By wendy, on November 14th, 2011%
 Image by Big Grey Mare via Flickr
By Wendy Burnett
“Shit Happens” – I know you’ve heard the expression somewhere. There are lots of other ways to say it, but it happens to all of us. Things go wrong. They just do. You can’t prevent bad things from happening sometimes, but you CAN stop them from destroying you when they do.
There have been lots of bad things happening around here in the last several months, and we’re all stressed out about them, but I’m not totally freaked like I would have been a few years ago.
Instead of freaking out, I’ve been looking for other options like ways to bring in more money and ways to save on things I use all the time. Instead of becoming paralyzed, I’ve used the “shit” as motivation, and as fertilizer for the flowering of new ideas. Continue reading Shit Happens – Use it to Fertilize the Flowers »
By wendy, on September 15th, 2011%
 Image by bloomingdalelibrary via Flickr
By Wendy Burnett
One of my absolute favorite activities is a nice long soak in a hot bath full of some wonderful smelling bath salts, but that can be expensive if you have to go out and buy the bath salts at the store. I’ve found out I can make my own; quickly, easily, AND cheaply; with just a few simple ingredients.
Not only are they just as luxurious as the store bought ones, but I can select essential oils that help to relax me and ease my pain, or ones that will wake me up and reduce depression. I decide what effect I want, and with a little research and experimentation, I can get it.
CAUTION: Do not use pure essential oils directly on your skin. They are very strong, and can cause burns and scarring if used undiluted. If you accidentally get some on you, use olive oil or coconut oil on it immediately to dilute it, and see a doctor if there is any pain or reddening of the skin. Also, you should never use an essential oil derived from any plant you are allergic to. (If you’re allergic to ragweed, be extremely careful of chamomile oil. They are members of the same family, and an allergy to ragweed means you may also react to chamomile.) See Using Essential Oils Safely for more information.
The Recipe
- epsom salt
- a glass container with an airtight seal (you can’t use plastic or metal with essential oils, the oils will interact with the container, and could introduce toxins to your salts.)
- essential oils of your choice
- optional: unscented sea salt to mix with the epsom salt
Note: The magnesium in the epsom salt is absorbed through your skin, and helps to relieve pain and relax your muscles. If you’re using the bath to help ease the symptoms of your chronic illness, I recommend that you use no more than half sea salt if you mix it. Although sea salt also contains many trace minerals, it doesn’t work as well to ease pain; and it increases the price of your blend because it is much more expensive.
The basic recipe is simple. For each cup of salt, add 10 drops of essential oil. I like to layer it, with a cup of salt, add 10 drops of oil, another cup of salt, another 10 drops of oil until my container is about 3/4 of the way full, then seal it and shake it up really well. It just seems to mix better and infuse the scents more evenly, especially if I’m using several different oils. For the most even infusion and blending of scents, leave the jar sealed for at least 24 hours before using, shaking it several times to remix and blend.
One of my favorite essential oil blends is half lavender and half rosemary. They are both excellent for skin irritations like psoriasis, eczema or insect bites; stimulate the circulatory system; reduce stress and fatigue; help with migraines and tension headaches; open the the bronchial tubes and help with asthma and bronchitis; repel insects; and reduce pain. Lavender also helps to reduce depression and anxiety, eases the pain of sciatica, and is helpful with vertigo; and rosemary is helpful with neuralgia and “fibrog” (it’s a mental stimulant.)
Using your bath salt:
Fill the tub with water as warm as you can handle (if that’s only tepid, that’s just fine.) Add two to five cups of your bath salt under the running water, swishing it around to make sure it all dissolves, climb in and relax for at least 20 minutes (I normally end up staying at least an hour, adding warm water as needed to keep the temperature comfortable.)
For an even more relaxing, stress-relieving experience; turn off the lights, light a couple of unscented candles, and play some soothing music or a guided meditation.
This bath salt blend is also very helpful in a foot bath at the end of a long, tiring day. It will help relieve the pain of being on your feet, as well as helping to ease the fatigue. Add one cup of the bath salt to a warm foot bath, and soak for at least 20 minutes, adding warm water if needed to keep it at a comfortable temperature.
I’ve found that taking a long, hot bath with my homemade bath salts helps me manage the symptoms of my fibromyalgia, as well as being helpful with various other chronic illness issues. Stress makes my symptoms worse, and a bath not only relieves pain and reduces muscle tension, it also helps me relax and reduces my stress levels.
With the addition of a label and a pretty ribbon, homemade bath salts also make an excellent, inexpensive gift for almost any occasion. You’ll save money, and the recipient will enjoy a soothing experience that will make them feel wonderful.
