A funny: food additives

'Cause it's true :)

- From http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/

Leg going numb

OK this is getting a bit scary. My right leg started going numb while I was on a hayride Saturday :( We also walked through 2 miles of corn maze in the dark. By the time I got on the hay ride, my legs were freaking out. I was cold, tired and then ended up sitting with one half of me on one hay bale, and the other half on the adjoining hay bale. Then a tractor pulled us around for about 20 min. My leg started going numb and it hasn't calmed down much since. All the muscles in my right leg are hard as rocks. What this is from, I have no clue! Lord have mercy! I might just have to get one of those motorized scooters to annoy my hubby with! He hates them - says they are always "in his way" when he goes to the store. Grrrr.

The proverbial onion

This week has been horrible, with huge weather shifts, horrible migraines, shoulder pain and hip instabilitly. I was FINALLY able to get back to the acupuncturist. He'd been out of town for 2+ weeks, so I was left to continue on my own and see how I did.

The left shoulder was incredibly messed up. Worst pain it's ever had! I was really close to calling the orthopedic surgeon again and saying "Look mister, you fixed the right shoulder but now the left one's toast!" But I decided to wait and see how acupuncture did.

Acupuncturist could see what my shoulder was doing. It was in RARE FORM! The right shoulder wasn't bad, and the tension in the back of my head was pretty non-existant. My sacrum was still wonky. He told me that the sacrum problem may have been there all along, but I just didn't notice it because of the pain in my upper body! He said my problems were like an onion. Peel off one layer (neck tension) and the next layers emerge. Maybe at the very center of the onion will be the cure?! EDS can't be cured but if I could at least train my body to line up better, that would be great.

It makes me wonder if I might have tethered cord. Here are some sites that explain that:

http://www.conquerchiari.org/subs%20only/volume%204/issue%204(9)/occult%20tcs%204(9).asp

http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Tethered_spinal_cord_syndrome/1

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/405672_6

I definitely notice there is scoliosis going on when it flares. Hmmm the next mysterious onion layer...

Stinging Nettle

Right now, I'm taking two herbs: Vitex/Chasteberry to decrease estrogen levels, and Stinging Nettle to help with allergies.

Stinging nettle plant (Urtica dioica) is an herb with stinging hairs found in the United States mostly in forests, mountains, weedy, undisturbed areas and roadsides. Extracts of the stinging nettle roots have been used in Germany for prostate health, joint disorders and respiratory health...

Stinging nettle extract shows in vitro inhibition of several key inflammatory events that cause the symptoms of seasonal allergies. These include the antagonist and negative agonist activity against the Histamine-1 (H(1)) receptor and the inhibition of mast cell tryptase preventing degranulation and release of a host of pro-inflammatory mediators that cause the symptoms of hay fevers. The stinging nettle extract also inhibits prostaglandin formation through inhibition of Cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1), Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and Hematopoietic Prostaglandin D(2) synthase (HPGDS), central enzymes in pro-inflammatory pathways. These results provide for the first time, a mechanistic understanding of the role of stinging nettle extracts in reducing allergic and other inflammatory responses in vitro.

- From http://www.raysahelian.com/stingingnettle.html



Another site had this interesting tidbit:

The stinging nettle was referred to by Shakespeare in the play Henry IV part 1, where the character Hotspur asks that "out of this nettle, danger, we grasp this flower, safety." The common figure of speech "to grasp the nettle" has its origin in this quotation and means to face up to or take on a known problem.

- From http://www.vortexhealth.net/stinging_nettle.html


Other benefits they listed: helps with UTIs, kidney function, detoxification, arthritis, hormone balance, etc. Basically it's supposed to help with just about all the things I need :) Plus it was only $7 for a bottle that will last months! I will continue taking it and see what happens.

Getting comfy at night

Just another day in the life of an EDSer. Everyone looks at me wondering what's wrong with me. Why do I have those dark circles under my eyes? I'm young, I look healthy on the outside. Little do they know I'm in pain 24/7, take more pills than they can imagaine, and sleep is hard to come by. Lately I've had a lot more energy, but then I end up staying up past 11:30 and when I need to get up by 6:30, that is not so cool. It takes me FOREVER to find a comfy spot where I can relax and drift off. Lately, the pink recliner in the livingroom has been my best friend. I can tip it back as far as it can go, which allows me to stretch out with my head still slightly elevated. Then I can lay on my side without squashing my shoulder in half and smashing my ribcage (Smashing the ribcage makes my heart flip-flop in my chest). Also I can wedge my hips into a comfy spot where they're not wobbling all over the place. I can prop a pillow between my legs for hip support and a pillow between my arms for shoulder support. Finally, I can put an ice pack on the sore spot on the back of my head and pray that the cats, dog and frogs don't wake me up before I can get some Z's. I must look pretty ridiculous.

This is one time I actually envy Homer Simpson. It must be nice to be able to sleep anytime, anywhere :)

SI Joint

Yep I've finally figured out what is causing my hips and lower back/legs to feel so incredibly strange! I believe it is my Sacroiliac Joint! Here is a nifty video:

http://video.about.com/backandneck/Sacroiliac-Joint-Syndrome.htm

That is totally what my hips feel like - that they are NOT moving correctly when I walk, and when I get up sometimes I'll feel the sacrum "pop"! My entire lower back is extremely stiff and locked up and my legs feel like I need to move them constantly to get rid of the tight prickly feelings. Here are a few other sites that explain the SI joint dysfunction:

http://www.getprolo.com/sacroiliac_joint_dysfunction.htm

http://www.orthogate.org/patient-education/lumbar-spine/sacroiliac-joint-dysfunction.html

http://www.lower-back-pain-answers.com/sacroiliac-joint-dysfunction.html

From the last link, my symptoms seem to be more on the hyPO mobile side. My theory is that my EDS has caused that joint to be loose (and yes I have given birth once). Actually my SI joint seems to act up more around hormone shifts. Then, to stabilize the area my body has tried to tighten up all the tissue. I will be discussing this more with my massage professional. It is literally a pain in the butt :) :) :)

Hip weirdness

I just need to vent - my hips are falling apart at the ripe old age of 35 -ARRRGGGHHH!!! So I had my fourth session of acupuncture yesterday. I could tell the doc. was about ready to give me the ol' heave ho. As in "You're not THAT sick, in fact you're quite young and healthy so we think you are just exaggerating. EDS? Chiari? That's what you think - have a nice life!!" This was making me very nervous because I had really improved with my first few treatments.

Basically first session he focused on my right ear briefly, second and third he focused on my left ear working on loosening up the left shoulder and briefly worked on my hips. Well apparently my hips did not like that. This week they went HAYWIRE! I literally felt I could not walk or stand. I was nauseous and weak. It felt to my untrained hands that there was a big lump on the right side of my sacrum. It felt WRONG, but I didn't know what it was doing exactly except that it was not straight? Or shifted out of place?

I came into acupuncture all pale and sickly looking. He asked me how I was doing and I said "Terrible!" In a way I was secretly relieved he could see now what I was dealing with. I wasn't just making stuff up. I really DO have bad days. He bent my legs and said that they should be much more flexible that this, especially for a loose-jointed person. He felt the sacrum area and made some kind of sympathetic noise which to me would be translated: "Holy #$&@?!" Of course he had to be more polite than that. He did some treatment on my sacrum I don't know the name for, then zapped my ears some more. I did feel quite a bit of shifting and energy action. The rest of the day it was better. I had sort of a stressful day and it started to flare up again by the end of the day however.

If I had to describe this feeling I would say it feels like my sacrum is unstable. It literally feels like my legs are not attached to my body. I'll have to do some more research on this.