Netti Pot – Back on Board!

Posted on 10th April 2011 in Health Related

Yup, we are back to snot and sinus talk! I took a hiatus from Netti potting a while back. Life was full and maintaining the Netti pot habit wasn’t high on my list, though it should have been of course.

However, as I’m starting my third quarter back to school – probably my last until 2012 or so – I’m determined to maintain myself while in school. After finishing two quarters I know what is a good idea and what is a guaranteed stress inducer. Luckily, the Netti pot has been moved to the first category.

Why did I decide to go back to flushing salt water through my sinuses? My sinuses have been a little stuffy for several months now and I’m not entirely sure why. I think it correlates to when we adopted Isis, but it’s been so long I’m not sure. (I’m crossing my fingers that I just need to dust or need extra house plants. No cat allergies!) Obviously, being stuffed up that long is a problem that should move higher in my “to do” list.

In recent weeks I was actually having some sinus pain which I recognized as the possibility of a sinus infection. That dry swollen feeling, the strange pain behind my eyes. Not a good feeling. So out came my Netti pot.

While I certainly herald it’s benefits, more often than not it’s been uncomfortable for me to some degree. A couple of weeks ago it felt burny. My sinuses also felt clogged. The salt water solution wasn’t getting through. One thing I know that helps to open up my sinuses is burning essential oils. So I burned a bunch of essential oils over a couple of days and what must have been swelling went down and when I used the netti pot again it was less uncomfortable and actually drained a little easier.

For about a week I forgot to do it until yesterday when I got the idea to Netti pot in the shower. I figured it would save time and mess – I always spill at the sink. It did, it was also more comfortable for whatever reason. It’s possible that the steam from the shower helped to further open my sinuses or perhaps it was because I was more comfortable and toasty warm – I have no idea. My sinuses felt immediate relief afterward and I could breathe and smell stuff again!

Today, I got a whole Netti pot full through each nostril. Oh yeah, I know that’s just what you wanted to visualize. You are welcome. Today is the best day in a long time – for my sinuses at least. I’ve been able to smell things and breathe without feeling like I’m breathing through straws. Fantastic!

The moral of this post – because I’ve decided there should be one – is that if you have tried the netti pot before and it was less than comfortable try again. Try the shower, try it naked, try it with the heater on, play with the temperature and salt level. It’s worth it to finally clear out your sniffers! Few things feel better than a pair of sinuses that feel cool, refreshed and not snotty!

And with that image I’ll leave you for the night. No thanks needed.

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
comments: 0 » tags:

Monthly Goal #1 – Rehabilitating the Compost Bin

Posted on 3rd April 2011 in Monthly Goals

I have been inspired by another blogger, over at Bonzai Aphrodite to start a tradition, a goal set, a meme of sorts… Sayward at Bonazai calls her blog tradition Monday Monthly Missions. I certainly can’t commit to a set day of the week, or to anything too often.
Many bloggers have weekly memes, even daily ones.That’s a bit much for me. So, I’m going to have mine a little less often and not tied to a specific day. With my student and work schedule that would probably be overwhelming. So once a month, around the first of the month, I’ll set myself a Monthly Goal – something on my “to do list” that is important but I keep putting off – or something I was inspired to do.

For my very first Monthly Goal I’ve chosen to revisit something I started last year – my compost bin. It’s out there, hiding behind a tarp – probably with dead worms. Unfortunately I didn’t take precautions to keep it safe from deep freezes – we had several weeks throughout the winter than dropped below freezing. For the last few weeks I’ve been taking my food waste to a friend of mine – she has a yard and food waste bin that the city empties once a week or so.

For most of the winter though, I had gone back to tossing food waste in the garbage which totally left me guilt ridden, but I was too busy and couldn’t wrap my head around compiling it and delivering it in snow or freezing rain to my friends house. Not anymore. I’m tired of having food waste make the garbage smell like hell. Since my compost was still mostly frozen I saved my food waste in the fridge, in bags or bowls and emptied them once every week or so in my friends bin.

