Category Archives: EDS & Hypermobility Spectrum

EDS & Hypermobility Spectrum

Oh them Glorious Misdemeanors!

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They say time flies when you’re having fun, and I truly have to agree with that and I am still hunting down that fun.  Pain seems to be an issue as well as coordination, thoughts, and working. This year there were also several changes I made in my life.  I have decided to use more natural and alternative means in helping deal with the pain that MS, Arnold Chiari Malformation and Fibromyalgia bring into my daily life.

It was a hard decision to make, but I spoke with my family about it, well at least those whose non judgmental opinions matter.  I have decided to be a criminal and partake of herbal substance the state of Missouri now considers illegal.  See I knew marijuana, although banned, does alleviate many of the complications and pain related to MS, and other muscle and pain disorders, so I partake and just hope not to wind up in jail should I get busted purchasing it. Missouri is not like Michigan or California, which allows it.

Were too full of over judgmental Vicodin® popping bureaucrats who think it is a gateway drug to heroin and methamphetamines.  I sure know several Vicodin addicts who have moved on to Crystal meth or heroin, and almost ten times as many medicinal marijuana users who would not dare to touch other drugs.

I was tired of repeatedly taking Ibuprophen® for pain, and did not alleviate it.  Instead it landed me at the gastroenterologist for treatment of permanent stomach and gastric damages to the lining of my stomach.  These damages required 2 medications all the time to alleviate, and another medication to counter their side effects.  Eventually I quit the  stomach medication and switched to Apple Cider Vinegar as alternative, and the side effects of the Nexium® are gone I eliminated becoming victim of the pill cycle again.  Now instead of taking pain relievers causing damages, I partook of the “herbs”.   I refer to this as my daily salad… a bit of green and vinegar!

Just when I thought there was hope and saw that the state was considering Medicinal Marijuana on the ballot, it was once again voted down by people who are so blinded by the profits and campaign donations they get from pharmaceutical companies, they didn’t want to listen to the cold hard facts of scientific research and how it has improved the lives of many people in other states. Once again they were fearful it would be a drug leading to other addictions.  HMM, I thought that’s what Percocet, Vicodin, and Alcohol did?

I was now left with the decision to either break the law or spiral downhill once again.  Why I could take other pain killers, and then medications to counter them as I did several years back, and have no pain, but no life, or I could become a criminal and go across a few state lines to Colorado and purchase what remedy would work, and sneak back home to Missouri.  In the meantime,  I fight for legislation to regain my life, and when I feel I cannot handle the pain and side effects MS brings, I become a criminal until I find relief I need.  I still cannot understand why Narcotics which cause more harm are legally and readily available, and something so natural is a crime.  Why we don’t hear of all the deaths so often caused by legal prescriptions?

So now, I as many others living in pain, fight legislation for relief, from behind our computers, and with help from friends, because thanks to the government forcing unjust regulations, we cannot do as much as we like, because we cannot partake of what alleviates our misery as often as we like.

I spend my days reaching out to others that have medical conditions preventing them from living their lives to the fullest, and when life gets to tough, I commit a misdemeanor or two in the name of liberty and freedom, because I do believe the Constitution allows me to do to my body as I so choose and I acknowledge no other authority that does not adhere to the Constitution.  I have found journalism to be my source of venting and relaxation, as some days it is about all I can do, without discomfort.

Just as our lives belong to us and how we live determines the outcome, so is our health.  How we choose to fight our health battles determines the outcome.  I shall fight for the best alternative care that works for me, and hope that one day, my voice will be heard.

The hardest part is staying silent. It works well for me and I want to share its results with my fellow sufferers.  I suppose if half of my family read my book, or stayed at my house long enough to notice my routine, they may find they’re in the presence of a criminal and report me themselves.  Should we not have a choice?

How many of us know people we are close to, that get behind the wheel of a car after consuming a drink or two?  They may not be over what the state law constitutes as legally intoxicated, but we know they are impaired enough to act quite idiotic and not rational?  So I will take my retribution, live with my conscience, and continue what works for me.

There is a journey we all take in life, this is mine.  Let me take it my way and be happy that I am alive to continue it. Also taking donations for bail money 🙂 should I need it.

 

©Copyright protected 2015: NWU Local 1981

©IAPP Author/Journalist   Press ID # 1007490467

EDS & Hypermobility Spectrum

Give me Drugs.. Sweet Little Drugs… NOT!

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Give me Drugs.. Sweet Little Drugs… NOT!

