Come Join the Fun! The Johnson Method of Shooting Fish in a Barrel

Edit: More information about Michael Johnson and www.txchronicpain.com
Another interesting Facebook thread. 

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The Johnson Method of Shooting Fish in a Barrel

Please consider following Mary Shomon if you have any thyroid issues, think you might, or if you know someone who does. She does a comprehensive job of tackling thyroid conditions from as many angles as she can find, and she finds more every day.

If you have time, read through all the threads associated with The Johnson Method of Shooting Fish in a Barrel. This is the sort of thing we all must do to help alert each other to the dangers that lurk.

Yes, I have thyroid disease. I have eleven thyroid nodules and have had two biopsies. I expect to be referred for a third next time I see my endocrinologist.


Copyright 2008-2011 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission. Use the ShareThis link if you want to share this. Nothing in the above article is remunerated content. Remember that if my work gets published anywhere else without proper citation, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

Parin Stormlaughter has shared: Migraine Research Foundation

This is an interesting article. Read between the lines.

The opening paragraphs are telling. It seems that the Migraine Research Foundation went into this ready to conclusively prove that morphine is bad for migraine treatment. The study results did not support that hypothesis.

Basically, the study did not prove its hypothesis but justified its existence through other interesting findings. The whole article is interesting if you're an egg-head like me.  Continue to scroll down for other research projects and results if you're interested.

There will come a point in time when guidelines will state that opioids should not be prescribed for migraine treatment unless a well-managed and effective prevention regimen is also present. 

What must happen before migraine treatment reaches that point:

1. Extensive and effective data-mining must be performed to clearly and unequivocally measure the effects of triptan usage.  The data-mining must include locating the number of stroke and other cardiovascular event patients who were treated with triptans within 72 of the discovery of the event.  If patients were not specifically asked about triptan usage prior to the event, that must be clearly noted as well.  It must include locating the history of triptan usage by people identified as having MRI/CT lesions of people who also have migraine.  
2. Well-designed data-mining studies must locate and clearly establish the effects of prevention regimens in patients who have opioids in their attack management plans.

These things must be kept in the forefront of the minds of everyone who has migraine, lives and works with migraineurs, studies migraine, or treats migraine:

• No one has ever fallen over dead from one proper opioid dosage for migraine; however, people have fallen dead from ONE dose of a triptan
• Until the effect of triptan administration on stroke and other cardiovascular patients has been thoroughly data-mined and further studied, nothing else is worth study
• Nothing can or will take the place of prevention of attacks.

Migraine Research Foundation Source: migraineresearchfoundation.org
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The Trauma of Migraine and Meniere's Attacks

It has become clear to me over the last year, which I've spent working closely on emotional hygiene, that I've vastly underestimated the trauma of both migraine and Meniere's attacks that are part of the events.

I don't feel up to drawing a picture for you of the trauma of these attacks as I experience it.  I dealt with a combination migraine/Meniere's attack over the weekend.  I'm not over it yet another attack cycle has started.  Thanks be to God this attack appears to be migraine only and not a combination attack.

Some months ago, I determined that I would take a dose of the Bach Flower Remedy (BFR) called Rescue Remedy each time I treated an attack with medicine.  It has helped enough that I see now I should consider taking a dose for every attack whether I treat it with medicine or ride it out with complementary treatments.   I've got a good preventative medicine regimen that's reduced the intensity of the pain significantly, quite well enough to make the expense of the drugs and their side effects worthwhile. 

Attack trauma has contributed to my lack of function and neither Valium nor Effexor addresses it sufficiently.  The support I get from Twitter and Facebook friends who endure the same thing is priceless.  There's a problem when I need help immediately and no one is around and yes, this makes me needy.  I state it clearly here now.

I've got all 38 of the BFR and several extremely good books including the comprehensive The Encyclopedia of Bach Flower Therapy by Mechtild Scheffer.  This book is not for beginners but once a person is familiar with the way the Remedy system works, it's well worth a purchase.

There are hundreds of flower remedies available.  Bach Flower Remedies do not work the way any of them work.  BFRs require effort on the part of both a patient and practitioner, if one goes that route; however, for me the simplicity is so encouraging and the results so long lasting that I knew it was for me.

Right now, I'm overreacting because I've mislaid my Encyclopedia.  I've taken a dose of Rescue Remedy along with Indocin for the attack cycle that just started.  I need to make up what's called a dosage bottle but it'll have to wait until I can find my Encyclopedia.

Who knows?  One day when I'm well, I might include training as a Bach Flower Remedy practitioner when I finish my Master's in Transpersonal Studies.

As always, if anyone doesn't understand the hoopla of migraine, Meniere's Syndrome, fibromyalgia, and triggered attacks like that, I'll be glad to give you my take on it.  Please comment and we'll talk.  The comments are moderated just to keep out spam.  I'm still getting Asian porn spam and that just doesn't do it for me.  LOL

Bottom line is that I'm going to work more closely this year with the trauma aspect of attacks.  BFR Star of Bethlehem, which is one of the components of Rescue Remedy, is for long-term trauma even if it occurred decades ago.  The less trauma I experience and the more aggressively I treat what's already happened, the more function I believe I'll regain.  Every crumb of function is worth fighting for like a pit bull.





