Sheila's Posts

A vacation is leisure time away from work (time longer than several hours out of one day) devoted to rest or pleasure. Typically, people perceive work as paid employment. They might not go so far as to say that being unemployed is like being on a vacation, but few would be able to realize I have not been on a vacation in over 30 years.¹ My first day of vacationing, during the past 3 decades, began on June 1st, 2010 (actually it began when I left home the night before). Now that I’m back home and into my regular routine, I can clearly recognize what a vacation is and is not!

While I was on vacation (except for the stressful parts; e.g., motorcycle madness and thunderstorms while far out on a large body of water), I felt enjoyably alive for the first time since childhood! The area I live in, and have spent most of my life growing up in, is nothing like it used to be. Generally and straightforwardly speaking, those who have grown up and live in areas further north than a latitude of 42.66 (longitude 73-74 W) in New York State, are friendlier and nicer people (especially the women). I’ve found that to be true even in the northwest region of Maine. I’m not the only person who thinks so either. My husband’s friend, who has traveled often to these areas, also has this same experience.²

As soon as I’m back in my community, I recognize a lack of a welcoming spirit. When it is seen, it looks phony. In the north, people sit on their porches and wave to everyone passing by. They will freely open up and talk about themselves, along with showing genuine interest in the lives of newcomers. So, naturally, uptight people are a depressing thing to come back to.

Besides leaving behind the more pleasant attitude of those in the north, the clean air, quieter surroundings, and laid-back relaxed pace — all of which had me sleeping properly unlike I can remember having done once upon a time many decades ago — are also left behind. What I did bring back with me was a sunburn, poison ivy, and an infected ankle (from a cut done by hitting a rock underwater). While I was up north, those things didn’t bother me… probably because the daytime temperatures ranged between 60-72 degrees Fahrenheit and it wasn’t humid there. Being hit with the horrid heat and humidity (common for being further south and at a lower elevation level) exasperates whatever is already going to irritate the nervous system.

I knew about the outdoor skin cleanser Tecnu, but was too late in getting a bottle while up north for it to do much good against urushiol. A poison ivy wash that’s way better (and much more expensive!) than Tecnu is Zanfel, but I didn’t even know about it until a week later, which was the first time I ever used it (and it does work!). I think the itch and pain from the poison ivy and sunburn kept me from realizing my ankle was in pain from being infected and was swelling. I began taking doses of Colloidal Silver and also applied it to the cut. The swelling left by the end of the next day and the cut proceeded to heal. Besides those products I’ve just mentioned, a camping first-aid kit should also include: band-aids (maybe some butterflies too), a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide, antiseptic cream, sunblock, a tick removal spoon, tweezers, insect repellent (preferably Deet-free, like White Mountain‘s), and bee sting cure. You can do minor surgical procedures without a doctor!

Adding to the unpleasantries of being back, what I described enduring on the 4th of July, every bit of good that vacationing did for my health rapidly became undone! All I have left is my photographs to confirm to myself that I did at one time, not too long ago, feel alive and looked forward to another day. Now I’m back to working seven days a week at trying to keep from becoming exhausted from things like insomnia, sensory overload, and social isolation. The most depressing aspect of all this comes from learning how the horrible economy, along with an excess in human population (especially dangerous foreigners³) increasing and disrespecting nature with trash, is already showing signs of destroying what little beauty is left in the wilderness areas I (including my children and grandchildren) might have another chance to someday visit again.

¹I went on 3 trips in other years past, but they were not vacations. During those trips, I was working just like I do when I’m home. Work is to exert oneself by doing activity directed toward a purpose or out of necessity.

²Someone I once knew, who traveled around to different parts of the world throughout most of his life, told me that no matter what country it was, those who lived in rural areas were much nicer people than those living in urban ones. That was my experience also when I was in Central America in 1980. The “primitive” natives living on Volcán Barú in Panama were the civilized ones. Those who lived in the cities were nasty in comparison.

