Daily Log
09:00
I went to sleep at about 22:00 and woke up at 08:00... I dozed for a half-hour or so before getting up because I was hungry. I did put my contacts in, mostly for ease of navigating the kitchen, but I'm still exhausted... if food doesn't help, I'll probably go back to bed.
My hands are very cold and puffy; I had a little salt yesterday and it didn't taste salty, so it's probably a slight sodium deficiency. That happens when I'm under physical stress, especially when my adrenals are overworked (it can also happen when I eat something very salty and my kidneys overcompensate). I'll try to get some salt and water and protein today, to clear up the edema.
I'm not thinking very clearly -- I keep losing my train of thought. I don't feel "present" really at all, and only the dull roar of full-body pain is what's telling me I'm actually awake. I don't hurt in dreams.
My feet seem a little better, though I still need to break the metatarsal joints loose. I think they're less irritated, though, which means the inflammation isn't making the joints quite so sticky. Not using them helps in that way, at least, though flexing them helps keep them from seizing up long-term.
I really need to call my third client to reschedule, but I don't feel like I'd be coherent on the phone. Maybe after breakfast.
16:00
I called to make a medical appointment, then went back to bed. I came downstairs just briefly to eat a half-teaspoon of iodized salt (just in case I'm running an iodine deficiency like last year) and then went up to sleep.
I slept from 11:00 to 14:45, then got up because I was hungry. I was in less pain, so that it was present at the back of my attention but not more than that. I also felt a little clearer and more present. None of my joints were giving me especial trouble other than my lower back, which has a distinctly painful vertebra and the whole area is tender to the touch.
I went downstairs and had a couple of bowls of cereal, as that's easy food. By this point I feel a little tired and lethargic, but not sleepy; maybe I'm finally gaining some traction, after sleeping nearly 18 hours of the last 30.
I should figure out what I need to do before I head down to the Oakland Zoo area for dinner. My friend there can adjust my joints to help combat the inflammation, and if I can break the current state of constant flare I might be able to become functional by tomorrow. I have plant clinic tomorrow morning, and I wouldn't want to have to miss it.
17:30
My energy continues to return, and I'm not sleepy at all. I spent 20 minutes putting the tarp back on the nectarine tree (lots of reaching and walking around it) (thanks for nothing, weather forecasters) and then took a shower and got properly dressed, and I feel capable of driving to Oakland and possibly running an errand on the way.
The sense of being cold and unable to warm up, and being so sleepy all the time, was something I ran into a year ago January, and that also lifted within 24 hours of having some iodized salt. I think my dietary iodine intake may be insufficient -- even before I dropped dairy from my diet, milk producers had been moving away from using iodine-based sanitizers, and I wonder whether the iodine content of eggs is dropping for similar reasons. I don't eat much saltwater fish, and I'm allergic to crustaceans. So perhaps I should get a little topical iodine and apply it every six months or so, to eliminate iodine deficiency as a possible cause of fatigue.
23:30
I feel like my usual self now. My pain level is low enough that I have to think about it to be aware of it, my thinking is clear and snappy, I have all of my peripheral vision (wow), and my energy is way up. I'm going to go to bed because I need to be up early tomorrow, but I feel like I could go out and play Ingress for a couple of hours.
I managed the half-hour drive to Oakland pretty easily, I sat and had dinner over TV, and then my friend adjusted my lower back, upper back (ow), and fixed my right collarbone (finally). Before I left he caught me working on my right wrist and took over, breaking loose several wrist bones and relieving some aches and swelling I hadn't even fully registered (I just knew it was twinging when I tried to grip things in certain ways). I could feel my system standing down as he dealt with each major source of inflammation, particularly in my back.
At this point my lower back is slightly warmer than it should be and a little tender, but it doesn't have any of the sharp aches it had before. My right shoulder isn't perfect, but it doesn't bind every time I shift my arm forward or up. I can roll my neck in all directions again. My left foot is still sore at the back of the ball (my feet are the only thing I didn't fix).
Just the pain reduction is wonderful, though. Whenever my pain level drops rapidly, I feel extra-wonderful because my system is still cranking out endorphins, and I get a bit of a high until it wears off. Still, I ought to feel up to doing some walking around tomorrow.
I think this pretty well clinches the theory that my sleepiness and cold issues were lack of iodine taking my thyroid function down... it also seems to have been linked to my high pain level for the last several weeks. As iodine is needed by the thyroid, and the thyroid helps mediate healing processes (from what I understand), it's not much of a stretch to conclude that the deficiency was impairing my Mutant Healing Factor. As the MHF (being my inherited ability to heal extremely rapidly and thoroughly, shared by the rest of my family) is the only thing that keeps me from being bedridden like the rest of the people with CFS, if it drops out of the picture, I'm royally screwed. The damage keeps mounting, it causes cytokine cascades which increase my inflammation, my inflammatory disorder multiplies it (by reacting badly to the presence of some parts of the cytokine cascade), and the whole thing goes downhill.
So as soon as I got some iodine, my thyroid started working properly, it made what was necessary for my healing processes to operate, the Mutant Healing Factor came back online, and within 24 hours I should be back to my usual crippled-but-functional state. I suspect the scrapes I got while pruning this week will also vanish with alacrity.
Knowing that iodine is critical to my healing factor will make it more of a priority. I bought a little bottle of 2% iodine, and I'll apply it at the solstices and equinoxes (so that I remember). We'll also use saffron a little more often, as it's not that expensive these days. If I can't seem to stay in the habit of using iodized salt for cooking -- I hate the taste of it on finished dishes -- I can supplement in other ways.
I have an account as Torquill on Dreamwidth, and that's where I posted this. You can sign in with OpenID to comment on the original post, or you can go ahead and comment here; either way works.
