When in Oregon

I grew up in Oregon but have not visited since 2010. T and I went out there for two weeks after I graduated college as his gift to me. It was a really nice visit, even though we had to see family that I didn’t much care to see.

I’m sure Uncle Jim doesn’t realize how harmful his words were that Thanksgiving he brought food over for my grandma but not for my sister and me. We missed turkey day at his place because I was throwing up. I wanted to stay home and sis wanted to stay home to take care of me. Grandma freaked out and, in a huff, decided we wouldn’t go at all.

There are so many reasons I don’t talk to most of my family.

Anyway, I really haven’t had a reason to be back, seeing as I couldn’t make my ten-year reunion earlier this year. I have had a few friends I wanted to visit, but not enough to spend money on a ticket just for that when I’m not working.

You can read more about why I was there over on Chronic Sex. I’m sensitive to the fact that not everyone is interested in my adventures as a budding sex educator and icon (not my words).

One thing that has come about in Oregon is the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.

One thing I had never tried, despite growing up in Oregon? Pot.

I visited a dispensary whose website was really focused on helping those of us dealing with pain in addition to the average consumer. When I told the gal I had no idea what I was doing there – and explained – she really took to educating me a lot about pot and the various products there are for pain relief.

I picked up a salve – which I threw out because it smelled a lot danker than the test model in the store – and some edibles. Edibles are when pot has been put into another item like candy or brownies.

When I was sure that I was done traveling around for the night, I ordered some pizza and popped an edible.

The only effect I really noticed was feeling loose and maybe a little giggly. Mostly, though, I was tired and probably should have tried this not at my internal clock’s midnight.

Enjoying the soft sheets was definitely a highlight, too. I live-tweeted a bit of this first try which was fun.

I did have a nightmare that felt very real. However, the way I handled it was much differently than I have sober. I woke up, texted T (who I knew was likely still asleep), and then snuggled back down and went back to sleep.

I didn’t stay up crying or freaking out at all.

The next night, I set up a lot earlier for my foray into pot. I made some food, worked on packing a little bit, and continued my habit of watching Adult Swim.

Last night, I slept like a goddamned baby. I got the longest uninterrupted sleep I have had in a very long time. I was comfortable, cozy, and enjoying texting my loved ones positive and affirming things.

I felt very grounded, very sure of myself, and very present. I also felt like I was owning some of the positive things my friends have said about me and the work I do. I really began to feel like I was important and that it was okay to accept these compliments.

That’s not something that I’ve really been able to do before this trip.

My body slowly became comfortably numb. The few pains I had dissipated. My body felt loose in a positive way.

I really didn’t feel any mind-altering stuff at all.

This is because of the kind of edible I got. It had 5 parts CBD to 3 parts THC. For those of you unfamiliar with pot-lingo, THC is what gets you high. CBD, though, doesn’t; it decreases anxiety and short-term memory issues – along with having amazing pain-relief benefits. It’s known to have anti-inflammatory properties, too.

I consumed something much more medicinal than recreational, though it was available without a medical card – which still is a thing you need for some of the stronger stuff.

So, what’s my verdict?

It’s hard to give a full verdict when I have been having less pain lately, etc. I recognize that I cannot necessarily say exactly how much pain was relieved through my using pot two nights in a row.

I did get a little sick to my stomach, having to visit the bathroom a bit more often. The second night, I really got hit hard with that pot taste in my edible and nearly threw up because of it.

I had fewer side effects with pot than I have had with opiates. I was less high with pot than with opiates.

If people want to look at cracking down on opiates for chronic pain, they need to begin offering us an alternative. Frankly, pot seems like it could be one for some of us. Maybe someday, when Scott Walker is no longer in power in Wisconsin, they will join the states around them and – and the very least – allow us to have medical marijuana. If they do, I will probably be one of the first people to sign up.

Until then, I know that I will have ways to manage my pain when traveling to states like Oregon, Washington, and Colorado for conferences and more.

Is pot legal where you are, at least medically? Have you used it for pain relief? What did YOU think?

Review: The Healthcare Cure

This is a book review of The Healthcare Cure: How Sharing Information Can Make the System Work Better by Jeff Margolis. I was not compensated in any way for this review.
 
