Who has a chronic illness here?

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Some days are better than others. I try to be as productive as possible on good days so I don't have a lot of guilt on bad days.

It took me years to learn to "do it now" and not procrastinate. It is a state of mind. A thought shift that I consciously have to remember.

I really am enjoying working from home. It has taken a lot of pressure off me.

I have focused on passive income and only now am moving into a more active income mode to build up a nest egg a little faster.

Charlotte, as I recall, they can now generally get RID of the disease. Hopefully they DID with you.

Tina, unfortunately, some problems cause damage that can't be fixed. I heard a story about a US senator that had to retire, because lyme disease caused irreparable damage to his heart.

With ME, I guess the worst problem I know of is osteoarthritis. Since kimw mentioned a similar thing, I have an aortic aneurysm, mechanical valve, and artificial aortic root.

Steve

I just had a triple bypass,but that isn't a chronic disease. I also am in End Stage Renal Disease,which is chronic.

Thanks for the useful tips everyone. I have been trying to focus on my good days as much as possible and my bad days, well yeah :b

My Lyme was caught early on, thank goodness. They have me on a couple of nasty medications that keep my body from going completely bonkers. Unfortunately, there is no cure so they have to treat the flares as they show up. It's a nasty bugger too, this disease, it hides from antibiotics, so you have to coerce it with one medication and go in for the kill with the other. It is classified as a spirochete and is in the same family as the syphilis spirochete. Nasty things, I hate this disease, ugh.

i'v got vertigo, sometimes i can't even stand un assisted
it's like the whole place is spinning

Charlotte,

WOW! I thought EVERYONE knew it was LEGIT now! But I still remember a story about someone talking to a relative of hers, who was a nurse in another state, and telling her the symptoms. The relative said basically "GET THE HELL OUT OF THAT STATE! THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING! I THINK IT IS LYME DISEASE!"! But yeah, it sounds BAD! I thought they had a reasonable cure, although I had heard of some that couldn't be cured.

Regardless though, catching it early is BEST! If you can't kill it, at least slow it down.

Steve

I would say seasonal allergies that do not stop would count as Chronic

I was diagnosed with Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis about a dozen years ago. I walk either with a cane or a walker. I have been on Soc Sec disability for most of that time period. I could work at a job, but only for maybe 3-4 hours a day, after which time my ability to concentrate goes.

I read in a waiting room magazine at my neurologist's office last week that here are about 30 different forms of Ms. My form PPMS accounts for about 10% of the cases. The much more prevalent form of MS is called Recurring/Remitting MS. It accounts for maybe 80% of the cases. My PPMS is not as severe as RRMS, it usually isn't life threatening and in many cases it deteriorates slowly. RRMS can deteriorate much more rapidly.

I have seen the same neurologist for about a dozen years. Last week I asked her if my condition has deteriorated faster, on schedule or slower than what she expected when she first saw me. She said I was doing better than she expected. Why?

No one can be sure. But in all likelihood it's because I'm a gym rat. I have been going to the gym 3x/week for more than half my adult life. I have never, ever in my life been a star athlete. At best I have been slightly better at sports than the average guy. I like going to the gym, I do not have a spectacular body, am not an advertisement for muscle building, and am not close to breaking any records. I just like to do gym stuff and like to push myself a teeny bit harder most of the time. I guess most of the people in the gym are shocked when I walk slowly with a cane to the elliptical, climb onto the machine, then 'run' for a half hour at normal people speed.

Oh, yes, another great thing about the gym is the clean towels for every shower. They do the laundry.

The bottom line: go to the gym or walk regularly (and climb steps instead of using the elevator). Over the last dozen years it's kept me out of a wheelchair (or worse).

Third, have your doctor give you a spirometer(sp?),
Its a device that you breathe through and actually loosens the mucus in your lungs and helps you bring it up.
While I had been given one years ago, it was during my recovery period of my recent heart surgery that they gave me another one to clear my lungs,and it worked

Terra, if I remember right,neti pots have been around the world for years,though its just the past few years thay have been finding an audience here in the states.
Of course,that being said, they don't appeal to me at all.

http://www.webmd.com/allergies/sinus...re-9/neti-pots

I feel like I am drowning with the neti pot but I swear by two OTC products:
Saline nasal sprays
Ponaris

These are my first line of defense and more often than not can nip a sinus event in the bud.

