Thursday, February 22, 2007

The Body Knows

The Body Knows (Touching the Moon), by Mary Stebbins Taitt, from a prompt on Poetry Thursday. I did a poem and a prior piece for this prompt but them wanted to play with it more. This is another of a series of variants I made, each one somewhat different than the rest. Posted by Picasa

Friday, February 16, 2007

Insomnia

Going to my insomnia doctor today and made him this extended version of an earlier picture. Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Notes for Dr. Applegate

I am going to see on Allergist, Dr. Applegate, on Thursday the 15th and am hoping she will discover some things I can avoid that will make me healthier, or ways to treat the allergies to make them less severe. Here are my notes for her so far:


Notes for Doctor Applegate, Allergist

Q: What is the difference between an “allergy” and sensitivity? Do your tests test for both?

Q: What causes allergies? Is there any way to avoid developing or reverse them?

I have asthma, hay fever, insomnia and fibromyalgia, all of which seem to be moderately to severely affected by certain foods. I also get skin rashes from medications, from some skin products, from poison ivy and sometimes for unknown reasons. Some foods (coffee, chocolate) also negatively affect mood and personality.

I first started having joint problems and hay fever at age 16 and asthma in my late 20s.

  1. “Known” Allergens and/or Sensitivities:
  • Food
  • Dairy—asthma, joint pain, hay fever
  • Soy—joint pain, headache, IBS, insomnia, fibromyalgia
  • Airborne
  • Ragweed—asthma, “hay fever”
  • Cigarette and wood smoke—asthma, “hay fever”
  • Dog dander—asthma, “hay fever”
  • Dust mites—asthma, “hay fever”
  • Feathers, bird dander—asthma, “hay fever”
  • Drugs
  • Penicillin—hives (large pale swollen bumps)
  • Theolair—red, itchy rash (small red itchy bumps)
  • Wellbutrin—hives and two different sized rashes and breathing difficulty and terrible weakness and feeling sick and “deathly”
  • others that I’m not able to recall at the moment
  1. Suspected Allergens and/or sensitivities
  • Food
  • Beans, legumes
  • Tree nuts and peanuts
  • Bananas
  1. Possible Allergens and or sensitivities
  • Food
  • Apples
  • Onions
  • Ginger
  • Peppermint
  • Seeds (eg, sunflower seeds)
  • Beef, red meats
  • Wheat, white flour
  • corn
  • Cane sugar, sugar

I am sure there are others because I often get sick and have no idea why

Insomnia!

After a week of fairly bad insomnia, but not so bad I was up out of bed--at least I was lying there relaxed, I had a worse yet night where I was actually up out of bed for several hours becase I was too restless to lie there.

I get tireder and tireder, crankier and crankier, grouchier and grouchier. I lay there wondering if I should take an ambien or not, and what caused the worsening. Something I ate? Or just an accumulation of overtiredness from a week of insomnia? Or what? Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Bean Sprouts and Tapestry Moon

I have been too busy to blog the continuing saga of my struggles with insomnia and fibromyalgia.

I gave up taking the Ambien. It seemed to be making the fibromylagia worse. I continued taking the Rozerem. In combination with careful eating, it seemed to be making the sleeping and fibromylagia somewhat better.

Last night I made two separate stir-fries, one for Keith and one for me. Keith likes pea pods, but I'm afraid to eat legumes, so I made him one with and me one without, but then I stupidly put bean sprouts in mine. What was I thinking? Hello--legumes!!!

So last night I slept less well, much wakefulness, and woke with worse fibro. I'm blaming the bean sprouts, but of course, it could have been something else. We shall, as Keith says, "foon sind out" as I will be going to the allergist in a week and dropping lots of money--hundreds and hundreds of dollars--because it isn't covered by my health insurance. You can take all the pills you want to cover up a problem, but you can't find out what's causing it.

The artwork is supoosed to be a representation of insomnia, but it's too pretty. Oh well, I like it anyway. I may fiddle with it more. What is it really? (I mean what was it before I messed with it?) Click here if you're curious.

Posted by Picasa

Friday, February 02, 2007

What we're supposed to look like


Half-naked, skinny and available. Sexy. (Our heads and brains aren't very important!) These are store-window shots next door to the Lobster Pot from our store tour yesterday. It's near where I live, I could walk there.

In the top one, the reflection is me, taking the picture.

