SAD

I never knew if I believed that SAD (seasonal affectiveness disorder) was a serious medical condition or if it was something that everyone just experiences because of the winter. Today my dr diagnosed me with SAD. I obviously asked him what make SAD different from just feeling blah from the weather. He explained that me feeling extremely tired more so then regular with my chronic fatigue syndrome. Go me! Lack of motivation that can lead to depression are some of the symptoms. I have definitely had the fatigue and lack of motivation. Mostly cause I have been so tired and even reading exhausts me. The good news is that the salt lamp i bought recently is said to help with SAD.
has anyone else been diagnosed by their dr with SAD? If so what do they do to help it?

Mystic night

our town was having a mystic night. I jumped at the chance to go to this. I have always wanted to see a medium and see how it all works and how I feel about it for my self.
Not knowing what to expect from the event I arrived a little early. The hall was decorated beautifully. When we entered we got to pick a table which had 8 spots. There were drinks even speciality cocktails and appetizers. Everyone mingled for a bit and filled out a sheet asking us a question we wanted answered. They collected our questions and the night began. There were 5 mediums all who took the stage. They one by one pulled a question from the basket and did a reading for it. After this portion of the night they did table readings. And we all snacked and chatted while we waited. My reading was done with Angel cards. I pulled the health/ healing card. The women told me that despite me thinking my health had hit rock bottom. She insisted that I had a lot more to come. More trips to hospitals and Drs. She was basically ready to shake me telling me I needed to make a change and start focusing more on my health. This was shocking as I had recently made a change in my whole life style and am trying to focus more on my health and more natural healing. When my reading was done I went and looked at some stuff they were selling. While I was over there the same medium approached me and told me I needed to start eating better. I was shocked as I have a very limited diet. I was just telling my friend my one down fall is sugar. And the fact that I know diabetes is on its way cause it often goes hand in hand with one of my other illnesses. This medium didn't know any of this. She proceeded to ask me if I had found out I was diabetic yet. Needless to say my jaw dropped.
The second women who did a reading for me. She didn't even look at the cards. She put her hand on my shoulder and told me I needed to let go of something I order for my health to improve. And I would notice a difference in 16 months. I was kinda confused as this was kinda the opposite of the last women. Tell I sat and though about it. I have been told I am a empath. That I take on people's feelings and emotions. If there is one negative person in the room I can feel that and feel it drain me. I have been  trying to balance my self and make it so I don't become as affected by others emotions. I think she was talking about this. Because it gives me anxiety and makes me physically sicker when this happens.  I'm holding she was referring to this. And letting go of everyone emotions and pain and in turn improving my health.
Over all it was a pretty interesting night with some good company. It will be interesting to see how things pan out. We all have free will so these I think are used to kind of guide us in our choices. I know not everyone believes in mediums etc. And some believe in them very strongly. I guess only time will tell what I believe.

Health routine

Essential oils
Defusing lavender at night helps me to calm the mind and to get a more restful sleep. Peppermint helps with nausea. Pan away  helps relive some of the muscle pain. I am just starting to understand the potential for essential oils in my life.

Acupressure
I have an acupressure mat that I lay on for about 5 min a day. I find it helps real ease some of the tension in my muscles. 

Stretching
My specialists gave me a routine of stretches to do multiple times as day. I try and do stretches at least every morning and night. And sometimes a few times throughout the day. 

Tea
I generally find tea calming. Depending what you need there is tea for everything. Digestion, sleep, calm your nerves and boost your metabolism.  

Pacing
This is key. I need to pace my self. I need to take breaks often during and after every task. If I don't I end up in bed for days. 

Diet
Because of my celiac I eat gluten free. A lot of other conditions can be helped by eating gluten free. So being gluten free although it's to treat my celiac is a good option. I am also dairy and egg free which are show when eaten in excess to cause lots of chronic illnesses. So it helps that I am diary and eggs free from allergies. Because they can cause more health problems. 