At the moment I’m still saving my waste for her bin, however, it’s much warmer now and there have ‘t been any insane freezes recently. Perhaps it’s safe to rehabilitate my compost bin!

For this there are a few things I’ll need to do:

  • Stir the compost
  • Grab some more worms from my parents home
  • Remember to walk my food waste to that hidden corner on the porch
  • Tidy the porch a bit so I don’t have to stumble over that tarp or anything the wind was blown around.

At the beginning of next month I’ll check in and share how everything went!

Yours Truly,
B’ham Hippie

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
comments: 0 » tags: ,

Travel – Molly the Face in the Window

Posted on 2nd March 2011 in Photography, Travel
Molly - Face in the Window

Molly - Face in the Window

Ah, vacations. I love them – they are just tops – the bees knees. Last year, as with each year, we try to have some get aways. Last year we had a weekend camping trip, road trip to Montana and through Yellow Stone, and a trip to Long Beach – from which this face in the window hails. This year, I’m hoping for more but we’ll see what happens.

As is fairly usual, I was feeling rebellious, didn’t feel like doing another hour of homework or going to bed, so the next best thing would be to dig up old photos and spruce them up a bit. Still working on my photo blog, one day I’ll share it with you guys, but for now it’s my private project.

This picture, far from brilliant photography, was taken on a night out watching the sun go down on Long Beach – WA not CA. We were driving along and it jumped right out at me. I just had to take a picture. Thank goodness Rick’s dad and step-mom are more than happy to indulge my wishes.

She is just wonderful – the face that is. Needs a name. Molly. Everyone, meet Molly the face in the window.

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
comments: 0 » tags: , ,

Managing Your Health – Your Health Care Team

Posted on 2nd March 2011 in Managing Health

In my last post I introduced some important first steps toward improving your health (especially if you have a health concern). One of the most important things is to educate yourself about food, what’s in food, what’s in the stuff that’s in the food, what it means and where it comes from.

This post I want to focus your energy back on your health care providers. Often when you have a health problem doctors can seem like the last people you want to talk to. Do they really listen? Do they care? I’m not getting better, are they taking me serious? Or worse, I’m getting worse and they tell me, “It’s a progressive disease” and tilt their head in just that way. You don’t have to just deal with it and them.

Of course there are people whom actually do get worse and nothing seems to work. However, that is no excuse to give up! Sometimes what is making you sick is the simplest thing that you didn’t really investigate enough – like gluten, or just wheat, or dairy. Or your body is so run down that simply cutting something out won’t result in a noticeable change. Keep dragging your ass off the floor when you fall. Perhaps this sounds crazy or like someone whom hasn’t had to deal with anything difficult ever. That’s simply not true. I refuse to give up, I pull myself off my ass after a good cry and a few days or weeks wallowing and get going again.

Anyway, back to your health care team. That’s what it needs to be – a team that works together.
Depending on what your health issue is you might already have health care providers to turn into a team. What you need are people whom want to see you get better, or at least providers that want to help you reach some goals you set.
Usually, you’ll have a general practitioner. They are the center of the wheel. You see them first when symptoms start disrupting your life. They then do what they can within their scope of practice, then they will refer you out. In Washington state a primary health care provider could be a medical doctor, a nurse practitioner, a naturopathic physician, even a chiropractor. They all do different things and can’t do everything. He or she is your base. When Rick was really sick two years ago (I can’t believe it’s been so long!) he saw a nurse practitioner as his primary. We are both very fond of nurse practitioners, they are nurses first, which means for the most part they are great listeners and most likely love their jobs. That is exactly what you need!

From there you often have a specialist. Rick had two, a dermatologist and a gastroenterologist. Your primary should communicate with them so that they all have a clear picture as to your health care. Of course you need to make sure that these other specialists will listen to you and not just try to rush through your appointments. Make sure that they know about each other and about the medications that you are taking for any and all conditions that you have.

