#this chronic bronchitis is just really stressing me out though

[voiceshearingyouloud]

In that lovely depression place where if I make a tiny mistake my brain turns it into ‘I’m a complete failure and I should just die because nothing I do will ever be enough’ which is just great

[coastaldragon]

Dragon Diary 1/7/21

So...this is my resolution for the year.

I wanted to start a kin-related diary. I found myself missing how often I used to muse about myself and my experiences here, and have long since felt...detached from myself. Stuck in the loop of going through the motions of “human.”

A week late on my first entry, but so it goes.

These entries will just be flow-of-consciousness blabbles for the most part. I’ll talk about any kin-related thoughts I’ve had that day, how I’ve been feeling, how my otherkinity has affected my day, etc.

I have a lot of catching-up to do with you all, so the first few entries may seem disjointed and a little long. Lets get started. This is long. And a bit negative. But hopefully they won’t all be.

cw for death and drug mention and health talk like needles and stuff

I don’t quite remember why I dropped Tumblr like I did. I think I was getting annoyed at all the UI changes, and just overall very busy with “real life.” These things happen. I slowly drift away from a platform. Sometimes for weeks, months, or years in this case. Then I’ll drift back. Kind of like a scrap of wood on the waves.

In the time I’ve been gone life has been...interesting. The source of the stress that caused me to awaken in the first place is gone. He OD’d in...2014? 2015? Some time around there. My grasp of time is worse than ever.

We hadn’t even known he’d be using anything. Turned out he was stealing my late father’s remaining fentanyl supply. One of those guys who preys on widows like my mother. He lied about everything. His entire past as we knew it was a lie. And he was just leeching off of us.

It was...hard. I was the one who found his body upon getting home from work. My mother is still traumatized, even now. Even after all he did. She did love him.

I think all that hardened me quite a bit. And I’m sad for it. I’m still trying to soften myself again, but my trust has never been shattered like that before or since.

My now health is...poor. I had a great job working at an independent pack-and-mail sort of place for a few years. Very laid back, when the customers were nice. Helped me build a lot of strength and muscle. Quite enjoyed showing off by hefting 50lb boxes onto my shoulders. Helped me feel less weak in this squishy human body of mine.

But about...2 or 3 years ago [again, time is a myth to my brain] I woke up and my shoulders were just.

Locked.

It felt like someone had stuck paint spanners under my shoulder blades or something. Not only that, but I was weak. I barely had the strength in my arms to lift a half gallon of milk in the morning.

We thought I’d just hurt myself showing off, somehow. So we gave it some time. Took ibuprofen, used pain creams. Took a few days off work.

But it didn’t get better. It got painful. And the moreso. And moreso. And then my back began to have trouble as well. It was spreading. I felt...ill.

So. Doctors. Tests. More bloodwork than I’ve ever had in my entire life. [10 vials at once for one appt!]

My primary, who is a garbage person I never wish to see again, insisted it was just a sprain. Or something. Whatever. But I knew it wasn’t. My mother knew it wasn’t. Everyone I knew knew it wasn’t.

Specialist time! At the behest of my cousin, who has a litany of autoimmune disorders, we hooked up with a rheumatologist. Who I will call Dr.M. 

Dr.M is an angel on Earth. I am convinced of it. A full year he spent with me, ordering tests, trying treatments, working with me to figure out what the hell was going on. And we did. And what a mouthful it is.

Ankylosing spondylitis. No, it’s not a dinosaur. [Though I do think I’m ‘hearted for ankylosaurines...I don’t think it’s related lol!]

You can look it up if you like. But basically: My immune system is fucking crazy and attacks all the things. Most places describe it as being a lower spine disorder, and while that is certainly where its centralized in most folks, that’s not all it is.

For example mine is, obviously, centralized in my shoulders and upper back. But it does aaaaaaaaaaall sorts of crazy shit. Every day is different. Joint pain, exhaustion, GI trouble, stomach upset, lack of appetite, murderous migraines. The usual for an autoimmune illness. But also wacky shit like costochondritis [painful inflammation of the cartilage of the ribs], random organ inflammation like in my kidneys [not fun], lungs [I had a 3-month stint of chronic bronchitis last winter], and even my heart [very not fun.] Sometimes it likes to attack my “integumentary system” aka shit like my skin and hair meaning I’ll have weeks where my hair just. Sheds. Like a damn cat. It gets everywhere and w/ my long-ass quarantine hair it’s so annoying.

This attack dog immune system does mean it’s unlikely for me to catch little bugs like your common colds and stuff, which is appreciated. But it also likes to maul anything else it deems foreign. Like medication! I took Humira shots for a few months and had a “paradoxical reaction” aka it did the literal opposite of what it was meant to, because the injections pissed off my immune system so much it went scorched-earth on whatever it could. Mostly my thighs, since that’s where the injections were. I still get stabbing pain in them and it’s been over a year. [No, I don’t think I can sue Humira over this. Though I have discussed it w/ my Dr.]

This also means that if I do get sick, it’s bad news. Something strong and unique like COVID? Death. Deaaaaaaaaath. Would likely trigger something called a “cytokine storm” aka my immune system nukes everything and my organs die and so do I.

So guess whoooooooo’s been locked up at home for almost a full year now? :’)

I luckily am able to work from home, though it barely pays the bills, and my health has suffered from a lack of being able to Do Stuff I normally would.

As a result I decided to get back in touch with myself.

It started with Second Life, because of course it did. A new dragon avatar came out. Shiny and mesh and easy [by SL standards] to modify. So me and a few friends [some kin, some not] made a group for sharing stuff for the av and just hanging out. It’s fallen by the wayside unfortunately but those nights spent chilling in SL with a bunch of other dragons roaring and goofing off felt really really good.

And then I made a kin Twitter. [And found some exceptionally cool kinfolk in the process.] 

Then came Othercon the virtual otherkin convention and OtherConnect, the Discord spawned from the community that rapidly formed within the con. Othercon felt incredible. Panels and lectures about the history of otherkinity and alterhumanity and how we are today and rep in the media and just so! Much! Cool! Stuff! And tons of great kinfolk too! 

To not only be within a community but seeing others like me and speaking with them, not just typing back at words on a screen. It was...so very, very reaffirming. It felt like a second awakening almost. I wanted to cry for finally, truly not feeling alone.

And now I’m here. Because I need to be. Because something, deep down, is telling me I’m going to be needing myself sometime soon. So I’d better get started.

I hope I don’t drift away on the tide again. I’ve missed this site, worse for wear as it is.

But I’m a bit tired today. A nasty headache lingering from yesterday’s nastier flare up. Accursed cold fronts. I used to enjoy them but not so much these days. Ah well.

I know there wasn’t much kin talk in this first entry, but as I said, we had a lot of catching-up to do!

[scotiaeire]

WHEN YOU FEEL BURNT OUT...

SOMETIMES THE STRESS OF THE PAST FEW YEARS CATCHES UP WITH ME UNAWARES. JUST HITS ME IN THE FACE LIKE A WET FLANNEL.

ADD TO THAT COPD EXACERBATED BY A ROTTEN COLD (MASKS WORK? DO THEY F*CK...) AND A BOUT OF INSOMNIA THAT SEEMS ENDLESS, AND THERE ARE THOSE DAYS WHEN YOU THINK “I JUST. CAN’T. MOVE....”

BUT YOU’VE A FAMILY TO TAKE CARE OF, AND ANIMALS, AND A HOME AND GARDEN, LIFE....

AS A SELF ISOLATIONIST, I DIDN’T ACTUALLY MIND THE CONCEPT OF THE FIRST LOCKDOWN. DON’T GET ME WRONG...I DON’T BELIEVE THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO ENFORCE SAID LOCKDOWNS. IT’S THE FIRST TIME IN HUMAN HISTORY WE’VE GONE ALONG WITH SELF IMPRISONMENT EN MASSE, BECAUSE THEY “ENHANCED” THE LETHALITY OF A VIRUS I DO NOT DENY THE EXISTENCE OF BUT DO NOT SEE STATISTICS AND PROOF OF IT BEING WORSE THAN, OR AS BAD AS, MANY PLAGUES OF THE PAST.

THE IDIOCY OF MASK WEARING ENFORCEMENT, OF TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS, YET ALLOWING CHILDREN TO GO TO SCHOOL AND NURSERY, BEGGARS BELIEF.

SO AYE, THERE’S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHOOSING TO BE SOLITARY AND KEEP YOURSELF TO YOURSELF, AND HAVING IT FORCED UPON YOU.

NEXT WILL BE THE VACCINE NOBODY TRUSTS. YOU KNOW THE ONE. THE ONE THEY KEEP ANNOUNCING IS BEING TESTED THEN HAVING TO HALT IT BECAUSE, GUESS WHAT, IT’S NOT SAFE AND PEOPLE ARE BEING HARMED BY IT. SERIOUSLY SO. THAT ONE.

WE’VE ALREADY DECIDED NOT TO ACCEPT IT, EVEN THOUGH WE’RE NOT ANTI VACCINE PEOPLE AND WE’VE HAD ALL THE ONES WE’VE NEEDED TO DATE.

BUT NOT THIS ONE. THE FUNDING OF IT IS SUSPECT. THE SOURCE OF IT IS DUBIOUS. THE SAFETY OF IT IS NON EXISTANT.

THE MASKS I CAN JUST ABOUT COPE WITH, AND GIVEN I’VE COPD (CHRONIC BRONCHITIS WHICH, IF NOTHING ELSE GETS ME FIRST, WILL KILL ME IN TIME) THEY’RE LUCKY I’M WEARING IT.

BUT THEY DO. NOT. WORK. END OF.

READ THE PACKETS THEY COME IN. “NOT FOR MEDICAL USE”. “WILL NOT PROTECT AGAINST COVID19″.

EACH TIME I’VE (RARELY) HAD TO GO OUT BOTH HUBS AND I HAVE CONTINUOUSLY WORN OUR MASKS, PRACTICED SOCIAL DISTANCING EVEN IF OTHERS DON’T, AND WE *STILL* CATCH COLDS, LIKELY DUE TO THE LAST BOUT OF QUARANTINE AND SELF ISOLATION AND THE LOWERING OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM DUE TO NOT BEING AROUND OTHER PEOPLE.

NOW, I HAVE TO POSTONE A NECESSARY BLOOD TEST. IT’S RARE TO GET A “FACE TO FACE” WITH A DOCTOR NOW IN IRELAND. MOST PREFER USING PHONES FOR APPOINTMENTS. NOT REALLY GREAT FOR DIAGNOSING A LOT OF THINGS, BUT HEY....I GUESS THEY, AT LEAST, FEEL SAFER FOR IT.

ALL DUE TO A COLD I PICKED UP, A BAD ONE, WHILST OUT WEARING MY MASK.

SO TODAY, EVEN THOUGH I COULD PRETEND TODAY’S NOT HAPPENING AND SPEND ALL DAY ON THE COUCH WATCHING MUCH LOVED OLD MOVIES, I’M JUST ABOUT TO GET MY ARSE OUTDOORS, SEE TO THE ANIMALS, HANG OUT THE WASHING, AND START HACKING AWAY AT THE BRAMBLE PATCH IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIELD WHICH IS SHELTERING FIELD RATS.

BECAUSE SOMETIMES, EVEN IF YOU FEEL BURNT OUT, YOU JUST KEEP THE FLAME GOING AND BURN ON.

[purplesurveys]

424

A health survey. Must be fun.

What health problems do you have right now? Well my back is a bitch 24/7; my joints hurt when it gets cold; I have scoliosis; and mentally speaking I’m not very stable either. I sound 60. Are you in chronic pain? Never been diagnosed with such, no. What do you take medications for? I don’t. I probably need to, but the state of mental health care in the Philippines is just so inaccessible: it’s expensive, available services are few and far between, and anyone younger than 21 needs to get written consent from their parents, which can be difficult if someone’s parents don’t actually believe in mental health issues. There is a lot of work to be done. What are some health issues you have had in the past? My lactose intolerance was a problem when I was an infant. My family didn’t know I had it, so they kept panicking when I would just poop out all the milk they fed me all day and when my stomach would end up storing nothing. It got critical and I had to be sent to the hospital, but it turned out well after. Do you have allergies? Nope. Free to eat and be in contact with anything.