Copyright 2008-2010 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission. Use the ShareThis link if you want to share this. Nothing in the above article is remunerated content. Remember that if my work gets published anywhere else without proper citation, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

Love Beats Hate Blog Event

Too many of us who are chronically ill and disabled have to give up our precious spoons to fight off attacks from sometimes aggressive and assuredly misguided people.

I plan to participate in this blog event with an article about a dreadful episode that happened to me recently. Blogger Extraordinaire Diana Lee of Somebody Heal Me is helping to organize the Love Beats Hate Blog Event.  Check out Diana's article and the list of participating blogs.

Next Wednesday November 17, 2010, consider contributing a article. Love Beats Hate better than anything. :)


Copyright 2008-2010 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission. Use the ShareThis link if you want to share this. Nothing in the above article is remunerated content. Remember that if my work gets published anywhere else without proper citation, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

Ground it out, you energy vacuum! Part I

10/14/10 Edit: gah, mentioned a link then forgot to put it in. It's there now. :P
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Take it or Leave it Category: Take what's useful...you know the tune. :)

One of the things we chronically ill folks will say in a heartbeat is that we will do nearly anything to treat our situations and get well. Of course, a generalization that broad would need clarification and individualization after all (no Santaria or Palo Mayombe, Briyumba or Kimbisa or anything in that category for me, for example). But if we can find something relatively safe with a reasonably good chance of working, we'll take a look at it.

Once I was able to concentrate solely on getting well, I jumped into healing with both feet.  I couldn't work full time at a paying job so I determined that I would work full-time every day at getting well.  I asked every doctor I had for all the recommendations that he or she could think of.  I work closely with all my doctors and wouldn't dream of doing anything that they would disapprove.

I pondered and prayed, and several ideas presented themselves.  I consulted an exquisite crystal healer and it changed the course of my healing.  It became apparent that I had problems with my energy bodies.  While prescription medicines and a couple of supplements did their things, I began work on my energy bodies.

I define my energy body as my internal nerve structures, spine, any and all nervous systems; and my external energy body such as aura, chakra system, and the weird energy fields I have no expectations that I'll ever fully understand in this life.

Donna Eden has developed a system by which people can use their hands to manipulate their own body energies (or the energy fields of others).  I approve of her system.  First, her system gets my thumbs-up because it teaches people to use their own energy and does not utilize the energy of anything or anyone else.  It does not resemble such systems as Reiki which call on "universal energy" which, in fact, does not exist.  But that part is for another column.  Second, her system WORKS.  Third, her system is easy to understand and remember.

So after working with her system and home rock medicine (wouldn't ever consider what I do as real crystal healing), I felt better but not sufficiently better.  I began homebrewing mead and medicinal beers, foraging my semi-wild backyard for healing herbs, and then I fell and broke my neck.

Yep, I broke a bone spur off my C-5 vertebra.  Come to learn that I've got spine problems from my C-1 all the way to my tailbone.  So, I added get spinal work done to my list.

I wasn't getting good results from chiropractics.  Every adjustment seemed to trigger every symptom I had so I gave it up.

Honestly, at that point I was stumped.  I made an appointment with Pam Oslie, a psychic in California.  She had very specific--Edgar Cayce-type specific--recommendations for work on my spine that I needed.  She cautioned me that I might need rods on either side of my spine if I couldn't get the problems fixed (yeah, I've got scoliosis too).  Anybody coming at my back with a knife will get what I'd give anybody attempting to stab me in the back.  So, just don't go there, docs.

Anyway, now I'm getting superb physical therapy treatments on my neck and back according to her recommendations--very good results!!  The treatments have tremendously improved the flow of nerve impulses throughout my entire self.  If the physical therapist I were seeing had less education and experience, I don't believe he would have been able to locate the problems solely by touch.  They don't show up on x-rays or MRI but do show up--ok, get this--Pam Oslie saw them and the PT can feel them.  The doctoral student who conducted the evaluation caught every single nuance in my (lack of) balance and the PT will help with it as well.

One thing that continues to trouble me is utterly perplexing sensitivity.  I'm not sensitive - I am the sensor itself.  I'm not a careful observer - I'm the Princess from The Princess and the Pea.  That was one of my late father's nicknames for me.  He'd say, "All right, Princess and the Pea..."

I can't innumerate everything I've done to combat this, fix it, reduce it, overcome it, bury it, obliterate it, embrace it, integrate it, dilute it, give it away--you cannot imagine what I've done to address this.  I have had absolutely no success at all, none, zero, zilch.  I am becoming more and more sensitive every day.

I've carefully read and learned about my astrological natal chart as part of my healing work - hell, I've about gotten all that's out there of pharmaceuticals and Western medicine so I plunged into complementary and more esoteric, metaphysical work.

