Good news

I could be wrong about the ginseng, look it up and see what is said about it. It sounds like it helped you sleep.

Thunderstorms just let up here, they were loud this morning. We needed rain. The lawn is yellow and brown.

I think that the cortisol has to do with anxiety in the mornings but not sure. I read that on the anxiety and panic forum once. I don't really understand a lot of it, but it sounded like people were waking up with full blown anxiety. Again, I could be wrong.

I hope you have a lovely day Miranda. Thanks for posting.

Hugs, Karen...

Urgh, honeymoon's over :-/

Only got a few hours of poor quality sleep last night. Still suffering from itchiness, 'crawly' skin, being too hot or too cold or both at the same time, restless legs, etc. To be honest, this feels very much like a milder version of what I went through with coming off oxycodone. It took up to a year for my skin to recover after oxycodone :-/ But that was *much* worse, so hopefully it won't take nearly as long this time.

Anyway, my grandfather's death certificate arrived today, so I've got all the certificates I need now. Just need various copies of documents signed before I can send off my application. Have decided to pay a notary to do it. I want to get this into the system ASAP, as there's already a horribly long waiting time - anything up to 12 months apparently.

@Karen - No you weren't wrong about ginseng. I've only looked into it briefly so far and it's pretty complicated. Ginseng is an 'adaptogen', part of a group of herbs which modulate the body's stress response. And the body's stress response - the HPA axis - is insanely complicated. Ginseng seems able to both lower and raise cortisol (not at the same time, obvs). In general, it has both a stress-reducing effect and a fatigue-reducing one. But yeah. I'm a bit less keen on it now after finding this: https://traditionalroots.org/files/2015/05/bergner-dark-side-adaptogens.pdf

I'm thinking of trying Indian ginseng, ashwartahganthta something (I can't spell it, can you tell?), instead. Seems to be less stimulating than panax ginseng.

As for the people on the anxiety board waking up with high anxiety, cortisol is at its highest in the mornings and gradually decreases during the day, so maybe that's why. I've personally never noticed that though: I'm anxious day and night.

@HT - Very poetic :p

Hi Karen.

From what I understand, adrenalin is the 'fight or flight' hormone while cortisol is slower acting - it takes longer to rise and longer to fall back down. This is quite a good post which explains it (although it does leave out a third stress hormone, norepinephrine).

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/demystifying_depression/the_stress_system

I have a similar problem with anxiety before leaving the house or doing anything really. I've got a psychological assessment tomorrow and have been dreading that :-( It's for something I've been on the waiting list for a long time: group therapy. Only I think you have to do 1 or 2 preliminary courses before you even start the group therapy - it's taken me nearly a year to get this far. Anyway, despite not looking forward to it I'd be mad to miss it after waiting this long.

I slept a bit better last night, but it was very disturbed - lots of awakenings.

Anyhow, I'd better go to bed now. Sorry to rush this post, but I had to hang a load of washing up, get a shower, etc. and now it's 10 minutes before my planned bedtime :-/

PS: I can't nap. Can't remember the last time I was able to fall asleep during the day. I really do find it hard to fall asleep.

Anyway goodnight :p

NiceCupOfTea said...
Anyway, my grandfather's death certificate arrived today, so I've got all the certificates I need now. Just need various copies of documents signed before I can send off my application. Have decided to pay a notary to do it. I want to get this into the system ASAP, as there's already a horribly long waiting time - anything up to 12 months apparently.

I'm happy you have all the documents you need.

I am glad the assessment went well for you and that you liked the guy. That always helps to get off to a good start. Sounds like it was well worth it.

The day hospital sounds like a joke. Maybe it was just the certain people running it. Maybe some are better than others. I hope you like group if you go. I am not good at sharing or talking in front of other people, so I don't know how I would do in that type of setting.

I hope that the inflatable mattress lift works. Just try not to puncture it with scissors. LOL... I sleep sometimes in the recliner when my hips get hurting at night. Being a little upright seems to help.

Have a good night Miranda.

Take care...

Hugs, Karen...

Is ibuprofen OK to take for IBD after colectomy? Genuinely interested

@Andrina - Good question! For UC people, I don't see why not. In theory, surgery "cures" their IBD and so they shouldn't be at any more risk from GI side effects than the general population. In practice, I don't know if that's true or not. For me I've got Crohn's and I probably shouldn't take ibuprofen, but I do. I take it as infrequently as I can, but for some things, paracetamol just doesn't work as well. And in my case, I don't think the occasional ibuprofen makes any difference - if it does, it's impossible to tell.

