Post-op....continues...

I'm doing alright. I was able to get around the apartment today with out a problem. Other than kneeling, I still can't kneel. Or squat. My knee is still inflamed, but it isn't painful. A bit achey. My back is actually starting to hurt more than anything, not being able to squat or kneel means I need to bend my back more to pick up things. So i've been having some back spasms, which is no fun.

On a lighter note, i've almost finished up one of my big projects for the semester. Yay for botany! I'm still behind in my notes, but I figure i'll do an hour or two a day and I should be able to make it up.

Milo has injured his back paws again :/.

Herbs and the Future

I'm pretty boring today. I had a nice long conversation with my sisters and father back home, then went to class. 

Class was fun though, we were talking about teas vs infusions vs decoction and succus. Here is the difference; a tea is steeping a bit of dried or fresh herb in just boiled water for about three to five minutes, an infusion is steeping a medicinal amount of herbs in water (1:20 herb to water by weight) in boiled water for 10-30 minutes, and a decoction is boiling an herb for a set period of time. On the other hand, a succus is basically juicing an herb and adding alcohol as a preservative. So today we made an infusion of chamomile, a decoction of different spices (which was basically chai tea, mmmm ;) ) and two different succi, one garlic and one lemon. They are going to trial the succi next week when i'll be home recovering, but it's great stuff to learn about! Plus i'm not too sad about missing raw garlic mixed with alcohol thats been sitting around for a week ;). 

We also had a presentation by a representative from The Herbal Extract Company of Australia. We compared their herbal extracts vs the Mediherb extracts we use in class and in clinic. Keep in mind these are both top of the line medicinal herbal extracts, but I liked the Herbal Extract Company's more. They seemed to be closer to the herb and had less of an alcohol taste, but maybe that is just my preference. I hope to someday be able to make my own herbal extracts to use in my own practice :). 

Manufacturing Class and Lyrica

So this is my 366th post! That mean's i've written (all together) a year's worth of posts. Pretty exciting.

Anyway, Lyrica is pretty heavy duty. I woke up in a complete fog. It was like walking in a fun house most of the day. It cleared up later, around 2 pm, so I was able to attend class. This is at 75 mg twice daily mind you, so i'm starting out a bit heavier than others i've read about (who started at 50 mg once daily). I think i'll be alright though. As I said, I made it through class and tomorrow is a day off then the weekend so i'll have some time to adjust. I'm also titrating off amitriptyline, though I don't think the fogginess was from that.

In other news, I had a really great time at class! We were learning about herbal tablets and capsules. We actually made some tablets (although they are wet, and would need to be dried out) :D. It's amazing how easy they were to make, but granted we had medical grade herbs in class. If we were making it for clients we would need to be much more careful about measuring and whatnot. Still, it was fun :).

Pain level was down today, maybe only a 2 or 3. Whether that is due to lyrica or just a good day i'm not sure. I'm getting a hair cut tomorrow :) quite excited for it.

Class, Cooking, and Coconut

Back to class today! I missed my somewhat odd human bio class :). My back held up pretty well, it's feeling a bit sore now but i'm heading to bed soon. I'm trying to get back into the groove of things, I was able to do a few chores around the house and bring Milo for a little walk before class. I'll try and keep up the tempo tomorrow, though I do feel like i'm catching a cold or something.

Bran made a really yummy stuffed chicken breast for dinner :) he's becoming quite the cook! I like trading off cooking dinner and dishes (one cooks, the other does dishes), I think it's working out well. I don't need to worry about having to make dinner late at night, Bran is learning to cook new things, and we are trading off doing one of our least favorite jobs (dishes) it's a win-win!

