Thriving or Surviving

Back in June, I shared a couple of posts about how I was getting a lot done. The downside was that I crashed a few days later as explained HERE . Well, consider this an "Oops, I did it again!" post! On Monday, my birthday , and the day after , I was feeling GREAT! The best I've felt in MONTHS! On Monday, I spent a ton of time exploring the city and enjoying my birthday. Tuesday, I spent much of my day cleaning, tidying, decluttering, and more at home.  Wednesday? I crashed, HARD. I started out strong with a few chores in the morning, but by lunch time, I was exhausted. I crawled into bed with a book and quickly fell asleep. I ended up sleeping for several hours and then was so tired that I just stayed in bed most of the rest of the day. I had a virtual healthcare visit with my vestibular physical therapist and then had an MRI for my right sided hip pain in the late evening. Otherwise, most of the bed was spent just resting or sleeping. Today, I woke up feeling pretty tire...

I had such an amazing day yesterday (my birthday!) and have still been feeling pretty darn well thanks to my Sea Bands * motion sickness and nausea acupressure bands! I've been waiting for the positive effects of the bands to wear off and for my nausea to come roaring back, but so far, so good! *This is an affiliate link. I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you make a purchase throught this link. Nausea, acid reflux, and hip pain have been the bane of my existence for months on end with myriad other issues also plaguing me for the past two years. The last few days are the best I've felt in soooo long! All of my nausea and reflux medications have become less and less effective over time, so I guess I'm waiting for the same thing to happen with these bands. . . Hopefully they will continue to be effective until we figure out what's causing the nausea and reflux--I have a big test in mid-May that should give us some answers. If that doesn't res...

Friends, I have had such a great day! After over two years of nausea, tummy troubles, hip pain, vertigo, and more, I can't believe today was so amazing! Please note: some links in this post are affiliate in nature and may result in a small commission to me at no extra cost to you.  The Sea Bands I mentioned in yesterdays post have been AMAZING! They are so simple but have truly transformed my life!  Expect a lot of exclamation points in this post! Sorry, not sorry! I have been experimenting with periodically taking the motion sickness bands off here and there (I must find them irritating at night even though they are fine during the day as I take them off in my sleep), and they definitely are helping to improve my nausea. They are working better than any medications I've tried! I woke up slowly this morning and eventually took myself and my dog to Starbucks for my free birthday drink and for my dog's favorite treat--a plain bagel for her--and then we came home and lounged...

Oops! I missed posting on day 6 of 30 for my personal health reset challenge!  On day 5 , I mentioned that I had ordered some homeopathic items for my nausea and severe reflux. They didn't arrive until fairly late in the afternoon that day, so I didn't really get to fully evaluate anything that day.  However . . .  I am SO HAPPY that I ordered Sea Bands ! These are a pair of wrist bands with a little hard bump inside each one that is meant to be positioned over a pressure point just below the wrist on the forearms.  And, they seem to WORK! Now, I've only been using them for about 48 hours, so maybe it's premature to proclaim success. However, I have played with wearing them and not wearing them quite a bit over the past two days, and I'm satisfied! Really, wearing these makes me feel like I've blown past my goal of feeling 10% healthier! Unfortunately, taking them off results in a slide back to severe nausea. They are quite tight, as well, and I've taken the...

Yesterday, I had stated that today I'd be sharing a 0-10 alternative pain scale with you. That has been taking longer to design than I had anticipated. Hopefully I'll be able to share it this weekend or early next week! Instead, let's talk about yesterday afternoon and evening and this morning.  I felt horrible. I was so nauseous! I ordered some homeopathic nausea treatment items that were supposed to be delivered same day and they DID NOT ARRIVE within the time frame promised. They were supposed to be here by 11am yesterday. By the time 11am rolled around, the shipper was promising to deliver by 10pm. 10pm came and went with a notification that my items had been returned to the processing center. As the day progressed, I'd become increasing nauseous to the point that if I moved at all I wanted to gag. Without solutions, there was no way I'd be able to go to my day job today. My regular medications have seemed to stop working and other medications have such strong s...

Usually by day four of a challenge, I'm bored and ready to quit. Often I'll squeeze out another day or two and then start forgetting or avoiding the challenge and ultimately will just let the challenge fizzle out. This morning, I woke up eager to keep going. I may come back to analyzing why at a future date; for right now, I just plan to keep going! Yesterday, I promised myself that I would floss my entire mouth, but I had major reservations (see yesterday's post about dental trauma HERE ). I waited until fairly late in the morning to floss the first fourth of my dentition and waited until quite late in the afternoon to floss the second fourth. I almost went to bed without flossing the top half of my mouth.  A.L.M.O.S.T. I spent half a minute rationalizing why it would be ok to just skip finishing the flossing job before getting my butt to the bathroom to just do it. And, I'm glad I didn't skip this task.  I didn't feel much different after flossing--my mouth st...

Today, I am committed to flossing my teeth. I have a complex relationship with dentistry and oral care due to a series of traumatic dental experiences as a child and a horrible orthodontia experience. As a result, I find flossing physically and mentally difficult which results in not flossing often. Today, I am making (and keeping) a promise to myself to floss my entire mouth.  Please note: Links in this post may include affiliate links which could result in small commissions to me at no cost to you if you purchase through these links. Thank you in advance! To some this will seem silly, but to those who also have dental trauma, it might make perfect sense: I floss my mouth in sections. I simply cannot get myself to floss my entire mouth all at once. I generally think of my teeth in quadrants and will floss one fourth of my mouth at a time. Today, I will go one fourth at a time, but over the course of the day will make sure I've flossed entirely. To be totally honest, just typing th...

Yesterday, I wrote about needing to reset my health and well-being and that I was going to seek to improve my health by 10% over the next 30 days.  Today is day 2 of 30. Everyone in my house has officially tested positive for Covid-19 and we are all symptomatic. I don't feel great, physically, but this is far less severe than every prior Covid infection I've experienced, thank goodness! I do have a fever, however, so I will not be going to work tomorrow (fingers crossed that I can go to work on Friday!).  I attribute part of my not feeling as awful as my last few Covid experiences to simply how the virus has evolved over the last several years, but also because I've been consciously paying attention to my energy levels, hydration, vitamins, supplements, and medication needs.  Before I go on, I do need to remind you, my dear reader, that anything I write here is NOT medical advice. If you feel ill or have concerns or questions about your well being or anything discussed i...

Please note: Links in this post may include affiliate links which could result in small commissions to me at no cost to you if you purchase through these links. Thank you in advance! My health has never been great. As a child, I frequently had ear and respiratory infections and other ailments.  As an adult? I'm also still sick often--more in the last two years than usual. As I write this, I am on my sixth (or seventh?) round of having Covid-19 right on the heels of a non-Covid respiratory infection that triggered some asthma symptoms. On top of that, I've also got a hip injury to contend with and mystery tummy ailments that are getting worse.  Over the past two years, I've also experienced a worsening of my vertigo and balance issues, had numerous random falls, and an episode of low enough iron reserves to warrant an iron infusion. I'm currently on more meds and supplements than I ever have been in my life as well, and they all feel essential.  That said, I am a lot hea...