If you’ve ever wanted to understand how the healthcare system works, systems thinking, and more, this is a book you need to pickup. The first part of the book goes over current-state and the problems we encounter in healthcare.
It’s also a great primer on the economics of healthcare, something that people tend to pay big money to better understand.
Terms are defined so that even some of the most complicated parts of healthcare are understandable. Comparisons to the auto industry, parables, and more are made.
In chapter 5, the author goes over the perspectives of all involved in healthcare – consumers, providers, employers, brokers. One could argue that this doesn’t necessarily touch everyone in healthcare and they’d be right, but this works for the author’s purpose.
After going over key terms and explaining the current-state of the system, the author begins to talk about what he sees as the cure: Integrated Healthcare Management (IHM). One reassurance Margolis gives us that we need right now is that IHM will be achievable even if the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act bites the dust.
IHM helps to further what we patients want – better decision-making opportunities supported by our healthcare teams, eliminating unneeded variation in our care, and making the whole system run more smoothly.
I can tell you this is what providers and administrators want, too. The system is so broken and no one is happy with it.
What is IHM?
It’s a form of healthcare that helps to promote better health and quality of care over more care in general. By helping to eliminate the silos within the system, we will be able to better participate in our own care. With the silos gone, it also helps us access our data! And, ideally for Margolis, healthcare plans would be customizable according to what we need.
I’m not sure about that last part. Sure, it would be nice for me to not have to pay for prenatal coverage knowing that I’ll probably not have kids, but what happens if I do get pregnant then? Insurance plans generally don’t let you change quickly enough to get the right coverage. Plus, frankly, I don’t mind paying for that coverage because I know it helps cover those who do utilize those services.
Really, though, IHM helps us all to focus on the same thing – value. Right now, each piece is focused on different things.
I fear, though, that with the new administration coming in, this won’t be anywhere near the focus for our healthcare system… especially because it will eliminate overhead and unneeded spending.
Some of the personal responsibility touched on in the last chapter was… unnerving, mostly because it was ableist in nature. Yes, taking responsibility for our day-to-day health and the like will lead to better healthcare outcomes, etc, but that leaves out those of us who can’t get in front of our health fun and the like.
Sure, it helps for us to take care of ourselves, too, but we have to do that to stay alive – not for better outcomes.
All in all, I found this book to be an informative look at what is currently ailing our healthcare system and a potential for a cure. Like many other purported cures, this needs much more research and tweaking.
Favorite quotes:
“Not only are we humans unable to access our medical records when needed, there is also a tremendous degree of variation in the treatment we receive, even among people with the same conditions and similar health backgrounds. Treatment of humans… is not consistently based on ‘best practices’ (the treatment that research has shown to be most effective for a particular condition given a patient’s age, overall health and family history of disease). Studies shoe that although healthcare experts have researched and documented best practices for a wide variety of medical conditions, patients often receive treatment that is different from what is proven to be most effective.” (38)
“Hoping that other people are going to solve the healthcare crisis for us, either at a national, or individual level, is not a plan.” (195)

 

Review – Chronic Christmas: Surviving the Holidays with a Chronic Illness by Lene Andersen

When my pal Lene asked me to review her book, Chronic Christmas: Surviving the Holidays with a Chronic Illness, I was like YES. It took me a while to get to it because I haven’t been as good at priorities lately – or, perhaps, I’ve been too good. After all, part of it was cause I was doing self-care stuff.
The whole point of Chronic Christmas can be boiled down to these great lines from the intro:
Each chapter will start out with a section dedicated to you, the reader who has a chronic illness, sharing something you can do to help yourself enjoy the season. And then there will be another section for those who’d like to help you, with some tips along the same theme (Kindle Locations 50-52).
So much of the time, items are for us OR our loved ones. There is little to no crossover which, frankly, is sad. We need more of those kinds of things that we can enjoy with our loved ones or share with them without any empathy or compassion training needed.
In addition to recommendations such as online shopping for us sick peeps, Lene weaves in ideas like our friends helping us out by going shopping with us or even for us. She even includes family recipes that look heavenly.
One of my favorite parts is where Lene talks gifts – specifically what our non-ill pals can get us for holidays. Gift certificates, subscription boxes, books, and even helping with our medical expenses make the list. We often don’t think of giving gift cards like those pre-loaded Visa cards, but I can’t help but think that those would be so much more helpful for us than our loved ones know.
I mean, I’d likely wind up buying the guinea pigs fun things, but they are a part of my life with illness, too. They aren’t as expensive as other pets, but they sure do love to eat!
In the end, what Lene gives us is a sense of hygge, or that coziness that comes with connection, love, and support. To truly do this, we must embrace how things are (or good enough) while learning to ask for and receive help.

