Keeping Balance In Your Life

There is more than one kind of balance we can talk about ~ today I am speaking about the balance that has to do with walking a straight line.

Joel came home from work late last night and when he tried to turn around on the porch he almost ended up sitting on the floor. A good night's sleep seemed like the best idea to see if it was the meds or the exhaustion. This morning he had trouble walking across the room. He just could not walk a straight line nor could he manage to stand without swaying back and forth. I found myself following behind him like he was the pied piper. Hmmmm

He was on the Flagyl for only 2 full days, but definitely has symptoms that we were told to watch out for..."acting drunk". No more Flagyl for him. I put a call into the doctor's office and got him settled in a chair to rest. Later I got a hot bath with Epsom salts ready and an hour later he said he actually could tell the difference. He is still "giddy" and "silly" and a bit off kilter, but I expect it will take awhile before it all leaves his system. The LLMD has him on a new med already, and we are giving thanks for how quickly she responded to his needs. It makes us wonder if she ever has any time to herself with all the patients she must have to deal with in her office and on the phone.

Balance is what a baby needs to take his first steps, and what a 63 yr old man needs to get around too. Guess we take it for granted until it sweeps us off our feet!

A Good Laugh

Laughter...it can actually move us from the adrenaline surges and anxiety of the sympathetic nervous system into the parasympathetic nervous system, increasing our serotonin. Deep breathing will also bring you into the parasympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system, but laughter is more fun! I have one friend who says when she finds herself getting anxious or moving quickly into one of the adrenaline surges that come with CFS/ME, she uses laughter to bring things back into balance. It can often be as good for calming down the body as meditation.

What makes you laugh? For me the TV show The Golden Girls pops into my mind first. They are such characters and can be so out of line but so funny at the same time. Another show that makes me laugh is a ridiculous show on the USA channel..."Psyche". I cannot even tell you who the stars of the show are , but it makes me laugh. Funniest Home Videos is another good one to get your shoulders shaking, and I mentioned before that I like to watch the movie "Birdcage" when I am down and out. The antics of animals are another way to bring a smile to my face. I cannot leave out the many books that bring humor into our lives. One of my favorite's is titled, "Fifty Acres And A Poodle" about a couple who move from the big city to the country with their dogs.

Our grandchildren bring me joy and laughter. Recently one granddaughter told her mom she just felt like being mean. She did not know why, but it felt good to be mean sometimes. Later she put herself on "time out" because she felt like being mean, so thought she needed time out before she really WAS mean to someone! Ahhhh the honesty of a child.

Here is a picture of our youngest grandson in the tub. Now you have to admit, it made you smile right?

If you find yourself with a furrowed brow, put on a happy face.. find something fun to laugh at....like my grandson's picture, and let your body heal....one smile at a time!

Saturday's Scribbles

Ahhh, another beautiful day in the heartland of the USA. The sun is shining, the humdity has dropped to a tolerable level, and July in the midwest has all the flowers showing off. The corn is high in the fields, and the farmers markets are blessing us "city folk" with an abundance of early lettuce, a few green beans and other veggies, and homemade goodies. Joel stopped yesterday and picked up some fresh cucumbers, lettuce, and green beans. Yum!

I would love to have a garden and grow squash, green beans, tomatos, and herbs. Where we live it would be "frowned upon". We live in an "association" and even though it is called Asbury Farm they don't REALLY want you to have a farmyard. So many rules, so silly.

Joel just went out on what we call "poop patrol" ~ picking up dog do-do in the yard before the boy we hired to mow comes by. He had quite a few sticks to pick up after Friday's early morning storms. It saddens me to see him so wobbly and weak in the knees as he slowly walks around the yard. I keep telling him, he will get better. His strength will come back..I think I say it for myself as much as for him but I do believe it. God keeps assuring us of that with Isa. 40:28-31 coming up over and over again.

The havoc the H Pylori treatment raised is passing except for an unhappy liver. The yeast die off ceased to be challenging after three days...just as the NAET practitioner said.

Today is our grandson, N.'s, birthday party. He is 7 now and his dad is having a party for him at their church. Just saying that sentence gives me such joy. Our second son went through drug addiction, and then alcoholism for several years. We often worried for his well being. And then 18 mo. ago he went into a Christian treatment program. He is clean and sober, AND his faith has deepened and strengthened in such a way that Joel and I are often lifting up prayers of awesome thanksgiving. He is healthy ~ having a party for his son...in HIS church. This is big. Sadly, neither Joel or I can travel to be there to see this milestone and celebrate with little N. Sometimes life is not fair.

My husband has made a promise to me. No more roof walking. On his 63rd birthday I went into the bedroom next to mine and the screen was off the window. As I walked up to the window I saw Joel walking on the roof, bending down and cleaning junk out of the eves. Okay, this is NOT cool. I quietly asked him to please come inside...he did and then I reminded him that he has balance problems! He told me he forgot....so I made him promise right then and there to stay off of the roofs. I will work on the high ladders part later. AND this week we had the "gutter man" come and put gutter guards on the whole house so there will not be a need to clean out the gutters at 10 at night on a high ladder with a flashlight (I am not kidding!) nor to do any roof climbing.

