![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
She didn't treat it much like an emergency. First, she stopped to fuel up her car. Then, when she arrived home, she said she had to change her clothes and grab a meal. She tried on several outfits before finding one she liked for ER visits. Then she had a leisurely meal. I, of course, was hurting too much to either change clothes or eat. We arrived at the ER at 17:30.
She dropped me off and left to park the car. By the time she returned, I had been admitted and was being screened. After the interview, I joined Delia in the lobby for a brief wait. Then I was wheeled into the inner sanctum, with Delia following, to eventually see the doctor. But I was out of uniform, needing one of those backless gowns they insult patients with.
The first gown they brought me was too small and lacked a pocket for my insulin pump. New gown, bigger, pocket in front that opened from both the back and front of the gown. I was barely dressed when the doctor arrived and started poking, prodding and listening with a device that, surprisingly, had not recently resided in a refrigerator. Nothing seemed obviously wrong, so the doctor said she would order radiography and some lab work. The lab work required filling a large variety of tubes with my blood and filling a little plastic cup. They gave me a shot of morphine so I would be able to tolerate the manipulation necessary to get the X-rays.
Several hours later, when the only remaining test result was from the urinalysis, I was told there seemed to be nothing wrong and that I had probably just pulled a muscle. They were going to give me a muscle relaxant and some pain killers, then send me home.
The final lab results arrived. I have a kidney infection. They prescribed ciprofloxicin in addition to the other stuff. They kicked me out at 23:30, a mere six hours after I arrived. Delia got me home, then she and Cathy went off to get my medications.
Today I have a buzz on and am barely able to stay awake. In fact, I think is a good time to take another nap.
- Mood:
high
[GB] The swelling in the retinas of my eyes is greatly diminished, so that I only see multiple images when looking at point sources with dark backgrounds (the stars at night). My eyesight has gotten strange, though, as both pairs of glasses reduce contrast and I can actually read better without glasses than with.
Allergic irritation to my eyes still affects my vision but not so much as previously. Today is a high pollen day, so my vision is slightly diminished, but I once more feel confident that I can drive safely.
[GW] My back went out again following the lunch after a class on dogs by Richard Lederer, who makes a point of having lunch with his audience following his lectures. As usual, we ate at Ruby's, the first time since discovering I had Celiac Disease. I had a Cobb salad, which I enjoyed to a much greater extent than I expected. As we were leaving, I had to bend over the check-out counter to sign the charge slip. When I tried to straighten up, my lower back started giving me intense pain, concentrated slightly left of center, very low down. Everybody else was headed to the See's Candy store to get free samples. I stopped paying any attention to them, concentrating on making it to my car without falling. I drove home, then settled into my recliner with the heating pads turned on. The heat helped reduce the pain, but my back hasn't gotten much better since then. I imagine the group didn't miss me at See's.
Getting into and out of chairs is particularly difficult, as is turning. If I get up out of my computer chair and turn towards the door, I often can't move for a moment because of the pain. Sometimes I have to bend over or lean forward in order to be able to walk. Hopefully these side effects will vanish when the inflammation in my back goes away again.
[GB] The snake skin (dermatitis herpetaformis) on my butt had been itching and bleeding for several days but the discomfort has stopped and the affected area is smaller now. The skin on the knuckles of both of my hands has stopped bleeding and scabbing and the redness is gone. There is still some swelling and skin roughness, though. Other skin problems, including an apparent fungus infection, are clearing up.
[GW] My tendinitis is back. It wasn't bad enough for me to notice until my podiatrist discovered it for me in the process of setting up the inserts for my new shoes. He was highly amused that he knew I had a problem before I did. Actually, I corrected him, I knew there was a problem but I thought it was my neuropathy returning. The new bout of neuropathy has been bothering both feet and my legs up to the knee. My left knee has been hurting, accompanied by swelling, but I don't know if the pain is associated with the inflammation of the tendinitis or the inflammation from my hurting back.
I have noticed that increasing inflammation causes me thirst and increases water retention in my body while reducing inflammation causes me increased water elimination. The inflammation has brought with it cramps in my upper legs and in my hands.
[GB] I can walk farther and faster and feel better doing it. I can stand longer, although I pay a price when I do so, my back becoming sore but now recovering more quickly. I feel stronger and perhaps my body is becoming more flexible. When I finish a long walk, I recover quickly, no longer suffering for days at a time.
- Mood:
distressed
Delia lost interest after seeing the connection between her osteoporosis and gluten sensitivity, walking away after saying it might be a good idea to give up wheat for a year or so. I continued to surf.