³My native “rural” community I continue to live in has it’s own fair share of malicious creeps too that have victims either speaking up years later or never reporting what they’ve gone through. I näively spoke up once about a horrible life-threatening incident I endured when I was young, to the detriment of my own life, and learned to never do that again.

No, Lord, no... anything but my internet connection wires!

Not all trees grow up. Some grow sideways in wet soil!

I guess what all this means is that things ought to be looking better after today! I thought I might be returning back to my run down feeling I had last Wednesday when a sore throat and fever was trying to take over me, but even being out in the damp chill couldn’t make me ill. All day Wednesday I dosed myself periodically with colloidal silver, so by that evening whatever it was that was trying to make me sick was all gone. Here it is Friday night (I began this post in the morning with the two photos) and ‘the bug’ hasn’t resurfaced in spite of the stormy weather.

What an amazing antibiotic colloidal silver is! My son didn’t believe me that it would cure his conjunctivitis (pink eye), but it promptly did. My husband didn’t think it would cure his appendicitis attack on the Wednesday of last October 29th, but it worked¹ faster than he was able to prepare himself for going to the hospital (which is hard to do when you’re busy squirming on the floor in pain while vomiting repeatedly). Unfortunately, due to potential troublemakers, I don’t dare give any more examples and/or details. I’m not giving medical advice. I’m merely sharing some past historical events some people might find interesting. Even though I say this about colloidal silver, God deserves all the glory. He is the great physician who guides the way, heals, and answers prayers!

¹I found this information quite helpful (click on it for more info):

thank God!

Adhesive Capsulitis (Frozen Shoulder) presents a good reason why one should not always let pain dictate the level of activity done. Usually it’s good to allow body parts complete rest (after the necessary repair work if needed) to heal on their own after an injury, but sometimes it’s bad. I learned the hard way (through ignorance) how that can be.

A few years ago, I hurt my left arm when trying to force a window open. I didn’t realize I was unconsciously favoring that arm since I spend so much time at my computer. When I was away from the computer doing other things, I must have been developing alternative methods of moving around that gradually changed the way I did things.

For about five months or more, I didn’t pay attention to the fact that I was losing mobility in my left arm. Because of my habit of injuring myself often by accident, I developed a way of ignoring pain and waiting patiently for it to go away. It’s not that I learned to become numb towards pain, because I can know when it’s there. I learned to trust my body to heal itself. It always did before, so I thought when my shoulder kept hurting more at night over the months, I was just losing my skill at it.

However, in this case with my arm, it was quite a strange experience to be losing my ability to move it. My first thought was that I’d try getting a professional massage. I knew I wanted something resembling Shiatsu; something like maybe deep-tissue therapy. Fortunately I did find someone skilled at this profession. He was amazed over my high tolerance to pain¹ when he tried to get my arm to move. But, try as he did, he couldn’t get it unstuck. So, I went to visit his friend who is a chiropractor. The chiropractor couldn’t get it to move either. He suggested I go for an MRI. As soon as I walked out of his office, I thought “Forget that! I’ll figure something else out (but I would give in if God insisted, but He never did).”

Convenience would have it that a deer tick bit me again and I got another lyme rash. That gave me a good excuse to ask a doctor his opinion of my arm while I went in to ask him his thoughts about my rash (that I already knew what to do about — Hi, Ho . . . Colloidal Silver to the rescue!). By that point in time, my arm was almost completely immobile. It was like having a 2 by 4 board nailed (with two nails, not one) to your shoulder with the arm strapped tight to it. He knew I didn’t have insurance, so he wasn’t so quick to make the same suggestions right away as the chiropractor did. Instead he wrote me a prescription to try physical therapy. He told me he had the same thing happen to his arm. He also said that he couldn’t endure the pain that physical therapy brought, so he opted for for surgery instead. He also claimed to have seen some people suffer permanent immobility because of not seeking treatment for such severe cases of frozen shoulder as what I had. After I left his office, I went straight to the nearest physical therapy office. I knew I could at least ask what it would cost. That was enough to say, “Forget that!” again.

