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 ...

I am a Strong Being This morning’s affirmation is, again, so very timely! I swear it’s as if the universe is sending me little signals that I am getting close to being on the right track. For the full moon practice this week, I invoked the power of the Moon Goddesses. There is a lot going on in my life, many of which are out of my control. This can rile up my anxiety. Big. Time. The reminder that I am a powerful being was also reinforced by the first song that came on my Pandora app. I often don’t care for remixes or covers of songs that I already like, but the one that came on this morning was one that I actually liked. It was a remix of...The Power by Snap. I mean, what other direct reminders do I need that I, that we, are powerful and strong? This reminder is also timely in that I am meeting with a new primary care provider later today. After being gaslighted by doctors for over two DECADES, seeing new doctors can cause a ton of anxiety. The fear of not being believed. The fea...

Image via Pexels I finally got around to printing and cutting out the 60+ affirmations that I compiled earlier this year. Sure, some may consider affirmations to be hokey, along with witchcraft, but that’s not my view. As I have been on my journey of rebirth, new things are appealing and call out to me. While I am fortunate to have lived so many different lives, the one that is currently in my path is not one that I would have expected or chosen for myself. However, there are times and circumstances that are out of your control. I had my life lined up and was working towards my well-established goal. I did all of the coursework, attended my residencies, changed my degree, then graduated with my MS degree in clinical psychology with a specialization in applied research. Research was what made my brain light up and become flooded with all of those feel good chemicals. I was working towards my goal of becoming a principal investigator (PI) and lead my own research studies in an atte...

Cannabis has been a part of my life for the last couple of years. I started out with my medical card when we lived in New Mexico. I still remember the first strain I bought. Let me tell you, after not having used cannabis in a decade or two, starting out with Gorilla Glue may have not been the best idea, but it gave me a good couch lock. For those outside the chronic illness community, couch lock may sound like a boring vegetative state, without the artificial life support. However, for me, and I would guess many others, the couch lock effect is exactly what I need at times. In some of the research I have been doing to figure out what exactly is going on with my body, I stumbled across something that made total sense. In addition to Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and hypermobility, there’s something called autonomic dysfunction, or dysautonomia. The autonomic nervous system regulates so many of our automatic responses that keep us alive. From breathing and blood pressure, to digestion a...

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...

Disclaimer: I live in a state where recreational and medical cannabis is legal. I have lived with the symptoms of several chronic pain conditions for a number of years. From fibromyalgia and scoliosis, to neuropathy and connective tissue disorders, my body is in pain daily. The only thing that seems to change about my pain are the locations and intensities. Unfortunately, very little can be done in regards to effective pain relief. I have tried a variety of pharmaceutical prescription medications, often experiencing significant side-effects, which preclude me from even reaching the therapeutic dose. I often get gastro side-effects, but also have experienced a total mental numbness, lack of appetite, and swelling of my hands. I recently started a new medication for my ice pick headaches, which I hope will help to alleviate those annoying and painful sensations. Before it is suggested, I have completely changed my life after getting sick. I switched to my current diet of gluten free...

For the past few years, I have been getting what I can only describe as headaches that feel as if a sharp ice pick is being plunged into my head. These headaches typically last less than a minute, so it is hard to take something, because as soon as I do, the pain will be gone. But, more will come. They always do. I also get hatchet-type headaches, which sound just how they feel. Living with chronic pain, we become used to pain 24/7, with some pain easier to ignore than others. When it comes to my ice pick headaches, I would get, on average, a dozen per day. They are brief but incapacitating. They literally make me stop what I’m doing for a brief period of time. A visit to a neurologist confirmed what I had described. I have now been diagnosed with ice pick headaches and have a prescription for indomethacin, which should help to reduce the severity and frequency of such attacks. So, what exactly is indomethacin? According to the trusty WebMD, it is a medication that can help to reli...