In a holding pattern. . .

In other health news, I'm kind of in a "wait and see" holding pattern mode. There are a number of things I'd like to get checked out, but I'm waiting to see which thing bothers me most!! As I mentioned in the post below, my shoulders flare up VERY badly anytime I try to do anything requiring arm power. I get migraines a couple days after I use my arms too much. They pop, grind and feel like pins and needles - very strange. But, I don't really want another shoulder surgery so I'm a bit nervous to go back to the orthopedic place.

Then I'm starting to have some pain in my left thumb again. It flared up last summer, too so maybe it's from the extra outdoor work? It hurts whenever I try to use it. It's sort of swollen, too. I got some more glucosamine to see if that might help.

Then there's my GI tract which is still not 100%. I have to be very careful not to over-do anything in the NIGHTSHADE family (tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and eggplant). I start getting very painful cramps in my abdomen if I eat too many of those. Also beans give me a lot of strange stomach problems. And of course anything oily like avocados or sunflower seeds cause me to have diarrhea from the extra bile coursing through my system :-(

My knee has its good and bad moments. I thought it was getting a lot better, so I rode my bike several times and walked on it for several hours last week. Although I was wearing my brace for those activities, it still flared up quite badly and was popping and doing all kinds of weird things.

So yeah... just sort of waiting to see which of these things will get worse, and which will get better!

Kratom report

Well I've taken about 4 Kratom capsules so far! I went to the health food store and got some empty gelatin caps, and I carefully filled a few. The fact it takes some work to make the capsules kinda helps me not to go overboard. I've been taking 1-2 capsules per week, mainly on the days I overdo it (large amounts of walking, cleaning the house, gardening, manual labor, traveling, etc.) These activities tend to "flare" my shoulders really badly :-( Although it doesn't get rid of ALL of my pain, it does help get me through those busy days.

I notice quite a bit of pain relief right after I take a capsule. It does seem sort of like a Tylenol 3 or something of that nature. Pain relief - and I get a tad loopy for a brief hour or 2. But overall I think it helps! I'd recommend it for people with chronic pain.

Kratom

I've heard about a special herbal pain relief called "Kratom". It is a leaf used for years in southeast Asia for pain and mood issues.

http://www.sagewisdom.org/kratomguide.html

http://www.kratomblog.com/2007/09/several-ways-to-ingest-kratom.html

http://www.kratom-world.com/kratom_usage.html

http://www.kratomtincture.com/kratom-tea/how-to-make-enhanced-kratom-tea-advanced

I'm going to try it and blog to you all if it works :-) I've tried all the basic pain relievers such as vicodin, percocet, Tylenol 3 etc. and they all have unpleasant side effects. I'd like to see if this herb can have a similar effect for my "bad days", and then I don't have to constantly be calling the doc asking for meds!! These pain relievers can be addicting so I'll be very careful to only use them on days I really need it - maybe 1-2x a week?