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.

Too much death: Please, get checked for cancer

Short column. I'm overwhelmed right now. Too much sadness, too much sickness, and now more death.

Got a call from one of my father's side cousins today. Her mother, my father's next-in-line sister, had two more hours to live, she told me the doctor had just told them. My aunt is in inpatient hospice. Nine days ago, she suddenly refused food and water. She's got metastasized breast cancer. My cousin said not to even come down today because they're already covered up with more people than they can handle.

My father died of metastasized prostate cancer last May. His sister, by now, has probably died of mestastasized breast cancer. Please, please, everyone who reads this: get checked. Get treated. Please live.




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.

Mother of all board crashes or Life in a flash drive

*sigh*

The slugs that have been pulling the dead donkey that is now a Toshiba paperweight finally dried up and died. Libchik's DBF said it was the mother board, something about the A side I think...it's no longer supported by Toshiba so yeah, time for a new computer.

Anyhow, my files are on a flash drive and I've borrowed Libchik's computadora until I can get one.

Here's to a better--2010! XD



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.

Oh what a tangled web we weave, or Are you the real thing?

"Are you for real?"
The question guys most frequently ask Yours Truly.


It appears that Oprah Winfrey is going hormonal again. If you missed the recent episode with Suzanne Somers (and I did--I've missed every episode of The Oprah Winfree Show ever shown!), then you might be interested in the Newsweek review of it. Unfortunately, Newsweek isn't offering free linking to online articles or I'd point you there. But, I've read it and it was interesting.

Bottom line: Newsweek assessed her TV show as not fair and balanced, but her concurrent Oprah magazine article on the same topic as far better.

But what were they about? Bioidentical hormones compared to conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) and synthetic conjugated estrogens (CSE) for women in menopause, either natural or surgically induced.

I am most assuredly not as studied-up on bioidentical hormones as Suzanne Somers and Oprah Winfrey. I wouldn't dream of giving anyone, male or female, any opinion about the state of his or her own hormones. I just learned from reading around today that even without hormone or estrogen replacement, a woman's body will produce a small amount of estradiol through her adrenal cortex tissue whether she has any functioning ovaries or not.

I'm writing this article mostly to gripe about--marketing and words.

I had a TVH-BSO (total vaginal hysterectomy-bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy) in 2004. Gone were the evil ovaries that patently and categorically refused to give me peace. In the month leading up to my surgery, I did intensive reading and pondering about post-surgical ovarian secretion substitutes. Only for my own self did I do this, so don't anyone run to a doctor and say "Well, Parin Stormlaughter said such-and-such was the best..."

Anyhow...

Conjugated equine estrogens are made from the urine of pregnant horses--mares. The drug industry calls them the "natural" estrogens. Synthetic conjugated estrogens are made from plants and plant extracts and the drug industry does not consider them to be natural.

Please take a moment to glance at this chart from the Premarin website. Notice the page is entitled "Common Alternate Estrogen Replacement Therapy Products in the U.S." Notice that in the URL string it's "synth". Is that short for synthetics?

Ladies and gentlemen (and guys, I hope for the love of the women in your life that you're still with me here), there is nothing synthetic about a yam. Or soybeans, unless they're genetically-modified soybeans and that's for another column...

In my opinion, there is nothing more naturally human or "real" about equine estrogen nor anything "synthetic" about plant-based estradiol. There, I've said it.

There are arguments to be made on both sides. One could validly point out inconsistencies between people who eat horse meat but refuse to take CEEs. One could validly point out that putting a yam through the processing necessary to conjugate an estrogen is about as far from the tuber as you can get.

I see both sides. I am repelled by the thought of putting anything derived from mare urine in my mouth, which is what one does when taking Premarin. I try to be consistent, though. I'm repelled by the thought of ever needing a pig valve for my heart for example, and someday I may be faced with that decision depending on how my mitral valve prolapse goes.

I don't use placenta products on my hair. There are all sorts of skin care products that use what they euphemistically call "DNA" in their products designed to be absorbed through skin capillaries. I'll eat a burger now and then but I could easily be a happy lacto-ovo vegetarian (and was for a few years).

