Bronchitis now...and thoughts...and Juice Diary

[L.]

Edit:  After writing this entry...well, my bronchitis started feeling better.  Maybe it's just because night is over and it seems to be worse at night, but I'm feeling a lot more encouraged to try the natural route if there's a way. :)

 

I used to get this once a year every year for a few years since I started at my old college (ironically around the same time I was in the college choir--great timing lol)...then after I dropped red meat it seemed to go away for a few years in tune with that.  This year, HELLO MY OLD CRAZY EXGIRLFRIEND, she is back and throatier and just as mean as ever!!!  LOL.

 

LOL, after my cough caused me to scald myself with first degree burns from it (and promptly applying lavender extract), I made a ginger tea last night with a teabag of the aveda tea mom gave me that has a base of licorice root in it.  I have been looking up natural healing on this--and although it provide a lot of relief--while I was drinking it that is--in all honesty I am very skeptical!!  I have always had such a hard time defeating this thing!!!  She's the girlfriend that never wants to leave!!!  She wants to use me for all I've got lol!!!!  I usually, on medication, with inhalers, would take up to 3 months to finally ditch this thing.  I'd love some natural health tips...But I am skeptical to be honest.......Bronchitis is so hard to beat and it's pretty much in you for life after you get it the first time, just waiting to reappear, like the old exlover you can't seem to completely leave.  I think with a 100 percent raw diet, I won't get it anymore, but meanwhile...Anyone got some tips for some instant relief?  I was up all night coughing last night...I'm thinking a blend of natural health and medicine may be the way for me this time.  If it were a normal cold, I'd say natural all the way--this suffering is not going to last long.  But if I'm going to be doing this for weeks to possibly months on end, I don't want to suffer so much if I don't have to.  My rest is very important to me.  However I do not want to abolish the idea of natural health completely...if anyone has a fabulous solution, I'd be eager to hear! :)

 

If you don't feel like hearing b****ing and moaning, feel free to skip this part and just advise me on what I should do with bronchitis lol.  I am really a lot nicer than this in real life, but in my journal I tend to just let all cannons loose.

 

Yesterday I drank all liquids except for 70 percent of a 70 percent dark chocolate bar (lol, caused some nausea and I stopped eating it), and slowly chewing a ramekin of this cooked sautee of vegetables my dad had made.  I bled instantly a lot more in the bathroom after eating this very slowly eaten, very heavily chewed sautee, so it's a no-go for me--the vegetables were cooked corn, artichoke hearts, and red bell peppers--not very kind to the digestive system in my current state I guess.  I was so looking forward to him bringing that to work--he spends money every day to buy his lunch and we are flat broke as it is.  I know I shouldn't worry about it, but...I'm swamped in college bills at the moment, I was promised that I would have half paid for me because it was causing me such anxiety, but now they don't have access to the money because it's retirement and I suppose it doesn't work that way, so rewind, RE-OW, I have to figure out a whole new action plan.  I am sitting here, and I am a TIGHT-WAD since birth basically--I remember counting my pennies and showing them off and staring at them and saving them at a young age--saving my halloween candy, I was so proud to save it, maybe only eating 5 pieces, until it rotted--watching parents continually buying new things that they "need" who have a history of being terrible with money down to bankruptcy, too sick to work, and feeling very stressed about anything monetary.  Anyway, the stupid sautee bless his heart, it's not only in the fridge, its practically perching an inch off of the ledge as if he really wants me to eat it...I could barely even chew through my ramekin last night, I've been so sickly and having such a hard time eating.  There's no way in heck I'm even touching that tupperware.  Perch and perch and perch.  I really hope he eats it.  He's going to find in the next few weeks kind of a rude awakening when I start eating less and less of his food--I hope he can deal with that.  My dad not only loves to cook--it's his passion.  DVR's cooking shows, gladly cooks and is always asked to do so (and raved about) for all of his work events, is good friends with the catering business down the street (the caterer there says dad can work with him when dad retires).  So every time I have eliminated a food group, it's been very frustrating for him, made him very critical of me and caused him a lot of resentment, at least in the beginning.

Ahh, I know I'm being critical about the money.  I can't help it!!!  I sit here and I watch them and I'm like, what the heck!!!  You don't need to spend "It was only 300 dollars" on a new couch!!  You're broke!!  I don't say a damn word out loud--I just smile and look happy for her or him, but in reality I'm like, LORD PLEASE HAVE MERCY, I hope you can pay your bill next month!!!  You know things are bad when your dad, who makes thousands and thousands of dollars a month, is borrowing 300 dollars from you.  Where the HELL is it all going?!?!?!?!!  HOW COME I AM NOT INFORMED ON THESE THINGS??  I have such skepticism, I really do, that it's all going toward bills.