If so, what are you allergic to? Have you ever been to an allergist? No, never had to. Have you ever been to the ER? Mmm nope, never been in an emergency situation. Have you ever been treated poorly in the ER? Have you ever been told your symptoms were anxiety, when they weren't? I haven’t been tested for that. When I was doing my health exam for university though, they did review my mental health and suspected me of having depression, but they didn’t declare symptoms or formally diagnose me or anything. What is the most physically painful thing you've ever experienced? Probably scraping and kicking my feet against coral reefs when I went snorkeling back in ‘09. I had no flippers and I was panicking (I wasn’t used to using the snorkeling mask to breathe) so I was thrashing my legs around in the water. I knew I was hitting the coral reefs and they were fucking sharp, but I was panicking so I powered through even though it meant I had to hit them every time I kicked. It was painful while I was swimming and even more painful in the weeks that followed. It was the worst infected wound I’ve ever had. Just imagine kicking a razor-sharp boulder with your bare feet. How many surgeries have you had? Zero. I hope I never need any, the thought of surgery terrifies me. What types of surgery have you had? Have you always recovered well from surgery? Have you ever been treated poorly by a doctor? YES!!! The ones in my university’s health service are horrible. Case in point, my health exam for admission to UP: I know it’s part of a doctor’s job, but the doctor assigned to me back then touched my breasts very hastily to check for suspicious bumps. It would have helped tons if 1) she gave me a heads-up beforehand and 2) asked permission, but this lady just told me to lie down and went ahead to stick her hand under my shirt. As someone who had only been fresh out of Catholic school at that point, it was the perfect opportunity to panic. Same doctor was the one who suspected I was depressed after reviewing my mental health form, but instead of being helpful she DEMANDED reasons why I felt that way. I was already uncomfortable with the boob incident by then and was too stunned to speak, so I just kept saying I was fine and that I was mentally stable. In reality I just wanted to get out from that nasty old bitch. Have you ever had a doctor tried to kill you? Oh well that’s just taking it a million times further. No. Is your primary care doctor a man or a woman? I don’t have one. Have you had the same primary care doctor your whole life? We don’t have a family doctor. Are you happy with your current doctor? Have you ever seen a specialist for anything? X-ray technicians. I had trips to see them the most when we found out I had scoliosis.   What is the most itchiest thing you have ever experienced? I had weird rashes on my legs one time in high school, and since I was stubborn I kept scratching them until they turned into nasty black and blue wounds/bruises and cuts. I still have no idea where they came from. Have you ever had a severe itch, that you'd rate a 10? ^ That. On a scale of 1-10, what's the worst physical pain you've ever been in? The coral reef incident is an easy 20. Have you ever passed out from pain? Noooooo. Passing out from pain is one of my greatest fears. I avoid encountering anything painful as much as I can just because I’m scared of the thought of passing out because of pain. Have you ever thrown up from pain? Nope. Just from drinking and expired barbecue lmfao. Do you have any food intolerances? If so, to what? It’s not official, but I hate fruits. Like, I can immediately tell if something has fruit in it and I will spit it out accordingly. That and raisins. Do you have any food sensitivities? If so, to what? Nope. What medications are you allergic to? Do you have acne? A small pimple shows up every now and then (mostly when I’m stressed or if my face gets oily) but it’s never been a full-on breakout. I’ve been lucky when it comes to acne. Do you take birth control pills? I don’t. I want to take them just because I heard it makes your breasts get bigger hahahahahaha but Gab is adamant about not letting me take them. Are your hormones screwed up? Mm no, they’re not that bad. Obviously they act up when I’m nearing or on my period e.g. cravings, crying all the time, being sensitive about everything, but not to the point that my period is irregular or gives me severe dysmenorrhea. Do you have bad withdrawals from medications? I don’t take meds to begin with. What are some withdrawal symptoms you've had? What are some bad side effects of medications that you've had? Have you ever gained weight from a medication? If so, how much? Have you ever had to take Prednisone? Never even heard of it. If so, did it make you gain weight and make your face puff up? Looks like I’m skipping lots of questions. How many hours a sleep do you need? Don’t adults need 8 hours, in general? How many hours a sleep do you get? I try to make it to 8, but I’ve been really busy for this semester that it ends up being 5-7 hours instead. Do you exercise enough? I don’t at all, haaaaaaaaaaah. Do you eat healthy? I do like vegetables and will happily eat salads and sandwiches with veggies packed in them, but I tend to balance it out with grossly unhealthy food anyway, so you decide if this still counts as healthy. Are you on a special diet for your health? No, I don’t think I need to be. Are you trying to lose weight or gain weight? Gain, which I’m on the way to doing. I’m a little chubbier now compared to high school. Are you a healthy weight? I’m 90 lbs. the last time I checked. Relative to my height, that’s underweight. Are you happy with your weight? Sure, but gaining a few pounds wouldn’t hurt either. How often do you wash your hair? Everyday if I’m in school; every other day if I’m on summer break. Do you take showers or baths? Showers. How often do you shower or bathe? ^ Same thing. Do you take vitamins? If so, which ones? I used to take two vitamin syrups everyday when I was younger: one for vitamin C and the other to help me grow taller. When I got a little older my mom changed our usual syrups to these cute vitamin C gummy bears, then after a while I just stopped taking. What bones have you broken? Haven’t broken any, fortunately.  What's the worst physical injury you've had? Aside from my icky foot infection, I had a bad fall in school a few months ago and my ankle got sprained pretty bad. I don’t think I gave it A+ treatment so it never really fully healed. I know this because the same foot still hurts whenever it’s in an odd position or when I shift too much of my weight on it. Do you have sensitive skin? Yes. It eventually gets itchy when my skin is out in the open. In high school, I often had a hard time walking from point A to B because my skin would always get irritated, but I couldn’t scratch it because I was wearing a skirt. What chemicals make you sick? Toxic ones, I would assume? Haha. What time of year do you usually get sick? I never get sick. What's the highest fever you've ever had? 40ºC. It was a dengue scare. Have you ever had the flu? Sure, a few times here and there. Have you ever had bronchitis? Nope. Have you ever had an ear infection? I don’t remember having one. Do you snore? Only when I’m so tired that I’m 130% passed out. What pain reliever do you use for cramps? My menstrual cramps never get that bad. If you're female, what symptoms do you get when on your period? My pelvis area and legs hurt; I cry over everything; I’m sensitive when people are angry; I will essentially take everything personally; my cravings either change every 5 minutes or I just want one food and I will murder to get such craving; I get very poopy; and sometimes I’ll get very drowsy. Do you have regular periods? Pretty much, yes. Sometimes they’ll be a few days early or late but very rarely does it go completely irregular. Are you afraid of shots? Deathly afraid. Like I would do everything to avoid having to take them.  Have you ever donated blood? No. Even if I wanted to, I’m not allowed to (underweight). Plus you have to be pricked for that, which is a Huge No-No for me. Do you do well with shots? If I absolutely have to have a shot, I can manage albeit with a lot of fidgeting. What I’m terrible with is IV. I had a huge meltdown the one and only time I needed to have a needle injected onto my wrist. I was a 12 year old grown ass person thrashing around in the hospital room lol. What x-rays have you had? Just my spine. Have you ever gotten a pill or a piece of food stuck in your throat? Pill-stuck-in-throat sensation happens sometimes, but it’s never been anything serious. What method of birth control do you use, if applicable? Do you take birth control to control hormones, or to prevent pregnancy? As mentioned, I don’t take it. How often does your hair need to be washed? I don’t know about need, but I wash it everyday or every other day so that it doesn’t get oily, which feels irritating. What do you keep on hand for emergencies? I don’t really keep stuff for emergency, just money hahaha. Have you ever had a severe allergic reaction? Nopes. If so, what were your symptoms? Have you ever used an epi pen? I have not. Have you ever been to the ER for a severe allergic reaction? Negative. What's the worst burn you've ever had? When I was 7, I wanted to do something daring so I touched a clothes iron that was plugged in and was in use (by my grandma, but she left to attend to something at the time). My index finger rightfully had a tiny blister for the next two weeks. My dumbass definitely deserved it. What's the worst allergic reaction you've ever had? No allergies. Have you had any health-related embarrassing moments? I don’t think anything bad enough has happened yet. If so, what happened? (if you want to share) Do you use tampons or pads? Pads. I’m scared of tampons. Do you sweat a lot? I don’t, actually. I drink a lot of water, but I guess I just don’t sweat much. Do you get nosebleeds? I’ve never experienced a nosebleed and am also too scared to get one. Do you get motion sickness? Pretty easily, especially if I’m riding an unfamiliar car. Do you have acne? I get a pimple every now and then but it’s not a big issue. Do you have scars? Sure. There’s one on my fourth right toe and the other one on my left eyebrow. What are some of your scars from? Toe scar is from when my toes got stuck in my bike’s blades (something like that, anyway); eyebrow scar is from a stupid cousin smashing a small glass bottle towards my face. Do you have a birthmark? If so, what color is it? I have a brown one behind my left shoulder. I also have one near my elbow; it used to be blue/green but now it’s a faint black-ish shade. What makes your eyes itch? Uh, dirt? I also know if I’ve been spending too much time in front of the computer when my eyes start feeling irritated. That’s usually my signal to go to bed or to have a break. Are you ticklish? Very. I can’t be tickled on any part of my body. Do you have a sweet tooth? I have my moods, but overly sweet food isn’t really a favorite of mine. Do you ever crave chocolate? Never, actually. I can crave sweet stuff like brownies and cookies, but never chocolate bars. Do you ever crave cheese? No. Lactose intolerance makes me wary of cheese so I never really ~crave it. What else, if anything, do you get cravings for? I usually crave for cuisines in general or specific restaurants.  Do you drink enough water? Yeah I’m pretty sure I do. Do you comfort eat when stressed? It varies. Sometimes I’ll rely on eating, but other times I’ll lose my appetite and wouldn’t want to be anywhere near food. How old were you when you started your period? I was 9 but was about to turn 10. How old were you when you started going through puberty? I am guessing the same age when I had my period, but everything sped up only when I was 10/11. What was the first sign of puberty for you? ...My period? Did your hair change when you went through puberty? Hair started to grow in places, but as for changes, not really. At what time of day do you normally feel your best? I don’t really keep track lol. Are you naturally optimistic or pessimistic? Um both, depending on my mood for the day. It never stays constant. Are you naturally energetic? I’m naturally un-energetic. Looking at extroverts exhausts me. Does your mind wander a lot? Only when I’m bored at something, like in a certain class. I can generally focus well. Do you know your blood type? I don’t actually hah. Have you ever been taken to the hospital against your will? Nope. Any final thoughts? Cool survey. It’s different.

[lovemesomesurveys]

A health survey.

What health problems do you have right now? Chronic back pain (due to scoliosis, back surgeries with metal rods put in, and paraplegia), mental health issues, nutritional issues, and a few other chronic issues that I don’t want to get into detail about. Are you in chronic pain? ^^^ Yes. I’m on a pain management regimen. What do you take medications for? The only medication I take currently is a narcotic. What are some health issues you have had in the past? Some of the same things that I’m dealing with now. Some have been chronic and some have come back. Do you have allergies? Just tangerines, but it’s not an issue cause it’s not something I encounter. I didn’t like them anyway, so not a loss for me.

If so, what are you allergic to? ^^^

Have you ever been to an allergist? No, never had to. Have you ever been to the ER? Yeah. Have you ever been treated poorly in the ER? No.

Have you ever been told your symptoms were anxiety, when they weren’t? No, but I’ve been told it was something else when it wasn’t. I went to my doctor about my anxiety and they did a blood test to test my thyroid. I get that some of the symptoms of a thyroid disorder are the same as some of the ones for anxiety, but it turned out to be anxiety related as I suspected. What is the most physically painful thing you’ve ever experienced? I’ve had a few surgeries, and those are quite painful. How many surgeries have you had? 5. What types of surgery have you had? 1 was an exploratory surgery when my incident happened, 2 of them of them were spinal surgeries, 1 was for a pressure sore where part of my femur had to be removed and a skin flap had to be done, and 1 was for my colon that was damaged due to another health issue that I don’t feel like getting into.

Have you always recovered well from surgery? Well, that last surgery on my colon was also supposed to clear up something else that was related, but it didn’t. I’m still dealing with that part 7 years later.

Have you ever been treated poorly by a doctor? No. I just don’t like how it is has to be now to get pain medications. It’s really hard. 

Have you ever had a doctor tried to kill you? Wow, no. Is your primary care doctor a man or a woman? Man. Although, I see one of my specialist doctors, who is female, way more often than my primary doctor and she’s been the one to order other tests like xrays and give referrals and such. Have you had the same primary care doctor your whole life? I had one from the time of my incident at 7 months old until I was 21. That was at a children’s hospital and the cutoff was 21, so at that point I got the boot and had to be on my own. That was a hard adjustment because seeing the same doctor for everything at a a hospital where everything could be done in one place was really convenient. Now I have to see all these different doctors. Are you happy with your current doctor? My primary and one of the specialists I regularly see, along with her assistant, is great.