On the other hand, I think i'm sensitive to coconut. I've used coconut oil once before as a hair mask, but it ended up smelling really bad. 'Ok, the oil must have gone off' I though, so I had no worries about putting some relatively new, definitely clean smelling coconut oil on my face last night. After maybe an hour it started to smell. Ok, maybe it's releasing toxins? Or maybe my body chemistry just doesn't work with it? So I rinsed off as much as I could. This morning I woke up to slightly inflamed skin, new break outs and blotchy cheeks. Yeah, not liking it so much. I've also gotten a sore throat from eating raw deserts made with a lot of coconut oil. Apparently I don't learn very quickly >.>.

I Do So Love Class

Today wasn't too bad of a day, despite it being rainy and a little cold. I got to wear my armwarmers that Bran got me for christmas <3, and I went to see my NP, who is always lovely. I hated having to tell him about going back on more pharmaceuticals, but he was understanding and we focused more on digestion. He is a kind person, so i'm always glad to see him.

On the other hand, I was late for class >.> but since I have a disability impact statement exactly for this reason (and I was walking around with my cane) my lecturer wasn't bothered (and took the time during break to catch me up :) ). I'm so thankful to go to a school with such kind lecturers. 

Pain wasn't too bad today, although for the past few days my ankles have been going out. So I used my cane to make sure I wouldn't trip. My R knee went out once and my feet keep falling asleep but otherwise I was alright. I need to make an appointment with the osteopath I was seeing before, but i'm hopeful things will start to even out soon. 

Oh, and no sign of the maggots. Thank The Gods!

Biology and Alchemy

I'm getting more mouth sores lately...I may ask my rheumy (whom i'm seeing on friday) for a prescription for a daily dose folic acid instead of the twice weekly one I take...

In other news, third day of classes today! Had human bio 2, which was quite interesting. We are learning about blood, as mentioned, and today we talked about blood types, what makes a blood a specific type, Rh factor, and some diseases that have to do with blood. There was more than that, but it's a three hour lecture so i'm not going to get into all of it :). By the way, my lecturer is apparently an alchemist! How interesting! He had some fascinating ideas on how blood is where the spirit lives, and to make a strong medicine you need the spirit, body, and soul (alcohol, salt, oil) of the plant. It'll be interesting to get his take on things.

I wasn't awesome as far as pain goes. I did take a panadeine forte today as my back pain was not so much fun. I really hope the amitriptyline kicks in soon.

Also, Bran made pizza <3 I do so love my husband!

Semester Start

I had an alright day today :) it would have been good other than the pain down my right side was not so much fun. It's also been rainy and cold, so my hands are a bit sore. But my second class for this semester, Herbal Botany and Manufacturing, looks really interesting! Between that and Human Biology 2 i'm going to be so smart :P. I'll have to make sure to study plenty this semester, these are memory heavy classes.

Good Day :)

I had a good day today :). This is nice for a change! I had my first day of classes today, it's nice to get back into the swing of things. My class today was human biology two, we talked about blood. I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester, and to my class tomorrow which is herbal botany and manufacturing :D.

Pain-wise wasn't too bad either. My wrists and hands are a bit sore from the cool rainy weather, but the nerve pain down my right side has been a bit better today. It seems moving around and not sitting too long helps. Also all my meals were made for me today! Bran made some super yummy chicken and dumplings yesterday, and he cooked up the fish we had in the fridge today. He'll make a good home cook yet!

Lyme and Uni

Feeling very tired. I had my last day of classes today, now two weeks for study and two final exams. This semester was much more difficult than last and i'm still not on the full time path for this degree. I'm not sure how long it will take me to finish it...if i'm averaging a year and a half to each meant-to-be-year than I guess about 6 years? Bummer.

I've also been looking into testing for lyme disease. It isn't really considered here is Oz, despite evidence showing that it does indeed exist here. So doctors who are knowledgeable and willing to treat it are few and far in between. The nearest one to us is three hours north on the Sunshine Coast. It's a differintial diagnosis for all the crazy stuff thats gone one with me though, so I figure it's worth a shot! Plus Bran and I have decided that we'll take a trip up there some time over the summer break and make a weekend out of it :) i'll see this special doctor and then get to spend the rest of the weekend on the beach, win-win!

