The Blogging Platypus

To say that I have lived an interesting life in my 42 years would be a bit of an understatement. From graduating high school at age 16, earning my AA degree at 18, then spending 12 years in the military on active duty, followed by my BS and MS degrees, then to be hit with a handful of debilitating illnesses. I’ve seen a lot. I’ve heard a lot. I’ve been through some shit. All of that goes into who I am at any given moment. Our past most certainly influences our experience of the world around us. That’s what makes life interesting, as no two people have had the same experience of life. The diverse views held by society requires us to be more open minded than some are comfortable with, which can lead to the minds being closed. If we nurture compassion, empathy, and understanding, society as a whole may improve. Let’s put the human back into humanity. Okay, I’ll step off my soapbox now and get to today’s post. This game can be challenging, especially when you feel like you have lived s...

Coffee has been a part of my life for, gosh, nearly half of my life. However, over the years, I have cut back on caffeine, only consuming it before noon for the most part. Coffee and caffeine can sometimes lead to anxiety, irritability, and sleeplessness in some, but others may report no undesirable side effects. Just another example of how different one person can be from the next on a molecular level. Undesirable side effects are nothing new for us in the chronic illness community. The medications some of us have to take can be accompanied by some uncomfortable side effects that may require an additional medication or two. It seems like a laundry list of potential symptoms that could occur, with some of them worse than the initial symptoms for which you are taking the medication. It becomes a vicious cycle. Due to what seems like playing a medication shell game, I have started to look for non-traditional approaches to health. It started first with cannabis a few years ago when we...