In my astrological chart, I found the reflection of my sensitivity which was comforting in a way.  It said to me that for the most part, I had not caused it; however, it is utterly part of who I am and cannot be separated from my self-ness.  According to chart progressions, I can expect it to get worse, or to say it another way, I will become more intuitive, sensitive, aware of energy, psychic, and so on as I finish up the second half of my life.  My energetic vacuum will self-upgrade to industrial strength in about 10 years.  It's bad now.  I cannot picture what it will be like in 10 years.

Before I spoke with Pam Oslie, I had read her book Life Colors: What the Colors in Your Aura Reveal and taken her online "aura color" test.  I had done my little thing and determined that she would be a good fit for what I needed to know.

She told me that, in her system, I was a "life color" that she doesn't see often:  Crystal.  Well, "Crystal" was tied for second place on the online test I took but once she described "Crystals", I was convinced that she was right.

Crystals, one might say, are no one until we're with someone.  We don't have much energetic personality so to speak until we come in contact with another person.  When we do, we suck energy from the other person and fill our aura out with the "color" of the other person.

When I'm with a "yellow", I'm yellow.  When I'm with a "blue", I'm blue.  On page 155 in her book, Pam Oslie says

Crystal is a rare Life Color.  Crystals have clear auras and are known as the "aura chameleons".  Like chameleons, their auras will change colors to match those of the people they are connecting with at the time.  They then take on the characteristics, emotions, and thoughts of that color.  Consequently, in power Crystals can get along quite well with almost anyone.  Yellows, for example, feel they can relate to Crystals who, when they are with them, act and think like Yellow.  Later when the same Crystals spend time with Sensitive Tans, the Tans feel as if they have found kindred spirits.  However, Crystals' inconsistencies can also confuse people.  One minute Crystals think and behave like Greens.  Later they can act like Blue.  The more they bond with others, the more their personalities change.  Because Crystals tend to absorb the colors of other people's auras, people can, at times, feel an energy drain when they are in the presence of Crystals.

Yep, she's got that right.  I'm a pure energy sucker and until I started working on healing my energy body, I wasn't even aware of the extent to which I was vampiring others.  If I get low on energy, I'll start looking for energy wherever I can find it.  Here I discuss the results of a test the chiropractor ran on the energy levels of my two daughters and myself, same day, same technician.  It seems I run half a tank low on a regular basis.

She doesn't have as much about Crystals in her book as she does other Life Colors.  Her best recommendation for my Crystal problems is to immerse myself outside in Nature which, to me, is only the most wonderful thing next to sex... :D

Next, more on my Crystalline self and the various Nature things I'm doing to solve my issues.  I've gotten a piece of more specific, concrete advice to chew on so to speak.

So, I'm consulting psychics and learning to read astrological charts, working with rocks and herbs and foraging wild plants from my backyard along with taking prescription medicine and going through physical therapy.

Still think there's anything I won't do to get well?  Within reason, of course?  :)




Copyright 2008-2010 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission. Use the ShareThis link if you want to share this. Nothing in the above article is remunerated content. Remember that if my work gets published anywhere else without proper citation, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

Chemtrails: Calling all conspiracy theorists!

One day about 10 or 12 years ago, the forecast here was for sparkling sunshine and clear blue skies. At lunchtime, jets flew over leaving expanding trails that left the sky overcast for the rest of the day.

The television meteorologists didn't know how to explain it to the viewers. They simply reported that the sky was clear as had been forecast, then it wasn't and they had no data to show what had happened. They did this one time. In spite of how many times it has happened since then, no one has said a word.

When some jets leave trails and some don't, when those trails expand massively, and when that phenomenon cannot be explained, something is wrong.

"A" shaped contrail??
I took this picture in April 2006

Governments around the world do things all the time. Private citizens do too and the government cannot or will not engage them. Chemically sensitive people like me get sicker and sicker when more and more chemicals are introduced into the air, water, and soil.

The video is extremely well done, haunting music with quite an expert at the sound board. Troubles me that the music runs throughout the whole thing like a B-movie. It's done to manipulate emotion and retain viewer attention. This issue shouldn't need those movie tricks.

It's beyond me why no one is able to figure out who is spraying. Many of the jets that do this are painted pure white with no identifying numbers or symbols. What airport allows egress and ingress to that kind of jet?

I've been following this issue for a long time, a very long time.   Virtually no progress has been made except that for about ten years, most of the spraying around here now occurs during the colder months.  At first, the spraying was conducted year 'round.

About 4 years ago, several of us took a break at work and watched a sky-writer plane advertise a processed meat manufacturing company.  I took a couple of pictures.  I wondered at the time what was in the spray.  Maybe it's the same substance that the jets spray. I took the pictures in September 2006. My last day before suddenly becoming disabled was two months later, November 2006.

I certainly don't know what's going on in the sky. I do know what's going on with my sensitive self. My sensitivity is getting worse.