On a different note, happy Beltane :). It's still odd to me having the seasons (and thus holidays) reversed, especially considering we were married on Beltane (May 1st in the northern hemisphere).

Neighbours

*big sigh* So our neighbour complained about our dog. Now we have a witten warning from the body corporate. For goodness sake >.<. Milo is a good dog! He barked at your cat! Well, I don't blame her for being mad really, what I feel bad about is that someone who thinks ill of us is sharing a wall. Now i'm going to feel anxious every time I come home. Is she outside with her little fluff ball? Did Milo bark while I was gone (he wont, we remedied that the first week thank-you-very-much-complaining-neighbour)? Is she thinking mean little thoughts about my poor dog? How am I supposed to greet her? Eye contact? Do I want to be the bigger person and not complain about her dog barking and being off leash?

Yes I do. I wont complain about her to the body corporate manager. I wont even send a follow up e-mail. I'll just let it be and wait until she moves out (they are fixing up the apartment to sell). And maybe play my music slightly louder and bang more pots around when I cook ;) never said I was perfect.

BTW, passion flower extract is really helping as a panic attack remedy. Greatly helped calm my nerves before my psychology demonstration and just then as I was about to start throwing things at said shared wall. I may take a bit more before bed so that I can actually sleep and no obsess over negative people.

STRESS

Oh. My. Goodness. It's been a very stressful last few days. My anxiety has been increasing anyway as I have final exams coming up, my family hasn't contacted me, as well as dealing with the ever ongoing pain and problems that come along with PsA and fibro. Now i'm having problems with my neighbour. I wont go into too much detail, our dog scared her cat and that caused some upset. I can understand that, I just hate knowing that someone who shares a wall with us is mad. Plus I know Milo didn't mean any harm :( he just hasn't met a cat....but it also puts a stop on our plan to adopt a cat until we know Milo will calm down.

Anyway, it's all caused too much stress and I was really starting to break down. My naturopath gave me another herbal tablet and a vial of passion flower extract to help deal with anxiety, i'm very thankful for that as i've been able to function much better for the past day and a half than I have for the previous week! Which is good, as I have a very busy week of meeting with my GP, rheumatologist, and osteopath. I met with my OT already today to deal with my wrist brace hurting my thumb, as well as class and getting blood drawn for my monthly tests.

Honestly, i'm tired and really in pain from my wrist, elbow, hips, feet, jaw and ankle. But my back is feeling mostly better! It's nice knowing I have some people on my health care team who are doing their best to help.

Freud + SNRI Withdrawal

I have three followers? When did this happen?!? Well, welcome third follower :) always happy to know my blog is interesting enough for people to read.

I've had a down day today. Getting off Cymbalta is kicking my butt and I definitely felt the drop in serotonin....or something. >.> It took the extra treat of an organic mocha to get me to class today, which i'm actually glad about as we were talking about the skeletal system and it was actually interesting. And mochas are delicious. So over all I did end up feeling better, though it isn't fun struggling with depression just on the edge of my moods.

And I continue to have some pretty messed up dreams. Once more likely thanks to the cymbalta. It seems like my mind is just putting the worst possible things together with whatever happens in my day to make my dreams, and let me just say that yesterday we were talking about Freud and Oedipus complex. Yeah.

Ankle is still angry, jaw was a bit better. R hip is angry. I think making the bed yesterday aggravated my back a bit. Blah. Need to see the physio tomorrow. I'm also just really tired. I think i'm likely to go to bed early tonight.

Update (yes, really)

Goodness, it's been over a month since i've entertained my two readers with my oh-so-interesting rambling!

Thats because we don't have internet at the apartment >.> but as the roof is being repaired, we are back with my MiL.