I'm a true child of the land. Horse manure makes marvelous compost (although really, chicken manure is better if you can get it). My sister-in-law was a state champion equestrian in her teenage years. She and I used to ride, she on her rescued thoroughbred racehorse who had fractured his leg and would have been destroyed if she had not taken him in, and me on her old childhood quarter horse. The quarter horse retired to the loving home of a child with skeletal difficulties where he made the child's life bloom--that's a story I want to write someday. Love, love, love horses.

I guess I'm complaining that mare-urine-derived estrogen does NOT seem more natural for humans than plant-derived estradiol. Sounds like a marketing strategy designed to pull in people who otherwise have no opinion but feel like "natural health" is better than synthetic health. Gripes the left side of my behind to see marketing strategies of this sort.

I use Vivelle-dot, whose estradiol is derived from yams. I had nearly completed very early menopause when I had my surgery at 43 years of age. When I started Vivelle-dot, I was suddenly in a world that I never knew could be so...even. Any menopausal woman needing to feel better deserves to, and I'll stand right beside you on that.

And I won't criticize you for what you choose. We all have very important decisions to make about our bodies. I'm there.

Be aware that drug-industry generated labels may or may not conform to your own beliefs. Read, study, ponder, sift it all through your belief system, and be able to explain your decision if you are challenged. Keep up with the latest information.

And know that the Sparkling One will be here to share what gripes the left side of her behind. It's big enough for plenty of things to gripe it, that's for sure. :D

The answer to my most FAQ is yes, I'm very much as I appear to be. If you like me on the outside, you'll love me on the inside. Dadgum head in the beehive...must be Valentine's Day in the air.




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.

Out there: Beats "What's your sign?" as a pick-up line! :D

3/7/09 Edit to remove expired iCopyright link.

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In Japan, you are what your blood type is.

Heeheehee.

I was in my teenage years during the 1970s. The '70s saw the Ecology Movement (which I still actively participate in), discos (I suavely buffaloed my way past the waiting line into NYC's Xenon disco in 1979 XD), and the Sexual Revolution. Ah, the days of the cheesy, corny pick-up lines!

Used to be people would start conversations by asking about astrological signs. And since you're wondering...I'm Sagittarius, Moon in Scorpio with Gemini rising. My biggest deal is Mercury, which is associated with my rising Gemini and also is in my sun sign of Sagittarius. I can't slow my brain down long enough to learn to be less HIGH STRUNG...wait...is that actually right???

I've seen reporting on this Japanese blood-type movement before today but this article is particularly good. It describes how personalities and blood type have been linked.

No one wants to be stereotypically pegged, but, uhm...I'm A neg and...well...the article has me pegged. Both of my excellent Assistant Offspring are O neg. They're both generous and can be stubborn, but then, isn't eveyone like that at times?

Guess I need to get an English translation of one of those ten Japanese best-sellers and read more about it!

Actually, I'm a proponent of some aspects of blood type revelations for nutritional and stress-reduction because they work for us. Before anyone has a coronary, I ONLY follow naturopathic physician Dr. Peter D'Adamo and the Right4YourType system. He has published peer-reviewed articles and lectures on blood type and health. In the past he had been granted stage II US Federal funding for breast cancer research using--and I'm not making this up--escargot. Don't know the outcome of his research but the concept is interesting, to me at least.

I fully understand that snails for cancer simply will not make sense to anyone not familiar with Dr. D'Adamo's work. He's onto something though to be into Stage II funding for research. I've got an article started about blood type and health. Hope to have it up soon.

Dr. D'Adamo's work has been very good for us. For example, if you're an O, you may feel better if you exercise every day until you're sweaty, if you eat more lean red meat, and you should be aware of autoimmune diseases. I need to BOLO for heart disease and cancer and find gentle ways to relax and exercise. Anyone can get any disease (well, I would never have had prostate cancer because I'm a GIRL and I won't have any reproductive system cancers because I've had a complete hysterectomy), but Os are more likely to need more intensive management of autoimmune conditions and As are more likely to die of any cancer they develop, according to Dr. D'Adamo. In other words, if I do develop diabetes I should be able to do nicely with diet and exercise. If an O develops cancer, surgery and/or conservative measures should cure him or her completely.

