How can I get out of this hole?

[sweetkamie20]

You've done the time to be able to modify quickly. Today I got in a flare pinch so I broke my one-at-a-time rule tried tyrosine. It seemed to help but now I am back into a flare...when you're in semi-desperate mode the rules get set to the side...

How do you handle cold showers?. Do they immediately help or just afterward?

 

[JayCS]

How do you handle cold showers?. Do they immediately help or just afterward?

Since they've sometimes become harder since MCAS, I've realized that they don't 'hurt' much or I no longer take note of them if I think of something else (like being "mindful" of a shower gel bottle). 1 second up and 1 down each leg, twice, then each arm twice, then torso, back, face each one second, twice, usually a quick repetition, 20 to 30 seconds altogether. Once a day with a 10'' soap interlude, so praps 40-50''. Any pain or unrest is gone immediately, chatterbrain reduced, and stays that way for quite a time. The alternate stimulus gives my body a rest, praps like a TENS unit works according to Gate Theory. But also cryotherapy reduces cytokines, so (auto/)immune reactions. The cold also reduces or stops skin and sinus burning and unstuffs my nostrils immediately. Resets my temperature regulation from hot flushes, also immediately. Just have to be careful not to rub, just pat with the towel, as I have dry oversensitive skin, which doesn't like being creamed much either. And if necessary a hot water bottle when I know the normal dilation which usually warms me up isn't working.
They occasionally "pain" me afterwards (hot too), since MCAS, but stopping my NAC supp got that problem down again.
Again I need to repeat: I am sensitive to any longer cold exposure (esp. wind, draught, air conditioning, fans, cold packs), slightly more than to too much heat & sun. OTOH whole body or local cryotherapy (both 3') using nitrogen-cooled air is gentler / "easier" than cold showering (but more expensive). But a workaround is only doing as much as we can, like only legs, or just a cold wash at the sink, directly or with a washcloth. Not as effective, but helps too.
Not perfect. Yesterday the showers helped me sleep 10.5h. Tonight after only 6h of sleep, and despite 3 cold showers, 5x passiflora, 5x GABA & several more relaxing supps (luteolin, rhodiola, quercetin...), 30' of Yoga Nidra, my chatterbrain decided it's eminently more important than sleep to dissect what we can do about the state the world is in right now. Stimulated by someone talking a lot at 6:30pm - shouldn't have listened. Demonstrates once again why it's dangerous for me to go out or hear any serious stuff after 6pm.
So I needed to put "pen" to "paper" to get that out of my system, and now forum distraction. Will sleep now relieve the insomnia Ache?

 

[sweetkamie20]

Any pain or unrest is gone immediately, chatterbrain reduced, and stays that way for quite a time.

That sounds like a winner. Winner winner chicken dinner! Feel free to point out when I use a phrase foreign to you-steadily trying to pay down my credit

But also cryotherapy reduces cytokines, so (auto/)immune reactions. The cold also reduces or stops skin and sinus burning and unstuffs my nostrils immediately. Resets my temperature regulation from hot flushes, also immediately.

I tried a cold shower not long ago and...I...just...can't be mindful of something else yet lol. I'm gonna try one day again because sleep was better but it's been bad again for the past few nights. So weird that GABA got me to start going into half sleep, as opposed to no-REM at all 4 hour sleep, and now I've wound up in this heavy eyelid but no-REM sleep and wired state. I will increase GABA now. Yesterday was a crap day and ended up throwing the kitchen sink at my symptoms. Do you know the kitchen sink expression? If not, I would like to get that credited to my account

my chatterbrain decided it's eminently more important than sleep to dissect what we can do about the state the world is in right now. Stimulated by someone talking a lot at 6:30pm - shouldn't have listened. Demonstrates once again why it's dangerous for me to go out or hear any serious stuff after 6pm.
So I needed to put "pen" to "paper" to get that out of my system, and now forum distraction. Will sleep now relieve the insomnia Ache?

I rarely get news these days. I just get so riled up by it. Then my head hurts, I start feeling feverish, sweating, ughhhhhh no win situation.

By the way-feel free to share your blog with me. I am a writer by nature and training. I've left behind writing the 45-85 page analyses of families for writing an allegorical fiction novel to accommodate my fluctuating status...

 

[sunkacola]

@simplelife mentioned only having about 4 hours of productive time, and therefore can't do much to help her(?)self. But it doesn't take any extra time to experiment with your diet. You can start your exercise routine with only 5 or 10 minutes of exercise. You can make sure some of your down time is spent productively, researching, checking in with your body, doing stress-relieving things (whatever works for you), and so on so that you don't feel you are being non-productive. You can spend part of that time doing your best to plan (I know plans aren't always helpful) how you will organize the next day to be as efficient as possible when you are doing stuff that needs to get done. It might be that you need to cut your time cleaning in half, do the other half alternate days.

You may not benefit from one or another of these things, so you need to experiment. My point is that I found as long as I felt...and I did!...that I hurt too much and was too tired to do anything that would help, or to exercise, and so on, I was defeating myself with my attitude. I was telling myself I couldn't do anything, which only made me feel worse - helpless. Once I started (and, believe me, I started out Very very small), I started feeling better mentally because I was now doing what I could, even though it wasn't much.

My approach to things got better, and that grew. At some point I stopped feeling helpless, and started actually having hope that I could help myself feel better, because I was at least starting and doing what I could. I think everyone, no matter their circumstances, can do things that can help. Some can start larger than others, but if a start is made on any level, and maintained daily, that can or will start to make a little bit of difference. And maybe suddenly you actually have 4 hours and fifteen minutes of productive time. Then maybe even more. You never know.....

 

[JayCS]

Winner winner chicken dinner! ....... throwing the kitchen sink .... riled up

New one, another and another: Another for your account!

I tried a cold shower not long ago and...I...just...can't be mindful of something else yet lol. I'm gonna try one day again because sleep was better but it's been bad again for the past few nights.

Maybe just legs again??

So weird that GABA got me to start going into half sleep, as opposed to no-REM at all 4 hour sleep, and now I've wound up in this heavy eyelid but no-REM sleep and wired state.

Intriguing description, but I can't decipher it... (is that a for me or you?! ). Could you try again?

I rarely get news these days. I just get so riled up by it. Then my head hurts, I start feeling feverish, sweating

News: same here, I've set up a rule that my wife doesn't tell me any news after 4 or 5, and also goes easy on me with the contents of the gory thrillers she likes to read, as if life weren't enough...
I do catch up using short newspaper-newsletters earlier in the day or she asks first, or I do, sometimes it's OK.
But in this case it wasn't that I was directly worrying, it "just" made me think and want to discuss, so rabbit-rabbit-rabbit rather than troublesome thoughts - cortisol.

By the way-feel free to share your blog with me. I am a writer by nature and training. I've left behind writing the 45-85 page analyses of families for writing an allegorical fiction novel to accommodate my fluctuating status...

Whooo, that makes me sorta wanna hide it....
But you should find the link on my profile somewhere? Can't remember where, but exploring yours I just found your beautiful poem "A Reminder that Light will Find Us"... Wow - what a highlight! Nicely allegorical too...