Status Update: Good!

Last night I picked up my son to give him a hug. He immediately poked at the diminishing zit/cyst on my chin. Actually it's one of two. Guess this means his eye sight is good. Since I began taking the Singulair again along with using a Clindamycin topical gel, my chin is looking better and better. Thank God, Yahweh, Jesus, Zeus and Oprah. Although I'm not sure what Oprah had to do with it. She probably thinks she's God.

My sinuses have really cleared up. The horrible rampant mucous is no longer a minute-by-minute occurence. Instead of nasal douching up to four times a day. I'm down to one time in the morning. I'm still experiencing some wheezing when I eat certain foods. I'm in denial that the NuGo g-free chocolate rice bars I eat may be a culprit. Although I had a banana, cherry, beet green, kale and raw cacao smoothie this morning and experienced zero wheezing. Yippee! So chocolate may be ok. Only time will tell.

Since I'm feeling better I've upped my cardio routine. I'm now running short intervals on the treadmill. Mom is gifting me a one year membership to a yoga studio. I'm excited about the combo of gym and yoga  over the next 12 months. One thing I've noticed is that extra hard cardio can leave me feeling stiff. The yoga is perfect for stretching me out plus helping me to feel limber.

Vegan cooking is coming more natural to me. I have several goto sites for recipe finding. Here's a short list of a few favs in case you're interested.

http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/
http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/
http://vegnews.com/
http://www.choosingraw.com/
http://www.findingvegan.com/

This weekend I'm attending the Veg Food Fest. Can't wait to report back. Hoping to snag some goodies.

Happy Vegday!

Sick Days

So my partner at work, even though he's sick with flu-like symptoms, came into the office. That's the wonderful thing about working in advertising, you're given so much work that sick days are never used. Instead everyone shows up to work sick, making everyone else sick. Today I'm feeling headachy, full of mucus, and with a raw, sore throat. Of course, I'm at work.

It's still hard to believe I'm sicker than I usually am. Every morning I awake and go through a wellness ritual of taking coenzyme Q10, acidophilus, antioxidants, nettles, quercetin, bromelain, ester C, grape pips, selenium, zinc, magnesium, caprylex and vitamin D. Some I take before breakfast and the rest with. I also take 3 histamine drops under my tongue each day as well as echinacea drops two or three times a day mixed with a small amount of water.

I use a Sinucleanse squeeze bottle to clean out my sinuses with saline water. I also mix the following three intra-nasal meds into the sinus wash: betamethasone, amphotericin, tobramycin. I hate that I use these drugs since one is a steroid, one an antibiotic and one an anti-fungal. I know the title of this blog is A Year Without Antibiotics. Supposedly, using these drugs topically and directly on my sinuses is not as invasive as oral meds. After I use my Sinucleanse bottle I touch my toes three times to make sure all the saline plus drugs get out of my body. Then I gargle water in my mouth a few times. Some days I have to use these drugs in the morning and night. Other days just once. I'm supposed to use them three times a day.

Some days I use Nasacort or Nasonex. Although, I haven't in a week. I try my best to avoid steroid nose sprays. I also take Claritin and Singulair almost every day. My new doctor put me on the Singulair when my body kept reacting to everything I eat, even brown rice. I've tried to skip both of these drugs, but find I start feeling incredible inflammation in my sinuses.

I don't mind taking the supplements. Just hate that I'm dependent on the intra-nasal meds and Singulair. Hopefully one day soon, I'll be able to get off these.

Happy sick day at work!