Nettles and pictures

Last August I had terrible hay fever and a friend told me about nettles. I dragged my feet with ordering them and eventually the hay fever was gone, so I didn't.

This last bout with anemia that I've written about before really was causing fatigue and shortness of breath. I was only supplementing with my regular dosage of iron and trying to eat iron-rich foods, but I was progressing very slowly. My friend reminded me of nettles again and told me it was full of minerals including iron.

I finally bought some. I've been making nettle infusions by taking a handful of nettles, putting them into a one quart french press, then filling it with hot water. I leave it sit overnight, then press in the morning.

It doesn't taste that great, so I add just a little honey. I find that they are really helping!! I'm feeling a lot better. I am seldom breathless and I have a bit more energy. I have also started taking two iron tablets, so that probably has something to do with it, but I know that the nettles are helping because shortly after I drink it, I have more energy. It's a great pick-me-up!

Google "nettle infusion benefits" ..... there are so many conditions this herb will help.

The other thing I've been meaning to write about is my reaction to pictures. As you know I used EFT/tapping, which has a free manual you can download, to overcome some emotional trauma.

Recently my mom has posted pictures of my childhood. Some of these pictures reminded me of things I had forgotten. I have tapped and tapped to overcome trauma that has to do with the people in the pictures, but not for these specific incidents. I'm going to be incorporating tapping again now that I have been reminded. As it is now, there are pictures I can't bear to look at.

Dr. H in NY believes emotional trauma is important to treat in healing, and I've found that to be true in my case. As you know, I'm healthy and living normally, but you also know I still am working on detox and I obviously still have imbalances since I'm still supplementing iron, KPU, and thyroid. Maybe I'll always have to supplement those, but maybe someday my body will function better on its own. :)

I'll keep you posted on how it goes with the nettles and tapping.

iron

I have supplemented iron for over 25 years now. Even on the iron, my hemoglobin will range from 11-13. I've always needed it.

When I went to Whole Foods (not the best place for supps, but the most convenient) they were out of my Blood Builder, so I bought Raw Iron by Garden of Life, a company I really like. I took it for about six weeks.

During this time I started getting short of breath and fatigued. Normally my first anemic symptom is restless legs, but I have been good about supplementing my other minerals, so maybe this has changed. Plus, I typically get restless legs when I'm traveling or over-tired and I've had neither of those problems. Since I didn't get restless legs, I didn't think of anemia as possibly causing my symptoms.

Back when I had babesia, drinking some tonic water would help with the air hunger and fatigue. So, worried my shortness of breath and fatigue might be babesia coming back out, I bought tonic water. No help whatsoever.

I want to say, I was not worried about it being babesia. I know I have the tools to get rid of it if it was .... but I am glad it wasn't.

The other day I had a revelation, ANEMIA!!! I bought my Blood Builder yesterday. I am craving it like it's chocolate or something! LOL! I feel better a good part of the day, but by this time of night (8 PM), I'm getting short of breath again. I'll keep you posted, but this seems to be the fix. I'm already less fatigued.

I believe that the anemia is probably from the KPU (tendency toward iron-deficiency anemia is on some of the screening questionnaires) . From what I can tell from my reading about KPU, we don't know the underlying cause, so all I can do is manage it by taking the minerals.

I'd still like to fix the underlying cause of the low thyroid ..... but as it is, I'm really happy that the only script I'm on is my Armour Thyroid. My adrenal fatigue symptoms have really improved tremendously, so perhaps over time my thyroid gland will, too.

From now on, I must work on being sure I buy a new bottle of Blood Builder well before I'm out so that I have time to order it online!!

Bugs going around .... ALREADY!!!!

Two days ago I had to pick up my daughter from band practice because she came down with the stomach "flu". She stayed home from school yesterday and lied around all day (except for band practice because there's a contest this weekend, and if she missed practice, she wouldn't be able to march).

I had signs of an upset stomach that night, but felt good enough to go to a pilates class the next day. As the day progressed, my stomach became more upset. By the time I was spending a little too much time in the bathroom, it was too late to get a sub for my pilates classes so I taught them. Today, I feel sluggish, but I'm sitting upright blogging, so not bad. I'm getting my haircut later.

So, I'm pretty excited that my immune system is able to handle this bug and that I breezed through it more easily than my "healthiest" daughter!!! I *used* to be the one who caught everything ten times worse than everyone else!!! All signs that I'm truly getting healthier all the time.

I did load up on the vitamin D and used my Mercola tanning bed the day she came home sick .... and I took extra vitamin C as well.

I just hope I don't continue to catch EVERYTHING my kids catch. This is the second time they've been sick and the second time I've caught it from them. Ugh.

And .... two years

I just had my one year anniversary of wellness, and this month is my two year anniversary off antibiotics!!! In fact, the only prescription I'm still on is Armour Thyroid. I am hoping that my hormones continue to heal, I have seen signs that my adrenals are stronger, so I hope to be able to be off Armour some day. That is my goal.

This is the first year hayfever season has bothered me since my health declined 7 years ago. That may or may not be significant ..... it's bothering a lot of people this year, seems to be a bad year, probably due to the lack of rain.

I have been treating with the Bionic for this. So has one of my daughters (not the one who had Lyme). I set a bowl of water outside for 24 hours to gather pollen. I put the water in the vial and treated. I went right into full strength because I've not had any adverse affects from treatment for so long. It hit both of us hard!!!

We were both very tired and she had a headache. Neither of us had the runny noses and sneezing. I'm still using my neti pot twice a day, but it's not as bad as it was. I have two more treatments to go. Yesterday I even sat outside for a half hour and didn't sneeze once .... a week ago, I sneezed about 50 times in 20 minutes (continual sneezing) .... I had to have my husband drive me home and I missed my son's football game.

