Wakela Runen's World

I am taking part in the A to Z blogging challenge.  This is an interesting challenge in which we blog each day of the month (except Sunday) with a different letter of the alphabet.  So stay tuned to see what I come up with for the rest of the alphabet. Today’s post is brought to you by the letter A.  Autoimmune diseases are something that I know way too much about.  There are many different types.  The first thing to know about autoimmune diseases is that they are genetic.  They are usually passed down through the female line.  Even though a parent has one specific autoimmune disease, it does not necessarily mean that the child will get that same one.  A perfect example would be me and my mom.  My mom was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis at the age of 16.  Her disease is extremely debilitating.  She was in a lot of pain from the onset. Whereas, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and eventually Hashimoto’s Encephalopathy much later in life.  I had signs of Hashimoto

Product Description   Mana Energy Potion Each tiny shot is loaded with 160mg of caffeine and tons of other energy boosters. As much caffeine as two cans of Red Bull® Provides 5-8 hours of smooth energy. No sugar, so no aftercrash. Each six pack contains 6 (duh) 1.69oz bottles   Product Review   The bottles are really cute and I love the labels.  I was a little disappointed though that the Mana Energy Drink logo was printed on the plastic wrapper instead of the bottle.  However, I love the shapes of the bottles. So here I was in the middle of a raid that seemed to be lasting longer then it should have.  We had already wiped a few times and decided to try again.  I was running out of energy though.  So instead of yelling OOM in the raid chat, I decided to take a Mana Potion.  There is no sugar whatsoever in this drink.  It contains tons of vitamins to help get you going.  And of course the all so wonderful caffeine.  I was expecting something bitte

  Product Description   Brush with this toothpaste twice a day and you will stop bad breath, guaranteed! This formula is also great for gum health and nothing is more powerful at fighting cavities . Therabreath Toothpaste is designed to control the anaerobic bacteria that causes bad breath. Buy it today, use it regularly, and you'll breathe easier and smile more often. Product Review   One of the things I inherited from my mom are bad gums.  In fact, when she was pregnant with me, she had to have all her teeth pulled and start wearing dentures.  All because her gums were bad. In the last few years, I have noticed my gums receding and bleeding quite a bit.  It has been rather worrisome for me.  I had tried all the big brand named toothpastes and they just didn’t seem to help. I found out about this toothpaste and approached the company to see if I could try it for my blog.  Thankfully, they agreed. The toothpaste is a thick clear gel.  You don’t need to put much

Product Description   RelaxZen Day   Stress affects the body and mind. RelaxZen works with your body to de-stress your mind, increase your focus and balance your mood. With natural herbs, vitamins and amino acids, there’s never been a better time to live a RelaxZen Life. RelaxZen Night   Sound sleep is the foundation of a healthy life.  A good night's sleep can help with everything from weight control to improving memory.  RelaxZen NIGHT's sleep ingredients help you get the best night's sleep you have ever had.   Product Review   The first thing I did when I received my shipment was to look at the ingredients on the bottles.  The majority of the ingredients I already knew about.  When I saw valerian in the night time drink, I was a little hesitant.   Most of the products that I have tried with valerian either smelled horrible, tasted horrible, or both.  I was pleasantly surprised that neither drink smelled bad at all.  In fact, they smelled nic

Product Description (from TheraBreath website) Our unique Lozenges are unlike any breath mint you have ever tried. They work in three distinct stages to make sure your mouth is fresh, moist, and healthy . This three stage approach is not only unique, but incredibly effective at controlling bad breath odor. Try our Lozenges - we guarantee you have never experienced a mint like this! Stage 1 uses our pleasant citrus mint formula to quickly eliminate any unpleasant flavors or odors in your mouth. Stage 2 uses the power of Zinc, Oxygen, and Xylitol - our clinical strength active ingredients -to attack the germs that cause bad breath. Stage 3 introduces our proprietary salivary agent to eliminate dry mouth and stimulate your body to produce saliva, a powerful germ fighting agent. How To Use This Product Eat a lozenge whenever your mouth feels dry or you experience an unpleasant flavor. Three or four a day should keep your mouth fresh, moist, and free of bad breath.