I learned that Chili's, Outback and Olive Garden all have gluten-free menus. Olive Garden also has some gluten-free pastas. Sammy's Woodfired Pizza has gluten-free pizza doughs for $3 extra.
I learned that San Diego has a clinic specializing in Celiac Disease as well as a number of outside gastroenterologists that specialize in Celiac Disease or food allergies. I plan to research three of the doctors that were mentioned.
I also learned that when Celiac Disease was first recognized it was believed that fewer than one person per thousand suffered from it. As research continued, the percentage rose: 0.75 %, then 2%, then 3% and now perhaps 4%. About 4.5% of those with osteoporosis test positive for Celiac Disease, which blocks absorption of both calcium and Vitamin D, both required for bone strength.
About 80% of recognized Celiac Disease sufferers are women. That is partly because it doesn't manifest clearly until one reaches middle age (except, of course, when juveniles have it), partly because it is masked by other deficiencies of iron, calcium, Vitamin D and Folic Acid. Many sufferers test negative for the gluten antibodies, as I learned I do, and other tests are proving inadequate as well, finding only about half of those with the problem. The most reliable test seems to be a genetic test, to see if you have the genetic predisposition for the problem.
I found some interesting answers but still have lots of questions.
How did you choose your LiveJournal username? Is there an interesting story behind it? Submitted By |
I've been writing a novel, Chosen for over a decade now. I'm far from done but I have plans for a sequel. One of the first characters in the novel I named "Am Ouil", with 'Ouil' pronounced the same as 'will'. Am Ouil was the First Chosen. The novel, covering about five billion years in the life of the human who is Chosen, got too big for me. I keep working on it and it keeps getting bigger.
I wanted to use "Am" for my user name but ran into the three character lower limit on name size. I decided to use a superscript number to show the relation between me, also known as WordJames, and the character I had crezted. Using mathematics notation, Am^1 would be the character himself with Am^0 being the author. I later learned that in meteorological terms, Am^1 represents the surface atmospheric pressure and Am^0 represents the pressure in space. I thought that was a nice coincidence.
- Mood:
moody
It started when Gisela called Delia to say a tornado had been spotted in her area, presumably near Huntington Beach, and it was headed south. I checked on the Internet. All that I could find was that a truck had been blown over on a freeway near Riverside, presumably on the I-15, and one of the witnesses claimed it had been caught up in a tornado. A video originally accompanied the story but it was yanked for copyright issues.
Shortly thereafter, tornado warnings were posted for the areas from Oceanside to Encinitas. That warning expired about the time I learned of it. It was based on weather radar, not on sightings. No sightings were reported.
While the first tornado warning was still active, a new tornado warning was posted for San Diego, again based only on weather radar. They tracked a disturbance from the Mission Valley area, through La Mesa and then up the Highway 94 valley. There were no sightings. The warning has expired. Shortly after the warning was issued, though, we were hit by about twenty minutes of very strong winds, but not strong enough to concern anybody here (except Rocky). Cathy was outside, cleaning up her paint roller, and Delia, attempting to open the door to check on her, had the door blown open out of her control. It was annoying but not frightening.
We still have flood warnings for the areas that were burned last year and we have strong wind advisories for the area. Those are routine. About 40,000 homes (estimated) have lost electricity, mostly in National City and El Cajon. The number is uncertain because SDG&E has been unable to keep up with the phone calls or update their Web site.
This is the second of perhaps four storms that some blame on El Niño. The storm expected to hit Thursday into Friday is expected to be the strongest.
- Mood:
amused
There were 9,909 messages waiting for me, mostly spam. Some of it could be filtered out and some was easily recognized. I've been able to reduce my load of untreated messages to 6,006.
If you mail me now at that address, I'll probably see your message: I'm looking at a bunch of new messages each session before tackling the obvious spam or the really old messages.
I haven't found anything yet that was particularly important to me. It's just a bunch of loose ends.
My eyes are being highly variable. Sometimes I can see well, sometimes not; sometimes the eyes itch, sometimes not. I have a pair of bifocal glasses for normal use and a pair of computer glasses to view things at intermediate distances, like my computer monitor; sometimes I had to use the bifocals, sometimes the computer glasses, and sometimes I could see better with no glasses at all. Taking a nap make things either better or worse. I felt I needed to take two naps so far today, with mixed results.
I've had mild intermittent headaches all day. They went away when I took my naps. They're back right now.