 

Oska Pulse: My New Best Friend

I have been given this product as part of a product review through the Chronic Illness Bloggers network. Although the product was a gift, all opinions in this review remain my own and I was in no way influenced by Oska Wellness.

 

 

The Oska Pulse is one of the coolest devices I have had the pleasure of testing, and that’s not just because of its story.

 

Oska is actually named after a koala!

 

picture of a koala, close up of the face - he appears to be smiling as he is hanging onto a branch

 

Oscar had been injured in a brush fire in Queensland, Australia. His wounds weren’t healing and he was in a lot of pain. They weren’t sure that the little guy was going to make it.

 

As a last resort, the treating vet used a device a friend had that utilized electromagnetic fields to help with healing. They placed the device next to Oscar. He began to sleep through the night without whimpering in pain – and his skin finally started responding to antibiotics and began to dry and heal.

 

Eventually, Oscar was able to go back into the wild.

 

Shirley Hawker, one of the founders of Oska, was so touched that she wanted to name the Pulse after this little guy. To make it sound more Australian, though, they named is Oska.

 

Now that we’ve had our daily dose of cute…

 

What is the Oksa Pulse?

 

The Oska Pulse is a portable pain-relieving device that uses pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) to do its job. There are four frequencies used concurrently during operation. Each one of these helps with a different task – easing muscle pain, aiding in bone repair, dilation the capillaries, and reducing pain. All of these tasks also help with recovering from injuries, too, making the Pulse a great way to tackle both short- and long-term health issues.

 

One of the things I love about Oska Wellness as a company is that they have a ton of journal articles and research on their site for your perusal. These talk about the benefits of PEMF technologies for joint pain, recovery time, muscle pain, and more.

 

This runs for half an hour at a time. Unlike products that have to directly touch your skin via electrodes, though, you can just turn this right back on and don’t need to let your skin rest.

 

 

It comes with a strap that the device can slide in, a charger, and a very comprehensive guide.
 

 

Okay, that’s fascinating and all, but does it actually work?

 

YES.

 

A few months ago, I started getting trigger point injections. After the first set, I was in a crapload of pain once the lidocaine wore off. I had to take some of my very few opiates left over from my bursitis adventure last January.

 

It was awful.

 

A couple of sets in, I received my Oska Pulse. I figured that a great way to test this out was to see if it helped post-injections.

 

And it did.

 

Is it like a TENS?

 

Not at all!

 

You don’t get zaps or zings with the Oska Pulse. It’s also pretty quiet, though you may hear a light buzz.

 

This isn’t really a device for breakthrough pain like a TENS is. The Oska Pulse aims to prevent pain from happening in the first place. With that said, I had to start using this a few days before my injections so that I knew that it would be effective.

 

 

I’ve been using my Oska Pulse nearly daily since then. It has greatly reduced the amount of pain that I experience in my upper back, shoulder, and neck – my worst body parts. I have used it on bruises which have healed more quickly than usual – which is good since, between my anemia and clumsiness, I’m great at getting random bruises.

 

Is it worth it?

 

At about $400, the Oska Pulse is pricey. This is competitively priced when compared with some of the other PEMF devices, which can cost upwards of $6,000! It’s also a lot more mobile than the other guys, which can wind up looking like a giant car battery.

 

No, thank you!

 

My Oska Pulse is perfect for me – lightweight, easy to handle, and incredibly powerful. Add in that it comes with the strap, making it easy to use wherever on the body?

 

 

I’m head over heels for it.
 

 

If you’re interested in snagging the Oska Pulse, click here and use the coupon code ‘NSSD’ to receive a $55 discount! 

