Healing Sunlight

When I left off in my last post, I had just been diagnosed with my second MRSA infection. And that was right after getting over a Strep infection. So I had a very sick winter. Thank goodness we’ve had some early Spring days, and I’ve been able to get out and sunbathe several times already. God’s healing sunlight has helped tremendously in making me feel better and stronger. Even on cloudy days when I can’t sunbathe, I’m back to walking around the house several times a day. I can feel the strength slowly come back. And I truly believe the sunlight has a lot to do with it.

I have continued to use my RubyLux sunlamp arrangement I’ve set up in the small bathroom, along with the SAD light and the 860mm infra-red light. They got me through the winter, and I can tell they help. But good ole SUN just makes a huge difference for me.

I had routine blood work done recently, and my vitamin D level is very good. I went back on a supplement in the fall. Hopefully I can stop taking it once we get lots of pretty days, and I’m able to sunbathe almost every day.

Sleep Still an Issue

I started having trouble staying asleep somewhere back this winter while I was sick, and I haven’t found a way to solve it yet. I would fall asleep quite easily, but then I would wake up to go to the bathroom and it took hours to get back to sleep. Eventually I just waited for a while and then got up and worked on the computer until time to get up. I’m now making myself stay still and just lie there until I finally do go back to sleep. But my actual number of hours sleeping are too interrupted to be very restful.

Circadian Rhythm Strategies

I’ve worked really hard to use as many of The Energy Blueprint* strategies as I can to improve my Circadian Rhythm. I wake up to the birds singing outside every morning, and I get bright sunshine in my early morning walk. When it’s cloudy, I use the SAD light in my bathroom sauna setup. I usually walk around the house several times a day, too, so I’m getting plenty of sunlight and fresh air, and as much exercise as I can tolerate.

I use blue blocker glasses and a blue light app on my computer and Kindle at night. We use room darkening curtains and red light flashlights if we get up in the night. And I don’t have anything to eat for about five hours before bed. We cool the house down after 8PM all year round. We have a bedtime routine and a regular bed and wake up time. I turn off the WiFi at bedtime, too, and we don’t have any electronics on during sleep.  I’d hate to think how little sleep I’d be getting if I weren’t doing all that.

Constant Headache

Somewhere along the way, a couple of months or so ago now, I started having a headache every day. Sometimes I wake up with it, but it usually starts between about 10AM and noon. Then it goes on until I fall asleep at night. I can ease it some with a hot pad on my neck, and I can distract myself from it while I’m busy during the day. But it’s still there, getting worse as the day goes on.

So I finally gave in and started taking Goody Powders, even though I know I shouldn’t. After using them several weeks, I stopped the Goody Powders. I figured it had probably turned into a rebound headache by then. I toughed out two weeks, but the headache never stopped. So I’ve gone back to one Goody Powder before lunch for now. And yes, I know that is toxic to my body and doesn’t help with sleep issues. But nothing I have tried in the way of stress relief or sleep strategies has stopped the headaches so far.

Doctors

I’ve made an appointment with my Neurologist. I’m hoping to get a referral to a Sleep Specialist doctor I saw years ago when they thought I had Parkinson’s. I weighed 50+ pounds more back then, and I was diagnosed as having Sleep Apnea at that time. I have dealt with urinary incontinence for quite a few years now, and that might be the problem. The brain is supposed to tell the kidneys to stop making so much urine during sleep. It sure doesn’t seem like THAT is working properly! I don’t know what’s causing all these sleep issues, but I do know I need help fixing them.