Having my intestines rot on the inside does strange things to my digestion and to the waste product of that process. The commonest problem, which I've escaped so far today, is diarrhea. The stools sometimes take on a yellow color (which may indicate acidity); today they were a healthy dark brown color. Sometimes they are covered with a green slime that is hard to clean up after; today they were clean. However, my intestines have not felt comfortable today. Even small amounts of food have left me feeling full and bloated, but without the problem of gas.
I've been walking lately, three days in a row. Usually, one day of walking is enough to make me sore for a couple of days, if not longer. This time, the exercise didn't cause any soreness until I tried walking in a new pair of shoes yesterday, and there was only enough soreness to keep me from sleeping well. I also feel stronger and more flexible today.
My knuckles have been sore: the skin turned red, rough and swollen, eventually cracking and bleeding. Most of that had cleared up until I spread some old hand cream on them. Then they turned red and got swollen again and continue to be irritated now. The cream also irritated a small cut on my finger, so it is destined for the trash.
San Diego has escaped the cold conditions attacking the rest of the country. Mid-day temperatures have been close to 80 and the overnight lows haven't been bothersome. I guess we chose the right place to live. I've been comfortable in shorts and tee shirt. I noticed that all the hair on my legs appears to have vanished, which I've been told is a sign of neuropathy. But I think feeling may be returning to my feet.
So I'm in a state of flux.
Shortly after the founding of Rome, the month was still an astronomical phenomenon. Priests would go out in the early morning light to catch a glimpse of the sliver of a new moon near the glare of the rising sun. Such a sighting would confirm that the previous month had ended. Then, based on accumulated records, they would guess when the new month would end. They would then count backwards from the predicted end of the new month to the middle of the month, the Ides or full moon. They could also guess at or predict the end of the year, midwinter, based on observations and past history. The end of the year rarely matched the end of the month, often leaving thirteen months in the year. When that happened, there would be one quarter (three months by the calendar) with four full moons, the last of which was called a blue moon.
They were guessing anyway, so they established a calendar which, on paper, was the same from year to year. But when they formalized their calendar, the year ended a bit before the last month did. However, they accepted that slight error, just a few days, in order to make the switch from questionable observations to standardization.
Our month-based paper calendar retains that error: the paper year ends about ten days after the observed midwinter end of the year.
If you screw up the date of the end of the year, the date of the ends of various decades, centuries and millennia will also be screwed up. Predicting the end of the world should take this into account, but those declaring the world's final hours base their predictions on the flawed paper calendar we have all adopted for the sake of standardization. No wonder their predictions always fall short. The 2012 end of the Mayan calendar is a similar case: those who set up that calendar gave the starting date an arbitrary value, so the end date is equally arbitrary and meaningless.
Still, we party as if the world was about to end and be reborn a week-and-a-half after the observed midwinter year-end. Most people don't think about it. Using an arbitrary agreed-upon calendar is so deeply ingrained almost nobody thinks about its arbitrary nature. And we celebrate that year's end at midnight, another arbitrary time.
The day used to begin and end at noon, midday. That is a time that can be observed, the time when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky. But if you actually observe the sun, you only get the local noon. The railroad systems had a difficult time accurately predicting the arrival times of trains because the terrain was badly mapped and all of their times were based on local noon. Once they had accurate clocks, though, they could devise time zones, areas where everything in the zone had the same time, which greatly simplified their calculations. With accurate clocks, they could say that midnight was twelve hours away from the zone midday and call that the end of the day. So, how far off you are in celebrating the new year depends on where you live within your zone as well as how accurate your clock is.
These are all pretty gross errors. But nobody thinks about them as long as they have an excuse for a party.
We went to Barona Casino to celebrate the misplaced and inaccurate ending of the old year and birth of the new. Why not? Our dinner was being provided free and we could safely ignore the hordes of people throwing their money into machines.
Barona Casino has an Italian restaurant inside that 's closed to the public. We, however, were invited to dine there from ten to midnight. I had to sit down because of my back, so they let us start early. There were only three items on the menu, and two of them were pasta. Everybody else in our group chose the steak but I had no choice: I had to select the steak. The meal began with an amuse, a fragment of chicken Parmesan. I had to pass on it because the chicken gets dredged in wheat flour and I have to avoid gluten. The appetizer was to be a lobster risotto, which I could probably have eaten but didn't trust, so I asked for a salad with lobster meat. The salad was served on a gigantic peach-colored glass square formed into a bowl and had many kinds of greens surrounding the four lobster tail halves, some of which I didn't recognize (beet greens, maybe?). It looked so much better than the bowl of risotto gruel with a hunk of lobster claw the others received.