Today wasn't too bad.  We could have gotten out at a great time, but MRI was pretty far behind.  She didn't take the 6:20pm patient back until 7:15pm.  So that didn't let us leave until shortly after 8pm.  The patients were all rather nice today.  Usually we get at least a few crabby ones.  Not today though.  I am so glad, I was really not in the mood to deal with anything.  Dr. H had made a point of coming up to the front desk to ask how I was feeling.  He had read my CT from the other day.  I told him that I was still hurting and feeling crappy.  I made a point of eating soup yesterday to help ease up on my intestines.  I figured that if I ate soup, it would be easier to digest. Time to head home.  I can't wait!  I got the invite to beta Pirates of the Burning Sea finally.  Now I have to patch it.  I had played a bit during the server load test.  However, I really couldn't stay connected because of the lag.  Hopefully, it will be better now since it is open

It's almost time for me to go to work.  I am really not looking forward to going.  Thankfully, this week has been really slow.  Hopefully, today won't be any different.  I just can't wait for the weekend.  I am feeling crappy still and I just want to chill at home. I ended up going to the doctor yesterday.  He sent me to have a stat CT of the abdomen and pelvis.  He thought that it might be appendicitis.  Thankfully, it wasn't!!  It looks  like I just have some sort of stomach virus that is affecting me worse because of my IBS.

Well, I was sent home from work early today.  I have been having pain in the right upper quadrant of my abdomen (that is on the right side right under the rib cage).  I was worried it might be my gall bladder.  I go to see my doctor tomorrow.  However, its a good thing I work in a diagnostic center.  They went ahead and did an ultrasound and KUB on me today.  I went back and talked to the radiologist as he read the exam.  He said that both exams were normal.  So hopefully, we will find out what is going on tomorrow.

Time to get serious again.   I just got my first Blood Glucose Monitor today.  I am going to start monitoring what I eat and how I feel after eating.  Plus I will be monitoring my blood sugar.  Hopefully, this will get me on track. Since there was a Diabetes Awareness fair going on, I also got tons of literature.  I am only borderline, but I don't want to become Diabetic.  The doctor said that I am right at the cusp.  If I lose weight and watch what I eat, then I will not become diabetic.  However, if I eat wrong and don't lose the weight, then I can become diabetic any day.   

Thirteen Things about Hypothyroidism Since this is one of the things I suffer from, I figured that I would put some facts about it. First off, it helps me because I learn more about it. Secondly, its good information for others to know 1. The thyroid is a small butterfly shaped gland located in the lower part of the neck. 2. Hypothyroidism affects women more often than men at about a 7:1 ratio. 3. About 13 million Americans have this condition and at least another 10 million more are undiagnosed. 4. Those who are hypothyroid are at a greater risk for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic pain disorders and autoimmune dysfunctions. 5. The thyroid gland, which produces the thyroid hormones, is said to be "underactive," because it produces too little thyroid hormone needed for the body to function normally. 6. Inadequate stimulation of cells and organs in the body due to low levels of thyroid hormone causes the symptoms associated with hypothyroidism, which is gener

If you don't know about the spoon theory , you should really read it. Anyway, the past few weeks, I have been sliding downhill real fast. I can barely get out of bed. I can barely move in the morning. I ache from head to toe. I can barely keep anything down in the morning, including my pills. I just want to crawl somewhere and hide right now. I can barely stop crying this morning because of the pain. The doctor's PA told me that it isn't related to my thyroid. So what is it? Why should I be barely able to move? My muscles ache and twitch involuntarily. My face feels so puffy. That I know is from the thyroid. When I do my weekly weigh-ins on Sundays, I also do measurements. My neck is an inch bigger then it was last year. I am thinking that it is because of my thyroid. It feels really uncomfortable to swallow. I just don't feel like I have any energy. I can already tell that today is going to be hell at work. Its going to be a long day that just won'

Ok. I went to the doctor on Thursday, but I just have been too drained to type up about it. The doctor was very happy with the weight that I have lost. Even though when I went to him, I had gained a few back so he didn't get to see me at the full weight loss. Its not that I really gained it back, but I was swollen that day. So I had a ton of water weight gain. By the next morning, the weight gain was gone. Oh well. Anyway, he had me talk to his PA again. She specializes in endocrinology. She had been wanting to put me back on Synthroid for awhile now. So I made a deal with her. I told her that in the past, the had only put me on Synthroid by itself and the main difference that I see between Synthroid and Armour is the T3. So I agreed to go back on Synthroid if and only if she gives me a T3 pill as well. So she gave me a requisition for labs and has agreed to put me on Synthroid and Cytomel. I went yesterday to get the labs drawn. I go back on Thursday to find out the

So I created a facebook account finally. My cousins and a bunch of other family members had accounts already. Its nice and easy for me to keep track of family in other countries because of it. Tonight at work was really bizarre. First off, Z kept talking about her brazilian wax that she had done today. She went into detail about how they do them. Umm... All I have to say is OUCH!! Later, CM and AR heard scurrying noises in the ceiling. Yikes! I don't think I want to know what was making that noise. At least the lights in the parking lot were working tonight. It would have been a bad thing if they were still out. I hate walking out in the dark like that. Tonight was a great episode of NCIS. I can't believe that Gibbs almost died. I am glad that he didn't though. I did go to the website and check out what was in the time capsule though. That was interesting. They really went into a lot of detail on that. I really should go see my doctor. I have been having alot