Strenuous exercise triggers Migraine attacks consistently and has triggered Meniere's attacks at times in me. If my two aikidokas (students of aikido) don't get full, tough training sessions they get ungrounded and sick. More than a bite or two of red meat hits my gut and sits there like a rock until I'm ill. They don't feel like they've eaten if they don't have red meat three or four times a week. Grains help me feel good but make them retain fluids and gain weight. These are just our experiences--YMMV.

I know there is more to healthy life than any one isolated concept. Health isn't all about carbs, or all about trans-fats, or all about blood type. But knowledge of how your particular blood type can be a reflection of what makes you feel good and healthy can be "helpful and hopeful" and that's the only thing Edgar Cacye said his psychic readings were good for.

I'll add this: Type As physically react poorly to stress because we stay in a state of high cortisol all the time. I've had the two most stressful years of my entire life in 2007 and 2008, and now I'm disabled.

I had a big blood sugar crash this afternoon--that blood-sugar testing last Wednesday seems to have screwed me up and I haven't been able yet to get "right 4 my type" again--and I'm not going to write for a few days (or even check email) until I feel better. I need more turkey and good vegetable proteins, more plain yogurt and buttermilk, and that should square me away.

But I HAD to share this article.

Ok, so I'm aware that this whole subject is really "out there" for some of my amazing readers. But I'm up for fun so hey, Handsome Man--what's your type? ;D



Note: Link to article will remain for one month, courtesy of iCopyright. If you want to read it here, read it now! :)

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.

Oh frabjous day! or Diabetes might be in my future but it's not in my present :D

They say that the waiting is the worst part.

You've had medical tests performed. The doctor says he or she will call you about the results. You go home and...wait.

BUT SOMETIMES YOU GET LUCKY and have a doc who's office calls immediately to discuss the findings. My doc's nurse called me today about the further diabetes testing that was done yesterday. Yep, called me today. The results made me so happy that I had a piece of toast with butter and honey to celebrate. I did!

Although they're not ready to say that I have not developed diabetes, at least I DO NOT need to take any action right now. Well, they want me to enroll in the cholesterol nutrition class. Something about my total cholesterol being 248 and my LDL being 167 seems not good to them. XD

That testing yesterday made me ill. Within 120 seconds of finishing that fizzy orange drink that tasted five times beyond way too sweet, full rotational vertigo started. I was nauseated. The nurse said I looked like I didn't "feel too good". I kept it down though.

Afterwards, the nurse made me eat a package of cheese crackers from the vending machine and drink water before I got up from having the last blood drawn. No scolding please--I bought Aikichik a nice Milo's lunch for giving me a ride and staying to keep me company (and I got a burger and fries for me--no drink) and I ate the fries on the way home. I haven't had french fries in more than a year.

I checked my sugar when we got home before I ate my burger. It was 69 and that's low. I ate my burger, took a nap, and when I woke up it had only gone up to 84.

The nurse had said to eat protein and protein and protein for the rest of yesterday but no more sugar (I looked at her in disgust and told her I didn't WANT any more sugar) so I ate eggs and chicken. By bedtime it was up to 117 and I was feeling better.

Yay. Nothing to do for my sugar but keep on keepin' on.

If my triglycerides were even close to bad (but they're wonderful) and if my blood pressure was close to bad (it's wonderful too), I would be more concerned about my cholesterol. No way am I going to agree to take cholesterol meds. We have no family history of heart disease and the strokes we've had are migraine-related, I'm quite certain. If my liver is naturally making this much cholesterol, maybe I need it.

Now I get to read up on crystals and cholesterol, liver function, and such.

Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! And thank you, Lewis Carroll, for providing my father with a favorite blurb to say at odd moments, "The time has come, the Walrus said..."

