"When you exhaust all possibilities remember this: You haven't." ~ Thomas Edison

November 23, 2015

Fighting Nausea with Ginger Products!

Well, it turns out that Cartman was wrong. There is nothing wrong with being ginger.

I have been totally ging-ified for several years now, because, it turns out, ginger is one of my most effective medicines.

Since I have gastroparesis, one of my biggest and most debilitating symptoms is chronic nausea. And I do many different things to try and manage it (look to a future post for that one), but my absolute favorite is ginger.

Ginger. Ginger. Ginger. And more ginger.

Now, if you’re like “Oh, I’ve tried ginger ale and it doesn’t do much.” Well, odds are, you’re drinking the average mass marketed ginger ale, like Schwepps or Gosling, which means you’re actually not getting real ginger ale. You’re getting carbonated sugar water with artificial ginger taste. And sometimes carbonated sugar water can help, because of the bubbles, but you’re not getting the benefit of ginger.

Ginger is kind of a miracle plant. It has a lot of healing properties and, most importantly for spoonies with nausea, it aids digestion and soothes the stomach. So when you’re looking for something to really help your tummy aches, you want some real, honest-to-goodness ginger. And the best part is that, unlike most medicines, there are really no bad side effects to consuming ginger.

So now the question is, how do I get this ginger into my body? Well, after many years of trying just about every ginger product available in the continental U.S., I am here to share my favorite products! [Read more…]

September 1, 2015

Eating Gluten Free in a Holiday Home

Renting a place (whether that’s Airbnb or a chalet somewhere) is the easiest way to make sure you have gluten-free options on holiday. Unfortunately, there’ve been other people in that rental before you & they might not share your dedication to avoiding gluten cross-contamination.

Here’s what I do to make sure I can eat safely in a rented kitchen.

It starts before you leave, really. You’ll want to bring some (dish) towels to make sure you’ve got something that’s gluten-free to clean up with in the first place. If the place you’re renting comes with linen included, make sure it’s cleaned by a dry cleaners, because they put everything in sealed plastic bags. The last thing you want is finding those clean towels sitting on the worktops in the kitchen when you walk in. [Read more…]

December 14, 2014

Mental Health

Chronic illness is BIG—really big—and as such, can wreak some serious havoc on your mental health. A good attitude certainly isn’t going to cure you, but it’ll help you stay engaged with your life and treatment, and make everything a lot easier. So, as you work on physical health problems, be sure to take some time to tend to your feelings as well.

If you’re sick enough to have sought out this guide, please start by looking into your options for counseling. A lot of people assume that counseling is for people with diagnosed mental conditions, but that’s not true—it can be helpful to anyone who needs to think something over or process something that’s going on in their life. Setting up regular appointments with a counselor (at least for a bit) can be very helpful; it forces you to “check in” with yourself at regular intervals, and gives you a space where you can focus on problem-solving of a more personal and internal nature. [Read more…]

"When you exhaust all possibilities remember this: You haven't." ~ Thomas Edison

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