Tag Archives: Health

The Science of Gratitude

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Counting our blessings and creating a list of things to be thankful for has a real foundation in science and might even change the way our brains work, according to a brain-scanning study in NeuroImage.

It brings us a little closer to understanding why these exercises have these effects. The results suggest that even months after a simple, short gratitude writing task, people’s brains are still wired to feel extra thankful.

The implication is that gratitude tasks work, at least in part, because they have a self-perpetuating nature: The more you practice gratitude, the more attuned you are to it and the more you can enjoy its psychological benefits.

Feeling grateful is very good for you.

Time and again, studies have shown that performing simple gratitude exercises, like keeping a gratitude diary or writing letters of thanks, can bring a range of benefits, such as feelings of increased well-being and reduced depression, that often lingers well after the exercises are finished.

Changing our neural pathways of any old tapes we run of self loathing and lack of self worth and depression with replacement thoughts of being valuable, of deserving love and respect aren’t new ideas but they’re new to ME.

I’m grateful to all of you who read and follow my blog.

What are YOU grateful for today?

bulgariastories.com/2015/11/2612/ for JFK image

Strange and Painful Days

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This is my legacy: broken bones, shingles, split-open legs, crazy fevers, and now I have a new one to add to the list: MRSA or staph infection in my finger.

I’m not exactly sure how I cut my finger or how it got infected, which is strange since I have high standards of hygiene, so I guess I’ll never know.

It’s already morphed into cellulitis, and while I don’t have the telltale red streaks of blood poisoning traveling up my arm YET, it’s SERIOUS.

AND EXTREMELY PAINFUL.

My finger is swollen to twice its normal size and is filled with really disgusting purulence and suppuration (look it up).

At first I followed all of the home treatment methods: soak in warm epsom salts, elevate to relieve the throbbing discomfort, and bandage with over-the-counter topical antibiotics, but at some point, I realized this wasn’t helping and I needed a medical professional, so I went to urgent care.

The doc told me I got there before I needed IV antibiotics and before it damaged the tendons in my finger, which is definitely where it was headed.

Cellulitis in a finger is a serious bacterial infection that can rapidly worsen and damage the tight compartments of the hand, requiring prompt medical treatment with antibiotics.

Why Finger Cellulitis is Dangerous:

  • Fast Spreading: The hand and fingers contain tight spaces. Infections can spread quickly through these areas compared to looser tissue on other parts of the body.
  • Permanent Damage Risk: Severe or untreated infections can harm tendons, nerves, and joints, which may permanently affect finger movement and hand function.
  • Deep Tissue and Systemic Spread: The bacteria can move up the hand and arm, or enter the bloodstream, potentially leading to deep bone infections (osteomyelitis) or life-threatening sepsis.

Now I’m taking a hefty dose of Keflex for the bacterial infection, along with Mupirocin ointment directly on the open wound which is now repulsively draining.

Oral antibiotics and I do not agree with each other, but I’m willing to overlook the headaches and digestive issues because I don’t want to lose a finger or a hand, or have the infection travel to my heart or brain. I need all of my brain cells; I don’t have many to spare.

I have another appointment with the doc tomorrow to see if it’s improved and whether or not it’ll need to be excised and drained. ICK.

Weather update: Still hot, but there’s a bit of cloud cover. and that helps.

PS What’s up with WordPress tags? I’m not sure I like the changes, do you?

DIY Epsom Salt Potion

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Photo by Enchanted Seashells

I love to make my own potions and lotions, so I figured I’d give this recipe a try, especially since it seems really easy.

A DIY Epsom salt lotion can be made by dissolving Epsom salts in warm water and then mixing it with a moisturizer lotion. The mixture can be used as a body scrub or lotion.

Epsom salt is a naturally occurring mineral compound made of magnesium, sulfur, and oxygen, known scientifically as magnesium sulfate.

Potential benefits include muscle relaxation, skin exfoliation, and moisturizing. For years, my doc has prescribed magnesium to take, but I’ve yet to try it externally, except for the rare bath or foot soak.

Here’s a basic recipe:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Epsom salts (I used lavender infused salts.)
3/4 cup warm water
2 cups of your preferred moisturizer lotion, I used an Olay body lotion, nothing too fancy.
Optional: Essential oils for fragrance (like lavender).

Instructions:

  1. Dissolve the Epsom salts in warm water, stirring until fully dissolved. 
  2. Combine the Epsom salt solution with the lotion, mixing thoroughly.
  3. Add any desired essential oils for fragrance. 
  4. Store in a clean, airtight container. 
  5. Note: If using this as a scrub, be gentle to avoid irritation.