So, back to my computer I went; this time to see what physical therapists do in cases like this. I read about people having success with acupuncture. Fortunately my sister-in-law (a chiropractor) was coming to visit and she was into doing acupuncture. Plus, she didn’t charge anything for giving it a try! We only had a few days to see what acupuncture could do. It did manage to get my arm to move about ½ of an inch or so. At least my son learned then I wasn’t faking it to get attention. He tried to move my arm with all his strength but got nowhere. Anyone for a little arm wrestling?

My husband didn’t believe anything was going to work (other than surgery). I told him he wasn’t going to cop out that easily from helping me. I had an idea. He only had to agree to help me out for a 40-day trial period involving 10-15 minutes of his time in the morning and the evening. I rigged up a rope and pulley system where I could sit in a chair and greater force on my arm could be used by having it tied and pulled on.

For the first week, hardly any noticeable improvement could be seen. I knew I could see tiny bits of change, but hubs kept insisting it was futile. It was when we were into the second week of my do-it-yourself at home torture chamber that progress was becoming obvious. Darn, now I wish I could have made videos of this and put it on youtube.com (but I didn’t have a camera back then)! You’d have to cut the volume down though if I did that because that’s when I did some daily screaming. Even Oliver tried to console me during these moments by gently placing his paw on my leg while hubs pulled and pushed on my arm. Master mister isn’t no weakling. He’s a carpenter who is built like a rock, so if anyone could get my arm to move, it had to be him. I told him to tap into that part of his brain where the memories were that held his desire to inflict pain on me and put it to good use. It must have worked — because in 40 days time, I got back about 95% of my arm movement! The other 5% was easy for me to get back on my own even though that part took another month or so before it happened.

Now when I look back about what’s written and said about the length of time people have to endure such crap with a frozen shoulder, why can’t I go into some record book for getting rid of something like this as fast as I did? I guess I’ll just need to remain content with what I did get and not complain.

One last note about my left arm: That was the same arm I recently injured again. This time I’m not going to baby it! Maybe that’s why I felt like I had to write today about my frozen shoulder experience that happened a few years ago. I needed the reminder.

¹Some aspies, such as myself, can be both hyper and/or hypo sensitive to pain. Read about Asperger’s Syndrome and Unequal Reaction to Pain.

[Edit Added 12-13-8] Here are a couple of posts by others sharing their frozen shoulder experience:

Pain continuing — Splitpea’s Weblog.

Just What Is a Frozen Shoulder Anyway?? — It’s A Kat’s Life

I’ve had pets all throughout my life. As of 2008, I now have two cats and two dogs. In order to possibly spare others from needless suffering when dealing with urinary tract infections, please permit me to share my experiences (there are two; one in 2006 and the other in 2007):

On Saturday, July 29th 2006 in the early afternoon, my male Ragdoll cat “Oliver” began showing symptoms of a urinary illness. Naturally this had to begin as the nearby veterinary offices were closing for the weekend. Upon taking the advice of my regular vet’s answering service to call an animal emergency clinic, Oliver was promptly brought in to be checked for a possible blockage.

The vet on call could not find anything wrong with him. He did admit that Oliver’s behavior could be early signs of trouble, so he prescribed Cefa-Drops (Cefadroxil). From that Saturday to the next, the medicine was administered faithfully; using up every last drop. The Sunday after beginning his “medicine,” he continued to show the same signs of urinary tract infection up until Wednesday. From Wednesday to Saturday morning the symptoms gradually disappeared. The Saturday afternoon of August 5th however became an instant replay of last Saturday’s symptoms of suffering. I knew by close observation his urinary tract was not becoming blocked so I refrained from involuntarily donating another $130 to the emergency clinic. Sunday I prayed in earnest for God’s guidance.

