If it’s wrong, then it’s wrong

On By WendyIn Bipolar, Chronic Illness, Mental Health6 Comments

May is National Mental Health Awareness Month.  This year the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) is asking everyone to take the pledge to stop the stigma surrounding Mental Illness.  You can do that officially here: Stigma Free. (#stigmafree)

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I think the stigma around mental illness has gotten better over the years, but there is a long way to go.  I saw this great article talking about phrases you shouldn’t say, I think it’s worth the check out.  9 Phrases You Shouldn’t Say During Mental Health Awareness Month.

Here, I want to talk about how differently we treat and think about people with mental illness compared to other illnesses.  For example cancer.  Why cancer?  Because you’d never make fun of someone who has it, you’d never blame them for having it, if the treatment doesn’t work you’d never say they aren’t doing enough, and you’d treat them with respect and compassion.   It is wrong to treat a person with a mental illness differently than you would treat a person with cancer.

A few facts you may not know.

Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S.—43.8 million, or 18.5%—experiences mental illness in a given year. (Oct. 23, 2015)  – See more at:on the NAMI site.  Learn More Mental Health by the Numbers. 

 

Think about that, when you meet 5 people, chances are one of them has a diagnosable mental illness.  That’s huge!

There are many reasons someone may not get help, one of them is the stigma behind mental illness.  Because of the stigma, they are afraid of how people may react, they are afraid they may lose their jobs, respect from others….   This barrier for treatment has to stop.  People cannot feel embarrassed to go for help.  They cannot be made to feel they need to tough it out, to pull themselves together, to stop being so dramatic…..  We need to acknowledge when someone is having difficulty and let them know you support them.  We must also realize that, just like people with cancer, people with a mental illness may not realize it, they may be afraid of the diagnosis, they may not want to face it…  If we noticed someone we care about feeling or looking sick a lot we would encourage them to see a doctor.   We need to do the same when we see someone who we care about struggling with mental illness.  We need to let everyone know they are cared about and supported.

There are many reasons why people do not get help that have nothing to do with not wanting it or searching for it.  Often people  do not get the care they need because they simply can’t get it.  They don’t have insurance.  They can’t afford it, even with their insurance.  (there are a lot of barriers within the insurance system that keep people from having access to health care, I could write a whole post on just this crisis).  We often think there are public places people can go, “the mental health system will help”.  This is far from true.  There are a lot of hoops one has to go through to get be seen by someone in the system.  Often someone with a mental health issue gets way too overwhelmed to be able to do all of this.  Even when someone is in dire need of help they often have to wait months to see a professional through the mental health system.  Unless a person is “a threat to themselves or others”, it is almost impossible to get in to the mental health system in a timely manner.

These barriers are signs of stigma within the system.  Many people need and want help, but can’t get it because of the barriers.  We have to break down these barriers.  We must break down the stigma that people with mental health deserve less then people who have any other type of illness.

Please take the time to take the pledge to stay Stigma Free.

Read more about Mental Health Awareness Month and find more ways to contribute through the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

 

Blog Posts I’d like to Share

On By WendyIn Chronic Illness5 Comments

Ok, so I planned to enter more posts I’ve read that made an impact on me, but if you’ve read my last post you know I’ve been going through a mess.  I started this post before I started having the run on vertigo, and I really wanted to make sure everyone saw these wonderful posts.  There is a lot of good information out there and I’m ever so eager to share some of the things I’m learning.  (BTW, I’m feeling much better!!)

Recently I’ve been reading some really great posts and articles on-line and I’d really like to share a few.  I wish I’d written some of this great information.  So please take the time to read:

Markovich Photo Art
Markovich Photo Art

From ADD and So Much More, Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CMC, MCC, SCAC takes on the subject of Loneliness ins a must read 3 part series:  Part 1 – The Importance of Community to Health  Part 2. –  Sliding Into Loneliness  Part 3  – When you’re longing for Connection

On Living with Hearing Loss, Shari Eberts asks the question Why is it Still OK to Make Fun of Hearing Loss?  If you have hearing loss, know someone who has hearing loss, or simply want understand the hearing loss world, you should check out this blog post and much of Shari’s blog.

Bipolar Barbie-Q takes on how it feels when you are in the throws of depression.  (this is a subject I plan to cover soon myself, but you need to read her post, it’s raw, and full of passion, and will give you a great understanding on how complicated depression is.  I’m the Queen of Run-On’s.

