Am I turning a corner…? – 14 August 2018
I feel as if I might be starting to turn a corner on how I am feeling. Not just mentally but physically. I am not talking major improvements here but I do feel as if the tide may be on the brink of turning for me a little and that some of things that I have been doing might actually be making a difference.
So what has changed? Well, I feel as if I have more energy and that everything doesn’t seem quite the effort that it did a few weeks ago. I don’t need to spend time willing myself just to simple things like get out of the car and walk the small distance to wherever I am going. I am waking in the morning well rested and ready to face the day. I feel as if I am ready to start trying to rebuild myself rather than just exist and it feels like a normal process rather than something I am constantly having to focus on. But most of all, everything doesn’t seem quite as hopeless as it did.
So, can I pin this down to any thing in particular? As is usual, no. It is most likely a number of things working in conjunction with each other… Namely..:
1.Selenium
When I went for my post tooth extraction check-up to have the stitches removed, I mentioned to Dr Helena that the day after the procedure I had felt really well – presumably a hangover from the vitamin and detox IV infusion and could I have some more, please? Ideally on a daily basis. She thought this could be down to the fact that I am deficient in something and we spent some time going through my diet and the supplements that I am already taking and comparing that to what had been included in the IV infusion. She suggested that it might be selenium and prescribed a week course of 400 micrograms a day with breakfast dropping down to 200 per day thereafter. This is in addition to the cocktail that I am already taking on her instruction (zinc, calcium coral, Vits C, D and K2, Krill oil, OxyKlenz).
2.Not Working
On account of the fact that I am teacher and that it is the summer holidays, I have not been at work now for 4 weeks which means that I have not been getting up at 5.30am every day or getting wound up by ridiculous work irritations. Don’t get me wrong, I love the bit of my job that involves teaching children things. However, there is an awful lot going on the periphery of teaching that interferes with a teacher’s ability to actually do the important bits and which is generally exceptionally irritating and a constant drain. I will refrain from going into further detail as this is a public forum and I don’t want to get myself in trouble… In short, I think that ‘not working’ definitely suits me :). Roll on the lottery win…
3. Not really drinking
I like a glass of wine. Or two. Regularly. I kind of regard it as one of my last true pleasures on account of having given up most other fun things in the quest to fix myself and I would generally have at least one drink most days – probably 5 out of 7. Again, in preparation for the dental work, I stopped drinking alcohol a few days before the procedure and continued this afterwards to aid the healing and detox process. As a result, I didn’t drink for 2.5 weeks or so. And bar a minor tumble from the wagon involving a spot of binge drinking on a recent mini break in Cowes with friends, I have pretty much reined the drinking habit right in. And I have noticed I am sleeping much better for one. Whether it will last, who knows? But I do intend to try not to drink quite as much as I used to in the future.
4 Tooth extraction
Surely not having evil, root filled teeth in my mouth and a huge infection compromising my immune system has got to have had an effect. I sincerely hope so given that I may also have to sell a kidney to raise the £7K needed to pay for replacing the removed teeth. Now, I wasn’t going to bother replacing them and just live with the gap but apparently that is not an option… It seems that teeth need partner teeth on the opposing jaw to apply pressure against or they come loose and ultimately may fall out. Who knew?? Not me. As I do not want to put any metal back in my mouth for the implant framework, I need to have porcelain ones. Which seem to be flipping expensive. So I have 6-12 months to replace the teeth before the opposing teeth are compromised.
5. No gluten…?
So, I am still mostly off the gluten which I intend to continue but I am not going to be super strict about it. Partly because we have already become social lepers to some extent because of our dietary requirements and I do not want to be any more of a nuisance guest than I already am. But mostly because I don’t think I need to be super strict – maybe just cut down. So if I fancy a pizza that is not minuscule and made from cardboard, I’m going to have one.
In other news…. my back is still being a bit of a nuisance but my physio is away at the moment and I can’t get to the acupuncture appointments for a couple of weeks so I will keep doing the stretches/exercises and take the painkillers in the meantime to keep it stable and tackle that when I can.
I collected my stupid ankle cuff from the neuro physio. I continued to wear it immediately after the fitting on a jaunt around the biggest Tesco in the world. I hate to admit that it does actually seem to help. I am sure people were staring at it though. Maybe not to be coupled with a short skirt in future…. If I know that I am going to need to walk a reasonable distance, then I will wear it. It is not subtle and it is not pretty and you can’t really hide it so I think we will have to see how that one goes….
Poo update – turns out that the FMT was a complete waste of time while I had the massive infection in my mouth according to Dr Helena as it will have prevented the gut flora rebalancing. That and the antibiotic blast I had to have. I have 3 FMT treatments banked and I can pay for another 2 so that will give a booster treatment of 5 sessions. So that’s something to look forward to in the Christmas holidays. Yay!
And finally…. stick update – I have taken my stick out with me a couple of times if I’ve been going somewhere busy but not actually used it as I feel a bit of a fraud. Which I’m not. So I don’t know why I feel like that. Nothing is ever simple, is it?