Tag: long term care

Posted in Overall health

What’s your why?

Posted on by nlchronicles

Everyday, I have a decision to make: to either do all the things to give me a chance to feel great that day or revert back to old habits that weren’t the best for me. Every. Single. Day. I say this because every day is NOT a great day but I choose to move forward with something that can help tomorrow.

Why? Even when it’s hard. Why? Even when I seem stuck. Why? Even when there’s no progress. Because I cling to my reasoning behind what I’m doing. See, when I started my journey in getting healthier, my nutritionist asked – what’s your why? I took that to mean- what’s the reason that is so strong that even when I don’t feel like it, I’ll keep at it. My why?

Elimination of pain

So as I’ve mentioned, PCOS can cause low grade chronic inflammation which I definitely deal with. Well when everything is inflammatory, then it can have negative effects on the body including the wearing and tearing of joints; this can lead to osteoarthritis. And arthritis is painful. Pain is that motivator for me.

I plan to start the autoimmune protocol diet in January to start targeting what may be causing pain and to heal the gut, which I need in the worst way. When you wake up in some level of pain everyday, then you will look for ways to reduce pain – physical therapy, gentle exercise, NSAIDs, more sleep, Epsom salt baths, CBD oil, dietary changes, weighted blanket. I’m trying them all in an effort to minimize pain and enjoy each day.

So what is your why? Whether you are just starting or looking for ways to stay motivated, I encourage you to find a strong reason to stay on track. Writing it down and sharing your reason with accountability partners are both great recommendations that I’ve used. On my vision board, I even include ways to accomplish my goal.

What is YOUR why? Share below and motivate someone today!

Posted in Life with doctors

Eye Health – Wellness Wednesday

Posted on by nlchronicles

Starting around 2009, I began having these crazy eye issues. I already have allergies so I thought it was just a bad allergy attack. Nope- I started dealing with iritis and uveitis ugh!

Allow me to remind everyone that I am not giving medical advice, but just sharing my journey that has allowed me to move toward better health.

So what are these strange sounding eye conditions? Iritis is inflammation of the colored part of your eye, the iris. Uveitis is inflammation of the middle layer of tissue in the eye wall. (Source: Mayo Clinic) Both are painful and happen really really fast.

Symptoms include eye redness, pain, blurry vision, bright light flashes and eye floaters. What is an eye floater you ask? Have you ever been stressed with tired eyes and see a squiggly line in your vision? That’s a floater. Both conditions can cause scarring in the eye 😭 so not much fun at all.

Traditional methods of controlling a flare up are cortisone steroid eye drops and/or an eye drop that keeps the eye slightly dilated to relieve pressure and strain. And I was getting these flare ups back to back to back. I mean, it’s to the point that I typically see an ophthalmologist rather than an optometrist. I’ve had allllllllll of the testing associated with the conditions and all test have been negative.

So I started pinpointing triggers. High seasonal allergies are a huge trigger so I started changing my habits – keeping shoes at the door, not rolling my car window down all the time, and even starting allergy shots to build immunity. Lack of sleep is another trigger which typically happens when I’m super stressed, a third trigger. Instead I make sure to get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep to keep the eyes happy. I try to incorporate more foods with beta carotene. And when it’s really bad, I take lutein vitamins. Whew! It takes work but all of those combined actually work.

Have you dealt with an eye condition similar to uveitis or iritis? If so, please share what has helped you. To your good health…until next time!

Posted in Uncategorized

Conferencing

Posted on by nlchronicles

As I mentioned previously, I work with a nutritionist to manage PCOS. And it’s worked wonders. I’ve even been asked to speak on a panel for an upcoming conference about pcos in January that’s being held in California. (I hope I can get off work then!) Hopefully, my statement can inspire you or someone you know who manages hormone related challenges; positive change IS possible. It takes real commitment and a different level of effort (lots of tweaking to find out what is best for me), but I’m so glad to know that it’s even possible.

See, for so long, I thought I was just doomed to be on birth control pills forever as prescribed by physicians; I even had a pcos “specialist” tell me that my best course of action was to just remain on the pill forever! WTH!!! I knew that I had to find a better solution that reduced the need for medication- that takes a toll on your body because we aren’t meant to ingest such things for a long time. Western medicine has perfected the art of acute care but this doesn’t translate over to managing long term health challenges or improving their condition. Keep searching, doing the research and challenging the system so that alternative solutions might be covered by insurance.

The excerpt below is my statement for the conference:

🥂 to your good health! Until next time …