Speaking of age, in my 20's I felt like I had so much to learn....by my late 30's and 40's I thought I knew it all.....in my 50's I felt pretty content with what I knew! Now as I begin my 60's I am grateful to still be here, eager to soak up all the learning the world has to offer, and looking foward to Joel's retirement. Back to feeling like I have so much to learn and so little time.

Thinking about the "so much and so little idea"...that is how I have felt about books my whole life. So many books to read...so little time to read them all! I am so thankful I enjoy reading. As a child I like Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew mysteries....and of course the Betsy-Tacy books.As an adult I still enjoy mysteries and can get hooked on self help books. Now I am very choosy about the non fiction I read. I like missionary stories, books about helping others, and those that help me learn to accept life and be content. I used to keep all my books in pristine condition until I realized what I really wanted to do was underline and circle, and fold down pages of what I felt was important to remember. Joel uses markers to color code what he wants to remember in his books. A good old fashioned pencil is my favorite tool. It does help when you want to go back and find something. I am usually reading 2-3 at a time. A fiction book, and one or two nonfiction. Books are my "vice" ~ not a bad one to have. "Some of my best friends are books".

Off to eat lunch. A fresh salad with olive oil dressing and rice pasta with a bit of ground turkey and broccli in it. Good nourishment for my body to go along with a good book that nourishes my soul.

I am going to post a photo of our little porch Joel built, that gives us such pleasure. It is nice enough to have windows open and I can hear the chimes when the wind moves them. Joel spent alot of time out their this morning. It is a good place to be.

Yeast Gone Wild Part II

When I wrote the post about the yeast gone wild, I did not go into what else I was doing to fight yeast. Brain fog... So, I wanted to add a few other bits of info.

First of all I did not know that a NAET treatment would kill off yeast the way it has. I think I will be having her also treat the Lyme and coinfections more too. NAET will be part of my healing plan.

I also use probiotics on a daily basis. Actually I take double the recommended dose to counteract the antibiotics being constantly in my body. I also use two different herbal yeast remedies...Phytostan and Yeast Formula. I used to eat A LOT of yogurt, but I can no longer tolerate it. I ate organic yogurt with 10 different probiotics in it. Organic Keifer is good too!
Some people take diflucan or nystatin, both of which my body rejected.

Jozephine mentioned to me the yeast free diet and that is very important too. Our LLMD says 2 serviings of fruit a day...1/2 banana.....1 small apple, etc. NO sugars of any kind and no simple carbs which turn into sugar in your body and feed the yeast. As a warning, our LLMD told Joel she had one man who would not follow the yeast free diet and ended up unable to work for 18 mo. due to systemic yeast throughout his body. It is serious stuff.

I am already feeling less "yeasty" so that is good. Just like the musical, "Oz" I am "movin' on down .....movin' on down the road" believing that yeast is no longer wild, but being tamed as I write.

Yeast Gone Wild

The two years of antibiotics caused me to have a yeast problem in my intestines, sinuses, other areas, and on my skin some, even though I was taking probiotics in large doses and an herbal remedy. Taking the large amounts meds I needed for H Pylori treatment ramped up the yeast. After the treatment was over I noticed alot of thrush in my mouth and other symptoms of yeast gone wild. My NAET practitioner treated me for yeast and bam...all I can say is bam! I feel like I have a bad case of flu with an added sinus infection ~ and I am hoping it ends soon. How grateful I am for our practitioner. She keeps me functioning! The good news is the yeast is dying off. From what I have read, yeast die off is as bad at times as Lyme die off. Having a systemic yeast problem can be debilitating and must be avoided. If it does happen, it must be eliminated. I am suspicious that some of my ongoing pain and other symptoms were related to the yeast and not the Lyme..hmmm.

I am doing research on the Cowden and Zhang treatment plans for Lyme using herbs. I really don't want to keep damaging my body anymore. I see endless years ahead for this and have decided to do my own research and take over more control of how I live the rest of my life.
If I truly have to live with Lyme, CFS, and MCS for the rest of my days, I am going to be making some of the choices in how I manage it all, doing what is best for me to have some quality of life.

For today, "yeast gone wild" is going down!

Being A Gentle Observer

Last week I wrote about how tired I was of seeing all the coverage on Michael Jackson's untimely death. That being said, I watched the memorial service of Michael Jackson today. I taped the last half hour so I could get in my rest time and finished watching it when I woke up.
I was mostly curious at first, and then became drawn in to what those who really knew him were saying about him. Looking past the altered image of his face, strange behaviors, alleged abuse of children, and what looks to be a prescription drug problem, there was a real person who had real feelings and who was a genius in his field of music. Looking at him through other people eyes gave me insights into what I had missed with my critical spirit getting in the way of being a gentle observer. His memorial was both a service of worship and a celebration of his life. May God be with His children, family, and friends.

