[Tough] Love beats Hate: Are you still wiggling?

Whew. Now that the situation that moved me to want to participate in the blogger event Love Beats Hate seems to have calmed to a simmer, I feel better about sharing.

Love Beats Hate is a movement organized by Diana Lee of Somebody Heal Me and Jeanne of Chronic Healing.

How to list all the reasons a person might have for interacting with the world in any given manner!

My reputation seems to precede me occasionally. Other times I get pecked by the least little rooster chicks. A little rooster came after me the other day and it took every bit of love in my heart not to squash him like a bug. By the end he had pretty much exposed all of himself that there was to see, and the show was over.  He'll learn eventually.

If you were there, you saw this. If you weren't, it's gone now. It was a classic example of discernment.

Parin Stormlaughter  I have become doctor phobic. Just the thought of a doctor visit sends me spiraling.


[rooster]  OH boy, here we go again with the mighty storm laugher! REALLY? Your life is spiraling out of control not just your head! Mary Jane is gonna get her fired and doctors are evil. I would ask what you do endorse but your political views are waaay too obvious. [Original Poster] is my homie and I dont want your toxic ooze in my community. I wish there was a captain storm slaughter abortive pill we could all take, or you would hop in your fairy costume and fly the fuck outta here.


Parin Stormlaughter  LOL go smoke a bowl, [rooster].

When I saw this, I hadn't the foggiest notion what this fellow was talking about. I'm retired on disability pension so there is nothing for me to get "fired" from. [Original Poster] and I have participated in a couple of chronic illness online support communities for a number of years. She knows me. No idea what community he thinks I'll be oozing toxicity into.

It seems he has associated me with a political view on cannabis. Where on earth he got that is beyond me as well. Anyone who reads my blog is quite aware that I consider plants to be premier medicines, foods, companions in their own way - but, until Federal law changes, cannabis is illegal to grow and/or possess in all 50 states. And you can bet that if I wanted to utilize cannabis, I'd grow it myself. There is not a professional cannabis farm that grows organic cannabis on a large scale.  They're likely to use just as many chemical pesticides, weed killers, chemical fertilizers and whatnot as any other non-organic farmer.  Who knows?  There may be a "Round-up ready" cannabis seed out there.  Not for me.  I use organic for virtually every plant that goes into my body.  If cannabis ever becomes legal and I decide to try it, I'll grow my own thank you very much.

The discussion is moot.  I'm not spending any time thinking about cannabis.  There are plenty more plants for me to explore that I can legally grow myself, or that will grow wild without a bit of work from me.

[participant]  Well that's original!


Parin Stormlaughter  [rooster's] just mad because I keep denying his friend requests.


[rooster]  Anybody want a good laugh...maybe even a storm of laughs? I dont have anything to say beyond youre a lune and here is proof http://sparklingwithcrystals.blogspot.com/


Parin Stormlaughter  Thank you! More traffic, the better. But you're hijacking [Original Poster's] post, eh? Come & comment on my blog! Please!

Yep.  While he was blasting me on this thread, he was sending me multiple requests asking to follow me.

Why would anyone do that?

[rooster]  Thanks but no thanks...I aint messin with the power crystals you use over there...you witch doctor types are dangerous in your intention alone! FREAK!


Parin Stormlaughter  Full disclosure: I'm Tweeting all this too. Fear God, [rooster]. I'm nothing to be afraid of. :)

By this point, I was giggling.

[rooster]  I am an atheist, I dont fear god or any of your stupid superstitions retard! what differnce would it make if you were tweeting it? Are your fellow losers gonna come at me in minnions? just go back to WoW were you are still cool.


Parin Stormlaughter  I've never played World of Warcraft in my life. Somebody got into my checking account and drained it for a WoW site.

I had made a Ping post previously about Word of Warcraft that appeared on all my sites.

Parin Stormlaughter  No joke, [rooster]. Leave poor [Original Poster's] post alone & fight me on my blog.


Parin Stormlaughter  But, I'm touched that you care. :-*


[rooster]  well for that I am sorry...nope I am not really! HAHA, you spread your moronic filth that rots the minds of your race. False hope in prayers and other BS just makes people believe that everything will be ok, melts polar ice caps, kills millions in wars, leads to disease spreading...youre a wretch and I hope you die!


Parin Stormlaughter  *sigh* And what moronic filth is that, [rooster]? You certainly credit me with an awful lot of power.


Parin Stormlaughter  Oh - what race am I btw?


Parin Stormlaughter  I really am sorry, [Original Poster], but baiting [rooster] is just too much fun.


[rooster]  its all there dumb dumb read it again

By this time, tears of laughter and sarcasm had overcome me.

