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Health Update Jan/Feb 2019

Well, it’s a little later than I wanted to get it up, but my health update for January and February is finally here.

fightinglymemigraines

Overall Health: Fatigue and fibromyalgia have been hard this past month odd. Having motivation to get anything more than the bare minimum done has been hard most weeks.

Jan 22- still bad fatigue but went grocery shopping in am. Brain fog in afternoon/evening. Migraine kicked up in late evening but not severe. Some achy fibropain last night and thru today
Jan 25 – less fatigue the past few days and have been able to take short naps. Migraine kicks up in evening.
Pre-cycle symptoms: fibro flaring in calves, back pain, weird/bad dream
Jan 30- tired first thing but had decent energy thru out the day. Some minor fibro cramps in calves and hands. Left hip hurting in afternoon and evening. Decent day overall
Jan 31- pretty good today till fatigue hit in afternoon. Nap and clonidine kicked the migraine. Left calf cramping
Feb 2- fatigue and migraine upon getting up. Took 2 clonidine in am and took a 2 hr nap.
Feb 6 – increased iberogast to 2 drops/day.
— bad fatigue most of weekend and Monday (11th) and even worse on Tuesday (12th). Severe migraine on Sunday (10th). Wondering if the iberogast is why the fatigue is so bad? Or am I going low on h2plx? 🤯
Feb 13- fatigue wasn’t as bad today. Did minor housework, blogged, read. Only took one nap. A bit of a struggle to keep migraine down all day. Did 1 drop iberogast in am and evening each. Testing to see if it helps. Left hip and calf started hurting in evening
Feb 18- changing times of iberogast seems to be helping fatigue. Even with a busy Friday and Saturday, I was still able to take Abby to the park this morning. Migraine/mood flared afternoon. Calmed by evening. Left calf and Hip hurt in evenings. Took half a melatonin
Feb 19- decent in am, a little more myself. Ran to Costco in am. Hit w/ fatigue after but not awful. Migraine flared to 6/7 in afternoon. Ice and tylenol/Bayer helped. Going to bed with ice pack 💤 left calf tight, migraine in temples
Feb 25- some less fatigue but still strong. Migraine kept down with Tylenol/aspirin. Took one nap. Upset stomach afternoon and then again after dinner. Bloated stomach. Also had the sweats when stomach was worst. Foggy brain.
Feb 27- pain in eyes, felt like auras were coming. Fatigue. took a nap and woke up exhausted. Migraine off and on all day. Did some housework etc today though so, some improvement. No stomach issues!

Migraine: Frequently, Clonidine (my prescription pain killer) doesn’t work and I take 2 Tylenol/1 Bayer instead and that does the trick. Some days, the migraine refuses to ease but others, it chills out readily. Commonly it’s in my left temple, band around the head or base of skull.

Sleep: Surprisingly, I’ve started getting more like 8 hours of sleep a night. (still with a few wakings each night of course). I’m not taking a nap every day, which, while that’s nice, I think most days I should be and just can’t.

Memory/Brain Fog: brain fog has been a definite struggle still. And of course, some words are still escaping me.

Nutrient IV : so this might be an odd category but I want to keep track of what we do, and how I respond to it. We did a drip bag this time with the full spectrum of B vitamins, A bunch of Vitamin C and whatever else she adds to it =) and a push of glutathione at the end. I’d hoped to notice a huge increase in my energy and decrease in symptoms (like I used to) but I didn’t. I noticed a small change in those things at least.

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Vision: I didn’t have one major visual aura! I have had the feelings of the beginnings of them but have been able to catch them (ice pack, eyes closed in a dark room, protein snack). However, I have had just…aching in my eyes the past few weeks. Dryness as well.

TMJ: I’ve been having more painful popping the last week odd, but before that it was pretty non-existent. My teeth/jaw do hurt every day, pretty badly sometimes.

Fatigue: Once again, this has been such a killer. I have increased my dosage of H2PLX to 3/day and that has already helped. (I just did this a few days ago). While I don’t like the price of H2PLX, the results can’t be denied. I’m trying to get more iron in my diet and contemplating going back on the liver because I’m just so worn out from this. It’s a crushing exhaustion that just wears you down all day.