Everybody else ordered their steaks medium; I asked that mine be prepared medium rare. Theirs were all shrunken, dried, tough and well-done. Mine was juicy, tender and flavorful, perfectly cooked with a pink interior that darkened slightly towards the center. It was served with truffled potatoes and a bit of undercooked spaghetti squash that, unlike the others, I found very pleasant.
I felt distressed, however, and needed to seek a sanctuary where I could sit and, if necessary, rush to the bathroom. By the time I got to the room (there is a hotel at the casino and our hosts had a free room), my watch told me that the arbitrary year end had come and gone. I suffered nothing worse than a bit of gas, though, and we quickly wished our hosts a Happy New Year and made our exit.
The casino on the Barona Indian Reservation is six-and-a-half miles in from the freeway along a two lane road. There is one stop sign on that road, just before you return to the non-reservation world. Traffic was backed up over two miles, according to the mile markers, because of that stop sign. We had no other problems on our return trip. We got home, calmed the dog (he is deathly afraid of fireworks and other loud noises) and started to prepare for bed.
Then Delia started throwing up, a performance she repeated several times through the night. She said each episode tasted like the greasy risotto she had eaten. She is still zonked out. I, on the other hand, who expected to suffer from our celebration, feel fine, my former gassiness having passed.
So, in the full understanding that its timing is arbitrary and contains gross errors, I'd like to wish everybody a Happy New Year.
From a very early age, playing outside would leave my skin red and inflamed. I soon figured out that playing in grass, particularly several large wild grasses, was the source of my discomfort. Without really thinking about it, I started avoiding touching grasses. Do I hear "contact dermatitis"?
As a teen, my former perfect vision deteriorated at random times when my eyes were irritated: swollen eyelids, red eyes, blurry vision. At times I measured 20/400, which is legally blind. After suffering the problem for a few years, I decided to have a test run to see what I was allergic to. They poked my back with a variety of substances, one of which caused a violent reaction. The spot on my back started swelling, reaching the size of about half an orange. They gave me two shots of adrenaline to stop the reaction. The offending substance was desert grass pollen, blown over the mountains when we had a high pressure condition.
Five years ago, I finally figured out something was wrong. I recently gave it a name: Celiac Disease, a malady resulting from consuming grasses. Well, if grasses were inflaming my skin and making me almost blind, why shouldn't they annoy my intestines? And if my gut was suffering, it probably wasn't extracting the good stuff from the foods I ate, the vitamins, minerals, proteins and so on. I had figured out, before I reached my teen years, that the burning and watering of my eyes when entering bright lights was due to a lack of vitamin A. Toward the end of my teen years I figured out that the spots on my fingernails indicated a lack of zinc. I've had malabsorption problems all my life, it now seems.
I need to use supplements (but I haven't done so for several years, thinking that the fillers in the capsules I was taking might be contributing to the problem). I need to start again.
Isaac Asimov said he thought it was grass that killed off the dinosaurs, that the dinosaurs started dying well before the comet finished the job. Grass contains little silicon crystals that cut like shark teeth; the dinosaurs couldn't digest the grass and it wore down their teeth quickly. Perhaps I'm a dinosaur.
How do you stop eating grass in a culture and civilization founded on grass consumption?
- Mood:
shocked
We decided to eat at Chili's: Delia, Cathy, Mike and I. All of us ordered some variation on the baby back ribs. The rest of them also ordered beer, which I couldn't; I eventually ordered a glass of red wine, a Shiraz. I ordered a shrimp salad with my meal and they promised not to include the tortilla strips. Not only was the salad made safe for me, it was super. I kept uncovering shrimp buried in the vegetation, and the corn and black beans scattered throughout added to the flavor almost as much as the spicy tomato dressing.
My ribs were tender, juicy and flavorful. The others, however, complained that theirs were dry and tough. Cathy and Mike decided not to do anything about it, but Delia insisted on complaining to the manager. They brought her another half rack, which were cooked to perfection. Cathy also said that her salmon tasted crappy.
No doggy bags were needed. We all licked the platters clean.
Cathy ordered a white chocolate volcano cake for dessert: a raspberry or strawberry soaked sponge cake with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream with a white chocolate sauce poured over it. It was delivered with four spoons, for all to indulge themselves, but I let the other three have my share.