I have terrible allergies but I went to an allergist for treatment some years ago and that improved me quite a bit. I also had the double whammy of badly formed sinuses so after 4 years of being on antibiotics every other month for sinus infections, I finally found a surgeon I trusted and got those sinuses fixed.

I still have allergies but my body is better equipped now to deal with them.

I wasn't able to control my asthma and allergies until I got the heck away from western medicine and started using natural cures. I also got rid of toxic cleaners, eat mostly organic and almost no processed foods, drink only organic milk (that one is a must), etc. Our environment is loaded with toxic crap and if you have asthma and allergies you don't need it gunking up your system.

One of the things I do regularly is eat blood purifiers. If your blood has crap floating around in it you are going to be sick. If you can keep the crud out of your blood you will be generally healthier. Just think if you have a lot of toxic crap in your blood and then add one more thing - overload. But if your blood is clean and one thing gets in there, your body will get rid of it.

My best general tips:
I drink chamomile tea at night several nights a week - and take dandelion root several times a week. I prefer to get those raw, grate or chop them small then take them in a spoonful swallowing them by washing them down with water or tea. Sorry, there is no way to make them taste good. If I can't pick them I just get them from a health food shop.
Take enzymes with pancreatin and protolytes on an empty stomach several days a week. If you eat them with food they will aid in digestion - if you eat them on an empty stomach they go straight into your bloodstream where they destroy and devour foreign proteins.

Charlotte. A friend of my brother in law almost died of Lyme's. Doctors were making little progress and he was sick often. So he went to a natureopath and was completely cured. Didn't take too long, either.

How I would treat lyme if I had it?

A spoonful of sea salt 2ce daily, morning and night - for around 7 days. You can get rid of any germ, bacteria, virus by making your body deadly to that virus. Doesn't need to be a drug - anything hostile to a disease will kill it. Target the germ, not the body's reaction to it.

Vitamin D is vital - so I'd get some sun regularly. Vitamin A - lots of salads. Also licorice root (to prevent the progression of neurological symptoms) but wouldn't take it for more than four days in a row then lay off for a few days or because it makes you retain water and can raise blood pressure and I'd eat bananas or drink citrus juice while taking it to keep my postassium levels high. And I'd be eating blood purifiers, dandelion, chamomile, red clover, enzymes every day without fail - and I'd also be hitting the ACV.

Most importantly - since I've never heard of western medicine curing the disease but have seen natureopathy work just fine - I'd get my butt to the closest natureopath available.

Hey Thom? You double jointed? I'd like to suggest that you kiss your own shiny metal............

Next time - YOU do the typing.

This NeilMed Pharmaceuticals, Makers of Sinus Rinse, NasaFlo Netipot, Nasal Irrigation works the same as the neti pot.

I have deviated septum and refuse the operation as they cannot guarantee any improvement, so I suffer with chronic sinus probs.

My Dad picked me up one of these units last winter while down south. I tried it once and couldn't get past the 'drowning' sensation.

I know people who use this one or the neti pot, and they swear by it.

When I was a young kid, I had a bad dream - more like a nightmare where I was trapped under water. Funny how, at 50 years old, I can still remember that drowning sensation as clearly as if i were still in that nightmare.

I love the water lol, so I just need to get over this lil phobia I have about squirting water up my nostrils.

Thats interesting,glad you get along.

First off - I'd never use a blood pressure medication. If it took eating a whole head of celery a day, I'd rather. If the BP is because of fluid build up I'd eat things that are diuretic such as parsley and raspberry leaf which are both good for you. I'd also go see a natureopathic doctor about that one. There are a lot of natural ways to control BP and the medications are disastrous to health. If you are eating diuretics for it at all, natural or pharm, I suggest you start eating high potassium foods before they set your whole coronary system out of whack. Diuretics drain potassium and that's more than slightly counterproductive to bp control.