Psoriatic Arthritis Journal - 2.5 year Update Page 63

[moonwatcher]

hi nicoles,

Thanks for the kind words about my yoga practice, and all else. I couldn't begin to describe my "testy" vegus nerve. Just that it's been very sensitive. And thanks for the link to the book. It looks interesting. It reminds me of a guy that was featured in Yoga Journal many years who had MS back who worked his way to health with yoga. Can't remember his name so don't know if this is his book or something else. I've never been much of one to do yoga from books, since I have a hard time "getting" what to do from the pictures or talk. But I might ask the library for this one and take a look.

Nice to have been hanging out in the same virtual space earlier today. Time for me to do some yoga before I hit the hay.

xoxo

Maria

[nicoles]

Hi Moonwatcher,

Sorry your vagus nerve is sensitive. Oh - I think the guy who wrote the book might be the same one in that YJ article. Not sure.

I have a hard time getting things from books too, unless I read them and absorb the information, let it steep and then try it out and see what I find. But there is s lot of information in it that I think you would find interesting whether or not you applied it to your yoga. I bet you'd make all sorts of interesting connections from the vast knowledge and experience you already have on the subjects of Yoga and MS.

XOXO

Nicole

[nicoles]

Well, folks, we have a VEGAN THANKSGIVING coming up at my inlaws, and the drama has already begun.

My inlaws had a slip or two, but they are still on board with eating this way, and the slips they had were mistakes, not choices, so ... HOORAY! They are down for vegan, low-fat UNTurkey Day.

My husband and I are down for vegan T-Day.

My parents are coming to town, and are now vegan and lowfat for a year and a half, so are very happy to have a vegan Thanksgiving with us all.

My Brothers-in-law are coming too, They are not vegan (one used to be a strict vegetarian and pretty much still is, though) and are fine with having a vegan, low-fat Thanksgiving.

That leaves....my sister in law.

My sister in law who, when FIL was at the hospital, was trying to talk him out of eating vegan and low fat.

My sister in law who came up to help the other week after FIL fell, and when FIL and MIL took her out to dinner as a thank you, requested they go to steakhouse, which they did. My in-laws had the sides and salad, SIL had a steak and ice cream.

My sister in law who is bringing a turkey to this vegan Thanksgiving, and no-one can talk her out of it.

So we are having a "meat table" and a "vegan table" instead of the traditional kids' and adults' tables. This was FIL's idea, and he says it works fine with him. He plans to sit at the vegan table, or as he calls it, the "Vay-gun table"

So I guess it'll all be fine. Though how my SIL is going to finish a whole turkey is beyond me.

edited to add


Personal Update
I have still been doing rather well, feeling good in terms of arthritis. I did get a cold this past week, and I definitely started to feel myself of getting too tired after these many weeks of too-busyness.

So I took the weekend off. So did my husband. By off, I mean, I did the minimal amount of chores necessary and that is IT.

It feels great. I feel like a human again. Always must remember to take care of self first unless it is an emergency situation.

I have been feeling so good I was getting back into the habit of "superwoman I can do anything, sure I'll take that extra thing on"

So glad to re-let go of that mentality.


In other news, I have been reading some books by Dr. Sherry A. Rogers, who I came across while browsing the interwebs.

They look like quack-books, I know, and the information is very dense within them, and I dare say they are a wee bit disorganized, but I am learning some interesting things. She agrees with this WOE on many counts, and has a whole new perspective on many things. I have no way of knowing yet whether I agree with her ideas at all, but my mind is open.

Most particularly, I have an new interest in investigating Far Infrared Saunas as an option for additional help with my health. I'll write more about it as I learn and double-check the science, but they look somewhat promising at the very least.

[fulenn]

I have enjoyed reading about your yoga experience, makes me wonder if I could start doing it at home without an instructor. Do you think the videos available might be enough?

I'm glad to hear that the people you know are safe from the storm. That has been an awful thing for everyone out there. There doesn't seem to be a lot of sympathy from so many, even though nobody could anticipate the nor'easter that followed.

Vegan Thanksgiving rocks! Hope you enjoy it and post what will be eaten there.

Glad to hear that your arthritis is behaving itself and you are doing well in that regard.

Fulenn

[nicoles]

Hey Fulenn!

I think it would be fine to do at home without an instructor, if you get an appropriate-for-your-level video to work from. And maybe make sure someone is around the first few times.

