A STEP FROM MY TRAVEL BLOG

I have wanted to talk about this for a few years and when the subject came up people just looked at me.  I can see the thought.  She is always complaining,  well I tried not too.  Yes I do a lot of traveling, but I have to push myself to the limit and if I didn't I would be a prisoner in my own home.

The subject is Fibromylgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  I have suffered from this, when I look back over the years, since I had an inner ear virus in the early 70's.  It got progressively worse as the years went on.  Would be fine for months then it would hit, the total fatigue and horrible pain all over my body. Hair loss, very dry skin, dripping nose,  very cold hands and feet were with me all the time. I have had a dry cough and short of breath along with the other things.  I used to think I was nuts: the pain moved, it was never in my muscles just hurt where it settled at that time.  There are 8 pressure points that the push to check for this.  More than 4 you have it.

I complained for years to my doctors, their answer was you know you are getting old and the other was: you know stress will do that to you. I loved my husband and family and we had a great life very little stress.   I have to say my husband was a saint when I would end up in the ICU with chest pain about every month for a period of time.  My kids were only around 5 so I know it scared them a lot.  The doctors never knew what the cause was, but I had every test in the book.  Stress test, echo cardiogram and even an angiogram. They put dye through your veins to see if you have any blocked arteries. Nothing showed up.  They said it was Prinz Metals Angina, again from stress, put me on all kinds of pills that made me even weaker and sicker.  They probably cringed at the hospital every time I went there. My file was really big.

One of the symptons is you don't sleep, well I have never slept well since I was a teenager so just figured that was the way it was.  No, everyone should get at least 7 to 8 hours sleep to refresh the body to give you energy.

The five years after my husband died was the worst stress that anyone could imagine and I think that put me over the edge.  Also driving my motorhome hasn't helped either, but I have learned to do short drives and stop early in the day.

As time went on I couldn't physically work more than a couple of hours a day and when I did I needed one day to do nothing except lay on the couch.  With owning a house now there is a lot of things to do and most of them physical.  I hate paying someone to do things that I should be able to do myself.

As I have said before the networking that I have with RVing is amazing.  One day a friend, who writes a weekly newsletter mentioned that a Canadian from Alberta who had Fibromylgia  had gone to a Clinic in Las Vegas. She raved about what this clinic had done for her and that she had gotten her life back.

I called her to find out just what I had to do.  She filled me in on everything including the price. The price was very expensive, but you know I didn't want to feel this way for another ten years so I bit the bullet and made an appointment.  I was coming west so it worked well for me.  After the long drive 3,500 miles I was totally wiped out and for the month of October I did nothing but lay on the couch waiting for that appointment.

It was a three day with intensive testing.  They took about 20 tubes of blood and intravenous energy boosters.  They were for memory, brain fog and energy.  I also received an iron shot.  B12 every day, women are lacking in this.  Tests showed that my thyroid was on the low side of the normal.  Still trying to figure out how they use the graph, if you are in the normal rang in Canada you are fine.  A couple of other things were low too.  After the three days of intravenous a couple of energy shots and my pills and powers, I was sent home to get started.  Oh did I mention I had three days of massages, wonderful.

Since the middle of November I can now say I can do most anything during the day and just be tired at night.  No total fatigue any more. I can hardly get to 10 at night before I go to bed.  I put that down to getting from 6 to 8 hours of sleep every night.  When I don't sleep I hurt all over the next day and my brain is in a fog again.. I have had some set backs, but they only last a day or two.  I still haven't gotten that real energy back yet, but after a day at the clinic this past week they have upped my thyroid pills.  I will try them for a week and see what happens. A higher dose will hopefully stop my hair falling out, my cold feet, fingers and my brain fog.

There is a book called "From Fatigued to Fantastic" by Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D.  If you have any friends or relatives that are having the same problems as I am, let them know about it. You can get the products at any natural food store.

Dr. Teitelbaum had Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue when he was going to University to be a doctor and had to drop out because the fatigue was so bad he fell behind in his classes.  After that he worked with different holistic and natural drugs and vitamins.  He is a board certified internist and a leading researcher in the field of ChronicFfatigue and Fibromyalgia.  All the things that I take are make personally for me at a Compounding Pharmacy.  The clinic supplies all the vitamins and energy powers.  I talk a lot of pills, but they are giving me my life back.

What I take are bio identical hormones, rest and restore natural sleeping pills (all the roots, flowers and Melatonin plus others things), cortisol, B12, release and renew (again roots, fruits and flowers).  A power called Ribose, it is a natural sugar with other natural ingredients.

