I DON'T KNOW WHICH INSULTS ME MORE....

Every so often....

I see something.......

that really ticks me off.

This is one of those "so oftens."

I guess if you chose not to get a diploma or further your education you do better on a multidisciplinary treatment than another person who had the opportunity to further their education.

Let me rephrase that.

The multidisciplinary treatment that is "adapted" to people with "low educational levels"

I'm going to include a link to the article at the bottom of the post.

It seems that the more educated group received a pharmacological treatment and the less educated group received the multidisciplinary treatment. This lower educated group received physical therapy, education, cognitive behavioral therapy AND pharmacological therapy. 

I need to quote this article because I'm not sure what part of the article insults me the most. "Multidisciplinary treatment adapted for women with low educational levels is superior to conventional pharmacotherapy in reducing key symptoms of Fibromyalgia, including sleep disturbances, catastrophizing and psychological distress."

So....are the more educated given pills to make them go away? Are the less educated given full therapy because of the catastrophizing and psychological distress????? 

Needless to say this article REALLY TICKS ME OFF.

Let me say again......

Really.

Ticks.

Me.

Off.

Is it any wonder why doctors think this is all in our heads?

MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH CUTS SYMPTOMS OF FIBROMYALGIA.

IT'S NOT NICE TO FOOL MOTHER NATURE

What are we doing to our bodies?

Look at the little honeybee.

Do we ever learn?

Anyone who watched TV in the 70's knew about this commercial. I loved it. She ended by saying, "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature" and the little raccoon would hide his eyes. Never mind that it was for margarine that supposedly tasted like butter.....

What we see is often not what we get. The case in point is the simple little honeybee. They have been dying off and all indications point to the corn insecticides being the cause. Most people think they are buying good, wholesome food when they shop but that is simply not true. We can't even buy honey without looking at the label.

And some of the labels are not true.

What in heavens name are we doing?

Pollen has been filtered out of most of the honey that's on the shelves of the supermarkets today. Removing the pollen increases shelf life and, thereby, increases profits by eliminating waste. We import over 200 pounds of honey a year. Is this why American beekeepers are being forced out of business? It isn't bad enough that we can't get "real" honey but we import from China and an article I read states that Asian honey has been banned in Europe and is coming to a supermarket near you. Just as an FYI antibiotics and heavy metals were mentioned alongside this as well. 

Raw honey has been labeled an anti-viral, anti-fungal and an anti-bacterial substance. In other words, in it's pure form, a superfood.

What happened to the days when all we had to do was wash the veggies under cold water to get off the dirt? It scares me how much has changed and it's not for the better. The more I read about Frankenfood the more I want to have my own garden. I have always thought that the prevalence of the diseases we see now has to do with the chemicals we ingest on a daily basis. I just attributed it to processed food. Now, I am beginning to see how "the good foods" are just as bad. 

What have we done and is it irreversible?

What we've done with the feed, hormones and the antibiotics given to livestock.....is it any wonder that we are becoming immune to the very antibiotics that we might need to save our lives? Every day I hear about diseases that are resistant to antibiotics. If we haven't been overdosed on penicillin or other drugs by our doctors then we're getting it in our food. I can't help but think that this has to have an affect on our immune system. 

I've always been against the theory that Fibromyalgia is a nutritional deficient illness. I don't think that we can take supplements and make it all go away. I do think that proper nutrition helps everyone and especially those with chronic illness. Everything seems to be in our heads. The disease is in our head, no big deal about the pesticides, chemicals, antibiotics and hormones in our food. What's next?

What happens to the natural food supply if the single, little honeybee becomes extinct? Fruit, vegetable, seed crops are dependent upon pollination. I think we've become arrogant and believe that we're smarter than nature. Not only smarter but that we can live independent of nature. Laboratories outweigh the value of nature and the natural. 

I am in total agreement with the California referendum that is insisting that genetically modified food by disclosed on our labels. The FDA doesn't seem to want to demand that as well. Why? 55 members of Congress sent a letter to the FDA to ask them to label genetically modified food. Right now the policy is labeling for food that is materially changed by taste, sense or smell or other senses.

In other words, if we can't see it, taste it or smell it, we're screwed on labeling.

It's not nice to fool with mother nature.

We should be hiding our eyes.

It's not only scary, it's terrifying.

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

It's been an interesting month.

Plus, its my birthday.

Oh.....Hooray.
Get the party hats out now.

Summers in Las Vegas are especially trying. You'd think after living here for over 47 years that I'd be used to them.

Wrong.

