Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Amongst Other Things

It has been a rough few months.

My first class back in college went well, the next quarter starts next month and i'm so happy to be back in the swing of things.

My head has me so tired all the time. or maybe it's chronic fatigue, i'm still short a blood test to confirm or deny that diagnosis.

Xmas is almost here and my anxiety is in the full holiday spirit.

I've got a shrink coming today to talk about it, amongst other things.

My exercise record is shit lately, only 25 out of 90 days, but accountability is good and hopefully in a few months i'll come back here and say wow i've bounced back incredibly! Hope is good.



More...

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

A Day in the Life

It was uneventful, but i blogged a migraine day on twitter.








I unrolled the thread as well, click here for accessibility

UPDATE: someone replied to the thread asking if i'd tried massage. lol oh people.




More...

Monday, September 17, 2018

Face-squinching

I meant to update here a few weeks ago, if nothing else than to maintain my lovely exercise recording streak, but i have failed. FAILED.

So we're missing a few weeks from the record. There was nothing phenomenal in there anyway. This summer has been a struggle physically.


I've been using the elliptical machine when i can't deal with the hills or the weather, but I still only managed 37 days out of 90. That's the lowest I've recorded since I started recording, and that makes me sad, but everything waxes and wanes, so I'm not going to dwell on it.

I'm starting school back up in ONE WEEK! I'm so excited and nervous, I'm having anxiety dreams every night but that might also be because I've got a big family gathering coming up that spans an entire weekend. I'm super apprehensive about that too, but I know I'll be surrounded by people who care about me and I will also have my own room, earplugs, and the freedom to medicate myself as needed, so I'm aiming for optimism.

The anxiety is a pretty normal thing lately, like I've been dealing with it my whole life but never like this. I've been really proactive about naming it when I feel it, which gives me a little control and lets people around me help me if they can. My depression on the other hand, is 99% better. I have rare bad days, but mostly I am feeling back to my earnest, overdoing-it self.

Symptoms-wise, The nausea's been less, but still flares up with an increase of triggers, or car rides. I've been dealing with allodynia more. My scalp has been super tender with bruise-like spots, and yesterday I realized my face hurt. It often aches with the rest of my head, but I tried using a thc:cbd roll-on (topical cannabis) and it HURT to roll the thing over my cheek and eyebrow - intolerable, holding your breath, face-squinching pain. So that was new. Putting it on with my fingers was less painful, I think because the roller was cold. The topical did help, though!

On that topical: since cannabis was legalized in CA for medical use, the products that have come out are amazing! But now that it's legal for recreational use there have been arbitrary limits put on thc content that have made getting the good stuff impossible. I get that people are using it to get intoxicated too, but they have alcohol and all kinds of other drugs to turn to if you take away the harder cannabis products, so it's just making it harder for patients to medicate properly.

My head is the same, despite having a round of botox last month. Of course, it takes several months to take effect, and I did feel somewhat of a difference in the nature of my head pain but not its consistency or effect on my ability to person. It's been less throbby, more stabby. I've had perhaps more stamina but the repercussions of activity remain the same.

Another possibility for the stamina increase is supplements I was recommended for what the infectious disease doc thinks is chronic fatigue. I'm supposed to actually get tested and I haven't because I never leave the house, but in the mean time I've started turmeric with black pepper extract 500 mg/day. I also took ubiquinol at 100mg/day for a few weeks but I think it was disturbing my sleep. It was expensive so I'm going to try it again at some point.

And that's what's up with me I guess. :)

More...

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

The Latest

It's been a difficult few months and it shows in my exercise log.

Only 43 out of 90 days, and most of those were in the last few weeks. I've had some familial upheaval and the stress wore me out. The stress is still happening but I've been able to take a bit of a break from it and with any luck it'll be resolved soon.


I got an elliptical machine! I managed to tuck it in my kitchen, which has huge windows that overlook the forest, so that's been great for when I can't handle the hills, the heat, the mosquitoes, etc. Anything that keeps me moving is worth its weight in gold.

I just discovered a program that allows me to go to school completely free, at least until I get my AA. It's online, I can take one class at a time! It seems too good to be true, but it's through my mom's union and it all looks legit! I'm so excited! But getting all the relevant paperworks to them is such a pain. I gotta get with my high school, my old college, my doctor, but it's like a warm-up for academia so I'm trying to take it in stride.

I've got a garden going again this year, but it's small. A few herbs, squash plants for the flowers, and some begonias and marigolds the critters have already had a munch on, but that's why I always buy the cheap plants, because I live in the forest and hongry herbivores abound. I've also started collecting succulents, so that's new.

My mental health has improved MAJORLY you guys. Zoloft has been amazing for me, and I was so skeptical because I'd had a previous bad experience with antidepressants, but I'm really glad I got over my fear because I was stuck physically and mentally and it was awful. I'm still kind of stuck, there's not a whole lot of unsticking when you've got daily migraines, but at least I can see the light again. I've got my optimism back, and it makes a world of difference.

More...

Saturday, March 10, 2018

Vag of Steel

I started pelvic floor therapy.

I've been having increasing trouble peeing, and from the interstitial cystitis groups i'm in i'd gleaned it was an issue with my pelvic floor. So I asked my gyno and she referred me to a therapist.

Within 10 minutes of meeting her she had her hand in my vagina. I'd expected a thorough internal massage so I was gung-ho, anything to not end up in diapers or needing to self-cath any earlier than I have to. I have the strongest vagina she's ever seen.

She directed me to practice diaphragmatic breathing and at our last appointment I was shown some massage techniques and it's already made a difference. It's invasive and weird for me, but the therapists are caring and professional so it's easy to get past my own hang ups.

It's time for my exercise chart update,


55/90 days - i think, my eyes are crossing trying to count. More than half, but it's frustrating how often I want to work out (every day) and how often I can. When I can run I feel almost normal.

My head's been pretty consistent lately. I wake with minimal or no pain, with increases as i'm active or exposed to triggers throughout the day. The nausea's died down for a while, so that's nice. Dizziness is frequent, memory lapses normal, fatigue constant. My neck and shoulders are frequent triggers. My doc thinks it's arthritis, as i'm starting to feel it in my hands too. Yay I'm collecting chronic illnesses like they're worth more in a set.


More...

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Pillbugging

I made it through the holidays with the usual amount of joy and pain. I'm lucky to have a loving family, but the migraines didn't make anything easy.

This last year has been a year of self-protection and rebuilding. I'm trying to be better about recognizing where I'm self-defeating and one of those ways I'm working on is my tendency to pillbug.

I think I made this term up, at least I can't recall hearing it used like this before, and it came to me on one particularly migrainy morning when I just couldn't seem to get myself out of bed. Pillbugs, or potato bugs, are those small armored-looking insects that roll themselves into a tight ball as a defensive mechanism. And that's what I was doing that morning, tucked snug in a shell of my own making, hidden and still, waiting for the danger to pass. I should have gotten some water, medicated, stretched, listened to a little music; I was feeling bad but a little self care would likely make me feel better. Instead, I lay under the blankets, curled up and letting my mind drift away from the pain and nausea. I lay for nearly an hour before I came back to myself. Once I wrested my achy body from my cozy bubble, got up and did a few of the things I knew would help, I loosened up a little and could begin my very quiet day.

Now that I have a name for my pillbugging tendencies, I seem to be recognizing it earlier and doing it less! So that's good.



More...