Well, I totally feel like crap today. I had things to take care of this morning. I ended up running late. They still wanted me to come into work even though I hadn't had a chance to eat all day and it was almost time to close. Grr... Oh well.. I am so tired. My thyroid has been bothering me all day. It feels like there is something roughly the size of a whale lodged in my throat. It is bothersome to eat or drink anything. I am extremely tired today. I don't know why since I slept most of the day yesterday. Oh well.. Tomorrow is another day. Hopefully, I will feel better then.

Wow! Do I ever feel like crap today? I have been sleeping most of the day. I am starting to get a cold and that isn't good. Anyone who knows about autoimmune diseases knows that when we get sick, it attacks our bodies before attacking whatever we are catching. My chest is very congested today. Well, I dragged myself out of bed long enough to post this. I am now going back to bed. I wish I could call in sick tomorrow. Unfortunately, we are down a few people and I can't. Grr!! That is the joys of working in a small office.

I got a call from Krysta last night. She had her surgery yesterday morning. For those of you who do not know, Krysta is my best friend. We have been through tons of stuff together. She has Crohn's disease. For her 30th birthday, she was treated to a "lovely" stay in the hospital and a botched surgery that left her with a colostomy bag. She had been having problems with it ever since. Fast forward to five years later, she finally got an appointment with one of the top colorectal surgeons in this area. He is very hard to get an appointment with. Apparently the reason that she had so much trouble with her colostomy bag is that the doctor who did the surgery really screwed it up. First off, they left too much infected intestine inside. Secondly, they placed the bag in the wrong spot. So she underwent a surgery to fix her that only caused her more pain and suffering. Yesterday morning was her surgery to correct this mishap. The new doctor had told her that he was

I have many people in my life who do not understand how I feel or what I go through on a daily basis. I have finally found the perfect way to show them how I live. I came across a great way of describing my life. Its called the spoon theory . I may not have lupus like the person who wrote it, but I have many other illnesses that debilitate me. I challenge you to expand your vision and read the spoon theory . I read it to my sister DC and she now has a better view of my world.

Well, Sunday's are my weigh in days. I was actually very shocked when I weighed in today. I really thought that I either gained or hadn't lost anything. This week at work was a bear and I know that I cheated a few times. Like when YL went to McDonald's the other day. Not only did I get a chicken caesar salad, but I also got an order of chicken fries. Let's also not forget that VB went to Cold Stone's on Friday. I ended up getting a medium Chocolate Chip Cookie dough with whipped cream on top. Yummy! Anyway, to make a long story short! I lost weight!! OMG!! I lost another 2 pounds! I can't believe it! I have lost a total of 18 pounds so far. I am so happy that I did lose though. I know when I don't, I tend to get frustrated and cheat more. Knowing that I am 2 pounds shy of losing 20 is definitely going to make me work harder though. Wow! I can't believe I am doing it. I have tried and tried so hard over the years. I just could never lose

Today was one of those days where you just want to crawl back into bed and hope for the day to end very soon. It started when my head was about to implode and explode simultaneously. I am not sure how it was managing it, but it certainly felt like that was happening. I had a combination of a sinus headache with a migraine mixed in for added effect. Once I got to work, the Bobbsey Twins were at it in full force. I can normally deal with them for the few hours that I have to because it is a short amount of time. But with my head feeling like it was just made them ten times worse. They are really nice girls, but extremely hyper. I swear! I think VG has tourrettes or something like it. All of a sudden, she will just bust out with some strange sounds really loud. Or sometimes she will just start singing something off tune and really loud. Plus every other sentence is ended with "Denied!" VB was in rare form today. She is the other half of the Bobbsey Twins. Her favori

More and more people who suffer from hypothyroidsim are turning to alternative sources for information and cures. This is due to the fact that many doctors do not simply listen to their patients when they say a medicine is not working. I came across an internet scam that is currently targeting thyroid patients. The only thing The Secret Cure for Hypothyroidism cures you of is having money in your pocket. First off, the thyroid expert that wrote the book is fictional. Secondly, there are numerous reports against them for false advertising. Third, that $17 you pay isn't a one time fee. They keep charging it every month. Fourth, its not so much an e-book as a pamphlet that has the same information that every thyroid patient already knows. Stay away from this company at all costs. The person behind this scam is Perry Belcher. The same person who tries to push Alvidar down the throats of unsuspecting thyroid patients. Here are some sites that lists complaints against them: Rip-