It can take some time to build a good health care team, but it’s worth it. With a cooperative team you are more likely to make some sort of progression instead of getting stuck in a sort of miserable stagnation. Put in the effort to create your team, bring in others outside the “norm” as you need to for a different point of view, such as nutritionists/nutritional counselors, acupuncturists, or perhaps massage therapists. We all know something different and love to share our ideas!

Stay tuned for the second part of this post – Your health care team 2!

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
comments: 0 » tags: ,

Jars!

Posted on 27th February 2011 in Frugal, Green/eco-friendly, Recycled

Confession – I possibly… might actually, have a problem, a love or obsession with… jars. Yeah, they are the best. You can drink out of them, store soup in them, smoothies, coffee or tea. You can sprout or soak things in them, use them as mixing containers. In fact, the little ones I have picture below work wonderfully for mixing up small batches of fresh salad dressing.
Oh yes, they are awesome!


Little jars

Little jars

You should try it. The next time you bring home a jam jar, or someone gifts an edible to you, keep the jar and the lid and give it a go when you need a certain sized container. If you have herb drying from your garden and need a place to put them that is air tight… use a jar!


Jar of Curry

Jar of Curry

Like I said, I might need help. Jar Lovers Anonymous? Rick might come, he loves them too. He’s great.


Mason Jar

Mason Jar

Mason jars are the ones that are often used for canning. Though I’ve still yet to can anything, I have acquired many mason jars, some accidentally from my mom (I should probably return them), and some from step-mother-in-law whom was getting rid of a bunch. That was an exciting day!

So a great idea to be more “green”, to reuse and recycle, is to make good use of the jars in your life!

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
comments: 3 » tags: , ,

Chuckanut Drive

Posted on 16th February 2011 in Bellingham, Bow
The Islands from Chuckanut Drive

The Islands from Chuckanut Drive

While doing home work I was feeling nostalgic. I miss spring, ambling down Chuckanut drive, and much more. This is the longest part of the year, just before the world comes back to life. So! To make myself feel better and to share something pretty, I found a picture to share.

missy

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
comments: 1 » tags: , ,

Managing Your Health – Introduction – Part 1

Posted on 14th February 2011 in Managing Health

Let’s take a step outside my current life and the set of acupuncture stories I’ve been telling.

Per a recent request I’ve decided to put together some “directions” for how to take control of your health, specifically if you have a health issue. Rick and I have been doing this for so long it’s all instinct now. I forget that we started somewhere and that it can be very overwhelming to figure out where to start.

Also, because this can be so overwhelming I’m breaking it into parts. Read one at a time. Let yourself learn how to do them. Pat yourself on the back and then move onto the next one. While I recommend you start here in Part 1, you don’t necessarily have to follow this series consecutively, though depending on when you join this series you might not have a ton to choose from, especially since this is the first one. Anywhooo…

One last thing, a disclaimer: I am not a doctor, but an educated regular person whom loves to experiment. Consult your doctor over changes. Do research and above all, question everything. Take joy in the process!

So here it goes.

You have a health problem, say a digestive issue. You take meds or perhaps not. Either way you aren’t feeling well, perhaps it’s affected your personal or professional life. It’s horrible and frustrating. It seems like there should be something that you can do to help yourself. As lots of people know, pills aren’t the only answer and in many cases they can’t do everything. Often your doctor will tell you that everyone is different and that some things will bother you and not another person. They will hopefully tell you to experiment to see what makes you feel worse. And hopefully they will support you in your decision to stop eating certain things if they seem to hurt you.

What’s next? What in the world do you do? Where do you start? It’s overwhelming considering all the different things you can do or not do at home. It’s okay. Just understand and accept that often it’s a long process and that as you go along you’ll learn new things and sometimes you have to reformulate your “safe” list, or your “allowed” list.

1. Learn what’s in your food! – Bread isn’t just flour and yeast. Lunch meat isn’t just salt and turkey or chicken. Yogurt isn’t just cultured milk and fruit.

