HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

Just a quicky to wish everyone a Happy Christmas. I hope you are blessed with great company, favourite foods and welcome gifts.

(((((Hugs))))) to you all

Xxxxx

Time, Time, Time

Hiya!! Cor blimey, it’s been a long time since I posted. Anybody still out there?? Yis, of course you are still there, I have dropped in from time to time to read a few posts 😀

So, where have I been? Well, to be perfectly honest with you, I found that my therapy was very……..well, it didn’t leave much head space for anything else, really, so I withdrew without realising that’s what I was doing. But I have been feeling the urge to write again, which has to be a good thing, and so here I am.  I can’t promise any kind of frequency – but then I never could, but me here again, and I am hoping you find that to be a good thing too 😀

Can I just say – a very big Thank You from the bottom of my heart to those lovely people who contacted me privately to see if I was ok. It meant an awful lot to me (((((hugs)))))

I still have a few weeks of therapy left, and it’s been gruelling at times, but I have come a long way, methinks, in understanding stuff better and there was a lifetime of stuff to wade through, the events of 2 years ago just brought it all to a head.

I am keeping my depression/mood on an even keel with my amino acids, I successfully got my blood pressure down using beetroot, and I have a car again – woohoo!!! Nowt fancy but it’s a good little car, and I am pleased with it 😀

My nail polish addiction is alive and well, and I have many pictures to post from recent months.

The kitty cats are all fine and happy. Rory still hasn’t lost any weight, despite cutting grain completely out of their diet,  but their coats are shinier and softer than ever before and we have had no recurrance of her gum problems.

We did have a change within the household tho, sadly, Littlun parted from her fiance so it’s back to being just us 3. My eldest is still very happy with her fella, which is good. And Littlun actually has a better social life now than she did before.

And this really isn’t the post I had planned to write LOL, but feeling the need to fill in a few gaps and come up to date, as it were.

Oh, and my lounge got finished…Tra La!!  It took the sofa company 3 tries to get our new seating right (gods, that was annoying!!) but it looks fab, and I also have photos of that to show you. (she says, hoping that people will notice I am back and want to visit my blog again).

Next project is the hall, which will be done over the autumn. Thankfully, My eldest’s other half can’t sit still – he loves to be doing stuff – and he has volunteered for the job, bless him.

I’m actually feeling quite excited about being back 😀  I hope everyone is ok, and that you have all had good things happening. But for now, I must try and sleep. Night night.

xxxxx

Did You Know This About Sleep?

Because I certainly didn’t, until I watched This Video from TedTalks this morning. Amazing!!

Apparently, our brain has no lymph structures – the lymph system is what provides drainage of waste materials from our cells. But the brain doesn’t have any. I did not know that!!

So, how does the brain get rid of the waste that is a natural byproduct of every cell?

It uses CSF Cerebrospinal fluid, which is made in the brain, to wash away the natural waste products. This CSF washes through the brain tissues, along the blood vessels

But it only does so, during sleep.

Wow!!

I did not know that!!

Philosophers, and scientists over the millenia have debated the reason for sleep, and for needing so much of it. Our modern culture has greatly undermined sleep’s importance, leading to it being viewed as some sort of weakness to need sleep. Our society is just not set up to giving sleep the allocated time it should have. Many people try to cram 48 hours into 24, and we don’t give our bodies and minds the downtime they really need

But this information about how the brain washes the CSF along the blood vessels during sleep……………..well, as the title of the talk says – One More Reason To Get a Good Night’s Sleep!!

My New Shelves

I did say I had pictures, and here they are 😀
I took them whilst sitting down so please excuse the dodgy angle.

Left side

Right side

What Has Happened to Yoghurt?

I don’t know if anyone else in the UK feels the same as me about this, but it’s getting ridiculous now.

Yoghurt – yummy creamy dairy goodness in an ickle pot. Fruity bits added as either pieces or puree to flavour. It’s not complicated, is it?

Oh…..but it is!! It is bloody well mouth frothingly frustratingly hard to buy a normal yoghurt these days. Ye Gods!!

All I want is a few pots of yoghurt to have for my breakfast some mornings.

I do not want yoghurt with bits of grains or cereal in. Sorry, but it’s really not a pleasant experience trying to work your tongue round those icky soggy bits of yack that are supposed to be good for you. Really??? Nooooo!!! Take the cereal out of the yoghurt for heaven’s sake you stupid people. If I wanted muesli, I’d bloody buy muesli. If I wanted yoghurt with my muesli, I’d spoon some on. Whose weird demented mind thought that one up? Own up now, you damn silly fool!!! I need to shout at you!!!