Parin Stormlaughter  But [rooster]! I want to see you say it again! And again! And again! Something about your special choice of words...can't quite pin it down...


[rooster] and btw, i only friend requested you so that i could tell you without inconveniencing [Original Poster]. If you had half a brain you would have figured that out. if you actually cared about [Original Poster] you wouldnt tell her your affraid of docs this month when you said you trust them last month! empty words!


Parin Stormlaughter  Busted! My "comment" field is open to everybody and always has been.


You just wanted to see my gorgeous face...


Parin Stormlaughter  And my blog is your favorite, so why not comment there?


I think that secretly, you wish you were me, with all my powers to melt polar ice caps and spread disease, ALL BY MYSELF.


[rooster], jealousy isn't necessary! I'll teach you everything I know for FREE!

It goes on. He makes sexual references, calls me a subspecies, and tells me he sincerely hopes I die in pain again. Oh, and he says I have a "sour attitude".

I was collapsing with laughter.  Nothing would have induced me to beat this man with anything but love!

He really had not done his homework.  I'm really not much fun to fight with, truth be told. I never fight unless I feel certain I'll win, and I take no joy in besting others. This poor entrepreneur wasn't worth going to war over. He wasn't after the original poster and I can take care of myself. 

It is so glaringly obvious that he does not have a clue who I am or what I believe, nor does he have the slightest concern about anyone who is chronically ill. He hasn't read my blog nearly as closely as he would have anyone believe. Well, I hope that's the case. Maybe he read it and simply didn't understand. That's always possible.

Somebody flagged his comments. It's an important thing to do and next time he comes at me like this, I'll flag them myself. Hard to feel regretful for egging him on, though. I can take care of myself but another chronically ill person retired on disability pension reading his attack on me might have been dreadfully hurt by what he said. It was important to them to see that love beats hate, even if it's tough sarcastic love.

I wish him well.  I'll continue to pray for him.

"May God bless him, may He give him all kinds of good things and if possible, may He love him more and more." St. Therese of Lisieux




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.

The Moral of the Story

Why I don't cook, use knives or other sharp objects, operate motorized vehicles or heavy equipment, or do much other than type and get sarcastic with assholes. This is a copy-and-paste from my personal notes.  

Valerian and Lavender Vodka Stress Tincture

1 oz finely chopped dried valerian root
1/2 oz lavender buds
10-12 ozs plain vodka

Combine all ingredients in a 16 oz vinegar bottle and cap tightly. Label and date. Shake gently but thoroughly. Set aside on the counter for 8 weeks or so. Strain into an 8 oz bottle, cap tightly, and transfer label.

Dose is 1/4 tsp every 30 minutes until symptoms diminish. Dilute in 1/4 cup water or chamomile tea if desired.


11/13/10
This will teach me not to make medicine when I’m migrainey. This should have been made with feverfew instead of valerian. I misjudged the size of bottle I would need, choosing one that was too small. I was only able to get in 1/2 oz of lavender instead of a full ounce like Rosemary Gladstar’s recipe called for. I spilled vodka trying to transfer the whole mess into a larger bottle. I had enough vodka to fill it to about the 10 or 12 oz level.

None of this is fatal. The combination should work quite nicely. It just wasn’t what I had planned to do. And when I was through, I felt like crying.

So, what I’ve made is a nervine for stress, anxiety, and sleep instead of a migraine preventative preparation. And now I’m out of vodka so I can’t make the correct one.

Moral of the story: Don’t make medicine when you should be taking medicine.


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.

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: Stare at boobs for longer life: Study | TheMedGuru

Ever on the look-out for ways to improve men's health, I saw this article and felt compelled to share it.

Men, you know what to do. LOOK AT YOUR WIVES. Sheesh.

It's been a long 19 years since I divorced my boob-starer. Sad times for me. :/

Wives, do you part to increase your husbands' longevity. Better he look at you than some other gal, eh?

I'm going to barricade myself against the solar storm set to hit the Earth tomorrow, 8/3/10. Check out spaceweather.com to read about the neat but odd solar eruption that occurred on 8/1. I'm feeling it now.

Stare at boobs for longer life: Study | TheMedGuru Source: themedguru.com
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Sharethis: CNSNews.com - Obesity Rating for Every American Must Be Included in Stimulus-Mandated Electronic Health Records, Says HHS

Who doesn't approve of being healthy?  Well, I should phrase the question, "who wouldn't like to improve his or her health?"  Probably most everybody wants improved health.  I sure as heck want to improve my health and I work at it like a full-time job.