So here is an update in a nutshell:

-Did on the job training
-Had three shifts
-Had an incident on the third shift which resulted in me hurting my back
-Went on workers comp.
-Went into full on fibro flair
-Still figuring things out job wise, but it's quite possible I wont be able to return to that job :(

-Started back at Uni
-Going well.

-Started Cymbalta
-Hate Cymbalta
-Going off Cymbalta
-Starting to get withdrawal symptoms already, and i've only decreased the dose.
-If I still need something for anxiety, i'll try a naturopathic medicine. I'm tired of all these pills...

-Milo was doing really well with barking and doggy daycare
-Milo got a tummy bug :(
-Milo was fine
-Milo's tummy bug returned with vengeance
-Milo lost a lot of weight do to tummy bug :(
-We had to be very careful what he ate, while trying to get his weight up.
-Milo is doing much better :) weight is back up and he's happy

I haven't been able to go to any meet ups or hang out with anyone due to all this random stuff that keeps popping up. I've also been tired, not quite exhausted, but easily fatigued.

On a lighter note, i've finally started losing weight again! I believe this is due to both getting off some of the meds that cause weight gain and bringing a very healthy lunch with me to school. Plus I just haven't been able to handle as much crap.

As far as joints go, they haven't been too bad. My jaw on the right side had been painful off and on for about three weeks, but really it doesn't hurt me to have to eat oatmeal instead of chips ;). My R ankle is bothersome, also for about three weeks. Thats a bit more concerning, but there isn't really anything that can be done. My walking stick has been getting a work out! BTW, after speaking with my lovely counsellor, I have decided to refer to my walking stick as my Happy Stick from now on.

Microbio and Bunnies

Microbiology final today :/. I answered all the questions but I know for a fact I got some of them wrong. *sigh* Well, I know I wont fail at least >.> but I really hope I did well.

Wrists were and are painful. Lots of writing. Ankles and knees were creaky today but not bad enough to use my cane. I did use a wrist brace for writing though. 

On a completely different note, I was thinking about a little bunny I had as a pet when I was in high school. She was a lovely little bunny named Anya. I feel bad at this point though, because really I didn't have the time or the energy to take care of her as she deserved :(. She was never sick, and whenever I noticed water or food bowls empty they were filled, but she was stuck in her cage most of her life. Sometimes I was slack and didn't clean it as often as I should have. I should have let her run around the room and had her cage as a litter box, but I didn't know rabbits could be litter box trained at that point (obviously, I didn't do much research. Anya was kind of dumped on me). Plus in all honesty my room was literally unfinished, so it wouldn't have been very safe for her. Looking back on it now I feel guilty and I hope she can forgive me for being such an ignorant teen. Maybe thats why I try so hard to keep Milo happy and healthy.  

Chilly!

Brrrr! Chilly!

Got some studying done today :). I also made some cereal bars using the fluff that was sent down from the states, I may have eaten one...or four....>.>

More paperwork for the apartment, this time a new stat dec for the first home owners grant. Blah. But it's all in Bran's name now, so he is taking care of it :). Only a few more days until settlement!

I've found sleeping on my L side has helped calm the nerves down a bit on my R side. I'm still waking up with pain though, not my fav. Hands are especially sore today, probably because it's quite cold.

Sunday Scramble

Sunday, sunday.

It's a bittersweet day.

I'm alone tomorrow.

But today I have Bran.

It's been an alright day. My hands and back have been a bit angry. I'm concerned about the pain in my right foot. I can't tell if it's tendon or nerve o.O.

We made pizza for the first time in a while :).

We also ran some sums and I think we should be alright even with the new searches added on to our lawyer fees. Better safe I suppose...even if it's all ended up being about twice as expensive as it was supposed to be :/.

I made a new stew for Milo :) chicken based instead of fish. It certainly smelled less!

I've also turned in my final project for my counselling class and the workbook for my microbiology class. The article study for my counselling class is worth half my grade, so I hope I did well!

