is, especially when you throw in all the complications of CFIDS/ME/CFS and/or fibro.  That, in turn, led me to discuss the situation with my rheumatologist, who frankly almost lost it when he realized how vast the disconnect was, that I really was NOT "getting it"!

I was about to say that I finally "got it" but just realized that yesterday the painter/wallpaper hanger got here for what will be a two to three week job (stress, anyone?) and since we've known each other for 30 years but hadn't spoken in about four, we had a lot of catching up to do, then me climbing up and down stairs numerous times and that combined with Tuesday's adventures....   Well it's all put the kabosh on me and I wish someone could simply give me some anesthesia and wake me up in about a month - or two....

As to the thyroid: I developed hypothyroidism, diagnosed only a month before the emergency gallbladder surgery.  Now THAT I really had a problem adjusting to and wrote a few posts addressing this as well. I think a lot of people are really tired about hearing THOSE complaints on this blog!  (You can put thyroid or gallbladder into the search box and find more than you'll ever want to hear from me!)

Last night as hubby was getting ready to go to sleep, I suddenly said, "oh no, I forgot about the infections in my two big toes!" as I was thinking about everything I'd been through physically in the past almost 12 months alone.  One of the toes actually had to be lanced because my body wasn't responding to antibiotics.  Now that was an uncomfortable mess!

However, hubby said, "don't forget the cellulitis!"   Oh yeah!  (Or is it "Oh no!"?)  I HAD forgotten about it.   After sitting at the computer one evening when hubs was out of town, I got involved in an alumni Facebook page "cyber-pajama party" where a bunch us were suddenly into "remember when...."  The session really lasted no more than four hours and yet within 24 hours I somehow managed to develop a nasty case of cellulitis of my lower legs just from sitting at the computer for that long.  (Thank you, whomever, for the invention of the iPad!)  Luckily, antibiotics took care of that problem rather quickly.  But cellulitis?  Really????

Honestly, half the junk that happens to me doesn't even register.   Last week I fell down in the bathroom and laid there for four hours, not able to move. (It was actually quite pleasant lying there, taking in the new bathroom, the crazy Irene says!)  It only registered because the next day I had a huge sore spot on my thigh and was puzzled because there was no visible bruise there.  A few hours later I happened to scratch my head as I thought about something and THAT spot was sore, feeling like I should have had a goose egg there, but there was no swelling.  THAT'S when I remembered the fall and lying there for four hours.

Looking back now, a few days later, in 20/20 hindsight, I have to say, AM I NUTS????  Answer: YES!!!!   But in my defense I have to say that this DD is the absolute pits!

And so on that cheerful and nutty note, as always, I hope everyone is doing as well as can be, only better. Ciao and paka!

Progress Report Surprises

Well, today turned out to be a bit of a surprise.  Just as I think I know more or less the things that are "majorly" wrong with my body, the son-of-a gun (my body, that is) throws a curveball at me.  Oh CFIDS/ME/CFS and fibro, you evil, evil rascals  entities.  You betrayers of myself.

I saw my surgeon this morning - you who read my blog regularly MUST remember Dr. Hunk!  Oh, he's just a wonderful gentleman, from a different generation when people had beautiful manners but were ever so strong in a silent dignified way.  But I'm not going to extol his virtues today - I'll have to leave that for another time.  Sigh!

Instead I received more clues as to what's going on with me and I think that in the process I may have shocked the poor man a bit.  Three weeks ago, we didn't have much time, in the scheme of things, to talk about much but the upcoming and then resulting emergency surgery.  Today I found out that he was quite impressed with the fact that I had to have been "in a whole lot of pain" from the chronically-infected gallbladder and one of the stones which was a "whopping" 0.8 cm.  

He'd thought that I was nauseated and constantly throwing up before the surgery (I told him our family's weird that way: we don't do nausea nor barfing) and he said that I would be feeling sooo much better very soon because of the surgery, once the healing sets in "big time."  He gave me another blow by blow of how long it takes your body to recover, how much recovery is done by x amount of weeks, months, etc.

