The Blogging Platypus

When we moved, we made it a point to identify potential regions that could potentially have better healthcare for people, like me, who have complex medical histories and diagnoses. I’m limited on where I can go so, no, I can’t always just get a new doctor when I get gaslit by doctors due to the VA. We moved to Oregon from the Albuquerque VA AOR in the hope for this to be true. Well, just as with other areas and doctors we’ve encountered, they give GREAT lip service, however, when it comes to ACTUALLY helping, there’s lots of room for improvement. At our first appointment, they took an hour or so to do my history, draw blood, and get my referrals for MRIs and X-rays. Great! I got my MRIs and X-rays done a week or two later in Portland. Great hospital by what we saw (this is a big VA facility, but not where I see my PCP). A few days later, I can see my results online. What were my results? Well… Reversal of normal cervical lordosis Scattered degenerative endplate changes, most prominent ...

Image via Brent Jones It can be a challenge to find your voice. Even after you find it, you will soon realize that holding onto your voice can be even trickier than finding it in the first place. We are inundated by images about what we are supposed to be, do, and how we’re expected to act. In an attempt to refrain from rocking the boat, we’ll go along with the crowd, putting forth a united voice. Don’t get me wrong, a choir of strong voices can help to further causes and can be helpful when it comes to advocating, as it’s more difficult to ignore the masses when compared to ignoring the single voice. However, if we go along with the rest of the crowd, our individual voice may be lost in the noise. Finding and using our voice can be scary, especially if we are used to going along with what is viewed as “right” or “correct” in society. We enter several different groups within society, such as work, school, neighborhood, city, state, and country. If you dare to act against the soci...

Have you ever felt like you caught a vibe, feeling, or energy from someone as easy as some people catch colds? If you enter a room where there was an argument between two people, can you pick up on that emotion? It has been suggested that these sensations could indicate that you are a highly sensitive person, or HSP. It can be really easy for highly sensitive people to become overwhelmed with not only what’s going on in their lives due to a deeper processing of information, but also the emotions and energy of others. The differences in processing information also means that those who identify as HSP are often more creative and empathetic. You can’t have a blessing without a curse, right? Self-care is an integral part of our overall health. However, due to the high levels of stress that HSPs experience, self-care is an essential step. Fortunately, there are some self-care steps HSPs can take to combat the emotional and physical effects of living with the stress and energy of othe...

As the temperatures rise, so does our need to quench our thirst. With warmer weather, the risk for dehydration becomes quite real. I have lived in all sorts of weather, from the midnight sun that graced the skies in Alaska, to the instantly drenched humidity of coastal cities such as Boston, MA and Portsmouth, VA. The heat, albeit of the dry variety, of Texas and New Mexico are thankfully a thing of the past since our move to Colorado. Our goal from here on out is to live places where having air conditioning or a swamp cooler is not necessary for our comfort. We use fans and open and close windows/blinds/curtains in response to the weather and location of the sun. Seems to work well. While we may not need an air conditioner to be comfortable, the risk of dehydration is still quite present. In addition to the temperatures, some medications may increase the odds of becoming dehydrated, so making sure that you drink enough fluid during the day is essential to our overall health. While s...

For those of us living with chronic illnesses, we often look for alternative methods to address our symptoms, as many times, medications just don’t cut it. Sure, there are so many new medications that are coming out in an attempt to treat a growing population of patients, but it often feels as if medications never do enough to fulfill the promises the television ads makes. So, we search the aisles and shelves of natural food stores, big box stores, and online in hopes that we can find something, anything, that will help us to live our lives with fewer symptoms that like to thwart our plans. I have seen so many snake oil companies that tout that their product will regrow your hair, help you lose weight, and let you live your life in peace and harmony, with a steady supply of butterflies fluttering around your head like some Disney princess. Sadly, many times we end up wasting our money on these false and empty promises. Why? Because we are desperate. Desperate to feel better. Desp...