Restless legs update

Because I’ve noticed that my post on augmentation has been read recently I thought I should follow up. Since stopping both the elavil and requip I no longer have symptoms of restless legs with few exceptions. It wasn’t easy and it took a good three months of misery to detox but I’m very thankful that I persisted and hope this gives someone encouragement though I don’t suggest anyone try to do it without good support and medical advise.

Life has been busy

Richard has been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. He got zapped and that stopped it for awhile, but it’s a wait and see kind of issue, unhappily he didn’t leave the hospital without a infection from his IV site, so he has that to deal with too.

We are old, stuff happens, we just take care of each other the best we can every day. I’ve got some gardens started and that makes me get out to dig in the soil and water my seedlings, and that is good for my anxiety and my body, even though it complains.

I’m learning to cook a little, seems Richard likes most anything but I’m not used to meal planning, I’m taking a basic online class about steaming, roasting vegetables as we are trying to stick to a plant based diet with a few exceptions, eggs and fish. I’ve made a few messes, we eat them anyway !

I tried to add a few photos here but my iPad got stuck so maybe they’ll be here or maybe not

Cheers!

Now I’m a Texan!

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Sneezes, Bra’s and Stinging Nettles

Sneezed, I don’t mind sneezes, if they don’t mean I ‘m getting a cold or have a cold, they help clear your sinuses, three in a row is not excessive but it reminds me of something I read a while back, I may be misremembering, but back in Victorian times the ladies used to sniff pepper to make themselves sneeze. It was considered a mini orgasm, where you lose control, who controls a sneeze? You just can’t control a sneeze, you barely have time to grab a tissue or bury it in your elbow. Poor ladies!

Anyway

I guess I put my bra on inside out the other day. My boobs kept falling out, not entirely unpleasant but realized something was amiss and checked it out the second day wearing the damn item more carefully and everything stayed in. I hate wearing a bra but when my circumstances changed and I felt I had to conform I went out shopping with my sister for bras at Macy’s in the mall.

Immediately encountered problems, right chest size, right cup size, lovely expensive bras but I failed to fill the cup! That’s what happens to 80 year old boobs, unless you have prepared with inflationary measures. the bra cup nearly turned itself inside out, not an attractive look. I bought a few bras, anyone that can fill them is welcome to them. I moved on to JC Penny with no greater success, but bought a couple, on to Target bought a couple that I thought would work and are more comfortable until it rides up under my arms leaving my poor boobies hanging under or even more interestingly above the bra.

Gravity!

Finally Walmart tees under a shirt! I have gathered quite a collection of uncomfortable bras, I’ll wear one now and again when it’s cold a droopy nipple is not attractive but I found it didn’t matter what I wore under my shirt when I wore a smile on my face.

Usually

It’s 5 am and I haven’t been to sleep. I have sleep anxiety, nothing but going to bed when I’m sleepy seems to help, if I don’t go to bed while sleepy, say 9-10 pm, I wake up too much and spend the night watering the plants and moving furniture. You’d think there is a simple fix, go to bed when sleepy but I love to sleep with my night owl, one who takes naps, but I can’t nap, it doesn’t happen for me. We need to get up soon, it’s already 6am, I’m not ready to greet the day but day is almost here.

I have enjoyed the Texas wild flowers, we have blue bonnets and a lovely white blooming weed called stinging nettles on the property. We also have stickers that really really hurt trying to get them off your shoes and clothes, tip….use a comb.

Charley is getting his own Casita

Charlie has proven unreliable as a house dog. Being a male dog he tends to view all things vertical as an appropriate place to lift his leg, on furniture, vases, columns, (yes we have columns) couches, chairs, tv’s and even the piano!

But our life style has changed, now we life in a beautiful home with many beautiful vertical objects, plus marble, granite and carpet flooring all of which look better without a yellow stain.

Charley is not the only abuser, Susu, a Pomeranian pooch does her share, but in smaller quantities, plus she is the Reina, she has lived here longer and is in tight with Richard, plus she doesn’t lift her leg!

Charley was a great RV pal, living outdoors, he was free to pee pretty much anywhere and not get into too much trouble, he never had an accident inside even when I was gone for hours. He was a great guard dog, kept us safe but now we have gates and alarms, though he can still be our first alert together with Susu, nothing gets close by without their atención

Alas, Charley will need to abide with new house rules.

His new house, looks like an igloo, very nice and he’ll have a long run and an inside crate to stay in when indoors. His new house should get here tomorrow so we’ll get him all set up outside cozy and comfy. I’ll add photos later. He can sleep upstairs in his crate, He doesn’t mind it upstairs but needs treats to be coaxed into his downstairs abode.

I feel a little sad, even shed tears but I refuse to scrub pee from the carpets one more time, and clean anywhere else he chooses to lift his leg, we need to adjust to life changes, especially when the changes are so unexpected and wonderful.

He’ll still be able to chase the deer in the early morning at least for a while before put on a leash again.

Photos to follow!

This got lost somewhere so I’m republishing and will send photos later, Charlie still sleeps upstairs!

Restless legs augmentation UPDATE

Not everything has been so wonderful for me for the past 6 weeks, thank goodness I have a understanding and caring partner because the crazy lady has made appearances with regularity.

There is a drug on the market and still used as primary treatment for restless legs, that actually causes an increase in symptoms the longer you take it. I took it for about four years until I realized I was getting worse, I’d not sleep for whole nights because I couldn’t sit/ lay down or be still.