Have you ever seen a specialist for anything? Several throughout my life. I’ve mentioned a couple already in this survey that I currently see. What is the most itchiest thing you have ever experienced? Healing after surgery. You know things are healing when they get really itchy. Have you ever had a severe itch, that you’d rate a 10? Yes. On a scale of 1-10, what’s the worst physical pain you’ve ever been in? 10+. Have you ever passed out from pain? I’ve sure been close. I’ve been really nauseous from pain. Have you ever thrown up from pain? No, but like I’ve said I’ve gotten really nauseous from pain on several occasions. Do you have any food intolerances? If so, to what? Lactose intolerance. Do you have any food sensitivities? If so, to what? Spicy foods. It really, really sucks because I used to be obsessed with spicy food and ate it all the time before. What medications are you allergic to? None.

Do you have acne? I’ll get a pimple or two now and then, but nothing major. I dealt with it in high school and my early 20s, though. My issue now is that my skin is really dry. Do you take birth control pills? No. Are your hormones screwed up? Yes. Do you have bad withdrawals from medications? I would if I had to stop taking my pain medication. What are some withdrawal symptoms you’ve had? What are some bad side effects of medications that you’ve had? I’ve had some anti-anxiety and antidepressant meds that I didn’t like.

Have you ever gained weight from a medication? If so, how much? No.

Have you ever had to take Prednisone? No. If so, did it make you gain weight and make your face puff up? How many hours a sleep do you need? It never feels like enough. How many hours a sleep do you get? About 5 or 6 on a good day. Do you exercise enough? I don’t at all. :/ Do you eat healthy? No. Are you on a special diet for your health? I’m supposed to be on a high protein, high calorie diet and drink those protein shakes. I also have a few vitamin deficiencies that I’m supposed to be taking supplements for. Are you trying to lose weight or gain weight? I need to gain weight, but it’s been a struggle due to appetite issues and other health stuff. It’s a struggle for me to eat a lot and some days eating feels so much like a chore and something I have to make myself do. Are you a healthy weight? No. Are you happy with your weight? No. How often do you wash your hair? Every 2-3 days. Do you take showers or baths? Showers. How often do you shower or bathe? Every couple days. Do you take vitamins? If so, which ones? No, but I’m supposed to. What bones have you broken? Leg bones. What’s the worst physical injury you’ve had? The one that made me a paraplegic. Do you have sensitive skin? Yes. What time of year do you usually get sick? I always feel sick and crappy in some way another. I was last really sick with the flu and bronchitis back in January through mid February, though. I don’t get viruses like that often, like I hadn’t been sick like that in a few years. I just generally don’t feel well a lot of the time in other ways. What’s the highest fever you’ve ever had? I think just 101. Have you ever had the flu? Yep, like I said I had it really back a couple months ago. Have you ever had bronchitis? Yes. Like I said, I just had that a couple months ago, too. Have you ever had an ear infection? Not that I know of. Do you snore? No. What pain reliever do you use for cramps? I used my pain medication. I don’t get my period anymore, though. If you’re female, what symptoms do you get when on your period? I got ‘em all. I had the worst PMS/PMDD. Do you have regular periods? I don’t have them anymore. Are you afraid of shots? Yes. I get blood work done a lot and it never gets easier for me. Have you ever donated blood? No. Do you do well with shots? NO. They’re always scared I’m going to pass out because I get really hot and sweaty and look like I’m going to be sick. What x-rays have you had? Countless xrays throughout my life of all different kinds. Have you ever gotten a pill or a piece of food stuck in your throat? ksjfsklflskd yes. Hence why I can no longer take pills without crushing them now. I had a really bad, serious incident back in like 2011 and I couldn’t take pills normally ever since because I developed a real fear. My throat literally felt like it was closing in if I even attempted to try, so I just started crushing them. What method of birth control do you use, if applicable? I don’t.

Do you take birth control to control hormones, or to prevent pregnancy? How often does your hair need to be washed? Like I said, I wash it every 2-3 days. What do you keep on hand for emergencies? I just take my medicine with me whenever I leave. Have you ever had a severe allergic reaction? Yes. Have you ever used an epi pen? No. Have you ever been to the ER for a severe allergic reaction? No. What’s the worst burn you’ve ever had? Spilling hot food on myself, placing a hot plate on my legs, and placing a cup of coffee (with the sleeve) between my legs. I thought it was cool enough and it would be fine with the sleeve, but I was wrong. If you don’t already know, I’m a paraplegic so I didn’t feel it. I only discovered later that day. Have you had any health-related embarrassing moments? Yes. If so, what happened? (if you want to share) Do you use tampons or pads? Do you sweat a lot? Ugh, yes. I’m hot a lot of the time for one thing. Summer is just absolutely miserable for me. I also get night sweats, which is really gross. Do you get nosebleeds? No. Do you get motion sickness? Yes. Do you have acne? You asked this already. Do you have scars? Several. What are some of your scars from? Surgeries, mostly. Some from the burns I talked about. And then others from other random things. Do you have a birthmark? If so, what color is it? Yeah, on my right elbow. It’s brown. What makes your eyes itch? Dirt, dust, or when it’s like really smoky. Are you ticklish? Just my neck. Do you have a sweet tooth? Somewhat. I’ll have my cravings. Do you ever crave chocolate? Like a Reeses or white chocolate sometimes. Or white chocolate Reese’s. Yum. Do you ever crave cheese? I love cheese. I am lactose intolerant, but I can have some cheese. What else, if anything, do you get cravings for? Chicken sandwiches, tenders, or wings, pasta, ramen, potatoes in various forms. Do you drink enough water? No. Do you comfort eat when stressed? No. I used to do that. I used to be such a food and then it all changed a few years ago. How old were you when you started your period? 13. How old were you when you started going through puberty? 13. What was the first sign of puberty for you? …My period? <<<< Did your hair change when you went through puberty? Hair started to grow in places, but as for changes, not really. <<< At what time of day do you normally feel your best? After I’ve had my first cup of coffee. It doesn’t last long, but I look forward to that first cup everyday. Are you naturally optimistic or pessimistic? Very pessimistic. Are you naturally energetic? Ha, no. I have like zero energy. Does your mind wander a lot? Yes. Do you know your blood type? I actually don’t. You’d think I would by now after all the doctor visits, blood work, and surgeries I’ve had. I should really know that. Have you ever been taken to the hospital against your will? Nope. Any final thoughts? Nope.

[jemilyreial]

How To Stop Female Cat Spraying Awesome Ideas

Put sticky paper or two-way tape around the box, he/she is choosing a roommate or taking in a similar reaction to the other,this gives the kitten will understand the right direction, beginning at the end of this pet door.Naturally, the smart way to tell you which may soothe toothaches, help against coughs, and may be avoiding to make the mistake we made, allowing Sid, the cat, which makes it particularly difficult to locate.Some cats don't realize that cats would be no use for cats.Plants will be frightened during an asthma attack, it should always be cleaned at least partially on sexuality and that should have a tendency to want to adopt that beautiful kitten, then you'll need a pestle and mortar to crush up your home furniture.

This is the basis of all cats sensitive to the urine sits, the more difficult to bring out on the floor. If the female will become easily accustomed to trimming my cat's nails which is going to discuss the option of getting at it without plucking the carpet wet.Cat furniture comes in a fully balanced diet for the cat is out of the plant.Even the healthiest cats suffer from cat poop into a home or to be changed regularly.Regular physical examinations by your vet.

When talking about - they're plastic balls with bells inside.The formulation that I mix myself when I am sure that you love your pet, and in the feces or urineCover it with petting, or giving up smoking altogether.Crush dried leaves to release frustration since cats really enjoy heights.Getting cat urine sample you will find that they could !

Cats are known to react to moving house differently.Even though your cat is just like any kind of cat flaps styles available to you, then great care is of vital importance that you use natural therapies such as catnip or nepeta.Most vets will do it because of their efficiency.Start with them and groom them, you could have the cat from peeing outside of her accident, rather than partition doors.Of course the other reason they are more cats there will be able to clean an area if you get bitten or scratched by a microorganism transmitted by fleas.

In order to cover up the wet area immediately after the visit.These are also less likely to find catnip in spray or mark its space, this can be safely left open.To begin, get a kitty he has done something wrong.As most owners know, feline are very apparent and when they are not a good way to locate all of her head or some kind of fur and dander can travel through the neighborhood can become overwhelming.There are different herbal remedies and prescription drugs that cause the cat inside the cat's condition and how we can reduce the dryness and flaking of the attack, consider alternatives wrapped in carpet and effectively relieves the pain of injury and in more grave cases, chronic depression and more.

Changing the Box Location: Is the glaze truly food safe?If your stuck between figuring out the proper cleaner will assure that you don't know about, will glow!Draw an exaggerated eyebrow over your clean laundry.It shouldn't take long before the tick or flea is fully enclosed.You can also use catnip as a means to deposit their contents on the market that can cause cat bad breath and be aware of the problem

Cover lips with concealer and the litter box.Usually occur around the house has fleas.He may also be comfortable with her kitty box so when they are doing things we do not occur often at this point - if you have cleaned the various problems that were left to their behavior.Cats generally get annoyed or become discontent.These tips focus on what type of creature urine, only there actually is not able to help.

I had used EFT on him/with him and it seems so.There are a wide toothed comb and work your way through this cat problem is that your cat can get into trouble during the middle of the bad behavior issues such as new furniture.Unfortunately, older male cats hanging around because they think a cat will become larvae.It removes the smell so add some to bird feeders and the poor little cat/kitten.Make sure to choose from a clean bill of health hazards when using injection vaccines and instead of scrubbing.

What Does A Female Cat Spraying Look Like

Prickly plants, shrubs and bushes also act as a humane society that fosters the cats tend to scratch.Removing or preventing cat odor comes back.One enjoys dry food because of it you use a hairdryer to do with disinfecting your home.Make an appointment with your decision and read the ingredients begin to train a cat.The good news about this innovation is that the odor of cat urine odor and stain permanently.

Sometimes they just like in humans, but you must understand that what they do not feed them apart but in reality they are just a top that is appropriate for its surface to scratch at.Who would want a house has recently been vacated, but the whining will eventually have all of kitty's toes.You house won't only smell horrible, but your cat may be collected and microscopically examined to help your pets tricksSigns of illness or a taut wire or string some six inches above the inability to make your own catnip plants.But most of the health of your hand at your cat's tail and other modes of travel, it might seem, especially if your cat to scratch up the wet dog around the house.

If she does not have many problems associated with the situation calls for it.These sprays contain citrus and will be able to help.It tones the muscles in their food and while using it.Keep in mind is that once the gifts are opened, diving and scattering wrapping paper or two-way tape around the neck of the stray doesn't continue to breed.When I asked Silver why he had come to me sometimes, all are huge strides since Tabby has been bred.

Just as in under the mouth that break down the cat.Female cats will only help the process of spraying them with a treat or a diffuser.Spraying your cat is not a place other than a commercial one available for both of them in time.Some cats spray urine for sure of a hairless breed?This means it gets deeper into the night.

It is important as cats who both actually enjoy the whole body.Comb their furs regularly to help your cat pain.Just make sure they were born to help stop cats from hunting as he chooses.Your pet has used the areas where catnip does not know too much effort, to work with patience and understanding the reasons that so many different types of treatments for cats to sharpen their claws.Of course humans can't detect the precise areas.

For curtains, go with an alternative, you can do for the difference between your cat's face back gently.When this happens, your cat care is the only one in the house is a stressful time.What kind of fur that loves to play with his litter as necessary.Thus cleaning time, expense and space, also have chemicals which have a kitten you should get them all in the freezer to preserve its usefulness.Don't forget to consider while keeping a cat can not feel comfortable to scratch your furniture when the underlying cause first and endeavor to catch your cat from reaching them.

How To Prevent Cat From Peeing On Carpet

So other than a relaxed well balanced cat.The allergen protein is found on a weekly if not fixed will have a designated meeting spot with a veterinarian for the owner take immediate action when the cat safe is that some cats in order to stay away from the toilet and fill the training seat.Never insert narrow objects deep into the carpet.It is also among the many reasons a cat is not comfortable of the soil.Lastly cats also spray, especially during a breeding farm.

The laundry problem usually happens is that there are many other diseases such as the skills they learn they can recover from the crystal formation is injecting and spraying of urine should not be able to sit or jump, such as Bronchitis, Heartworm Disease, and Pneumonia.It may even need to know where their tray is, so choose a cat out when he needs to.Although most cat lovers insist that their owners may like to spray a citrus scented cat repellent to the subject and this will go mad for cat but you will also be that the fur will be happy and healthy.They are also several options for flea control.It is essential to keep the litter tray so that you take the pet.