Fibromyalgia: Sadly, this hasn’t eased since last month. My left calf is still tense/self flexing throughout the day and my knees/elbows hurt to some degree all day/night. My knees hurt the worst though – some days they get ‘stuck’ and I have to slowly straighten them. Ice is still the current magic treatment.

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Weight Loss: I have gained and lost, gained and lost. It’s not been a priority lately but I’m trying to focus on it again. I’m trying to cut out corn, starch and processed sugar.

Digestion: Somehow, this has eased to an extent. I still get an upset stomach a few times a week. I still need to talk to my doctor about it (as I ended up having to cancel my last scheduled appointment). I’m wondering if the Resveratrol was one of the main culprits to it freaking out so badly.

Mood: Overall, this has stabilized, and I haven’t even started taking the Xiao Chai Hu Tang. (one of my favorite herb combos you guys, look into it! Check the source though, the levels of arsenic can be high).

I just decided to share with you the vitamins/supplements that I’m currently taking, since I’ve had to really pare down and start over on these.

2 each : Feverfew, Magnesium, St. John’s Wort, Fibronol

1 each: Turmeric, Vitex, Andrographis, Berberine, Butterbur, Bearberry

1 Complete Mineral Complex only 3/week

3 H2PLX/day

2 drops/day Iberogast

I am wanting to start next, B2 and Calcium (and so many more after those). I also need to work on increasing the Iberogast.

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~This has been a hard month, to be completely honest. I feel like I’ve hit a valley and pitched a tent there. With my brain fog, I can’t write. With my knee pain I can’t be up and around as much as I want/need to. With the fatigue, I’m so drained that just getting food and taking care of Abby is all I can do most days. I am trying to focus on the positives – one of those being that the fatigue has eased slightly the past few days – and look ahead to better days.

~Laura

In case you missed it, I wrote about a time recently that I took Excedrin. I used to take it regularly for my migraines (about 10 years ago now) but no longer! It’s just…. well, go check out the post. I also have a series on Encouragement for Living with Chronic Pain.

Tags: adrenal fatigue, chronic fatigue, chronic illness, chronic migraines, chronic pain, fatigue, fibromyalgia, lyme disease, natural treatment for lyme, sibo, symptoms of lyme disease, tmj

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Categories health

Health Update – April 2017

28 Apr

I’ve a feeling that this one is going to be LONG folks. I’m going to try and keep it from being so, but you might want to grab a cup o’ tea first. (yes, I have My Fair Lady on the brain)

Migraine app notes – I’ve had 12 attacks, lasting 56 hours. I had no attack-free days. My average sleep is still 7 hours, but honestly this doesn’t track right this month. I’ve had a ‘devilish of a time’ sleeping lately. I took 59 clonidine (20 more than last month). they happen 59% of the time between 12pm and 6 pm. Average level is 7.7. Top three aura/prodrome are fatigue/achiness, muscle stiffness and weakness. Top three triggers are neck pain, too much activity and interrupted sleep. Top three symptoms are jaw pain, neck pain and fatigue. Frequent start positions are the same.

Overall Health/Treatment: It’s been bad folks. BAD. Neurological pain (what I’ve been calling aches/tense) has spread from my calves/feet up to my shoulders/arms. Sleep is difficult and sporadic. The aches seem to be worse when my migraine is less. Still hitting hard in evenings. Possible some of it is flare up from seeing a new doctor for my TMJ. Treating for Babesia and Bartonella. A lot of tears and prayers and video games this month.