I went to sleep at about 22:00 and woke up at 08:00... I dozed for a half-hour or so before getting up because I was hungry. I did put my contacts in, mostly for ease of navigating the kitchen, but I'm still exhausted... if food doesn't help, I'll probably go back to bed.
My hands are very cold and puffy; I had a little salt yesterday and it didn't taste salty, so it's probably a slight sodium deficiency. That happens when I'm under physical stress, especially when my adrenals are overworked (it can also happen when I eat something very salty and my kidneys overcompensate). I'll try to get some salt and water and protein today, to clear up the edema.
I'm not thinking very clearly -- I keep losing my train of thought. I don't feel "present" really at all, and only the dull roar of full-body pain is what's telling me I'm actually awake. I don't hurt in dreams.
My feet seem a little better, though I still need to break the metatarsal joints loose. I think they're less irritated, though, which means the inflammation isn't making the joints quite so sticky. Not using them helps in that way, at least, though flexing them helps keep them from seizing up long-term.
I really need to call my third client to reschedule, but I don't feel like I'd be coherent on the phone. Maybe after breakfast.
16:00
I called to make a medical appointment, then went back to bed. I came downstairs just briefly to eat a half-teaspoon of iodized salt (just in case I'm running an iodine deficiency like last year) and then went up to sleep.
I slept from 11:00 to 14:45, then got up because I was hungry. I was in less pain, so that it was present at the back of my attention but not more than that. I also felt a little clearer and more present. None of my joints were giving me especial trouble other than my lower back, which has a distinctly painful vertebra and the whole area is tender to the touch.
I went downstairs and had a couple of bowls of cereal, as that's easy food. By this point I feel a little tired and lethargic, but not sleepy; maybe I'm finally gaining some traction, after sleeping nearly 18 hours of the last 30.
I should figure out what I need to do before I head down to the Oakland Zoo area for dinner. My friend there can adjust my joints to help combat the inflammation, and if I can break the current state of constant flare I might be able to become functional by tomorrow. I have plant clinic tomorrow morning, and I wouldn't want to have to miss it.
17:30
My energy continues to return, and I'm not sleepy at all. I spent 20 minutes putting the tarp back on the nectarine tree (lots of reaching and walking around it) (thanks for nothing, weather forecasters) and then took a shower and got properly dressed, and I feel capable of driving to Oakland and possibly running an errand on the way.
The sense of being cold and unable to warm up, and being so sleepy all the time, was something I ran into a year ago January, and that also lifted within 24 hours of having some iodized salt. I think my dietary iodine intake may be insufficient -- even before I dropped dairy from my diet, milk producers had been moving away from using iodine-based sanitizers, and I wonder whether the iodine content of eggs is dropping for similar reasons. I don't eat much saltwater fish, and I'm allergic to crustaceans. So perhaps I should get a little topical iodine and apply it every six months or so, to eliminate iodine deficiency as a possible cause of fatigue.
23:30
I feel like my usual self now. My pain level is low enough that I have to think about it to be aware of it, my thinking is clear and snappy, I have all of my peripheral vision (wow), and my energy is way up. I'm going to go to bed because I need to be up early tomorrow, but I feel like I could go out and play Ingress for a couple of hours.
I managed the half-hour drive to Oakland pretty easily, I sat and had dinner over TV, and then my friend adjusted my lower back, upper back (ow), and fixed my right collarbone (finally). Before I left he caught me working on my right wrist and took over, breaking loose several wrist bones and relieving some aches and swelling I hadn't even fully registered (I just knew it was twinging when I tried to grip things in certain ways). I could feel my system standing down as he dealt with each major source of inflammation, particularly in my back.
At this point my lower back is slightly warmer than it should be and a little tender, but it doesn't have any of the sharp aches it had before. My right shoulder isn't perfect, but it doesn't bind every time I shift my arm forward or up. I can roll my neck in all directions again. My left foot is still sore at the back of the ball (my feet are the only thing I didn't fix).
Just the pain reduction is wonderful, though. Whenever my pain level drops rapidly, I feel extra-wonderful because my system is still cranking out endorphins, and I get a bit of a high until it wears off. Still, I ought to feel up to doing some walking around tomorrow.
I think this pretty well clinches the theory that my sleepiness and cold issues were lack of iodine taking my thyroid function down... it also seems to have been linked to my high pain level for the last several weeks. As iodine is needed by the thyroid, and the thyroid helps mediate healing processes (from what I understand), it's not much of a stretch to conclude that the deficiency was impairing my Mutant Healing Factor. As the MHF (being my inherited ability to heal extremely rapidly and thoroughly, shared by the rest of my family) is the only thing that keeps me from being bedridden like the rest of the people with CFS, if it drops out of the picture, I'm royally screwed. The damage keeps mounting, it causes cytokine cascades which increase my inflammation, my inflammatory disorder multiplies it (by reacting badly to the presence of some parts of the cytokine cascade), and the whole thing goes downhill.
So as soon as I got some iodine, my thyroid started working properly, it made what was necessary for my healing processes to operate, the Mutant Healing Factor came back online, and within 24 hours I should be back to my usual crippled-but-functional state. I suspect the scrapes I got while pruning this week will also vanish with alacrity.
Knowing that iodine is critical to my healing factor will make it more of a priority. I bought a little bottle of 2% iodine, and I'll apply it at the solstices and equinoxes (so that I remember). We'll also use saffron a little more often, as it's not that expensive these days. If I can't seem to stay in the habit of using iodized salt for cooking -- I hate the taste of it on finished dishes -- I can supplement in other ways.
I have an account as Torquill on Dreamwidth, and that's where I posted this. You can sign in with OpenID to comment on the original post, or you can go ahead and comment here; either way works.