It’s completely simple, straightforward, and uncomplicated, sort of how I view myself, and that made me feel good.

Word Of The Day: Bedridden

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I couldn’t think of anything to write today, so I looked at my recent situation and decided there was no other way to describe it: bedridden or bedbound.

From Pinterest

A bedbound person still retains some limited movement and can actively participate in their care, such as repositioning or feeding themselves. A bedridden person is completely confined to bed with minimal to no mobility, 

Let me reiterate and I’m not being melodramatic at all; shingles/herpes zoster is not something you can ignore.

Most things I don’t take very seriously; an injury, a fall, a brief bout of the flu or a sore throat, but THIS was lifechanging.

The pain is really indescribable, and now I understand why I felt paralyzed when I had it as a child; it’s really that overwhelming. I’d show you the photos I took of every stage of the rash that covered my entire right side, but it’s too gross to share.

For the past two weeks, I’ve literally not been able to walk, to move, to exist — without extreme torment, and that’s not an exaggeration. Waiting too long to inform my doc so that she could prescribe an antiviral was completely stupid of me.

Now that I’m nearing the end of this disease cycle, it’s time to reflect on what it means to be bedridden or bedbound, because for me, not being active is hell on earth.

Not being able to go for walks or work out is torture. I lay there in agony, thinking about how my muscles and joints were actively atrophying from disuse, and that just added to my depression. The garden suffered too, since I couldn’t water anything and we’ve had no rain for months. It looks sad and dismal, kind of how I feel.

The antiviral meds made me extremely fatigued, so I honestly couldn’t move no matter how badly I wanted to force myself.

I was bedridden, or more accurately, sofaridden, because the sofa was slightly more comfortable than my bed.

Spiritually, pain is widely viewed as a catalyst for growth, a profound teacher, or a signal of energetic imbalance. Rather than mere suffering, many traditions frame pain as an invitation to look inward, release resistance to change, and align more deeply with your authentic self.

I’m not too sure about that. What I have learned is to call for medical help sooner, to stop being so stubborn, and to get the shingles vaccine. No way I want to repeat this lesson. I got it. Message received.

“Darling, Be Home Soon”

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I’ve been waiting…..for the great relief of having you to talk to...

Pain is a crazy thing; it has a life of its own, it takes over every minute of every day, and that’s all you can think of — it’s like oceans of pain with no relief.

Anyway, stubborn me finally called the doc to tell her I had shingles. She immediately called in a prescription for an anti-viral. She said I’m a bit outside of the 72 hour window for it to be totally effective, but she hoped it would still work to relieve the intense burning and stabbing pain and shorten the duration of this cycle of hell.

I can’t get comfortable, I can’t lie on my back or my right side and sitting is also excruciating, so I’ve given up attempting to find the least tortuous position. I’m sick of watching TV, too. Sleep is elusive because I can’t get comfortable.

Awake at 3am, these lyrics were swirling around in my delirious brain…“darling, be home soon…”

I couldn’t remember what song it came from, so I opened my computer and searched. I learned that it was originally written and performed by John Sebastian of the Lovin’ Spoonful for the soundtrack of Francis Ford Coppola’s film You’re a Big Boy Now, and another version included in the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour.

Not only was our magical Leon Russell a brilliant songwriter, composer, pianist, and singer, his arranging skills were off the chart.

Here’s the original of Darling Be Home Soon by the Lovin’ Spoonful and the Leon Russell version with Joe Cocker of the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour.

Bonus! Master of Space and Time, Leon Russell, on guitar. You beauty!

They lyrics are quite poignant and as beautiful now as they were in the 60s…

Come and talk of all the things we did today
Here and laugh about our funny little ways
While we have a few minutes to breathe
And I know that it’s time you must leave

But darling be home soon
I couldn’t bear to wait an extra minute if you dawdled
My darling be home soon
It’s not just these few hours but I’ve been waiting since I toddled
For the great relief of having you to talk to

And now, a quarter of my life is almost passed
I think I’ve come to see myself at last
And I see that the time spent confused
Was the time that I spent without you
And I feel myself in gloom

So darling be home soon
I couldn’t bear to wait an extra minute if you dawdled
My darling be home soon
It’s not just these few hours but I’ve been waiting since I toddled
For the great relief of having you to talk to

So darling…
My darling be home soon
I couldn’t bear to wait an extra minute if you dawdled
My darling be home soon
It’s not just these few hours but I’ve been waiting since I toddled
For the great relief of having you to talk to

Go and beat your crazy head against the sky
Try and see beyond the houses and your eyes
It’s OK to shoot the moon

Darling be home soon
I couldn’t bear to wait an extra minute if you dawdled
My darling be home soon
It’s not just these few hours but I’ve been waiting since I toddled
For the great relief of having you to talk to

What’s The Cosmic Message? Full Moon? Mercury Retrograde?