Who knows the future? Not me, but I'd give nearly anything... At least my tomorrow doesn't include diabetes, and for that I am grateful to God.



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 powerful.

"The time has come," the Walrus said or "You've had a pleasant run!"

"...The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings..."
The Walrus and the Carpenter, Lewis Carroll


If your father was diabetic, and his mother was diabetic, and your second child weighed 9 lbs 2 ozs, you'd know that diabetes was in your future. Somewhere.

*sigh*

I've got to go for a two-hour glucose test as soon as Libchik and/or Aikichik can get me to the doc's office, so the nurse told me today. My fasting glucose was higher than it should have been, so she said.

After we rang off, I quickly checked my sugar with the little cheapy meter I bought after my father was diagnosed. It read 86, and I had eaten already. I ate cottage cheese with a glass of milk and an hour later it was 102. Two hours later it was 126. None of these readings are bad at all.

So wazzzzup? They'll have to tell me, but something has set them off. Maybe it was the 3-month overall glucose level test that they did? It would explain why weight has been falling off of me. I've lost now 47 pounds and didn't gain any over the holidays.

If the time has come to address diabetes, I'm there. I can adjust what I eat. I'll find some sort of exercise although I haven't the faintest idea what--swim, maybe? Nothing to fall off of and can't fall down in a swimming pool. There are crystals that help with blood glucose levels too, and Edgar Cayce's readings recommended Jerusalem artichokes for diabetics.

I take things as they come. Nothing is certain in this world but death and taxes, as the old saying goes, and personally I'm not sure about death. I was a tax collector in my previous Federal incarnation so I've got that covered.

So if the time has come, then I can slay this Jabberwock too. Poor Lewis Carroll is doing gymnastics, I'm sure.


"He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe."
Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll


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 powerful.

Happy New Year or Please, don't anyone rescue me! :D

"...'Cause, yo, yo, we wanna know how many people in the flow,
Would like to just let yourselves go
And doowutchyalike,
Yeah, well tonight's your night..."

Doowutchyalike, Digital Underground


Happy New Year! It's gotta be better than the one we're leaving...

For the first time in YEARS I'll be totally, completely, and absolutely alone tonight, at least for a little while.

Please, don't anybody have pity and rescue me!

I'm going outside at sunset to try to catch Venus and the crescent moon in a lovely pairing in the southwestern sky. I'm going to make eggnog and put in some homemade vanilla bourbon.

If I can gin up the stamina, I'm going to give myself a full-body facial. Not many things feel as good as spa-time. And if I can do all this, it'll be amazing.

My New Year's Resolution? Oh yeah, that...

Someone I know told me recently that he sensed that I'd forgotten how to kick back and enjoy myself. After the look on my face, he asked if I had ever known how to kick back and enjoy myself? Silence from me, and he asked if I pursued responsibilities like other people pursue pleasure? I still didn't know how to answer. I'm not making this up.

Someone else once noticed that this all-work-and-no-play-Jill needed a steam release mechanism. I was too outdone with Peter Pan at the time to take him seriously.

There is this cute rap by Digital Underground called Doowutchyalike. iTunes it! Prolly better for grownups but you'll love it.

I'm not intimating that I'll be dooinwutIlike until my brains fall out (there's nothing but charcoal up there anyhow), but I'm gonna go wash my feet and not say please for a neckbone.

I'm tellin' ya, check out Doowutchyalike so these last few paragraphs will make sense!

And really, don't anyone rescue me please. I'm gonna take a bath, chill the serious mood, and do what I like, 'cause tonight's my night.

Happy New Year and in 2009, find a responsible way to do what you like. I certainly shall.


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 powerful.

Healing the Healer: Mineral Water

They're shredding memories of 2008 in New York City, so I was told. I've got some to add to the pile. Both 2007 and 2008 have been Years from Hell.

I'm working on my New Year's Resolution for 2009 right now. I only make one per year. I try hard to make it a resolution that's possible to achieve and yet one that will improve things for everybody. Some years I do better than others. I've failed pretty miserably for the last two years! :/

Right now, I'm about through healing others for a little while. Time to Heal the Healer.