Exert from my Book,

“Walk With Me My MS Journey” © 2010

By JD

Author, Reporter-Journalist

Speaking of drugs…. I do get humored at drug company promotional commercials.  They spend so much money to glamorize the benefits, and show how it changes people’s lives through dramatizations and the use of paid celebrities, to only at the ending and in all of about 10 seconds, spit out at a rate you can barely keep up with, the 100 side effects that may paralyze, blind, or even kill you.

 Imagine if they switched the commercial around and showed the promotional aspect in 10 seconds and the side effects in the other 2 minutes, how many of us would rather live with what we have and seek natural alternatives instead of padding Chemical companies pockets?  Despite having to list even the slightest reactions, it can be a scary lesson to learn the hard way, when chemical compounds, sanctioned by politics, play God with your life, in the name of beneficial statistics.

     I do recall one time a wonderful neurologist and I had a conflict of interest over what medication I should take for treating, or slowing the progression of MS.  It was presented as a “great way to alleviate some symptoms, and possibly prevent recurrences as often.  After a little coaxing I did succumb to the enticing lectures of benefits and decided what was there to lose?  Well I could write a whole book on what I discovered later I was losing.  The drawback was injections.

     We first started out on the once a week shot, and oh gee not only was I one for not liking needles, but for the sake of science, and a desire to find a temporary resolution, I was forced to inflict punishment on myself with a needle about 2 inches long into a muscle once a week and experience about 2 days of a flu-like hell.

     Screw that.  Of course that phrase, “the symptoms will subside within a month” was crap.  So we would once again decide to change to a different one, this injection was to be every other day, but a short needle and not much different that an injection a diabetic would give themselves for insulin.  OK I can handle that, or so I thought.  Some days I wonder to myself if my “thinker” had a manufacturer defect back then!

     As soon as the new injections started, so did the side effects.  But this time I was actually determined to listen to the neurologist and follow through with giving the medication time to work and side effects to subside a bit.  There we go with that broken thinking mechanism again!  I found that the longer I was on the medication the more miserable I felt and the faster I was spiraling downward.  First there was the stomach ache, depression, dizziness and joint pain, then the medications to counter those side effects, then more pills to counter the side effects of those effects.  Before I came to my senses I was now on a shot every other day and 11 more medications to counter all the hell that one shot caused.

     I needed pills to wake up, pills to sleep, pills to keep me from killing myself, and pills to keep me from killing other people.  Followed by a pill so I could have a desire to eat and then another to keep the food down once it passed my lips.  The side effects of those caused me to need more pills to alleviate their nasty effects.

     Then one day I got plum fed up with it all.  I was taking meds to alleviate what?  Before the shots I had an occasion bout of a few of the MS symptoms that came during random times that a little bed rest could alleviate within a few days, to a life of barely getting out of bed, unable to balance enough to walk, migraines weekly, throwing up almost 5 meals a week, and so cranky I wanted to choke the life out of almost everyone that crossed my path.  I was done!  I decided no more meds like that!

     I immediately got on the phone and made an appointment with my personal physician.  I expressed my misery and told him I had stopped the shots and was not going to ever do them again, and hoped he would support me.  He said it was my choice and I had to do what worked for me.  Ahhh someone that actually listened and gave a crap, amazing!  Because the neurologist sure didn’t seem to give a crap about anything more than the statistic they were turning me into.

       It took nearly 8 months for all the medications to clear my system, and I had stopped all but the basics I knew were helpful and made it a goal to change my theory on treatment and seek out natural alternatives and fight back that way.   It is still a daily struggle sometimes.  To go to bed at night knowing that when I wake up it will be a miracle if something is not hurting or that the MS may relapse and I may not get out of bed was a blessing verses waking up and feeling like I am no longer living just existing, wishing I were dead.

     I made it a goal to eat healthier, exercise more within reason, be positive and start telling myself daily that I am lucky to be alive and what doesn’t kill me will only make me stronger and fight for life because without living and doing what I want, quantity of life on earth means nothing if there is no quality and enjoyment in it.  I just hope one day that theory does not come back to bite me in the ass, and if it does I will gladly drop my drawers because until that day happens I will take whatever life has to throw at me and just adapt and take it as it is.  So far I have found my health although having its milestones, has improved.

      I now rely on a great herbalist and many Native American remedies for life’s discomforts and that has changed my life tremendously for the positive.  It is amazing how so many old fashioned and natural aids there are that grow around us and can be made into teas or supplements, yet get overlooked or scrutinized because bureaucrats cannot pad their grubby little pockets by taxing and regulating nature and what it offers as a measure of healing.  I am also very blessed to have a medical team that supports my choices, because that’s what it is, a choice, and no one can force me into conforming and being a guinea pig unless I allow them to.

 

©Copyright protected 2015: NWU Local 1981

©IAPP Author/Journalist   Press ID # 1007490467