My health is, by no means, perfect… but I am nonetheless astounded by the scope of my improvement.

As part of my Mayo-prescribed treatment plan I have:

1. increased my daily water intake to 4-7 liters of water
2. added salt to nearly everything I’ve eaten since my visit in January
3. incorporated cardio-centric exercise into my nearly-daily routine
4. taken my medicine, as directed, for five months

I continue to strive to improve my adherence to Dr. General Hospital’s advice, and am currently focusing on increasing the intensity and duration of my exercise, and taking my medicine more consistently and at a standard time.

Thank you for your encouragement and support.  I am grateful for your perspective and your advice.  We’re lucky folks, to have a the ability to network and find answers with the click of the mouse or touch of the screen (Anyone else excited for WWDC and Monday’s big announcement?).

Look for future posts about my progress, and tips that help me improve my quality of life, despite having a chronic pain condition.

I feel like a provoked Kathleen Kelly.

Yesterday was a good day.

Before my brain could start with “a touch of the dizzies” I headed to Lowe’s to pick up a few thinks for our house. I got a bit overwhelmed by all the stuff and the decisions so I called my mom. She had a friend drop her off so she could help me wrap up the trip… and over $300 we called it quits. By then I was too dizzy so my mom drove us home with our perfect finds.

The trip wore me out, but not in the overdone sort of way. By bedtime I felt exhausted and in pain, but not miserable. On days when I overdo it my brain feels like a tripped circuit… not functioning at all. Last night I still had my brain (and some great stuff for the house).

But this morning I think it is on holiday. Perhaps I slept a bit too long. Or perhaps my dreams were so vivid I somehow did not get as restful a night of sleep as I am accustomed to. Last night (and the night before) felt like an all-night screening of Kate’s Brain on Drugs. I had vivid dreams of house guests constructing a fence around the yard, of Daniel tethering the Coachella flying pig to the deck, and of my hair being dyed blond as I created a plan to return the pig for the $10,000 reward. Bizarre.

Wednesday and Thursday were exceptionally rough for me. It seems like withdrawals chose to show their face in the form of extreme emotional instability (like I mentioned Tuesday) and the most bizarre series of sensations in the southeast corner of my skull. The emotional instability had me feeling giddy, then devastated, then nervous, then itchy, lonely, negative, confused, overwhelmed, motivated, pessimistic, energetic, dizzy, tired, irritable, and so on in 5 minute(ish) rotations. Thank goodness that is over.

As to the bizarre sensations, the best description I can provide sounds absurd. It feels as though someone is attempting to suction my brain out of the southeast corner of my skull. I know, I know… you wonder how I know what that feels like. I don’t. But I am fairly convinced it feels rather akin to the sensation I have been experiencing for almost a week. When I am tired the sensation seems to quadruple in intensity.  What causes this?

And, finally, when will I learn to recognize the precise time at which I ought to stop an activity, so as to avoid overdoing it and feeling worse for the following few days?