I told him that I was "unusual" in that after surgeries, I've always felt my best, the theory being that my immune system had something to fight, other than my own body.  In other words, my immune system was way too busy fixing me up and boy oh boy, it was nice to get a break, relatively speaking, from too much pain.  Oh, I had pain, but not like I normally have it and I've hardly had to take any pain medication at all as my body heals.  Very weird.  Shows how you DO NOT GET ADDICTED TO OPIATES IF YOU ARE UNDER THE CARE OF A DOCTOR WHO KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING AND IF YOU'RE ONLY TAKING THOSE OPIATES WHEN YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED THEM!  

But as the appointment went on, I think he started to realize, finally, that the infected gallbladder was the least of my problems.  I told him I had no idea that the gallbladder had been an "outstanding" problem and only felt nausea when seeing too much fruit and didn't have enough meat protein.  Furthermore, the fact that I'd had pneumonia since July and hadn't known it had definitely shocked me - as it ended up shocking him that I'd not realized it too.  He then discovered that I never really had much pain in the gallbladder area but three times, mostly because I'm always going through bigger pains in other areas.  When he saw all the medications I was on, he started getting a better idea of the stress my body is under always, as in chronically, relentlessly, and without end.  Unfortunately. (Though fortunately, in that he understood what was going on, or getting a small picture of it, having an open mind, not rigid in thinking like too many other doctors can be.)

He also got a kick, in a perverse way, from finding out that the pain from the surgery woke me up, not a nurse, and that instead of expecting pain medication to help me with the post-surgical pain, I wanted to walk around - in the recovery room!  When I asked the nurse for permission, she was quite taken aback and couldn't believe I wanted to walk.  I simply thought they wouldn't give me any medication for the pain - having been through the machinations of the "major medical center" and its attitude towards pain with my daughter and the barbaric and lackadaisical attitudes towards pain relief.  He looked a bit put out by the perhaps "inflated" reputation of the "major medical center."  Actually, I saw quite a bit of that at the hospital during my stay and was quite happy to see that the high rating of the "major medical center" may not be as kosher as some would have us believe.

Oh my, YES!  They saved my daughter's life and on more than a couple of occasions. I'll forever be beyond grateful to them for that, beyond any words I could ever express.  Her surgeon was BEYOND superb and I can't praise HIM highly enough, but that is where it ends because they also caused her so much unnecessary pain - off-the-chart pain which added to the stress on her already weakened body.  They are great for a few things which very few places in the world can do, but in my humble opinion, they are really below par for the non-sexy issues which don't help them with their fundraising.  I seem to be under the mistaken impression that they should be superb and better in ALL their departments, but then I guess I'm just too picky!

I also want to add that "major medical centers" in general are definitely overrated.  I saw a commercial on TV recently and it said something about our community hospital being 12th in the country - yes, nation-wide!!! - for coronary efficiency, skill and care in ER centers.  Impressive, but I've always known that our town has superb medical care.  On the other hand, it's great to hear that we're being recognized! 

So, back to Dr. Hunk  my surgeon: I think he now has a new respect for those of "us" with CFIDS/ME/CFS and fibro!  Today he saw a woman in front of him who had been through h*ll and was still able to handle it as if it was a minor irritation.  This is the sort of thing that I want to convey to the world.  

But the body betrayal!  My body never ceases to amaze me, truly.  It turns out we have yet another surprise.  My body, according to the pathology report, is still in renal failure, not having recovered from the near-death experience of last year - a year ago this month - when I had two surgeries for compartment syndrome and all my organs started shutting down and worse.  Evidently it's not enough renal failure for dialysis, but still enough for it to be a serious problem and consideration.  Me: what else is new?  I'm losing body parts right and left, why should this be different?  But I suppose that when I see my GP, I'll need to have a talk with him about this new "discovery," along with all the other surprises we've discovered since I last saw him about six weeks ago.

And that's my progress report.  It feels rather self-indulgent going into all this detail.  On the other hand, my head is spinning with all of this news.  I need to figure out what everything means.  I STILL forget to take my thyroid medication until I start experiencing various symptoms returning.  My body is always surprising me: one day it can be my peripheral neuropathy that reminds me that I forgot to take my medication that morning, the next day it may be when my voice starts to go very hoarse and I sound as if I'm croaking.  Perhaps I should start a New Year's Resolution list now and put taking my thyroid medication on time each morning as number one on the list.   On the other hand, what about all the other number ones that need to be on the list?  

