What Road to Take

I took this pict in New Orleans while riding in the car.

Drive

If all of our blood vessels both large and small were stretched out like a road they would make up 60,000 thousand miles of driving.

This helps explain why treatments take so long to work sometimes and why it’s difficult to control a disease like Behcet’s that affects the small blood vessels. The treatments have to travel a long way in order to cover every inch and area of the body. So the possibility of running out of gas is highly likely. But what if there’s something else my rhematologist is missing with this particular disease, what if they have turned down the wrong road?

One day my rhematologist explained to me that the treatments are like a dam in our body to hold back inflammation from flowing into the body. The key word here is INFLAMMATION. If he can control 80% of the inflammation from getting into my body it could help to eventually put this disease into remission…so he thinks! This is a great analogue in explaining what he is trying to accomplish with the treatments I’m getting and how a connective tissue disease works on the inside of the body but just not sure it could be the right one for me.

My thoughts about this are, what if it’s not all inflammation controlling this particular disease and that’s why it's difficult to control? What if it’s another variable that they need to control in order to put this disease away and the inflammation is only one road to getting to the end but we've missed a couple of roads prior?

Because they don’t know what fuels this disease, it’s very difficult to know what could put the disease out. Of course many illnesses such as cancer, viruses and inflammatory processes, happen on the B-cell. If you view the B-cell as one of the 60,000 thousand miles of blood vessels you then get the picture of why it’s difficult to know what road to turn down.

Good news is, we are now traveling on the B-cell road. But there are no guarantees that this is the right key to start the car, the right avenue to turn down or enough gas to make the journey.

When they pulled blood work to check for antibodies (my stamina) against my new Rituxan treatment, they did an Inmmunoglobulins blood test. Immunoglobuins have many small avenues inside this particular cell; IGA, IGM, IGG, IGE and IGD. My antibodies IGM were highly overactive, this is one of the biggest antibody cells. So by treating this particular cell, maybe we can make-up that mileage we lost going down a different road. Once on the right road we could possibly shut down the overactive highway, so that we can pass and put the car in neutral/idle in hopes that we can shift one more gear forward to park and remain there indefinitely. My rheumatologist has his work cut-out in finding how much of the gas (medicine) my body needs to make the journey, but since we now have this marker it could be a good landmark for his direction.

Now Playing - Shut-up and Drive

Searching

Behcet's

Now Playing Search - INXS

Get Some Rest

Padre Island, Texas

Now Playing Sound of The Ocean

When I was around 10 years old, I would have trouble going to sleep at night my legs would ache and hurt so bad I could not get any rest. To resolve this as a child, I used an instinctive approach by rolling over onto my stomach and kicking and bouncing my leg against the bed eventually this would help me to fall asleep.

Now I use a heating pad to help relieve pain but it’s only localized to that particular area and lacks movement. Another alternative, I've used several times, is a good portable folding massage cushion that you can buy for about $25.00-$100 dollars . This may be an option to people who have RLS. It works great just roll it out onto your bed like the heating pad and it works from the bottom of your neck down to the base of your thigh. It doesn't just heat it vibrates your whole body.

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The Buzz on Pollen

My Third Cousin’s Bee Farm in W. Virginia

Pollen and Allergies

Allergies are a pain in the eyes, ears and nose and sometimes the lungs. They can turn into more serious conditions and aggravate existing ones if left untreated, such as Asthma an inflammatory condition to the lungs.

Pollen is a powder that consist of microgametophytes (pollen grains). The bees extract this from many different flowers and convert it into honey.

There are other options besides taking over-the-counter or prescribed pills in treating your allergies. Or just being pro-active about your health is a great reason to try the following:

Ingesting Hometown Honey

My mother’s cousin in W. Virginia owns a bee farm and if you ingest honey or wax from your local bees, it helps with the allergies. You can probably buy this at your local Farmer’s Market. Just make sure it’s from the area you live in.

How she extracted the honey for us was quite fascinating. It’s really a strange process. They look like little cabinets and framed drawers each one sectioned off.

Adding honey to your tea or coffee could make life that much sweeter!

Now Playing Mariah Carey - Honey

Now Playing The Bee Movie

Now Playing Faith - Just Breathe

Fatigue Causes Focusing Problems

Turtle Power

Fatigue is one of the main symptoms of chronic and acute sickness. Not only do you have other things going on to distract your brain besides the pain, but you may not have had enough sleep the night before because of the pain your body was in. Your brain is suffering chronic pain that doesn't stop. It's a compacted, exhausting experience!

Vitamin B-12 - A great source to help boost your energy level. There is a tricky secret that you may not know about, I would like to share with you. Pay close attention to the labels because they offer different micrograms (mcg) and millograms(mg).

It goes all the way up to the 2000 mcg which only equals two milograms, it sounds like a lot but it doesn't convert to much. I had been taking the B-12-200mcg, which is only .2 milograms . It's just not enough when you're struggling with a chronic illness where inflammation and pain zap it right out of you.

Don't de-shell yourself for not being that bright, witty, active elephant you may have been long ago or just yesterday. Sometimes the turtle wins the race by keeping at a steady pace. Modify and edit, don't space. You can make it to the end of the race, it could be your saving grace not having to place.

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Pop A BottleCap

My Favorite Candy 

When the REAL Stuff Doesn't Work, Try Placebo:

• WalMart has these cheap placebo pops and you can buy them over-the-counter for 88 cents you need NO insurance or a prescription
• Dosage - One Rootbeer and One Cola a day could help keep the Dr. away
• You can even buy a suitcase box to put your pills in and take with you wherever you go
• Or if you want a candy that is low in fat content, Bottlecaps are a good candy to knock the edge off of a sweet tooth.

These are my favorite candies!

I found this mixed drink recipe for people that like the Bottlecaps and don't like taking the pain pills the doctor gives (we know these can be quite addictive) just add some analgesic to your regimen by having a mixed drink, every once in a while... drink responsibly (I must try this):

Bottle Cap

1/2 oz Sour Puss® raspberry liqueur

1/2 oz root beer schnapps

1 1/2 oz 7-Up® soda

1/2 oz margarita mix

Mix the Sour Puss and root beer schnapps together in a shot glass. Mix the 7-Up and margarita mix together in a highball glass. Drop the shot glass into the highball glass, and serve. Serve in Highball Glass.

Now Playing - Madonna - Hard Candy Songs

Now Playing - Madonna & Justin 4 Min

Renoir Had RA

Art Soothes the Soul

Did you know the famous painter Pierre- Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) struggled from severe crippling arthritis? Find out his remarkable story and how he manged his life.

Now Playing - Forever Young

My cousin Ricky singing in church...Angel (by Sarah McLachlan). When my dad passed away, I dedicated this song to him, it was played at his funeral. Thanks Ricky for making it that much more special to me.

Now Playing - Ricky Singing Angel