 

I hope you have a good read today.

 

 

 

Roller Coaster —– Down

On By WendyIn Chronic Illness, vertigo11 Comments

I wrote my last post with just joy in my heart and feeling better than I had in as long as I can remember.

Then I crashed.

That evening I had a bout of vertigo, but I would not let it put a damper on my day.  It was a glorious day, and I will hold it in my heart.

But it’s over, at least for now.  Forgive me if this post doesn’t make as much sense as it should, I’m writing it as I watch the screen dance before my eyes.  This is incredibly difficult, but I felt the need to tell everyone I’m not doing that well and I wanted to talk about it.

For nearly 3 days now I’ve had vertigo almost constantly.   It may be slow at times where I just barely see the world moving, other times I can still handle it, it’s very hard to focus on anything and I can’t hear very well.  Then I have times like I did last night.  I was so sick.  I didn’t sleep until 4am.  I fought then nausea and vomiting.  I had severe stomach cramps and feel like I threw up all night, but I’m happy to say I didn’t.  (thank you to all my medications, and my darling husband who stayed by my side and chanted with me for hours).

I’m amazed at how much this has changed over the years.  When I first started getting vertigo, and when it only came around a few times a year, I would have been throwing up for most of the last 3 days.  I think the biggest thing that has changed is that I rarely freak out from it now.  I don’t fight it.  I know what’s happening.  I try to just go with the flow.  That doesn’t mean I don’t panic and that it doesn’t get to me, after a few hours I’m freaking out a bit.  What if it never ends.

This makes me not want to live.   I’m stuck in this chair, I can’t walk by myself, I can’t even use my walker most of the time without falling.  Stuart and I have to walk in tandem to take me to the bathroom.  I have my head on his chest and he walks backward to get me there.  This is not a life.

I can’t communicate well.  I can barely understand anything that is being said.  I can’t focus on anything most of the time.  Literally, right now I am typing on a computer that is swaying on my lap.  If I didn’t type by touch, you wouldn’t be reading this.

Last night I went to sleep hoping to not wake up.  Don’t worry I’m not suicidal, I just want live like this to end. The only way I can see this stopping is to not be here anymore.  The risk with the gentamicin is so scary.  I just don’t know what to do.  Plus finding a doctor who would actually do it, well that’s a whole other thing.

My new doctor has mentioned steroid injections.  I’m not sure it will do anything, but it can’t hurt to try.  If I can hold it together long enough to get it done.  And handle the side effects that are sure to follow for a while.

If I can get through more days like this.  Days where the world spins at what ever speed it wants.  Days where I can do nothing but sit here and wish for it to stop.  Days where the steroids are making me so hungry, but I’m so nauseous at the same time.  Unfortunately, the hunger wins most of the time.  So I guess I’ll sit here and eat and just pray that this there is something that stops this.  Something inside me that can slow this down enough that my eyes and brain aren’t so tired from trying to make sense of it all.

What do I do.  I try to remember that is will not always be this way.  It will end.  I will have some relief.  I have to believe.   I will admit that is my biggest fear, that it will never end.

If you walked in my house right now I’d look perfectly fine, minus the few tears on my face.   I’m sitting in a chair, staring at the computer, the TV is on in the background, hubby is sitting in another chair munching away.  I look like I’m perfectly fine.  But I’m fighting like hell just to hold it together.

This moment.  I can get through this moment.  I know I can.  The next moment isn’t here, things will change.  I know it will.  That is the constant in the universe, everything changes.  I will be in this moment, as crappy as it is, but I know it will change.

Sometimes that isn’t a good thought, I know this change could be worse.  I’m not good with worse right now.

When people who have never had vertigo here me say, I’m having an attack, they have no idea what I’m talking about.  However, I think when those of us who have vertigo mention, we had an attack, or we are having an attack.  We don’t think about how bad it really is, until it is happening to us again.  And we don’t think about how different vertigo can be for different people.  I have found myself thinking, “If you are having an attack, how could you possibly be typing?”  Yet here I am.  When I only had the most horrific vertigo attacks and I heard someone say they had vertigo and it wasn’t like mine, I wondered, “Do they really know what vertigo is like?”  Now, I can’t judge.  I understand.  Vertigo can manifest itself differently.  You can see the world rotate, at different speeds, it doesn’t always have to be so fast that the world is a complete blur, it can mean that the world is slowly rotating, I see things they simply will not be still.  Both are vertigo, I can just handle one better than the other.