In studying crystal work, I've discovered that crystal healers tend to absorb the dis-ease of the person they're working with unless they take great care to avoid it. Even with great care, it seems to be a draining experience at times.

Healing the Healer, and stones that heal the healer, are important to preserve the health of the practitioner. Although I DO NOT practice crystal healing and don't subscribe to some procedures of the standard profession due to belief system discord, I have great respect for the value of rocks and crystals and those things traditionally considered crystals by the profession.

I'm tired right now. I've had more to deal with in this last year than I was ready to handle. Losing my father in May broke up my support system and it will take time to rebuild it. Retiring on disability in April took away 2/3rds of my income and it will take time to restructure my finances. Breaking my neck in October has left me in pain and fatigue. I am...reduced.

It's time to quit worrying about my mother and her things, and my brother's possible cancer, and my aunt (one of my father's sisters) dying of cancer. Time to put aside my daughters' friends' situations with all their marriage problems, pregnancies, deaths (Aikichik's good friend's mother died two days before Christmas) and their various inabilities to make mojo's work. They all want me to be their doctor, as my mother puts it. I've done what I can do, and I'll continue to pray. But now it's time to heal ME.

Peridot is a lovely bright green semiprecious gemstone of great value in healing the healer. It's expensive to buy as a gemstone-quality chunk bigger than a grain of rice. I rummaged through my jewelry box and found an old Mother's Day pendant with several peridot grains as well as red garnet, citrine, blue topaz, and amethyst. It's set in sterling silver. I don't believe the whole tcw is more than two carats or two and a half, and I know it didn't cost but $30 because I bought it for my daughters to give me when they were little.

I made a mineral water using the pendant and a couple of grains of yellow topaz and one grain of imperial topaz. I'll wear the pendant too for a few days--getting the frequencies inside and out that way. I'm drinking the mineral water now as I plot how to escape all the people and make more mineral water adding my crumb of clear topaz too this time. :D

Today we have sunshine, beautiful clear skies and sunshine. We should have sunshine for at least the next two days too. I am thrilled, because the dreary weather of the last two weeks has made me virtually hibernate.

But, this being Alabama and winter, nothing stays the same for long. There is a chance we could get some sleet or ice by New Year's Day or the few days after. I discovered after I had slept for two weeks that mineral water made with the sundry tourmaline varieties that I have seems to counteract some of the effects of stormy weather that deck me.

So, deck me now with lovely gemstones, fa-la-la-la-la...oh, never mind. :D

Wanna see what I look like in Migraine Hell? Abandon hope, all ye who dare to click...


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 powerful.

Link to AP Article: Avoiding the painkiller-overuse rut in migraine

>1/26/09 Edit to remove expired iCopyright link
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Avoiding the overuse rut in migraine

I don’t often link to articles, or report on other people’s reporting. Generally, I’m an original content kinda gal.

And I hadn’t planned another column here at Sparkling With Crystals until after Christmas. This one’s a downer too. Forewarned is forearmed.

But an article has appeared, written by Associated Press medical writer Lauran Neergaard, that clearly states a very serious problem for migraineurs that must be overcome by us, or by the medical community, or We together. Hopefully, it’ll be addressed by We.

And it finally cracks open the seal on some of the long-term effects of a category of early intervention medications that were sold to us migraineurs twenty years ago as the savior, the “shoot up and you’ll be back at your desk in 20 minutes” final resolution, triptans. Lauran Neergaard does not come right out and declare that triptans contribute to the progression of Migraine Disease but she does say that they become a risk factor for development of chronic migraine when use reaches 10 days a month or more. It seems to me that the objective of her article was to promote the value of prevention, which I am SO ON BOARD about that it cost me the services of my most recent doc.

If you haven’t read the article yet, please do so. Then come back here. The link to the article will remain here for one month courtesy of iCopyright.