2. Start reading labels and googling things you don’t recognize or have a good understanding of – Google or another search engine should become your friend. If you don’t know what xanthan gum is look it up! If you have no idea what “natural flavors” could be look it up! Of course, check here for anything as well, though I might not have an answer or description for it yet.

3. Cut out preservatives, artificial things and over processed sugars! – Your body doesn’t know what to do with lots of things so give it a break and take out the stuff that isn’t obviously “food” like veggies, fruit, and proteins. Getting rid of high-fructose corn syrup is a good place to start. Cutting that one out will actually cut a bunch of other questionable or confusing things out as well.

That’s it for part 1! I think three new things is enough for now. There is so much to them that you shouldn’t feel like you’ve reach the end of the information superhighway for sometime (if ever, I’m always learning new things and I’ve been doing this for close to three years!).

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
comments: 0 » tags:

Acupuncture – Treating nightmares – The Background Part 2

Posted on 1st February 2011 in Acupuncture

Update from Part 1.

An entire life of nightmares and poor sleep quality left me feeling 90 years old in my early 20′s. If you think that perhaps I don’t know what it feels like to be 90, I’d argue that I used to work in a nursing home with people as old as 103. 90 looks how I felt.

I fell asleep driving when I didn’t even feel tired. I could fall asleep with my head on my desk and *gasp* even started to nod off during a massage. As a teenager I fell asleep in the middle of a chiropractic adjustment. My chiropractor wasn’t a serious bone cruncher but falling asleep during the pops and manipulations isn’t something that is expected.

At about 24 years old I set up a trade with a lovely acupuncturist whom I absolutely adore and miss horribly. She, and our trades, are two of the wonderful things I left behind in Snohomish County.

Anyway, during our first appointment, she said that it is a reasonable goal to get me to the point where I might not have nightmares every night, where it might possible for me to sleep peacefully and wake up rested. Perhaps it might even be possible to limit the amount of nightmares to one or two monthly!

I nearly cried, I couldn’t imagine such a life. It wasn’t even entirely believable. However, I was willing to try just about anything. Having nothing to lose helps.
So I went into my first appointment with that goal in mind, lessening the occurrence of nightmares each night and each week.
As a side note, this wasn’t my first experience with acupuncture. I had traded with another acupuncturist for a month or two to help with some lower back problems, namely my sacrum was being “slippery”, meaning not staying where I wanted it to and causing considerable pain. Between the acupuncture and craniosacral (and chiropractic and massage outside of her office) that I received during that trade my lower back healed fairly quickly and I stayed fairly stable. So basically I wasn’t an acupuncture newbie.

Anyway, back to my sleep story.

The first couple of weeks for the most part I just left her house very relaxed and often took a fab nap at home after treatment. Then after about a month I noticed a change. I had fewer than say 3 nightmares a night. Often I didn’t have nightmares every night. I was sleeping well and felt less like death when my alarm went off in the morning.
Honestly, that first month if I had stopped progressing I would have been happy. But I did progress, a lot!

Two months into trading I felt like a completely different person. Three months in and I was going strong. I even had thoughts about being able to have kids some day, if we wanted to of course. When I was so tired that summer of 2008, it was a worry I had, not having enough energy to deal with a crying baby, waking every few hours and never sleeping completely soundly again. It didn’t seem possible.

Unfortunately, my progression slowed a little in one part. I learned that stress severely affects my sleeping habits. When Rick was laid off a day before Thanksgiving in 2008 I maintained and even had a few more nightmares. However, as the days went by I did feel like I was gaining ground energy wise. Even if I didn’t sleep wonderfully every night, I had more good nights and less bad nights and thus had more overall energy. Thank goodness, otherwise I’m not sure how I would have done when we were figuring out how to leave our apartment because we couldn’t afford it on my shrinking income. (Thanks Wall Street and Mortgage Butt-heads for causing that crap.) I continued on my weekly acupuncture regime and did manage to get through. That hour appointment became my haven from the world, everything slipped away for just a little while.