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By wendy, on July 27th, 2011%
By Wendy Burnett
Herbal Antibiotics: Natural Alternatives for Treating Drug-Resistant Bacteria (Storey Medicinal Herb Guide)  by Stephen Buhner is a book that I consult constantly. I finally gave up putting it back on the bookshelf because I just have to drag it out again almost immediately to look something up, and it’s just too much trouble to keep bouncing up to go hunt it.
 Bookshelf. Photograph by Stewart Butterfield. {{cc-by-2.0}}) It’s been an awesome resource, and solved a long-standing physical issue for me (actually, two of them.) I had recurrent sinus infections for YEARS, because they were caused by a resistant strain of bacteria, and no matter what antibiotic my doctor tried, the infection would bounce back within a few months. Even worse, all the antibiotics caused almost constant yeast infections, which would require even more pills to treat them. Continue reading Book Review – Herbal Antibiotics: Natural Alternatives for Treating Drug-Resistant Bacteria »
By wendy, on July 26th, 2011%
By Wendy Burnett
Hypocrisy runs rampant in medicine. Check out this little excerpt from an article about ginger for medicinal use, and pay particular attention to the italicized sentence.
Osteoarthritis
Trials exploring the anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving effects of ginger have provided mixed results, with the majority of trials showing a trend toward pain relief greater than placebo but less than traditional anti-inflammatory drugs. Several trials have methodological flaws, including sponsorship by ginger-manufacturing companies. (emphasis mine) Mechanisms of action have been proposed and include inhibition of prostaglandin and leukotriene synthesis. – excerpted from http://www.drugs.com/npp/ginger.html
Now think about who pays for the studies on prescription medications. The FDA? Nope, not even close. The US government? The government does sponsor some studies of prescription drugs, but not even close to all of them. You want to know who funds the vast majority of clinical trials of prescription medications? The companies that make them, that’s who!
So why is it that clinical trials and studies of prescription medications are considered trustworthy, even though they’re paid for by the very companies that have the most to gain from a positive result? If those studies are acceptable, why are studies sponsored by companies that make herbal supplements considered “questionable” simply because they’re also paid for by a company that has a vested interest in the results?
This kind of attitude causes the medical establishment to refuse to consider alternative treatments, even when those treatments have good science behind them, simply because they’re paid for by the people who make money off them. Doesn’t that mean that they should also take a second look at prescription medications when the studies supporting them are paid for by the company that makes them?
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By wendy, on June 23rd, 2011%
 Image via Wikipedia
By Wendy Burnett
If you take more pain medication than your doctor has prescribed for you, on a regular basis, you have a much bigger problem than you think. Whether the doctor is under-prescribing or not, if you’re constantly calling and asking for more meds, you are labeling yourself as an addict.
Even if you legitimately need a higher dose, taking matters into your own hands will only make it harder to get. The more desperate you seem when you ask for more, the less likely your doctor is to even renew your existing prescription, let alone increase it. Continue reading Do You Take More Pain Meds Than You’re Supposed To? »
By wendy, on June 1st, 2011%
 I hang out in a lot of different support groups, on a lot of different web sites, and I’ve been noticing a big tendency for people to get into heated disagreements about treatment options. One person will state that “thus and so” has worked for me, or that they want to try something, and suddenly everyone who has ever tried it jumps in.
This is a good thing, the more information we have about things, the better our choices will be. The disturbing thing to me is when one person says they (or a friend or relative) has tried the treatment and had a negative experience (or a positive experience) then attacks anyone who presents a different perspective. Continue reading Absolute Truth? Not Necessarily. »
By wendy, on April 3rd, 2011%
Have you tried herbs or supplements for your chronic illness? I’ve had to find “other options” for treating my fibromyalgia and bipolar disorder because of my financial situation, so I’ve been doing a lot of research and collecting some tools for working with the herbs I like to experiment with.
 Capsule Machine and Completed Herbal Capsules In other words, I’ve been learning to make my own herbal treatments for my various symptoms. I ordered an “encapsulator” for making my own herbal capsules, and have been playing with that a LOT. Instead of buying bottles of herbal supplements, I’ve been making my own. Continue reading Making My Own “Medicine” for My Chronic Illness »
By wendy, on March 10th, 2011%
(Disclosure notice: Links to product pages in this post are affiliate links, and if you make a purchase using one, I will receive a payment. If you enjoy this blog and intend to make a purchase, I would greatly appreciate your use of my links to do so. It will not affect the price you pay, and will help me keep this blog online.)
Chronic illnesses tend to wreak havoc with family finances. Between the cost of treatment, and the reduction in the ability to work; having an illness like fibromyalgia, bipolar disorder, myalgic encephalitis (chronic fatigue syndrome,) lupus, migraines, or any of the thousands of others out there can destroy a family’s financial security and severely limit the ability to provide traditional healthcare.
