I Fail at Blogging!

Still alive.  Totally forgotten to post.  Probably just as well as I haven't been up to terribly much.  Well, I have, but it's gifts for people who might read this so I can't exactly go on at length.   Health has been being varying between okay and stupid and annoying lately.  This is to be expected with both Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Functional Movement Disorder, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating at times.  While there may be noticeable waves and troughs over time, the general trend should be toward improvement.

The Wii Fit Plus is still a huge success as far as I'm concerned.  I use it nearly every day (I usually take one day off a week).  I started out at about 5 minutes, moved up to around 7, then up to 10, and last week up to 15.  I have seen some improvement in my stability and balance and coordination.  My neurologist was impressed.  Unfortunately, it seems 15 minutes was too much, so I've dropped back down to 10 for another week and will try ramping up again, maybe in 2-3 minute increments. 
I've been trying to get in a daily walk of at least 10 minutes but have slacked off on that lately - it's been insanely hot.

I've been experimenting with taking butterbur root extract supplements to help prevent migraines (it works as a calcium channel blocker, which may help).  I'm not sure that it's doing much, as I'm still having at least one migraine every 10 days.  The weather has been dreadful, with lots of thunderstorms recently, so that may also be contributing in a big way.  I'll keep up with the butterbur as it doesn't seem to have any ill effects to see how I do long-term.

My sleep schedule, which was doing so well for a few months there, is now royally screwed again.  I stopped using my SAD-lamp thing once spring/summer was well underway, but I am beginning to suspect that I should go ahead and keep turning it on when I first get up anyway, even if it seems fairly bright in the living room to help reinforce the message to my brain about when morning and night actually are.  Being overtired and in pain also contributes to insomnia, so all that together probably explains the suck.  Still annoying as hell.  It saps a great deal out of my already tiny amount of productivity to be awake(ish) at night and sleep all day. 

The latest crap is that my acne has gone nuts and the occasional weird insanely itchy rashes I get on my ankles have gone full on wacked.  I have a dermatologist appointment this week.  I wouldn't care so much about the acne, but it hurts like hell and is spreading down my back and chest.  There's another annoyances too that I can no longer handle with OTC stuff, so off to the doctor.  Possibly related to the Plaquenil I've been taking (which was supposed to *help* with some of the rashes).

Plaquenil is driving me nuts in other ways too - my GI tract is not a fan.  Still planning to stick it out the full 6 month trial (that will end in September), but I'm not seeing a huge improvement.  I think I might be better off with a daily OTC anti-inflammatory and treating the arthritis and rashes on their own as needed.  It certainly doesn't seem to have helped with fatigue.


I am planning on meditating daily now to put my zafu to good use.  I've found a ton of guided meditation podcasts through iTunes to work with, so that should be fun.  Oreo likes to come be near me, but not bothersome, when I meditate, which I think is adorable. 
I've also found sitting on the zafu to knit or crochet for brief periods is surprisingly comfortable. 

In other news, I love PaperBackSwap.com.  I now have a huge pile of to-be-read books and have sent many of my own no-longer-wanted books off to happy new homes.  Awesomesauce.