Our little weekly trade continued for several more months, until the spring of 2009, when I took a second job and my schedule no longer allowed for it. For the most part I was nightmare-free. Once or twice I would have one and who could blame me, life was turned upside down. Overall though, after several months of treatment I had more energy than I had in high school. This was just what was needed as well. We decided to move to Bellingham, I was working two jobs while Rick got healthier and looked for a job himself. There was some worry that my nightmares might come back with full force, but worry rarely actually helps so we just trucked along, moved and restarted our lives.

Stay tuned for Part 3!

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
comments: 0 » tags:

Website Changes – From “Modern” to “Bellingham”

Posted on 29th January 2011 in Bellingham, Life

So, to all 5 of you whom read this on occasion and whom might be a little confused as to where in the world you ended up, I’ll explain. I’m very particular, once I get an idea into my head it’s hard to get it out. A few months ago when I was directing someone to my site for kombucha directions, I had a funny feeling in my tummy when telling them how to spell it. “Hippy with a “y”, not “ie” that belongs to someone else.” Hmmm. Then it happened again within a few weeks, same weird feeling. The “y” was starting to mock me, “That’s not how you spell it. Nahnahnah boo boo.” That “y” was a bitch. She just didn’t understand. Ignoring her worked a little bit for a while.

Then as I was growing in my hippie ways, I became more locally focused, more devoted to my favorite town in the world – Bellingham. I belong here. It fits like a glove. The farmer’s market is divine. We have two co-ops, a natural food store, Trader Joe’s, a flea market, at least two vegan restaurants that are almost completely gluten free, and lots of locally focused businesses that are super awesome. Did I mention that we have at least four bookstores?
The mountain rests just behind us, the ocean and her sea gulls sit just below us. It’s a beautiful place that just hugs you. Bellingham hugs you. I want to grow old here, return here from road trips and other travels, to buy a house and have a HUGE garden, go to the library, the Board Walk. It’s mine and I’m only sharing a little bit.
Sorry, sounding a little possessive. I love this town. She’s been good to me in the last year and half.

Also, while not all the posts have been published, many of them have become more locally focused. I don’t want to think too generally, I want to think within Bellingham. There was an idea to start another blog focusing entirely on my favorite town. However, I didn’t want to leave “The Modern” behind. She’s my baby, my bit of fun that I can have whenever I want.

Within the last week, while avoiding homework, Rick and I had a chat about this site’s name and “url” – that little “www.somethingornothing.com” thingy. We learned who owned what, and finally I decided to take the plunge. Bellinghamhippie.com was available and it could be all mine, a sweet new home where this hippie could share the stuff she learns. Yeah, it felt good.

Another thing that has been brewing is a thought about trying to get this site to pay for itself. The adsense, those pesky little ads on the side, help, but I’m not sure I want them there forever. This site is outgrowing them, evolving into something else, more pure, more grown up.
With that said, I’m planning on putting up a donate button, not asking for money, but as a digital “tip jar”. I compile a lot of information and if it’s useful you can toss the pot some digital cash. If you want. No pressure, I’m just going to put it there and see what happens. Nothing comes for free, and while we can still afford this site, we are much more mindful of where our money goes. This economy and being self employed as taught us that nothing is stable, nothing if forever, so be prepared. Meaning, we are paying off debt and looking for ways to stop occasional monetary leaks from our life. (Too cheesy? Oh well.)

I’m also going to put up an Amazon book list. Bookworm that I am, I read a lot, some health related, some environment related, lots of fiction, and much more. No reason I can’t put a book list up. The way those things work is if you click through my list and buy something I get a small fee for referring people. It’s fairly common, perhaps you’ve done it before. I’m telling you about it though, this place is not for sneaking stuff from people, it’s for directions on roasting chicken, hair experiments, and honest recommendations. If it bothers you that I put something like an Amazon book list… well, okay? I don’t know why anyone would be bothered but I’m sure it’s possible.