Ill-wishing

This one is rather "out there" so, as always, take what's useful and discard the rest. :)

I sustained a blow to my energy body first thing Saturday morning. I'm still recovering. Thank you to my incomparable friends for their love and help.  I'm working hard to get well enough fast enough that I won't miss physical therapy in a little while.  It has been wonderful so far and I cannot miss an appointment now!

There is a thing called ill-wishing that Christianity for sure advises against and no doubt other belief systems of good-will find wrong as well. Ill-wishing can cause bad effects in the one wished ill upon, it isn't character-building for the ill-wisher, and simply isn't constructive to resolving the problem. There are several proven and time-honored methods for deflecting ill-wishing and even turning it back upon the ill-wisher. 

I only recommend what my belief system advises.  Matthew 5:43-45 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven; for He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."

What's sad about ill-wishing, or rather what is particularly sad about this specific event, is that I was completely uninvolved in any way in the problem that the wisher was faced with.  I was a victim of false accusation generated in her own mind.  The wisher did try prayer afterwards to "make me not hate" her but I've never hated her to begin with!  My heavens, I don't hate anybody!

This is a classic example of false accusation, bad conscience, and how it can cause true assault on someone else's energy body.  I felt the surge of hatred and anger just as truly as though she had been in front of me swinging her fist.  Her ill-wishing physically injured me just as though she had.

Some people have inborn talent to maneuver and manipulate their own energy.  They can do things like slam people they don't like and make all their friends line up and "do right".   If they're really in denial, they say things like, "people who cross me always have something bad happen to them!"  I shake my head when I hear that.  You're more likely to be causing the other person trouble yourself by nothing more sinister than your own ill-wishing.  Nothing to write home about there.

Some people are more susceptible to ill-wishing than others.  I am extremely sensitive to it, so sensitive it would defy comprehension; however, I've got references.  I have had to find ways of contending with it throughout my entire life, and it remains a problem now.

One person who has seen how ill-wishing whacks me said, "Well, quit pissing people off!"  That wouldn't have helped in this situation because I had nothing to do with it in the first place.  I don't often have much to do with things that cause people to ill-wish upon me.  I get more general crap from Christian-haters, people who hate my former employer, people who hate my friends, and that sort of thing. 

I got whacked because of someone else's bad conscience, Scorpionic desire for revenge, and Leonine conviction that she is leading the way in saving the world by going after people like me.  Then she discovered that I wasn't doing anything.

Give me a freakin' break.  And keep your ill-wishing to yourself.  We're on the same side here and please keep that in mind.

When all this came to light I thought to myself, wow, some people credit me with a lot more power than I have, and some underestimate me entirely.

For the record, I'm in the middle.





Copyright 2008-2010 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission. Use the ShareThis link if you want to share this. Nothing in the above article is remunerated content. Remember that if my work gets published anywhere else without proper citation, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

Sharethis: Press Release – Invisible Illness Week Bloggers Driving Force Behind Awareness Campaign : Invisible Illness Awareness Week 2010!

Press Release – Invisible Illness Week Bloggers Driving Force Behind Awareness Campaign : Invisible Illness Awareness Week Source: invisibleillnessweek.com
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Sharethis: Why We Should Worry About Prescription Drug Abuse - Newsweek

This piece of idiocy is adequately refuted by the comments left by readers.

Which adolescents are being prescribed pain meds and then becoming heroin addicts?  Which baby boomers are out-of-control with pain medication?  What if the children had been properly supervised and the adults properly supported by their families and friends?

I feel a major rant coming on and I don't need it.  They make me sicker and set me back getting well.

The goofy article grabs attention by sensationalizing pain medicine use and ends up garbling something about Viagra.  The writer expects us to see OxyContin abuse in the same light as Viagra overuse??

I've got to stop or I'll be ill.  Please do read both the articles and the comments.  If you are under any impression that prescription pain medicine use is a problem, I'll link you to some solid research into the overuse effects of acetaminophen.  When this over-the-counter drug came out the television advertisements told us there was no way to ever use too much.

Acetaminophen by brand name is called Tylenol.

Why We Should Worry About Prescription Drug Abuse - Newsweek Source: newsweek.com
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Just sharing what Migraine and Meniere's together are like

Today is a dangerous type of day.

I've slept 18 of the last 24 hours, still need sleep.  Dreamed that Diana, Princess of Wales, had been married to my old choir director's son.  She asked me to please investigate why no one will allow her to excavate the construction accident site where his remains are buried [as far as I know, IRL the man is alive and well and living happily ever after].

Then I dreamed my late father gave me $10 to buy some lobster that was on sale.  My brother and cousin weren't interested in lobster so we didn't get any.

Just did a heat/ice alternating thing on my head.  It helped the pain somewhat.  I've discovered an additional nerve in my face that is now flowing with battery acid.  One more to add to the list.

My right ear has stopped doing deep Chinese gong tinnitus.  In addition to the regular 4 tinnitus sounds, it's been screaming a high-pitched squeal since yesterday (different from the Morse Code beeps).  My left ear has taken up the deep Chinese gongs.  Disequilibrium is so bad I'm trying not to walk because I'm just crashing into the wall and furniture.

