This has been quite the week where the weather is concerned. First, our first cold-snap since winter started here in Northern Virginia has started this current pain wave. As those of us who live with chronic pain conditions know, cold weather has the ability to cripple our bodies with severe pain with a vengeance. The addition of snow exasperated the pain and the coming of a full moon is making each day pretty unbearable. The migraines, neck, back, and all-over body pain are evidence of that. I have been experiencing really bad allodynia on my scalp where even though I only have about an inch of hair on my head, it feels like I have the tightest ponytail on in the world. I can barely touch the end of a strand of hair without it feeling like I have millions of needles pricking my scalp.
The fibromyalgia has been getting worse by the day and the correlation between the moon rising and increased head pain has been noted and expected when there is a full moon. Why the increased pain when the moon is full? Parasites. We tend to not acknowledge that parasites can and do exist within our bodies. We have simply learned to adapt and live with them so the symptoms of parasites go unnoticed. But, if we paid attention, we would notice that our pain and other symptoms we experience coincide with full moons and are more intense. This is because parasites are most active and reproduce during the full moon cycle. The symptoms related to parasites include constipation, gas and bloating, anemia, diarrhea, joint and muscle aches and pains, allergies, acne, rashes and other skin conditions, nervousness, sleep disturbances, and tooth grinding/clenching.
Needless to say, I have been breaking out all over my face, not sleeping well, have very bad joint and muscle aches and pains, and have been feeling increased anxiety and depression this week. To top it all off my kids have been home from school thanks to the snow so now I have to be and do more. That doesn't make dealing with my pain issues any easier.
Thank you Mother Earth for the triple whammy you slammed me with. I will do my best to make it through the pain as I do with every flare up. Just because I survived the others it doesn't make the current one any easier.
*Parasite information courtesy of Health Resources.
Full Moons, Snow Days and Pain
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Healthy Recipes
In my quest to find recipes that fit my new lifestyle, I happened upon some really delicious looking options while grocery shopping. My local store Giant has a free magazine called Healthy Ideas and I was impressed by what was inside. I'd like to share some of them with you.
If you try any of these recipes, please leave feedback in the comments section. I'd love to hear whether you liked it or not! To healthy, happy cooking!
Healthy Snacks/Appetizers
Spiced Chickpeas - Julie Menounos MS, RD, LDN
Beans are a good source of fiber, protein and folate. Try these spices with your favorite bean, pea or lentil!
Kale Chips - Larissa Chapkovich
Rich in vitamins A, C and K, which help to promote a strong immune system, kale is also a good source of calcium and potassium.
Tuna Patties - Sylvia B. Emberger, RD, LDN
Canned tuna is packed with protein, provides omega-3s, and is an easy ingredient to keep on hand. Serve tuna patties plain, topped with a slice of cheese or on a bun with tomato and lettuce.
Puddle Day Muffins - Great for the kids! - Sylvia Warner, MEd, RD, LDN
Fruits and veggies are low in fat and provide fiber and an abundance of key nutrients. Having fun with your food is an easy way to include more fruits and veggies into your family meals and snacks.
Cucumber Mango Raita - Valerie Waters, RD and Chef Eric Henkle
Indian cuisine is among the most complex and flavorful in the world, but the benefits go far beyond taste. Indian recipes involve an impressive array of fresh vegetables, lean proteins, herbs and spices that give them a lower calorie content and a thumbs-up in health!
Mock-a-mole - giantfood.com
Don't like avocado? Then make this recipe using asparagus!!
Baked Tortilla Chips - giantfood.com
A healthy and inexpensive alternative to store bought tortilla chips.
Entrees/Sides
Curry Yogurt Chicken Kabobs w/Cucumber Mango Raita - Valerie Waters, RD and Chef Eric Henkle
Some dishes use yogurt to lend a rich, creamy consistency and tone down the heat from fresh peppers or chilies. When preparing Indian food at home, you can use reduced-fat or Greek-style yogurt to get that authentic flavor without the added fat.