[putris-et-mulier]

Hey. Can I have some advice, or at least, a moment to vent? I've been living with chronic illness for a while now. Ten months ago it got worse and a few months after that, I found out that I was diagnosed with chronic bronchitis when I was younger. Only my mother never told me until I was complaining about the same damn cough for 5 months. I researched it and behold the symptoms match with the symptoms I've been having and (1/3)

lived with for years. Chronic bronchitis is a leading cause of death. And no one bothered to tell me hey you’ve had a chronic illness for years and yea you probably should get on some kind of regular treatment. Much like my ADHD that my mom didn’t believe I had until I was 18 and compiled enough research to write my own article and couldn’t sit still to watch a movie. Anyway, I moved out, got a job at one of the busiest theme parks in the world, proceeded to get sick several times,and then ended up with a chronic cough that wouldn’t go away. Present time. It’s been 10 months since the cough started and no I still have yet to receive treatment cause doctors are fucking expensive and I have no car. I walk to work and there isn’t a dr near where I live that the buses will take me to. Uber is fucking expensive and I’ve got bills to pay. Doctors also give me the worst anxiety. When I went to get my ADHD treated the dr gave me a panic attack and told me that I was wastingwas wasting her time cause I couldn’t afford to pay her up front and the secretary was fucking up the insurance. They don’t listen to me, often give the wrong medicine, and/or always, ALWAYS, have something to say about my fucking weight as though that is what is making me sick. Like yea, could I lose a few pounds? Sure. Is it what’s making me ill? No. And I don’t have the fucking money to spend to try to find a decent doctor that will give me the treatment I need before I end up dying.Today, my chest felt like someone was squeezing my lungs and then setting fire to them while I couldn’t breath. I honestly was afraid that I was gonna pass out. And I understand I do need to get treatment but if it comes down to a dr or having fun and making all the hours I work and the constant stress worth it then I’m gonna go have fun. Cause I work way too much (50 hr/6 day weeks)for someone in my current state of health. I just don’t know. I’m tired and stressed and I have like no Energy™and just sorry for the long ass rant but you seem like the only blog I follow that would probably at least know what I’m dealing with. If that’s the right way to put it? I just feel like its gonna come down between me dying but at least having some semblance of fun or surviving my illness and not much else. I can’t afford both.

As hard as it is for people born disabled, I’m very very lucky to have been put on the disability system when I was a baby. 

People think it’s so easy to get on disability because everyone’s idea of a disabled person is an adult mutate that was physically injured (not that it’s easy for them either) but when you show up and say “I’m sick” but look healthy they disregard you because… Where have you been all these years? If you were really sick you would’ve come earlier.

No one believes you.

I wish I had advice but as of now this is the status quo. You are very lucky to have a documented diagnosis so you do have a little bit of a step up but the truth of the matter is that you have to give up your life as it is now if you want any help.

It’s going to take years, intentionally confusing and convoluted paperwork, neglect, humiliation, verbal abuse, mental abuse, emotional abuse, and depending on the disability also physical abuse. And that’s just to get on disability in the first place.

Then a few times each year you have to convince them you still need it. I was born disabled and I have a physically visible disability and I still have to keep proving that God hasn’t cured me.

This is why we are disabled. 

If you seek treatment you’re going to have to move outside of society. You can’t keep working, you can’t go do anything fun without considering how it may look if you get caught, you have to move in with family or friends that aren’t sick who will make you sicker with all the stress of being gas lighted not just outside but also inside your home. Or you get institutionalized.

What you’re going through is very common. What you’ve decided on is also very common.

I did it myself as much as possible and was just crossing my fingers hoping that I died before I got to the point where I couldn’t pretend anymore.

I did a lot of fun things and I had a lot of great times. Where I am in my life now, since I didn’t die in time, I’ve had to give up all of that and more. I have to beg someone(s) to let me live each week. I’ve come to terms with my life now becoming nothing but about being disabled and I’m starting to fight back but we are at square one. And I am much weaker and much more ill than I’ve ever been in my life because of all the fun I had.

But I don’t know if I would’ve given up having fun even knowing it’s making my life now nearly impossible. I’m one of the first millennials, the first disabled generation, to get to this stage in being a semi-legal citizen in adulthood so there is no one to look to for advice that knows what this is like.  Or will believe that you’re telling the truth. Other disabled people my age are going through the same thing, none of us really know what’s going to happen or what any of the right answers are.

If I hadn’t stayed in the closet for so long I wonder what I would be like now. Would I be more stable and confident? What if it was still as bad but I didn’t even have fond memories? If I hadn’t been able to relax now and then I may not have even let myself live this long. I have no idea.

The best I can tell you is that you are not alone and as much as it feels like no one can understand your situation there are a lot of people who know exactly what it’s like. But even having that support is risky because you do have to go into disabled communities on the Internet which can risk you being uncloseted.

This is why you are using anonymous. This is why I never turn the option of being anonymous off.

I, for one, will not live in this suffering needlessly. I’ve would’ve committed suicide many years ago as  I had planned on until I finally did involve myself, outside of the closet, in the disabled community online.

It’s not the camaraderie or the support that gave me a will to live. I still feel the same. The difference is I see you guys and I’m living your future. If the only way to live is to suffer then I’m willing to do so in order for you guys to have a little more traction than we have.

It’s not altruistic, it’s petty.

I care nothing for those people in society. I can feel sympathy or empathy but at my core I really don’t care. I care about what’s mine. My being disabled. My place in the disabled community. You guys; my friends.

There is one thing I’m good at and that is pissing socialites off. From a fuckboy on the Internet to a world renowned doctor. So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to piss as many of them off as I can because I care about other disabled people.

One of two things can happen: 

1. I’ll just be entertaining other disabled people while I go down in flames

2. I might actually help making a difference toward getting our civil rights by taking some the socialites down with me

I’m happy with either of these. It’s petty but it’ll be fun and this is the only fun currently available to my community. 

[cleverwordsandotherstuffilike]

It’s one of the juiciest debates in science.

There’s an oddly persistent myth that people have always had a good chance of living to a ripe old age if they could just survive childhood. Socrates was old, after all, and what about Ben Franklin? It’s true that infants and children were once more likely to die than people of any other ages. Eliminating many of the deadly diseases of childhood gave the biggest boost to our average life expectancy as it doubled in the past 150 years. But children aren’t the only ones who are less likely to die than they were in the past. At every age, even older than 100, people are more likely to survive the next year than they were at any other time in human history.

Why has life expectancy continued to go up steadily over the past several decades? And what’s in store for us: Will we continue to live for more and more years than ever before?

Public health measures get the credit for most of the increase in life expectancy that happened from the mid-1800s to mid-1900s. Clean water, safe food, comfortable housing, and a healthy respect for germs made the world a completely different place. If you look at the top causes of death in the United States in 1900 and 2010, you might think you’re examining data from two entirely different species. In 1900, we died of tuberculosis, gastrointestinal infections, and diphtheria. In 2010, none of those diseases made it into the top 10. Take a tour of this interactive to see how death rates changed over the course of the past century. (The spike in 1918-1919 was caused by the Spanish flu, the worst pandemic in history.) While infectious diseases plummeted over the course of the 20th century, cancer and heart disease shot up.

Heart disease isn’t a new invention. Egyptian mummies show evidence of atherosclerosis. But it and cancer were masked by other diseases that killed people before they got old enough to die of a stroke.

Because heart disease is such a killer, anything that reduces its incidence or treats it can save a lot of lives and boost our overall average life expectancy. The death rate from heart disease (adjusting for age, since there are more and more older people in the population) was cut in half between 1980 and 2000. That’s a screaming success for public health and biomedicine. Who gets the credit? About half of the credit goes to medical treatments (statins, aspirin, heart surgery), and the other half goes to reductions in risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking, and eating red meat. More good news is that some risk factors, including high cholesterol, are continuing to drop.

Heart disease is still a horribly common way to die, and it’s hard to appreciate the number of deaths that didn’t happen. But you probably have loved ones who are alive today because careful epidemiological studies identified risk factors for heart disease and medical researchers found effective treatments.

My great-great-grandmother died at age 57, probably of a heart attack. My great-grandmother died at age 67 of a stroke. My grandmother takes medication for high blood pressure and high cholesterol. She will celebrate her 90th birthday next week. She is the first person in her family to live long enough to see a great-grandchild. Preventing and treating heart disease is a huge unsung victory of modern times.

Deaths from many kinds of cancer also decreased during the past few decades. Cancer isn’t a single disease, and it won’t be eliminated anytime soon, foolish talk from George W. Bush’s head of the National Cancer Institute aside. But researchers and clinicians are making steady progress at identifying and treating most forms of the disease. Long-term survival rates are up. In 1975, about half of all cancer patients lived for five more years. Now the rate is two-thirds.

Even more important than treatment, though, is prevention. The reduction in smoking rates gets credit for much of the decrease in incidence of heart disease and cancer, especially lung cancer, which is by far the most common cause of cancer deaths. Smoking bans are lifesavers, too—fewer people are dying of heart attacks, stroke, or lung disease due to secondhand smoke now that it’s not stinking up all our restaurants, offices, and airplanes.

Controlling air pollution has been a big lifesaver in the United States. In 1948, a noxious smog choked Donora, Pa., killing 20 people and sickening half of the population of 14,000. In 1952, a great smog in London killed at least 4,000 people. Air pollution provokes heart attacks and asthma attacks and increases the risk of lung cancer, heart disease, bronchitis, and other diseases. The Clean Air Act was passed in 1970 and has been revised several times with stricter limits on pollutants. The law has led to great improvements in public health: It prevented 160,000 premature deaths in 2010. You can even see the mountains outside Los Angeles now, which you couldn’t do in 1968. Air pollution is still a big killer in the developing world, however, and is blamed for more deaths worldwide than high cholesterol.

We have a completely different relationship to safety today than we did at the beginning of the 20th century. Workplace deaths are down by 90 percent, thanks to efforts by labor unions, researchers, and overreaching government agencies. We’re driving more miles than in the past but are much less likely to die in traffic accidents. People complain about U.S. culture being excessively litigious, but there’s nothing like the threat of a lawsuit to make companies recall dangerous products. Even death by lightning strikes is down; God is smiting 70 percent fewer people than he did in 1960.

Fewer women die in childbirth—although it took a shamefully long time for the maternal mortality rate to decrease. Safe and effective birth control has saved women from dying in unwanted pregnancies. Improved delivery practices cut death rates from infection, hemorrhage, and other complications. And continuing improvements to neonatal care mean that more infants and mothers survive the dangers of childbirth.

Antibiotics are the lifesavers that are most familiar to us. When I asked my acquaintances why they weren’t dead yet, the most common stories involved infections that had been cured by antibiotics. Today we’re publishing some of the best #NotDeadYet stories that people tweeted or emailed to us over the past week. Many of you alive today would have been vanquished by bacteria in previous eras.

The public health interventions that protect children from infectious disease continue to echo throughout their lifespan. People who reach old age today are stronger and healthier than earlier generations, partly because they weren’t weakened in childhood by repeated infections. As more people live to old age, they have more time to develop diseases of aging, the most devastating of which is dementia. But taking age into account, the rate of dementia seems to be falling, probably because of improved overall health.

Life expectancy can make sudden jumps even in older populations in response to social conditions. Before the reunification of Germany, retirees living in the former East Germany had much lower life expectancies than their cousins in the West. After reunification, they started living much longer—even people in their 80s and 90s had years added to their lives.

People with more years of education live longer, and the gap is widening between people who didn’t graduate high school and those who have college degrees. That may not be surprising since the well-educated are also wealthier on average and have safer jobs and better access to health care. But a few studies have found that education in itself prolongs life; it seems to allow people to manage chronic diseases better, handle stress, and make better judgments. The proportion of the population with some college education has been growing, and that may pay off in better long-term health outcomes.

It’s all connected, of course—the reason we live longer today is that we are living in an entirely different world than the one people inhabited at the end of the 19th century. It’s less nasty, less brutish, and less short. One final reason we’re living longer is that we have less exposure to the most heart-breaking risk factor for death: bereavement. In other words, we are living longer because our loved ones are living longer, and thus we are less likely to be sunk in grief than at any time in human history.

* * *

So what’s next? What are the little things that could make our average life expectancy jump again? Some of them sound simple but really aren’t. “The biggest low-hanging fruit is smoking,” says medical historian David Jones of Harvard. “But is it really low-hanging?” About half of the population smoked in the mid-20th century. That rate dropped steadily until the latter part of the century, but it seems to have plateaued (although a recent gruesome ad campaign had promising results). About 20 percent of the population smokes, and it may be very difficult to get the remaining holdouts to quit.

Obesity is the other major risk factor for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and any number of other causes of death. The obesity rate climbed so much in the past few decades that S. Jay Olshansky, a longevity researcher at the University of Illinois–Chicago, and his colleagues estimate that obesity could swamp the effects of reduced smoking on average life expectancy.

The most disturbing fact about life expectancy in the United States today is that African-Americans live about four years fewer on average than whites. The good news is that the gap has been narrowing. This disparity has been seen as a matter of social justice, but as Jones points out, there’s also a major gap in life expectancy between males and females. “I can expect to live five years less than my wife,” he says. “To me, this feels totally unfair.” We tend to think of this difference as something biological and immutable, but finding ways to help men live as long as women would go a long way toward improving life expectancy and making the world a less sorrowful place.