Then I’ve found you can have vertigo where you feel you are moving but you don’t see anything moving.  Most people say they feel like they are on a boat or something similar.  I do have this kind of vertigo too, for me this is not as bad at the visual vertigo, for others this could be much more dramatic.  I was rushed to the hospital once because the vertigo made me feel like I was being tossed around the room and I was completely still.  I threw up a lot during that one, unfortunately I don’t think the ambulance attendant got out of the way of that once.  I knew something was wrong, I thought I might be dying.  I remmeber telling Stuart if I died I was happy everyone I love knows it.

When we got to the ER, they couldn’t do anything.  Pumped me full of more of the meds I already have at home and told me that vertigo can make you feel like that.  Inside I freaked out thinking, “I could feel like this again?”  Now I have this recurring vertigo where I’ll suddenly feel like I’ve stepped into an open elevator shaft and I just keep falling.  Stuart will hold me so tight and tell me I’m not falling, but I am.  I know I am.  I see the world rush by, I feel my body dropping.  It has happened once without him here and I thought there was no way I could get through it.   I did.  But I never want to do that alone again.  I never want to do it again at all, but that is kind of unrealistic.

Again, I want to assure everyone I’m not suicidal.  I do believe this will stop.  If it doesn’t there has to be someway that I can learn to live with it.

I didn’t post this when I finished because I started having much worse vertigo and I couldn’t see the publish button anyway.  I might be able to type by touch but I can’t see that dang little cursor.  This morning things are better. I’m still swaying, things are still a tad off, but it’s better.  In this moment.  that’s the only time I can count on.

Why can’t every day be like today?

On By WendyIn Chronic Illness, Meniere's Disease, Migraines8 Comments
Happy colored 10 10
drawing by me.

Today I woke up and said, “I feel great, let’s run around the block!”

Today was my 3rd day being on steroids.  I couldn’t sleep much last night, but I don’t feel it today.  I feel normal.  I feel like a normal person.  The migraines are gone.  The vertigo is gone.  The pain in my neck is much less.  Even the pain in my knee is gone.  Amazing!

I did all of my Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy exercises without a problem.  I haven’t been able to do them at all for over a week.  Today I can walk without my walker.

I made myself lunch.

I danced in my living room.

I took a long relaxing bath.

I’m tired now or I’d make dinner!!

Why can’t I feel like this every day?  Or more days than not?  Or even some days when I’m not on steroids?

Today has been a very good day.

what a relief.

 

Update 5.10.2016

On By WendyIn Chronic Illness, Meniere's Disease, Migraines11 Comments

bird on handicap sign.jpg

It’s been a while since I’ve written a simple update about me.  Other than the migraine scenario.

What’s going on right this second?  My head hurts!  Yes I’m still fighting migraines.  I’m also having vertigo again, every day for the past week.  Yesterday I had it all day long!  It would go absolutely crazy, then it would slow to just barely moving, then it would go crazy again.  This went on for 12 hours.  I’m starting a regimen of steroids.  I don’t like being on steroids because they think that may be what caused the Avascular Necrosis in my hip, but I’m desperate.  My headache speicalist and my ear doctor both agree that steroids is the best thing to stop this cycle.  So here we go again.

I finished my Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy.  It was a great experience.  I hope it did a lot of good.  I say hope because I wasn’t having much vertigo when I was going through therapy.  I was amazed at how well I progressed through the exercises.  On the last day, I had a vertigo attack start right there in the exercise room.  All I could do was hold on to Stuart and my therapist and squeak out, “I want to go home.”  A wonderful way to close out an otherwise great experience.  Since that last appointment I haven’t been able to do any of the exercises without falling.  I’m sad and pissed.

I’ve decided not to do the gentimicin injections.  There are so many risk.  When I’m at my worst I will think I don’t care about the risk, I’m willing to try anything, but I just went through a month of very little vertigo.  If I have the gentimicin injections I may never have good days.  I might not be able to learn how to balance without my ears.  And it does nothing to stop the vertigo caused by migraines.  What if most of my vertigo is migraine related?  I would still have vertigo and have to fight having no balance system in my ears.