When I was home in March I went to the doctor to get more of my prescriptions and I mentioned what I was taking.  Boy she said  "Oh they have not been tested I wouldn't be taking them"  I told her that if I could feel this good I will keep doing it.  I showed her my blood tests and right away she ordered more.  She was not interested in finding out more about it.  All she said was she would call me if my tests came back with something out of the ordinary.  I haven't hear from her.  We need to get this Clinic in Canada and  help anyone that has been diagnosed.

If you know of anyone please let them know about this, I guess it is a disease, I will be more than happy to talk to anyone to help.

Thanks for listening.   Would appreciate any comments you might have on any of my blogs.  Also if you click on any of the advertisements I get paid a few cents.

YUMA COMING TO AN END

First I went to the Q (Quechan) casino for the $2.95 big breakfast.  Two eggs, big piece of ham, hash browns and toast.  I couldn't find anyone to go with me so enjoyed it myself.  You only get this deal if you get a players card.  When you get one they give you $10.00 to play with and I decided I should use it that day.  Well I came out with $8.80 left after I played.  Not bad with free money.  The Q is just over the border into California and just north of the Mexican border (Algodones).  After that headed to the Yuma Territorial Prison.  This prison housed a total of 3,069 and included 39 women from 1876.  The prison was open for 33 years.  This was a model institution for its time and they treated the prisoners well.  The only punishment was the dark cells for inmates who broke prison rules and the ball and chain for those who tried to escape.

The prison sits on a bluff overlooking the Colorado River.  The prison was authorized by the Legislature in 1875 by the Legislature for $25,000.   Crimes ranged from murder to polygamy with grand larceny being the most common.  They made crafts and held a bazaar at the prison after church on Sundays.  Many learned to read and write and had the first public library in the territory.  A fee was charged to visitors for a tour of the institution and was used to purchase books.  

The prison closed in 1909 because of over crowding.  The Yuma Union High School occupied the buildings from 1910 to 1914.  In the 1920's it was used to provide free lodging for the hobos riding the freights.  All that is left after fires and weather is the cells, main gate and the guard tower.

The Arizona government has started closing the State parks and a lot of the museums so the Prison is one of them.   Yuma is trying to raise money to keep it open for tourists to enjoy.   Arizona has also closed all the rest areas, which I don't like.  A lot of people relied on them for a break when traveling long distances.  I will have to rethink how I travel here now.

Another place is the Lutz Casino, not a casino at all but a restaurant that has the oldest pool hall. It is still going strong.  The Casino is in the downtown core along with a few more historic buildings.  From the outside you can hear loud music and burgers frying. On the walls are murals of pool games complete with seedy looking characters out of the Old West and a cringing hound dog with big sad eyes. The place is always crammed with people and the noise level is almost unbearable.  It has the look of an old town saloon.  Not one that was fixed up but one that just got old.  There is interesting junk all over the walls and 12 foot high walls are plastered with posters, paintings, murals and decals of every description.  Suspended from the ceiling is a full size Signal Gas sign and a Western Union one.  If you look up you will see a raggedy foot crashing through the ceiling.  There are regulars and tourists, the tourists are drinking beer and walking around looking at the walls and the regulars.

The children love the place too, there is a whole wall lined with pinball machines and other coin operated space age machines.

The building was built in 1901 and housed the New York Store that sold groceries and general stuff.  Upstairs was a hotel and they operated until 1920 when it was purchased  and turned into a Casino Billiard Parlor.  The specials are the Especial which is a combination cheeseburger and hot dog covered with hot sauce.  You can find people dressed up or just dressed down, they go for the atmosphere.  Members of the San Diego Padres baseball team was seen enjoying a beer and a game of pool.

There is no gambling there just the sale of state lottery tickets.  The men's washroom has a window in it so no one can sneak up and shoot you.  Guess in the old days that happened.

There is a camel farm in Yuma where they specialize if breeding Arabian one hump camels and other exotic animals and birds.  They have so many its too long to list.  They are open from Oct. 1 to May 31st.  The camels can be used for parades and special events.  If you want to check it out go to their web site www.blendradioandtv.com/camelfarm.  I didn't go to this place, but it is on my list for next year.

There were lots of end of the winter parties to say good bye to everyone.  I have to say I haven't cooked a lot of measl in my motorhome this winter, but I haven't put on any weight which is hard to believe.  There are a lot of great cooks on the road.  Now to move on to other adventures.