I seriously reconsidered Colloidal Silver as the remedy. Sunday morning, after having tried antibiotics for one week, Oliver got his first dose of Colloidal Silver. Three per day seemed to be appropriate. Monday showed no signs of improvement, but I wouldn’t panic since he was no worse either. Tuesday seemed to be another day for testing faith. On Wednesday, he seemed to be more at ease! Also that morning I awoke with the suspicion of cat litter as being the cause of this infection. After quickly coming across this article warning on the dangers of clay based clumping cat litter, I was convinced where the source of Oliver’s trouble was coming from. I threw out every trace of that cursed litter and its box after having immediately purchased World’s Best Cat Litter (corn based) from my nearest supplier (along with a brand new litter box).

Thursday—the day after this litter change over—Oliver was feeling better than I’d ever seen him be before! Even though he seemed to be over his UTI, I still kept giving him Colloidal Silver three times a day on up until Monday, August 14th. Statistics show that Colloidal Silver carries no risk from slight overdose that a few weeks could cause.

The Cefa-Drops did begin to suppress the toxoplasmosis that is caused by the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii. However, Cefa-Drops progress to conquer the infection was ultimately defeated by this obligate intracellular protozoan. That only demonstrated to me exactly what is meant by pharmaceutical antibiotics weakening the immune system. This would result in a veterinarian being compelled to either increase the strength of the next prescription or turn to another type of anti-biotic. Either way the result decreases the long-term health of the cat at the cost of getting rid of the symptoms. In fact, I’ve even read that antibiotics do not work against toxoplasmosis. Reading Testimonial 6′s healing report on UTI and Colloidal Silver further convinces me of this.

Colloidal Silver eliminates the symptoms of UTI too, but it does not diminish the immune system. If you want to learn how it works, check out the top of the second page on The Benefits of Colloidal Silver.

It’s also obvious that the truth was said on the dangers of using clay based clumping cat litter. Corn based litter is not inexpensive, but when comparing it against the cost of ill-health that cheap litter brings, it’s worth every penny! Plus, corn litter makes a room smell sweet and clean. It also is easier to maintain since there is less mess.

Now jumping ahead to the year 2007:

This was during the time when some commercially canned cat and dog food brands were making animals sick and dying. Oliver was my only pet who unfortunately consumed some of this toxic food. I was trying to find some brand of canned cat food he would eat, but since he is so particular about his food, he ended up sampling many different brands.

I took Oliver to the vet. He was more sick this time than he was in 2006. I tried the same remedy, however on this occasion something was different. The vet insisted upon many expensive tests for Oliver, which I could not afford.

Back online I went; this time determined to dig deeper for information that would hopefully help me to understand what could be going on in his body. I remember being impressed by a herbal product called Stone Free. I set out to use this kidney and gallbladder medication immediately, along with using Colloidal Silver. I also gave him an herbal supplement that promotes bladder and urinary tract health in dogs and cats called UTI-Free. Within 24 hours, he passed a substantial amount of urine. After 48 hours, he was back to his playful self! I was so relieved and happy, but the vet wasn’t. She also wasn’t too happy over my not telling her what I gave Oliver for his recovery. Oh well, that’s life!

I’ve been able to enjoy watching my pets be healthy for about one year now. I’ve learned how important fluids and the proper pH level is for their health. My cats and dogs get feed only Felidae and Canidae foods (both dry and canned). Their products seem to be the best value, but now they’re having a tough time keeping up with the increased market demand for their brand since the pet food scare of 2007. You won’t find their foods in the grocery store. Only the feed stores sell them.

Now that I’ve said what I’ve said, human government, along with lawsuit addicts, demand I must include this statement in order to protect myself:

The material in this post is provided for educational and informational purposes only, and is not intended to be a substitute for consultation by a “legally permitted” health-care provider. Please consult your own “appropriately licensed” veterinarian about the applicability of any opinions or recommendations with respect to your own pets’ symptoms or medical conditions.