Products and Concepts That Work for Me - Issue #33

Ouch!

My first topic is pain. I have had a lot of chronic pain over the years. Most of the blame can be laid squarely at the feet of Lyme disease and all of the problems that disease has caused in my body. I would say most of my chronic symptoms and pain are under control these days except for a couple of them. I have an extremely stubborn pain in my upper left quadrant that hurts on and off. My doctor and I have been trying to figure out what's causing it for as long as I've been her patient with not much success. It is a mystery. When it gets triggered (and what, exactly, is triggering it remains a mystery), it can hurt for weeks. It isn't excruciating (well, most of the time it isn't), just wearing. It wears me out after a while. It's hard to be a cheerful and nice person when it is present.

So, on to the product. I became aware of a product called Dr. Bronner's Magic Balm while looking for some birthday gifts for my mom last year. (I know. It sounds super hoaky.) We have used Dr. Bronners soap for years in my family and chuckled over his nonsense writings on the soap bottles while sudsing up in the tub. But the balm is new. Well, fast forward to this month where I saw a tin of it at TJ Maxx. My back and neck had been giving me fits for a while, so I thought, "Why not?" and threw it in the cart.

Well, friends. Let me tell you. I was in the midst of a bad muscle spasm flare in my back that day. I put some on when I got home and forgot about it. An hour later, I realized I wasn't wincing quite so much every time I moved. Next time, I put some on my temples as a headache came on. It stopped that headache in its tracks. Then came the pain in my upper left quadrant. Oh, my, was it hurting. Fully expecting it not to work, I rubbed some of the balm over the area, because if you don't try something you'll never know. It eased the pain. Didn't take it away completely, but it made a huge difference in manageability. I was shocked. The only thing that's ever eased the pain was laying on a heating pad as long as the heat was applied and no longer.

So, there ya go. The man is a complete nutter, but boy, can he make a balm. I have never had a topical cream give me so much relief. And again, no one is paying me to say this. It just worked for me. Maybe it will work for you, too.

You can buy the stuff here at Dr. Bronner's website.

Oh, nuts. I got fat.

Once again, due to good old Lyme disease, my thyroid decided to go nuts back in 2020. I gained weight so fast, it was truly appalling. (To me. Probably nobody else noticed.) But it was a little freakish, because it felt quite out of control. I wasn't moving any less or eating any more than I ever had, and suddenly I had gone up two clothing sizes. Finally, after my dad passed away in 2021, I got to my heaviest--131 pounds. That doesn't sound so bad, but remember that I am a very tiny person. I'm 5'3" with a small build. And what really irritated me was that I could not bend over without feeling like my stomach was getting in the way. Not cool. I was so fed up and determined to get rid of the pudge. But everything I tried, did not work. I tried going low carb. The scale didn't budge. I tried cutting calories. (Worst dieting idea ever. It really messes with your head.) I tried walking 10,000 plus steps a day. No dice.

Finally, I revisited the intermittent fasting concept. I had done a bit of that before more for my ailing gut's sake than for weight loss, and it did seem to help with stomach pain, but that was before my Lyme diagnosis and I was too inflamed all over for any weight loss to occur. So, I began listening to quite a few podcasts on the subject and after several weeks of thinking on it, I decided to go for it...the month before Christmas. Ha!

Reader, I lost weight. I LOST WEIGHT OVER CHRISTMAS. I lost weight over Christmas with hypothyroidism. THAT is remarkable. And it wasn't just water weight, because I kept track with measurements as well. When I started, I was at 131 pounds. I am now hovering just over 116 pounds. My starting waist measurement was 27.5. It is now 25. That is fat loss.

Some people say that intermittent fasting causes thyroid issues in women. And I think it could, especially if paired with too few carbohydrates and too much coffee. I really don't think going super low carb is a good idea for us ladies. But my doctor draws thyroid panels every couple months and my numbers are stable and gradually improving.

So, do some reading and listening and see if it might help you out. I recommend looking up Dr. Jason Fung on YouTube and listening to every video he puts out. He is so informative, and he's also just a really nice guy. And for the ladies, listen to Dave Asprey on fasting. He gives tips on fasting for ladies without doing a hormonal crash and burn. You definitely don't want that.

Here's a video to get you started. Full disclosure, Dr. Fung always advocates for a super low carb diet for everyone. I, personally, don't think ladies should do that, but you'll have to make that decision for yourself if you are a lady. I lost all this weight by eating all the foods--proteins, carbs and fats. So, you don't have to pair intermittent fasting with Keto or another similar diet to be successful.

My Nails are Purty

Several months into my Lyme treatment, I went through my makeup, nail polish, hand creams, hair stuff and threw almost everything away. I was trying to reduce my exposure to substances that can act like hormones in the body and cause all kinds of problems. I had just discovered that I had a cyst on my ovary and a uterine fibroid...which were both causing me a LOT of pain. I was fed up with all the crap in my makeup and chucked it all. Over the last three or four years, I have discovered a lot of replacements that are a lot less toxic. But nail polish was just difficult.

The non-toxic polishes tended to have a weird consistency, didn't go on smoothly, didn't look nice for very long, and just took forever and a day to dry. So, I kind of gave up on having pretty nails. It just wasn't worth the effort. But I couldn't stay away for long, because I like having pretty nails. It's a girl thing. So I renewed my efforts and have found some good ones that actually do look good, stay on, and don't take three months plus the blood of a virgin to dry. One of these is Static Nails nail lacquer.

I have to warn you that they are on the pricy side. 16.00 to 20.00 dollars a bottle is a little steep. I have found sample palettes marked way down at TJ Maxx and that's why I have them--because I got them way cheap. Anyway, when you follow the company's instructions to the letter, and I do mean without deviating from their instructions even a little bit, they work. This nail polish is the best, most long lasting, fastest drying non-toxic nail polish I have ever tried.

So, now you know. Check out Static Nails here.

Last but not least

Once upon a time, a lady whose work I used to read quite often, said this, "Just because you have a thought doesn't mean it's true." I sat there, thunderstruck, and thought to myself, "Oh, sure enough." A lot of things in my life got a whole lot easier after that.

That's all for today. Hope some of things are useful to you.

Until next time, folks...