The attached article disturbs my long-term thinking.  My father chided me for years to stop "what-if?" -ing so intently.  My thick Taurus Ascendant brain finally learned not to postulate within his hearing.  My brain continued to extrapolate nevertheless.

I "what-if" -ed my way through this article and ended up disturbed at the potentials that this EHR law brought up in my mind.

I'm not huge into BMI as a key health indicator.  There are few absolutes in health, I am learning.  My issue with EHRs isn't limited to BMIs.  The whole thing illustrates what can happen when laws are pushed through before adequate time for reflection is allowed.  I expect that many, many issues will arise due to legislation passed since January 2009 that will be the undoing of many.

I metaphorically flipped the mental switch to turn off the "and then...and then...and then..."  You can join the fun by letting your mind imagine every wrong thing that medicine and the government can think up to do with your body measurements.  Be sure to add in hackers and information thieves who would love to know your information too.

I'm going to drink a nice hot cup of mugwort, mullein, and sweet woodruff tisane sweetened with hops syrup.  I'm not going to worry.  "Sufficient for the day are the troubles thereof" is how I learned this verse.  My current Bible reads, "Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day."  Matthew 6:35.  I've got enough to do getting from sleep to sleep.

But I'll tell you this from my decades of association with the government under administrations from Eisenhower through Obama:  If they can identify a problem they've caused, they'll do the best they can to tax it as stringently as possible as well. 

CNSNews.com - Obesity Rating for Every American Must Be Included in Stimulus-Mandated Electronic Health Records, Says HHS Source: cnsnews.com
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Sharethis: Kava Kava - What is Kava Kava

One of life's joys is to experiment! Try new things! Expand your horizons!

I'm a huge experimenter.  Sagittarius Sun in 8th House, after all - the eternal quest to experience quests.  I most assuredly experienced a quest recently.

I've been battling depressive dips as part of Migraine prodrome for a few years.  They've not always been present.  No idea why suddenly they suddenly appeared.  Maybe they'll disappear.

I already take a therapeutic dose of a marvelous antidepressant, Effexor XR, every day.  It's part of my Migraine preventative regimen which also includes verapamil and Keppra.  Other than the regular "blues" that everybody contracts, I shouldn't feel depressed.

These depressive dips don't cause me worry anymore, not like they did when they first started.  Still, I don't like them.  I never want to have another one.

I was battling one of them the other night.  St. John's wort, a safe mood-enhancing herb, isn't something I want to try to combine with Effexor.  So I started hunting around for something else to try.

I found again--kava kava root, also called simply kava.  I've tried kava capsules but of all things, they make my head hurt!  Still, I've used them for social events.  I can speak to and perform for 3 people or 3 million people, live or taped or by tin-can telephone if you like.  Show biz is a breeze.  But please, never ever ask me to go to a grown-up party where I don't personally know and deeply love at least 85% of the folks in the room.  Rivers of glow streak my makeup and soak my underclothing.  I throw up.  I dream of death and it would be easy and welcome.  Groan-and-throw-up parties are what I consider hell to be like.  Kava has made it possible for me to discharge social duties I'd otherwise never be able to handle.  Kids parties?  Love'em, threw them for my daughters regularly.  Kept me out of the groan-grown-throw-up parties.

But I can't deal with anything else that makes my head hurt.  So kava stays in the bottle on the shelf for emergency social appearances.

I have absolutely no idea what possessed me to order shredded kava root a while back.  I've amassed a mass of herbs from Frontier Co-op and Mountain Rose Herbs and a couple of other places.  I've been reading Susun Weed and Rosemary Gladstar and remembering things I used to do with plants when I was younger.

Anyway - so I remember I've got these shredded kava roots.  You shouldn't heat water to make kava beverages because some of the active ingredients are destroyed at 140oF and higher.  Capsules would seem like the perfect alternative but many of them contain kava stems and leaves which have been linked to liver damage (and they don't have any good relaxation benefits either - they just fill up the capsules with less of the active root powder).  Worse, some capsules are doctored with various kava extracts prepared with chemical solvents that should never be used in the preparation of anything intended for a human body.

So, I've got these shredded kava roots.

I've watched the shows on TV describing traditional methods for preparation of kava beverages.  Seems that the roots are never eaten or fermented in any way.  They're just powdered, chewed, or ground and mixed with water.  Then they're either kneaded or blenderized, strained, and then drunk.  Straightforward, really. 

Blame it on the Lunar Eclipse that hit my Sagittarius 8th House.  Blame it on my own curiosity.  Blame anyone but me for wanting to try CHEWING SHREDDED KAVA ROOT to see what that segment of traditional beverage preparation would be like.  Mastication seems to make the kavalactones more easily accessed.  And it would be FUN.