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Which gods could I possibly have offended?

I don’t know what crime I could have committed to justify this shingles pain in my leg, but I’m SORRY. The agony is unrelenting, which is making me delirious. It feels like being stabbed with a thousand cattle prods, not that I know what that feels like, of course.

In addition to the Full Strawberry Moon, we’re dong another Mercury Retrograde until July 23, this time in the emotional sign of Cancer, and because of that, the focus is largely on internal and emotional processing rather than just external tech and travel glitches (though those can still happen).

The powerful combination of the Strawberry Moon and Mercury Retrograde brings a period of reflection, emotional healing, and personal transformation.

The Strawberry Full Moon symbolizes abundance, sweetness, gratitude, and the harvest of early summer. From Indigenous traditions, the name honors the peak season for wild strawberries. Spiritually, it invites us to celebrate our hard work, savor the present, and release patterns that no longer serve.

I really wanted to delve into any other reasons for this debiliiating nerve issue…

Spiritually, shingles is widely viewed as a profound mind-body wake-up call, often signaling that your nervous system is deeply depleted and that you have been ignoring your body’s quieter warnings to slow down.

Shingles are indicated by their telltale blisters: angry, painful wounds rising from beneath the skin. It is something hidden deep within that is deciding, right now, to rise to the surface to be seen and felt.

Shingles often flare up after prolonged periods of intense stress, emotional exhaustion, or unresolved trauma. It represents internal turmoil—such as hidden grief, suppressed anger, or guilt—rising to the surface to be acknowledged.

So all of that led me to wonder why it was only on my right leg, and why that’s the side I injured when I fell UP…

In many holistic and metaphysical traditions, injuries on the right leg symbolize an imbalance related to taking action, moving forward in the world, or masculine (yang) energy. The right side of the body generally represents the “doing” side, while the left side is the “feeling” side .

Core Spiritual Themes of Right Leg Injuries:

Resistance to Moving Forward: Because the legs provide locomotion, repeated right leg injuries may suggest a subconscious hesitation to take the next step in your career, relationships, or life path. You may feel “stuck” in a specific situation.

Masculine Energy Imbalance: The right side is traditionally associated with “yang” or masculine energy, which governs drive, assertiveness, and logic. Injuries here might point to a struggle with assertiveness or conflict with male figures in your life .

Root Chakra Imbalance: The legs and hips are governed by the root chakra (Muladhara), which controls your sense of physical safety, stability, and grounding. Injuries here can indicate a deep-seated fear of instability or an inability to feel grounded in your daily life.

While all of that is interesting information, none of it helps to relieve this agony. I stupidly decided not to take an anti-viral medication because the potential side effects seemed scarier than anything. Instead, I’m using calamine lotion, witch hazel compresses. antihistamine cream, and Tylenol, which offer slight comfort.

I cannot wait for this torture to be OVER!

    How Do You Fall UP a Flight of Stairs? And Complications…

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    What I thought was yet another stupid and avoidable injury has turned out to be more serious –and way more annoying.

    I did pull a muscle in my lower back and groin, but there’s a new complication that’s really not fun.

    Here’s how it all started and it involves stairs again…

    Don’t ask me why, but I was running UP a flight of wooden stairs holding a box of trash in my hands. I was wearing flipflop type slippers which caught on one of the steps, causing me to fall forward in a very awkward and twisty position. I didn’t want to drop the box of trash so my left forearm took the brunt of the fall and it ended up cut, bloody, and bruised. The back pain started a bit later and like I usually do, I ignored it, but this time it got worse.

    A few days later, my right thigh became numb to the touch, so along with the pain, this was a whole new weird symptom.

    It turned out to be a groin pull accompanied by thigh numbness which might indicate nerve compression or a severe muscle tear in the hip region. It is often caused by irritation of the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve (causing outer thigh numbness)

    It’s called Meralgia Paresthetica.This condition involves a pinched nerve where it passes under the groin ligament. Meralgia paresthetica is also known as lateral femoral cutaneous nerve entrapment. Moralgia paristhetica is basically a pinched sensory nerve near your hip crease. Apparently it’s not dangerous but it can be extremely annoying.