Years lost?

I wish I could say what made me think of writing about this, but it's very personal to a friend of mine. Nonetheless, it got me thinking about my own loss of years. It's easy for me to think, "Wow, six years, a significant portion of that time significantly disabled, fighting the fight of my life" and think it's not fair and that it was time lost.

I missed so much of my kids' lives because my time was spent in bed, or if it was a good day, on the couch. The kids would come in to me and with my limited attention and limited understanding of what was being said to me, I would hear about how everyone else was living their lives. I was not seeing football games my son played in, not seeing softball games, not going to school events ..... it even got to the point that my youngest wouldn't even tell me about the events at her school because she didn't want me to feel bad for missing them. I finally convinced her to tell me because sometimes I could push myself to get up and go.

Not only was I missing out, but I also felt horrible. So much pain. It's indescribable. If you've ever had the flu, multiply that by 10. Then add all the other symptoms on top of that. This kind of ongoing pain makes your mind crazy. It makes you think you'll take any way out, which is likely why the suicide rate is so high with Lyme patients.

It's easy to think "Why me?" and "It's not fair." The answer to the first question is, "Why not you?" And it isn't fair, who says it's supposed to be?

Back to my first point, that it would be easy for me to think it was time lost. It wasn't time lost. Not at all. Yes, it was spent differently than I would have chosen, for sure. Yes, it was miserable, and yes, I told God more than once, "Take me or make me better."

However, we each have our own paths in life. We each have our own obstacles. The person I become is the person who has lived through these experiences and has learned from them. I am a different person than I was before I was ill. I understand better the meaning of life and the meaning of death in a way that a healthy person never can. This is my experience and unique to me. If I hadn't gone through this experience, I wouldn't be the person I am today and I happen to *like* the person I am today.

My kids got through my illness just fine. They are also better people for it. They had to run the household with the help of their dad when I was sick. They all have practical lessons they've learned .... they can all get themselves off to school in the morning on time, wash their clothes, clean the house, cook dinner, and do the dishes. They have learned to be independent little people, very capable of handling what comes their way.

My husband was way too busy for one person, but what goes for me goes for him, too. He would be a different person today without what we experienced together.

I am very, very happy that I am well today, but I do not look back over my illness with regret. The experiences of those six years may not have been the experiences I would have chosen to have, but they are experiences in their own right, and these experiences make me who I am. I have more humility, patience, compassion, and love for others than I would have had otherwise.

Not years lost.

ONE YEAR!!!!

Hi again! This month marks one year that I have been well!! An exciting milestone for me!

One year ago I started fermenting and went into training to teach pilates.

Today I am feeling better than ever, still ferment though not as much, and have been teaching lots of pilates. Just yesterday I taught a pilates mat class to a man half my age. I was talking through all the exercises, got up to help him a couple times, and he was the one who couldn't keep up with ME!!

I am living a normal life again with no signs of ever having been sick.

I am eating well. I don't even like processed food, so I do eat what I make from scratch, but not because I was sick, rather because I like it better and I like how I feel when I eat well. Even my hubby and kids now prefer good food. We went to a pitch-in and the kids couldn't believe what others ate .... they thought it was disgusting!! Eating well is not a sacrifice. :)

I do enjoy lattes, but make them at home with non-homogenized, lightly pasteurized (170 degrees, 20 seconds) milk. I also enjoy chips, salsa and guacamole, but eat good, organic, chips with a good organic garlic cilantro salsa and guacamole made with real ingredients and no fillers. So, I do eat "fun" foods, but eat them in a healthy way.

I am teaching 10-15 hours per week. Just yesterday I taught 6 hours. When teaching reformer, I don't do the workout, but it is still a lot of exercise because I constantly demo the work and am moving around the whole time. My biggest problem is I don't drink enough when I teach and end up with a bladder infection which is easily reversed by flushing it out by drinking a lot of water.

My husband and I just bought a Norwalk Juicer. WOW!!! It's SO much better than our old juicer. I LOVE the juice! The best juice I've ever had. I feel that it's helping me with detox as I had somewhat of a detox reaction when I started drinking it. Also, it's nice to be able to eat some raw veggies, which I still have a bit of a problem digesting (small side salads are fine).

As for supplements, I change things around once in a while. I always take Depyrrol, copper, and oil of evening primrose for KPU. I also always take iron, magnesium, and Armour Thyroid. Others I like and take often are alpha lipoic acid, resveratrol, CoQ10, multiple vitamin with plenty of B vitamins, and Kyolic garlic.

Sometimes turmeric for inflammation, but that's usually when I've overdone the Pilates. Sometimes cilantro. I go in spurts with the cilantro. It's good for heavy metals. I also put cilantro in our juice.

Currently I'm doing a follow up round of Humaworm. It's good to do a parasite cleanse once or twice per year and it was time. Last time, about a year ago I think, I felt horrible and had to stop a week early likely due to the detox herbs as I was still toxic despite being better from Lyme. This year I feel just like my husband does on it, no problem at all. I felt a little sluggish on day 3, 4 and 5, but otherwise have been fine.

I still take 5 HTP. I fall asleep easily at night now and stay asleep all night. I get very tired in the evening, which is weird for me because I have never been one to get tired at night. I guess my adrenals have always been affected by Lyme as that's a symptom of sluggish adrenals. I get up easily in the morning and feel refreshed. I'm also using a progesterone cream from day 14 of my cycle until the end. I think this has been a help in restoring my ability to sleep well.

I think that's about it! Thanks for reading and I hope all of you are doing well!!