For Migraine, I’ve seen more neurologists than I can remember by name. The last doctor I saw for Migraine was a Migraine specialist. They’re supposedly trained to contend with Migraine Disease from the Western Medicine corner of the ring. This guy was a dud, and I should capitalize that but I won’t.

He said that because I’d had so many years of under-treated Migraine pain, the pain nerve pathways in my body had become too ingrained for him to do much good. He said, “You’re really not worth my time to treat.”

Yep. Quote.

Too many years of under-treated pain to be worth the time of Dr. Breathtakingly Arrogant.

When last we spoke, I told him I would NOT take any more Imitrex and wanted instead to concentrate on migraine prevention. Imitrex caused the muscles in my neck to contract and close off my airway, I told him. Last time I took it, I told him, I was directed by my then-neurologist to go to the emergency room because she wasn’t able to stop the medication reaction and restore my free breathing. Nor did the emergency room care to restore it either. I was sent home untreated. This happened in March 1995.

When last we spoke, Dr. Breathtakingly Arrogant and I discussed alternatives to one of the four U. S. FDA-approved Migraine prevention drugs, an anti-seizure drug called Topamax (.pdf file). He told me to stop taking Topamax when I complained of side-effects that now have moved the U. S. Food and Drug Administration to put box warnings on other anti-seizure drugs commonly used for migraine such as Depakote (.pdf file). I tried Depakote many years ago, but got no relief from it. Just made my hair fall out.

He said that Migraine trigger management for prevention wasn’t especially effective either since most people’s Migraine attacks are caused by what he called “uncontrollable triggers”, things that we can’t avoid or stop like weather changes or exposure to other people’s strong perfume.

And that was it. If I wasn’t going to use Imitrex or any triptan as an early intervention medication and wanted only prevention--I refused pain medication that he offered until he absolutely insisted that I have something--I was gone.

This article succinctly explains being on the horns of the Migraine dilemma.

There are plenty of early-intervention medications and treatments both prescription and over-the-counter for a Migraine specialist and migraineur to try other than triptans. There are MOUNTAINS of preventative meds to try too. And I'm talking proven treatments, not shady internet offerings luring folks by promising a Migraine "cure" which simply does not exist at this time or promising to "eliminate Migraine" which may be simple management techniques that one may find at MyMigraineConnection for free.

Sure, to give a preventative a fair shake, one shouldn’t give up on it sooner than three months, unless there are side effects that cannot be tolerated. And sure, that means that in a year’s time, a migraineur may only be able to try at most four meds, or combinations of meds, to give them a fair shake.

Which means that a person might have a year, two years, ten years, who knows how long before an effective prevention regimen presents itself. And for someone like me, who has had what the AP writer called “stunning” 15 days or more of pain per month for decades, that’s a lot of time in pain.

Lots of time for those nerve pathways to become ingrained. Not worth the time of Dr. Breathtakingly Arrogant to treat.

Libchik had the first real debilitating Migraine attack of her life last week. She a migraineur too and so is her sister Aikichik. Libhchik's biggest deal is menstrual Migraines and even those she doesn’t get every month. But she had a whopper last week. She said her clothes hurt to wear, her hair hurt, her face was pale, and when I became concerned she told me I was giving off so much energy that she could feel it tactically.

She came to me the next day, after the attack was completely over, gently took my hand and looked right in my eyes. She said, “You’re the bravest person I’ve ever known. You have Migraine, and you don’t complain.” Later, I cried. My child "gets it".

I have only one more thing to say about Migraine and the horrors of it. I’m a force to be reckoned with during an attack. I would tell you to go to hell, but I wouldn’t want you anywhere near me.


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 powerful.

Mummy Food, just in time for...Christmas? :D

3/21/09 Edit to include copyright info according to the Usage Permissions guidelines from the Edgar Cayce Foundation. Sorry, I just found them!

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We Meniere's-y types generally take or consume some sort of diuretic every day. There are several varieties out there.