 

Make sure to visit Oska Wellness on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in addition to their website.

 

Update: Oska has conducted a clinical study and found that Oska Pulse reduces pain and increases mobility! Click here to read more.

 

 

Dear Younger Self…

Write a letter to your younger self, thank them for any wise decisions that led you to where you are today. If you’re not pleased with where your decisions have led you, thank your younger self for being brave enough to take chances, even if they didn’t pan out as you’d hoped they would.
 
How did you feel about yourself and your life after writing this?
Dear Lil K,
There is so much that I wish I could tell you. Even though some of that might help you avoid shitty situations, they might lead you down a road where I am not ‘me.’
Oh, it’s super cool to use curse words like shit. Do it a lot.
Thank you for pushing, for making it through so much so far. I hate to tell you that there is still more coming but know that you will make it through.
Thank you for doing what you had to in order to survive, even though some of it makes you feel like an awful human being because you were complacent and even took part in abuse.
Thank you for staying true to yourself when you could, though, and speaking up about how people did unspeakable things.
Thank you for writing, for using the skills that you have to talk as loud as you can. It doesn’t usually pay (yet), but it helps change minds and support others.
Thank you for moving to Wisconsin. I know you weren’t enthused about it, BUT SNOW. Also, this leads to you meeting a dude you marry and that’s pretty badass. Don’t give up on him, even if you feel like you’re not worthy.
You are.
 
Thank you for sticking by your sister. It is the best decision you have ever made. I’m sure some of this will defy the rules of time-travel/self-communication, but she has two kids and they are amazing. They think the world of you, just like their momma.
These four people? They need you.
Thank you for being brave. At first, it might only be for them, but soon it becomes for you.
Thank you for staying, for pushing away that idea that you could end your pain.
Thank you for fighting. It’s something that comes to you naturally, but it becomes even more vital than I can explain to you right now.

 

Study Alert: Chronic Pain and Relationships

You have the opportunity to help researchers at the University of New Brunswick conducting a study understand how chronic pain conditions interfere with relationships!
This study is designed to help understand how pain/health issues affect people’s views of themselves as eligible, valuable romantic partners, as some of UNB’s ongoing research suggests people beliefs about their worth as a potential partner is used as a reason to defer dating/staying single despite a desire for a partner. They think it’s possible CP contributes to feelings of shame, perceptions of low self-esteem and relationship competency, and low satisfaction in relationships via pain’s contributions to physical limitations and mental health symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety).
If you are Canadian and at least 18 years old, or American and at least 21 years old, you are eligible to participate. Since the questionnaires can be done online, the study is open to all consenting adults.
In the questionnaires, you will be asked for a little bit of information about you (e.g., age, gender), any persistent health conditions you may experience, your relationships, and your feelings about yourself. It will take 30- 45 minutes to complete the questionnaires. Participation is voluntary and all information you choose to share will be kept confidential. All participants will be entered into a drawing to receive a $10 honorarium (i.e., a gift card) for their time.
If you are interested in learning more about the study please go to the study website at https://survey.psyc.unb.ca/HealthAndRelationships.aspx or contact Lyndsay Crump (doctoral student in clinical psychology), Rehabilitation Psychology Research Laboratory (University of New Brunswick) at rehablabUNB@gmail.com.
Please note that getting more information about this study does not obligate you to participate. This project has received ethics approval from the University of New Brunswick (REB 2015-120).

 

Thanks, 2016: What I’m Thankful For So Far This Year (I Guess)