And what happened to sensible flavours like banana? Peach? Cherry? Orange?

The only banana yoghurt I have been able to find for the last few years is Muller, and it has a section of chocolate covered cornflakes with it. It’s actually quite nice, except that alongside the flavour of banana and choccy cornflakes ……is aspartame!! *starts to go red in the face*  Come on…..low fat yoghurt…………..zero fat yoghurt……..WTF???  Fine. If people think eating whole and wholseome yoghurt is going to make them fat (rather than the choccy covered cornflakes) then they are stupid. But please…..for the love of all that’s wholesome in the world…………STOP USING ASPARTAME instead of sugar. It is EEEEvil!! Evil, I tell you!!! Sugar might be fattening but at least it’s natural and IT TASTES NICE. Aspartame tastes vile. Ick, ack and blurgh!!!

It seems that nowadays you have to mix your flavours. Ok, peach and apricot is nice, as is passionfruit and….whatever. But coconut and lime? In a yoghurt?  Rhubarb?? Apple and prunes??? *faints*  There seems to be a huge glut of coconut blends at the moment. Hell, I even saw COFFEE yoghurt a few months ago. I did buy some. But it sat in the fridge until it got so bored it tried to escape, because I just wasn’t brave enough to taste it

Some flavours just should not be mixed, and coffee with yoghurt is one of them. Would you add yoghurt to your Nescafe, instead of milk?? I don’t think so!!!

And why…..why????? Do we have yoghurts that are whipped to the point of starchiness?? Tis unnatural, I tell you!! Yoghurt should be thick but still fluid. We tried one of these whipped yoghurts recently, and seriously, I could fill cracks in the wall with it. It’s wrong!! Just plain wrong.

Come back Ski yoghurts with all your glorious array of sensible, normal flavours. You are now sadly reduced to only being available in 4 packs at the cheapy end of the display, and in only 4 flavours – and strawberry and raspberry I cannot eat, because you actually use real fruit, which includes the deadly (for me) seeds *not sure whether I want to explode or sob at this point!*

And talking of seeds…………..I do have a favourite organic brand, and they do a delish mango yoghurt. But I got passionfruit one time………………I really had no idea passionfruits had so many bloody big seeds in them!!! W…..T….F????? Why put them in the yoghurt???? *sobs* Have you not heard of a sieve?????

I am going to have to resort to making my own, I reckon, coz despite hundreds of different pots on sale, there is really hardly any that is worth buying.

Oh…..Asda do have a banana yoghurt…………made by Cow & Gate…….for babies!!

*stomps off in a huff*

 

 

 

 

My Absent Friend

Sleep…………………..

Yep, tis 5.30 am and I have not been to sleep. I was doing so well,  but the last 10 days or so, the old pattern has crept back.

Last night I decided to take my sleepy pills (both types of nytol) at 7pm, in the hopes of falling asleep around midnight. Midnight came and went so I took another one of each, and still no success.

Not sure what to do now to get back on track. Should I try and stay awake now for as long as possible? I need to get a shower today, but don’t want to be doing that if I am fall down tired yet sleepless.  But I have an appointment on wednesday and another one on thursday that I need to be up and active for so desperately need to sleep at night before each one.

It’s mad. Frustrating, and it undermines every step forward I make in every other way.

Think I may need to phone the Dr again and make a plea for zopiclone *sigh*

Dr Myhill’s protocol – Update 2

Well, first off, I am happy to report that at the hospital the other day my blood pressure has come down. Usually these situations stress me out, which makes it go up, but it was around 148/85. “Keep taking the beetroot” the Sister told me. So, I shall 🙂

With regards to the combination of supplements intended to allow my body to make it’s own Glutathione…….I had a problem. I haven’t looked into it in any detail, just been listening to my body. But within a few days of taking the glutamine etc I began having ‘brain zaps’ again. These are really unpleasant sensations that can only be described as being like an electrical sound/sensation in your head. I experienced them badly when I went through the withdrawal from anti-depressants last year, and I seem to be one of the few people who can suffer from them long term, as each time I forget to take my omega oils they return. Omega oils is the ‘antidote’ to brain zaps.

