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Cerebellar Stroke and Vertebral Artery Dissection

June 1, 2018   By Becca Leave a Comment

I’m going completely off of my normal blog topics of cooking, baking, gardening, sewing, and home life today.  I heard on the news that June is Brain Health Month.  I didn’t know that was a thing, but since I’ve been learning sooooo much about brain health in the past 8 weeks I decided to share a bit of my learning about Cerbellar Stroke and Vertebral Artery Dissection.

At the end of March, I had a stroke.  I’m 44 years old, the mother of 2 teens, and I’m a kindergarten teacher.  I’m ALWAYS sick with something, so I can’t say I’m super healthy.  I seem to always struggle with illness and injury.  Those of you who know me, know that I get weird stuff.  The doctors tell me that my strange illnesses have nothing to do with my stroke, but I’m chalking this up to one more strange thing that happened to me.  I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m not the healthiest person, but I’m also not your typical stroke victim. If you are interested in reading the whole story, which you really should because it’s the craziest thing in the world, here it is. http://homeiswheremystorybegins.net/my-stroke/

After I had my stroke I tried to find as much information as I could on the topic.  There isn’t much out there because a Cerebellar Stroke with Vertbral Artery Dissection makes up only 1% of all strokes.  I told you I get weird stuff!!! One of the neurologists I saw suggested a book, which I laughed at because reading is incredibly hard for my brain right now.  Luckily, the font was really big and if I read it slowly it almost made sense.  Actually, it made a lot of sense which is why it’s worth sharing.

 

The book is called Carotid and Vertebral Artery Dissection; A Guide for Survivors and Their Loved Ones.

book

(I hate being called a Survivor because it sounds so serious and life threatening.)  There were several stories which were shared by survivors, which made me feel like I wasn’t crazy.  Other people with this same injury/condition were experiencing the same things.  Here are a few of the “oh my gosh” moments in the book that I really connected with:

*Exhaustion, background noise sensitivity, and sensitivity to light and sound are very common.

*Difficulty word-finding when speaking is totally a thing.

*I say that my stroke was a “small” stroke because I don’t look like a stroke victim.  There is no such thing as a small stroke.  My stroke was just in a different part of my brain, which controls different parts of my body.

*Vision impairment is common.  My vision gets blurry if I read, write, or watch tv.

*Constant head pain is common.  My head pain is in a new spot for me.  It seems to be in the same spot as my stroke and it’s just always there.

*Memory difficulties – I though my memory was bad before my stroke.  Wow!  Now it’s horrible.  It’s not just something funny anymore, it’s super frustrating.  According to the book, this is SUPER common.

*”If you survive a dissection, you’ve been given another chance at life.”  Talk about a slap in the face and making you wake up and pay attention!  In one of the stories, they suggest really looking at your life and finding your purpose.  I’ve always known my purpose in relation to home, family, and early childhood education.  What if I don’t ever have the stamina to teach little people again?

*My ER doctors were amazing and it’s practically a miracle that they discovered that I had a stroke.

*I have a constant feeling that I’ve stepped off of a boat.

*Most patients report head and neck pain.

*Pain and dizziness may accompany every activity.

*Chronic pain leads to frustration.  Umm, yes it does.  This is an understatement.

*Emptying the dishwasher is my nightmare.  It will cause me to need to rest for about an hour before recovering and this is something other people experience as well.

*Half of patients with this type of injury and stroke will have no idea what caused it.  I know that my stroke was triggered by rolling my head-neck around in the shower, but I don’t know what caused the initial artery injury.

*”Being at the mercy of someone else’s convenience” while recovering takes so much patience that it’s almost painful.  It’s hard to let everyone do everything while you just sit and watch.

*Being healed does not mean being the same as you were before.

*”There are no research studies that have analyzed survivors of carotid and vertebral dissections with chronic pain.”  So, I have no idea where to start with managing my pain.  My last intense headache landed me in the walk-in clinic getting shots.  I can’t take Advil, Aleve, or migraine meds.  Tylenol does nothing for me, so I’m left with no options for pain relief except ice packs and meditation.

*Patients look normal on the outside, so it’s hard to believe they are feeling so much pain, confusion, and dizziness.  On one hand, this is really great because my kindergarten students have no idea how horrible I’m feeling.  On the other hand, most of the time I look ok and I just have to fake-it and show that I’m doing great.