We managed to have a very pleasant evening despite the slightly flawed foods. Most importantly, I survived without aggravating my condition.
Now Delia wants to take me to Coco's (Bakery and Steak House) or to Black Angus. I fear there is much more risk involved than with Chili's.
- Mood:
satisfied
There are three ordinary sources for lamb here: Australia, New Zealand, and California. There are some specialty markets in the area that sell mutton or lamb from unidentified sources but the meats we've tried so far have been inferior. Costco seems to stock Australian lamb.
Australia and New Zealand harvest their lambs at a young age, too young to have developed that special flavor. California lamb are about four months more mature, according to what I read on the package.
Many years ago, I two had particularly outstanding lamb meals. The first was at a Mongolian restaurant in San Jose and may have been mutton instead of lamb. The meat was cooked up with onions, garlic and three kinds of mint. The second was at a Basque restaurant in San Francisco, on Fisherman's Wharf, and was a white bean stew of lamb shank.
I wanted to duplicate the bean dish. Several days ago I went to Henry's Marketplace and bought great northern white beans and lamb: a shank and two shoulder chops. Last night I started the beans soaking and prepared a simple marinade for the meat, nothing but EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) and red wine vinegar.To tenderize meat, a marinade must contain an oil and an acid and my marinade had nothing else.
This morning I drained the beans and gave them a final rinse, then put them on medium heat while I cleaned a head of garlic and a large white onion. I got some fresh rosemary from beside the house and added fennel seed, anise seed. cumin, basil and my triple spice (equal parts garlic powder, turmeric and cayenne). When the beans boiled, I added the meat and spices and reduced the heat to maintain a slow simmer. I don't know how long it took but I knew it was done when I could smell that special cooked fragrance.
I think Cathy actually beat me to the kitchen to serve herself a bowl full.
I had planned to remove the rosemary. I threw in several sprigs but they all dissolved into the stew. Removal was impossible, which didn't matter because only the flavor showed that rosemary was present. The meat had all fallen off of the various bones.
The primary flavor was of lamb, the distinct lamb flavor I had been looking for. That flavor may have been enhanced by the cumin but there was no distinct taste of cumin. Likewise with the anise and fennel. There was both fragrance and taste of rosemary. The beans acted as flavor sponges and added nothing of their own.
It was at least as good, to me, as the Basque version I was copying.
I made a comment to that effect today while having my hair cut and my beard trimmed. There were three of us old folk in the shop and the other elders had no problem with my statement. Susie, the barber, was confused. When I got home, my wife complained that my beard was unbalanced, one side having been trimmed much closer than the other.
I've been staying inside the house most of the time, but yesterday and today I felt restless.
Yesterday I went to CVS to get some cold relief medications for Cathy and then to Costco just to, well, walk around. As I entered CVS a man stopped me and asked me if lots of people asked me to play Santa (that's what prompted today's trip to the barber). Perambulating around Costco is lots less fun when you can't nibble on the free treats. Besides, I was having the first low blood sugar reaction I've had in a long time. I finally had to give in and try a tiny cup of some kind of coffee / chai drink that was much too sweet and a chicken nugget with a breaded surface. The drink didn't raise my blood sugar enough to bring relief but at least the poultry patty didn't bring any adverse effects.
Today, following my hair cut, I visited Henry's Marketplace. It's been so long since I've been there that I was shocked by the prices. However, a number of products were clearly labeled as being gluten-free. I accumulated a bunch of goodies that I could eat, including a six-pack of Redbridge sorghum beer. I selected a lamb shank to cook with some great northern beans and spotted some nice looking shoulder chops. I'll add both to my beans. I've never tried lamb shoulder chops but they looked like beef chuck in miniature, so they're probably tough enough to benefit from extended stewing. I also got a bottle of goat milk kefir despite its horrible price. And I got two small fennel bulbs to fry up along side of the small crimini mushrooms I had gotten at Costco.
I paid the price for my adventures both days. First, I became extremely drowsy following my return and had to take a nap. And my feet hurt, apparently the tendons at the side and underneath, leading to the toes. The strange thing is that the pain quickly departed instead of lingering as it usually does. Even my normal back pains vanished quickly.
As I was dressing this morning, I found my belt looser. I was able to tighten it a notch with no discomfort. I suspect some of my recently augmented girth was the result of inflammation, not weight gain, as I've recently had a similar experience with my watch band. Even though I can't really feel it, there are additional signs that the inflammation has diminished, such as being able to see better.