@Karen - Was better today thankfully. Went to my gardening place, only to find out it was shut - they had called/texted me, but I use my phone for almost everything except actually checking/answering messages. I thought the reason why they were closed was really stupid - it was too hot. It was 28C. Yeah, 40C might be dangerous, but 28C? So ridiculous. It's hardly like we're doing strenuous back-breaking work. Last summer all I did was water the plants. Apparently there's a change of people at the top and they've got new insurance.

So now not only does our gardening site shut every time there's 2 flakes of snow on the ground, it will also shut every time the thermometer goes above 26-7C. The woman there today claimed it's for our safety, but in reality they just don't want to get sued if somebody does collapse in a freak accident on a hot day - I guarantee it.

Anyway, I had nothing else to do, so I got in the car and drove to Wendover. Laid down on the grass and read for a while. It would've been even better if annoying kids weren't playing in the stream at the bottom, but I didn't have the energy to get up and move.

Aside from that, I did feel better today. Until I found out about Boris Johnson's new cabinet - the Cabinet of Evil™. As for Johnson, think I'm just gonna call him Trump 2 from now on. Trump 1 and Trump 2. Cute.

Time for me to go to bed. I've left it a bit late tonight. So hot though (it's gonna be much hotter tomorrow apparently), and my stomach is hurting. Can't see this being one of the best night's sleep ever, but I have to at least try.

Goodnight :p

Ocular neuralgia is kicking today so I did not read all of page 2 and 3. So apologies to all I do not respond to.

For sleep, there is a great phone app. "Insight Timer". It is free. Has literally thousands of meditations and music for all sorts of things. If you search by Sleep, you will find plenty to try. From 5min to 1 hour.

I use this all the time. Also I drink camomile tea, strong with honey about an hour before I go to bed.
No electronics. that includes the brown light on readers and phones. I found that still keeps me up.
So I work a crossword puzzle in a book, or read. Reading a book, or magazine old school has always relaxed me to get to sleep.

Tough nights Melatonin or my PRN meds. But I have CPTSD. and it gets rough some times.

There was something else, I forget now. I will come back and read the thread again later.

Nice to see all the positivity!
Peace
Trina

Hi folks.

Yesterday was brutal, weatherwise. It hit 38C (100F) in London. We aren't geared towards these sort of insane temperatures. We don't have A/C and houses are designed to keep heat, not lose it. So while it was slightly cooler out in the sticks, where my parents are, by yesterday evening my mum's bedroom was only slightly cooler than the surface of Venus. Every upstairs window was open, but there was no breeze to lift the relentless heat and stuffiness.

Luckily the temperature dropped by several degrees today. Still too warm, though. Should really open a window, but I live in a ground floor flat and do not feel comfortable with leaving the window open all night.

I've got in touch with a local notary about signing my documents. I suspect it'll cost a bit, but at this point I don't care - I'm getting so bored of this now!

@Karen - I've got a sick feeling of dread and disgust to my stomach. This is a coup. We've turned into a banana republic, only without the bananas and we've got a monarchy. I feel so horribly powerless. A pro-Boris/pro no deal disinformation campaign has already begun on Facebook, probably in readiness for a general election this autumn.

At least you guys have a real opposition. We don't even have that. The opposition parties range from useless to appalling. We are living in the worst possible timeframe. Somewhere in a parallel universe, there is a formidable remain alliance dedicated to preventing the alt right takeover of the UK and destruction of its economy. In this timeframe, the opposition might as well all give up their jobs and go home, because all they can do is squabble and grandstand amongst themselves. Plus the Labour leadership is pro-Brexit, pro-1970s style socialism, anti-reality. I'm a lifelong Labour voter who won't vote Labour anymore, because it's been hijacked by the clueless, witless hardliners.

Apologies for the rant - I'll shut up now.

@Trina - I'm sorry you had to give up work. It sounds like you were good at your job and enjoyed it. It must have been difficult to accept.

By the way, thanks for the app recommendation - I'll look it up in the Google playstore.

Sorry to rush, folks, but my stomach is hurting quite a bit and I want to lie down. Too much venting of my spleen has hurt my stomach <_<.

Goodnight everyone. Take care, all of you.

I wish you peaceful sleep

Weary