*Things to try at home: keeping lights low, using earplugs (this was great at my son’s basketball tournament), peppermint extract for soothing, ginger as a replacement for Sumatriptan (migraine med), and basil and clove oil to relax muscles.

*Anxiety after these issues is common. I think I had a panic attack, a few weeks ago, around the time I think I had another small stroke.

*Adequate sleep is important.  I sleep about 2 hours longer than the rest of my family and I also nap every day.  Yes, every day.

*Vertigo can be present for YEARS after this type of stroke… noooooooooo! I can’t take it!  Saying that it’s vertigo makes it sound like you have just a little bit of dizziness.  Some days I have to take anti-nausea meds just to function.  I have what I would call vertigo almost all of the time, but much of the time it’s like vertigo on steroids.

*I need to find my new normal.  This makes me want to cry because I really liked my old normal.  This is going to take some serious adjustment.

*If I experience new or worsening symptoms in the future, I need to call 911 or go the ER.  I also need to balance this with the fact that life can’t be lived in the ER.  Luckily for me, my first stroke presented itself in a way that I KNEW I needed to call 911 and get help right away.

*I have no idea when I will feel/be better.  Every brain is different.  Every situation is different.  There is no way of knowing when I will be normal and what my new normal will be.

So, let me just this again.  If you have experienced a Carotid or Vertebral Artery Dissection, and especially if you’ve had a Cerebellar Stroke resulting from the dissection, I strongly recommend buying this book.  It is worth the $20 to gain some great information but also to know that there are other people out there dealing with this same issue.

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Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: health, My Stroke

My Stroke

April 9, 2018   By Becca 3 Comments

I don’t have any pretty pictures to go with this post, except the iphone photo I took of the view from my hospital room.

IMG_2522

You read the title of this post correctly.  I had a stroke at 44 years old. My stroke wasn’t the typical stroke that our grandparents had.  Specifically, I had a Cerebellar stroke with vertebral artery dissection.  In the hospital, they told me that this makes up 1% of all strokes.  Basically, I won the stroke lottery!

Here’s a little of the backstory first:

***Disclaimer:  It’s really hard for me to read, write, and type.  I’m hoping this makes sense and I didn’t make too many spelling or grammatical errors!  I’m just putting this out there and asking for grace.***

A few years ago, I had back/neck surgery to fix a herniated disc.  They inserted a cadaver bone between C5 and C6, in my spine, and fused them all together.  It fixed most of my intense neck pain, but I had come to the realization that I would always live with some pain.  A few weeks before my stroke, my neck pain really intensified.  I waited it out, hoping it would go away, but it just got worse.  Luckily, I had an upcoming appointment with my neurologist for Botox injections related to my migraines.  In addition, I had about 10 days in a row of headaches before my appointment.  I told my neurologist about my 10 days of headaches but we attributed it to the fact that the Botox had worn off.  She was also convinced that if we focused a bit more of the injections into my neck and shoulder, the pain in my surgery area would subside.  I had about 40 Botox injections in my scalp, neck, and shoulders, and she sent me on my way.  That was on a Thursday.

By the following Monday, I couldn’t stand the pain anymore.  I made an appointment with the spine specialist I had seen many times before, but they couldn’t get me in until Friday.  I  also went to the walk-in clinic after work.  They read up on my history of back problems and the doctor said, “I know you have a very long history of back problems, so what are you hoping that I can do today to make this better?”  I told him that I’d really like him to schedule at MRI so that I could get some answers on my Friday visit.  That request was a no-go because he was sure the other doctor would want specific images that he didn’t know to request.  I also said that I needed to do something about the pain so I could make it to Friday.  They gave me some pain meds and an anti-inflammatory, which worked fairly well and I could make it through the day of teaching before collapsing onto the couch.

This was a SUPER exciting week for me because I was going to a three day workshop in Seattle.  This wasn’t any workshop.  This is my DREAM workshop about Reggio Emilia inspired early childhood education.  To most people, I know this doesn’t sound like an exciting topic, but this is #1 on my list of learning I’d like to do.  The conference was Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 9-5.  I paid over $500 out of my own pocket to attend and had to use my “personal days” that our district gives us.  Thursday was great and I made a few new friends from Wisconsin to have lunch with.  I was going to be a little late to Friday’s conference because of my appointment with the spine doctor, but I planned to be in Seattle before the tours of early childhood centers and the 100 Languages of Children exhibit took place. (Ha!  Little did I know!)