    But it gets worse…

    In the middle of the night, it felt like my left leg was being bitten by some sort of insect or a thousand insects. I jumped up and immediately turned on the light to check the sheets and my PJs for any signs of a bug, but there was none. What I saw was a very very itchy rash and wheals all the way down the inside of my leg. I figured it was a case of spontaneous urticaria (hives) or contact dermatitis, but I hadn’t changed my laundry detergent and the rash was localized to only one leg, so at that point, I was puzzled.

    That’s weird, I thought to myself. I took Claritin and when that didn’t work, I took some Benadryl to stop the itching, and that just made me sleepy.

    I found some PT exercises to work on the pinched nerve issue (do you know where this is going?) and that did offer some relief.

    However, the pain was so overwhelming at night that I gave in and took some children’s ibuprofen and while it did help, ultimately it turned out to be a huge mistake because I really don’t tolerate Nsaids well, not at all.

    And now this morning when I woke up, the outside of my leg was itchy and tingly, and when I looked, there was a cluster of the same red rash and wheals.

    That’s when it finally dawned on me that this was no ordinary spontaneous urticaria–it looked suspiciously like the beginning of herpes zoster — SHINGLES!!

    I also feel generally crappy and tired, not my usual peppy self. The rashes haven’t yet progressed to the gross stage of blistering, but a couple of them look angry enough, so I’m expecting the next phase…

    Physical trauma or injury—such as a fall — can trigger shingles. When localized physical trauma stimulates a specific nerve, it can cause the dormant chickenpox virus, resting in nerve roots, to reactivate. This leads to a shingles outbreak directly at the injury site. (From NIH)

    OMG.

    I never had chicken pox, but when I was ten years old, I had shingles on the back of my left leg. My doctor called me a medical miracle because children don’t normally get this viral disease, but all I remember is being virtually paralyzed and in excruciating pain. I couldn’t walk, I was carried from room to room and even the lightest touch of a sheet was enough to make this little princess scream in agony.

    I guess I’ll call my doctor tomorrow and have her prescribe an antiviral along with keeping my hands away from my face so I don’t inadvertently infect my eyes or mouth.

    In case you’re wondering, I didn’t ever get the shingles vaccine because I thought I’d never get it again, but I might rethink that decision after this is all over.

    Sign me unhappy in SoCal…

    Gentle Affirmations For Anxious Thoughts

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    Right now, Earth is a very stressful place for children. They inhabit a world with almost normalized school shootings, active shooter drills, distracted parents, and a lack of calm, positive structure.

    Their calendars are filled with sports, after school activities, and playdates — and I wonder why every child seems to have a backpack full of fidgets?

    Do you know what fidgets are? Fidget toys provide tactile stimulation supposed to help improve focus, increase attention span, and reduce anxiety or stress. These tools aid in self-regulation, providing a calming effect for children and adults.

    How about simplifying our lives so that children aren’t so anxious and stressed out?

    In my opinion, contributing to most of the stress initiated when mainstream internet seemed to take over our lives in the mid 1990s. It happened slowly, like a dripping faucet, until we actually can’t survive without it. Do you recall the AOL dial-up sound and how it tied up the home phone? Crazy. Kids have no idea.

    Listen:

    We can’t even make a doctor’s appointment or pay a bill without being connected along with yet another stupid password to forget. Every single business has a website. Do you know anyone who doesn’t have the internet and a smart phone? Do you freak out when there’s an outage? Have you ever tried to go completely off grid?

    Our grandchildren were born into a world that’s ruled by WiFi and social media and it’s changed childhood completely — and in my opinion, not for the better.

    Children seem incredibly anxious and focus-less. They don’t really play or socialize like they used to, they’re way too sophisticated, and I think that’s a tragedy. Don’t even get me started on the dangers of video games like the highly addictive Roblox, which I believe should be banned everywhere and forever.

    The internet exposes children to severe psychological dangers, including social media addiction, which can rewire the brain’s reward centers. Excessive use significantly increases risks of depression and anxiety, sleep deprivation, body dysmorphia, and exposure to cyberbullying or online predators.

    We don’t even read newspapers; we get all of our information from the internet, whether it’s true or not, whether it’s been properly researched or investigated — or not, and a blog like this is just another manifestation of our dependence on fiber optics and invisible radio waves.

    I don’t really have a viable solution, or one that acknowledges the benefits of the internet while limiting how much time it consumes from our daily lives, but here are some helpful affirmations for anxious kids (and for grownups, too)…

    P.S. Rant over, time to disconnect from the internet and spend some time in the garden.

    Earth Day 2026

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    In an alternate universe, I would wish everyone a Happy Earth Day, but today, there’s not a whole lot to celebrate.