BUT……..I have been taking my omega oils religiously. I originally wondered if it was because I had bought a cheaper brand, so I got the Solgar ones again, and they didnt subside.  So I can only conclude that it was one of the glutathione ingredients that had triggered them again. I have no idea why, but there you go. As I said, I haven’t looked into it. I was also getting really bad heartburn that stopped me from sleeping.

I have stopped taking the glutamine and L-Cysteine and the zaps are now only occasional and much milder. But this presented a problem, as that need for Glutathione is still there.

I stumbled across liposomal delivery, and in a very timely coincidence then got an email from ProHealth about soft melt glutathione. Aha!!  Problem solved – apart from the price. But, bizarrely, it worked out cheaper to buy from the US, than to buy from UK stockists. Even the P&P worked out cheaper. So, those are on their way. They melt in your mouth so they go straight into your blood stream, so avoiding the destruction of the digestive tract.

But you know what? I am getting VERY, VERY bored with the quantities of pills I am having to swallow. It takes a pint of liquid 3 times a day to get them all down, and about 10 mins each time to get them all out the packs.

So – a change is needed. Boredom does not a happy Moongazer make.  So, I have worked out that in 10 days I will have used up supplies of 3 different pills and I will be switching to Dr T’s Energy powder instead.

I will still have to take my Vitamin D3, omega oils, d-ribose, probiotics and beetroot pills but it will be a much easier and far less tedious process taking the powder as a drink once a day. And it may well work out cheaper in the long run. My multi vit pills only provide about a third of the levels recommended, so it will provide a much better therapeutic dose.

I bought Dr T’s book – From Fatigued to Fantastic and he combines drugs with natural therapies in a lot of instances. As you know, I am very much against using any kind of drug where there are natural solutions. For some people this might be neccessary, but it kind of put me off following his protocol above Dr Myhill’s. But, his website does have a special area that includes information for your GP. I have yet to investigate it, but it might be helpful in the ongoing campaign for help with sleeping. More about sleep next time.

So, to sum up. I haven’t felt any additional improvements since update 1, but it’s still early days yet in the grand scheme of things, and I am still significantly better than I was 3 months ago 😀

I Int Dead

Said Granny Weatherwax.

And it’s true, I int.

Me here 🙂

Thank you to those of you who have gotten in touch to check I int dead, tis truly heartwarming to know that you care. But also apologies if I haven’t replied yet. It’s not coz I is dead, nor is it because I don’t love you anymore.

There has been much busyness in the house recently. The lounge got decorated, which was no mean feat in terms of preparation. I donated no less than 10 carrier bags full of books to the local cat charity’s shop, so there was a lot of sorting to do.

In the end the gang got the painting done in 2 days, and then about a week later we got the new shelves up. Brackets alone cost £60, (and they were the cheapest I could find that didn’t look like they belonged in the garden) and my eldest’s other half arrived one day carrying 3 planks of wood of 4 metres length – by himself!!! That took a bit of skill to get round all the doors, I can tell you!!

But my bookshelves are up, and full of books and looking absolutely fabulous!!  I do have pics on my phone but I’ve lost me cable so will upload them another time.

We have a new suite on order, a corner unit with matching armchair. We opted for comfort above anything else, so it’s not a funky shape, nor is it a funky fabric (I got out-voted on the vintage patchwork one *sulks*) its plain, simple and very, very comfortable. Alas it is not being delivered until the second week of December, but that gives us time to get the flooring bought and fitted. Again, nowt fancy, just a simple hardwearing light wood style.

So – still in disarray until the floor gets done, but my pc has a nice new table (cheap Argos special but it does the job nicely) and I have found a wonderful drawer unit to go under the windows, but that will have to wait too.

I managed to buy wayyyyy too much paint, so the lighter colour will also do the  kitchen, and the darker colour will do my room.

Once the kitchen is free of all the lounge bits and bobs I will begin to sand and re-paint the cheese box that I use as a coffee table in the lounge to a more up-to-date colour than the current hugely out dated colour it is now. But I love that cheesebox so it’s getting a make-over 🙂

Other news? Yis………there is 🙂

 

 

Easier Said Than Done

Last week, my therapy session drifted into the zone of liking one’s self.

Hmmmmmmm.

I have been giving this a lot of thought since then, and in my usual weird way, I cannot get a real grasp of this.

I mean……..by whose standards????

Now, it’s easy to say – by your own. BUT….bear with me here…….where do our own standards come from exactly? You beginning to catch my drift?