Notes from the month:

4-2 – late evening – severe calf cramps/tense and all over body achiness. heated blanket doesn’t seem to be helping. keeping me awake. migraine non existent. fatigue has been present all day, despite a short afternoon nap

4-4 Bad aches again tonight. Curious if they started when I started the ceanothus in the evening again. Debating going back to just taking it am and lunchtime and seeing if the aches recede at all. Felt good today until later evening. Took one clonidine early aft and then in evening but migraine never got bad. Later evening back of skull was like my nerves were on fire and eye sockets hurt. About an hour later, it had calmed down.
-4-17 . The aches started easing over the weekend, except for late sat night. Still present with some cramping. Migraine kept down with clonidine. Major fatigue today, unable to do much but be on the couch. Feel clearer mentally. possible the antibiotics are helping, aside from fatigue/aches, I’ve been better

– 4-20 Dr A today. Gonna treat me for babesia/Bartonella. Going to finish copper and then go off. Gonna get on B complex again. Started back on ceanothus this evening, one drop. Fatigue, body aches, blurry vision, migraines= all severe this past month. Finished and off of doxycycline. No heavy metal toxicity, just a little lead. Bad brain fog all day.
4-22 — left side achy/cramps including back and arm/shoulder. Migraine stayed calm but present.
4-24 — aches last night made it hard to sleep, even with melatonin. Started taking st. John’s Wort today, 1 pill.

4-27 — Slept good last few nights. Upped St. John’s Wort to 2 a day. aches have eased minimally. Brain fog has eased a little.

Migraines: They only hit a level 10 a few times which is such a blessing. Overall they have responded well to treatment.

Digestion/TMJ: digestion is funky but not awful, I’m rather used to it now. TMJ – I’ve been to see the ‘jaw doctor’ as I call her, 3 times now and have 2 more scheduled. She knows about LYME and has a wide base of knowledge. Curious if my aches have started easing a bit because of the bodywork she’s been doing. Jaw still hurts bad but I can tell a difference in range of motion in hips, arms and neck. Bad side of it is the front of my neck is sore, making me feel like I’m gagging. Have started icing to help. Encouraged that this can be resolved and get rid of at least the TMJ, would be SO nice.

Sleep: Even with melatonin or theanine, sleep has been elusive. It was worse in the beginning of the month – started listening to an audiobook just to help pass the time.

Memory/Brain Fog: Brain fog has come back with a vengeance. Memory…. is still a struggle.

Vision: Still blurrier than they should be. But, my glasses are bent so I can’t wear them, I’ve gotta get some new ones asap.

Dizziness: This has kicked up. Got dizzy on the elevator last weekend. fun stuff.

Joint Pain: This disappeared for a week or so but it’s come back in my elbows, wrists and fingers. UGH. Go away, I don’t need you.

Fatigue: I don’t care what else I’m dealing with – or not dealing with – fatigue is a constant companion.

Weight gain: yep, it’s started again. Only a few pounds but !!!!!!!

It’s been a very rough month, full of reasons that I have to move, even when I’m working with no spoons. Ugh. As important as I know doctor appointments are, I admit to wishing many times that I could just stay home on my couch.

I wrote a post on pain keeping you up at night a few weeks ago, go check it out! If you want to follow me on instagram – I do regular updates on how I’m doing and share lots of happy puppy pictures.

Tags: babesia, bartonella, chronic migraines, easing migraine pain, fatigue, health, inflammation, late stage lyme, lyme disease, migraines, natural treatment for lyme, neurological pain, symptoms of lyme disease, tmj

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Categories health

Health Update – Feb 2017

10 Mar

Happy Friday friends! It’s been a while, I know. Sometimes life just kicks you down a bit and you’ve got to let go of the blogging goals. (plus my parents were in town last weekend to celebrate OH’s birthday, such a fun time!) So, this update is late, but at least it’s happening. Here we go:

fightinglymemigraines

According to my migraine app (Migraine Buddy), my migraines have averaged 30 hours. I’ve had 26 attack days, 5 free days! They’ve happened 80% on weekdays at an average of 7.5 pain intensity. My top three aura/prodromes were weakness, muscle stiffness and fatigue/achiness. Top three triggers were neck pain, interrupted sleep and too much activity. Top three symptoms were jaw pain, neck pain and throbbing pain. They frequently started in the temple, jaw and base of skull.

