Life gets in the way sometimes

I guess I haven't posted a blog update last week or the week before. Life got in the way 2 weeks ago. And then the next week, I may have been trying to sort out what to say about how life got in the way. But ... you know what, it doesn't really matter. On the scale of life, I had things to do. I am sure you did, too. I had emotions to feel and things to think about and stuff to do with my teenage boys who are taller than most men I meet. Sooner than I would like, they will launch and I will be able to sit around all day and write nothing but wonderful blog posts.

So, I hope you either didn't notice my absence, or you took a nice break and did something wonderful. I will begin posts again next week. As soon as I am done typing this one, I will start working on the next one. It should run next Monday, as usual. Although I am thinking of switching to a Wednesday schedule. My vision therapy days are on Tuesdays. I usually leave those with a bunch of blog posts swirling in my head and Mondays doesn't seem to be a day that is working for me to consistently post. It is strategically the furthest day from my Tuesday therapy as it could be. (or is it the closest?)

I hope everyone is having a lovely year. We are almost done with Month 1 of 2020!

Last night, I looked up at the cold winter sky and saw so many constellations. The sky was brilliant. I hope you will consider going out to see if you can see the sky and constellations. They really are quite beautiful. I was in a neighborhood that is just filled with light pollution and I could see all my favorite constellations. That sort of floored me, to be honest. So even if you live in a light pollution area, go look at the night sky. Make up your own stories about what's up there if you don't know the ancient stories about Orion & Pleideas and Taurus ... Cephus and his baby goats ... Canis Major and minor ... the Gemini Twins named "Castor and Pollux." And - do you happen to know what "Betelgeuse" means? It's kind of funny once you learn it.

[A black background with white and colored stars in the formation of the Orion Constellation and also the Big Dipper. Image courtesy of: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/G3tFtyUnnlA/hqdefault.jpg]

Ok. Signing off this post. See you next time. Thank you for reading my blog. Feel free to drop a comment any time. I love comments. 

Migraines & Chess

Note: I just signed up to be an Amazon affiliate. This blog & information is provided free, from me. I would appreciate if you are going to buy something on Amazon, what I recommend or something else, if you could please click through either of the two products I mention in this blog post. It will maybe give me a dime or something. But every dime helps me right now in my life. Thank you so much. <3

About a year ago, I started going to a neurologist to diagnose my constant migraines. He did wonderful work. I had several brain scans and blood tests. All sorts of things.

He laid out a plan that was like playing chess - pawns in the front to help guard the more important pieces, then stronger pieces guarding the King.

The pawns in his regime for me include: drinking water, getting enough sleep (I have a constant awful time with this piece of the puzzle), and eating fairly well.

The knights or bishops of my regime include high doses of Magnesium Oxide: 400 mg and Vitamin B2: Riboflavin 400 mg.

The Queen is the one low dose medicine he has put me on.

Before he put me on this regime, I had a constant migraine. It varied in pain from about a 2 to an 8. But it was always there.

After starting the regime with him, my migraines went down to about 1-3 per month. If I get one, my first order of defense is to take Aleve. Most of the time, that solves the problem. If it doesn't, he has a caffeine medicine for me to take. I rarely (basically: never) need to take that medicine. I keep losing and finding that bottle. I don't know where to keep it, because I don't use it!

This past week, my personal life stress has been through the roof. One of the things I have done is gotten my resume together and also started to apply for jobs. I was turned down for about 10 jobs.

My personal life is just overly stressful.

As I was staring at the computer, making my resume and applying for jobs on indeed dot com, I realized that it was easier for me to read if I took off my glasses and shut my eye. (The habit of how I have read, my whole life.)

So, I did that. I didn't think much of it.

At the end of the day, I was telling a friend that I had a bad headache. My friend asked me if I had worn my glasses that day much. I confessed that I had hardly worn them at all. I had been staring at this computer for most of the day.

"Aha!" My brain said.

Ok. Notes to self:

1) wear glasses

2) take breaks

3) try to remember to keep both eyes open when reading

4) don't keep staring at the computer for an entire day; look out the window and focus far away

5) palm (to palm is to cover your eyes with your hands and let your eyes have a rest. They aren't bringing in any visual information. This allows your body to relax).

Maybe when I start to feel a migraine, I can slow down, let go of the tunneling stress that I do inside my body, and breathe. Check and see if I am wearing my glasses. Am I shutting one eye. Do I need to palm? Should I drink some water?

There is a lot to learn. I am so grateful for the good people at my vision therapy setting me up to succeed! They are teaching me solid life skills that I never had, growing up.

I feel like I am starting to get my feet on a good trajectory.

I am a Guest Blogger Somewhere Else Too

I am a regular blogger on another blog. That blog is for folks like me who, once upon a time, identified as a Christian Scientist. https://exchristianscience.com/2019/03/10/i-never-received-childhood-vaccinations/ 

This is one is the recent posts I did on that blog. I also post there as "anonymous" and have written other posts too. 

One of our regular posts over there is on Thanksgiving Day; a bunch of us contribute every year. This year, I am sure I will be sharing my gratitude for vision therapy. 

In September, 2019, part of my story was in the Oprah Magazine. Here is a link to that story, too. I just felt compelled to give a bit more information about my background. 

A link to my story in the Oprah Magazine: https://www.oprahmag.com/life/health/a28703527/former-anti-vaxxer-moms-open-up/?utm_medium=social-media&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=socialflowFBOPR