I have no right to criticize--in person.  And I don't go there.  But I dang well am allowed to feel the way I please about these things and write about it in the privacy of my own journal!!!

 

I was using a nutmilk bag last night to make my juice, dad of course thought this was weird and I said something stupid like, this is the hippie way of doing it.  I was just joking, but even now I regret saying it, as he very much agreed and now I just feel hypocritical.  I was only being silly but just because someone cares about the environment or is trying to save money and is doing what they can doesn't make them a hippie.  I can't stand when someone is called a label, so degrading, for doing something so admirable.  It made me so ferociously angry, but there was nothing I could do about it--I was the one who had brought it up.

 

It would be very ironic of me and very much like me to cave and finally join raw balance in the very last day you could join lol.  I am stubborn and haven't been able to decide.  The more cheerful happy videos they send, honestly the more put off by it I am, as I am honestly so unhappy, jealous, and sick at the moment and probably will be for at least a few weeks into the initiative until I can pull myself together from all this flu/cold/bronchitis stuff.  Plus I'm sure they will be making all these beautiful solid recipes I can't eat. >.<  Who cares about juice recipes?  Dunk, dunk, dunk, it's a great juice.  All a girl needs is a cucumber.  No double meaning intended.

 

Oh my now ex boyfriend has not spoken to me in weeks now.  Well, now I don't have to feel bad about making out with that guy.  Comme ce comme ca.  Coward.  He's always done this right after we try to make plans.  Unbelievably hurtful and, argh, I miss him terribly.  He's the real ex lover I haven't been able to drop.

 

 

Anyway...Goodness I hope I wasn't rude!!!  I really don't like conflict...I do feel the need for a public journal though, as it keeps me in check!!  My main concern is just--I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how I should go about dealing with my bronchitis...what do you think would be the most appropriate path personally, have you experienced this, and/or do you have any tips or know of any things that help?  Please take care all.

 

P.S: I am feeling so much better today!!!  Curing the flu naturally and it's taken just as long or shorter than any flu I tried to cure with medicine!!! :)  The fever is almost gone now and I can drink hot tea no problem, yay!!! :)  Who cares that I have bronchitis, with all the other results I am getting, I can only feel totally ecstatic and encouraged to keep going further!!!!

 

P.P.S:  My Juice Diary (I've got all the time in the world to do this baby!  LOL)

• Morning...Juice #1 of the day!!! (second green juice i've ever made in my life!):

 1 carrot washed and peeled, .5 of a cucumber, half peeled, water, a cup of spinach, a huge, huge chunk of ginger...I'm talkin' 3 inches at least.  I guess I'm going to need more ginger soon--only have one hand of it >.<  Wasn't aware how quickly I could go through the stuff till now--used to take me a couple of weeks to get through what it looks like I'll probably go through in a day.  The pulp was very dry, and the juice was very thin and not fibrous at all, which was awesome!!
Taste:  I'm sure if I were well, I wouldn't like this.  But since I am sick, I can barely taste it anyway.  Recipes are irrelevant to me right now in a time where my taste-buds are so unuseful.  I am using this to my grand advantage by throwing together the most healthiest, alkaline, anti-inflammatory, gingery juices I can throw together, regardless of ingredients!!!  To me, it's like a very grassy ginger ale!!  Green ginger ale for my ales!!! :)  It is soothing on my throat and my stomach, which is so lovely, to have stomach relief and throat relief which I have been needing desperately.  Ginger is a gift from the gods.  There is 1.25 cups, and I am drinking it slowly, which is as fast as I can.  I think this is more beneficial for me anyway.  The juice has somewhat of a fizz, which is kind of cool.  It really is like ginger ale to me.
UPDATE, woohoo!  Had my first bowel movement in three days and only got through just 1/4 of the juice too!