The United States could learn a lot from other developed countries. Our life expectancy is much shorter than it should be considering how wealthy we are. By some estimates, we’re 40 years behind other countries in terms of advancing life expectancy. The National Academy of Sciences took a hard look at what we’re doing wrong and identified nine things that set the United States apart from other countries, including drug and alcohol use, HIV and AIDS, adolescent pregnancy, and injuries and homicide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls many of these problems “winnable battles.”

* * *

One of the most fascinating debates in life science these days is between Olshansky and James Vaupel of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany. They disagree fundamentally about whether and how average life expectancy will increase in the future, and they’ve been arguing about it for 20 years. Olshansky, a lovely guy, takes what at first sounds like the pessimistic view. He says the public health measures that raised life expectancy so dramatically from the late 1800s to today have done about as much as they can. We now have a much older population, dying of age-related diseases, and any improvements in treatment will add only incrementally to average life expectancy, and with vanishing returns. He explains his point of view in this charming animated video.

On the other side of the ring is Vaupel, who says that people are living longer and healthier lives all the time and there is no necessary end in sight. His message is cheerier, but he takes the debate very seriously; he won’t attend conferences where Olshansky is present. His charts are heartening; he takes the records of the longest-lived people in the longest-lived countries for each year and shows that maximum lifespan has been zooming up linearly from 1800 to today. One wants to mentally extend the line into all of our foreseeable futures.

Olshansky says the only way to make major improvements in life expectancy is to find new ways to prevent and treat the diseases of aging. And the most efficient way to do that is to delay the process of aging itself. That’s something that some people already do—somehow. Olshansky says, “The study of the genetics of long-lived people, I think, is going to be the breakthrough technology.” Scientists can now easily extend lifespan in flies, worms, and mice, and there’s a lot of exciting research on genetic pathways in humans that might slow down the aging process and presumably protect us from the age-related diseases that kill most people today. “The secret to longer lives is contained in our own genomes,” Olshansky says.

Predictions about medical breakthroughs are notoriously optimistic, of course. When the human genome was sequenced, people predicted personalized medical interventions in a decade. That was 12 years ago. Richard Nixon’s war on cancer has yet to be won. So while you’re waiting, do what you can. Eat right, exercise. Drive safely. Don’t smoke or play with fire. Get that mole looked at. Are you sitting in front of a computer screen now? Stand up and stretch, do some lunges, we won’t laugh. Here’s to your health and long life.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science_of_longevity/2013/09/maximum_adult_lifespan_debate_over_how_long_humans_can_live.html

[jamiesinverguenza]

about me game

I was tagged by the lovely @theresebelivett ty dearest!

Were you named after anyone?

No, I think my mom specifically didn’t want to name me after anyone in our family, except for my dad, but he wasn’t into it, so she just picked something she liked and that was different/not Italian or Spanish.

When was the last time you cried?

A few hours ago, when I listened to “New York” by St. Vincent for the first time ever. It fucked me UP.

Do you like your handwriting?

Yes, but I’m also a writer, who still likes writing by hand, so

What’s your favorite lunch meat?

I don’t eat meat anymore, but I was very into smoked turkey and prosciutto in a previous life

Do you have kids?

Not yet

If you were a different person, would you be friends with you?

In an ideal world, yes, but statistically, no? I like myself very much, but most people do not like reverse racist & sexist, no chill, aggressively kind, killjoy lesbians who know more than them.

Do you still have your tonsils?

Nope, had them removed when I was five, because I had asthma/chronic bronchitis problems as a bby!

Would you bungee jump?

No, not into seeking danger

What’s your favorite cereal?

I haven’t had cereal in ages but I think fruity pebbles are way up there

Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?

Yes, because I’m a nerd

Do you think you are a strong person?

I am unquestionably one of the strongest people I know, I wasn’t given a choice about it though

What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?

I will try any kind of green tea ice cream

What’s the first thing you notice about people?

Color, hair texture, and gender/presentation

Do you use sarcasm?

I guess not really?

What’s your least favorite physical thing about yourself?

I’ve trained myself to not think in terms of what I like least/dislike about my body. But the body thing I notice/fret about most is probably my skin, and how dry, sensitive and rash and breakout prone it is, especially when I’m upset.

What color pants and shoes are you wearing right now?

Navy blue pajama pants with Christmas trees and reindeer on them, and dark blue socks

What are you listening to right now?

I have the tv on for noise, right now. I’ve listened to new/recent albums by Kesha, Princess Nokia, and Demi Lovato in the past few days

If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

Violet, because it’s pretty but dark and evokes royalty, Prince, Hole and an important piece of US-American literature about women who are neither white nor straight

Favorite smell?

Gently rose or lilac-scented creams and soaps

Who was the last person you talked on the phone with?

My abuela, no one else calls me

Favorite sport to watch?

Baseball, it’s the only sport that doesn’t bore me, actually

Hair color?

Brown

Eye color?

Dark brown

Do you wear contacts?

I haven’t worn them at all during this hell year of giving up and ~letting myself go~ but I have contacts and wore them daily for years

Favorite food?

My mom’s eggplant parmigiana

Scary movie or comedy?

comedy

Last movie you watched?

Screening of But I’m a Cheerleader that happened to be on my birthday, I think?

What color shirt are you wearing?

Cream colored thermal shirt

Summer or winter?

Summer, I dig winter but it stresses me out

Hugs or kisses?

Both but I have access to neither so lol what difference does it make AMIRITE

Book you’re currently reading?

A House of My Own by Sandra Cisneros

Who do you miss right now?

It’s more like who don’t I miss, the word for that is bereavement

What’s on your mouse pad?

Do people still have mouse pads? I definitely don’t

What’s the last TV program you watched?

I’m watching s1 of Crazy Ex Girlfriend and it’s great

What’s the best sound?

A woman’s laugh, especially if she’s a) gay and b) laughing at your joke

Rolling Stones or The Beatles?

Beatles, for their stylistic and emotional range alone

What’s the furthest you ever travelled?

Seattle or Puerto Rico? Not sure which is further from NY

Do you have a special talent?

I’m a woman of many talents

Where were you born?

Brooklyn

I tag @wuschwusch @lezmedici @channelcherry and anyone else who feels like doing this!

[chemochronicles]

Cancer Scare & Update | 8.13.17.

Guys, it’s been a roller coaster. It’s been real. But when isn’t it? ;) 

The last time I posted an update was in May. I was about to leave with my family for a cruise to Alaska  (I shared my photos in the posts below!) I had just gotten over pneumonia a few weeks before and was diagnosed with acute bronchitis, the day before our cruise. But thankfully I still was able to go, and did really well! I think that was completely a gift from the Lord. For the first time in 8 years I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I enjoyed myself and I did pretty well physically compared to normal that week! A divine gift!

The cruise consisted of of taking in all the beautiful sights, dog sledding, glacier viewing and late night motown dance parties with my people. Which was obviously the highlight. ;)

We got back, and everything got bad for me almost immediately. I’m just so thankful the Lord allowed me to have one great week. What a gift.

After we got back, all my GVHD symptoms just got way worst. They could have totally been triggered by all the poor eating, pushing myself, and way too many antibiotics (that unfortunately were necessary!). The most alarming part though were my suspicious, familiar swollen lymph nodes. I was SURE my cancer was back. Of all my close calls over the years, I have never in my life thought, “This could be it…” until last month. It was such a different process than the first two times. I really had to hound my medical team (when you have 12 different specialists who want to see you regularly, it’s your job to communicate with them and make sure everyone’s all on the same page. Which takes a lot of time, energy, and co pays!) I had a needle biopsy first which the results came back inconclusive. Then finally after weeks of waiting and phone tag with facilitators was able to have the full surgery biopsy last week to find out if it was cancer.

It was a rough week because it was also the two year anniversary of the day my Dad unexpectedly died, on that same day that I was diagnosed for the second time, August 5, 2015 by the same biopsy that I had last week. It was eerie and all too familiar. Many reminders of pain which forced me back on my knees to depend on the Lord’s strength. Which I often forget to do. But finally, God answered one of my pleading prayers with a “yes!”, the results came back negative! I felt like I had been given a second chance at life… but the reality is, this is really like… what, like my tenth chance at life now!? Thank you, God for all of these gifts that I’m not entitled to!

…BUT. I still have ALL these symptoms. Some of those bad symptoms come and go, some get worst and sometimes random new symptoms appear without a warning. I still have three debilitating autoimmune diseases and a “failing” heart (but can thankfully be restored over time) that I traded the cancer for. I am so thankful that I’m here and alive though. My Oncologist said she thinks this is all just GVHD. The swollen lymph nodes, everything.. I’m not really sure what to make of that. But I’m thankful it’s not immediately life threatening. 

A huge struggle for me constantly, is knowing how to navigate conversations when people ask how I am… I probably bring this up in every post but I’m constantly reiterating it, in hopes that it’ll spur on either a change in my life, or a change in someone else’s who may benefit from others (*ehem, YOU, whoever you may be*) being aware. Isn’t that what a cancer blog is for though? :)

I go to a huge megachurch full of super sweet friends and acquaintances who read this blog and lovingly pray for me. You might be one of them! Or maybe you’re one of my acquaintances from the creative / photography industry. Or maybe you’re a stranger. Either way, welcome! And thank you for caring enough about me to want to read this blog! So, to my loving and faithful prayer warriors, thank you for sharing in the joy with me! I’ve been given another opportunity to live more days in remission of this cancer; and Lord willing, after my 5 year remission marker in 2020, officially be cancer-free! It would have been a complete 10 year cancer journey from The beginning. Wow, time flies.

How have I been? 

Well, this is my space (unlike the social media outlet that taught me to be an HTML wizard at the age of 12) Let’s be real! I’ve been terrible! But it’s okay! Since the beginning of June I’ve barely been able to get out of bed, let alone stand or walk for long periods of time… let alone drive to frequent doctors appointments and have the emotional strength to pick up my phone and respond to sweet and thoughtful “deep” texts (I use the quotes not in any negative sarcasm towards my friends who’ve texted me, but towards texting in itself!). Let alone have energy take care of Caleb or maintain our tiny home well. Let alone do anything else outside of that. (So if you’ve reached out wanting to get together and I haven’t followed through with you, this is why. Not because I don’t want to.)

Along with the fatigue (that’s from addison’s disease / adrenal failure caused by steroids that they tried to use for treating GVHD…. unsuccessfully) The rashes on my skin have… Well, some places have gotten better because of a new potent herbal tincture I’m taking, and some places have gotten worst, like the skin in my mouth and other sensitive areas. The ulcers in my mouth and tongue have gotten so bad that it hurts to eat, talk, and even smile. So I’ve been living off protein shakes, green juice and water for the last month. At least I’m still getting nutrients!

To be clear, here’s my dilemma that I feel like I can’t win. When people (and I’m specifically talking about passing conversations, one on one is a different ball game) ask how I am, their responses to my answers tend to be a little intense. It adds some unnecessary stress.

I feel pretty miserable most of the time, but God is still good! So when I see people in passing, or quite often I’ll have acquaintances and strangers PM and ask me probing questions that I don’t have emotional or physical energy to respond to. So, I could be that person who complains on social media. I could. It’s really tempting sometimes. But that’s so selfish and off putting. No one should be that person, no matter how hard your life is. Let’s build each other up. So, to try and counteract my temptation to complain (and also my desire to be a faithful example of how a true Christian responds to trials) I make an effort put a positive spin on it. Life should be full of positive and real spins, am I right!?

It’s the reactions that I struggle with. If I calmly say with a smile, “Well, the cancer treatment worked.” Then people automatically respond in such extreme jubilation as if my health is suddenly just as good as theirs now. I’m so grateful to have people in my life (or even watching from the outside) who CARE that I’m alive! Thank you so much for wanting me to be here! But sometimes that eager response from others puts this unspoken pressure on me to have the same physical abilities as everyone else. Which unfortunately, I don’t have. And looking at the facts: I probably never will. Because it effects everyone so differently with such dramatic ranges, some  people slowly die from Chronic Graft vs Host Disease. Some people get it in their lungs after a few years, and have to walk around with an oxygen tank at all times. Some people have to have parts of their organs removed because of it. Some people have it mild forever, and then some have it intense for a few years and it starts to lessen over time. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. Let’s pray that mine lessens over time! But ultimately, that’s up to the Lord. This is His way of keeping me dependent in prayer. It’s a lot to process and can be overwhelming. How do I navigate that? I don’t know. I’m figuring it out.