Man oh man.  How many more surprises can my body bear, I have to wonder?

I did, however, do my civic duty and voted: that was absolutely fun since I ended up talking for a little while to my old/former neighbor's sister, who's 91 years old.  In the midst of our conversation, I mentioned how often I remember her mom and the conversations we would have across our mutual fence.  The daughter was obviously touched and said "Mother" would have loved to know that I remembered her so often, and most especially our mutual love for gardening.  How I still miss those neighbors!  And how I love our little-town feel, especially on election day when you run into neighbors you -Ok, *I* - don't see very often any longer, due to the DD.

And to top it all off, hubby and I did indeed get to TJ Maxx and managed to fill up two and a half carts of things needed for the house as we will try to get the house into shape for the holiday season - IF we can get it looking like we're not in the middle of the remodeling and redecorating phase which, actually, we definitely ARE in.  (I KNEW we should have simply moved!)

So, all in all, it was a very up and down day.  I know that the next week is going to be payback for all the socializing and feeling "human" that I did today, but it will have been worth it.  Every once in a while you have to turn off that computer in your head that factors in every step you take and gauges it as to how much of a price will be paid.   Of course, with my recent luck, I just hope that I don't end up paying for that sort of thinking by losing yet another body part - I'm really attached to the remaining ones I still have, knock on wood!  (JOKE, I hope!?)

As always, I hope everyone is feeling their very best, only better. Ciao and paka!

Friday Tidbits: But This Is My Life Every Single Day!

Hi all!  In case anyone is counting, it's now been a week since my very unexpected surgery.  Here I am, writing in real time, having snuck up to my computer while no one's watching.  I thought I'd catch everyone up on what's been going on with, yes, the tidbits of my life, so to speak!  

As always happens to those of us with CFIDS/ME/CFS and/or fibro, nothing goes smoothly and things always end up being pretty hysterical - "hysterical" as in funny.  When I made the "heroic" decision to not have my gall stones removed a couple of years ago, I thought that I couldn't make that commitment because we never knew when the other shoe would drop and my daughter would need me to be with her at the "major medical center."  I felt I wasn't able to allow myself six weeks downtime.  Well, it's now Friday, so I thought I'd give you my thoughts in bullet points - just to keep that "Friday Tidbits" going: I do like a little bit of predictability in my life.

• Well, Surprise!  WHAT???  Going back to my "downtime."  I've learned, in the last few days, that my downtime will be more like six months!   The craziness is that I didn't realize that getting your gall bladder out was NOT like getting your tonsils out, even taken out as an adult.  Because of various complications with my tonsillectomy, I was in the hospital for five days, the usual being that you're sent home soon after those suckers are cut out.  It wasn't even as easy as my emergency hysterectomy or emergency appendectomy. Nope.  (See a pattern here?  I don't tend to get parts removed until need be!)
• As it turns out, the gall bladder is an organ vitally needed and the body has to make large adjustments. Throw in all the extenuating factors, that my body hasn't recovered from, the compartment syndrome surgery almost a year ago, that I am a super-sick mama with CFIDS/ME/CFS and fibro, that I'd undergone a trip halfway around the world just a few months ago and then had undiagnosed pneumonia on top of it all, that I'd developed hypothyroidism within the last couple of months, with a gall bladder that looked bad (inflamed) and stones that had nastiness around each of them: well, you're talking about the perfect storm.

Here's the beauty of it all, however.  But let me backtrack for a moment. (You didn't really think I could go a whole week without backtracking somewhere along the way, did you?)