My blood sugar has been behaving better, too. I've gotten a couple of fairly normal readings in the last few days, instead of the constant highs and super-highs I've been having the past two years. As I mentioned, I had hypoglycemia for the first time in ages. Perhaps my chronically high blood sugars have been the result of my problem with gluten. If that's the case, perhaps I can get my sugar back under control again.
So my sixty-ninth year ends with a ray of hope.
I didn't know that. I didn't believe it, so I looked on the bottle of soy sauce we use. The second ingredient, after water, was wheat.
I thought soy sauce was made from soy beans.
I scrambled up some eggs for my lunch yesterday. I used soy sauce. Almost immediately I had intestinal cramps and diarrhea, both of which I suffered again this morning even without using the salsa china or any other substance likely to contain gluten.
I'm learning about what causes me problems the hard way.
Eye drops didn't help. Allergy treatments did.
I also developed astigmatism and became near-sighted at the same time.
Nothing much changed until I moved to Panama, where the winds brought different allergens. I was only mildly allergic to molds and the local pollens, so my eyesight improved.
Skipping forward two decades to the time I left Panama, I moved back to my childhood home, fully expecting to re-develop my former allergies. Instead, I became diabetic. Sugars in my blood started killing the nerve cells on my retinas, diminishing my visual acuity. I also started to form cataracts.
About five years ago, I developed a strange new malady, recently tentatively identified as Celiac Disease, an autoimmune condition that starts as an allergy to gluten, the substance that gives bread its form and texture. I was shafted by the staff of life. Wheat, rye, barley, triticale and other grassy grains are off limits to me now. Antibodies to gluten have caused my body to attack itself, destroying the lining of, particularly, my small intestine, allowing toxins and bacteria to be absorbed into my blood stream while blocking absorption of nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Patches of my skin have changed, getting red, swollen, rough, cracked or developing a peculiar scab that resembles the skin a snake discards as it grows. The snake skin thing is mostly on my butt.
My eyes are swelling, both inside and out. My eye doctor suggested that my retinas were swollen. From the multiple images I see, the swelling must be uneven, with ripples in two directions. It is highly variable. At its worst, I see four images superimposed.
A new phenomenon appeared yesterday: when I'm tired, my right eyeball moves more slowly than the left. If I lift my eyes from reading to look at a distant object, I see two images for a moment, usually under a second. When I'm really, really tired, the second eye has taken up to three seconds to catch up. Anybody watching my eyes while I watched a ping-pong or tennis match would be unable to guess where the ball was. It would make driving impossible. If it takes even part of a second to figure out what I'm seeing, that's far too long. I've stopped driving.
A book I have says that young people, up to forty, can recover enough in a year of completely avoiding gluten that they again absorb nutrients and avoid absorbing toxins. Over forty, it could take a couple of years or longer. That's long enough to develop a new non-driving lifestyle. I'll have to decide for sure on the other side, but it looks like I'm probably permanently a non-driver now.
- Mood: cranky
Is there any character from a novel or film that serves as a role model to you? What kind of advice do you think she or he would give you regarding any major issues you're facing right now? Submitted By |
Well, there's the wizard Rincewind from all of the Terry Pratchett stories. He reminds me of many politicians, having strange powers he doesn't understand and doing strange, wrong actions based on his greed and fears. Whatever advice he might give, think on it and do something else, almost anything else. If he tells you to vote Republican, vote Libertarian. If he insists you should vote Democrat, consider casting your vote for a Libertarian. If he recommends voting Libertarian, vote Green.
It's nice to have somebody who is almost invariably wrong but seems to survive anyway.
I still get diarrhea that leads to bleeding and what I call snake skin, transparent scabs that shrink and cause pain or itching. It happens less frequently and the bleeding area has shrunk. Yesterday, however, was a particularly bad day for bleeding. Today I have more problems with the tendons in my feet and with my lower back than I do with my butt.
I've been worried about the inflammation spreading to my heart. Having acted as a scientist for most of my life, let me define my terms:
- HB 0 would be when the heart stops (hopefully temporarily);
- HB 1 would be severe bradycardia, slow heartbeat (KaThump ... KaTHuMP ... KaThUMP ...);
- HB 3 would be normal heartbeat (Ticka Ticka Ticka);
- HB 5 would be tachycardia, fast heartbeat (tikatikatika);
- HB 6 would be fibrillation (Buzzzzzz), often quickly followed by HB 0 that is permanent.
