Yes, it is hot today. I got up too early, drank too much caffeine, and ran out of steam to pack the house by 3pm. Arg. We are more than midway through the ever heating Dry Hot. By the end of the month, it will be both hot and humid. I have been barely functional through our past 3 Monsoon seasons. I hid from the sun all day and just prayed I'd live until the rains stopped in September. This will be my first gluten free Monsoon season. The Fibro Beast in me still hasn't yet fully accepted it's demise via GF life. I'm hopeful to feel a change in the way my body reacts to the unstable weather, though based on how I felt through the rainy Spring, I'm not expecting a miracle.
What I was expecting, is pain and inflammation. I'm trying to rethink the Monsoon season, to not expect the inflammation, pain, and odd electrical shocks that come with the beautiful, needed, wanted, sacred desert rain storms. This is my Cherooke-Buddist-Unitarian version of a Jedi Mind Trick. I am not the droid, they, the horrific duo of inflammation and pain, are after. In my chewy center... is a very quiet deep well where I fully receive the Seasonal Gift of Monsoon. My Path is to celebrate the Cycles of the Mother, sings and dreams my Cherokee heart. Bring it on, asserts the soft spoken activist in the Unitarian-Universalist shell.
Since I have no health insurance, doctor, or medications to ease my suffering, I'm experimenting with a new supplement regime for the Summer and loading up with electrolytes, eating my daily 3 tablespoons of coconut oil, being diligent in taking malic acid, mixed omega 3-6-9's, Natural Calm, a super fruit and greens powder, and 3 Emergen C packets, along with 2 gallons of distilled water every day. I am able to withstand full sun (with SPF 80 and a wide brim straw hat) like a good melon plant. This is a new trick for my body. It's been 3 years since I haven't lost my vision, a layer of skin, and my equilibrium simply walking to the mail box. I'm reveling in this Dry Hot time, as a good desert dweller should. During this time, my continual pain and general inflammation level has been minimal, except when get too much exercise or I consume not naturally occurring nitrates. I like bacon. I can not always afford nitrate free bacon, so I eat what we can afford every 2 weeks. I fully know it's going to set off a cascade of inflammatory hormones and a slight allergic reaction that feels like the sensation of burning skin.
Hum? That's what the beginning of a Fibromyalgia flare-up feels like in me...
So, I have been my own guinea pig once again, willingly eating nitrates and trying to find what in my arsenal of supplements and herbs can ease the pain, in hopes of it working during my next flare up. I'm on to something. If I take at least 2000 milligrams of vitamin C, vitamin B3 (niacin), and a vitamin B complex-100 with a cup of yarrow flower tea when I eat the bacon or the hot dog, it reduces the feelings of burning skin and inflammation after the niacin flush kicks in. The yarrow encourages sweating and purging of toxins in the body through the skin. If I get into a hot bath or shower and sweat the rest out, I'm better in less than 30 minutes.
Until now, a nitrate encounter alone was enough to awaken the Fibro Beast. The after effects of eating 2 strips of bacon or a slice of pepperoni pizza, could last for weeks. I'm sickly looking forward to testing it on the physical sensations of a flare-up as they truly feel similar in my body. Our new place has a small community sauna. Going on the 'sweating it out' theory and since I did so well with the hot springs, I'm trying a 5 minute sweat this week to start working my way back up to up to an hour in the sweat. I know the idea of making yourself pour sweat while nude in a cedar box, sounds like an odd thing to do in the 110 degree desert. On the contrary. 15-20 minutes in a moist 180 degrees, makes 110 feel like a brisk Winter morning. A quick rinse with hose or shower brings bright, clear, glowing skin and a better perspective of the word, HOT.
The other natural modality that's been surprisingly effective now that I am gluten and dairy free, is juicing. I have juiced for taste, nutritional benefits and digestive help since the 1980's. My (former) brother in law taught me the celery-lemon-parsley-sea salt Gatorade replacement within days of my arrival in the low desert 8 years ago. What I found in this new body is that food IS medicine for me. My GF/DF body is very sensitive to whatever I put in it...good or bad. I've been finding a juice or smoothie for every need I have. I have been eating pineapple for 2 years hoping to feel the claimed anti-inflammatory effects of it. Removing the dairy last month...allowed that to happen. I juice a whole fresh pineapple whenever I feel the least bit of inflammation or sluggish digestion. It makes me feel like there is naturally occurring rum in that pineapple. ALL of my inflammation...ceases in minutes. I feel giddy on sweetness and life yet grounded and 'in my own skin' at the same time. Very energetic, as in vital energy or 'Ital'. Probably what a hummingbird feels like!
So, that's my babble. If I do have sucess with my formula for the Beast, I'll share. Enjoy what must be a welcome taste of the Summer in the US...everywhere else but here.
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