• My surgeon was absolutely fantastic as were all the staff.  He actually sat down on my bed (huh? hadn't he heard that doctors don't go into the patient's space any longer?) and then invaded my personal space again, getting INTO my face, making contact with both eyes to make sure I was listening to him.  Dear God!  Did I focus at all about what the man said?  Of course not: I may be old but I'm not yet blind!  All I could focus on was how much of a hunk he was, still, after 20 years of my not having seen him anywhere around town.  As he talked more and more about the surgery, I couldn't help wonder, did he regret going into medicine and giving up football?  (We know way too much about everyone in this town!)  Those eyes.  The white hair: why do men get to be better looking with age?  Too bad I don't have a bunch of local friends any longer so we could dish!   Darn!  How was I to take things in with such a good-looking hunk doctor?   Like I said, I'm only human, not dead!  And much to the dismay of many, I AM truthful!  You're just getting the facts, oh dear reader!  (Oh no!  What did I say when I was under???)
• It wasn't a short little pep talk either, not once of the three times he gave me "serious talks"!  No, he gave me statistics as to how much healing would be accomplished at the end of a day, at the end of a week, at the end of three weeks and right on up the scale to six months.  Hearing those stats was pretty shocking.  Ah, but did they stay with me?  Of course not!  There are all sorts of statistics as to how much a patient retains from a doctor's visit: it's only about 10%.  Well, someone should do a study on how much is retained when the doctor's a hunk - and then when you're zonked out on pain and/or pain meds.  Good thing that the doctor knew to give out a lot of handouts, and not those wimpy sorts given out by hospitals, but tailor-made for his patients and the type of surgery with or without complications.  I suspect I got the "more complications" sheet.  Plus I now know that he's a REAL doctor because the added instructions were in awful doctor handwriting.  (Hey! The man had to have SOME sort of "defect"!)

(Oh good Lord: I just got a look at the description of the laparoscopic removal - excuse me as I need to run to bathroom and barf!)

• The hospital experience was actually quite fun.  I saw a few friends I'd not seen in ages.  People come and go more or less as much as they want and that is one of the reasons I love going local.  I was there so little (in and out) that my priest didn't even get a chance to find out I was there.  I heard one team doctor yelling that he didn't give an [expletives] what the [expletives] insurance companies wanted or didn't want but I wasn't going home until he [expletives] was good and ready to send me home.   Sigh.  I hear this sort of thing every time I get admitted: you can absolutely see just why the insurance companies do NOT want to recognize CFIDS.
• As is usual, when the 3AM hour rolled around and things got quiet on the floor, the staff's guards are down and they talk to you about the real picture of what's going on.  But a funny thing happened: someone had seen me doing my DIY facials on day #1 and wished she could wear moisturizers without breaking out.  After this "youngin'" left, I thought about it for a moment, then ran (OK, so I "hobbled") to my makeup area and took out three moisturizers (of several I just happened to have with me!) and called the young lady, asking her if she could come by, "when you have a chance, nothing important."  When she came in I asked her if she'd like a tiny demo of what a light moisturizer felt like, what a medium one felt like and what a heavy one felt like, explaining that the light one would be best for summer.  Someone found out about this and before I knew it, I was giving out advice on mascaras - I only remember because I didn't have my tube of Blinc mascara, which I've tried a couple of times and been very fascinated with: it coats your lashes like a tube and doesn't come off until you take it off the way you're supposed to.  I happened to have a few blushes (how???? I have NO idea!) and gave a few pointers there as well to someone else, all between bouts of pain.
• When I did come down with a bit of a melt-down, it was a nice - though extremely embarrassing - moment.  My body had reacted to the thyroid medicine the day before with a tiny rash that I thought was due to stress and I never thought to mention it to anyone, it was just so "ordinary."  The next day, after surgery, I was given the thyroid med again and I got a bigger rash, developed invisible itching areas and parts of my body started displaying hives - I was totally miserable and was trying to avoid a steroid shot like crazy.  Now this was the final blow.  No one could figure out what was happening until I looked up hypothyroidism and skin rashes on my trusted iPad and found that a rare reaction much like what I was experiencing is known to occur if the brands are switched around; to make it easier to understand, it's basically a filler/formulation problem.  Well, given that I was in pain, that I'd not slept for how many hours (minus the operating time, when I woke up in recovery and asked if I could walk around) not having eaten in 60 hours and nothing to drink in 48 hours, all my defenses were down and I just lost it, saying "but this is my life every single day!"  They thought that everything that was happening was "unusual" and that I was just "high-maintenance" for the moment.  No, my entire life is high-maintenance.
• The poor nurse. She moved her things into my room and did her work there and would break off to talk to me when she thought I needed a kind word or just to talk, or if she was needed elsewhere.  I felt like a wimp but frankly, didn't care any longer.  She, on the other hand, couldn't believe that anyone could go so long with no sleep and kept mentioning that to everyone as if THAT was the biggie at play.  I tried to impress upon her that what she was seeing was just a tiny bit of my no-sleep problem.  As with everything with these illnesses you can't believe it unless you see it for yourself.
• And finally, here's the "beauty" of all that happened, the part I digressed from in the beginning: I want to mention the great support of the CFIDS/ME/CFS and fibro community.  Thank you to one young lady for tweeting all her followers to pray for me regarding surgery.  It was sooo sweet to see that on twitter.  (I hope I didn't imagine it!)  Thank you to so many who prayed on your own for my successful surgery.  And thank you to a special reader for the info you sent me regarding tips on how to take care of myself after coming home.  Had it not been for your words of advice, I would never have realized how careful I had to be, thinking - before you'd written your comments - that I was having nothing more serious than any previous surgeries.