I've been too busy to blog much lately (about my troubles, which continue) and am too busy to be doing this so bye for now!

P365-07B&PhPosted by Picasa

Friday, January 26, 2007

Complaints of the day

So if you are here looking for the complaints of the day, you're in the wrong place. I inadvertantly posted them to No Polar Coordinates instead of here. Sorry.

P365-07B (there) Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Healing

I don't seem to be healing very fast.

I feel worse rather than better.

About my mother, I mean.

As far as my drug regime and fibromyalgia, I got a message today, a RECORDED message from MEDCO that they had approved my taking some drug. They didn't say which drug. I haven't got the energy to call and ask. I'll wait to hear from the doctor. I've been making too many calls as it is.

The night before last I took one Rozerem and one Ambien. Yesterday I felt fairly well and pain free until a few minutes after I got back from Graham's piano lesson--I had to drive him 'cause Keith had to work late--and I had ONE SIP of Keith's beer and immdiately felt ill and just got worse and worse and worse as the night progessed. I was very sick by bedtime. I have no idea if the beer had anything to do with it or if I had just reached some threshold of exhaustion or some belated reaction to something I'd eaten sometime int he past. You can bet there won't be any beer sharing tonight though!

The photo is part of my sidewalk series, which is getting quite long. I have only posted a tiny portion of them. I just don't have time.

P365-07B, Ph Posted by Picasa
It makes me happy to have something of mine or Grammy's or Grandpa's or Aunty Ann's used. When Second Daughter sends a picture of herself with something that belonged to my mother, I get a little shot of pleasure and endorphins. I need those little pleasures because I am feeling very sad and low right now.

We left a whole houseful of Aunty Ann’s stuff behind--makes me sad. She wanted me to have it but I already have way too much, and not enough (wrong stuff, LOL). Still, the few things I did take bring me great pleasure. I remember our good times together singing around her piano and I am so glad that First Daughter and Guitar Boy have the piano.

When I throw things away, it makes me sad. A great heaviness comes over me and there's been so much of it lately and more to come. Now, with Mom gone, we have her whole house to clean, her stuff and Pa’s too. I know it has to be done, but it's a physical pain. Literally.

There's a little delight in even a momentary use of something that belonged to one of those who have passed, or something of mine I can no longer use because I’ve gained too much weight or because we have duplicates. Notice me pulling up the sides of my mouth, see, I’m smiling now. SMILING. now.

(me, coming back fromt he doctor's on the day after my Mom died, in front of my "new" house.)
p365-07b, Ph Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

The Drug Saga Continues, and the wisp of hope flickers

Dr. Guyer had me on Rozerem and Ambien together, and the combination seemed to cause a significant decrease in my fibromyalgia pain, which had gotten very bad. I was operating on old Ambiens and sample Rozerems, but when they ran out, Notre Dame Pharmacy and Medco (my drug insurance) wouldn’t give me new meds, so I reported this to the doctor. There has since been an ongoing furor with Dr. Beeai, Dr. Guyer, Dr. Guyer’s nurses, Medco, etc.

Meanwhile, I was supplied with a few samples of Rozerem and I have a very few Ambiens left, and last night, I took a Rozerem and an Ambien together again after a short hiatus.

I need to point out that yesterday, without Rozerem, and with half an Ambien, I was worse. Significantly worse. I was somewhat worse during the day and very bad last night. It isn’t JUST the pain, I also feel sick, and tight and stiff, and my belly hurts and so on. I’m uncomfortable and unhappy. And cranky and grouchy and I don’t like anyone or anything. I want to curl up in a prickly ball and die.

This morning when I woke up, there was a deep dull pain in my hip. And my neck hurts—a little—annoying, but not horrendous—yet. I won’t know until the end of the day if this was a good day or a bad day health-and-pain–wise. I have to walk and try to function before I know that. Hope has risen again. Hope that at least today I won’t have as much pain and I can function somewhat normally. We’ll see.

I really wish to function normally and healthily without drugs. But unfortunately, I don’t. I’m having a great deal of angst over taking all these drugs. I wish I could find a healthier solution.

Photo by me. Yesterday, at the clinic, hassling over drugs.

P365-07Ph&B I'm taking a picture a day, and I suppose I could back-post this to yesterday, but I'm not. It's yesterday's picture and todays blabbing. (As always, click on the image to view larger.) Posted by Picasa

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