fibromyalgia – Page 7 – Jesus is for the Wounded

It’s eBook Week

Published on March 1, 2014 by Jesus is for the WoundedLeave a comment

Looking for hope and encouragement while you or your loved one recovers from a serious illness? I invite you to check out Hope Beyond Lyme: the First Year.

The first year enduring and battling a serious illness can test everything we thought we knew about coping with the trials of life. In this book, I invite you to share the more meaningful moments of my journey as I seek to draw strength from outside of myself to endure the trials of my particular story. My hope is that you, too, will find strength and hope that transcends your day-to-day experience. I also hope that you will consider the hope found in God though a personal relationship with His Son. His presence in One’s life makes a difference in where a person lands when this particular journey of life is over. Will we have peace or will we have despair?

For the next week, my eBook Hope Beyond Lyme: the First Year is 50% off! Just use coupon code WE45A at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/371334

Take care, Just Julie

Brain Dump and CBD

Published on February 27, 2014February 4, 2016 by Jesus is for the Wounded6 Comments

And so I was right. That is not necessarily a good thing.

The doctor apologized and gave a couple of reasons why he missed 5 pages of an 8-page lab report completed 6 months ago. We had reviewed the results 3 months ago or rather, the first 3 pages of the report! As it turns out, the last time this particular set of labs was completed over a year ago, the last 5 pages were missing then as well. So what is the significance? Those last 5 pages contain information about daily cycles of two hormones that could explain my ravenous, violent seizure-like episodes in the early morning and evening. Treatment related to those findings could have alleviated my tremendous suffering for the past 6 months! However, the doc had nothing to say about that. He said he actually needs to do more research on how to lower melatonin levels! Well thank you but I have heard this before from you . . .

My next concern was the potential role of a new herbal remedy I started on the lab finding of severely elevated melatonin. Looks like there are two compelling research articles stating that the active ingredient in what I am taking has not been shown to elevate melatonin levels. Whew! Looking closely resulted in seeing how the active ingredient may actually modulate the inactive ingredients that have an effect on melatonin. Since this active ingredient has served to modulate one particular trace substance when the latter is in higher concentrations, well, that gives me hope. The answer to the question of how to lower melatonin might already be in my cupboard!

Here’s what “it” is: high CBD hemp oil. This is not medical marijuana nor an oil made from the psychoactive ingredient: THC. That would be illegal in my State and actually not necessary to impact seizure-like activity. Both CBD and THC-laden products are from a cannibus plant yet the plants grown for high CBD oil and their products are legal in all 50 of the United States. No special procedures are needed to obtain it: just sort through a plethora of information online to find a pure product with concentrations high enough (pun intended) to affect health. (You cannot get high from CDB oil by the way.) And the benefits are tremendous: intractable epilepsy, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and many more. Add THC and the list of therapeutic effects increases to include cancer. Thankfully for me the active ingredient needed to reduce seizures is CBD with only trace amounts of other “cannabinoids.”

Here’s a great place to find an overview of hemp oil, cannabis, how its administered, and the benefits: www.mycbdresearch.com

The first week experimenting with CBD oil has yielded 3 days with less than an hour of seizure-like activity. This is a HUGE improvement over the average of 3 hours per day of seizures for EIGHT STRAIGHT MONTHS and the 1-3 hours per day overall for the past TWO YEARS! At least once per month the duration increased to 6-12 hours. Whew again. I am encouraged. I have trusted the Lord throughout my research process and even in deciding which product to try. Receiving the melatonin lab results today may be a confirmation of this decision. The timing of this situation coming together is very interesting indeed.

Doc did have one idea: resume using my bright light therapy for 30-60 seconds, multiple times per day to naturally lower melatonin levels. Cool beans. You know the old saying, “do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” Another one goes, “here we go again!” with what could be yet another false start to healing. Somehow I have a feeling this one will make a lasting impression. Stay tuned. I am going to get well! :J

Addendum: just opened a new Facebook page entitled, “Seizure Free Zone.” Like us and join the discussion today!

Psalm 71

Published on February 18, 2014February 18, 2014 by Jesus is for the Wounded1 Comment

Psalm 71

¹In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;     let me never be put to shame. ²In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me;     turn your ear to me and save me. ³Be my rock of refuge,     to which I can always go; give the command to save me,     for you are my rock and my fortress. ⁴Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,     from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel.

⁵For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord,     my confidence since my youth. ⁶From birth I have relied on you;     you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.     I will ever praise you. ⁷I have become a sign to many;     you are my strong refuge. ⁸My mouth is filled with your praise,     declaring your splendor all day long.

⁹Do not cast me away when I am old;     do not forsake me when my strength is gone. ¹⁰For my enemies speak against me;     those who wait to kill me conspire together. ¹¹They say, “God has forsaken him;     pursue him and seize him,     for no one will rescue him.” ¹²Do not be far from me, my God;     come quickly, God, to help me. ¹³May my accusers perish in shame;     may those who want to harm me     be covered with scorn and disgrace.

¹⁴As for me, I will always have hope;     I will praise you more and more.

¹⁵My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds,     of your saving acts all day long—     though I know not how to relate them all. ¹⁶I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign Lord;     I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone. ¹⁷Since my youth, God, you have taught me,     and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. ¹⁸Even when I am old and gray,     do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation,     your mighty acts to all who are to come.

¹⁹Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heavens,     you who have done great things.     Who is like you, God? ²⁰Though you have made me see troubles,     many and bitter,     you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth     you will again bring me up. ²¹You will increase my honor     and comfort me once more.