They come from multiple and diverse places. Parents is an obvious one. Well, I seemed to perpetually disappoint mine by doing my own thing, so it’s easy to use their standards.

Other family? Ditto.

Friends? Well, many friends have their own cultural biases and expectations, and I have weeded out the friends with agendas, so the few that are left, I know they like me. I’m sure a couple of them love me, as I love them. So I guess friends are a very good standard to use, with a few exceptions. But then the exceptions aren’t really friends, are they?

People you have worked for, perhaps? Well, they must have liked you and your skill set to have employed you.

Society around us?  Yeah, well, that’s a multifaceted and complex thing in and of itself, and there are multitudes of potential standards to be derived from society at large, and it very much depends on where you are within that society as to which standards you might possibly draw from.

I’ve never really felt I belonged anywhere, to be perfectly honest. I’ve always been slightly skewiff. I wasn’t one of the mums when I first became a mum because my baby was 8 weeks early, her milestones were different, I had a c-section, so according to some I didn’t “know what it was like”.

I was an oddball at school due to my allergies and asthma, which were rare in those days, and my (pre age 12) large size.

My spiritual beliefs set me apart, even from the group of people whose beliefs take the same ‘banner’.

And now, of course, my Fibro sets me apart. Leaves me isolated.

So, what standards do I apply to this ‘liking of one’s self’???

To thine own self be true? (for want of a better phrase) well, that’s a non-starter right now, or I wouldn’t be going round in circles like I have been.

Do I like myself? The only truly honest reply I can give to that statement, is that it depends on whose eyes I view myself through. Whose standards I apply.

Because I have found it near impossible to separate which standards are truly mine, and which come from my birth family, or those I have acquired along the way, and may not even be relevent anymore

*grump*

Dr Myhill’s Protocol Update – 1 month

Well, it’s about a month since I included L-carnitine into my growing assortment of supplements, so I thought now was a good time to do an update 🙂

Sleep – this isn’t perfect yet, but it’s a damn sight better than it has been …..in years!!

I currently take 25 drops of passion flower tincture followed about half an hour later by 2 herbal Nytols, and about half an hour after that 2 normal Nytols. This will give me up to 9 hours solid sleep if I do everything else right as well.

By everything else, I mean…….switching my phone and/or lappy off when I take the herbal Nytols, not turning the bathroom light on when I go to brush my teeth etc, lying down with an eye mask within 10 minutes of taking the normal Nytols, and most crucially for me (and also it seems the one I fall down on most easily) taking them half an hour after the herbal ones.

I have managed to drag my going to sleep time back to midnight once – but I tell you, that was *the* best night’s sleep I had, and I woke up feeling like I actually had some energy. Of course I’m not talking normal person energy – I wish!! But enough energy to get out of bed and go downstairs. This was a small miracle for me, as most of the last 12 months I have been stuck in bed.

If I have less than 6 hours sleep, I feel like poo. If I get to sleep at 4 or 5 am (even if I then don’t wake up until midday), I feel like poo.

Dr Myhill is right in what she says.

I have also found using her tip about helping your brain switch off helps a lot too. When I lie down – eye mask on (as she recommends total darkness) I think to myself “where am I tonight?”, and so far I have found myself on a beach near the sea, on a mountain top, and in a forest. Subconscious peaceful places seem to come forward and then by focussing on how that place looks, feels, sounds etc, it helps me get off to sleep.

So, each night is as much a battle against myself and old habits as anything else, but I keep working on it afresh every night. I WILL get this sorted, dammit!! Because the benefits are just so damn worth it!!

Supplements – I am now taking: (brace yourself as the list is long)

Turmeric with bioperine – 1 when I wake and one at about 5-6pm. (if I take it at night, it gives me heartburn)

L-Carnitine (500mgs) twice a day

Probiotics – 3 times a day (at night I take it last of all with the normal Nytols, and I take 2 of the probiotic tablets then instead of 1. The idea being that they sit in your gut longer overnight)

Organic Flaxseed Oil (1000mg) 3 times a day – (a great source of omega oils that are needed by your cell membranes, and we are all about the nitty gritty functioning of cells here)

Beetroot (high strength) 3 times a day (for my blood pressure)

Co-enzyme Q10 with bioperine (300mgs) – in the morning

Chelated magnesium (500mgs) at 4-6pm and bedtime

Vitamin C (1000mg) 2 tabs last thing at night with the probiotics and Nytols

D-Ribose tablets (1000mgs) 2 with each meal

Hight strength multivitamin and mineral – twice a day with meals

Glycine (500mgs) 1 at 4-6pm

Vitamin D3 – 2 tablets at 4-6pm

Bioperine tablet (10mgs) at night as I am not taking anything else with bioperine in it at this time, and bioperine aids absorption.