Now, here’s the stroke story:

I woke up feeling pretty decent.  My back wasn’t throbbing and I didn’t feel like crying because of the pain… that makes it a good day in my book!  I got in the shower and turned the heat of the water up a bit to loosen my neck muscles.  I had just put some conditioner in my hair (this is an important part of the story) and started tipping my head to the right and left to see where the pain was the worst.

BAM!!! I’m telling you friends, when I say I got a little dizzy, I really mean that it felt like a 10.0 earthquake hit my house and I was spinning in circles.  This dizzy spell was not like any other dizzy spell I’d ever had in my life.  I leaned up against the wall because I thought I might fall through the glass shower doors.  When the wall didn’t even feel like it could hold me up, I sat down on the bench in the shower.  At that point, I stared dry heaving (another thing that I’ve never experienced).  I still thought I might fall over, so I got down to the floor of the shower.  At this point, I was thinking, “No!! There is no way my husband is going to let me go to my conference now!” I was still spinning and dry heaving but I had knocked the shampoo bottles over in my dizziness.  I was worried that I actually would throw up, so I started trying to put shampoo bottles back so I wouldn’t throw up on them. (Seriously?  Who tries to clean as they are having a stroke?)  At that point, I decided that I could use the shampoo bottles to try and get my husband’s attention.  He was working downstairs in the office.  I started pounding the shampoo bottles on the walls of the shower, but he didn’t hear me.  (He says, hindsight, it sounded like I was trying to get my makeup out of a bottle and was banging it on the counter.)  Somewhere along the way, I had turned the shower off.  I knew I needed to call 911 but I couldn’t even crawl out of the shower.  There was no way I could make it to the phone.  I kept banging and finally I tried yelling for my husband.  I felt like I barely even spoke his name, but apparently it was loud enough for him to hear me.

My husband came upstairs and I was still in a puddle on the floor of the shower.  I told him to call 911 because I had a really bad dizzy spell.  You know when you have those times when you are thinking, “Should I, or shouldn’t I, go to the doctor?  I feel pretty bad, but maybe I’ll be ok.”  Well, this wasn’t one of those times.  This was big and I could tell.  The whole time I was on the floor of that shower, all I could think was that I needed to get to a hospital and make this stop.  My husband told me that they were on their way and he helped me crawl out of the shower, onto the bathroom floor, and got some towels for me so I could warm up.  This was the point where I yelled, “Oh, my gosh!  Get me some clothes!”  I had just had a stroke but, I was going to get my bra and underwear on, darn it!!  Come on, now, you all know you are with me on this!

I was still flat on the bathroom floor (with bra and underwear on… phew) when the paramedics got there.  They knew they didn’t want to move my neck, but I tried really hard to convince them that I could put on yoga pants and a sweatshirt without hurting my neck.  After multiple attempts, I decided that this was not going to happen.  Then, I realized that I still had conditioner in my hair.  Do you know how gross that would be if I didn’t get it out?  I was really hoping that they would let me rinse my hair when I said, “Oh, no.  I didn’t rinse the conditioner out of my hair.”  The nice paramedic got a towel, put water on it, and started trying to get the conditioner out.  Not only that, but he also started talking in a French accent and was telling me I was at the spa.  I think this was the only point I laughed during the whole ordeal.  It lightened up a tense situation.  I convinced them that I could walk down the stairs and didn’t need to be carried.  They let me put a robe on, and I was on my way to the hospital in the back of an ambulance.

Thank God for medicine, because in the ambulance they gave me morphine for the horrible pain that had started in my head, anti-nausea, and anti-dizzy shots.  I’m still not sure how they managed to get an IV going in my arm, while in the back of a moving ambulance.  Those guys are amazing.  I got to the hospital and they put me in a room in the ER.  I knew this place VERY well because my mom had been in and out of that same hospital for the 4 weeks just before.  (That’s another VERY long story.)  I swear my husband beat the ambulance to the hospital, but I must have fallen asleep, because he told me he didn’t.  They gave me something for anxiety and told me that I was going to the MRI waiting area.  That area was so great because Winnie the Pooh and Friends appeared on the wall!  (You know you’re a kindergarten teacher when you hallucinate storybook characters.)  My husband said I was gone for 2 hours.  I remember nothing else, but Winnie the Pooh and Friends, and then waking up back in the room with my husband.  MRI’s are very loud and tight.  You’d think I would remember having an MRI on my head and neck, but nope.