This terrible drug, still being used as first line therapy is Requip and should be banned! Responsible knowledgeable MD’s no longer use it, yet many doctors are not informed.

I started tapering off the drug in late September without understanding how hard it would be and didn’t immediately realize what was happening to me. Many nights of absolutely no sleep lasting for days. Chills, cold sweats, hallucinations, bowel upsets, runny nose since October when I finally realized what was happening and saw a doc, who had no clue what was going on.

He gave me an antidepressant, I still didn’t sleep he gave me a sleeping pill, I still didn’t sleep. I took some left over Xanax we found and slept for 3 hours. The first in many days, I’ve felt like a crazy lady, as you can imagine.

Since I’ve taken small doses of Xanax and was getting better, ready to quit the Xanax completely,when it started all over again. Cold sweats, sleepless, upset gut spit and spatter.

So what’s the answer! I’ll get a sleep study done for one thing and hope that medical Specially will have a better understanding of the condition and not be afraid to order a fast acting opiate which is appropriate therapy for my three sleep deprivation conditions, IC, RLS and insomnia. It’s safe and effective in people like me who do not have an addictive personality.

I’m writing this depressive note of warning to others with RLS, talk to your doc about detoxification it probably doesn’t have to be so hard if you find a doc familiar with the drug..

February update!

Finally detoxed from both amitriptyline and requip I have not had one single RLS episode except for once when my IC was flaring and I took 50 mg of amitriptyline which immediately gave me 8 hours walking with restless legs. That tells me that it was contributing to RLS and I have not taken either medications again. Happy days!

Ha

My best MOLA-STYLE painting

Best Mola painting

I deleted Kate Othon

I decided it was silly, not needed,and I really had little to offer there. I am called Kate here and I like it but I am not officially Kate Othon. I am Kathleen by few, Kathy by many and Kate in this neighborhood.

I paint because I love to combine color and shapes, some people like them, others do not and that’s as it is for many more talented artists than I. I can show my work here as well as I could show it over there and save me time and money.

Sorry to my daughter who helped me put the site together…okay she put it together while I kept messing it up.

I decided to just make this space more interesting, write more often and to hopefully write better. I think stories of an almost 80 ( it sounds more impressive than just 78) woman alone but for her dog who chooses an alternative life style “on wheels” can appeal to more than family and friends and when I see that readers from other countries read here it pleases something in me and encourages me to tell more stories. I have stories, don’t we all have stories we’d like to tell?sometimes the stories don’t get told because people don’t have time to listen, so write them down, get your stories out there!

Some times telling your story clearly can clarify what your story is really about and who you are

Not sure that last bit makes any sense at all.

Lately I’ve been falling asleep early, about 8 pm because I’ve been really tired, problem is I wake up about midnight thinking it’s a new day ready to go. It’s hard to fall back to sleep right now it’s 12:07 as I write because I can’t get back to sleep. Many oldsters have this problem, I hear about it all the time.

Today is Halloween, CJ (owner of RV park) always has a party, we’re supposed to dress up. I’m going as a hippy, I’m told I wear that costume every day so here is my costume svelt stretchy jungle print leggings, a blue top and a tie dye scarf and Sandals. Then I remembered this beautiful top of many colors and stuck a flower behind my ear and felt like a modern day hippy.. what a transformation !

2021 Hippy

Hot Spot it is

My wifi hell persists but I sent back and returned everything I bought trying to improve my internet to just use my hot spot.

I kept trying to figure out a system that would work. I even bought a refurbished Dell computer to use as a connection in my studio with a rather expensive modem-router to connect to my antenna that flies above my studio. All this because of the large RV parked between me and the signal, and the fact that I really can’t move my stuff to a better position because of the studio and garden.So hot spot it is. So far so good. I changed my Verizon account to get more data but I just got a message from them saying they’d changed it but to the wrong plan which I will have to get fixed when I find my password.

Talking about passwords, I’m having a hell of a time! Going from computer to iPad to phone things just don’t work as they should for me. I know it’s my fault, I forget. What gets saved on my phone doesn’t save on my iPad when I go back to retrieve my code from my email on my phone back to my iPad ………I know its just me but really, is all this necessary:;[Ññ*¨¡? (Sorry couldn’t find the ? Mark on this

Keyboard

To add to my general confusion this keyboard I’m using has deficiencies I have yet to master, as you have surely noted by now.

Sin mas!

Charley being elegant

My ROOF is Fixed

It wasn’t a big deal after all, just that one place where it leaked and messed up one panel of the ceiling, and is now truly fixed by the experts. So that was one thing to take off my fixit list.

Air in my tires, done. Air pump ordered as I guess I can’t count on a friend being near by when I might need one!

New mirror ordered to add to outside mirror where the old one fell off. Windows washed wipers cleaned with WD40.

Appointment for oil change for motor and generator made for this week.

Tail Gate ART poster

I need to figure out what to do about that ugly seam. I took off it’s cover and found the seam very open beneath it and tried to fill it in with stuff but now don’t have the right kind of cover for it. I’m changing some other seam covers but they are not the same size as what is needed here, should have not tossed what was there, live and learn I suppose.

So my GG is almost ready to be gassed up for travel! We haven’t gone anywhere for so long that I cancelled the insurance, which is apparently not a good thing to do, but I went with AAA and got a better deal than with Progressive and I plan to drive to Dallas before Thanksgiving.