My new ear doctor is thinking about trying steroid injections in my ears to see if it helps. (one ear at a time) But we will wait until I’m really bad again.  (If things keep up like this past week, we’ll be talking about this fairly soon.)  Steroid injections don’t carry the risk that gentimicin does.  It wears off, so if it works it often has to be repeated every 3 months. Since they think my Menerie’s is autoimmune, this is a good diagnostic tool, and if it makes me feel better, great.  Therefore, this is a good thing to try before deciding on gentimicin.  My new doctor is not a fan of gentimicin, but did not say he wouldn’t rule it out as a very last resort.

I’m sad right now.  Things aren’t going well.  Too many times I feel I’m saying, “I’m having a bad day.”  There have been days I’ve been so angry I felt like I didn’t know myself.  For the first time in a long time, I feel handicapped.  I hope all of this is part of my health not doing well, added stress and maybe menopause.  Not my bipolar medication taking a nose dive.  We’ll have to wait and see.

I have a couple of questions for those of you who have seen a naturopath or holistic doctor; Did seeing one help you?  How did you chose which one to go to?  I’ve been thinking about seeing one to try to get my over all health better, but I have no idea how to figure out who to pick.

As always thank you for supporting and caring about me.

 

Migraine Madness

On By WendyIn Chronic Illness, Meniere's Disease, Migraines, Pain27 Comments
headache guide 1a
My migraines are never under a 6, the average is a 7.5.  10 means you go to the Emergency Room.  Unless I was dying I wouldn’t go to the ER for a migraine.  I do not think they could help, and I do not want to labeled a drug seeker.

This post is personal.  No links to studies to back up what I’m saying.  Nothing more than what is happening to me.

On March 22nd I had a migraine.  Every day since March 27th, except 1, I’ve had a migraine.  Yes, I’ve had a migraine for 43 days out of 44.

This is not a medication rebound headache.  I have not taken medication for more than 15 days in a given month.

Can you imagine the days I haven’t used medication?

When I use medication I have Maxalt, Toradol, Toradol injections, …and well that’s about it for my rescue meds.  I am on others that are supposed to help keep these buggers away, but as you can tell, it isn’t working.

I’ve gone through a DHE protocol of 3 shots for 3 days.  During this time was the day I didn’t have a migraine.  I still had a headache, but it wasn’t a migraine.

Why is this happening to me.  Well I have a guess, but I don’t really know.

After I had my seizures my Neurologist told me that Topamax can cause seizures in some people.  This medication is used to prevent migraines, but it is also used for seizures.  So the thought is that the seizure drug I was on actually caused my seizures. I was on it for a long time before I got seizures, but there was this little hiccup problem with that medication right before I started having seizures that probably caused it to go crazy.  Our mail order pharmacy didn’t fill my prescription on time.  They had a problem with the prescription and didn’t tell anyone.  Things got so crazy I was off of my med for over a week, it may have been close to 2, when I finally got my prescription I just started taking the full dose, I didn’t think about ramping up.

So I ramped down and got off the Topamax and the seizures stopped.  I was off of the Topamax for less than a month when these migraines started.  I normally have about 15 migraines a month, some months a little more.  Very few months have I had less than 15.  I used to think the Topamax didn’t do a lot to prevent my migraines, now I am pretty sure it did.  Right now I’m so ready to go back on this drug.  If I have a seizure I’ll stop it.  (I wouldn’t say this if the seizures had been hurting me, but from all the tests, the only harm they cause if the twisting of my body.)  Unfortunately, I kinda doubt my doctor will be willing to take this risk.  Maybe there will be something better.

Today my neurologist called in another medication for me.  I’m to have 2 more DHE shots and take this new medication right before I go to bed for 3 days.  (I’m sorry I don’t remember what the medication is, I’ll find out when Stuart gets home with it.)

If this new medicine regimen doesn’t work I don’t know what the doctor will do.   I’m lucky that my neurologist specializes in headaches.  She actually runs a Headache Clinic.  I’m confident we will be able to get these migraines under control.  She won’t give up.

During this past month the vertigo has showed it’s ugly head again, but not as often as I would have thought.  I do question if this vertigo was Migraine Associated Vertigo (MAV) .  I’ve had a couple of attacks of rotational vertigo (where I see the world spinning around), most has been motion vertigo (where I feel as if I’m moving but I’m not).  Rotational vertigo is by far the worse.  I had a bought of that yesterday, but it wasn’t too bad.  The world would spin for a few seconds then for hours I’d feel like I was moving or that when I moved I had absolutely no balance what so ever.  Yesterday could have been MAV, I just don’t know.  It was a very bad day.  I woke with a Migraine at 9.5 on a 0-10 scale.  This causes me a lot of stress, stress causes a Meniere’s attack, of course that causes vertigo.  I’m leaning toward Meniere’s because my hearing was way off all day.