We waited a bit longer and the doctor came back in.  He said that when people come in with dizzy spells, they always have to check this one area of the brain.  He said that it never comes back showing that someone has had a stroke, but it’s protocol for them to check.  He said, surprisingly, my MRI showed I had a stroke.  This type of stroke is so uncommon that it makes up only 1% of all strokes.  I looked at my husband and said, “We can just chalk this up to the fact that I get really weird stuff.”  If you’ve known me for any amount of time, you know that I get anything and everything that comes along when it comes to injury and illness.  Sometimes, I wonder if people think I’m a hypochondriac.  But, then I go to the doctor and they tell me I have Swine Flu, Strep (again), a gene mutation that makes me sick, a herniated disc, or mold growing in my sinuses causing a massive breathing condition.  You name it, I’ll come down with it.  It’s how I’ve been for my whole life.

Once I was admitted, the tests started.  They needed to figure out why the stroke happened and if I was at risk for this to happen again.  They told me that the stroke was in the Cerebellar region of the brain.  That’s the back part of the brain, close to your neck, that is in charge of balance, coordination, and movement. They told me that I had earned at least 48 hours in the hospital.  I tried watching tv to pass the time between tests, but I couldn’t concentrate that long.  I couldn’t focus on magazines either.  They came in every 4 hours, night and day, to do mental and physical tests with me.  Many of the tests were the same tests they do for people with DUI’s (so they told me… I’ve never been in that situation).  They had me touch my nose and then touch their finger.  My right side was fine, but my left side was a bit sloppy.  I could never actually touch their finger and always missed by about an inch.  They had me read out loud, which was really hard for me.  The word ‘know’ was always a challenge and the words didn’t make sense to me.  They had me do mental math problems which I totally nailed, except for the multi-step problems that they were giving me at 2am.  At that point I said, “It’s 2am! Nobody does mental math at 2am!”  When the occupational/physical therapist came in, I got to go for a little walk.  I was a bit wobbly, but did ok.  If I walked and turned to look over my left shoulder, I’d get really dizzy and start to sway.  I did ok on stairs.  Basically, walking, reading, and moving my head were my issues.

After a few more tests, they saw a vertebral artery dissection.  They told me that at some point, an artery in my neck got a tiny tear.  That can happen by picking up the garbage to go out, grabbing a heavy purse wrong, lifting a box, a car accident, or any other thing that happens every day and we think nothing about. They think that my neck pain was totally different and not related to my stroke, but when I was rolling my neck around in the shower, the blood clot on that artery came off and caused a stroke.  I told the doctor that I had been suffering with 10 days of headaches but he didn’t think it was related.  I had fallen and sprained my ankle two weeks before, but he didn’t think that was related either.  One really weird thing, they also told me wasn’t related but I don’t believe them, was that I was having a twitching problem for several months.  Any time I sat with my eyes closed, I would jerk.  It was kind of like that feeling you get when you fall asleep but then you dream that you are falling off a cliff, but mine happened every 10-15 seconds. My husband said it happened all night long too. I had talked to many doctors about it, but they all said it was normal.  I’m telling you, this was not normal.  It would happen every 15 seconds and start immediately after closing my eyes, even when I wasn’t tired or trying to fall asleep.  Well, here’s the weird part.  After my stroke, they disappeared.