Overall Health: About the same as the past few months, although I’ve been dealing with the emotional side of it better these past few weeks. Realized at the doctor’s last week that I haven’t gotten rid of any symptoms, have only added more. Rather discouraging.The never-ending search for what will help is exhausting and I’ve been dreaming of being healthy and able to homestead like I want to =) Plus I got sick earlier this week so not sure if my newest treatment attempt is helping or not.

Treatment: I started taking Ceanothus on the 9th of Feb and it seems to help so far as it gives me a burst of energy (kind of like caffeine) and I’m not as bitterly cold all the time. It seemed to get rid of the nausea as well, and eased the joint pain. By the end of the month, when I went in to my dr, I hadn’t improved much past that so she suggested I try an antibiotic for two weeks. I’ve been on it for one week but have been sick for most of it… so is it helping? We’ll see. If this doesn’t help, I’m not sure what we’ll do. My OH is getting frustrated that we’ve made so very little progress and I have to admit that I’m right there with him.

Migraines: They might have eased since Jan… it’s hard to really remember. They have been hitting hard and frequent. Typically in the evening.

Digestion and TMJ: my digestion has been a bit off again lately. perhaps too much sugar?? TMJ—well, that’s a story in itself. Remember when I said my goal for Feb was to ‘survive dentist appointment’? I survived it but the news was not-so-friendly. I’ve added grinding to my clenching of my teeth over the last four years. And that constant stress spreads a whole host of fun symptoms – explaining at least in part why I’ve gotten worse. I’ve got to reschedule to meet with a craniosacral chiropractor (was supposed to go in this past week but the cold I got prohibited that!) in the hopes that the therapy will help realign my jaw. Thankfully, my teeth themselves are fine and there’s no further need to go to the dentist. Huzzah!

Sleep: I’ve been having to take Theanine to get to sleep again lately. It’s frustrating but I’d rather get at least six hours than lay tossing and turning and be guaranteed to have a migraine the next day.

Memory/Brain Fog: This has improved the past few months (!!!) While I still struggle to gather my thoughts when I’m in a crowded/noisy room, and anything long term is hard to remember, I’m not kicking myself for forgetting the littlest things like I was doing. Brain fog is pretty rare now, typically only occurring when the pain is severe.

Vision: My eyes are still frequently blurry but it seems to be slightly better than it was. I’m hopeful this continues to clear up!

Feet/leg cramps: Still tense and minor cramping. Very few bad cramps. Mainly in feet lately.

Dizziness: Only if I’m really tired and have had too much salt. Thank goodness this is mostly gone!

Joint Pain: This one has eased as well although the ache is definitely still present. Any lessening is a blessing!

Nausea: This is gone and, as I said above, I think it’s in thanks to the Ceanothus. I’m not for sure but I’m so thankful that it’s gone.

Moodiness: This one has also mostly gone away. I’m pretty sure my OH is as glad as I am about this. hehe.

Fatigue: This is one of my biggest struggles and I’m not sure why it hasn’t been on this list at all yet. Even with the energy burst from the Ceanothus, my fatigue is REAL, people. I’m looking forward to the day when I can look at a flight of stairs and not feel a sense of dread.

It’s so nice to have seen at least a few symptoms ease/disappear but I’m afraid that joy has gotten swallowed by the rest of everything else. Until this past week of sickness, I was getting the dogs to the park about three times a week. I’ve also started trying to get Lady to walk .5 mile while there. She’s older and needs to lose weight and it gives me a reason beyond myself to. get. moving. And that’s always a good thing.

That’s the update for February, although it is late! Have a fabulous weekend and we’ll hope to see you back here next week.

~Laura

p.s. don’t forget to spring your clocks forward on Sunday!!!

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Tags: chronic migraines, fatigue, health, joint pain, late stage lyme, migraines

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Categories health

Health Update – 12-2-16

2 Dec

Happy December friends! Thanks for stopping by SGL today, I’m so glad you’re here! Once a month, I review how I’ve been feeling – how the treatment for my Lyme Disease is going, and all the other fun things I’ve got going on.

fightinglymemigraines

November was a month of contradictions. For the majority of it, I felt really beyond awful. But when I felt good – I felt really good! There wasn’t much in between for me. I had some ‘fun’ new symptoms start/kick it up a notch and my migraines tended to last an average of 55 hours. Yep. 55 HOURS. If that’s not fun, I don’t know what fun is. Stores are still places of pure torture wrapped in spikes and crocodiles.

