Good mornin everyone! We made it to the weekend!

Not a lot going on this weekend and YAY for that. All I have to do today is run to the main post office to get a receipt to make sure a package gets in the system. We may run to the grocery store so we can use the rewards program to get 20 cents off of gas. We on.y have to spend 13 dollars and e need a few things anyway.

I am just not sleeping much at all. It's so frustrating and the meds just make me super drowsy. Sometimes I need to use a cane to keep steady which I'm sure if from fatigue and the drowsiness. All I know is I'm over it lol

I'm likely to chainmaille today, made a sweet little set yesterday for a client and it's really cute. The moorish rose pendants are a favorite of mine. I found a really nice and brand new electric kettle that heats to different temps. I swear people are so wasteful at time. So many brand things that some people pretty much throw away. I also found a gently used alarm clock that wakes you up with light and non startling sounds. Both were less than 15 dollars total.

QOTD: Is there something you've learned or heard that really piqued your interest in the last week?

I've always preferred reading my news. I read all sorts of things that could raise your curiosity. I just eat on NBC news that doctors are using stem cells from a patients good eye to heal an injured eye. Right now they have to have one good eye to harvest the stem cells from then they grow it in a lab. I find the stem cell therapies so interesting. I think it's the future of medicine to say the least. Some patients have regained sight and the pain has been reduced or taken away completely. It was mainly about a young man who a stray firework hit him square in the left eye. It had turned white and he lost his vision. He can now see with it, it's just amazing!

B: oatmeal and coffee

the rest? Not sure.

Gotta love the eat autocorrect.

Good morning Mel and weekend menuers,

Congrats on a maybe low key weekend. I need mine to be the opposite if at all possible. I'm hoping that today will help make up for my last two wonky Saturdays. Need to wash and detail the car, put on the new seat covers, immediately fur them up by chucking the dogs in. Need to wash and detail the dogs, buy dog food. Maybe stop into another local farm shop I found. There are three prescriptions to pick up later in the morning. I still need to work on my deck. Currently no rain and over 100 forecast for the next week, so...maybe?

Also need to plan my menu for the next week and do some more reading on ratios foe gluten-free baking conversions. I made two things in the last few days snd one came out dry and pale when I subbed GF flour and added more wet ingredients. Still very edible, though.

I had my MRI yesterday on a parked trailer at the hospital. The tech said they'd been working out of it since 2018. I stopped for pictures. Fortunately, I'm not claustrophobic. On the other hand, as I laid in the loud tube with earplugs in doing all the breathing and counting, I thought about the three inches of clearance I had between the cage strapped over me and the lighting strips and shuddered to think how I might have fit (or not) 155 pounds ago. Ugh.

It's also worth calling out that yesterday was good from a mental acuity standpoint. Ever since I got covid fog in 2021, it's been pretty bad when it comes to concentration, focus, recall...everything. In fact, the brain fog is what kicked off this entire chapter of my health journey. Go figure.

QOTD- I live for research rabbit holes. Yesterday I learned that Johns Hopkins had a research study showing that people who took a course of herbal mixes showed just as much of a SIBO symptom reduction as those who took a course of antibiotics. Super interesting to me since I know antibiotics all the time aren't a good answer. Took me a while to find the mix they used, which didn't list everything. It said it was $100 for a month...not cost effective. That led me to learning about the properties of Oregano oil and its effects on the same symptoms and inflammation...so looking into that. Yep, that's where my free time...and sometimes my productive time goes if I'm being honest.

So yeah, today is hopefully very productive but we'll see.

Menu is planned to be: Shrimp and bell peppers stir fried with chili paste. A pancake with two eggs, fish baked in spicy tomato sauce, tuna salad on a GF bread slice, more GF cornbread and olive/thyme bread, protein pudding, maybe some fruits or veg but carbs have been a bit high. Might swap the protein pudding for an experimental seafood bag attempt. We'll see!

Happy Saturday, everyone!

Can you make your own herbal mix? Find the recipe online?