So, where am I now?  When I left the hospital, the neurologist told me that I was not allowed to do ANYTHING for several months. No dishes, no vacuuming, no changing the laundry, no cooking, no gardening, no activities that get my heart rate going, and if a paper fell on the ground I was not allowed to pick it up.  I was allowed to do self-care and after a week I could stroll like a grandma, outside, with supervision. There was one teensy tiny problem.  We had booked a vacation for Palm Spring and were scheduled to leave exactly one week after my stroke.  I explained that this was a relaxing vacation and not a sight seeing vacation.  I promised to do nothing but sit by the pool and relax.  He gave me the ok, with many rules to follow, and I did get to enjoy a week doing nothing by the pool.  Let me tell you, doing nothing in the sun is MUCH better than doing nothing in the Seattle rain.  We got home last weekend and I’m doing ok.  I need a lot more sleep than usual, I get headaches, and still get dizzy spells.  Walking for any length of time is a trigger for headaches and dizziness.  My left side is still clumsy, but not nearly as bad.  Typing, pushing buttons with my left hand (that’s really hard for me), and playing guitar are my prescription for therapy.  Reading is still hard.  Sometimes I forget my words as I’m talking or the wrong words come out of my mouth. I can watch a full tv show at home but I can’t go to a movie.  I tried that in Palm Springs and I spiraled downhill pretty fast afterward.  They told me I will never be able to go to a chiropractor and will never be able to put my head in the shampoo bowl at the hair salon.  I will be taking aspirin for life.  I am wearing a soft neck collar, right now, to remind me not to move my neck in any direction.  The artery needs to heal and any movement can cause progress to go backward or even another stroke.  My personal neurologist was much nicer than my hospital neurologist.  My neurologist told me that I needed a full month of doing absolutely nothing and then we could revisit my orders.  The other guy had told me “several” months.  I’ll be out of work for two more weeks, but if I’m being honest, I think they’ll probably tell me I need to stay out a bit longer because of the headaches and dizzy spells.  Who knows, maybe I’ll be as good as new in two weeks and ready for a class full of kindergartners!  I’ve been pretty amazed by my progress so far.  The brain and its ability to heal is fascinating.

When things like this happen, you are really reminded how much people care.  I got cards, flowers, and well-wishes from people I hadn’t seen in years as well as close friends and family.  Facebook was flooded with prayers and people just reaching out to say they were thinking of me.  I can’t say it was worth having a stroke for, but I really do appreciate people reaching out.   I’m on the mend, and that feels like a really good thing!  My husband and kids are picking up all of the slack while I’m on do-nothing-orders.  I know it probably drives them all crazy, but I love them for it.

Thanks for reading!  I’ll be here doing nothing but thinking happy thoughts!

 

 

 

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Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: health

Reading For The Health Of It

February 16, 2015   By Becca Leave a Comment

I’ve been spending a lot of time with my nose in a book lately.  I’m in between contracts with my LeapFrog work and that means I have time on my hands, in between working a full time job, running my kids around, and keeping up with housework and cooking.  (My first year contract with LeapFrog has expired and now they are writing my new contract with the legal department.  I know from last year’s experience that this may take several weeks.  I’m enjoying my time off, but also missing the work!)  I’ve been using my spare time to catch up on some reading, and I’ve been reading just for the health of it.
I’ve always been pretty sickly.  My mom claims they named an entire wing of the walk-in clinic after me, as a kid, because we spent so much money there.  Over the years, I’ve been told I have Graves disease, sinus disease, kidney disease, reactive airway disease, Diverticulitis, and I get chronic cases of Strep Throat.  To top it off, I get EVERY SINGLE illness that walks in my kindergarten classroom.  I just seem to have a weak immune system.  Combine all of those things with Migraines, and I’m usually a mess.  I’ve been working with a Naturopath for the the past few years and I’m doing much better, in the health department. I attribute part of my increased health to Botox injected in my scalp and the back of my neck every three month, for headaches, and the discovery of gene mutation that caused my immune system to be weaker than normal.
That brings me to my reading material for the past few weeks.  While I’m not saying that I’m going gluten free and dairy free, I have been trying to incorporate these recipes into our daily lives. All of the books that my Naturopath suggested talked about the evils of dairy and gluten, and how they cause inflammation.  Inflammation has been my enemy, in all of my illnesses.  Every time I get something like a chronic migraines, an airway flair up, or Strep, they give me Steroids.  Steroids really help, but essentially all they do is reduce inflammation.  Well, if I could reduce the inflammation in my body without drugs, wouldn’t that be nice?  Diet is the key to reducing inflammation, and gluten and dairy are the biggest contributors to inflammation
 It was kind of a funny experiment.  Over the weekend, we went on a mini ski trip and I ate a burger for dinner one night, pancakes for breakfast, and pizza for lunch (and there may have been a few chocolate chip cookies in there too).  My face, especially my eyes, were completely swollen the day after I got home.  I think the combination of dairy and gluten was a shock to my system, since I hadn’t eaten them for a while.  I can’t really be sure if that’s what caused it, but it was an interesting experiment. 
I think I’ll go eat some leftover butternut squash soup (without cheese) and curl up with book about the Paleo diet.
Happy reading and healthy eating!