I had been reading accounts of poor virgin daughters of Pacific Island tribal chiefs who would elope to avoid the chore of chewing kava root for the whole tribe.  Poor things!  Sexually pure virgins were considered to have what it took to make the perfect kava bolus.  Girls have left virginity behind for less than kava roots, it seemed to me.  Surely if I was making just a serving for myself (half the average quantity as always at first, to gauge my sensitivity), I could do it. 

Chewing shredded roots!  I eat carrots all the time!  Surely I was up to chewing dried kava!  I closed my eyes and dove into a nice pinch of the tablespoon I had settled upon for the 2 cups of water I wanted to use.

Three tablespoons of kava root it took me to decide that this was fun to do--once.  The taste was fairly pleasant as dried roots go but the resulting goo was disgusting to look at before getting stirred into water (figured out on the second serving to just put the chewed pinches directly into the tap water), and once I got a small splinter in my throat that wouldn't go up or down for a minute.  The blenderizing didn't smooth out the chewed pinches as much as I expected but that worked out well for the straining step.

All in all, it was an adventure in libation.  If you shoot the drink it hits faster but wears off quickly as well.  If you sip it, you may never know you've had any.  But so far, no head pain. 

Best of all, this delightful little adventure got me out of the Migraine dumps.  Chewing shredded kava roots is like chewing toothpicks soaked in Novocaine.  I imagine they'd be splendid for a sore throat or if you bit your tongue or something like that.  Once I finally make it through what I've got left, I'm going the powder route which, I understand, is the preferred method nowadays in the areas where kava grows.

If I ever decide to do this again, that is.  I'm not convinced that the benefits are worth the effort and besides, next time it won't be a first-time adventure.  I'll have to go through this ritual several more times before I decide for sure.  There are a couple of things to be aware of so take a minute to read the attached article, please, before embarking on kava.

I'll have to find something else when the depressive dip rolls around again and only an adventure will solve it.  Need to make friends with an ethnobotanist, maybe try smoking mugwort or snorting sneezewort, something legal, safe, and new.

I made it through this time better off than I had been before.  That's a good goal for next time.  Now pardon me while I floss out a Novocaine toothpick.   :)

Kava Kava - What is Kava Kava Source: altmedicine.about.com
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Parin Stormlaughter has shared: Hoover Receives National Sustainability Award|ABC 33/40 News

My little burg. I'm proud of us! :)

New Moon in Taurus, head not as bad as some New/Full Moon attacks, but tinnitus is screaming. It'll be gone by Sunday I expect.

Hoover Receives National Sustainability Award
Hoover Receives National Sustainability Award|ABC 33/40 News Source: abc3340.com
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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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Herbs for What Ails Me

"If you wonder what herbs you might need, see what's growing around you."
Unknown


I'm feeling better today thanks I am completely sure to the prayers and good thoughts from Sparkling readers.  Thank you, so very much. 

Today was an absolutely beautiful day - "severe clear" as our local meteorologists say.  Mom and I dug up a couple of nice big dandelions, a nice bunch of wild garlic, and found a gorgeous snake.  It was small and didn't have the characteristic triangle-shaped head of a venomous snake but we didn't bother it other than taking a few pics (well, Mom asked if I thought she should chop it with the shovel and I liked to have screeched "Don't you DARE!"  XD ).

Anyhow...

I've spent some time this late winter reading up on plants that grow around here.  One of my New Year's resolutions was to improve my health between attacks.  I've always been a plant gal but relied on store-bought and a few cultivated herbs for my oils and unguents, salves and balms as my brother used to call them.

I wish I could remember where I heard the adage quoted above but it's lost in the black abyss that used to be my gray matter.  It did pop back into my brain after all these years.  I've made a concerted effort to identify the wild plants - weeds, I should call'em what they are - that grow in the relatively protected area of my back yard.

With the help of webcrawler, a botanist Migraine-Associated Vertigo bud o'mine, and my country-reared mother, I have discovered to my unending delight that a number of useful plants and trees are growing free for the digging and clipping in my backyard:

*  Sambucus racemosa - American Red Elder
*  Taraxacum - Dandelion
*  Rumex Crispus - Yellow Dock, also called Curly Dock
*  Verbascum Thapsus - Greater Mullein
*  Viola Odorata - Sweet Violet
*  Glechoma Hederacea - Alehoof, also called Ground Ivy and gill-go-over-ground
*  Adiantum - Maidenhair Fern
*  Acer Rubrum - Red Maple
*  Quercus Palustris - Pin Oak
*  Carya - Hickory Tree
*  Allium Canadense - Wild Garlic, also called Wild Onion
*  Cornus - Wild Dogwood Tree
*  Pinus Palustris - Longleaf Pine
*  Carduus Nutans - Musk Thistle

And at least half again as many more still to be identified!