A commonly prescribed one and the one I take, triamterene, can and has caused my potassium levels to drop. Triamterene is called a potassium-sparing diuretic but that doesn't stop it from depleting potassium levels any time it wishes. I was in the ER for an allergic reaction to gadolinium contrast dye the first time anyone noticed that my potassium was low. That liquid potassium replacement is disgusting. :p

In my never-ending quest to experience quests, I found an interesting food dish given by Edgar Cayce during one of his psychic events. The recipe came from a dream he had on December 2, 1937. More specific information about how to create this dish is found in Reading 1188-11:

"...It is well for this body, or growing bodies, or elderly individuals also, for strength building and for correcting the eliminations, to use this as a cereal, or a small quantity of this with the cereal, or it may be served with milk or cream:

Secure the unpitted Syrian or Black Figs and the Syrian Dates. Cut or grind very fine a cup of each. Put them on in a double boiler with just a little goat's milk in same - a tablespoonful. Let come almost to a boil. Stir in a tablespoonful of Yellow Corn Meal.

These are good..."

He recommended this combination in Reading 275-45 also:

"...10. (Q) Outline diet for three meals a day that would be best for body.
(A) Mornings - citrus fruit juices OR cereals, but not both at the same meal. At other meals there may be taken, or included with the others at times, dried fruits or figs, combined with dates and raisins - these chopped very well together. And for this especial body, dates, figs (that are dried) cooked with a little corn meal (a very little sprinkled in), then this taken with milk, should be almost a spiritual food for the body; whether it's taken one, two, three or four meals a day. [See continued recipe below.] But this is to be left to the body itself. [See "mummy in EC's "DREAMS" 12/2/37, in 294-189, Par. R2.]..."

The first thing that grabbed me is that these dried fruits are high in potassium. I mean it--I have to have a baked potato, or some combination of a banana, raisins, a quart of milk, or a full can of tomato soup (oooo YEAH) nearly every day or I'll be in trouble shortly. Now I've got a single dish that will give me a nice dose of potassium in itself, nearly as much as a baked potato with the skin so The Calorie Counter website tells me.

Really, although I love grits and cornmeal mush (you know I'm a Girl-Raised-In-The-South! XD), the thought of these dried fruits with cornmeal and goat's milk, the way Edgar Cayce dreamt, just isn't appealing. But in Cream of Wheat or Cream of Rice and with salted butter, they are.

So, below is my version of Edgar Cayce's Mummy Food made with Cream of Wheat or Cream of Rice, along with some nutritional information.

CHECK OUT THAT POTASSIUM.

And do what you need to do to lower the Calories or sodium. I find that if I keep my potassium high, I can sneak a bit more sodium without blowing my ears out of my head.

Nice warm breakfast cereal, good fruits, sweet and buttery... Consider making it up the night before in a pre-heated thermos bottle if your mornings are busy--just pile it all in the thermos except for the butter and put the top on tight. Next morning put in the butter and it'll be ready before the coffee is.

Merry Christmas if that's a holiday you celebrate (it's mine), and warm love and happiness for all.

Edgar Cayce Readings © 1971, 1993-2007
by the Edgar Cayce Foundation
All Rights Reserved


Unless otherwise noted, 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 powerful.

Mummy Food - with Cream of Wheat or Cream of Rice, good potassium/sodium ratio

Mummy Food - with Cream of Wheat or Cream of Rice

3 fresh or frozen figs
1/4 cup dried sugared dates
1 cup boiling water
1 pkg instant Cream of Wheat or 1/4 cup Cream of Rice
1 tbs butter

Plump and defrost fruits in boiling water for 10 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients. Reheat if desired. Makes 1 serving


Nutritional Notes (you could save 102 Calories, 81.8 mgs sodium, nearly all the fat and all the cholesterol by omitting the butter):

Calories made with Cream of Wheat - 422
Calories made with Cream of Rice - 492
Total fat, either cereal - 11.3 g
Sat. fat, either cereal - 7.3 g
Cholesterol, either cereal - 30.5 g
Carbs made with Cream of Wheat - 74.1 g
Carbs made with Cream of Rice - 91.1
Protein, either cereal - 5
Potassium made with Cream of Wheat - 613.9 mg
Potassium made with Cream of Rice - 637.3 mg
Sodium made with Cream of Wheat - 243 mg
Sodium made with Cream of Rice - 83 mg

