Sunday 11 December 2011

Just off the phone with a fellow member of Environmental Health Association of Ontario (EHAO). We are updating our resource book, I agreed to help with a few pages. Hope I am not taking on too much, brain functioning is very iffy this week. Unfortunately. Friday I paid twice for something, luckily the clerk was honest and gave back overpayment. I did not remember paying just minutes before.

Fortunately, yesterday and today my mind feels brighter and clearer than in quite a long while, supplements seem to be helping, and epsom salts baths, plus getting good sleep using CPAP for sleep apnea -machine at night blows air into lungs so when breathing stops (apnea - which mercury poisoning causes) - my body still gets oxygen. Equipment for months was leaky and noisy, interrupting sleep, now replaced with new tubing and mask (I use nasal prongs, very comfortable), it's quiet, sleep much better. Good sleep is so so so so important. Thank goodness for our health system, imperfect as it is, this has literally saved my life.

Speaking of which, gotta go for a nap. Sleep apnea and/or  food reactions due to mercury's allergy/sensitivity-inducing effect means at some point every day at least once I get overwhelmingly sleepy and have to lie down, for up to an hour, to sleep it off. After shopping, even if wearing the R95 respirator (face mask) which reduces exposures and reactions hugely, the next two days usually mean bedrest and these sleepy periods. With severe or prolonged exposure to paint or perfumes or other chemicals I can sleep pretty much around the clock for a few days with no ability to do more than survival functions until it passes. And that's an improvement over 5 years ago, I'd be sick for a week after, e.g., attending my choir's concert. Since CPAP began in the fall of 2009, my recovery time has halved and reactions do not affect my mental state so badly. Which actually has been a problem because my early warning sign that something was affecting me used to be dizziness, anxiety, panic, confusion, aggression; these signs warned me to get fresh air. Now I don't feel it immediately when in the presence of some triggers, but the next day I'm tired, spaced out, lethargic, and the second day post-exposure sinusitis sets in with exhaustion and pain. So I have to remember the chemical dangers in public places even though now I don't feel it right away. Tricky, what  with an Alzheimer's-like effect happening under mercury's malicious meddling with my memory!

I learned only last year to prevent the debilitating sinus infection stage by preventing the nasal passages from being blocked, using nasal rinsing with a neti pot purchased at a yoga studio, which I'd had for years but only used occasionally. What I realized last year that made me ramp up use to daily and up to 3x/day post exposures, was reviewing what happens with allergy reactions:  mucous membranes lining sinuses become inflamed, swell; once swollen, ducts draining sinuses block; once blocked, mucous which carries away debris and bacteria cannot escape thus infection builds. So preventing infection means prevent obstruction by reducing inflammation, by rinsing away allergens a.s.a.p. after exposure. When I've been out, as soon as I get in I do a rinse, on top of routine morning and evening rinses. It makes a HUGE difference, I almost never get infections any more, although still react to all fragrances and get sinus headaches several times a week. That is much more manageable, not as totally energy depleting as infections.

Been fighting off sleepiness to write this, but it is taking over, gotta go. More later.


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