My vision is still fuzzy. If I step outside at night and look at a bright star, I see four images, two pair of points. The brighter pair is below and slightly left of the dimmer. In each pair, there is a bright point to the left of and slightly above a dim point. This indicates to me that my retina isn't just swollen but is also wrinkled in two different directions.
Today, most of my problems are most likely more related to my arthritis than to the inflammation (in order by severity):
- Pain in the very base of my lower back (it becomes uncomfortable if I stand for a minute);
- Pain at the bottoms of both feet, probably in the plantar fascia and the outer edges;
- Intermittent pain in my left knee;
- Intermittent pain in my left hip.
The various problems I have that might be due to gluten allergy (Celiac Disease) started over five years ago, became a chronic problem about two years ago and became a major concern just a few months ago. I started seeking medical help over three years ago. I started getting useful medical tips and feedback about a month ago. It is no wonder that half a month of gluten avoidance has shown little change. It's nice that there have been signs of improvement, indicating that I'm on the right track. I should show considerable improvement over the next year and may have the problem completely eliminated within five years.
- Mood: cranky
When we were kids, we got vaccinations against the big killer diseases: smallpox, measles, mumps, polio and so on. Some of the vaccines were discovered as I was growing up. I knew several people who had been crippled by polio. I was there when smallpox was declared to have been defeated. We would get a shot, have our skins scraped or would consume a sugar cube that vaccine had been dropped on. Some vaccines had to be repeated several years later; for example, we were told that the tetanus vaccine would wear off after a dozen years and would have to be boosted. Flu shots were different; we had to get one each year because the disease mutated so rapidly there were new strains developed annually.
The vaccinations caused our bodies to produce antibodies. If we were ever infected, the existing antibodies would cause a massive reaction to destroy the invading organism.
The missing link was that this protective mechanism was an allergy.
We made our bodies allergic to invading pathogens and our bodies would react to an apparent invasion by destroying everything near whatever caused the production of new antibodies. The site of the infection would become inflamed, with swelling, heat, pus, itching, blistering or whatever destructive mechanism our bodies blindly threw at us.
Food allergies produce destructive responses that produce, in turn, vomiting, diarrhea, swelling, bleeding and other problems. I've been aware for over a decade that eating certain foods would be followed by diarrhea, often prolonged and violent. What I didn't realize until recently was that the diarrhea signaled destruction of my intestinal linings and that my ability to digest any kind of food was being compromised.
Maladsorption. I wasn't getting the vitamins and minerals my food was supposed to deliver.
And I won't start healing while I continue to inflame my gut with certain foods containing gluten, foods from the seeds of certain grasses like wheat, rye and barley. I've been destroying my body from the inside out and I won't heal until I stop eating those foods I'm allergic to. Once the inflammation subsides, if it does, then healing may take years to happen because I'm not getting all the nutrients I should.
All plants produce toxins, as do many bacteria. That is one of the reasons we are carnivores, animal flesh producing fewer toxic reactions than plant stuff. It is one of the reasons we cook our foods, using heat to destroy those toxins. A varied diet allows us to tolerate some toxins for a short time as long as we switch to other foods often enough. The inflammation from each toxin goes away quickly enough that no permanent damage is done.
I'm allergic to gluten and I've finally figured out what that means. It means, particularly, that I must now avoid the foods commonest to our civilization, especially breads and cakes.
I've been avoiding that particular toxin for just over a day now.
My anus still itches. My ass is covered with a material like the skin snakes shed that tightens as time passes, causing itching and, when it falls off in big chunks, bleeding. So I'm still bleeding, as I have been every day for over a year. But the corn, rice and quinoa I've consumed haven't caused additional diarrhea. I hope the itching, bleeding and abnormal skin will diminish quickly, in a few days or weeks.
I find I'm constantly hungry with a hunger that eating won't satisfy, probably a symptom of malabsorption. The lack of nutrients has probably also caused my mental confusion and the sleepiness that strikes me almost daily, driving me to sleep ten or more hours per night plus several hours more in the day. It reminds me of when I came down with something as a kid; I would sleep almost all the time until I started to recover. I doubt the hunger, the sleepiness or the confusion will diminish much over the next few months. It may take years.
My wife will probably insist that I consult my doctor about my problem. But I already did, about six years ago. He assumed I had a fungus infection and, without even looking at the affected area, told me to use a topical over-the-counter cream. As long as I was regularly applying the cream, the inflammation diminished. As soon as I stopped, it returned. I tried various creams and strategies over the period of two years, finally concluding that there was no fungus but that the creams were reducing my symptoms.
