Blurgh and some crocheting

As I said last time, the past few weeks have been rough. I'm not sure if I've been in a CFS flare, if my thyroid meds need to be adjusted, or what, but most the past month I've been dizzy to the point of greying out for no apparent reason, almost throwing up if I bent over, and exhausted - if I read a book as opposed to a bright, active computer screen I start to doze off, no matter how much sleep I've had or how recently I had been asleep.

Not as much has gotten done around the apartment as some might expect. I've done the best I can while not making myself feel intensely worse, pass out, or throw up. It's made me feel horrible and guilty and useless to not be able to do as much as I'd like, but I've tried to do a little every day, even if it isn't all that noticeable and to be gentle and kind to myself, using some of the skills mindfulness has been teaching me.

We have finally gotten our insurance cards, so I can start seeing doctors again.

This past week has been devoted to coping with and recovering from a bladder/kidney infection. I wound up going to the ER Sunday night after attempts to tough it out from Friday onward failed. I think the last time I was in that much lasting pain was when I had my spinal tap. I was going to wait until Monday and find a clinic or something, but realized I simply couldn't make it through the night with the kind of flank pain I had.

Fortunately the ER staff were nice and I've had a week of Cipro and some pain meds that I've used sparingly. While I'm grateful for the Cipro, the side-effects blow goats. It seems to cause severe headaches (though that might have been the infection) that throb with the slightest movement. Far worse than the migraines I usually have. And no response to meds.
Gut pain from the infection was a problem to the point I had trouble sleeping until recently and I get a little flare of pain again now and again that could be my kidney or could just be a grumpy ovary or a weird back spasm.
Up until today I've had major problems brain wise - lots of forgetfulness, typos, silly errors, forgotten words, dropping things, running into things.

And I've started having major pain and stiffness when I get out of bed. In the arches of my feet and the sides of my hips. What the hell? Why those specific areas? I have no idea. Cipro can do weird things to tendons and muscles, so I'm hoping this will go away when I finish taking it and isn't some new, weird permutation of some part of my sickliness. I've had more generalized weakness/pain. I don't really know how else to describe it - usually in my shoulders and hips. Holding anything up above my head, even very light things is exhausting with the edge of hurt that usually means muscle failure is imminent. Really hoping that's a Cipro thing too, but I suspect it's more a thyroid thing.

Anyway, that's the health report. I've been working through a mindfulness workbook and working on acknowledging my feelings and states of being, including pain and sickness and discomfort and anger along with happiness and joy and anticipation and letting them be. That's part of the reason for the detail here. I also hope that others reading this and going through similar things won't feel quite so alone in it.

I have finally started crafting again. I've been doing some spinning, though I've been limited by that weird shoulder pain/weakness thing.

I ordered a bunch of soap samples from Chagrin Valley Soaps. I tried them in the past and couldn't quite get the hang of the shampoo bars and had trouble keeping the soap intact. I have shorter hair now and very different water, so I'm hoping for a better result. Also hoping the soaps might help with some of my random eczema and cystic acne and seborrheic dermatitis crap. My complexion is an absolute mess at the moment and it makes me sad in addition to being uncomfortable.

To help solve the problem of keeping the soap intact, I decided to crochet some soap sacks. Pop the bar in there, use it as a combo scrubby/soap, and then hang it to dry when finished. Sweet! Just finished the first one in about 45 minutes, using Cassiemarie's Soap Saver

In other news, Google + and Google Reader are pissing me off big time. I cannot find a way to share web pages directly to Google + via a share button browser plug-in the way Facebook, Twitter, and Delicious (and many others) can.
And the new Google Reader has apparently stopped working with the "note this in Reader" bookmarklet, which would also allow you to share webpages directly without having to open a new tab and cut and paste crap.
I am unamused.