Rescue medicating on days like today is dangerous.  I keep thinking that more will be better.  More will not necessarily be better.  More of the meds I have could be very, very bad.

I'm sitting here in the dark wearing prescription sunglasses.  I can't turn off the loudest of the fans because it's 95o outside and the a/c can't keep up.  I may have to get ear plugs.  With ear plugs I REALLY hear the tinnitus.  The neurotologist diagnosed me with a level of disability from tinnitus by itself.  You can't imagine how nuts it can drive you.

I have a good glare screen on my laptop.  I utilize the Windows Vista accessibility features to make the screen less painful to my eyes.  Today those features aren't helping.  I'm typing this with my eyes closed, for all intents and purposes.  I need to get off here and I will shortly.

Many compassionate people are so understanding of pain.  But unless you have migraine, you can't wrap your mind around how stupid it is.  Really, medicating on days like today is dangerous.  The impulse is to take more and more and more medicine to make the pounding pain STOP.

I'm into complementary treatments just to fill the gap between medications and relief.  I'm going to get some rocks that I know will help until the OxyIR, Indocin, Valium, and Robinul kick in.  I'll get them just as soon as I can get up without falling.

Fifteen seconds after I stand up, my head will explode and I'll have a stroke.  Well, maybe no stroke this time but there is no way to predict which migraine will be a migraine and which one will be a stroke.  My situation includes mitral valve prolapse which, according to a long-prior neurologist who succumbed to pancreatic cancer, is likely to be spitting out tiny blood clots that are traveling to my brain.  One day, he told me, my MVP would spit out a blood clot just a tidbit too big and instead of a migraine attack, it would cause a stroke.  I'd likely die.  Pleasant thoughts but in his defense, he told me this about 6 months before he died himself so death was on his mind.

Biggest issue next to this attack is food.  I'm hungry.  But I'm not safe in the kitchen right now.  I broke off a piece of bread and had it with cottage cheese.  That's what I've had today but really, I haven't been awake very long either.  Next will be Lucky Charms and milk.  I have a can of Campbell's Healthy Request (or Choice, or something) that has no MSG.  If I feel better enough after while I 'll heat it up.  That will be a big help.

If I get to feeling better I'm going to have to make a comfrey/catnip infusion to help repair the effects of all the Indocin I've had in the last 2 days.  This particular infusion is utterly amazing for relieving the stomach pain from NSAIDs.

And, I've gained weight.  No matter the pounds, my waist still stays smaller than my hips.  That a Sagittarius Sun for you (Sagittarius rules hips and thighs).  No joke, I seriously could do with some poundage loss but officially, I'm still proportionate.  Go figure.

Just wanted to share how stupid migraine and Meniere's attacks are.  Going to try to solve this without taking any more meds for a while.  I could barely swallow the last pills I took.  My body doesn't want to take any more pills even though my brain believes I need to in order to get relief.

Those one or two distance energy healers that know who you are, if you have time to help out a poor soul, I'll pray for your intentions in return.

I am so f***** up sick. 



Copyright 2008-2010 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission. Use the ShareThis link if you want to share this. Nothing in the above article is remunerated content. Remember that if my work gets published anywhere else without proper citation, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

Sharethis: Dear White House - The Personal Data Challenge

Now here's an idea I could get behind.

Please read the article, check out Alexandra Carmichael's CureTogether site, and ponder whether this might be a better use of taxpayer dollars than government-run EHRs.

Not doing well. July is just a bad month for me all around. Going to hide underneath some rocks and read about the monster of an alligator not too far from me in Mulga, Alabama.  I've only seen a picture of it but man, it was a beauty.  Must have been at least 7 feet long.

dear-white-house-our-personal.php from kk.org - StumbleUpon Source: stumbleupon.com
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Sharethis: How Somebody’s Medicines May Be Making You Sicker - Welcome to the Alliance for Natural Health - USA

No joke, I've got to figure out a way around Full Moon/New Moon Meniere's/migraine attacks. They're kicking my butt. Through my head.

Medicated patch systems are mentioned in this article as one of the ways pharmaceutical pollution reaches the water supply. I use the Vivelle_dot estrogen replacement patch myself. The package insert gives directions for removing residual components after patch changing - basically, you use rubbing alcohol to dissolve the adhesive and a cotton ball to wipe it away. I'll be redoubling my clean-up efforts now you may rest assured.

I'm hitting the sack with rocks. If I don't have to take any meds I'll be happier, but I'm not going to sit around suffering. I've determined that it's not good for my state of mind. Emotional hygiene is one of my New Year's Resolutions and one I've begun to get a handle on. Never want to lose ground. It may happen, but it'll be against my will if it does. B)

Welcome to the Alliance for Natural Health - USA Source: anh-usa.org
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Sharethis: Medication Overuse Headache Article: Education Through a Biased Lens? ~ Somebody Heal Me by Diana Lee

Diana Lee has a critically analytical mind. Her commentary on the article she links to is excellent. Everybody read both her article and the one she comments on. What she and the article say are both absolutely right, in addition to being true.  At IRS this would be called full, accurate, and complete.