Most of the month I’ve been having motion vertigo, this was only the 3rd time I’ve had rotational vertigo.  I’m not sure why the rotational vertigo has calmed down, but I’ll take it.

I haven’t been around so much this past week, because the pain is getting to me.  I’m falling into Migraine Madness.

So, all my ramblings lead to one thing.  My head HURTS.

Winners of The Fay Farm Warming CBD Rub and Discount Code

On By WendyIn Chronic Illness2 Comments

(remember – This is a sponsored post for The Fay Farm Warming CBD Rub. I have been compensated through the Chronic Illness Bloggers network. All opinions remain my own and I was in no way influenced by the company.”)

fay farm 3

I’m happy to announce the winners of the Giveaway for The Fay Farm Warming CBD Rub.

To pick the winners I assigned everyone a number in the order you entered and entered the number in the Random Generator on Random.org.  The winning numbers are 1 and 10!

Ann Cluck and Elizabeth Neal you are the winners of .5 oz Warming CBD Muscle Rub, valued at $15 each.

I will contact the winners by email.  If for some reason either cannon claim their prize I will pick another name.

***The Fay Farm are now providing their CBD products through a third party, the products are available on https://www.cannatreehouse.com/  Therefore the coupon offered is no longer available.

Don’t forget since you are one of my readers you can receive 10% off your entire order and free shipping (in the U.S. only) by mentioning “Picnic” or “Ants” in the comments when you order you products!  (When you add everything you want in your basket, just add ‘picnic’ or ‘ants’ in the comment section of the order form and you will get 10% off.)  Yes, you get to take 10% off your whole order, not just CBD products, and the offer doesn’t expire.

Thank you to all who entered and the interest in this product.  I’m still using it and happy with it.  I hope everyone likes it as much, or more, than I do.

Mindfulness Journal

On By WendyIn Chronic Illness, Mindfulness5 Comments

journal

I thought I’d share with you new tool I’ve been using.

I recently read an article over on Buddhaimonia about keeping a mindfulness journal.

He talks a lot about keeping a journal and how to maximize your journal as a mindfulness tool.

There was one suggestion that he made that I thought would help me to not only recognize when I’m being mindful, but also help me to actually be more mindful.

My mindfulness journal includes – 3 Mindful Things Each Day.  Each day I try to write down 3 times during the day that I noticed I was being mindful.  This hasn’t just made me note times I’ve been mindful, but it encourages me to be more mindful.  I’ll be doing something and think, “whoa, take your time and really notice what you are doing, you can note this in your journal later.”  It brings to the surface that I need to be more mindful.  It also helps when I feel I haven’t been very mindful when I can think back over my day and realize, wow, I have been mindful today.   I can increase the number of mindful things journal about if I want, but I’m trying to always note at least 3.

I’ll give you a quick example of one.  I was sitting in the car waiting for Stuart to come out of the store and I started to reach for my phone to keep me company, instead I thought; “this is a great mindful opportunity”.  So I started to really notice all the things around me.  I felt the breeze has it caressed my skin.  I saw it was slightly blowing a sign in the window and making it wave a little, I noticed the reflections in the glass and how the colors change in the reflection from what they look in real life.  I noticed a little bug crawling across the windshield, and watched him on his journey.  I felt the suns warmth, and closed my eyes to really feel the atmosphere around me.  I took note of how my body felt pressed against the seat….   I tried hard not to think about what we would be doing next, I wanted to just be there in that moment as it was.

You can see what I mean, I tried my best to be right there in that moment, instead of distracting myself with my phone.  Because I’m writing these moments down, it makes me remember to do such things more often.  Hopefully, being mindful will become more second nature.

I’ve kept a gratitude journal for a long time.  I write down 3 things I’m grateful for each day.  this is a practice I suggest everyone take the time to do.  It really helps us put in perspective that we have something to be grateful for every day, even on days we don’t feel like it.  (some days when I’m having a really hard day I will realize how grateful I am for running water, having food every day, having a safe place to live….  We can always find things to be grateful for, we just need to remember it.

Do you keep a journal?  Is it specific like mine, or do you wir

 

 

What’s this thing called “Vertigo” anyway?