My illnesses have put me in the position of not being able to afford the several hundred dollars a month I was spending on medications with my insurance (and with the insurance we have now, the more than $1000 a month they would cost would take pretty much our entire income,) so I’ve had to find other options.
It’s been an interesting journey, and there have been times when I’ve seriously considered just killing myself and getting it over with (mostly during the forced withdrawal from the psychiatric meds I used to be on for my bipolar disorder.) I’ve reached a point now where I’ve found enough other options to manage fairly well, and I’m actually happier without the prescriptions than I was with them. (Even if I hit the lottery tomorrow, I wouldn’t go back to taking all the stuff I used to be on.)
It’s more work than just popping a handful of pills several times a day, but using herbs and aromatherapy to treat my symptoms is also very satisfying. I have much more control of what I’m putting into my body, I’m supporting the natural processes my body uses to heal itself rather than subverting them, and I’m not dealing with multiple side-effects that have to be treated with yet another expensive medication that comes with its own set of side-effects.
Natural treatments do take longer to “kick-in,” and I sometimes deal with slightly higher pain levels than I would if I could just take a heavy-duty pain-killer, but I don’t have to worry about becoming dependent on most of the herbal treatments I use, either. (Which also means that I don’t have to worry about withdrawal symptoms if I switch things around or run out of something.)
There are several herbs that I make certain I always have on hand, and as I promised in part 1, those are the ones I’m going to focus on in this post.
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, and nothing I say in this post is intended as medical advice. If you find the idea of using herbs in your treatment plan intriguing, be sure to do the research and discuss any changes or additions with your healthcare provider to ensure your safety.
 Making Skullcap Capsules Skullcap: I use this one for pain reduction (it has actually helped more with my sprained shoulder than the Lortabs the doctor prescribed,) stress reduction, and help sleeping. I try to get it online, from Mountain Rose Herbs, because it’s half the price that I pay at the organic grocery down the street. ($15 a pound, as opposed to $30; so even after I pay for shipping, I save money.)
It works well for headaches (especially tension headaches,) and muscle pain; and in combination with other anti-inflammatory herbs like ginger and turmeric, it also helps with my arthritis/fibromyalgia pain. Continue reading Making My Own “Medicine” – Part 2 »
By wendy, on October 31st, 2010%
It’s time for the new Graceful Agony Blog Carnival post, and the subject this time is dreams. Not the kind of dreams you have while you’re sleeping, but the dreams you have for your life . . . It’s a wide open topic, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the group does with it.
Personally, I don’t really know where to start. I have so many dreams that it’s hard to choose between them, and that lack of focus makes it almost impossible to accomplish ANY of them. Since that’s true, it makes sense to me to focus on the dream that caused me to start this blog, and that keeps bringing me back here, even when I’ve been having issues with writer’s block and fibro fog.
No matter how long it is between posts, I always wind up coming back; finishing up drafts and writing new stuff. Even during the worst of the fogs and fatigue, I find myself starting drafts so that when I’m more able to work on things the ideas will still be available.
I started this blog because I wanted to help others with chronic illnesses to find ways to cope that don’t necessarily involve doctors and prescriptions. Allopathic (Western) medicine is great for some things, but it is failing those of us with chronic illnesses because its total focus is on curing disease, and when the doctors can’t cure it they get frustrated.
My dream is to help people find things that help to make their lives better in spite of the diseases they live with every day, whether that is a new prescription medication that reduces their symptoms or a stress reduction technique that helps them cope with those symptoms. Continue reading A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes »
By wendy, on October 13th, 2010%
I found this article on Dr. Mercola’s site, and I thought that the information included could be very helpful for those of us who deal with the horrors of fibro every day. (I personally plan to try many of these suggestions, and have already discovered that aspartame DOES make my pain worse.) Republished with permission.
Chronic pain is a pervasive issue and fibromyalgia is a very common form. It is a chronic condition whose symptoms include muscle and tissue pain, fatigue, depression, and sleep disturbances.
Recent data suggests that central sensitization, in which neurons in your spinal cord become sensitized by inflammation or cell damage, may be involved in the way fibromyalgia sufferers process pain.
Certain chemicals in the foods you eat may trigger the release of neurotransmitters that heighten this sensitivity.
Although there have been only a handful of studies on diet and fibromyalgia, the following eating rules can’t hurt, and may help, when dealing with chronic pain. Continue reading Foods That Chronic Pain Sufferers Need to Avoid »
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"The moral test of a society is how that society treats those who are in the dawn of life . . . the children; those who are in the twilight of life . . . the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life . . . the sick, the needy, and the handicapped."
---Hubert Humphrey
Welcome to the new home of Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired. I hope you'll enjoy the changes, and the new resources I'll be adding as I have time to work on the site. Things will look a bit odd while I learn where and how to modify the appearance, so please bear with me.
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