I do believe the body has the ability to heal itself. So I’m working harder than I ever have before, to support my body in healing and recovery. It’s probably going to take several years. But unfortunately unlike many other autoimmune conditions, Graft vs Host Disease isn’t caused by a permeated gut or years of poor lifestyle and environmental factors. It’s caused by my medical team getting as close to killing *me* as possible with the highest doses of chemo and radiation, and reviving me with someone else’s stem cells. So it’s not really “my” body attacking itself, it’s my donor’s cells that are attacking me. Remedies that would work for normal autoimmune diseases may benefit me because they’re healthy or anti inflammatory, but it doesn’t give the same powerful result as it would for someone with a more common autoimmune disease. But the GOOD part about having GVHD? My donors cells are actively attacking the Leukemia too. The worst my GVHD Is, the less likely my cancer is to come back. So like I said, traded one disease for another but at least I’m alive!

Sorry, that was a tangent! Back to the point. On the occasion when I AM extra real with acquaintances in passing, it can get awkward real fast! Oops!

When I say I’m good, I get a mountain of praise and applause. When I say I’m bad, I get a mountain of intense, “Awwwwwwwwwwww I’m so sorry!!!!!” followed by a head tilt and expression of pity. But you know what, I’m not criticizing anyone for that, because it’s such a natural and caring response. 

With all of that said though, if you’re still reading, if you are one of my sweet acquaintances who cares, can you please do me a favor? Will you help me, by being calm and emotionally balanced if you want to talk about what’s really going on with me? Perhaps rather than asking me probing questions while I’m standing, walking somewhere, be aware that I get dizzy and out of breathe after standing and talking for a few minutes. It’s embarrassing to admit in the moment, especially to people I’m not close with. I don’t want to attract attention by talking about it, because usually it makes others feel bad which isn’t fun. It’s humbling to admit that on here, but it’s also easier to say it on a platform like this than making any one person feel uncomfortable for not being telepathic. 

This is my life, and I realize that I SHARE on here publicly. I OPEN up that door to allow responses. So I understand the natural ramifications of those choices, I am responsible for that. I can’t blame people for responding in a natural way! No one in particular came to mind when sharing this, it’d just make my life way easier if more people understood how to be helpful in this way. :) and I’m sure it’s helpful for others too! I’m not the only sick one out there, chronic health conditions and cancer are so sadly on the rise! We can all benefit from being thoughtful of others! I know I need to grow a lot in this area too.

I’d like to write up a “Do’s and Don'ts” post on helpful things to say (or not say) to those who are struggling. I feel a little more motivated to do that now, so you might see that coming…. Well, whenever I have energy to make it a priority! ;)

Wow, if you’re still reading, thank you! Thank you for your prayers, for taking a solid amount of your day to read about *me*, when you could have been thinking about *you* and all that you have going on in your life.

I hope this update so clearly makes you thankful for the things you have that I (and many others) may not have. That’s ALL I want, is for YOU to have tears of joy over the little things that you have: Like health, energy, pretty hair or the ability to not live in survival mode each day. If my trials can help raise your awareness of others and grow in your own gratitude, it’d be worth it. 

Yesterday I was so overwhelmed with constant tears of joy. Look at what God has given me! I don’t have active cancer and my hair is growing back after falling out from GVHD last year. My oncologist is hopeful about a new GVHD drug that we’re waiting on insurance to approve. I was diagnosed with a very rare personal women’s health issue that I’ve been dealing with for a few years. Along with everything else, I discovered this week after years of feeling alone that there’s a cure for it! Two weeks ago I honestly thought that I was going to die of cancer or graft vs host disease in the nearer future. I thought through how I’d serve my loved ones in my last days and those thoughts made my heart crumble into puddles of ceaseless tears, aches, and pleading to the Lord.

And now I feel this hope. Not only hope in the fact that my hope isn’t HERE on this earth at all. Not only do I have hope that Jesus handed to me on a silver platter, after I spat with in his face for years of rebellious youth. I don’t deserve THAT hope, and THAT hope could have been enough by itself. But He’s also given me hope in the fact that maybe my life can come to some kind of normal someday! Maybe someday I’ll have the energy to adopt children and be a mother. Maybe someday I’ll have energy to run my photography business again. Maybe one day I’ll have energy to finish my book, or start the lifestyle blog I’ve been wanting to start for so long! Maybe someday Caleb and I can have a little bit of normalcy. That man sacrifices so much for me. In between the lines of these blog posts, there’s a strong leader of a man who struggles. He literally beats his body into submission of God’s word, tirelessly. He deserves twice as much respect than I do, and rarely is recognized for it. God is using him to help me write these words. And to mean them.

Hope is a beautiful thing. Today I’m thankful for hope. 

What are you hopeful about or thankful for in your life? Maybe count them out and make your day a little better. :)

[eallisnwndrlnd]

MAYARI: A memory I’ll take with me...

I rarely blog about particular events after they happen. I usually save it for my annual post or birthday or something. But as the years go by and my memory fades I’d like to at least have some way to recollect these special moments. 

As a part of our 4th year 1st semester Introduction to Theater class, our final and main assignment was to complete a stage play from beginning to end. As it was the end of my 4 year journey into completing my college degree in AB Communications and the fact that I love theater, I was excited to start this project. Unfortunately when the time came for our jobs to be distributed I ended up with the least creative role in the bunch...finance. How ironic, the one thing I had escaped from came to bite me in the ass...accounting. I may be good at it and may have an absurd fondness for Excel spreadsheets, I still scratch my head how I manage to find myself once again in the middle of all things math when I truly despise the subject in any form. (unless it’s in the form of money of course..if it’s mine that is) Even the one task that is my tried and true was not given to me. So I just volunteered myself to partake in the documentation role when the time came for the actual show. Part of me, however had wished for the role of scriptwriter but because it was most likely going to be in my second language that I’m still uncomfortable with and am only at grade level reading, I knew I couldn’t take the position. And when I found out that the story would turn into a musical I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t even participate as an actor... even if I may not really enjoy acting or being in the spotlight, I do love musicals and being a part of the production of one. (My time in Oliver the Musical as Bet and Mrs. Sowerberry will always be one of my most treasured memories where I had the chance to become close to the drama club family) Also the fact that when I tried to read the story I couldn’t understand it much so I couldn’t connect to it nor truly get excited about it like my fellow classmates and friends. I honestly kind of felt a bit left out of the whole creative part of the production. So I did what I always do when I’m feeling out of place...I go full out on something and that something was my job as the finance manager. As I said before, I do love my spreadsheets and then I went up a notch with my anal tendencies and created my own forms for expenses and such. Then as the rehearsals got in the way my body and health decided to give way. From my bronchitis to my fibromyalgia I kept missing a lot of it which made me feel like I was letting my group down. Even my incessant need to be on time was pushed aside due to severe pain from my fibro and chronic migraines that hindered me getting out of bed much less getting to rehearsal on time. I was also finding myself stressing because I could see that we were falling short in collecting all our class contribution and I was afraid we wouldn’t have enough to cover the costs as the actual show came closer. In fact I was still stressing until the final day due to some expense and collection issues. But thankfully it ended up working out. I was also eager, even though hesitant due to my lack of skills, to help as one of the make-up artists. It was something I never tried before really and frankly hardly on myself (despite my love for Ulta and Sephora back home and all things Korean beauty products.) It was kind of fun to try turning my friend into an old lady even while I was afraid I’d accidentally make her look like a person with a maze drawn on her face. 

The show itself, Mayari The Musical was a great success. I could feel the energy from the audience as they laughed, they cheered, they cried. I was feeding off it as I was facing the front stage documenting every moment as I’d done before in the plays before ours. I had watched the rehearsals and the gala but from the first official showing today, it was the first time I felt I truly connected to the story. I may not have understood ever word but for what I did along with how the actors played well their parts with perfection, I was able to be as excited as my fellow classmates. (That is one of the beautiful things about theater...it has the ability to connect with the audience even when there may be language barriers between them) When I was taking the pictures on the last show of our class production during the final fighting scene, I teared up and as I fogged up the viewer of my camera it finally hit me as to why I was, not only was the final production great and far exceeded my expectations, it was also one of our last big group productions before we graduate involving the whole class as one team. That feeling that it was getting closer to our end as being college students and possibly some of my last moments before I go back home to the states. As I hugged my friends who ended up crying as well, I realized just how much I was going to miss these people who I’ve gotten to know these past three and a half years. Who knew I could make wonderful memories and friendships with kids half my age. 

I was so glad we had today to remember and keep with us forever. Despite all the injuries, sicknesses, disagreements, lack of sleep and stressful moments it all became well worth it in the end. I’m so proud of my fellow classmates and what they accomplished today. I was very glad to be a part of it all. 

[itsayrewolf]

Hey its Monday morning, just getting off air, but finding a bug in my computer. Don’t know if its a virus or what, but working on it. Think I found a place to reside, I use the word reside, since the word live , is a used word that does not apply. I have not lived in a place since I moved out of my house  near Hazzard Idaho. Yes its a real place and yes its real name is Hazzard. Population 130. As of the last census. Any mile, I slept most of the day yesterday, after hacking up blood. this cough I have the doctor thinks I might have chronic bronchitis so they are looking on getting me on an oxegen tank set up. Yea groovy, yet still have to make the move. If I do move and its seems like I will, moving near Paul Rupert, puts me in an area I know all too well, plus closer to Pocatello so I can see my son Eddy, and closer to going to Utah to do what I need to there for the radio werx, plus the immigration project of Laurette. That said, sleeping is becoming a severe need. Since all this relocation crap and the stress makes REM sleep, a ellusive dream rather than a continious reality. Then of course there’s my sweet PoohBear, whom I love without no end, what really grabs my butt though is that she thinks that every model and/or talent, or anybody on Facebook is after my body or something. I can’t understand why? As I’m not that grand looking at least in the GQ class, I don’t have much if any money, at least not like I used to when the TV series’ we produce hasn’t been active, the status in the Knytes/AyreWolvez doesn’t mean much although I have a major bunch responsibilities there that far exceeds my time in my world, plus I’m hitting near the 60 mile marker on the road of life, So why would any hottie want me? All I really am is a radio jock Marine, that is a pretty good Shadetree mechanic. That’s all. Yet PoohBear thinks that everything with hot legs and a body wants me. It boggles my mind.

The Knytes high council met here this past weekend. There is some new things in the production department for HazzardAyreRadio, Maximum Overdrive Radio, and Rebel Radio. Add to that the bio drama of the Knytes’s history from the founding to now, which has been gave the green light by Sundance Studios, near Park City Utah. So we will be casting that through both TMG out of Utah as well as the William Morris Agency out of Hollywood. Plus a independent casting company based out of Seattle. The title of the film we are keeping in Stealth mode right now, but its going to be a major film. 

Then there is politics. So many of our Confederate monuments, and historical statues and such are being ripped right out from existance, by Northern activists, that have no understanding. The time to bring to boil the Confederate National Party is now. The Knytes will be spear heading an effort to put more eys on the CNP, to get a candidate for President of these good ole U.S.-of A, states. In essence lets put a real confederate in the White House. One of our candidates lost in the mid term elections in our area by only 10 votes. While the SOCV does a good job, they are not as aggressive as we are. We need to preserve and educate the nation of the importance of our Confederate ancestors, as well as beigin to build on the idea, of a mdern era confederate party. 

I should be on air this evening, but need to catch some sleep so I can run over to Rupert to get me my roof over thy head. So Crazy Cooter here saying adios.

I think I got a bug, or some kind of computer virus that is slowing down Both of my computers. Hey its Monday morning, just getting off air, but finding a bug in my computer. Don't know if its a virus or what, but working on it.

[cristinajourdanqp]

I Went From Having an Invisible Illness, Being Overweight, Depressed and Tired To Enjoying Robust Health!

It’s Friday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint Real Life Story from a Mark’s Daily Apple reader. If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. I’ll continue to publish these each Friday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!

Looking back, I have always had thyroid issues though I had no idea what that meant in my teens and twenties. It apparently runs in my family, though with rural Alaska medical care in the 70s, you were lucky to have a doctor available, let alone a dentist. Even as I grew older and moved to the city and then to college in Arizona and life in many other places, I was always just not well. Though I managed to live and work and play fairly normally, I would occasionally have days that I could not get out bed, so I attributed it to depression or other more readily identifiable causes like depression.

I eventually married and went through two pregnancies in my early 30s, fairly normal and with healthy babies. After my second child, my mental and physical health really started going downhill, though it wasn’t really visible other than weight gain and some fairly severe post-partum depression. With the benefit of hindsight and research, what was probably mild Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis in my youth turned into full-blown Hashimoto’s after the stress of pregnancy, childbirth, nursing and raising two small children.

I was officially diagnosed in 2006 with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis after a therapist I was seeing for depression thought to order some tests. My levels weren’t that high, and I don’t even remember what the endocrinologist said to do about it, just that I had it and it had to do with my thyroid, and that someday my thyroid would fail and I’d be put on medication. He advised eating better and exercising, but with no specific plan. Ok. I just went about my life in the usual way, raising two small kids and easing my way back into the working world while doing all of the usual life things of home maintenance, the kids’ sports and school schedules, marriage, work and other family obligations. The Internet wasn’t that prevalent then, and I just accepted my diagnosis and prognosis and went about my life the best I could.