Other palliative measures I tried were taking anti-inflammatories, especially Tylenol, and consuming more bacterial cultures, acidophilus and other probiotics. Relief was temporary, as these attacked the symptoms but not the cause of my problem. I kept my Tylenol consumption to a minimum because I'm afraid of its side effects. The probiotics brought relief even more temporary.
Other symptoms haven't been reduced yet. The skin on my knuckles is still thick, rough, swollen, cracked and broken despite regular application of creams. My vision is still very fuzzy (my eye doctor told me my vision problems were probably due to inflammation and swelling of the retina, which he measured with a laser device, but I don't have the results back yet). I should probably avoid driving until my vision improves. I hope both of these problems improve soon.
I didn't have a headache today. My headaches, especially the migraines, have increased a lot over the past three years. With luck, my new diet will keep them at bay. Also, my body pains have not increased. There may well be a connection between arthritis pain and other inflammation and I've had increasing body pain over the last few years.
Most importantly, nothing has gotten worse in this past day.
A decade or so back, my gastroenterologist told me I had diabetic gastric neuropathy. In other words, the nerves to my intestinal tract had died. Foods that I could previously tolerate started to cause me serious problems. I had to give up all members of the cabbage family (especially my favorite, broccoli), apples (high in the same substance used in gummi bears and laxatives) and whole grains. These foods, I was told, would inflame my intestine and cause diarrhea.
Despite giving up many foods and cutting back on many more, I've had frequent diarrhea. Now, apparently, I've started to have an allergic reaction to my intestinal inflammation: the skin on my butt becomes raw and sore, often bleeding, whenever I have diarrhea. I may also have become allergic to gluten, as in Celliac Disease.
I have to restrict my diet even more.
I've been trying to find what foods I can safely consume. Today I tried potatoes, rice, quinoa and chicken. This gave me problems of a different sort: my wife started criticizing me for excessive consumption of starchy foods that could make me fat.
I can't win.
I belong to a group interested in reading books, a group dedicated in particular to reading books on the Amazon Kindle. Books about vampires have been popular lately and many are available free or at low cost.
According to tradition, one of the tools for defending from vampires is a cross. The question raised was: in order for the cross to work, does the vampire have to be Christian, does his intended victim have to be Christian, or do both apply? Extending this silliness, how will a Jewish victim defend himself from a Taoist vampire? Would an atheist vampire be free to feed on those of all religions regardless of what symbol they use in their defense? Would deeply held convictions, fundamentalism, be of more help to the victim or to the vampire?
I suppose the same kinds of questions would apply to holy water as defense. Other defenses, such as a stake through the heart, garlic, cutting off the vampire's head and so on would seem to be independent of the religions of either party involved.
Something else almost equally absurd was also mentioned by the group. When Congress is in session, the use of cellular phones is prohibited. The Kindle makes its connections for ordering books, downloading books, surfing the Web and so on through a cellular network, first Sprint and now also AT&T. A congressman was seen using a Kindle during a session. Was his behavior incorrect because the Kindle uses cellular networks?
- Mood: amused
But Goth has nothing to do with Wicca or witchcraft.
It is a movement with its roots in the world of rock music, particularly punk, which, I suppose, some people consider evil. Goth are fascinated with the morbid, macabre and dark. They tend to dress in dark colors.
Looking at (particularly) a woman dressed as Goth, one could easily confuse her with the traditional image of a witch. Witches I've known don't dress like that. But people also confuse Pagan with Wiccan.
My wife, Delia, has pale skin and dark hair and prefers to dress in black with dark make-up. She had never heard of Goth when I met her. Many others, however, saw a touch of Goth in her appearance. At Halloween, she can easily take advantage of her natural appearance by simply exaggerating it, especially by selecting a clothing style with a medieval flavor to it.
The people she works for and with encourage employees to dress up for Halloween. It didn't take much for Delia to make the transition to a Goth appearance. But she intended to attend Mass after work and wondered if she should change first. I told her it should be unnecessary, as Goth wasn't evil or disrespectful in any way, particularly since any strictly superficial change would do little to lessen her Goth appearance, which is natural to her.
Aside: A group of kids just came to the door, the first in about three years of Halloweens. When I told them we had nothing for trick-or-treaters, they told me they were just dropping off invitations to an open house tomorrow. They weren't in costume, but their little white dog was dressed in motley. It's a good thing Cathy didn't see him or she would have wanted to dress Rocky up.
- Mood: amused