I still hate the heat. I know for some the heat is welcome. Not for me. I do so much better when the weather is cold. Humidity is always a killer but the combination of heat and humidity just puts me under. 

It's been almost a month of that.

It's tough to sleep and the brain fog has been rearing its ugly head. I hate forgetting things. Although the pain is at the forefront of my symptoms, the brain fog is really disturbing. Mainly, because I had (notice I said "had") an exceptional memory. I could read something once and commit it to memory and recite it almost verbatim. We used to do party tricks with credit cards. I'd have a card flashed at me and then recite the numbers back to the holder of the card. (Boy, could that come in handy!!) Anyway, I can forget my own name but I can still remember my former husbands American Express number. 

3782-632231-52040 (It's OK......the card is gone and the number is no more)

The pain has been crazy lately and, like I said, the fog has been bothering me. Did I also mention that I'm turning 60 this month? Turning 60 (OMG) is really getting to me. I hear that I don't look it but that's not helping. I guess it's better than the alternative but the last ten years have gone by REAL FAST.  I don't even want to think about the next ten. I didn't have trouble with any of the years but this one is really bugging me. I know there's nothing I can do about it but..........I start to think about the next milestone year and that one is 70. Like I said, I'm not doing well with this birthday!

Let's face it....even if you have been blessed with some pretty good genes, there comes a point that you're not a kid anymore. My face may not look 60 but my body feels every bit of it. Truth be told, today it feels more like 90.  So, it's back to the pain and the fog.......will this humidity stop? Please?

My daughter and I were talking about this birthday. I really don't want a big deal because I just don't feel up to it. Interesting, ten years ago I was visiting her in Florida. I had just quit smoking because I promised her that I would quit when I turned 50. Thank goodness she held me to that promise! We were running around Orlando having a fabulous time.  I was working and didn't have too much to worry about in life. Boy, do I wish I could have a do-over..........

Amazing what can happen in a ten year period.

One little car accident .....

And with it........

Chaos and mayhem........

As I always say....It could have been worse.

I'm going back to the couch now...........

THE NYQUIL APPROXIMATION

Just when one lock opens,

you find out there are a hundred more to go.

When I wrote about the perception of pain I found many different theories about the cause of our pain. What I didn't find is what to do about it other than the milk-toast remedies that we've been dealing with for so long. I really can't take Lyrica because it makes my mind squirrely and, most importantly for me, it makes me gain weight. It really did a number on me and, in my mind, getting rid of pain while packing on pounds just doesn't work. First of all, weight gain would exacerbate the symptoms while the medication is trying to help them? 

It doesn't make sense to me.

I've also read a pain study that has shown that dextromethorpan can ease the pain. Now, this "study" had three groups; male and female in normal control groups and then female Fibromyalgia patients. Each group had 10 people in it. I don't see this as a real big study but it did seem to imply that cough syrup could control the pain. The study said that it "significantly" controlled the pain. Let me get this straight.......if I slug down cough syrup it will control the pain?? Dextromethorphan does act as an NMDA antagonist so it kind of makes sense but more on that later.

So now what?

It seems that people with Fibromyalgia have excessive activity of a neurotransmitter system called the NMDA system. The NMDA or N-Methyl-D-Aspartate receptor system has been investigated for pain, neurological disorders and seizures. These receptors play a role in the excitatory over stimulation. The binding of both glutamate and glycine activate this receptor. Now, glutamate levels have found to be high in people with Fibromyalgia. So, if glutamate levels are high and the activity of this receptor system are on overdrive and the result of this produces an elevated level of nitric oxide in our systems then wouldn't that explain why we have different levels of pain at different places and times in our body??

Physical trauma can cause elevated levels of nitric oxide. Could this explain why Fibromyalgia could be initiated by a short term traumatic event? I know that the trigger that flipped the switch in my case was the automobile accident that I had in 2008. I was hit from behind by a guy going 35 miles per hour. That event started the fall of the dominoes. Could elevated levels of NO cause a chronic condition?

I just want to go back to the drugs that seem to be involved in this nitric oxide and NMDA system theory. It's kind of interesting or rather...........IT'S KIND OF SCARY.

Get this...............

There's dextromethorphan (cough syrup)

There's Nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas.

There's Methoxetamine, a designer drug sold on the Internet.

There's Etoxadrol, a drug similar to PCP!

There's Tiletamine, an animal anesthetic.

There's ETHANOL, don't we use this in cars????

And then there's magnesium.

Which one would I choose to use???????

Duh....................I think magnesium wins..........