On By WendyIn Chronic Illness, Meniere's Disease, vertigo8 Comments
vertigo caught in motion
me during a vertigo attack – photo by w. holcombe

There are different definitions for the word “vertigo” (noun – ver·ti·go \ˈvər-ti-ˌgō\)

Webster’s Dictionary defines vertigo as:
a feeling of dizziness caused especially by being in a very high place

1a : a sensation of motion in which the individual or the individual’s surroundings seem to whirl dizzily
1b : a dizzy confused state of mind

On American Family Physician’s site I found a great article, Dizziness: A Diagnostic Approach.  It describes all kinds of Dizziness, the different causes and treatments.

In it they describe vertigo as : (A) False sense of motion, possibly spinning sensation.

I could go on and give you different definitions, many would be a bit different from others, but the main thing they have in common, one feels as if they are in motion.

Vertigo is not just dizziness, it is a type of dizziness, just as lightheadedness, and disequilibrium are but it is more than what most people consider dizziness.

Vertigo is the sense of motion.  Most often it includes seeing a spinning sensation, it also include other feelings of motion including, a sense of falling, rising or being jerked in one direction.  These are not encountered as often as rotational vertigo. (Understanding Vertigo and What to do if you have it. – The Washington Post – 2014)

I thought I’d take this opportunity to tell you, as best I can, how vertigo feels to me.

I have rotational vertigo (seeing my surrounding spin around), and motion vertigo (I often feel like I’m moving when I’m not.  I will feel like I’m suddenly free-falling, or being jerked around.)

The best way I know to describe rotational vertigo is to give you an example most people understand.  Remember when you were a kid and you used to spin around and around until you fell down seeing the world spin around you, (if you don’t remember this, or have a loved one with vertigo, I encourage you to do it now to have a sample of what we see).  Now that you have that image, imagine seeing that but it doesn’t stop.  When you just spin around the spinning sensation stops in a few seconds, for me it can last a few minutes to a few days.  The average is about 4 hours.  When I have this type of vertigo attack I often get very sick.  Imagine motion sickness times 1000.  I will throw up for hours, it can get so violent that I will lose control of every bodily function.  It is horrific.

I used to have other motion vertigo every once in a while, now it comes much more often.  I often feel like I’m in motion when I’m not.  I’ll feel like I’m on a boat, I’ll even feel like I’m walking around while I’m sitting still.  In the past year I’ve started having vertigo that makes me feel like I’m being thrown around the room (the first time this happened I thought I was dying, after an Ambulance ride and spending over 9 hours in the Emergency Room I was told this is a different form of vertigo.  (freaky)  I’ve also started having feelings as if I’m free-falling, I can only imagine it’s how one would feel if they stepped into an open elevator shaft.  This is one of the most frightening things in I’ve encountered.

Rotational Vertigo is not always at the same speed.  Sometimes I see my surroundings spinning by in just a blur, during these attacks I always get sick.  This will include hours of vomiting and sometimes I will lose all control of my bodily functions.  It’s horrific.  Other times my surrounds will spin by at a much slower rate.  After having rotational vertigo for so long many of my attacks are not as horrific.  I don’t panic now.  I will stay as calm as possible and just watch the world spin by, mostly I’m really bored.  This is the time when my mindfulness practice really comes in handy.

I’ve learned if I focus on something about 12 – 18 inches from me I often don’t see things go by quite as fast.  If the spinning isn’t too fast I will watch TV reading the captions.  For some reason if I concentrate on the captions the vertigo slows down.  This does not happen if I try to read anything else, that just makes me sicker.

I used to throw up no matter what.  I may have mentioned this before, maybe not, but I’ve had 2 doctors tell me that if medicinal marijuana were legal they’s prescribe it for me.  So I’ve tried it to see how it helps.  I can honestly say that I believe it has stopped me from going to the ER many times for dehydration.  It stops me from throwing up.  That is amazing to me.  I very rarely throw up now.   It can also calm down an attack if I use it fast enough.  (if you’d like to know more about how I use this to help, feel free to ask, I will say that I never feel high, I use very little, just enough to help me.)

Now, do you understand more about what Vertigo is and what my vertigo feels like?

If you suffer from vertigo, do you have similar experiences or is your experience different?

The Fay Farm CBD Muscle Rub – Review and Give Away!

On By WendyIn Chronic Illness, Pain18 Comments

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“This is a sponsored post for The Fay Farm CBD Warming Muscle Rub. I have been compensated through the Chronic Illness Bloggers network. All opinions remain my own and I was in now way influenced by the company.”