The pain is mostly gone.  In fact, true to form, I'm actually feeling far less pain now than I feel on a "normal day."  I am convinced that this happens because my immune system has something to fight against (the healing that needs to be done) and consequently the other parts of my body get a rest.  My biggest problem now is huge weakness, worse than I've ever had, which is saying a lot.  My mind can't get around the weakness because its bedfellow, pain, is missing.  I do still have trouble talking, thinking, walking, feeling overwhelmed.  Not to jinx myself, but on the whole, this has been a reprieve from my normal life.

As usual, I hope that everyone out there is doing their very best, only better.  Happy Weekend to all!   Ciao and paka!

Friday Tidbits: You Are What You Eat!

My personal food bible, thanks to my BFF!

Well, here we are again, with TGIF, or as I think of it: TGINFOMO, "Thank God it's not fibro on my own!"  It would be TGINFAMEOMO but adding the "And ME" to the equation makes it a bit difficult to pronounce, I think, no? 

At any rate, that means it's also "Friday's Tidbits," the time of the week when I try to come up with a few tips or thoughts that have been circling in that brain of mine - you might remember that as the place no one in my family ever wants to venture into.  The saving grace is that the "Tidbits" are just that: small, short posts!  (Yeeha! I hear you!) 

As most of you know by now, I've been going on about my hypothyroidism almost ad nauseam, and to subject you to a tiny bit more of what's going on, I thought that since more results from the blood work have trickled in, I'd make a few observations that would perhaps work for just about everyone out there.  (Yes, my generosity of spirit amazes even me at times! ;))

I've been "celebrating" the hypothyroidism since I got the news by eating everything and anything within sight of me even though, paradoxically, everything makes me nauseated.  But really, when has nausea actually stopped a really good woman in "mourning" from eating?  Worse yet, everything tastes like cardboard - and 16th century cardboard at that. Yum!  Nothing like nice stale 16th century cardboard to tickle those taste buds! 

However, since Monday, I've put the brakes on my "celebratory feasts" and decided, "Irene! Ya gotta stop this food nonsense and try to get back to eating properly, d*mn it!"  After all, my year of getting myself to look human is slowly coming to an end (i.e., December 31 is, unfortunately, not THAT far away), I'm hitting a landmark birthday at the end of the month (I'd ignore that little mention if I were you: it's much safer that way.  It will NOT be a very pleasant day in this house, I can tell you that already!) and there have been way too many curve balls thrown at me this year to have put me anywhere near successful in "looking human" once again.  

But after succeeding on Monday with "eating right" I was shocked to see that I was actually able to accomplish one day of doing well!  (Irene style.  Don't forget my mantra: everyone has their own way; you just need to figure out what your own body does best with.)  I was shocked to see that Tuesday went off very well, and then Wednesday and Thursday also!  Oh my heavens!  What was happening to me?  I've not been able to motivate myself to eat "properly" since I got back from my Malaysian adventure.  What's changed?