The years went by and I gained more and more weight. I would “diet” occasionally, have a little bit of success, then fall right off the wagon. I’d tried all of the fad diets, Weight Watchers, etc., and even went sugar-free and even gluten-free a few times in the past with great results, but again, fell off the diet wagon every time. I had been active most of my life with running, college intramural sports, tennis, hiking, long-distance biking, canoeing, camping—nothing ever really stopped me from being active, even being overweight or tired through most of it. I even put myself through almost three P-90X workouts in a row (shoutout to Mark Sisson for his episode – little did I know he’d be so instrumental to my life later….). My weight didn’t budge, though I got some nice muscle under my chub. I thought I was eating fairly well at that time, too, low fat, whole grains—the usual “good diet.” At the beginning of the third cycle of hard-core exercise, plus moving some furniture, I herniated a disc in my back and that put an end to P90X and extreme exercise.

In the meantime, I was getting sicker and I didn’t understand why. I was 50 pounds heavier than my normal pre-pregnancy weight. I was depressed, moody, lethargic, overweight, exhausted, and I always felt like I should just try harder to find the right medication to take care of it, or cut out the fats, or just exercise more. It seemed like each day was a monumental effort to get through, and I know I missed out on a lot of activities with my kids when they were little.

By 2013 my diagnoses were:

Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. This is an auto-immune disorder where your immune system attacks the thyroid, which untreated can lead to multiple issues and eventual thyroid gland failure.

Bipolar disorder and depression/anxiety. The manic-depression was actually the hypothyroidism/hyperthyroidism that characterizes

Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, but I didn’t know that at the time so I went on multiple and many medications over the years, thinking that nothing was working for me and this is how it was and would be for me forever.

Migraines and headaches. This entailed emergency room visits and even a brain MRI. I went to a neurologist and was put on a migraine medication that ultimately gave me kidney stones, two of which had to be surgically removed. The medication didn’t help at all so I eventually gave up on it and since then, no more kidney stones! An expensive experiment. Now, if I have a gluten exposure—instant migraine and the root cause of them.

GERD, bile disorder and esophagitis. I was put on a medication and at my first out-of-pocket charge of $400 for the med, I decided I’d go with the heartburn instead. I’d had bloating and discomfort for years, and did the usual OTC meds for that. An EGD thankfully showed no celiac disease but did show chronic inflammation.

Asthma and chronic bronchitis requiring an inhaler

Chronic fatigue

Restless leg syndrome

Hyperlipidemia

Osteoarthritis, joint pain and stiffness

Chronic tendinitis in wrists

Adult acne

Early menopause at age 40

Brain fog

Around this time I had also lost half of my hair—thankfully I have thick hair so it still looked ok even though it was falling out in clumps.

For seven long years I went to the endocrinologist, got my thyroid (TSH) level tested and was always told it was “normal.”

In August 2013, after my last visit to the endocrinologist who had “managed” my Hashimoto’s for seven years, I finally hit the wall with my frustration over not being able to control my own body. I had had my first full-blown panic attack around this time as well. My medical record states the doctor actually thought it “was unlikely patient has significant thyroid disorder.” My TPOAb (Hashimoto’s marker) was 629.5 IU/ml (normal is to just eat right and exercise more and wait until my thyroid failed and then be put on medication. I even begged to be put on Armour NDT or something to just try it, even though my TSH was normal. He refused. I fired him and, at the end of my rope, finally got on the internet where I found the book I felt saved my life, “Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: Lifestyle Interventions for Finding and Treating the The Root Cause” by Dr. Izabella Wentz, which had just been published. Finally, someone who had suffered like me!

I jumped right in to the Hashimoto’s protocol—which is basically Primal, and though it was a super hard transition off the SAD and meds, I lost 20 pounds in the first 21 days and over the next three months, lost 25 more, and never looked back. I gave up gluten, grains, started eating way more fat and vegetables, minimal fruits, got off all of my medications and resolved almost all of my health problems, in particular the depression—it’s amazing to live without it! Without reading The Primal Blueprint (until a bit later), my diet and lifestyle had evolved to fit the model of ancestral health naturally.

During the initial transition, I had gathered all of my medical records, made a summary of them chronologically, made a spreadsheet of my labs and discovered by myself that while I have always had “normal” TSH levels, I don’t convert T4 into the more usable T3, and my symptoms fit that profile. I found a holistic leaning CNP that agreed with my diagnosis and was willing to prescribe the proper NDT medication to address this and literally 20 minutes after taking the first dose, my anxiety, which had reached panic attack levels, disappeared. I now know that when my anxiety creeps up, it’s time for a thyroid medication adjustment.

I eventually read Elle Russ’ Paleo Thyroid Solution, which is a great resource for thyroid sufferers and explained a lot of what I was going through. I do still have the occasional Hashimoto’s flare days, when I simply cannot get out of bed, but it’s down to 1-2 times a year—and usually after I’ve let non-Primal foods into my diet. A far cry from being how I lived my life on a daily basis. It took ten years from diagnosis and many endocrinologists, naturopaths, nurses and internists later, but I finally have found an integrative medical doctor who helps me with the right medical care for Hashimoto’s. I was gratified at our first intake appointment that she did not change one thing about my diet which was already Primal! She commented on my robust health and I was never more proud of myself for getting myself from my sickest days to the point of actual robust health!

Today, after my all time high of 213 lbs, I keep my body at a comfortable 165 lbs (I’m 5’5” and age 49). My Hashimoto’s is stable and after initially cutting my levels in half by eating primally, I go a bit up and down and now rely on my physical and mental states to determine how well I’m controlling it through my food plan. I don’t have a CrossFit-type body, but I do have a body that takes me through my days without pain or suffering, as long as I stick to the Primal way. I no longer have depression, anxiety, GERD, acne, my hair grew back, I sleep like a champ and my brain fog is better but not all gone—hey, I’ll be 50 this year, what can I say! My weight, despite four back surgeries for disc herniations, a labral tear repair in my hip, a broken ankle and a shoulder surgery (the osteoarthritis still rears its ugly head), has remained stable at 165 lbs since 2013. Even when I am unable to exercise, I maintain my weight, mood and general good health simply by eating and living Primally. Today, I enjoy riding my bike, walking my dogs, working out at my property mowing grass, hauling logs and brush and doing simple Primal workouts in my basement. I have a goal of someday being super muscle-y but since I feel so much better than I did before, I’m ok with my body now. My clothes always fit and I can live and do what I want to physically, and that’s more than enough for me.

My children are now 19 and 16, growing up and moving on with their lives, and with extra time on my hands I started looking into being a health coach. I’d followed many “diets” related to primally eating—mostly the Hashimoto’s Protocol, the Bulletproof Diet, the Whole30 plan, the Auto Immune Protocol plan and Paleo among others—but truly, the lifestyle I developed and live dovetails totally with the Primal Blueprint—I was living it before I really even knew about it! My heritage is Inuit/Alaskan Eskimo so it makes complete sense now that I live best on fats, meats and vegetables and berries! I know this lifestyle works for me and am excited to share it with others like me, who have suffered needlessly with auto-immune disorders that aren’t treated properly. I know you can take your health into your own hands and live the way nature intended – PRIMALLY! I recently became certified as Primal Health Coach and am living proof that good health can be had with minimal effort and suffering and I’m excited to begin my journey of helping others to robust health!

Want to make fat loss easier? Try the Definitive Guide for Troubleshooting Weight Loss for free here.

[milenasanchezmk]

I Went From Having an Invisible Illness, Being Overweight, Depressed and Tired To Enjoying Robust Health!

It’s Friday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint Real Life Story from a Mark’s Daily Apple reader. If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. I’ll continue to publish these each Friday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!

Looking back, I have always had thyroid issues though I had no idea what that meant in my teens and twenties. It apparently runs in my family, though with rural Alaska medical care in the 70s, you were lucky to have a doctor available, let alone a dentist. Even as I grew older and moved to the city and then to college in Arizona and life in many other places, I was always just not well. Though I managed to live and work and play fairly normally, I would occasionally have days that I could not get out bed, so I attributed it to depression or other more readily identifiable causes like depression.

I eventually married and went through two pregnancies in my early 30s, fairly normal and with healthy babies. After my second child, my mental and physical health really started going downhill, though it wasn’t really visible other than weight gain and some fairly severe post-partum depression. With the benefit of hindsight and research, what was probably mild Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis in my youth turned into full-blown Hashimoto’s after the stress of pregnancy, childbirth, nursing and raising two small children.

I was officially diagnosed in 2006 with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis after a therapist I was seeing for depression thought to order some tests. My levels weren’t that high, and I don’t even remember what the endocrinologist said to do about it, just that I had it and it had to do with my thyroid, and that someday my thyroid would fail and I’d be put on medication. He advised eating better and exercising, but with no specific plan. Ok. I just went about my life in the usual way, raising two small kids and easing my way back into the working world while doing all of the usual life things of home maintenance, the kids’ sports and school schedules, marriage, work and other family obligations. The Internet wasn’t that prevalent then, and I just accepted my diagnosis and prognosis and went about my life the best I could.

The years went by and I gained more and more weight. I would “diet” occasionally, have a little bit of success, then fall right off the wagon. I’d tried all of the fad diets, Weight Watchers, etc., and even went sugar-free and even gluten-free a few times in the past with great results, but again, fell off the diet wagon every time. I had been active most of my life with running, college intramural sports, tennis, hiking, long-distance biking, canoeing, camping—nothing ever really stopped me from being active, even being overweight or tired through most of it. I even put myself through almost three P-90X workouts in a row (shoutout to Mark Sisson for his episode – little did I know he’d be so instrumental to my life later….). My weight didn’t budge, though I got some nice muscle under my chub. I thought I was eating fairly well at that time, too, low fat, whole grains—the usual “good diet.” At the beginning of the third cycle of hard-core exercise, plus moving some furniture, I herniated a disc in my back and that put an end to P90X and extreme exercise.

In the meantime, I was getting sicker and I didn’t understand why. I was 50 pounds heavier than my normal pre-pregnancy weight. I was depressed, moody, lethargic, overweight, exhausted, and I always felt like I should just try harder to find the right medication to take care of it, or cut out the fats, or just exercise more. It seemed like each day was a monumental effort to get through, and I know I missed out on a lot of activities with my kids when they were little.

By 2013 my diagnoses were:

Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. This is an auto-immune disorder where your immune system attacks the thyroid, which untreated can lead to multiple issues and eventual thyroid gland failure.

Bipolar disorder and depression/anxiety. The manic-depression was actually the hypothyroidism/hyperthyroidism that characterizes

Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, but I didn’t know that at the time so I went on multiple and many medications over the years, thinking that nothing was working for me and this is how it was and would be for me forever.

Migraines and headaches. This entailed emergency room visits and even a brain MRI. I went to a neurologist and was put on a migraine medication that ultimately gave me kidney stones, two of which had to be surgically removed. The medication didn’t help at all so I eventually gave up on it and since then, no more kidney stones! An expensive experiment. Now, if I have a gluten exposure—instant migraine and the root cause of them.

GERD, bile disorder and esophagitis. I was put on a medication and at my first out-of-pocket charge of $400 for the med, I decided I’d go with the heartburn instead. I’d had bloating and discomfort for years, and did the usual OTC meds for that. An EGD thankfully showed no celiac disease but did show chronic inflammation.

Asthma and chronic bronchitis requiring an inhaler

Chronic fatigue

Restless leg syndrome

Hyperlipidemia

Osteoarthritis, joint pain and stiffness

Chronic tendinitis in wrists

Adult acne

Early menopause at age 40

Brain fog

Around this time I had also lost half of my hair—thankfully I have thick hair so it still looked ok even though it was falling out in clumps.

For seven long years I went to the endocrinologist, got my thyroid (TSH) level tested and was always told it was “normal.”

In August 2013, after my last visit to the endocrinologist who had “managed” my Hashimoto’s for seven years, I finally hit the wall with my frustration over not being able to control my own body. I had had my first full-blown panic attack around this time as well. My medical record states the doctor actually thought it “was unlikely patient has significant thyroid disorder.” My TPOAb (Hashimoto’s marker) was 629.5 IU/ml (normal is to just eat right and exercise more and wait until my thyroid failed and then be put on medication. I even begged to be put on Armour NDT or something to just try it, even though my TSH was normal. He refused. I fired him and, at the end of my rope, finally got on the internet where I found the book I felt saved my life, “Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: Lifestyle Interventions for Finding and Treating the The Root Cause” by Dr. Izabella Wentz, which had just been published. Finally, someone who had suffered like me!