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Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: health

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

February 15, 2015   By Becca 1 Comment

Never, in a million years, would I have thought I would like this soup.  Everything about it sounds horrible to me.  It’s made with squash, carrots, celery, and onions.  Blending those things together does not sound appetizing, but I’m here to tell you… It is amazing!!
I’ve been really trying to add more fruits and vegetables to my diet lately, and not just broccoli or green beans.  I’ve been trying to branch out and try things I normally would not eat.  We’ve learned to love sweet potatoes, avocados, spaghetti squash, and butternut squash.
I found a simple recipe online, but made several changes because I didn’t like the original too much.  Here’s what I did:
I started with a large package of chopped butternut squash.  It was about 4-5 cups.  I roasted it in a baking pan with a little olive oil for about 40 minutes.
In a blender, went:
4-5 cups roasted squash
1 stalk of celery
1 large carrot
2 slices of onion
3 cups chicken broth
I blended this for 8 minutes in a heavy duty blender. 
Next, I added salt and pepper to taste and a few tablespoons of butter.  I blended this up again.
If you have a fancy blender that heats, you’re done.  If not, the mixture can be heated on the stove.
Finally, I topped it with a few tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese and sprig of rosemary.
Yum-O!  The texture kind of reminds me of a thick, cheesy soup, but without all of the guilt. It’s Heavenly.  
Happy blending!

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Filed Under: Cooking, Miscellaneous Tagged With: blender recipes, health, recipes

Botox and Migraines – My Story

October 5, 2013   By Becca 8 Comments


I’ve had migraines for as long as I can remember.  It’s absolutely horrible.  There’s no way around it.  The simplest things set me off… smells, lights, stress, tension, exercise, lack of exercise, not enough water, travel, car rides, pretty much every day life causes migraines for me. I’ve tried everything.  I’ve done massage therapy, accupuncture, herbs, drugs (every kind of migraine medication out there), preventative meds, and so on.  Nothing seems to help.  My kids knew that headaches ruled my life.  I often missed out on games, activities, or just spending time with my kids because I couldn’t function.  Having headaches DAILY was not out of the norm.  Finally, I went to a Neurologist who specializes in pain management.  My fear was that she would throw some pain killers my way and call it good.  Most doctors really don’t understand the severity of migraines.  They say they do, but I’m convinced they don’t know how they really alter your entire life.  Several months ago I wrote about how this Neurologist tried Botox to treat my migraines.  I promised to tell you if it was working.

Well, it’s been about 7 months now.  I’ve had Botox injections done 3 times and I’m starting to think this doctor is a miracle worker!  She gives me about 20-30 tiny little shots in the back of my neck and in the top of my head. (I have a very wrinkle-free neck now! At least that’s my joke because the back of my neck doesn’t have fine lines and wrinkles anyway!)  Yes, the shots hurt, but not as much as a typical shot.  So, in the past 3 months or so, I would say that I can count on one hand the number of headaches I’ve had.  It’s truly amazing!  I really don’t understand how it works.  She says it paralyzes the muscles that trigger my headaches, but I don’t understand how that helps with my other triggers like light or smells.  I try to stay away from things that I know bother me, but you can’t hide from everything!

I’ve also made changes that my naturopath has suggested, which probably help a lot too.  I went through food allergy testing and several other tests which could help figure out why I’m sick all of the time. (For those of you who know me well, you know that I’m not only prone to migraines, but I also get everything that walks into the classroom door.  I’ve been diagnosed with more diseases that I can count, all related to my thyroid, sinuses, and airways. It’s not a good problem to have when you teach little kids every day.) When she did these tests, she found out I have some weird gene mutation that makes me react negatively to certain things.  I’ve really tried changing my diet to be more organic, with fewer chemicals, and more back-to-the-basics. I think I’ve noticed a difference with those changes too.  The other day I opened a can of typical soup for lunch and about an hour after lunch I started feeling horrible.  I don’t know if it was the MSG in the soup, all of the other junk that was in there, or just a coincidence, but I know I felt horrible.

So, there you have it.  That’s my migraine/Botox story so far.  We’ll see how I do in the next few months!

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Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: health

Migraines – Ugh

April 19, 2013   By Becca 3 Comments

I’ve had headaches for as long as I can remember.  I get the typical, “Oooh, I wish my headache would go away” type of headaches, but I also get the, “Oh my goodness, if I took a hammer to my skull it would certainly feel better” type of headaches.  I’ve been on different pain medications and a few things that were supposed to prevent the headaches from starting in the first place.  I’ve tried massage therapy, yoga, relaxation exercises (all of which are great), but I still get headaches.  I’ve worked with a naturopath (who is fabulous), and I’m taking all sorts of supplements.  I would say my pain has improved with all of the above, but I still miss work for migraines and sometimes miss out on fun times with my family.