There are a lot of things that I’m angry about right now, that aren’t the way they should be. Nazis measuring curtains for their new digs come January.
Thanks, Giphy!
But, okay, I’m going to take a minute away from the constant conversations on social media and via text with my pals to think about what I’m grateful for.
Sure.
Um.
Okay.
Chronic Sex has really taken off. In a few weeks, I will be heading to the Pacific Northwest to put on some workshops with my pal and colleague Kate McCombs.
The fact that we’re pals alone is just mind boggling because we are essentially a perfect match as far as friends go. Kate jokes that, if someone wanted to catfish her, I would be the setup.
I love it and I am beyond thankful for our friendship and the genuine connection we have.
I presented on sex and relationships with the 18+ peeps at the Juvenile Arthritis Conferences this year, a part of Chronic Sex getting up and going.
Chronic Sex was also named one of the ‘top 100 sex blogging superheroes of 2016‘ by Kinkly.
I am grateful that the career I’m making for myself is seemingly taking off far faster than I expected it to.
I got to meet Joe Biden, who loved my t-shirt and took a selfie on my phone.
Gawd, I love him and I am so grateful to have gotten a brief conversation with him. He’s amazing.
Kenzie gave me a new nickname – whimsical unicorn warrior. I’m grateful that we have gotten closer as friends, causing trouble and laughter in our wake.
‘I am not my identity’
I came out as genderqueer and pansexual, both things that I hadn’t really been able to articulate until recently. It’s really nice to be (mostly) fully me. It helps with the vulnerability that I’ve been wanting to maintain.
I have been able to attend great conferences and travel. I’ve been to New York, Toronto, Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and (soon) back to the PNW – and that’s all for work! T and I took a bit of a road trip to drive his old car from Wisconsin to California for my sister which took us through states neither of us had been through before.
We lost our Oreo. It has been one of the hardest things T and I have been through together. Oreo was our sick baby and I wish with all my heart that he was here, squeaking around and poking Jaq in the butt.
His death has forced me to confront the fear of death that I have that has frozen me in the past. It has forced me to confront what I might think I know about the afterlife after literally seeing him running around our apartment after he passed.
I’m grateful that he passed after I quit my day job. I don’t know that I could have handled it with having to work, etc. That alone was its own adventure and something that has helped me grow immensely.
I have learned what I want to do with my life and what I won’t tolerate. My creation of boundaries and deal-breakers in friendships and other relationships has gotten better – and I’m sticking to them better.
I’m grateful to have seen Hamilton on Broadway. It was an amazing night and there is so much to be said for seeing it in person. I’ve also visited Hamilton’s grave as well as the house he had built and only lived in two years before his death.
I’ve navigated around New York City, Los Angeles, and other large cities by myself. I’ve beat the idea that was pounded into my head growing up that I would be a moving target and far too trusting – that I would die in a big city.
And, despite the election, I got my ability to fight back. I have an amazing support system, full of family, friends, and colleagues. We all fight and stand for the same things and we all have each other’s backs. This is the thing that I am grateful for most of all – the ability of people who have been through the shittiest things to come together and fight, not only for themselves but also for others.
Even though it ends on a more somber note, 2016 has been an okay year. It is a year of growth and change.
I just hope that we can use our power to fight to move the change in a better direction, one that sees me writing this post next year without censoring, injury, and losing so many I care about just because they’re not white, rich, cishet men.

 

Quell: is it all it’s cracked up to be?

I have been given this product as part of a product review through the Chronic Illness Bloggers network. Although the product was a gift, all opinions in this review remain my own and I was in no way influenced by Neurometrix/Quell.

 

 

I’ve been playing with my Quell since I got back from my California trip at the end of September. Even though that’s a long time, I still haven’t gotten to play with this to the extent I would like to so far, like with my back spasms.
What is Quell?
Quell works by electrically stimulating sensory nerves to carry neural pulses to the brain, which help to block pain signals within the body. Each pain-relief session lasts for an hour and the device can automatically turn on again after another hour if you’re still wearing it. There are two different kinds of electrodes – normal and sport. The sport is ideal when using in warmer weather or in situations where sweating is happening as it absorbs a lot less of the moisture from our bodies or environments.
The Quell is, according to their site, approximately 5x stronger than other over-the-counter tens-unit devices, too, meaning that the pulse hitting your leg can get pretty dang strong. One of the things that is difficult to get used to is that the intensity of the device within the first two minutes grows.
 
Fear not, though! There’s an app for that!
This app totally puts total control of the device in the palm of your hands, helping you to control and adjust the intensity of the Quell, track usage, and remind you to take the device off when your skin needs a break. It can also help track your sleep if you wear the device to bed.
As for helping with widespread pain, I’m not entirely sure about that one. I have certainly experienced a lot of relief in some symptoms, but these are mostly from my feet up to maybemy hips. I haven’t had the thought to put this on during the worst of my lower back pain as this happens during spasms and I can’t really move, let alone snag this from potentially another room and put it on. I’m definitely going to aim to try to test this out, though, the next time T and I are together at home and my back freezes up.

