Tag Archives: spoonie

The Sock Collector

If you have been following my blog since the beginning (at least since August 2015), or if you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, then you know that I collect socks. Yes, socks! I absolutely love socks! They’re my happy place, and always put a smile on my face when I am having a bad day. Since I haven’t written about my socks since August 2015, and I had rushed through the pictures in that post (yikes), I wanted to update my sock post! (My original sock post: The Sock Problem.) (You can see all of my Instagram sock posts by searching the hashtag #LizzsSocks.)

I have a lot of socks! I actively collect them, and I haven’t gotten rid of a pair of socks in so long I can’t even remember. I’m pretty sure there are even still socks in my old dresser at my parents’ house, which I want to grab the next time I’m there. No, I don’t really have a favorite pair. There are several pairs that I consider “some of my favorites,” but they’re all favorites for different reasons! Continue reading →

New Thumb Brace and Some Hope

For those of you not following my Instagram (which, why not?), I did get in to see the hand specialist on the 16th! It was much sooner than I expected to be able to see them.

After a physical exam and some x-rays, it was determined that my thumb is actually … okay. Well, it’s probably recurring tendonitis or something like that. He said I could do an MRI if I wanted, but since my thumb was starting to feel better already I figured it probably wouldn’t show anything (though the next time it flares up badly I’m going to request one). My other options were to do nothing, request specific occupational therapy or physical therapy, or steroid injections. I didn’t like any of those options so I was trying to be more specific about how I can’t even write because it hurts too much.

Continue reading →

Supplements Carry Risks Too

Don’t get me wrong, I am not just blindly wanting you to follow “Big Pharma” down the rabbit hole of taking more drugs and needing drugs to counteract the side effects of those drugs. Actually, I am all for all sorts of different combinations of lifestyles. If you love taking pharmaceuticals, then go take your pharmaceuticals and I’m so happy that they make you feel better! If you love taking supplements, then please go take your supplements and enjoy your life! If you love combining the two, then go do that too and enjoy feeling better! Woot for feeling better and managing our symptoms the best way we know how!!!

Anyway. Now that that is over, here we go. The point of the post 😛

Some people don’t realize that supplements can carry just as many risks as pharmaceuticals can. In fact, I would argue that, because of the state of “common knowledge” they are more dangerous. Why do I say that? Simply because people read an “all natural” label and are willing to pop it into their mouth without learning anything else about it… leading to potentially deadly consequences.

Wait, did I just say deadly?

Yes, yes I did. Continue reading →

Experimenting With Treatment

Right now, we’re (my GI and I) experimenting with treatment for small intestine bacterial overgrowth – aka SIBO. I am going to be taking Xifaxan for two weeks, and hopefully the delayed gastric emptying will improve. We’re also going the motility improve.

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He decided to just do the treatment instead of testing first because he didn’t like how many I’ve been thru already, and apparently the SIBO test isn’t very accurate. Xifaxan isn’t supposed to be absorbed into your system much at all, so there really isn’t supposed to be too many side effects, so I decided to just for it. I figure my daily issues are so miserable, I’d rather just try it and hope it’ll help.

So far, I haven’t been too happy: gassy and lots of bathroom trips. My fatigue is also a little wacky, but my period is also poorly timed again. However, my stomach had been marginally better. Hopefully that means it’s been helping.

Stomach Issues Return

Normally after vacations, due to all the restaurant and junk food, I am horribly stopped up.

For some reason, this time, I now have diarrhea. It’s not “running to the restroom every few hours” bad, but the last three days have all had multiple loose stools. Today is the worst of it so far. But the frequency is way off. I’ve only gone about twice each the last two days, which is weird.

My stomach though feels horrid. It feels like I’ve been hit in the lower abdomen by a baseball bat and my colon has been set on fire. No idea what triggered this.

I do not have a fever.

I’m glad I see my GI on the 31st. Hopefully it doesn’t get any worse, and I really hope it doesn’t last that long…

My Mind Has Been Busy

I’m a little preoccupied at the moment. I do apologize.