General Notes: I know, I know, a whole tablespoon of butter is a lot. Adjust as desired or omit the butter entirely if you like. If you could find unsugared dates you could save some Calories and carbs both. I used the figs I have which are my mother's whole frozen figs from her farm. I didn't include the sodium in the Celtic sea salt that I use when I make this because I imagine most people would shudder at the thought of dried fruit and salt.


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 powerful.

Thank you, Diana, for choosing 'Twas the Night Before Nut Cakes (below) for the Somebody Heal Me 10th Anniversary December 2008 Headache and Migraine Disease Blog Carnival!

December 2008 Headache and Migraine Disease Blog Carnival link.


From Somebody Heal Me(link on left also):

Happier Holidays: December 2008 Headache Blog Carnival

Note from Diana: Generally speaking, a blog carnival is a collection of links to a variety of a blogs on a central topic. The Headache & Migraine Disease Blog Carnival has been created to provide both headache and migraine disease patients and people who blog about headache disorders with unique opportunities to share ideas on topics of particular interest and importance to us. Visit the link to this month's carnival for a collection of informative entries on how to maximize your enjoyment of the holiday season. Thanks! Diana
--
Diana Lee
Somebody Heal Me: SomebodyHealMe.dianalee.net
SomebodyHealMe@dianalee.net

'Twas the Night Before Nut Cakes...

Disability and the holidays.

One must find a way to cope.

Being a creative sort of gal, I tend to create things when I'm stressed. Music, paranoia, poems, food, all sorts of things come to life when I'm under pressure.

Here's this year's Holiday Stress Offering 'Twas the Night Before Nut Cakes.



‘Twas the Night Before Nut Cakes
(With Recipe)

‘Twas the night before Nut Cakes and all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, except Mother Mouse.

Her stockings had fallen but she didn’t care,
She had to make Nut Cakes so her legs went bare.

She knew that St. Nicholas wouldn’t chop nuts,
She had to make NUT CAKES but she was a klutz.

Her knuckles were raw from the ends to the palms,
The grater was greater on them than pecans.

She finally got sourdough oiled-up and covered,
Collected the last of the items in cupboard,

With Cat on his pillow and Dog in his house,
Sat down with her feet up did smug Mother Mouse.

When out of the bread machine came such a clatter,
She leapt the recliner to see what was the matter.

Away to the kitchen she flew like a flash,
Tore open the bread machine, threw out her back!

As wild eyes before a loud shouting match glow,
Her face lit up things on the counter below.

She saw not the coffee pot that she had programmed,
She’d turned on the bread machine and it had jammed!

Pets heard her exclaim in her brain-foggy state,
“I’ll never again make Night-Before Nut Cakes!”


Night-Before Nut Cakes

6 tbs butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sherry, apple or orange juice
1 cup fruitcake mix or mincemeat
2 cups unsalted nuts, finely chopped
1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp cloves (omit if using mincemeat)
12 tsp bourbon, divided (optional)

Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs until well-blended. Sift dry ingredients. Add to butter/sugar mix alternately with sherry or juice. Gently fold in remaining ingredients.

Divide between 12 paper-lined muffin tins. Bake in slow 275o oven for 30-40 minutes.

Cool on rack. For grownups, pour 1 tsp bourbon on top of each nut cake, cover, and let sit on the counter overnight. Makes 12 nut cakes.


Notes: My ex said one year that he wanted me to make a fruitcake recipe that "mostly nuts with a little fruit". His wish was my command. This makes little cupcake-sized nut cakes with just a bit of fruitcake mix and is a great alternative to traditional fruitcake. Nuts are a migraine trigger for some people. I use pecans and almonds since they don't cause me any problems. Never tried this with peanuts so I don't know how they would do. If anyone does try it, let us know what you think. :)


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 powerful.