²²I will praise you with the harp     for your faithfulness, my God; I will sing praise to you with the lyre,     Holy One of Israel. ²³My lips will shout for joy     when I sing praise to you—     I whom you have delivered. ²⁴My tongue will tell of your righteous acts     all day long, for those who wanted to harm me     have been put to shame and confusion.

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Tonight as my body thrashed about I cried out to the Lord, asking “don’t you see me?”

Tonight I cried out for the Lord to take me, as in take me home. He did not answer.

Tonight I cried out asking Him not to leave me here this way. He did not answer.

The after burn of the seizure attacks, flu-spikes, chest compression symptoms making breathing labored, increased pain, and massive neck headache was unbearable once again this evening. Things are getting worse. This was my third episode today with over two dozen individual incidences!

My precious husband got out of bed after 1:00 a.m. to get me something to eat in an effort to end the tic attacks that would not stop after the seizures.

It is now over an hour later and I am stable. I am beat up. I am still here!

I will remind myself to have hope, to cultivate hope that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. Sometimes He speaks and sometimes He is silent. And for those who believe in Him, He is always present.

Psalm 71 puts it all together for me right now, so this is how I will pray as I go forth from this night. And that’s about how far I have gotten. My tummy hurts. Time to go back to bed. I think I can sleep now.

A Heart Message from Snoopy and Woodstock

Published on February 14, 2014 by Jesus is for the WoundedLeave a comment

We all have but one past

Published on February 9, 2014February 9, 2014 by Jesus is for the Wounded2 Comments

“We all have one past, but many possible futures,” stated Canadian hockey player Guy LaFleur, in an interview at his retirement (as quoted in the February 2014 newsletter of RZIM ministries).

²⁴However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. (The apostle Paul speaking in Acts 20:24)

Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. (Proverbs 4:25-26)

Oh to be able to empty myself of yesterday and walk forth into tomorrow with great expectation! To live in the moment with hope that what comes will be filled with the Lord’s tender mercies and grace is to really live freely in Christ. And to know that the struggles of the day will work itself into a beautiful tapestry of my eternal life that has already begun, well, that’s really head-y man!

When I was researching yet another new dietary approach to the illness I endure, I realized how many times I have done this work before. Over and over again I have sat here at our computer and continued to research solutions to the treatment failures in the past. I admit that the new ideas don’t always come from the Lord, however. Who else would come up with a way to make turnips to fit a Candida, mold-free, and low oxalate diet? (Chuckle.) I believe it is the Lord who inspires the best of what comes from me through the Holy Spirit and then provides just enough energy to get me there. For example, I had an unexpected, Divine appointment with a friend who happened to be in the lobby of our doctor’s office on Friday. She needed prayer badly! The Lord in his mercy used me to step out in faith and pray with her right then and there. The fellowship moved each of us. The moment would have been missed if the Lord had orchestrated the events for me to leave the building just a few minutes earlier or later . . .

But really, until I started writing this I always thought that deep down inside I was someone who carried the events of my sordid childhood on my sleeve. My utility to this world was somehow limited because of my past. I thought that the facts that I came from a broken home, witnessed and experienced abuse, grew up lacking basic provisions at times, and didn’t find Jesus Christ until I had spiraled out of control as a young adult limited who I would eventually become someday. Even if my outward appearance showed a measure of success, the inner woundedness kept me from enjoying it. For example, I have had to remember to smile: the joy just isn’t there a lot of the time to beam out from within me. This should have changed when I found Jesus and entered into a personal, saving relationship with Him. He redeemed my sin and began to fill the emptiness in my heart reserved only for Him. Why wasn’t it enough?

I’m not sure I have the answer to that just yet. I do know that sometimes we are our own worst enemies, eh? We get in the way of what the Lord has planned for our lives, the opportunities he places before us and noticing the lovely little niceties he sprinkles around us to show us His love. His love is always around us. It’s my opportunity to let more of it dwell within me and let my eyes find it around me too. And when that happens, more of Him flows through me to others, to my work, to my walk in this life with Him. I can see that it is happening despite my weakness; I just haven’t recognized it enough. I’m worried about appearing humble and making sure I “keep the gate closed” on the sordid remnants of my past. Maybe I don’t need another few years of psychotherapy to figure it all out. I just need to wait on Him. He is leading me more than I realize! And if that means anything to you, well let’s give God the glory! Like Patsy Clairmont says in her book of the same title, God Uses Cracked Pots (1991) like me.

We all have one past. Healing the hurts from our past requires grieving, reflection, restoration, and the passing of time. But carrying it around and letting those wounds drag down the current day that has enough challenges of its own is a mistake. Cut the ties to the past and live mindfully in the present. Don’t deny who you are or your unique story. Tell it to others who need to hear . . . talk about it with your heavenly Father who has sustained you to grow you into the man or woman you are today. The possibilities of an amazing future awaits, adventures big and tiny, and we don’t want to miss them do we?

Say, I saw a gathering of robins (that signal the first sign of Spring in the Midwest) playing in a couple of feet of snow the other day when I was coming home from that doctor appointment. I was exhausted as I turned the corner in my truck and some yucky stuff happened later that evening. All of these events were in the mix of the activities of my day. The bottom line is that the robins are back! That is just sweet enough to warm my heart and the tips of my fingers in my fingertip less gloves as I type into the wee hours of the morning (until it’s time to take my final saliva sample for a lab test at the correct time interval, that is!).

Talk about cracked pots . . . JJ