White Chicken Chili - Mary Ann Moylan, RD, LDN, CDE and Chef Dan Keebler
A piping hot bowl of chili is a winter weather staple. Perfect for a game-day party or one-dish weeknight dinner, chili can be endlessly customized with different meats, vegetables and toppings.
You may be surprised that with the right ingredients, a hearty chili can be as nutritious as it is delicious. Here are a few ways to pack your bowl with nutrient-rich flavor, while keeping fat, calories and sodium in check:
- If using meat, make it lean.
- Add a variety of fiber-filled beans, like kidney, pinto, garbanzo, navy and cannelloni.
- Choose a variety of fruits and vegetables, including carrots, green peppers, onions and tomatoes, or even butternut squash, pineapple or pumpkin.
- Spice it up! Chili powder and cumin give chili its traditional kick, but you can also use other herbs and spices to add flavor without adding fat or calories.
Jazz up brown rice with pineapple chunks, red bell pepper and scallions. Yum!
Roasted Green Beans - giantfood.com
Give your green beans a makeover with olive oil, pecans and shallots.
Almost Dying
I had no idea how or why I was in the hospital. I woke up to my mother's face and instantly questioned why I was in a hospital in Florida and then asking her what the hell happened (in those exact words). I see my husband's face and all the life has drained from it. I had no clue what was going on but I was very scared to find out. I probably dozed off and on for some time because the rest is a bit blurry. I am not sure if I was told what happened at that time or after I was taken off the ventilator but here's the reason why I was there. On Friday morning I had a small disagreement with my husband. I had taken my bottle of Wellbutrin XL into the bathroom and proceeded to swallow all of the pills (around 60 I think at 150mg each).
Let me make this disclaimer - I was in no way severely depressed or feeling suicidal at any time prior to this event. Yes, I was upset and stressed but in no way to the point of wanting to end my life. I had been taking the maximum dose of Wellbutrin (450 mg/day) since September but had been on the antidepressant for about two years or longer. Looking back I can see that my personality was different. I was getting more and more short tempered and angry a lot over the course of being on it and much more so after the increase to 450mg/day. Until finally, something snapped where a very small and insignificant event caused me to react with an overdose.
After I took the pills I walked out of the bathroom and told my husband that he didn't have to be bothered with me anymore. He asked me why and he said that I told him what I did. He called an ambulance and I was rushed to the ER. From what he told me next I almost couldn't believe my ears. It was so bad by the time I got there (and they got me there FAST). I started having seizures - small ones at first and then a full-blown seizure. When it was over I lay limp and unresponsive on the table. I was intubated and given charcoal but my blood pressure was dangerously low. The doctor didn't know if I was going to make it through the night. He told my husband that it could go either way and gave me a 40% chance to make it out of woods. This is all so very hard for me to type. As I relive these moments I feel very sad but this is a story that I must tell, so I'll go on.
I was put in a medically induced coma and taken to the ICU where I remained until I started to wake up out of the coma on Sunday. It was like I literally woke up in hell. I had no idea what happened or why and was past the point of being confused. I was hallucinating and was seeing and hearing things that weren't there. When the doctor and nurse told me that no one was in the room I broke into tears. First I'm told that I tried to, and almost successfully, kill myself and now I'm hallucinating? What next? Well, how about being told that they found cocaine in my system. You've got to be kidding me!! I've never done drugs in my life. Not marijuana, cocaine, crack, heroine, ecstasy, PCP, speed - not one! It felt like my entire world had fallen apart and didn't know how much more I could take.