Recently, I’ve decided I need to take a giant step in the direction of my mental health. The universe was sending me massive and glaring signs of which direction I needed to take. It’s kind of a rough one, and I’m just at the beginning. Unfortunately, I’m not comfortable writing about it yet, and I don’t have anything definitive (which is why I’m not comfortable writing about it). It’s also consume a rather large amount of my mental energy as of late, so I haven’t been able to focus on much else right now.

Hopefully there will be news to report soon. I am still working on the colonoscopy series. I also owe one of my best friends her maternity photos that I took as a favor to her, so that has been taking time away from the blog as well. But I promise, the plan is to get back to blogging soon!

Love and spoons to you all.

Minimal Bodily Cooperation, But Still Cause For Gratitude

My body seemed to level back out again, weight wise. When I picked Dan up from the airport, I was still nauseous but it was dinner time and I really wanted a French dip sandwich from Mimi’s Cafe. Instead of only eating half (like usual), I ate about 3/4 of it and half of my fruit bowl. The next day I managed to eat most of my Qdoba nachos for lunch too!

The rest of the weekend I’ve been eating lighter, but I did go back up those three pounds. The nausea is a little more manageable, but still pretty bad. We’ll see what happens this week. At least the rapid weight loss seems to have stopped for now – that was unnerving.

I hope you all had a good weekend.

So Excited and Happy I’m Crying

Some days are actually good days!

I just logged onto my Zazzle store, expecting nothing to have changed as I haven’t been able to do anything to it in a long time thanks to all of the headaches I’ve been dealing with lately. But, to my surprise, that wasn’t the case. Instead…

I SOLD MY FIRST PHOTOGRAPHY MUG!!!

Now, that may not seem like a huge deal at first. But, I have never sold any of my photography. So that means… I AM NOW A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER!

Not only that, but it was a nature photograph. I AM NOW A PROFESSIONAL NATURE PHOTOGRAPHER!!!!

I have wanted to be able to say I am a professional nature photographer for an extremely long time. My dream, since I was a small child (age 4 or younger), has been to be a National Geographic photographer. When I was about 12 or so, I won second place in an amateur photographer contest held by the San Diego Zoo (not for children, it was open to all ages and all equipment types and was advertised on a clapboard in the middle of the entrance path at the zoo itself) with my single megapixel digital camera with a picture of bison at Yellowstone National Park. This is something I have been working for and dreaming about FOREVER!!!!!!

I am shaking so hard and crying and smiling from ear to ear and I’m so happy I could explode!!!! I literally do not care how symptomatic I am right now and I just want to celebrate and YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

So what that I only made 84 cents on the sale? It still makes me a professional by the definition as someone “paid to participate in an activity,” so I’m happy!

So what did I sell that has made me so happy? This:

 

It seems very interesting, doesn’t it? I’ve been wishing for so long to be a nature photographer, to make money doing the one thing I’ve loved me entire life, and my first photography sale happens to be a product with that very word on it. I believe synchronicity would be the right word…

Anyway, I just had to tell pretty much everyone 🙂

Nausea and Dysautonomia

Today, Dysautonomia International shared an article to their Facebook  about nausea and vomiting, and how the two don’t always go hand in hand and how they tied to the nervous system. The text that accompanied D.I.’s post points out that nausea is a common symptom for dysautonomia patients.

As many of you know, I have been suffering with chronic nausea for years. Lately, it’s been so bad that, at times, I struggle to eat. That’s actually part of why my GI decided to do the colonoscopy. As of my last appointment, he didn’t believe I had primary gastroparesis, but he did say I definitely have what is called “delayed gastric emptying” which is caused by my whole system running slow so it tells my stomach to stop working. Very similar, but different causes. He is thinking he might do more testing though, later, just to be sure.

I am wondering if the reason my nausea is so bad is because it has multiple causes?

Anyway, I found the article extremely interesting and really wanted to share:

Nausea and Vomiting: Not Always in Sync by Pharmacy Times

Heat Headaches

I have been struggling with headaches recently thanks to the heatwave that is engulfing of the central and southern United States lately. It’s been in the 90°F range (or hotter) petty much every day for weeks, and I don’t have a way to keep my house less than 80°F. When I overheat, I get headaches. When I get headaches, I can’t use the computer. 😦 I am hoping to get back to writing more soon!!!!!