I jumped right in to the Hashimoto’s protocol—which is basically Primal, and though it was a super hard transition off the SAD and meds, I lost 20 pounds in the first 21 days and over the next three months, lost 25 more, and never looked back. I gave up gluten, grains, started eating way more fat and vegetables, minimal fruits, got off all of my medications and resolved almost all of my health problems, in particular the depression—it’s amazing to live without it! Without reading The Primal Blueprint (until a bit later), my diet and lifestyle had evolved to fit the model of ancestral health naturally.

During the initial transition, I had gathered all of my medical records, made a summary of them chronologically, made a spreadsheet of my labs and discovered by myself that while I have always had “normal” TSH levels, I don’t convert T4 into the more usable T3, and my symptoms fit that profile. I found a holistic leaning CNP that agreed with my diagnosis and was willing to prescribe the proper NDT medication to address this and literally 20 minutes after taking the first dose, my anxiety, which had reached panic attack levels, disappeared. I now know that when my anxiety creeps up, it’s time for a thyroid medication adjustment.

I eventually read Elle Russ’ Paleo Thyroid Solution, which is a great resource for thyroid sufferers and explained a lot of what I was going through. I do still have the occasional Hashimoto’s flare days, when I simply cannot get out of bed, but it’s down to 1-2 times a year—and usually after I’ve let non-Primal foods into my diet. A far cry from being how I lived my life on a daily basis. It took ten years from diagnosis and many endocrinologists, naturopaths, nurses and internists later, but I finally have found an integrative medical doctor who helps me with the right medical care for Hashimoto’s. I was gratified at our first intake appointment that she did not change one thing about my diet which was already Primal! She commented on my robust health and I was never more proud of myself for getting myself from my sickest days to the point of actual robust health!

Today, after my all time high of 213 lbs, I keep my body at a comfortable 165 lbs (I’m 5’5” and age 49). My Hashimoto’s is stable and after initially cutting my levels in half by eating primally, I go a bit up and down and now rely on my physical and mental states to determine how well I’m controlling it through my food plan. I don’t have a CrossFit-type body, but I do have a body that takes me through my days without pain or suffering, as long as I stick to the Primal way. I no longer have depression, anxiety, GERD, acne, my hair grew back, I sleep like a champ and my brain fog is better but not all gone—hey, I’ll be 50 this year, what can I say! My weight, despite four back surgeries for disc herniations, a labral tear repair in my hip, a broken ankle and a shoulder surgery (the osteoarthritis still rears its ugly head), has remained stable at 165 lbs since 2013. Even when I am unable to exercise, I maintain my weight, mood and general good health simply by eating and living Primally. Today, I enjoy riding my bike, walking my dogs, working out at my property mowing grass, hauling logs and brush and doing simple Primal workouts in my basement. I have a goal of someday being super muscle-y but since I feel so much better than I did before, I’m ok with my body now. My clothes always fit and I can live and do what I want to physically, and that’s more than enough for me.

My children are now 19 and 16, growing up and moving on with their lives, and with extra time on my hands I started looking into being a health coach. I’d followed many “diets” related to primally eating—mostly the Hashimoto’s Protocol, the Bulletproof Diet, the Whole30 plan, the Auto Immune Protocol plan and Paleo among others—but truly, the lifestyle I developed and live dovetails totally with the Primal Blueprint—I was living it before I really even knew about it! My heritage is Inuit/Alaskan Eskimo so it makes complete sense now that I live best on fats, meats and vegetables and berries! I know this lifestyle works for me and am excited to share it with others like me, who have suffered needlessly with auto-immune disorders that aren’t treated properly. I know you can take your health into your own hands and live the way nature intended – PRIMALLY! I recently became certified as Primal Health Coach and am living proof that good health can be had with minimal effort and suffering and I’m excited to begin my journey of helping others to robust health!

Want to make fat loss easier? Try the Definitive Guide for Troubleshooting Weight Loss for free here.

[watsonrodriquezie]

I Went From Having an Invisible Illness, Being Overweight, Depressed and Tired To Enjoying Robust Health!

It’s Friday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint Real Life Story from a Mark’s Daily Apple reader. If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. I’ll continue to publish these each Friday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!

Looking back, I have always had thyroid issues though I had no idea what that meant in my teens and twenties. It apparently runs in my family, though with rural Alaska medical care in the 70s, you were lucky to have a doctor available, let alone a dentist. Even as I grew older and moved to the city and then to college in Arizona and life in many other places, I was always just not well. Though I managed to live and work and play fairly normally, I would occasionally have days that I could not get out bed, so I attributed it to depression or other more readily identifiable causes like depression.

I eventually married and went through two pregnancies in my early 30s, fairly normal and with healthy babies. After my second child, my mental and physical health really started going downhill, though it wasn’t really visible other than weight gain and some fairly severe post-partum depression. With the benefit of hindsight and research, what was probably mild Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis in my youth turned into full-blown Hashimoto’s after the stress of pregnancy, childbirth, nursing and raising two small children.

I was officially diagnosed in 2006 with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis after a therapist I was seeing for depression thought to order some tests. My levels weren’t that high, and I don’t even remember what the endocrinologist said to do about it, just that I had it and it had to do with my thyroid, and that someday my thyroid would fail and I’d be put on medication. He advised eating better and exercising, but with no specific plan. Ok. I just went about my life in the usual way, raising two small kids and easing my way back into the working world while doing all of the usual life things of home maintenance, the kids’ sports and school schedules, marriage, work and other family obligations. The Internet wasn’t that prevalent then, and I just accepted my diagnosis and prognosis and went about my life the best I could.

The years went by and I gained more and more weight. I would “diet” occasionally, have a little bit of success, then fall right off the wagon. I’d tried all of the fad diets, Weight Watchers, etc., and even went sugar-free and even gluten-free a few times in the past with great results, but again, fell off the diet wagon every time. I had been active most of my life with running, college intramural sports, tennis, hiking, long-distance biking, canoeing, camping—nothing ever really stopped me from being active, even being overweight or tired through most of it. I even put myself through almost three P-90X workouts in a row (shoutout to Mark Sisson for his episode – little did I know he’d be so instrumental to my life later….). My weight didn’t budge, though I got some nice muscle under my chub. I thought I was eating fairly well at that time, too, low fat, whole grains—the usual “good diet.” At the beginning of the third cycle of hard-core exercise, plus moving some furniture, I herniated a disc in my back and that put an end to P90X and extreme exercise.

In the meantime, I was getting sicker and I didn’t understand why. I was 50 pounds heavier than my normal pre-pregnancy weight. I was depressed, moody, lethargic, overweight, exhausted, and I always felt like I should just try harder to find the right medication to take care of it, or cut out the fats, or just exercise more. It seemed like each day was a monumental effort to get through, and I know I missed out on a lot of activities with my kids when they were little.

By 2013 my diagnoses were:

Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. This is an auto-immune disorder where your immune system attacks the thyroid, which untreated can lead to multiple issues and eventual thyroid gland failure.

Bipolar disorder and depression/anxiety. The manic-depression was actually the hypothyroidism/hyperthyroidism that characterizes

Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, but I didn’t know that at the time so I went on multiple and many medications over the years, thinking that nothing was working for me and this is how it was and would be for me forever.

Migraines and headaches. This entailed emergency room visits and even a brain MRI. I went to a neurologist and was put on a migraine medication that ultimately gave me kidney stones, two of which had to be surgically removed. The medication didn’t help at all so I eventually gave up on it and since then, no more kidney stones! An expensive experiment. Now, if I have a gluten exposure—instant migraine and the root cause of them.

GERD, bile disorder and esophagitis. I was put on a medication and at my first out-of-pocket charge of $400 for the med, I decided I’d go with the heartburn instead. I’d had bloating and discomfort for years, and did the usual OTC meds for that. An EGD thankfully showed no celiac disease but did show chronic inflammation.

Asthma and chronic bronchitis requiring an inhaler

Chronic fatigue

Restless leg syndrome

Hyperlipidemia

Osteoarthritis, joint pain and stiffness

Chronic tendinitis in wrists

Adult acne

Early menopause at age 40

Brain fog

Around this time I had also lost half of my hair—thankfully I have thick hair so it still looked ok even though it was falling out in clumps.

For seven long years I went to the endocrinologist, got my thyroid (TSH) level tested and was always told it was “normal.”

In August 2013, after my last visit to the endocrinologist who had “managed” my Hashimoto’s for seven years, I finally hit the wall with my frustration over not being able to control my own body. I had had my first full-blown panic attack around this time as well. My medical record states the doctor actually thought it “was unlikely patient has significant thyroid disorder.” My TPOAb (Hashimoto’s marker) was 629.5 IU/ml (normal is to just eat right and exercise more and wait until my thyroid failed and then be put on medication. I even begged to be put on Armour NDT or something to just try it, even though my TSH was normal. He refused. I fired him and, at the end of my rope, finally got on the internet where I found the book I felt saved my life, “Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: Lifestyle Interventions for Finding and Treating the The Root Cause” by Dr. Izabella Wentz, which had just been published. Finally, someone who had suffered like me!

I jumped right in to the Hashimoto’s protocol—which is basically Primal, and though it was a super hard transition off the SAD and meds, I lost 20 pounds in the first 21 days and over the next three months, lost 25 more, and never looked back. I gave up gluten, grains, started eating way more fat and vegetables, minimal fruits, got off all of my medications and resolved almost all of my health problems, in particular the depression—it’s amazing to live without it! Without reading The Primal Blueprint (until a bit later), my diet and lifestyle had evolved to fit the model of ancestral health naturally.

During the initial transition, I had gathered all of my medical records, made a summary of them chronologically, made a spreadsheet of my labs and discovered by myself that while I have always had “normal” TSH levels, I don’t convert T4 into the more usable T3, and my symptoms fit that profile. I found a holistic leaning CNP that agreed with my diagnosis and was willing to prescribe the proper NDT medication to address this and literally 20 minutes after taking the first dose, my anxiety, which had reached panic attack levels, disappeared. I now know that when my anxiety creeps up, it’s time for a thyroid medication adjustment.

I eventually read Elle Russ’ Paleo Thyroid Solution, which is a great resource for thyroid sufferers and explained a lot of what I was going through. I do still have the occasional Hashimoto’s flare days, when I simply cannot get out of bed, but it’s down to 1-2 times a year—and usually after I’ve let non-Primal foods into my diet. A far cry from being how I lived my life on a daily basis. It took ten years from diagnosis and many endocrinologists, naturopaths, nurses and internists later, but I finally have found an integrative medical doctor who helps me with the right medical care for Hashimoto’s. I was gratified at our first intake appointment that she did not change one thing about my diet which was already Primal! She commented on my robust health and I was never more proud of myself for getting myself from my sickest days to the point of actual robust health!

Today, after my all time high of 213 lbs, I keep my body at a comfortable 165 lbs (I’m 5’5” and age 49). My Hashimoto’s is stable and after initially cutting my levels in half by eating primally, I go a bit up and down and now rely on my physical and mental states to determine how well I’m controlling it through my food plan. I don’t have a CrossFit-type body, but I do have a body that takes me through my days without pain or suffering, as long as I stick to the Primal way. I no longer have depression, anxiety, GERD, acne, my hair grew back, I sleep like a champ and my brain fog is better but not all gone—hey, I’ll be 50 this year, what can I say! My weight, despite four back surgeries for disc herniations, a labral tear repair in my hip, a broken ankle and a shoulder surgery (the osteoarthritis still rears its ugly head), has remained stable at 165 lbs since 2013. Even when I am unable to exercise, I maintain my weight, mood and general good health simply by eating and living Primally. Today, I enjoy riding my bike, walking my dogs, working out at my property mowing grass, hauling logs and brush and doing simple Primal workouts in my basement. I have a goal of someday being super muscle-y but since I feel so much better than I did before, I’m ok with my body now. My clothes always fit and I can live and do what I want to physically, and that’s more than enough for me.

My children are now 19 and 16, growing up and moving on with their lives, and with extra time on my hands I started looking into being a health coach. I’d followed many “diets” related to primally eating—mostly the Hashimoto’s Protocol, the Bulletproof Diet, the Whole30 plan, the Auto Immune Protocol plan and Paleo among others—but truly, the lifestyle I developed and live dovetails totally with the Primal Blueprint—I was living it before I really even knew about it! My heritage is Inuit/Alaskan Eskimo so it makes complete sense now that I live best on fats, meats and vegetables and berries! I know this lifestyle works for me and am excited to share it with others like me, who have suffered needlessly with auto-immune disorders that aren’t treated properly. I know you can take your health into your own hands and live the way nature intended – PRIMALLY! I recently became certified as Primal Health Coach and am living proof that good health can be had with minimal effort and suffering and I’m excited to begin my journey of helping others to robust health!

Want to make fat loss easier? Try the Definitive Guide for Troubleshooting Weight Loss for free here.