A nice surprise was seeing my family from Buffalo. It was a bit jarring though because their presence spoke to the magnitude and seriousness of the situation. I also felt a lot of love and that helped to soften the experience a little. Later that day I was moved to a regular floor. That made me feel a bit better. When I got to the room I realized that I had a catheter, which was sewn into my crotch. And thanks to my terrible veins, I had a line put in my neck. I could barely walk to the bathroom as I was extremely weak. However, I knew that the worst was soon to follow. Being babysat 24/7 and talked to by behavioral health. I had to convince them that I was not depressed nor suicidal and that it was the medication that caused a personality shift. I was myself and very clear headed about my mental stability and I wasn't going to let them send me across the street to the inpatient psychiatric ward. I had to endure multiple visits by judgemental and insensitive know-it-all assistants from behavioral health and one with the social worker. Every time I had to explain that I was not depressed or suicidal at the time and that it was the medication. I was very angry at the way I was being talked to but had to remind myself not to get too upset or it will give them reason to ship me to the psych ward. It was hard not to react angrily when being asked things like, "How long have you been doing cocaine?" or "You don't remember telling me that you wanted to die?" I wanted to take those women and slam them head first into the wall. I never prayed so hard in my life for God to keep me because I was seconds from going off on them.
Besides, all that mattered was what the psychiatrist said and not his little minions. It was after two days of being on the patient care floor before I saw the psychiatrist and thanks to my and my family's daily prayers, he got it! The first thing out of his mouth after I explained everything to him was that it was obvious that I wasn't depressed. Hallelujah!! I didn't have to go across the street and as soon as my liver enzymes were normal I could go home. I hated being there and wanted to go home to my children and love up on them and my husband. I was discharged on Wednesday, November 14th.
I was removed from all medications except the propranolol which I was taking for my fibromyalgia. Because of my blood pressure bottoming out and it being a blood pressure medication I was kept on it. I weaned myself off of it three weeks after leaving the hospital because it was giving me terrible headaches and making me dizzy. I was very weak and could barely walk from my bed to my bathroom without getting out of breath. It was a struggle. Coming to grips with what happened was even tougher. Although this had just happened to me, most of it I did not remember. Having to live through a trauma through someone else's narrative was, and still is, difficult to accept. I see the scars and bruises and feel the effects of what happened but I have no memory of how or why it happened. That's a difficult thing to wrap my head around. But most of all, I'm very upset that this happened again. I meant it when I said that I would never put my family through this again. I've done all that I can over the years to be proactive about my depression so as to not ever go to that place of desolation and hopelessness again. I feel like a huge let down and it does make me feel embarrassed at times. I worry about anyone questioning my mental stability now more than ever and I have been labeled as a drug addict. I didn't ask for this. My life is already difficult. Why did this have to be added to my long list of struggles?
I am now learning to live with my depression and cope with it naturally along with therapy. Now that I am no longer taking any prescriptions I have found a new path to healing. I am seeing a bioenergetic practitioner who is helping me to heal my body and find out what the root cause(s) of my health problems are. It's a hard road that I'm traveling down but I have made a lot of progress in just two months. I have a lot more to do but I feel better about how I'm taking care of myself. I've made a major life change and I expect nothing but positive results from it. There are still many obstacles that I have to overcome but I'm sure that I'll get through them. I have new passions and ideas and hope to make something out of them.
The one highest on my agenda is the state of mental health in this country and the danger of antidepressants, anti psychotics and anti anxiety medications. My best friend sent me this article about Wellbutrin a few days after I was released from the hospital and it got my blood boiling:
Generic brands of the antidepressant (or of any drug) only need to show bioequivalency to the name brand, which means that the generic can be comprised of ingredients that are not equal to the name brand or can be completely devoid of the main ingredient. This could be why cocaine came up in my blood work when I've never done illegal drugs. I've only consumed those approved by the FDA and prescribed by medical doctors. Which is more dangerous? I never should have been prescribed Wellbutrin being that I had a previous attempt. Why didn't any of my psychiatrists know this - or did they and didn't find it an issue?
And after the Sandy Hook tragedy in Newton I haven't heard much talk about mental illness. Everyone is focused on gun reform but not on what truly led to this happening. No one is having heated debates about how to approach mental health and the implications of medications, non- and under treatment, and the shadow of stigma that shrouds it entirely. How many know that the shooter was on an anti psychotic known for causing violent behavior in patients that took the drug? This article does a good job in discussing this very important aspect to the situation:
My experience I'm sure is not a rare one. I choose to share mine to open up people's eyes to what really happens when it comes to mental health, the prescribing of medications, and the treatment of mental health patients. Living with one or more mental illness disorders is hard enough. Having to be subjected to judgement and pure ignorance makes it virtually impossible. I hope to change that one day. Right now, I hope my story at least starts the conversation.