Crystals
I don't know if these help but they are pretty and calming. Anything calming is good to help keep my anxiety down. 

Reflexology
Has been helping lessen my symptoms.  And work through some of the issues like digestion a issues that go along with my celiac, ibs and fibro. It helped loosen my neck. 

Massage
Massage is key in relaxing the muscles so that I can do my stretches.
Cupping
Brings oxygen to the muscles to help them heal. It helps relive the pain and keep it manageable. 

Sleep
Sleep is super important. Your body needs sleep so it can heal and rejuvenate. With having chronic fatigue syndrome I always feel tired. So getting a good night rest can help me to feel  ok enough to last all day. 

Meds
Sometimes meds are needed to work through the pain so you can do stretching and exercising etc. 

Supplements
Probiotics are a must with my gut issues. They have made such a difference since I started taking them. 

Laughter
Having a sense of humour is so important. If you can't laugh at the situation then what can you laugh at. Laughter can help lift your spirit and change the tone of a day or even week. 

Mindfulness
Is a form of meditation 

Meditation
Helps with anxiety and keeping me relaxed. Being relaxed helps lessen my symptoms. Stress makes them spike so meditating every day helps to  keep me more level

Spotlight on Qcknd and her misfit toys

If you don't know Qcknd is a you tuber. She is a 20 something who lives in Philadelphia. She is her down to earth self on her channel and doesn't  say sorry for her point of view on things (nor should she). She's tattooed,vegan, in beauty school and loves coffee. Her personality shines through in her videos. Her subscribers are from all over, range in age and walks of life. But all of us have been brought together by the love of Qcknd and her videos. Her followers care about her and her life and she keeps it interactive with her five fact Friday's. People ask any sort of question and she sits and answers them. It's link having coffee with a friend. People have asked to have a q and a with her boyfriend John on is a little camera/ social media shy. But he was kind enough to sit and do a video with her. Which everyone seemed to love. They are so cute together! Her you tube channel is one of the only ones who other subscribers will comment on your comment and it's always friendly and nice.  It honesty just feels like a really positive place. I can be having a crummy day and see she uploaded a video and know sitting down and watching it and reading the comments will put me in a better more positive mood.  I feel like Qcknd is her true self on her channel which is so rare these days.
Everyone go check her out  and give her some love! ❤️
https://www.youtube.com/user/Qcknd

Mystic night purchases

The mystic night I went to this past weekend was a fun night out they had a table with lots of different pendulums, candles etc. I purchased a pendulum which I am learning to use. It's pretty neat and the one I bough is stunning.  You ask the pendulum a question and it will move one way for yes and the opposite as no.  If you are interested in learning more about  here is a site to check out http://www.odysseyofthesoul.org/freomm/pendulum.htm

I also bought a salt lamp. I have always wanted one because they are beautiful and have many health benefits such as helping allergies and sleep. If you would like to learn more about Himalayan salt lamps look here http://www.naturallivingideas.com/himalayan-pink-salt-lamp-benefits/

These are both perfect additions to my sanctuary I am making where I can meditate etc. 

Marvel universe live

Back In the summer muffin and I took one of our nephews to marvel universe live. As expected it was pretty corny. But still we all enjoyed it and had a lot of fun watching our nephews face. He was so entranced by everything going on and kept asking if we saw that! Or that! or that! It was definitely a good choice for a birthday gift. It's so hard to buy for kids now days. Seems like they have everything. It's fun to get them something different like an afternoon like this. And it's a fun bonding experience. 

Giving things a second chance

I went to a chiropractor about 6 years ago to try and help my back and neck issues. They said they would go easy on me. The clinic was really in-personable. You swiped a card when you arrived and they page you and say what room to go to. The chiropractor comes in asks if you have any issues then does his thing and it's all done in about 40 seconds. I reacted horribly. Things were spinning and I was puking for 3 days.  When I called and asked if that was a normal reaction. They said they had not heard of that happening and said it was likely unrelated. But I know my body and I know it was from the treatment. I asked my specialist and she agreed it was to much for my body with all my health issues.