I know, I know - what on earth could Pin Oak do medicinally?  Nothing that I know of, but the leaves can be used in such things as meadmaking instead of oak chips and oak cubes for aging.  Longleaf Pine?  The green needles placed in boiling water and the steam inhaled help congested sinuses and lungs (and many parts are edible if you're Euell Gibbons, which I am not).

I don't expect to use all of these plants.  The inner bark of Dogwood is a very strong, considered "harsh", laxative.  Not going there.  The American Red Elder berries are not usable this year unfortunately.  Alehoof does have some mild medicinal properties but its claim to fame is in clearing beer.  I actually don't care for Hickory nuts and Maidenhair Fern is endangered in some states so I'll let it be.

But the Dandelion, Yellow Dock, Mullein, Sweet Violet, and Wild Garlic have already been put into use.  Gonna have boiled Musk Thistle root here in a little bit.  And, I've cultivated lavender, roses, a yearly-rotating variety of kitchen herbs, and my mother grows the best tomatoes you'll ever put in your mouth.

So, I'm now adding wild backyard plants to my complementary regimen.  Somehow I feel better already.

Or I did until I heard that my mother, who happened to run into my daughter recently, told her, "Oh, your mother is fine.  She pulled weeds out of the backyard this morning and she's eating them for lunch."  :)


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: 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
Parin Stormlaughter sent this using ShareThis.

Vertigo into Vertigone in Two Easy Steps! XD

Very quickly--wanted to share this bit of success before I crash and burn entirely.

Late last evening, I got hit suddenly by three punches of vertigo within about 10 minute's time.  Today vertigo and nausea are washing over me wave after wave, tinnitus is absolutely shrieking like a banshee and my ears are poised to expel their contents like projectile vomiting.  Oh, and I've got pounding head pain as well.

I ate oatmeal with hempseed oil to see if that would settle my stomach.  Nothing happened.  I took both Robinul and Valium, the two prescriptions that my neurotologist gave me for Meniere's symptoms.  Two and half hours past and other than feeling drowsy as well, I had every symptom that I've had all day.

Between waves, I made 16 fl ozs of peppermint tea and put in two small spoonfuls of my homemade Honey Stuff which has a good dose of ginger in it into each teacup.  Ginger is perhaps the top-of-the-line non-Rx vertigo and nausea treatment out there.  I put Bach Flower Remedies Scleranthus, Wild Oat, and Gentian drops in the tea cup as well.

Not only does this peppermint/honey/citrus/ginger tea tastes utterly divine, but in this last half an hour the vertigo has slowed to a small constant rather than strong waves and the nausea has vanished completely.

Could it be that the meds simply took longer than 2 1/2 hours to work?  Possible but my stomach was actually empty enough when I took them that they should have hit my system within about 20 minutes or so.  They did not.

I can certainly feel them now nearly 3 hours later.  Hell, in another hour it'll be time for more and the last dose has only just begun.  I'm of the firm opinion that this tea rebuked the rising tide until the meds had a chance.

If you haven't got a jar of Honey Stuff in your fridge, consider making some up on a day when your over health and ability suns are shining.  It has proven itself valuable and, when stored in properly sanitized containers in the fridge, should last for at least a year.

I'm off for a crash landing.  Take care.  Hang in there. 

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.

Peace, love, herbs, and Honey Stuff

Physical vulnerability along with opportunistic viruses means: Time for peace, love, and Honey Stuff!

Got way, way too aggravated at the Office of Personnel Management last week. I believe I might have made myself physically vulnerable in the process. In addition, our house has been filled with plumbers, the gas company, the phone company, technicians, and repairmen of all sorts and every one of them has been hacking and coughing.

I was concerned that I might have to take the day off tomorrow from my full-time job of getting well but I realized that in fact,  I'll be working overtime.  No rest for the weary!

Here's a recipe for a natural honey, ginger, and citrus virus remedy that's as delicious as it is effective. Glad I've got some in the fridge already!

Gonna jump on this like a chicken on a june bug and mother-love it right out of my system. Mullein leaf tea and hops syrup now, neti pot, Sambucol (elderberry and echinacea syrup), and yarrow before bed. And soup with raw garlic stirred in just before I eat it. I know, I know, but raw garlic is useful for viruses. Once it's cooked, some of the therapeutic benefits disappear. Since that's why I'll be using it, it'll only get as hot as the soup itself right before I eat it.