For example, there is this video that is specifically for MS, although it might be less vigorous than you'd be up for, whereas this one might be OK.

And apart from MS-specifics, this, this and this video are excellent for overall feeling good, not too strenuous, not to easy, and might be worth a try. I took them out of the library, and was able to do some of them even when I was in much worse shape than I am in now. I trust Desiree Rumbaugh, the instructor in the three videos, because I have taken classes with her and she knows her stuff and her safety.

And just do the same you would do with anything else physical - stay aware of how things make you feel and don't push if anything sets off an alarm bell.

Let me know if you do - I am always excited to hear about people's experiences trying out yoga!




Nicole

[nicoles]

Went for a lovely 4.5 mile walk today. I will sleep well tonight!

[moonwatcher]

nicoles,

I just finished reading about your Vegan Thanksgiving drama, and I STILL am laughing. Thanks. And congrats on your walk. And getting over the cold. I am feeling better too. Hooray!

xo

moonwatcher

[SweetPea]

Nicole, you are amazing.

I read your journal start to finish (often breathless with excitement and anticipation) and am so impressed! You stood up for yourself and your health and kept searching until you found what works for you. What spunk! It is also wonderfully inspiring to hear the details. Thank you! And thank you to everyone for such lovely, good-humored, and poetic responses ~ I've enjoyed your company so much today.

[nicoles]

wow, SweetPea, you are so kind! Thank you for hanging out with us here today! I looove visitors!

Isn't everyone so nice, though? I love it here

Nicole

[nicoles]

"Even when nothing is perfect, everything is perfect." ~ ? (can't remember)

So true.

[nicoles]

Just wanted to link to this lupus success story thread, in case anyone missed it.

[moonwatcher]

Very neat! Thanks for alerting us to it. I sent it on to a friend of mine who has lupus, and seems to manage it pretty well. But just more food (haha) for thought, if she's so inclined.

And now, I have a technical question for you my dear nicoles. How do you make these very cool hyperlinks you are using on this discussion board? I can't for the life of me figure that out. And, as you can see, my signature is now a mess from trying. Could you give me some step by step instructions, my dear hyperlink wizard?

xoxo

moonwatcher

[nicoles]

Hi Moonwatcher,

Sure thing!

Step 1 - Type [url=Type or Paste Link Address Here with no space after the equal sign]Step 2* -Write the text or title you want visible

Step 3 at the end of the visible text, type[/url]

*because of the coding, or language, or whatever of this forum, it won't let me place Step 2 on the next line after Step 1

[nicoles]

Hm. I think I am in the mood to complain. I think I will indulge in that a bit today. Sorry in advance, just feel like venting a bit.

So, my husband has a new job which unfortunately he absolutely loathes. There was no real way to know in advance that his boss would be gratuitously horrible and nasty, and constantly switch unpredictably between downright rude and disrespectful to completely nice with no warning. He is having daily nightmares, is exceptionally depressed and feels trapped. Not only that, but he is constantly concerned about being randomly fired, although I doubt it would be that easy, given that he works for a large corporation and would really need to mess up big time to be fired. More the stress of it is what is concerning - he is just miserable! Poor guy. And more frustrating for him - he still does not earn quite enough for us to break even financially, and although I can do more and more, I do not yet make a good enough income to even us out, partially because I can't even find a regular, consistent job - and I have been looking for about 8 months.

Unsurprisingly, there is a trickle down effect here as well. DH is not being nasty or rude to me at all, of course, but he does spend pretty much every waking moment complaining about how awful things are, and truth be told, it can get a girl down. Of course, I'd feel bad complaining to him about how it is getting me down, so I am doing it here And I'd feel bad going on and on to him about how guilty I feel about the part I (being sick for so long) played in our financial situation, because honestly, I know that is really self-absorbed. But I often do feel that guilt.

Honestly, I am doing pretty well lately, but there are still about 100 things about my life and being sick that I have not even gotten around to dealing with emotionally, and any extra effort exerted to keep my head above the dark clouds takes its toll, so the result seems to be that I am getting more and more tired.

And now we have Thanksgiving coming up, and let me tell you between my DH, my SIL, and 2 BIL's and my parents, there is a general tug of war between a small army of control freaks. One person has and idea or a solution - one tor two others figure out a way to sabotage it and do THEIR, different idea. And repeat, repeat, repeat until everyone is fighting all the time.