So basically, bear with me as I move stuff around, make it lot prettier (this could take a little time), tell me if something is broken. Thanks!

Newly termed,
Bellingham Hippie

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
comments: 0 » tags: ,

Acupuncture and My Sleep Story – The Background Part 1

Posted on 14th January 2011 in Acupuncture

Beginning
I have a story, one that Rick has been urging me to tell in more detail. The story of my sleep, or rather of my dreams and nightmares that interrupted my life for… well, my whole life.

      Hi, I’m Missy, I’m chronically sleep deprived. Or I was(though if you spent 24+ years dealing with sleep deprivation I’m not sure you can actually catch up). Nice to meet you. I’m doing much better now. In fact I feel better than I have in years, though I still have a long way to go.
      For as long as I can remember I’ve had dreams, mostly nightmares. Often those kinds of nightmares that wake you up with a fast beating heart, crying, gasping, or whatever. I’ve heard them called night terrors. But I’ve seen worse versions of night terrors in others, those whom could hold terrifying conversations with you. I’ve only done that a few times as far as I know.

      As I child I’d would crawl into bed with my parents because there was safety between them. When I was in middle and high school I would force myself to stay up for awhile because otherwise I would fall right back into the dream. I never wanted to know how these dreams ended because they started off so horribly and only got worse.

Middle
      Through high school they got worse. I got more tired, though I was still functional. I routinely had a month of two of terrible nightmares each night. I waited tensely in bed for those times to end. They always did, it was only a matter of time until semi-normal sleep would return. Then in my senior year, probably one of the most challenging year so far in my life, I had nightmares, sometimes several a night, every night for about a year. At the end of that year I was exhausted and slept probably 10 or 12 hours a night.

      From there I went through the early part of my “adult” life. Moved out, got a nanny job, partied, read lots of books that I wanted to read. Yes I still had nightmares, but I was used to them. I used coffee as my stabilizer. It could give me a kick good enough to get me through most of the day. The strange sleeping rotation started up again; bad month and a good one, another couple of bad ones, then three good weeks. This continued for years, until I was in my mid twenties. When I was 23 or 24 and I was starting to fall asleep driving when I didn’t feel “tired”. There was a rule between Rick and I. If I felt even a little tired I wouldn’t drive because all it took was a split second and my head would bob.

Second Middle
      When I was 24 there were several months where I never felt rested. I no longer drank coffee or tea because it had no effect. My day consisted of dragging ass out of bed, doing a couple of massages, either driving home and napping there or napping at my office for an hour or so until my last few massages. I would finish my work day barely able to focus, hoping for a chatty last client, and drive home trying not to fall asleep. I worked three miles from our apartment. While I was waiting on dinner I would nap, or sometimes I would just crawl into bed for a couple of hours, wake up around 8pm make something to eat – eat and go right back to bed. On the weekends I would sleep in, wake up around 10am, nap at 1pm, wake up at 2 or 3pm, hang out for awhile and go to sleep at 10pm.
I didn’t know what to do, I felt like I was 98 years old. I could try a doctor, but the one time I had brought it up to my doc when I was about 17 or 18 he looked at me like I wanted drugs. I didn’t. I wanted to sleep without nightmares and not feel tired.
      One day, while I was trying really hard to stay awake for my early morning business meeting, the acupuncturist whom often filled in when members were gone, spoke about how acupuncture could help people whom didn’t sleep well. She said that it could help those with problems falling asleep, staying asleep, non-restful sleep and dreams. Oh my gosh! Seriously, I had to ask her about it. If I could trade with her I would totally try it out. Acupuncture (and craniosacral) had helped a lot when my sacrum was going rogue on me a few months earlier. Thus started my first step toward becoming a “real” person again. Thankfully she was super excited about trading for massages!
Ending? Check for part 2 soon!

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
comments: 0 » tags:
« Previous Next »