• Mid-afternoon...Juice #2 of the day:

Well, I got hungry so I did eat half of a sliced cucumber with some kelp salt, and just chewed a lot...I also slowly finished the choc. bar throughout the day.  I have now made a Spinach Apple Ginger Thyme juice.  I read about how they put thyme in cough medicines and it can help with bronchitis, as ginger--another big finger of it.  I did not peel the apple (I found something gross and black under the skin while chopping it--so thankful I did...it was so weird because there was no hole above the skin where it was...has this happened to anyone else?  Thinking about chopping up my fruit and inspecting it before eating from now on), just chopped up the whole fruit and stuck it in, then densely packed the bullet cup with spinach, and the thyme.  This made a beautiful juice, but the smell completely throws me off, so I hold my nose while drinking it and added a lot of ice.  From what I can taste, this one tastes better, most likely because of the ice.  I hope I am adding enough vegetables to my juices!  I'll have to google the appropriate way to approach this!

• Night-time...Juice #3 of the day:

Made a juice consisting of two pears, one medium, one small, a cup and a half of spinach, water, a few sprigs of thyme and a smaller sized finger of ginger than last time.  It tastes a bit like a mixed drink, so I am plugging my nose and pretending I'm chugging alcohol (interesting way to get it down but that's how I roll).

 

(Written earlier) I am trying to eat more calories but I have had little to no appetite......I did eat 1/3 of a 70% theo dark chocolate bar this morning (and a bit more later).  I like dark chocolate bars because they are very laxative for me, so the benefits outweigh the defects, and in this particular brand the ingredients are extremely simple: all are organic and fair trade certified, and they are cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter, and ground vanilla bean.  That's it.  I actually appreciate that it's cooked because that will make it easier for me to digest the fiber most likely than a raw chocolate would, so benefits outweigh defects.

I have lost 6 lb in the last 4 days, but I know 5 of it was waterweight since that went away in one.  I feel lighter and more graceful, it's easier for me to move, which is nice.  I was intensely enjoying tip toeing to make my tea last night before I scalded myself haha :)  I miss dancing and being in ballet classes, maybe I will sign up for one again when I am well.

 

 

**Just got a call from the doctor's office...blood results show that my iron and hemoglobin levels are low so they sent up a prescription to the CVS for iron tablets that I am supposed to take twice a day and then I have to go back to the doctor in 2-3 months...irksome.  I was told to do this by whomever just called me on the phone by the way--not asked!!!  And how come I always get the grumpy nurse on the phone?!  I said, "Take care," very kindly, she didn't even say it back.  Find a different job!!!  Gah!

I do know that I need to supplement but I am pretty sure I don't want whatever they just prescribed me at the CVS.  I might go to Whole Foods and see if there's a more natural supplement alternative.  I remember dad once bought a lovely multivitamin that tasted kind of grassy and sweet and had all sorts of minerals in it.

I would have low iron levels losing blood every day by the way.  This has everything to do with my ulcerative proctitis, and nothing to do with the raw food diet or my veganism, I just want to emphasize.

 

Sumup:

My arthritis kind of hurts at the moment but my ulcerative proctitis is easing up it seems from the juices.  I just coughed and sneezed a bit more after the night juice, hopefully it will stop though or maybe this is just happening because I am tired and it's closer to bed time.  Appetite not too high, mostly grateful I'm so much better at dissuading myself from foods that are bad for my current conditions at this time.  My next step is to incorporate higher calorie fruits in the juices so I am providing myself with enough energy for sustenance.  I've decided, when I'm well, to do some research and look for a natural, easy to digest iron supplement.  I will not be using what the doctor has prescribed me from problem-solution technique rather than the thoughtful, working with the body that most likely a nutritionist would give me.  I am going to attempt to get an easier-to-digest iron from a more ethical company since that would be nicest for my UP and more trustworthy than Big Pharma, who makes it's money off of people being ill.  As I had learned from my Ethics of Healthcare class, taught by an obese lawyer (WONDERFUL woman, so intelligent and absorbing, but I wanted to mention it to show there wasn't a raw bias, that other people do feel this way, and especially coming from a LAWYER), some doctors are even offered rewards for prescribing certain medications to their patients.  This does not do much in favor of people's well-being...I choose to go with my gut, not the rude nurse on the phone who didn't even inform me exactly how low my iron was, and get the supplement from a better source than "Big Pharma," (words also used by this professor).  The only "medications" I've been taking as of late have been iron and b12, and it seems I'm improving.  Although I just coughed and sneezed a bit more, that's only because for hours I was barely coughing at all.  Felt miraculous.  Results like this show me to keep on going and staying strong.  I was coughing endlessly yesterday...Now I've been coughing maybe up to 10 times tops per hour, if that.  Wonderful.

[L.]

Thankyou :)  I agree!!!  I'm feeling so blessed and thankful.

[Dee]

Your on the road to feeling better ;-)