THE INFLUENZA SMACKDOWN

Sick as a dog.

That's what I've been.

Where in the world did that come from?

I was doing a little better pain-wise. It had been rough lately and I was hoping for a little reprieve. 

Not so fast.

It started as a couple of sneezes and a some sniffles. It didn't take long for me to start feeling like crapola and thus I entered the whiny stage of the past few weeks. Oh, who am I kidding?  I hate feeling weak and sick. I can handle the pain business but when you put the flu on top of Fibromyalgia....well......it isn't pretty.

We have enough trouble with muscle aches and spasms. 

Like I always say.....

Let's add a tiara.

Anyway, I was in a curled-up-in-a-ball-go-away-world-and-leave-me-alone frame of mind so I haven't wanted to do anything...even write. I'm not well yet and I'm on the second round of antibiotics. One of the fun things about the flu is the secondary infections. I hate taking antibiotics because they have a weird effect on me. The only way I can describe it is that I feel kind of other-worldly. It's not truly dizzy because I'm not actually swirling but it's weird.

By the way, where did the phrase "sick as a dog" come from? Why use the pups?

I think the dogs get a bum rap.

Let's see......

Sick as a dog.....

Dog tired......

Every dog has its day....

Go to the dogs......

Wait.....that's actually a comforting thought.

Buster-Boo-Boo, I'm coming back to bed.

PARSLEY, SAGE OREGANO AND THYME

I love oregano.

I'm finding out some interesting things.

It's just not for cooking anymore.

I saw a post of Facebook about the healing properties of Oregano. I like to look at alternative methods and it sounded interesting.

It's also about safety.

I've always known that natural doesn't always mean it's safe. It also doesn't mean that it won't interact with medications that we may take. It's always good to look up the medication or supplement to make sure about the dosage and if any foods taken with it can cause any problems.

Just look at what grapefruit can do.

Anyway, some research has been done on oregano oil. Dr. Harry Preuss, MD and professor of physiology at Georgetown tested oregano oil on the staphylococcus bacteria and found that the oil inhibited the growth as effectively as the antibiotics did. British researchers have also found it to be effective for about 25 different bacteria. 

It's touted to be anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, an anti-allergan and a natural pain killer.

Another article had to do with the bacteria that is responsible for food poisoning due to inadequate cooling in the retail food service. Oregano oil was found to inhibit the bacteria and reduces the risk of growth in ground turkey. 

If this can be used to inhibit bacterial growth it could be very useful to strains that are becoming resistant to antibiotics.

Sage, on the other hand, can be toxic.

Is that what Simon and Garfunkel sang??

Oh yeah......

Rosemary....

The title sounds good though.......

Just be careful what you use.

THE WARM BATH EXPERIMENTATION

I like to keep up on the latest research.

I found a neat article about...

wait for it.....

warm water exercise.

That got my attention. Warm water exercise improves Fibromyalgia symptoms and quality of life.  I'm in for that. I didn't get the exercise part unless it was jumping up and down in the spa but....I kept reading.

The study involved about sixty female patients that had Fibromyalgia.

Right after the study concluded they had improved in areas like pain intensity, fatigue and morning tiredness. They concluded that hydrotherapy improved "sleep quality, physical function, professional status, psychological disorders and physical symptoms in patients with Fibromyalgia." 

Oh really??

Can you tell me what professional status has to do with it? Also, it just happened to sneak in there psychological disorders. It is really, really annoying how persistent this psychological, excuse the expression, bull-crapola keeps rearing its ugly little head. Is it basically saying that unresolved childhood issues manifest itself in physical pain??

Science is proving that the pain pathways are altered.

However, some studies still want to imply that it's all in our heads.

I just love the words.

Hydrotherapy.

Warm water exercise.

Basically what there saying is.....

it's not that bad.....

go take a bath and call me in the morning.