Neither Diana's article nor the one she links to is about what to do in that Land of the Living Dead that exists between the end of pharmaceutical treatments and the end of the attack, but that little problem is a huge problem for me. 

As Sparkling readers know, I'm huge into complementary treatments for Migraine and Meniere's, and for all the stuff that bothers me. It appears to me that complementary treatments are a Migraineur's sole port in the storm when he or she reaches the acute reimbursed pharmaceutical treatment limit, limits which despite claims to the contrary are frequently set by insurance companies according to toxicity of the treatment rather than desire to preserve company profits. I am aggressively pursuing complementary treatments to go with preventative work all in close conjunction with all my doctors.  I'm all about prevention, myself.  The fewer attacks that I have to treat at all, the better for me from my point of view.

Today's Full Scorpio Moon matches my own progressed Full Scorpio Moon and I'm taking the day to doctor it. I did a few little complementary things to prepare for this one and so far, this occurrence of the twice-monthly Full Moon/New Moon attacks is less intense than usual. That's a good thing.

Medication Overuse Headache Article: Education Through a Biased Lens? - Diana Lee, Somebody Heal Me
Medication Overuse Headache Article: Education Through a Biased Lens? ~ Somebody Heal Me by Diana Lee Source: somebodyhealme.dianalee.net
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Sharethis: Healing Wise ... An Abundance of Greens by Susun Weed

Just a quick note before the Exploding Migraine Warning of a Significant Event goes into effect.

It hurts my heart that I have a substantial belief system difference with Susun Weed; therefore, I don't recommend her books. I do recommend the health information contained in them.

I'm improving daily from the herbal and "green" information in her menopause book. I have mourned my losses from my hysterectomy and ovary removal, integrating that I will never conceive another child, never hold another soul in my body along with my own.

Mourning has broken, and I'm whole again in that respect. You never really get over the death of a child and my four miscarriages will never go away. But now I am strong again with my conception and childbearing in the "experience" column.  It hit me quite forcefully that I never dealt with all the physical things that surround surgical menopause after the surgery six years ago this month.

Time to deal with MENOPAUSE. :P

Oh, my word what a blessing Vivelle_dot estrogen replacement created from yam has been! Never, never did I dream that things could be so...even. I see now that a good number of my other maturation issues revolve and repeat themselves because I haven't physically cared for my different self which has had no ovaries or womb since 2004.

Time passes slowly when you're getting well. It passes very slowly when you're anxious to get on with living! My own belief system is maturing as my age progresses and I want to get on with practicing it as well.

In this so-far quiet year, the Mother Earth again has proven herself to be the true mother that she is. Abundant, so abundant, freely giving me her green plants and air, water and sunshine, rain and wind, and the life that is borne of flora and fauna. Husbandry and right use of Earth's abundance will restore me, rebuild me from the inside out and outside inward. Does it cost so much to give time to share what "right use of the Earth" really means?

Well, right this minute, yes! My head is pounding from tax meltdown - my mother accidentally wrote a check to IRS for $5 million. It was a clerical error one would correctly say and we caught it before it got mailed, but all the problems that would have needed to be solved had it made it to IRS burst into my mind. Her reaction to the mistake didn't help either of us. This entire weekend has dealt me an assault on my energy body. A long talk with a friend has helped as has rose quartz along with mullein, yarrow, and mugwort infusion. Tomorrow, Easter Sunday, I plan to be outside as much as I possibly can in sunshine, in the breeze, and taking a walk through the backyard if I can. I need my Earthly mother after taking care of my earthly mother!

Please read the article. Find some abundance to feed.

And go outside: Your Mother's calling. :)

Healing Wise ... An Abundance of Greens by Susun Weed
http://www.susunweed.com/herbal_ezine/April10/healingwise.htm?utm_medium=email&utm_source=MyNewsletterBuilder&utm_campaign=Wise Woman Herbal Ezine - April 2010 1410249287&utm_term=Go to An Abundance of Greens Source: susunweed.com
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Sharethis: Furious backlash from Simon Singh libel case puts chiropractors on ropes | Martin Robbins | Science | guardian.co.uk

Three-day combo Meniere's/Migraine attack, but wanted to comment on this.

The sad aspect of this controversy is that there indeed may be an energetic aspect to many conditions. A person may have nothing that a doctor can identify as wrong, yet be in poor health. Chiropractics and energy medicine may be able to resolve the poor health and return a person to radiant vitality and well-being even though no medical condition were ever to be identified to have caused the decline in health.

Many complementary and some alternative treatments have millenia of flawless track records for restoring radiant vitality and well-being to the sick and the well alike. I'm working with rock medicine, energy medicine, and herbal medicine to restore mine. I believe it will be a step forward to be better between attacks.