Well, Thursday evening I got some more blood results back and saw, much to my surprise, that my glucose level is normal!  No wonder I was suddenly able to apply willpower and have it actually work.  No willpower in the world was working before because my sugar levels were all over the place.  (Even my old cinnamon trick wasn't helping me!)  A few other results came in as well, that are kind of funny too.  Not funny as in "ha! ha!," but as in "hey, that's interesting!" In the spirit of brevity, I'm going to make a few observations and tips, combining them for all to make life, as well as this post, (hopefully) more interesting.

• Did you know that it only takes about three days of determined effort to get rid of old bad eating habits?  Yep.  Once you make up your mind, that is, all you need to do is get through three days of getting rid of awful eating habits and it becomes a thing of the past.  Now that doesn't mean you won't crave "bad" things but the longer you are away from "bad" food, the easier it is to eat "right."  My personal downfall is sugar - and, of course, carbs in the form of potatoes and breads.  But I've not had any of those amazingly delicious foods in three days and though I know that the upcoming week can still be dangerous territory, once I get past the three-day mark, I am well on my way!  For those really interested in what foods I find most helpful and healthy, I highly recommend Jonny Bowden's 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, where every type of nutrient necessary for optimal health is addressed with each "healthy" food mentioned.  (See below picture of what I mean.)  I just find the foods that agree with me best and go to it.  My BFF gave me a copy of this book a few years ago and out of all the healthful-eating books I have in my library, this is THE best, with one exception, which I'll get to one of these days.  I highly recommend this Jonny Bowden for everyone.  And to think I started eating from this book in order to take off 40 lbs!  I actually took 60-75 lbs off the safe and right way and felt much healthier in the long run.  (I've gained with the hypothyroidism so that's why you're getting a range.  But it WAS 75 lbs at one point for a few years.)  So, Jonny, here I come!  I've missed you, baby!

• The lab work has  also shown that I'm still clinically dehydrated.  All that drinking of water and running back and forth like an Olympian between bath and bed doesn't seem to be working!  However, I've been running fevers galore, so that's certainly a factor in the whole dehydration process.  I'm going to try to take more baths and soak for a bit in order to attack my skin from the outside as well as from the inside.  Wish me luck!  And I so hope the skin elasticity is not all gone!

• The good news is that I'm again spot on with my Vitamin D levels.  This number had gone down for the first time ever.  Now most can blame it on my not getting out into the sun (and how my mom would chide me - understatement! - for saying this) but the sun and light really are my enemies.  I was shocked to see that despite living as much as I possibly can in a Bat Cave, my Vitamin D levels have always been in the normal range and again, can only find an explanation for this in that I'm getting Vitamin D from my food and/or that my fair Slavic skin is an evolutionary process which doesn't require as much Vitamin D as a darker person would need, like my very dark Slavic mom.  But really, who knows?  These are just some of the things I think about.  And as I've often stated: I LOVE to think, much to my family's dismay!

In the end, I'd like to emphasize that what you eat is often what you are, such a cliché, I know!  However, I like to open a fridge and look at it as a medicine cabinet and skip the vitamin supplements if and when I can.  No, I'm definitely not enamored of salmon - nor any fish of any type - but I'll eat it at least once a week in order to get those important omega-3 fatty acids (while worrying about mercury and other toxicity, of course!).  I learned this food approach (the hard way) from my mom and then loved hearing this from Naomi Judd when she had her Hepatitis C crisis and was on TV with Dr. Andrew Weil, talking about how much better it is to get your vitamins and nutrients in food form.

Furthermore, just in the last few weeks there was a report questioning how helpful omega-3 fatty acids in the form of supplements actually are and the suggestion was that we should try to get those nutrients through food as much as possible (uh, duh???).  My take?   As of yet, we have no idea why actual food works better than supplementation: there may very well be a means that no one's discovered yet as to why "supplements" just don't work as well as the real thing. Just off the top of my head: perhaps the sugars or fiber in the food help the delivery system, but who knows? Yes, I do try to take vitamins and supplements, especially for the parts of me that are "broken," but really, I've found that getting those all-important nutrients through food works best in the long run, if at all possible.  

At any rate, I wish everyone a wonderful weekend with some great company and hope that all feel their very best, only better!  Ciao and paka!

An idea of what the individual sections on each food within its category looks like in this particular Bowden book.