Let me tell you, I am tired already. There are going to be 5 different people cooking 5 different Thanksgiving dinners in the same small kitchen at this point, and if that stays the case, there is no way it will be a relaxing day. My main focus was making sure that my meal cannot be interfered with by the many others, but that had involved baking sweet potatoes and squashes, which now is out of the question, because the Turkey my SIL was going to buy is now two turkeys that she is going to make in the oven (small oven) and I am paranoid enough about any animal protein coming into my system to not want to bake my main meal stuffed in the same small oven at the same time, especially knowing how little she understands or supports about what I am doing and why. So I guess that is my control-freak-ness coming out.

And my parents are coming to town, which is great. Except, they really want to share a Thanksgiving meal with me - of the same foods. This is very nice of them, and important to them, but unfortunately, the way I have gotten around the conflict of family meals out here with the in-laws, is to eat what I eat, and they eat what they eat and that is that. Because my in-laws do not want to eat what I eat, and are not really concerned about whether I get to have what everyone else is having or not.

(Uber-whine ----> It can be a bummer to always be the one eating the kind of gross nuked leftovers while everyone else is raving over a fresh-cooked, delicious holiday meal that I can't eat, but I'd rather not fight about it because it gets nowhere and in the end, everyone just takes over the kitchen so there is no chance of me being able to make my food fresh anyway, an then I have not only engaged in a tense conflict, but I STILL eat nuked leftovers. Or nothing, as happened once.)

So I don't know. My husband spent most of yesterday afternoon fighting on the phone with his sister about the turkeys, because apparently we are no longer having a vegan Thanksgiving. Part of me is like, "Whatever, let's just let everyone do what they want, if they are going to be so adamant about it, it isn't worth it." I mean, it's one meal, right? Yes, it is a Holiday, but still, when it comes down to it, the pressure of "Holiday" on the one meal is what usually ruins it for so many people, right? The Holiday is about Giving Thanks, not Gluttony and Winning Power Struggles, right?

Also getting me pretty down today - An uncle of mine just finished his treatment for lung, colon and prostate cancer, and I am pretty worried about him, knowing what I know about cancer treatment, diet's effect on cancer and everything, and then - one of my aunts told us yesterday that it looks like she has a kind of bone or blood cancer.

So I am just filled with Holiday Cheer at the moment.

Sorry about the vent. In truth not everything is bad at all, I promise! There are many many great things happening too.

For Example - reading over what I just wrote, I can see why I start to overeat around Holidays - I am always feeling the fear of not being able to have food in a family situation, because of the way things unfold. And also partially because of the strong emphasis on the food that almost every Holiday is centered around.

Patty said in another thread that she reminds herself "This is not my last meal" when she is out eating with others and cannot have exactly what she wanted to eat. I think I will make that my mantra.

So I am eating gross leftovers: It Is Not My Last Meal.

So there is no food but romaine lettuce and red onion for me to eat: It Is Not My Last Meal

Everyone is raving about how good the (insert food I cannot or will not eat here) is: It Is Not My Last Meal plus I Like My Food Better at This Point

I can make this about something else. I can rewrite the story of Holidays. I just need to spend some time contemplating what the new story could be.

[moonwatcher]

Dear nicoles,

Oh, how I felt for you reading this! I am sorry to hear about the job and the army of control freaks and all the issues with the food. I like what Patty said. Good approach.

And thank you for the hyperlink instructions. I am not very good at understanding these things, but I did copy them and will try and sort it out soon. I really appreciate it.

I guess I am the control freak in my kitchen. but heck, it's MY kitchen!! And what you write about is why I rarely venture out of it.

Here's something maybe happy: a friend who works at our co-op and is omni has been following my blog. She has always remarked on my progress. Now she has confided in me that she got high cholesterol numbers and needs to cut out saturated fat. Her sweetie is from Chile and he's back there now, so she will be on her own. She told me she was staying home because she didn't want to eat everything she should't eat. I said well, if you come over to my house, you don't have to worry about that! So she's coming. At least as of this writing. So that will be fun for Mike and Kelly and I to share with her, too. Wish you could wiggle your nose like Samantha and come have something [i]fresh[i] with us. We are a pretty fresh bunch over here, both what we put in our mouths, and what comes out of them.

Hang in there,

xo

moonwatcher