Wow. Everything's going my way! How can this be? I'm still puzzling over that.
A few years ago I hit a rough patch with all sorts of things. Mostly this ended up being two terrible things - glaucoma and rheumatoid arthritis. The RA swept through so fast that before I knew it, my right knee was destroyed, and some other places weren't doing well. And that really wasn't the end of it. One can die of RA, and it really looked like that was going to happen. A doctor in Dallas actually recommended that I go on a 30 day fast, and after that I didn't eat a mouthful of food for weeks. And guess what? I went into remission. And I was 38 lbs thinner. Still my right knee was already lost, and I had to have a total knee replacement.
Why did glaucoma happen at the same time? Well, it has something to do with both of these illnesses being autoimmune disorders. I had gone over some cliff with autoimmune. Was all this because of my sins? I wondered. Probably. And I was allergic to the glaucoma eye drops. All except one. I had a big advantage with glaucoma, which is having unusually thick corneas.
I was told that total blindness would result if one quits taking the drops for as long as a month. Isn't there any other way? I had read that carbamide reduces intraocular pressure, and can be taken by over the counter supplements. It's also in urine, and some have used urine therapy for this purpose. So one day during some VA crisis, there were no eye doctors at the VA, and I had no more eye drops for several months. I took carbamide and was successful with control of glaucoma.
Then I got cocky and quit both eye drops and carbamide for about a year and a half. I sensed alarm at the eye clinic. They didn't actually say it, but things might not be OK. Well, I wasn't blind.
And now? I have been doing something right. I'm not sure what. I reduced carbohydrates to about 10 per day, and went almost totally carnivore. I quit eating all dairy. Even butter, except for ghee. I take 2000 mg of niacin a day, mostly because it improves arthritis. I eat natto. I have been fasting every other day, just for the experimental value I suppose.
About three weeks ago I had transferred to a different VA clinic in another county. The last straw with the old clinic was that my prescription for headache medicine had been cancelled by the new doctor. No discussion. I decided to quit the clinic and see another doctor and get the headache medicine there. They had been giving me two a day, which helped, but I often wished it were five. However, it had been nearly impossible to get two. This medicine was nice because it also helped with pain in general. Lately all the doctors in the country have quit prescribing pain medicine, even in extreme cases, so having pain relief in some form was a godsend.
Yesterday I had my first appointment at the new VA clinic that I transferred to. They surprised me and offered to check my eye pressure and do photos of my retinas. This isn't usually done at a regular checkup, except at this particular clinic. Intracular pressure: 11. Perfectly normal. I was astonished. No eye drops. No carbamide.
The nurse tested my temperature, weight, and blood pressure. I had lost 22 lbs, and my blood pressure was 107/67. For some odd reason, she quizzed me about my sexual orientation, giving me several options. I refused to answer on the basis of the stupidity of the question. I saw the doctor, who turned out to be my former doctor from my former clinic. He mentioned that he had gone to live in Nashville, Tennessee but, "Now I'm back," he said. I bit my tongue, wondering why he left and why he returned. "However, the other clinic had no openings, so I took the opening at this clinic." "This is a nicer town anyway," I said. "Yes, it is." He quizzed me about my marital status, explaining that it was necessary for the record. "Widowed." Then we went on to discuss prescriptions. "It's the strangest thing," he said. "The way the VA is divided up in this state, the other clinic is in a completely separate system, and I have no access to your medical chart from that clinic." Oh really?? I thought. Then he won't know my prescription was cancelled. I asked for my headache medicine refill, and he quickly agreed, remembering the headache issue. I went on to ask for three pain patches instead of two per day. "Oh, three headache pills a day would be OK." This was music to my ears. I hadn't asked for that, but that made my day, which had already been going great.
And so things went well. Why? I'm not sure. To celebrate I went to the barbecue restaurant. This restaurant is half the reason I think this is a better city. Excellent barbecue ribs.
That's Tuesday in Paradise.
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