Then last week I went to the wellness open house and got an assessment. I overall got a good vibe from the office and the chiropractor. So I decided I would give it a second chance. Everyone has been saying it could help some underlying issues I have. I guess I will see.
I got back from my assessment and appointment a few hours ago. It went well but boy am I sore. Slightly nauseous and dizzy. But I expected that. My body has been cracking and popping. I made an appointment for next week to give my body a break. Only time will tell if it helps.

Wellness open house

Today I went to a wellness open house at our local chiropractor. I got to talk with the chiropractor and get an assessment. I explained my concerns about having a bad experience many years ago when I went to see one. She put my mind at ease and I decided to give it a second chance. I also got a quick reflexology treatment from the women I have been seeing. She was the person who informed me of the open house. I also got to speak with a natural path and get a treatment from her. I'm not sure about all of her treatments. She gave me some good info but I will have to look into it further before I decided if I will go forward with any of them. I'm super happy I decided to go specially since I wasn't feeling very good after pushing my self this week. It gave me a much needed boost. And let me to try some new things and give somethings another chance. Working on your health and maintaining good health be it with chronic health issues or not. It's always good to do things to try and stay healthy or maintain or regain health.

Making a sanctuary

I decided I need to focus more on relaxation to help my health. To make this easier I decided to turn our spare room/ my library into my sanctuary. Where I can go when I need to relax. Some where to lay down and meditate, do my mindfulness, my stretches, acupressure and affirmations.
So first I cleaned the room of any extra clutter and removed it. I brought in all of the items I might need like my acupressure mat, yoga blocks etc.  Since it also houses my books which I find relaxing. I decided to make some bookish art for the room which is what I am in the process of doing right now. I already and seeing a difference in having a place to go do all these positive things to calm down and work on my self especially when I am starting to feel anxious.
What do you do to keep calm? How do you relax? What would you put I your sanctuary?

Crystals

I know some of you might think this is silly and that's fine.  Everyone can have their own opinion. I have had some people tell me that crystals have brought them positive energy and helped with all sorts of things. I bought a combination of them that is suppose to help fibro as well as some that are just pretty. I do t know if they will help with my health etc. But in the very least they are so beautiful to have around.  Do any of you use crystals for healing or anything else? Do you have any around just because you think they are beautiful? Do you have a favourite?

My reflexology journey

I was lucky enough to get asked to try reflexology to see how it improved my health with all my chronic illnesses.

The sessions were very relaxing. Soft music and essential oils being defused. She told me some areas that she could tell I was struggling with in my body. Every time she was dead on with what areas I struggle with chronically. After each session it was like my body was going through a cleanse. I was really thirsty and my body was very sensitive to what I ate. The sessions helped push the withdrawal from coming off meds out of my system. It helped loosen my muscles especially in my neck and shoulders. My gut started improving and has been the best it's been in my life. I started having more energy and less brain fog. Things seemed more clear.  Seeing the progress over the 4 sessions I had  was very interesting. And I definitely will be continuing with treatments to help better my health and keep it on track. Anyone with chronic health problems should consider giving reflexology a try. What do you have to lose?  Even my dr was happy with ,y progress I made within the month and told me he has had other patients benefit from treatments as well. 

Fibre fest

this weekend was the third annual fibre fest. It's a festival for all things yarn, knitting, crochet etc related. I have wanted to go the past 2 years but it never worked out. I'm so happy I was able to make it this year.  It was so inspiring. I got to see a lot of great people. And I was able to see some alpacas and sheep :) which I would love to take home. They had sheep sheering demonstrations which was fun and interesting to see. The sheep looked so relaxed. There were lots of booths set up and so much  to look at. They had people spinning by hand and with a wheel and also people weaving and making lace. It was so inspiring and interesting to see. I can't wait to go next year!