For a quick report from my migraine app – Migraine Buddy – 88% happened on weekdays, 12% weekends. Average pain level was 7.6 , high was 9 and low 6. My top Auras were fatigue/achiness and muscle stiffness. My top 3 triggers were neck pain, interrupted sleep, pre cycle. Top 3 symptoms were neck pain, fatigue and throbbing pain. Frequent start positions were temples, eyes, jaw and neck. Reliefs that seem to work consistently are : clonidine, oils, belladonna/pulsatilla and heat pad.

Overall Health: Much the same as October, ROUGH. Like I said, fun fun symptoms to keep me guessing. Lights and sounds started hurting bad again. Constant calf cramping (literally 24/7) along with severe random cramps no matter what I am doing. A harsh cough a few times a week (you know that deep, painful cough you get when you’re sick? yeah. that.) Daily fatigue/achiness. Ringing in ears off and on. Some nausea when I move. I lost a few pounds, only to promptly gain them back.

Due to the calf cramps, sleeping has been difficult. For a few weeks, I wrapped up in my cozy electric blanket most every night – it was the only way to ease the pain so I could sleep. I’ve started soaking my feet more often, hoping the epsom salts helps.

Treatment: I have backed off the garlic pills, to just one a day and have added back in the Xiao Chai Hu Tang. I started with one pill a day and have gone up to 2 a day this week to see how I do. Otherwise, I am on everything my doctor put me on last time I was there.

Migraines: So, on one hand I feel they are getting better. On the other – 55 hours. I’ll take what I can get but aren’t they supposed to get shorter too????

Digestion and TMJ : digestion has been touch and go – what with feeling so poorly it was hard to cook (read: pasta and french fries) and juicing pretty consistently…. I definitely digest better when I stay away from breads/pastas/etc, and drink at least 3 glasses of juice a day. (juice being kale, cucumber, celery, carrots, lemon, ginger and apple). My jaw hasn’t been good. often it’s been an indicator that pain/migraine was on its way.

Sleep: My app says I’ve been getting about 7 hours a night but I certainly don’t feel like it! I am still waking up 2-3 times a night to go to the bathroom, and sometimes can’t go back to sleep the last time. I’ve been taking a lot of long naps lately – but still am exhausted by late evening.

Memory: this might actually be improving – or at least it stopped its downward spiral. Being in Bend for a week with family and friends, I noticed I wasn’t saying ‘um’ as much, or searching for the correct word. Granted, I still did it but I was able to carry on a coherent conversation and that wasn’t the case a few months ago.

Daily Vitamins/Supplements:

Clonidine – averaging 2 a day (although many, many days these past few weeks I’ve needed 3, and sometimes 4 to get through them. ugh)

Pulsatilla and Belladonna – I’d run out of one in time to replace it before I went on vacation and then promptly ran out of the other. oy.

1 each of B complex, B2, Calcium, D3, Fish oil, Copper, Garlic (trying 2 every other day of garlic)

2 each of Magnesium, Olive Leaf Extract, Vitamin E

3 Evening Primrose Oil

6 EHB

on Days 15-28, 1 each of Horse Chestnut Extract and Chaste Tree Berry

1/2 tsp Silver nano ( 2x a day)

1 TB Apple Cider Vinegar in a glass of water in the mornings

That’s all I can think of. I am feeling like this Lyme Disease is kicking my butt right now, so it’s probably good timing that I’m going in to my dr. tomorrow morning to get some motivation and encouragement (yep, she’s that awesome) along with some acupuncture. I don’t know if some of this is herxing or what, but I’m done.

*on a purely fun side note, I won nanowrimo!!! i’ll tell you more what that means next week! *

~Laura

Feel free to check out my other health updates here on my Chronic Pain page!

Tags: chronic migraines, chronic pain, fatigue, late stage lyme, lyme disease, migraines, symptoms of lyme disease, tmj