 

The bulk of my pain is very localized right now in the upper back/neck/shoulder regions. The Quell doesn’t really help me with that but does help my lower body pain. The amazing relief that I receive specifically in the knee I place the electrode under? It’s magic. I’m limping a lot less and able to handle stairs with more ease within the past few months, meaning this has helped my inflammatory diseases as well as my patellofemoral arthralgia.
It fits under most clothing pretty well, though jeans in the women category tend to be tighter in the calf. You can usually see that I have something interesting on my leg
This has turned flying into much less of a pain for me because I get relief from my hustle through the airport in addition to relief on the plane. The app comes in extremely handy here, too, as I can easily pump up the intensity when I have had to hustle in order to relieve the pain in my calves and/or knees.
It’s worth it just for how much flying I’ve done lately. Still, it helps make trips to the grocery store and other mundane, everyday things more bearable, too. I’ve been able to be a lot more active recently, even on days my lower body initially feels awful.
I can’t say that it will help with all-over body pain for all of us, especially when it hasn’t necessarily done so for me. However, if you have knee problems and can afford this product, it could definitely help.
 
Want to learn more? Visit the Quell official site. They are running some sales through November 28th with free shipping over $75 in the lower 48 US states. You could also find these on location in Walgreens, CVS, and Target stores or online with Amazon, Bed Bath and Beyond, and more.

 

Love and Support #HAWMC

Today’s Health Activist Writing Month Challenge prompt: What has been the highlight of your health activist journey? We want to hear all about it, perhaps a conference, a podcast or meeting a fellow HA. What made this experience so special?
I feel so blessed. There are, truly, too many highlights to count. Every single day I am lucky enough to be reminded of why I do this work and why I fight hard.
In April this year, I was able to attend HealtheVoices and meet some of my favorite people in the whole world in person. We got to connect and spend time together, learning and teaching each other so much.
Throughout this year, I have been lucky enough to be able to attend several conferences and, whether it is a part of the conference or not, I’ve been able to meet some amazing people across our nation (and in Toronto!). Some of these people are my closest friends and getting to meet them in person means all the world to me.
Going to these conferences and meeting each other gives us a support system. Believe it or not, fighting for others or ourselves or whoever is hard. The work health activists do is not easy work. It is emotionally and sometimes physically demanding. Having a network of people who get it – especially on an intersectional level (LGBT+ subset, etc) – really helps. We help each other, whether that’s due to increased disease activity or emotional burnout or politics or even just needing a friendly ear to listen.
Knowing that we can help each other in the work we do and how much we appreciate each other means a lot. That’s really the highlight for me, especially for not really having a family (as far as parents, etc, go). This semi-orphan appreciates all the love and support I can get.

 

Dealing with Tough Days #HAWMC

Today’s Health Activist Writing Month Challenge prompt: Everyone has tough days, but how do you pull yourself out of the rut? Maybe you blog, repeat affirmations or listen to a favorite playlist. Write about what tools, tips or practices you use to lift your spirits after a rough patch.
I do whatever I can to grab inspiration or laugh.
I listen to Hamilton. I remind myself why I fight for things, because “where I come from, some get half as many” years as I have so far.
Sometimes, though, that doesn’t work or, oddly enough, makes how I’m feeling worse… like right after the election. I don’t think it’s any secret that I’m very anti-Trump. The man is not someone that is a safe person for those of us with disabilities as well as many many others.
I try not to get into politics here, but this isn’t politics as usual.
Still…
Sometimes I just need something that makes me laugh. I watch a lot of adult-themed cartoons like South Park and Bob’s Burgers. Other times, I need something where I just get invested like Cake Wars or other baking/cooking competitions.
Other times, I really really like to get my scare on. American Horror Story or horror films are where it’s at for me. I really enjoy exorcism or asylum-related things or episodes of shows involving ghost hunting.
The guinea pigs sure help, too.
What do you do during a rough day?