I finally broke down and went to a Neurologist who specializes in pain control for people with chronic migraines.  I found out that I would not be a candidate for many of the medications she would want to try first.  (Those darn kidneys would prefer that I not take them!)  I’m totally fine with that because I really don’t want to take medications.  I’m fine with herbs and vitamins, but I’d like to stay away from the heavy duty stuff.  The specialist’s answer??? Botox.  I’d never heard of this as a solution for treating migraines.  I looked into it, and sure enough, there is quite a bit of research out there to support this.  So, a few weeks ago, I had Botox injected into my neck and the top of my head. (I have a very wrinkle free neck now, thank you very much!)  Headaches?  Well, better.  Actually, much better!  I’m kind of thinking it’s amazing.

Well, after a few weeks of feeling pretty good, the headaches have started creeping back into my daily life.  My ears start ringing.  My vision gets a bit blurry.  Then the pain starts in.  I started to revisit the suggestions my Naturopath shared.  She told me that the absolute #1 no-no for a migraine sufferer is MSG.  My first thought was, “Well, I’m glad I don’t eat Chinese food take out or eat Top Ramen.”  I can’t tell you how surprised I was to see MSG in many of the foods in our pantry.  I had no idea.  I half-way expected a package to come with a label that said Contains MSG or something like that.  But, those sneaky food companies list it under lots of different names.  The article below has some good information.

http://www.ehow.com/list_6580597_list-foods-containing-msg.html

 

  Two of my kids’ favorites (and two of the foods I have a hard time saying no to) contain MSG.  It’s in everything from frozen burgers to cheesy crackers!

I’ve decided that the only way I can control what I’m eating is to really control what I’m eating.  I’m not talking just reading labels.  I think I need to eat like people did in the pioneer days.  I need to grow my own food, pick my own veggies, and visit a butcher once a week. (Ok, I know the pioneers raised their own animals and butchered them on their own, but I just can’t go there.)  Did you know that even some canned veggies contain MSG?  Sheesh!  You can’t even eat right when you’re trying to eat right!

So that’s my story.  I wish my story had a beginning, middle, and end, but I’ve been in that middle stage for about 20 years now.  My friend, Diane, is doing an elimination diet.  Maybe that’s what I need to do, except I need to eliminate just about everything.  Think how skinny I will be when I only eat home grown fruits and veggies! 

Happy eating!

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Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: health

This Is The Way To Shop!

August 4, 2011   By Becca 2 Comments

We got home pretty late on Sunday night, from our trip to Eastern Washington.  Of course, we needed some groceries on Monday morning.  Bright and early the milk man arrived with our hormone/antibiotic free milk and eggs.  We started using Smith Brothers last month.

Then we headed down the hill to Stocker Farms.  I have been making a weekly trip down there since they opened a few weeks ago.  I love the fresh, local, produce.  The flavors of the fruits and veggies are so pure.  My kids even comment that they notice a difference between grocery store produce and local produce.


Our fridge is filled with veggies.


My family LOVES fruit, so we stocked up on that too!

THIS is the way to shop, friends.  All we needed at the grocery store was a loaf of bread and some bagels.  If you haven’t caught the “local” bug yet, it’s time to give it a try!

Happy shopping!

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Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: health

Healthy Eating???

May 18, 2010   By Becca 6 Comments

This article absolutely freaked me out today. I feed my family berries every single day of my life. We love our berries. To think, the things I feed my family, which I think are healthy, may not be healthy after all.

As a teacher, every day I work with children with things like ADHD, Autism, and learning disabilities. Each year I have more and more children in my class with special needs such as these, which require additional support. I know this article is not the first to make these connections between pesticides and children’s development, but this one really has me thinking about what I feed my own children.


Images courtesy of my dinner table a few nights ago.

What do you think?

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Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: health

Welcome

Hello, Friends. I'm Becca. I'm a teacher, and when I'm not in the classroom, I'm doing everything I can to create a happy home. I love to cook, bake, garden, sew, quilt, teach, and simply spend time with my family. I don't consider myself to be an artist, but I strive to find the art in the everyday things I do to make our house a home. Join me as I quilt you up some comfort or warm you with some cookies!

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