    Mother Earth is at risk and we’re not doing enough to save her. Or us.

    The orange POS and his administration have been focused on reversing environmental regulations to boost domestic energy production, targeting over 460 environmental, climate, and public health safeguards for removal or weakening. Key initiatives include withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, rescinding the EPA’s Endangerment Finding to deregulate greenhouse gases and promoting “drill, baby, drill” fossil fuel policies.

    California is battling federal efforts to expand oil drilling off its coast, with lawsuits filed to block the restart of Sable Offshore Corp pipelines near Santa Barbara, which were shut down after a major 2015 spill. While new drilling in state waters is banned, federal plans propose lease sales for new offshore drilling between 2027-2030, raising risks of oil spills and environmental damage.

    This appalling administration is actively expanding oil drilling in Alaska, reversing Biden-era restrictions on millions of acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and initiating lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Projects like ConocoPhillips’ Willow and new auctions highlight a push for increased development amid lawsuits from environmental groups and support from state leaders.

    Like I said, not much to celebrate. It’d be more accurate to say that we are in mourning…

    I attended the very first Earth Day celebration in 1970 at Balboa Park in San Diego with a crowd of about 70,000 people. The weather was beautiful, about 68 degrees, and I must have skipped school that Wednesday.

    I can’t remember who I went with or how I got there but I do recall walking from booth to booth looking for free stuff and having an unpleasant encounter with a San Diego cop, probably about being truant.

    There is a vague recollection that I swore at him and he got all puffed up and intimidating, threatened to call my dad until I told him to go ahead, my dad was an attorney…and then he walked away. Miss you, Daddy, and thank you!

    Video from San Diego’s first Earth Day April 22, 1970

    Gaia, known as the mother goddess, was the personification of Earth. She’s described as a caring and nurturing mother figure to all of her children, plants, and other living creatures on this planet.

    We’re all children of Gaia, Earth Mother, no matter where we live, and if we take care of Mother Earth, she’ll take care of us.

    With this reckless administration of chaos and darkness, they seem determined to destroy as much of our environmental and animal protections as they’re doing to democracy and the constitution, so it’s not such a happy day, after all.

    Friday Tirade: Fevers and Gnats and Hammers

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    Have you ever experienced the feeling that you had a fever but you actually did NOT?

    Somehow, as careful as I am, I got sick. It started with heavy congestion and a headache along with a low grade fever, then it spiked to 101.5 as all the other aches and pains descended upon my body.

    After a couple of days of not getting any worse, I decided that I didn’t need to see a doc because my lungs were OK and that probably meant that it was a virus and not a secondary bacterial infection that would necessitate antibiotics as I’m prone to pneumonia.

    I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, except for a cough and this annoying feeling that I have a fever but the thermometer says otherwise. I think I would be feeling a lot worse if I hadn’t been vaccinated for Covid and the flu, so I’m grateful for that. Ginger tea and Tylenol seem to help.

    At the same time, my indoor plants are inundated with fungus gnats. They’re joyfully procreating and multiplying and are SO annoying. I sprayed the soil with a hydrogen peroxide solution that’s supposed to help–fingers crossed that it actually does. I’ve never had an infestation this severe and I’m not really happy about it.

    If that wasn’t enough to put me in a foul mood, neighbors decided to build an absolute monstrosity of a remodel that looks more like an apartment building as it looms over my house. The construction noise has been ongoing for MONTHS and right now I’m listening to incessant sawing and hammering and nail guns along with an air compressor that goes off and on, off and on, off and on.

    Closing the windows doesn’t do anything to muffle the noise and that’s almost impossible to do as temps are consistently in the 70s, so I suffer either way. When people drive or walk by, they look up at the giant structure and shake their heads, so I know it’s not just me.

    Because of the way the wind blows (literally), all the sawdust and other building detritus comes my way so the side of my house was covered in sawdust, along with nails and paper from the insulation. I asked the neighbors to let their construction people know about it so they could clean it up and that didn’t happen so I sent them some pics and again asked to have something done about it, which they finally did about a month later.

    Is there a real pervasive lack of basic courtesy and consideration nowadays, or am I the only one who thinks that?

    Does everyone live in their own little bubble and not comprehend–or care — how their actions might affect others? Was I unreasonable to expect them to (promptly) clear away their construction mess? It’s definitely NOT my job to clean up after them and you can’t tell me that they didn’t look down from the scaffolding and see what was going on below them. Yes, SCAFFOLDING, because, like I said, it’s a huge, multi-story monstrosity.

    Anyway…

    I can’t take it much longer…I think I might have to scream into a pillow. SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!