Gonna get nice and peaceful underneath some rocks as well. Rocks just make me comfy and content, and when they're hot from the sun...oh me...  Bloodstone, amethyst, clear calcite, clear quartz, and rose quartz are all marvelous help for viruses. Smokey quartz is really nice for the aches and pains right at first.

This should be gone by tomorrow.

I might get so peacefully, tonically herbal that I put on a headband and start flashing peace signs. XD


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.

Hades Neptune

I've written ad nauseum about my doubly Hades Moon: the Moon in my birth chart is in the sign of Scorpio and is sextile Pluto in Virgo.

I've now found, reflected in my birth chart, a good explanation of my astronomical, comical, and utterly stupid sensitivity to life. In the course of reading up on the various subjects I'll be working on in Transpersonal Studies, I've found that analyzing my own birth chart is providing me with some insight into how others with some of my problems have coped with them. At the end of the day, the things I've found in my birth chart back up my and my docs' beliefs that I'm not making up my health problems. My spine issues are there too and an astrologer commented that skeletal things should very gradually increase for me as I finish growing up.

The term Hades Moon comes from a book of that title by Judy Hall. She should write about all the planets that aspect a Hades Moon. My Neptune is also in Scorpio and it conjuncts my Moon in Scorpio and both are sextile Pluto, god of the underworld. Neptune conjuncts my Descendant axis giving it substantial "weight" in chart synthesis.

Here's a swatch from the Karmic Insight Report (available from www.cafeastrology.com). Unfortunately, it's up to me to synthesize how this sensitivity manifests itself through the deep, dark, and secret Scorpio. This swatch just talks about Moons and Neptunes in a very general way:

The ability to empathize is a soul quality you have developed through many past experiences. Your psychic openness and capacity to "tune in" to what others are feeling is certainly a talent and a gift, but it can also make you vulnerable to your environment in many ways. You unconsciously absorb the psychic atmosphere and feelings of the people around you, so much so that you may be unable to separate yourself and distinguish your own emotions from other people's. You are thus susceptible to being manipulated, especially through pity. Allowing others to leech off of you emotionally, financially, or even psychically can be a problem for you. On another level, when you are not in balance you may manifest an over sensitivity toward chemicals, pollutants in your surroundings, or even prescription drugs, and an intolerance for any sort of noise, stress, or dissonance. You tend to take it all in, rather than resist or maintain firm limits. You have rather soft, permeable boundaries. When you get out of balance, however, you respond well to subtle therapies which affect primarily the emotional or subtle energies and thereby bring you into harmony. Beautiful music has a healing affect upon you, color therapy, aromatherapy, or simply being in or around water can all be very effective for you.

It is also beneficial for you to periodically withdraw for renewal. Going on spiritual retreats or visiting sanctuaries, even just being out in the wilderness, are quite necessary for you at times. You have a pronounced desire to escape or leave the world.

Night before last I had a dream that a man was leading an exploratory expedition to Neptune. I was following them psychically because in the dream, that was what I did for a living: psychic monitoring for NASA (don't fret--the Migraine attack that generated this weirdness stopped hurting last night). The most significant part of the dream was that I looked up into the sky and, in daylight, "saw" Neptune as the dot portion of an exclamation point formed by clouds also.

Dreams speak the symbolic language of the subconscious mind. Guess my subconscious is telling me to forget Venus & fix the Hades Moon/Hades Neptune conjunction Descendant first.

*sigh* I doubt that will be nearly as much fun as helping Venus have a good time. I've been recording my dreams since high school psychology class. Once I start dreaming about something, it's time to address it.

Balance...balance...Neptunium balance...water...wilderness...

Or I could just forget it and pull the covers back over my head. :)

Check out my "Reading Now" list. I'm about finished with The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You by Elaine Aron, PhD, (c) 1996 Broadway Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. I checked out both it and her The Highly Sensitive Person in Love from the library. Haven't read The Highly Sensitive Person in Love yet but I know for sure that I want to own The Highly Sensitive Person. There are a number of books addressing this trait and I've read several of them. Dr. Aron is Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) herself and has worked hard in this book to reassure us HSPs of our worthiness. Only a couple of problems with this book but the two primary ones are: she clearly states that Migraine is one result of not properly caring for your highly-sensitive self (Migraine is genetic--all the self-help books in the world won't make that gene go away). Second is her science on the physiological effects of long-term high cortisol levels and how to handle those effects; otherwise, one great book all in all. I recommend it. She and her husband crafted the studies that she conducted and she designed a questionnaire included in the book to help the reader get an idea of high sensitivity. Can't wait to start The HSP in Love even though Venus and I won't be bar-crawling as long as her father Neptune is standing in the doorway.