LOL

I was going back and rereading a few posts and looking at comments when I came across what I wrote about Flagyl possibly making someone act drunk and that I did not drink.... and that I had to look up info on that...and that staggering was one of the symptoms.

I laughed right out loud at HOW I had written that ~ like I did not know how a drunk person would act. Drinking is not part of my life, but I do know how those who drink too much act..
SIGH...I meant I looked up what Flagyl symptoms would be for "acting drunk"....my brain fog was in high gear...but it gave me a good laugh.

It is nice to have my brain back to "normal" which of course involves Lyme and brain fog, but is normal for me! Ha!

Just To Be

To be alive

is

Holy

Just to be

is a

blessing

Martin Buber

Jewish Philosopher

Saturday's Scribbles

It's Saturday morning and the sun is hiding today. Rain has quenched the thirst of our flowers and cleared the air some. The geranium Joel bought me for Mother's Day has FINALLY bloomed and is making up for lost time. Beautiful to behold! The resident wren family is gracing us with a song, and the gentle breeze keeps things from getting too stuffy.
It is the 4th of July here in the good ol' USA! Joel just came upstairs wearing his "flag shirt" that our oldest son and family gave him a few years back. Last night we watched the fireworks from our living room window. They are set off near the High School just a few blocks from us, and we are able to watch from the window or backyard. I must confess we were both so tired, we debated whether to stay up or not but decided the booms would keep us awake, so we pulled our chairs up and enjoyed the show!

We are pretty patriotic people. Eight years in the Air Force will do that to you. I always remember how respectful the military was of the flag in the 70's. If you went to a movie on the base, before it started the flag would come up on the screen and the whole theater would quickly stand at attention while the Star Spangled Banner was played. If you were driving or walking on the base when it was time for the flag to be lowered....everything stopped..you would see car doors opened and soldiers standing at attention until the flag went down. This often moved me to tears. I really liked most everything about the military life, but Joel did not feel called to the military, so he opted for an early out to go to seminary and the rest is a beautiful history.

We spend most actual holidays alone together except for Thanksgiving every other year, and at times it is challenging for us as we watch families gather and have a good time. Envy is not something I usually deal with, but I find it coming up once in awhile when I see my sister getting together with her two children and their families several times a year AND for nearly every holiday. They go to their daughters for a week twice a year and their son and family come up for a few days each time too. They are close, enjoy each other and get along very well. I confess, I feel sad at times that Joel and I cannot enjoy more family gatherings. Our fellow blogger, Jozephine, would remind me of her truth-speaking quote....."compare and despair"! It has helped me more than once to see where my thoughts were heading! When I grew up family was soooooo important. We came together, put aside any differences, and were kind and loving to each other. Sometimes it was an effort because we all had different ideas on parenting, etc. but the key was putting love before expectations and our own agenda. We had FUN! GREAT FUN. They all still get together and I hope to be able to do that one day again when I am better. I miss the companionship of my family and I now know what a blessing it was to be able to enjoy each other so much.

Joel and I rented a movie to watch today. "Last Chance Harvey". It sounds good...but of course you can't go by what the movie critics put out there. One of my top favorite movies that I have watched several times is "Under The Tuscan Sun". I really should reflect on why I love that movie so much! My favorite for years was "Out of Africa"....for obvious reasons. I have laughed my head off at the move, "Birdcage" many times. Nathan Lane is a hoot in that movie. A movie I used to watch over and over years ago was 70's movie called "The Wilderness Family". Silly now, but with my desire to live in Africa or Alaska...it, too, was an obvious choice for me. I must be honest and add one more favorite of the 80's....the movie "Dirty Dancing" with Patrick Swayze. I used to dance every day of my life, and the dancing in that movie was great!

Speaking of dancing, it is one thing I miss so much about my mom. She never came to visit that we did not do the two-step a few times around the house. When she was in a wheelchair at one of our kids wedding, we just danced with her from there...and I have danced in a sitting position a few times myself. My mom was a great dancer...a great musician in her day. She was one of those smooth dancers who only move from the waist down....gliding across the floor.

Guess I will go glide my way out to the kitchen for lunch. For those who celebrate the 4th, have a great day in the "Land of the Free". Among other places, it is a good place to be.

First Do No Harm

Clarithromycin (Biaxin) 2 weeks at 500 mg. Flagyl: 5 days at 1,000mg.


insomnia

nightmares when I did sleep

extreme anxiety

intense neuropathy

unable to rest during day

weird brain feelings

metallic taste in mouth

bone pain

muscle cramps

difficulty swallowing at times

diarrhea

weakness ~ hard to even hold a glass of water

unable to walk straight

Some symptoms die off, some side effects. All of them awful.

I have never felt so toxic in my life. First do no harm keeps echoing in my head. How can this be helpful for anyone? I have stopped the treatment for H pylori. Hopefully it was enough.
It was enough for me.