I am interested in hearing if anyone had similar experiences with taking antidepressants or any other medications used to treat mental illness disorders. Please leave a comment below. They can be left anonymously so your privacy and dignity will remain protected.
I am interested in hearing if anyone had similar experiences with taking antidepressants or any other medications used to treat mental illness disorders. Please leave a comment below. They can be left anonymously so your privacy and dignity will remain protected.
God Bless
Fructose and Fruit Juice - Enegetix Blog
Posted: 17 Jan 2013 04:00 AM PST
Fructose and Fruit Juice
Written By Brook Rivera
It used to be that having a glass of orange juice with your breakfast meal was a healthy start to the day. Get your vitamin C! These days, as more and more studies are coming out about the harmful effects of excess fructose on our health, it may be wiser to just eat an orange. [...]
FDA Approves Botox to Treat Overactive Bladder
January 18, 2013
January 18, 2013 -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today expanded the approved use of Botox (onabotulinumtoxinA) to treat adults with overactive bladder who cannot use or do not adequately respond to a class of medications known as anticholinergics.
FDA Alert: Ferrous Sulfate Tablets, 325 mg Labeled as Rugby Natural Iron Supplement: Recall - Bottle May Contain Meclizine HCl 25 mg Tablets
January 18, 2013
Audience: Pharmacy, Consumer.
ISSUE: Advance Pharmaceutical Inc. notified the public of a recall of one lot of Ferrous Sulfate Tablets 325 mg, after notification by a pharmacist that a bottle of Ferrous Sulfate Tablets, 325 mg contained Meclizine HCl 25 mg tablets. The lot of the Rugby Ferrous Sulfate is 12G468. Expiration date for the lot is 07/14.
NuPathe's Zecuity Approved by the FDA for the Acute Treatment of Migraine
January 18, 2013
CONSHOHOCKEN, PA--(Marketwire - Jan 17, 2013) - NuPathe Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Zecuity (sumatriptan iontophoretic transdermal system) for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura in adults. Zecuity is a single-use, battery-powered patch that actively delivers sumatriptan, the most widely prescribed migraine medication, through the skin. Zecuity provides relief of both migraine headache pain and migraine-related nausea (MRN).
Mental Disorders Linked With Domestic Violence, Study Says
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 2 (HealthDay News) -- People diagnosed with mental illness are more likely than others to be victims of domestic violence, a new analysis finds.
Previous research has linked depression to domestic violence, but this review looks at a possible link between mental illness overall and domestic abuse in men and women.
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Access to Mental Health Data in EHRs Linked to Lower Readmissions
Hospital readmission rates are lower among psychiatric patients who have their mental health histories included in their electronic health records, according to a small study published online in the International Journal of Medical Informatics, FierceEMR reports.
Read more...
Mental Health Training Pushed By Virginia Lawmakers
Virginia lawmakers are about to consider a new program to train school officials and human service workers in mental health first aid. The bill is a reaction, at least in part, to the shooting tragedy in Connecticut last month.
A few months ago, a woman showed up at City Hall in Alexandria and raised alarm bells. The city officials contacted adult protective services, and Sue Ellen Mawhinney showed up to assess the situation.
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Brain Scans Might Help Spot Risk for Bipolar Disorder
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Brain imaging can identify young people at risk for bipolar disorder, a new study says.
Australian researchers used functional MRI to observe the brain activity of young people when they were shown pictures of faces with happy, fearful or calm expressions.
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Mental Health America Calls for National Action in Response to Newtown Tragedy
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (January 7, 2013)—Mental Health America today called on President Obama and Congress to take action in response to the Newtown tragedy by identifying and implementing solutions that expand the capacity and capabilities of the nation’s mental health programs and services.
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