Phew!! It’s a lot, and it’s certainly making sure I am hydrated because it takes a lot of liquid to swallow them all down, but honestly – I am feeling a difference.

How? Well, especially since I added in the d-ribose this last week, I am feeling less of the plug being pulled on me sensation. Most days – a trip to the loo would be enough to induce that feeling. But only 2 days ago, I was able to bring in the weekly shopping delivery and put it all away. It took me well over 2 hours, mind you, but I was able to do it, by pacing.

I was really seriously proud of myself, even though I paid for it all day yesterday.

And for anyone else following this protocol – do not underestimate the impact of d-ribose. It seems to me to have been a missing key, and now I am getting it through the day, each day, it has made all the difference. It’s much more expensive than the other supplements, but so vital, I am not even going to think about that cost anymore. It’s a must have, simple as that.

But it’s simple logic – if we do not give our cells the precise nutrients they need, they can’t function, and so neither can we. Our cells need d-ribose, simple as that.

I am waiting for some L-cysteine (? spelling) to arrive, and I will be adding that and L-glutamate in. This is instead of Glutathione. Why? Because I have read over and over again that glutathione is very difficult for our bodies to absorb. Usually our bodies make it, you see, within the cells, so it doesn’t readily accept it pre-made. The l-cysteine, glutamate, and the glycine I already take (because it has a calming effect and I have been taking it to aid my sleep) are the ingredients the body needs to make glutathione.

Once my substantial stash of the multivitamins and minerals is used up, I am going to try Dr Myhill’s mineral mix, and possibly Dr T’s energy powder to compare the effects. I know I am not getting some stuff in the quantities Dr Myhill states, but I guess I have been that deficient that the levels I am taking have been enough to give me a bit of a boost.

My Eldest’s boyfriend who hasn’t known me any other way apart from mostly bedbound even commented that I am much more ‘animated’. When I asked my eldest what he meant exactly, she said I am more like my old self – I am a natural gesticulator LOL – I use my hands as I talk.

I am not doing the diet part yet. To be perfectly honest, the sleep and the nutrients are enough to monitor and think about for now. I want to be able to really understand what, if any, impact each thing is having on me, and I can only do that gradually. But Dr Myhill did say this is something that will take years, not weeks or months, so I am feeling really good that I am already feeling an improvement.

What I have done tho, is stopped drinking juice in the morning. I have goats milk instead, which is what I used to drink for years and years before I suddenly had a craving for apple juice. I have also cut down on chocolate – a lot. Why? Because I have been listening to my body I have realised that  it was making my heart race, and that isn’t a good feeling. And now, when it comes to chocolate – the thought of my heart racing is enough to put me off eating it.

I am trying to opt for protein based snacks – such as having a couple of slices of cold ham or chicken instead of a packet of crisps or slice of toast if I feel peckish.

So, to sum it all up – I think Dr Myhill deserves an OBE or something 😀

Actually, I noticed on her website that her book – Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – It’s Mitochondria not Hypochondria – was awarded a “Highly Commended” Certificate by the British Medical Association at their Book Awards a few days ago 😀

High commendation indeed!!

So, onwards we go.

This protocol is a commitment, both in time/headspace and money, but I honestly, seriously recommend you give it a go if you have CFS or Fibromyalgia. But it’s not the kind of thing you can just dabble at. In her talk on the Abundant Energy Summit, Dr Myhill and the host of the summit talked about “tipping points”, that you keep adding things in until suddenly, something tips the balance and once you have tipped those ‘scales’ from illness into wellness, even by 1%, you are on your way. But you can’t try one supplement, and then stop taking that and try another, or just try some – you have to use them all, for a decent period of time. This is not like taking a drug that relieves something in a matter of hours or days. This is about replenishing your entire body at cellular level with the substances your cells need to function.

For me, supplement wise – d-ribose was the tipping point. But I think I was also at an advantage because i had already been taking the Co-Q10 for a few months. If you are starting this totally from scratch, you may find it takes longer than a month or two to feel any benefits. But don’t give up…..give this protocol time to work, give your cells chance to start kicking out energy more effectively.

Dr Myhill’s website with loads of information can be found HERE