It's possible, and I should have downloaded the table with the graphic. There was a list of 15 or so ingredients, most that I didn't easily recognize. I didn't see amounts or any kind of potency with any of the items and that would worry me a bit. Between sourcing less common herbs and figuring out that part, it might not be worth the squeeze. It's definitely on the table but I'm going to keep researching.

I've got a list of very pottent, strong supplements to take for SIBO and candida. I often combine that with my antibiotics. But it's way over $100 for 2 weeks treatment.

If it's enough to shut down the symptoms for a few months, I'm thinking it's probably worth it at this point. I am following up with both GI doctors next week, and I'm mostly on a low FODMAP diet right now but after two weeks, the symptoms are coming back. It's not unmanageable and the pain is nowhere near what it was in April, but the cramps and bathroom time do cut into productivity.

Are you willing to share a list? I've seen Oregano oil and the Johns Hopkins research but that's it so far.

Taking teh supplements together with antibiotics and Candida Rx meds really can help with distrubing - geting through the biofilm the bacteria/candida can create.
I have a good presentation I may send you a copy if I have your email.

i.e. garlic can casue a strong reaction in me, so garlic pills are rather not good for me. But a pure allacin capsules are great becasue they deliver the "medicinal" stuff without upsetting my gut. Allicin is great for any type of bacteria - fungal infection.

Allimax Pro 450mg 100 Vegicaps. Allicin Garlic Supplement to Support Your Body's Immune Function. With Stabilized Allicin Extracted from Clean & Sustainable Spanish Grown Garlic. Professional Strength

https://www.amazon.com/Allimax-International-Limited-Vegicap s-Count/dp/B005S7G75C/ref=sr_1_6_pp?crid=143ETFNXPE1ZI&keywo rds=allicin+max&qid=1692645000&sprefix=allacin%2Caps%2C102&s r=8-6

Integrative Therapeutics - Berberine Complex - Berberine Supplement with Oregon Grape and Goldenseal Root Extract - Vegan Supplement - 90 Capsules

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003FIMNJK?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reord er-t1_k0_1_9&=&crid=3GFP55HLQIT69&=&sprefix=berberine

And tehre is the Oregano Oil, and Neem.

I easily spend close to $300 for once a year treatment for SIBO+Candida.

Unfortunately high quality, high potency supplements cost a lot of money.

Thank you, Hala. I can definitely be frugal when I say $100 a month is a lot but given that I've spent an unintended $20k this year on health-related expenses (including all the dental and orthodontics that were planned), $300+ is a bargain in the scheme of things. I would love to see your presentation. And that makes sense...I'm not sure if garlic and onion will end up on my permanent no-go list but I'm cutting them out doing the low FODMAP...so I guess I'll know soon!

Mornin' All!

well DH is going to pass on going to Chicago with me this weekend because his mother (still in respite care) is being a pain. She just wants to go back home, which kind of alarms both of us since this means it's going to be a while - and maybe a long while - before we can do things like travel together again. She's just too medically fragile to not have one of us in town all the time in case something happens. We wish she'd go into assisted living - or at least independent living in one of the retirement communities - so there'd be people around all the time who can deal with these things, but nope. She doesn't want to. GRRRR.

not sure yet if I'll be driving down (to Chicago) today or tomorrow (I'm meeting with three of my cousins tomorrow afternoon) I'm trying to get ahold of a friend of mine who lives in the northern suburbs, because if she's available today I'll drive down later this morning, spend a chunk of the day with her, and then spend the night with one of my cousins tonight (probably driving to her house early evening). But if the friend is not available, then I can either go down today or tomorrow, since I obviously don't work on Mondays (or work at all, for that matter), and my cousin said I can stay either night (or both - but I can't really do both since we have cats that need meds - we can skip one night, but not two...). So things are up in the air at the moment...

QOTD: Like CH, I'm going down research-related rabbit holes all the time. Nothing in particular is coming to mind that I've read in the last week, though...

B: I might make protein pancakes - which I usually top with plain skyr and a few berries. Coffee with half & half

MS: protein shake

I'm not sure about food for the rest of the day since I'm not sure if I'll be home or on the road...

have a great day, everyone!