Libchik and I had a discussion about the differences between using psychological terms to describe a character trait and using astrological terms for the same trait. She's not sold on astrological birth chart information yet. Six of one, half a dozen of the other for my part. Psychological astrology (practiced by such luminaries as Liz Greene PhD. and Robert Hand) has already made the connection. Now we who come afterwards get to reap the benefits. :)

And I'm now at the end of my useful minutes. Gonna stretch out with rose quartz, idocrase, and Brandberg amethyst.


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.

Sharethis: Big decision? You may think best on sunny days - Behavior- msnbc.com

Interesting article about super weather-sensitive people like me. Migraineurs and Meniere's-y sorts are sensitive to quite a number of things.

Here's an unattributed quote from The Old Farmer's Almanac for Friday August 14, 2009:

When you shut out the sun from the window,
The doctor comes in at the door.

My mother always opens every blind and drape in the house every day. I go behind her and close them if the sunlight shines in because it's usually too bright for my eyes. She and I have been battling about open/closed drapes for many years, and I imagine we will for years to come. :)

Exquisitely weather-sensitive people more mentally "dull" on cloudy days - data mining
Big decision? You may think best on sunny days - Behavior- msnbc.com Source: msnbc.msn.com
Parin Stormlaughter sent this using ShareThis.

Sharethis: Scientists find bacterial zoo thrives in our skin - EarthLink - Top News

All I can say is yuck.

There's an age-old underarm grooming treatment of sponging off with witch hazel. Commercial witch hazel contains some alcohol so at least it probably killed some of the rain forest critters.

Underarm rain forest
Scientists find bacterial zoo thrives in our skin - EarthLink - Top News http://shar.es/Xb9o
Parin Stormlaughter sent this using ShareThis.

"You has a hurt?...

Lolcats and funny pictures

I used to work for Internal Revenue Service, before I had to retire on disability.

I once dreamt that Congress had passed tax legislation to allow for deduction of expenses related to the upkeep of pets--dreamt what the form looked like and everything.

It was a Schedule A deduction, in my dream. It was only available to single people with no one else living in the house with them, and only one pet. It was a percentage deduction and included pet food expenses, veterinary bills, collars, beds, carriers--all sorts of things. Yeah, I dreamt all this.

I need some =^-^= therapy right now.

Iz ok. I fix ur hurtz.

On Twitter--Parin Stormlaughter

Copyright 2008-2009 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission. Contact me to request permission to link. And remember that if my work gets published anywhere else, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

Twitter-pated or Hashtags in a brick

I'm Twittering now, Parin Stormlaughter.

Maxjerz, my bud in Migraine Advocacy (link on left too), suggested hashtagging Migraine twitters #Migraine and I'm there.

Oh, and #bhamsnow for our once-in-a-decade snow event for tomorrow. Imagine--we might get an INCH of snow. XD

Maybe someone will start #Menieres or something...#vertigo...#tinnitus...

It may be several MONTHS before I can get a computer that will get internet, still borrowing Libchik's for that. (Of course, not being on the internet but once a week or so might be the best thing for my head in the last ten years.) Twittering by cell phone will help me keep up with my Migraine and Meniere's buds in the meantime.

Love, love, love technology. Imagine Twittering about drinking aquamarine/heliodor/morganite/lithium quartz-charged water...the incongruity of it all...

Maybe I'll Twitter about growing natural airborne sourdough or the trials of removing cotton seeds from the boles by hand. Or dreams--got a column in the works about dream analysis.

Need to finish the column about castor oil packs for painful gallbladder...they work for me and they're more relaxing than the Valium I take for tinnitus and vertigo. Oh just give up now! XD Picture the sensuality of floating in a pool of warm, golden, sleek and slippery, slightly nutty-fragranced oil and that's not what a pack is like, but I've got an active imagination. I want to share the non-drug things I'm doing for pain relief that actually work for me. Yep, even careful usage of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines following the label directions exactly can exacerbate headpain. I need to save all the pain meds I have to stop the worst pain I have right now which is from Migraine. Maybe OTC meds should be listed as headache triggers??

