Natural Health Worldwide: an innovative patient-centred portal

Natural Health Worldwide (NHW) is a new website that launched on 1 June, this year. It is a portal which connects patients from all round the World with NHW health practitioners. These practitioners, also from all round the World, can be Medical Doctors, other qualified Health Professionals or Experienced Patients.

Each practitioner has an individual webpage where they can describe their qualifications, their experience and what they specialise in. Patients can search the site by type of practitioner and or illness/problem.

Appointments are booked through the website and can be conducted by Skype, Facetime, ‘phone or email. This makes the process very convenient and also caters to a forgotten patient population – the housebound and bedridden.

MSM for Chronic Pain Relief

I’ve had quite a few people ask what I’m using for pain management. One of my favourite things since falling ill is MSM. It is my one staple since I first heard about it and it’s potential to help the body heal from all sorts of things.

It is sometimes referred to as the “miracle supplement” and also the “beauty mineral” because it is so beneficial in so many areas. One of the reasons for this is that MSM makes our cell walls more permeable, meaning that toxins can be more easily removed and nutrients can more easily be absorbed.

How I’m tackling this ME/CFS flare

It’s almost noon and I’m still in bed. I just Sat up actually when my sis brought me a nice big mug of decaf with coconut oil and quercetin in. Part of my morning routine now, though I’m starting to wonder whether coffee is one of my histamine triggers, despite being decaf. I might stick to golden tumeric milk instead.

The heavy ME/CFS passenger

I had been doing so well for so long that I had almost forgotten how bad these flares can get. It can be discouraging when you are reminded so unexpectedly of the horrible passenger you carry with you always.

This ME/CFS might be managed or worked around for a time, but it does come back to show itself from time to time, makes sure you remember it’s still there and just how strong it is.

How carbs make my ME/CFS worse

I have spent so much time on the sofa and in my bed again this week. One would think I’d no longer be surprised by this, but I continue to shake my head every time it happens.

It’s the carbohydrate effect.

This current flare is most likely due to the fact that I’m out of ketosis again since trying to deal with my allergies/histamine disorder. I assume I’m no longer fat adapted because, amongst other things, my munchies have returned with a vengeance!

You see, I’ve increased certain carbs (mainly apples and sweet potatoes) which help reduce histamine building up in the body, but by trying to solve one problem (itching, hives) I’m causing another (ME/CFS flare).

It’s a vicious circle, but one has to decide what the priority is and work with that. For me it was the itching. I just couldn’t take it anymore!

The freedom of Letting go

Sometimes you don’t notice the weight you’re carrying until you let it go.

This is often such a hard truth to accept, but letting go of that control we try so hard to hold onto can actually be very liberating!

There are many areas in our lives where we crave order and control, but in reality it isn’t up to us and we can save ourselves a lot of pain and suffering if we can learn to let go of our need to control things or have things go the way we had planned.

This is true in our relationships, with our health, our finances and our jobs. We don’t have control over any of it and things will go wrong sometimes, no matter how much you prepare or plan ahead. That is just a fact – life happens. But God is always with us and He makes a way when there seems to be no way. I trust that promise completely.

Ten Commandments for Reducing Stress

When living with a chronic illness it is easy to let all sorts of negative feelings creep in. Guilt, loneliness, fear, frustration, these are all common emotions among spoonies, and they’re not the only ones or the worst.

The problem with letting such emotions linger is that they tend to cause havoc in our bodies, often making us more ill. It is important for people with any sort of chronic illness to find ways to reduce stress and negativity if they wish to feel any sort of improvement. 

My wheelchair and I: shopping with the family

I actually left the house this week! Leaving the house is not something that happens very often when you have a chronic illness as debilitating as ME/CFS. Months can go by without seeing the other side of my front door. I have reached a point where I’m able to walk around the house daily without causing too much payback, but going out is still so utterly draining that it usually takes me days to recover.

This week I was able to leave the house for the first time in months. It’s my mum’s birthday today, but we celebrated a little early as our parents were here for their weekend. We went shopping together for the first time in ages!

It was a gorgeously sunny day, so I got dressed in a pretty floral dress and hopped on my wheelchair where I stayed all day. Knowing how taxing an outing is and how much sensory stimulation affects me, I tried to prepare as best I could:

Still itching: time to find the unknown allergen

I’m still struggling with this allergic reaction that started in February. I initially thought it was the Keto rash and tried coming off the ketogenic diet to get rid of it, without success.

I then thought histamine intolerance, so I went low histamine, which cut out a huge amount of staples for me, including my main fat sources. So I added dairy back in.

This full body itch persists, I’m not sure what it is and it just won’t go away!

So I’m redoing my food list. I’m going dairy free again, nut free, caffeine free, as well as low histamine and Keto! It’s going to be tough.

I’m going to see if I can eliminate the itch by identifying the allergen. The doctors just prescribe antihistamines and I was told not to change my diet, but frankly I’m sick of them prescribing bandaid solutions rather than figuring out what the cause is. 

Too much of a good thing

If you’ve been following my journey, you will know that I’m currently experiencing an improvement in my condition thanks to the ketogenic diet I started earlier this year.

I thought it would be a great opportunity, having just passed international ME Awareness Month, to continue raising awareness and funds for ME research by setting myself a challenge.

Considering that I was almost completely bedridden for quite some time until last month, this is quite a huge deal.

I decided 1000 steps was a good place to start as that was what my fitbit was indicating. I have recently moved to a new home and through the packing and unpacking, I was reunited with my fitbit.

I wore it for a few days and noticed I was nearing 1000 steps a day, somewhere between 700 and 1000. I was so surprised and super pleased with the progress I was clearly making.

I started my challenge on 1 June 2017 and have managed to hit my target almost every day!

The idea is to aim for 1000 steps a day to raise £1000 for ME Research.

By keeping track of my progress with the fitbit and its app on my phone, I have noticed some behaviour patterns are emerging.

This past week I have managed to stay above 1000 steps daily, until yesterday. The problem was, as you can see from the image above, I overdid it on a few occasions and the flare day, yesterday, was inevitable. 

One of those days, again

Today is one of those days… 
I’ve overdone things this week. Went out to GP on Monday and although I was in wheelchair, it knocked me hard and I then also went into Sainsbury’s afterwards to get my meds, should have stayed in the hot car rather than going with into the busy supermarket, but the pharmacy had a delay in preparing my medication, so we thought the cooler shop would be better. 

Then the next day I somehow almost doubled my step count! Not sure how that happened, I was in the house all day. I really felt it in the evening though, so much pain… Not good. 

Last night my knees were on fire again and today I’m just drained. I didn’t even wake up until 10am! That is unusual. Silly me! I’m always too enthusiastic when I’m feeling good and then I overdo it. I’m sure a full day of complete rest will be good for my body though.

Be kind to yourself, your body works hard, listen to it, nurture and nourish it and don’t forget that rest is a vital part of life! 

No step goals today, just rest goals! 

Regardless of how weak I’m feeling, it’s a gorgeous day again, one can’t be anything but happy on a day like today! 

Hugs, Char