Going to take more meds now. My prev med regimen, smokey quartz, and Maxwell House Lite have settled my stomach and given me a window to eat some soup. I'll make it. I always do.

Read the article. Please comment if you feel so inclined.

Furious backlash from Simon Singh libel case puts chiropractors on ropes
Furious backlash from Simon Singh libel case puts chiropractors on ropes | Martin Robbins | Science | guardian.co.uk Source: guardian.co.uk
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Sharethis: Victims of electrosensitivity syndrome say EMFs cause symptoms - latimes .com

Giving out from C-6 vertebra-exacerbated Migraine but can't let this one go without a comment. Please keep in mind that I'm at the beginning of a major attack.

Don't trust all the headlines you read.

First article: Commentary on the second article.

Vastly different headlines, different conclusions. Microwaves are so dangerous that microwave ovens are shielded with LEAD. What levels of microwaves were the study subjects exposed to? Are they at cancer risk now?

This resembles the campaign to convince the public that monosodium glutamate (MSG) isn't a neurological trigger because studies can't prove that anyone is allergic to it. What a straw man! Forget allergies. They were never the issue with neurologically sensitive people anyway. Study the MSG/neurological triggering problem if you want the answer to the MSG/neurological triggering phenomenon.

And keep in mind how few people there are other than Migraineurs who understand Migraine as a genetic brain dysfunction disease. Think of the blogs and bulletin boards out there working extremely hard to set the record straight. Migraineurs, how long has it taken many of us to find a doctor who takes us seriously? How many family members and friends tell us that there's really nothing wrong with us that "living right" won't fix? That our problems are all in our heads? Who all has been called hysterical by the medical community or, to use the medical slang, a "turkey"? Or a "little papers" patient?

Bottom line: if it triggers you, it triggers you. Anyone who tells you differently should be shunned.

Sheesh.

I'm going back to bed with ice on my C-6.

This should be discussed in greater detail. Please comment if you have a different view point. It may be a day or two before I can get back to you but this is important.

Victims of electrosensitivity syndrome say EMFs cause symptoms
Victims of electrosensitivity syndrome say EMFs cause symptoms - latimes.com Source: latimes.com
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Experts: 'Electrosensitivity Syndrome' a Mental--Not Physical--Problem
Experts: 'Electrosensitivity Syndrome' a Mental--Not Physical--Problem Source: healthcentral.com
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Help me, I think I'm falling...

"Help me, I think I'm falling..."
words and lyrics by Joni Mitchell

I was standing dead still, looking out the window to see if I could discern even the tiniest snowflake, and then crashed into the closet doors to my right.  Never even knew I was off balance until I hit the doors.  No memory of falling either.  I was looking--and then was crashing.  The point is that nothing triggered me to catch myself before I hit.  Natural off-balance reactions failed completely.  No surprise.  I test as having no vestibular function.

Woke up with my head numb and heavy-feeling on my right side, where it was hurting last night.  My ears are not hearing equally.  And I sliced my thumb last night and bled all over celery and cucumber lol.

These next few weeks might be quite rough.  The waning El Nino weather pattern is creating one huge system after another, one every couple or three days.  I'm trying a new Bach Flower Remedy combination specifically for dealing with weather changes (more on Bach and me soon).  Too bad I had not tried it before I fell!

I was quite pleased that I had a couple of good days last week.  I'm feeling better between Meniere's and Migraine attacks and that is an absolute improvement.  I'm down to all "decafs" now:  Decaf coffee, decaf tea, and I've got just one pound of real coffee in the freezer for Migraines that call for it.  My sensitivity has gone through the roof.  A cup of real coffee now would make me a babbling maniac.

I've got a couple of things on my job plate this year:  A new system by Dr. Peter D'Adamo that tailors diet and lifestyle recommendations by running a large number of pieces of data through a web-based calculator; continuing to concentrate on emotion hygiene now working with Bach Flower Remedies; resolved to memorize how to trace my energy meridians; and I'm going to cut my hair myself this year.  Really! 

This might turn out to be a year of introspection for me.  I'm good with that.  I need time to figure out more work-arounds such as the cutting-my-hair-myself thing.  No way on earth I can lay my purely busted cervical spine into the sink at the shampoo station, just don't seem to be able to find a stylist who understands the words, "I CAN'T HANDLE A COMPLICATED HAIRSTYLE."  I'll just do it all myself.  So there!  :p

I need more time to understand rocks and all the wonderful things they can do.  There hasn't been enough (or much of any really) research done on therapeutic external use of minerals so I'll continue to guinea-pig on myself.  I am having trouble adapting to how quickly my overall sensitivity is escalating and need time to figure out how to deal with that.  I'm having success with 100% pure essential oils, simple, plain and natural foods, and--yes, I'm admitting to this--I've had some success with feng shui.  But it all takes time, brain time, silent time, alone time, down time, for me at any rate.

I need more time by myself overall.  My mother is extremely resistant to cooperating.  I understand that she's grieving still.  But now she has a few friends her age, a marvelous volunteer job one day a month that she loves (perfect for a 76 year old), and I'm not going anywhere.  Time for some boundary-setting, I guess I'm saying.