We spent $118 at the store, and should be good for the week. Thats not too bad for food for Bran, Milo and myself including $25 worth of free range/organic meat o.o....

I also actually got all of our laundry folded! Usually we have a basket left that I just can't be bothered with >.> but must get back into the habit for when we move!

Still waiting to hear about Milo.

Thats it :) goodnight.

Last SOCF111 Class

Feeling better today :). We handed in our application for the first home owners grant and heard back that financing will be granted, they just need a copy of the new contract. So now we're just waiting to hear back about Milo (which should be fine). Knock on wood!

It was a slightly bittersweet class today. My last class of foundations of communication and counselling. I've really enjoyed that class and the lecturer. Hopefully i'll have her again for another class :).

We also saw Susen and Ian again after their two year trip to England. It was really lovely catching up :) I greatly enjoy Susan's company and Ian is quite funny in his way.

Pain wise wasn't too bad today. I have a bit of a cold I think, my chest has been heavy and my throat has been stuffy. Back/nerve pain today as well, but it went down after walking around a bit.

Crazy Day

Not too much to write about today.

Other than that it was a bad luck day >.>. Turns out we needed to bring in the entire contract for the apartment. Which was fine, except out printer ran out of ink. Which was alright, because my school had printing facilities and Sarah gave me a ride half way. But then it took me a good 20 minutes to figure out how to work the compy and print stuff. Which was fine, because then it was done. Hopped the 199 and 5 minutes later I was in the real estate office. Now it was all well and good until we discovered that Bran and I needed to initial a bunch of paged @.@.

Right. So, now I have the contract back with me and we'll drop it off tomorrow after the meeting with the home loan guy. We also found out the realistically the seller wants $20,000 more than what we can offer. So what will be will be, if nothing else we will soon have pre-approval for wherever we end up :).

Not to sore today, hands and knee mostly. Tired though.

Occupational Therapist, Finally!

I finally had my visit with the occupational therapist today. She was actually really lovely and informative, i'm glad I was able to see her :). I did some away with some new lycra gloves, wrist splints, and big tubing to go on silverware and pens when i'm having a bad day. She also mentioned a cane and looking for a shower stool. I'm not sure how to feel about the stool, but I guess since I have enough problems for a cane....just not quite yet. I can still stand well enough :) just not walk so well...

I'm struggling with the idea of a cane. Part of me feels like it would help with taking the stress off my feet and knees when i'm having a bad day, but the other part of me feels like I don't really need it and I should just suck it up and move on. I actually had a dream the other night that I was ment to be using a wheelchair, but chose not to and ended up limping and crying the entire way home from all the pain. Not so much fun experiencing pain while you are dreaming.

On a lighter note, i'm on school vacation now :). Hopefully this will give me some time to do my projects and rest up a bit.

Randoms Bits and Bobs

I may have had apple pie for breakfast >.>.....

Today was a sore day, but I still made a delicious persimmon tart! So there chronic illness! :D Thankfully the pie dough was already made and persimmons are really soft...

I've gone back to drinking my coffee with milk and eating gluten regularly. Honestly, I don't feel like it's making too much of a difference as long as I don't have more than about half a cup of milk and a few slices of bread. I do feel like i've been able to process it better since I added fish back in. I don't really know how that works, but i'm sure thankful! I enjoy milk in my coffee much more than any milk substitute.

I actually wore my knee brace to school today. No one commented, no one stared, or even batted an eyelash. Meh, I guess I should be less concerned. There are all sorts of people at my school, and I know i've seen someone walking with forearm crutches. I don't know what i'll say if someone asks though....whether I should explain about PsA and try to spread awareness or just say that I have some joint problems.

Seriously thinking about getting a cane though. My feet/ankles/knees seem to constantly be getting worse :(. If it would be helpful, I think I would be alright using a cane...though i'm not sure how my wrists would like it.