I’ve never had a review or give away on my blog before, but when The Fay Farm asked me to try their Warming CBD Muscle Rub I thought, “Hey, that sounds really interesting!  I bet my readers would love it.”

The rub was created by the co-owner for his mother who has Rheumatoid Arthritis, he told me that has allowed her to sleep through the night.  I thought that was pretty cool, and so very nice.

I received my package a little over a month ago and I’ve been giving the Warming CBD Muscle Rub a try.  I had been out for a bit the day I got the package and my neck was causing me a lot of pain, so I decided to try it out right away.  I was very shocked when I put it on and the pain got better.  Did it go away?  No.  But it got better!  That’s a big thing for me.

I have degenerative discs in my neck, it has really been acting up lately and the pain from it has been more intense than normal.  The pain is sharp, burning, stinging; all kinds of fun.  It also causes the muscles surrounding that area to become very tense, of course intensifying the pain.  The rub worked very well on the muscle pain, the pain right at the discs bit.

CBD oil is a key ingredient in cannabis (marijuana). Unlike THC (the ingredient in cannabis that gets you “high”), CBD does not cause a ‘high’. While this makes CBD a poor choice for recreational users, it gives the chemical a significant advantage as a medicine.  CBD can come from regular cannabis plants or plants harvested for hemp.  The CBD oil that comes from hemp is legal. The CBD oil that comes from regular cannabis plants is not legal in most states.  The CBD oil found in The Fay Farm Warming Muscle Rub is hemp oil.  Read more about Hemp Oil, here.

The organic ingredients are Sunflower, castor, herb- infused olive oil, beeswax, shea butter, menthol, camphor, 50mg CBD oil, cayenne pepper, arnica, essntial oils of rosemary, eucalyptus, peppermint, ginger, cassia, and clove.

From the ingredients I saw that most have some properties that can help relieve pain, like arnica and the cayenne pepper, ect.  I’ve tried Arnica and things like Icy Hot, Capsacium cream or Tiger Balm… and thought they didn’t help as much as this CBD Muscle Rub..  During the past month I’ve tried Arnica and Tiger Balm again just to make sure, and yes The Fay Farm’s Warming CBD Muscle Rub does help me more than either of those.  I even tried my prescription Voltaren Gel and felt the warming CBD rub helped more. I can really smell the cloves and other essential oils.  Some might find the smell a bit strong, but I found it much more pleasant than things like Icy Hot.  (I have to note here, I’m very sensitive to smells, this is a bit strong to me, but it isn’t artificial or really stinky, I haven’t had a problem with it.  Hubby says it’s a light sent, he also agrees it’s not offensive.  We both kinda like the smell.)

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The rub is softer in viscosity than I thought it would be just looking at it. I thought it would have the consistency of petroleum jelly, but it is softer, smoother.  When I first got it I put my fingers in to get some and I got a lot more than I intended.    Now that I know the consistency it is very easy for me to use.  I’m glad it doesn’t come in a tube because I never feel like I get all of the ingredients out of a tube, and if I happen to get too much on my finger I just scrape my finger over the side and put it back in the tin.  You can’t do that with a tube.

Will it work for you, well only you can decide that, and since you are one of my readers you can receive 10% off your entire order and free shipping (in the U.S. only) by mentioning “Picnic” or “Ants” in the comments when you order you products!  (When you add everything you want in your basket, just add ‘picnic’ or ‘ants’ in the comment section of the order form and you will get 10% off.)  Yes, you get to take 10% off your whole order, not just CBD products, and the offer doesn’t expire.  How cool is that??

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They sent me a normal size and 2 sample sizes so I thought I’d share with 2 of you.  I’m giving away two (2) .5 oz sample containers of The Fay Farm’s Warming CBD Muscle Rub.  If you’d like to receive one of them, just leave me a comment and I’ll randomly pick the 2 names. (if you’d like to leave a comment but don’t want to enter, please let me know) That’s all there is to it.  You have until April 29th to enter and I’ll announce the winner on May 1st.  (sorry but this give away is only available to those in the continental US.)

I’ll also send the winners an email.  Do not leave your email in your comment, I will get it from the information you supplied the first time you made a comment.  If you don’t get an email, you can always check back here.

If I do not hear from the winners by May  6th, alternate winners will be picked.

I hope you enjoy the rub as much as I have, or more!