I'll be posting fewer columns here as well.  Posting my stream-of-consciousness ponderings wouldn't be useful to me nor interesting to all y'all.

Hopefully, a quiet year ahead.  I most assuredly need it.  I'll bet we all do.  :)


Copyright 2008-2009 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission. Use the ShareThis link if you want to share this. Nothing in the above article is remunerated content. Remember that if my work gets published anywhere else without proper citation, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

Sharethis: Justice Department "Ten Employment Myths" video

This should be excellent.

I thought about waiting until the video was up on the U. S. government's website www.ada.gov but I still don't see it. If it's available now please somebody holler.

If your employer needs educating about YOUR rights and responsibilities as an employee with a disabling condition, don't wait. Find out on your own like I did and pass along what you learn!

Justice Department Releases ADA Employment Video: Ten Employment Myths: Information about the Americans with Disabilities Act
Welcome to the United States Department of Justice Source: justice.gov
Parin Stormlaughter sent this using ShareThis.

Taking a break

Gonna grab a break before observing the Vigil of All Saint's Day. See y'all soon!



Copyright 2008-2009 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission. Use the ShareThis link if you want to share this. And remember that if my work gets published anywhere else without proper citation, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

When Enjoyment is Nowhere on the List

"Yes Mother, but how will you benefit from all this?"
Recent observation by Libchik


Happy Full Corn Moon! I'm full of Migraine meds and about to get horizontal but I wanted to share some thoughts first. Once I hit the sheets I might not get back up until Sunday.

The other day, Libchik and I were making some plans. She and I worked and talked, planned and compromised, and reached a viable solution.

At the end of our discussion, she commented that everyone would be pleased with the solution we reached--except me! She said that I had not included myself and my own needs anywhere in the complex. She also scolded me for never including myself. It's nothing new.

I'm hearing this EVERYWHERE. People keep telling me that I should begin to consider myself before I consider others. It is foreign to my nature though. And that self-denial is my nature is borne out through my birth chart. I was born so "others oriented" that I have no internal mechanism for self-promotion even when I need it.

The ability to deny myself serves me well in my belief system. I was a Secular Discalced (meaning Barefoot) Carmelite for some years, and Discalced Carmelites are a penitential order. We thrive on penance. A Carmelite who doesn't might reconsider his or her vocation.

But a prime directive for us is to never take on penance of our own volition in the absence of approval by a spiritual director who understands the penitential vocation. I haven't had a dedicated spiritual director since my friend and formation director died. I was so crushed by her death that I voluntarily withdrew from Carmel.

All that to say: I should probably listen to all the people in the last 3 or 4 years who have told me that I should loosen up and get my mojo back. It was surreal to hear my adult daughter adjuring me to think of myself, when I know I've spent the last 42 years thinking of her and her sister, and my parents and ex-husband, and the job I retired from on disability pension, and the showbiz public, above all else.

I've said this several times over the last 8 or 9 months, that I must learn how to relax and let my hair down. And for sure it will be a learning event because I don't know what I like to do. I have no idea what I enjoy. Not a clue of what's fun to me.

Well, I know I feel gratified by a number of things but Libchik told me that gratification wasn't the point of pleasure. Experiencing enjoyment is the objective of pleasure. If I'm knocking myself out to solve problems and plan events for others, it's nonsensical to omit myself but I do it anyhow.

Baking that poppy seed cake and feeling the satisfaction after so many years of not having the capability to cook triggered a confusing cascade in me. Honestly, I believe I did feel pleasure. I was proud that I had come far enough to make the attempt to bake again. The cake turned out just fine and it was delicious. My mother enjoyed it. I was gratified that I could accomplish it but there was more to how I felt. I may have--enjoyed it?

What else does one do to figure out what's fun? I won't be climbing aboard the Great American Scream Machine roller coaster at Six Flags, that much is certain. But what other things are fun for a person with no vestibular function whose chronic illnesses are triggered by so many things she can't keep up with them all?

Growing mushrooms? Reading a sensual piece of fiction (or non-fiction for that matter)? Getting hot and sweaty with an agreeable guy? Where do I find an agreeable guy who is ok with my chronic crap?

I'm so trained to perform music that I never learned to play for fun. I was quite glad to find that I could still knock out songs on my new guitar but I can't say it was entertaining to me. My mother asked me to plan a time to play the piano for her sometime soon. It will certainly be gratifying to see her enjoy it but it won't be anyone's idea of fun but hers.

I'm going to cry now. I have to find pleasure but I don't know where to look. Actual me-oriented pleasure and not gratification from service. Maybe that's a start--have I been substituting gratification from service for self-indulgent pleasure?

I wonder if anyone has published a workbook to guide the servile back into the real world? How would I even look that up on Amazon?

Copyright 2008-2009 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission. Use the ShareThis link if you want to share this. And remember that if my work gets published anywhere else without proper citation, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.