Tag Archives: health

not covid (so far)

18 Friday Mar 2022

Posted by in health & happiness, home, sevilla

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not covid

Got hit by (what I hoped was) that stomach bug going around. After a gawd awful night violently losing it from both ends I spent almost 18 hours in bed. Then a brief attempt at staying upright and I was back under the duvet. That went on for another night and then… some relief. Took the test and that was also a relief, but I had to pass on my evening tapas tour to José. I’ll do another test after the weekend but hopefully I’m on the mend. These days covid has so many possible symptoms it’s good to play it safe.

so hate when this happens!

05 Tuesday Oct 2021

Posted by in casa azahar, health & happiness, home

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deodorant

I’m sure this happens to you too. As soon as you come to rely on something never changing… BLAM… it changes. After years of trial and error I finally found this light spray deodorant (L) with no nasties and with a soft fresh scent that didn’t fight with my perfume and body lotion (body lotion! that’s another one) and so I have remained loyal. For years! Then I saw they had changed the packaging (R) so there was no longer a plastic cap on top, instead you just swivelled the top until the nozzle appeared. Fine, less plastic, whatever. Except that wasn’t all they changed. THEY CHANGED THE WAY IT SMELLED. And it smelled… awful.

Well, awful to me. There was a sharp acrid note to it, like cheap perfume gone off, and I don’t know how to say how disappointed I was. I mean, again?? It’s happened to me with perfumes, body lotions, laundry soap, hair products… you get all nice and cosy with something and then it’s gone. And for me smells are a really big deal. Actually a huge deal. So today I was in a shop and saw they still had some of the old green-cap stock of my deodorant and bought the last four they had. I know it’s just a stopgap, but at least for now I don’t have to spritz acrid shit on my pits. How’s your day going?

broken hearted

18 Friday Jun 2021

Posted by in health & happiness, hospitals

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broken hearted

I almost hesitate to write this as I know it’s really going to rile up Kate (aka Sledpress) but since my Medical Check List post I thought things were going rather well. Until this morning. After the blood test and ECG results came in my GP requested appointments for me to see a cardiologist and a dermatologist (for my going bald issue) and meanwhile oncology finally got in touch and I have another CT scan on Monday. Today I had the cardiologist at 9 AM, so I was up and out and in a taxi (in the rain) hoping to find something out. Alas… nope. They gave me another ECG when I got to the hospital and then I waited to see the doctor, who ended up remembering me from an appointment several years ago (I didn’t remember her, maybe that was my first mistake).

Anyhoodle, she acted very wary… saying I shouldn’t sit too close to her desk, telling me to turn my head away from her when she listened on the stethoscope. I mean, I get it. She is surrounded by possible sick people all day long, but she truly had no “bedside manner”. And worst of all was that she simply didn’t listen to me.

My reasons for being there were the following: I am short of breath almost always these days, I get that “tight skin” feeling in my arms when I stand up too quickly  (and sometimes also feel a bit dizzy), I also sometimes have tightness in my chest (never actually got to tell her that bit) and, yes, the tachycardia keeps happening. ASSUMPTION was that I was there once again about the tachycardia, but I wasn’t. This is something I’ve had since I was 25 and NO DOCTOR has ever been able to find out why. So I was there because it’s increasingly harder for me to breathe and I get a “tight” pain in my arms and fingers, there’s also a tightness across my lower ribs. Did she listen to me? Did she fuck.
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just breathe, eh?

17 Thursday Jun 2021

Posted by in health & happiness

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4 7 8

I’ve always had this problem. I never breathe enough. Or deeply enough. In fact sometimes I catch myself barely breathing at all, just short shallow panting, and I only become aware of that when I start to feel weird, either physically or emotionally. Then I have to stop and take a few deep breaths.

I’m sure most of you have now heard of the 4-7-8 breathing technique, meant to relax, help you sleep, and even do nice things to your body’s wellbeing. I tried it awhile back and actually couldn’t do it (!). I kept panicking while exhaling for 8 seconds. Then I tried it again this morning and it was like… I’ve GOT this! So I am going to try doing it a couple of times a day, and especially when I wake up in the night.

If you don’t know how it works, here you go. Apparently your tongue should be resting against the roof of your mouth, on the ridge behind your front teeth.

  1. empty the lungs of air.
  2. breathe in quietly through the nose for 4 seconds.
  3. hold the breath for a count of 7 seconds.
  4. exhale forcefully through the mouth, pursing the lips and making a “whoosh” sound, for 8 seconds.
  5. repeat the cycle up to 4 times.

I don’t know why they say you shouldn’t do this more than four times in a row, but apparently you can work yourself up to eight times. Worth a shot. Anyone else doing this?