Speaking of which--the cold-core upper level low that's supposed to bring us snow has triggered a Migraine attack which has just gotten started. My right arm is feeling funny and I'm seeing flashbulbs, and I'm nauseated. That funny-feeling-in-my-right-arm sensation has preceded basilar-type Migraine attacks in the past so I may go ahead and medicate this now instead of trying something else first. Gads, I hate Migraine.

heeheehee...maybe I'll Twitter about how I'm keeping stored emergency water fresh by using it on a rotational basis to cleanse crystals. See, if you then use it to water plants, you've gotten three uses out of it, and four if you water vegetables that you eat. Hey, we're under water-use restrictions. They hit us with huge surcharges for usages over a certain number of gallons per month. And my mother's lettuce and radishes have already come up. Poor things might freeze under snow but she doesn't care. She'll just plant more. She saves seeds so she's ahead no matter. She is Thrift Personified. There is a true story of the clean, never-used Kleenex in the pocket of her gardening jeans that got washed and dried...she carefully unfolded the washed Kleenex--I'm not making this up--laid it out to dry and then used it.

Until I can borrow this computer again, I love you all.

~The Incongruously Sparkling Daughter of Thrift Personified.

Copyright 2008-2009 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission under any circumstances. Contact me to request permission to link. And remember that if my work gets published anywhere else, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

"You better run, you better take cover..."

"...where beer does flow and men chunder..."
Land Down Under, band Men at Work



*retch* *chunder* *[insert vomit synonym of choice]*

I'm on a borrowed computer for now. I may be on borrowed time. :p

My mother had some heavy yard work done this morning in the backyard. She and I were looking at the finished yard after the men had left and she was telling me that we should never have to worry about weeds in the backyard again, because they had sprayed the whole place with...

Roundup. Roundup. Roundup.

Men sprayed my entire backyard with Roundup.

(I can smell and taste nasty chemicals now.)

This is a perfect example of how lack of knowledge and incomplete communication can kill. My mother never uses chemicals of any sort in her gardening, not even chemical fertilizer. Just...read....

I was horror-struck. Mom asked if I thought the Roundup would kill the ivy growing on the trees and I told her it might kill the entire tree too. I told her we might not have any living thing left there as a result of this spraying. We have all sorts of critters back there--turtles, scorpions (one crawled into my father's work boot one time), lizards, snakes, chipmunks, squirrels, and hundreds of birds. There's a family of raccoons next door. Maybe not anymore.

I'm ill, emotionally and physically ill.

Mom said that she told the man she didn't want anything poisonous back there. I told her that sure, he probably got all the poison ivy and poison oak. She said that no, she told him nothing poisonous. I asked if she told him no chemicals and she said...nothing.

This is going to trigger--and it has already begun--every symptom I ever have. Might create some new ones.

Roundup.

Please, for the love of the Earth and everything on it, don't buy or use Roundup. I believe it works by sterilizing the soil to a certain depth so that nothing can grow. I don't believe that dirt treated with Roundup can ever be rehabilitated to make it arable again. And then it gets into the ground water, and then animals drink it, and then...


Copyright 2008-2009 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission under any circumstances. Contact me to request permission to link. And remember that if my work gets published anywhere else, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

Maggots and castor oil and old-fashioned forward thinking

Oooo yum! Castor oil! XD

Tonight I gave myself my second castor oil pack, according to the readings of Edgar Cayce. No, not any castor oil internally but an external pack made with flannel soaked with castor oil, put in place, and kept warm with a heating pad.

For whatever reason, my gall bladder hurts now and then. I've had an ultrasound done and there are no gallstones, and blood work shows that my gall bladder is functioning normally, so there's no reason I can think of to have it removed. The doctor said that gall bladders can become inflamed and painful for no obvious reasons.

I had tried a heating pad and ibuprofen over the years and frankly, got no relief. I try to stay away from over-the-counter analgesics these days because--and who knew?--taking recommended amounts of OTC analgesics for non-headache reasons can cause an attack called a medication-overuse headache in susceptible individuals by themselves in the absence of any other trigger so...Time to search for a non-drug method to relieve the discomfort.

I'm a fan of Edgar Cayce's readings as I've mentioned before. I don't agree with everything he said. He said a number times that people should only take from his readings what was "helpful and hopeful" and discard the rest. Humble man, major psychic, wrong on some important theological points. Right on many health issues.

I really, really would like to do a series on his readings and what I have been able to take from them and use. So many things to write about, so little ability...

The castor oil pack is applied for an hour to an hour and a half daily before bed for three days, then on the evening of the third day a tablespoon of olive oil is taken. Lay off for four days, then start the cycle again.

I'll let you know if I get any relief.

In other news from my blogging compatriot Marijke Durning, RN, of Help My Hurt (link on left too):

Maggots and infections: you may want to skip this post if this gives you the heeby jeebies!

Natural and non-drug ways to do what artificial chemicals do now is what this blog is all about. Marijke explains maggots and leeches in use today for infections and to maintain circulation in reattached limbs.

If I were to ever need this type of therapy, I'd have to repeat to myself..."they're only eating the dead flesh...they're only eating the dead flesh..." :p