Alpha Lipoic Acid

I know what works for some, won't work for others; we share the same pain, but our bodies are totally different in makeup. I'm trying a new supplement to see if it works, Alpha Lipoic Acid. It's supposed to be excellent for nerve pain.

I've had good days and bad days, today is somewhere in the middle. I was told by the nutritionist that I should take it with a B-1 vitamin. You can take 600 mg of the acid, I'm only taking 500 right now. I will graduate to 600 after this bottle is through and start taking the B-1 vitamin. Though I'm concerned that my body will adjust, like it always seems to do, and the pain will come roaring back in a few months.

I'll keep you informed.

Research

I can't stress this enough to young writers. It's not the readers job to know what your write is true...it's your job. You have to research or you will look like an idiot, like this know it all kid, to say the least.

Who cares if you write that the Batmobile can travel at MACH 6? It’s make believe, windows and glass aren’t going to shatter when he races by at six times the speed of sound. Who cares if windows will explode, raining shattered glass down upon hundreds upon hundreds of innocent civilians? Trees, vehicles, or other stuff won’t get destroyed by the powerful shock waves. Oh, I won’t mention that the Bat tires would shred to subatomic particles, blow or melt at that speed. Research boys and girls...research.

Maybe next time I'll address all the grammatical errors. Sigh.

Music

Something a little different today.

I was nominated on Facebook to list my top ten music albums. I don’t listen to music albums much anymore, but I do listen to movie scores/soundtracks as well as instrumental music when I write. I listen to lots of different music to get me into the mood of writing, so many favorites that I can’t list them all. I hope this will meet the challenge rules.

1. Star Trek III. Simply my favorite. Stealing the Enterprise, Return to Vulcan, and the Main title; I close my eyes and I’m in another world.

2. Transformers-2007. Scorponok easily sets the mood for a battle scene.

3. Star Trek-2009. Welcome back Star Trek! Love Enterprising Young Men.

4. Spider-Man-2002. My bread-n-butter option when I was writing in Galaxy Wars.

5. Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. John Williams…‘Nuff said.

6. Ace Combat 04-this is not an album per se, it’s from a video game. I listen to various pieces on You Tube when I’m writing. Agnus Dei is the grand finale of the game and it’s epic. Northern Eye is another favorite from the game.

7. Vanessa Mae-Violin Player. Before Lindsey Stirling there was Vanessa Mae.

8. Iron Man. Repeatedly played this in 2008, Driving with the Top Down...

9. Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe. Don’t listen to it much anymore, perhaps I should. Might give my creativity a swift kick in the fanny.

10. Independence Day. Listened to this during the twilight of my drawing days.

Honorable Mention: Mannheim Steamroller. Great for Christmas stories! Lastly the Piano Guys, can’t list them in the Top 10 since I’ve only been listening to them for a few months.

In closing I can safely say I nearly drive my wife insane when I listen to my music. I would like to thank her for not killing me.

Staggering Statistics

Here are some sobering numbers I heard last night, we need to stop the insanity that is Big Pharmacy! This is just another reason why I'm voting for Amendment 2 in November.

106,000 Americans die every year from prescription pain pills.

The US has 5% of the world's population, yet take 50% of the pain pills.

When you include the pills from the oxy family then the percentage jumps up to 90%!

Caramel Color Update

It has been nearly three weeks since I gave up drinking sodas with caramel color. I am happy to report that the intensity of my pain went down. It's highly manageable. I can tolerate the pain longer before taking OTC pills. I'm no longer awakening to pain, pain does return, but not until near midday. I'm cautiously optimistic because I know how my mutinous trigeminal nerve can adapt.

Caramel Color

Caramel color is the ingredient that gives Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Root beer, and other type sodas their color. It's also a major source of inflammation in the body. I'm trying a little experiment, I've weaned myself off Coca-Cola. I will give a future update on what effect it has on my pain.

Sleep

Sleep is one of our best weapons against the Trigeminal beast, but we know it’s easier said than done. It’s very hard to fall asleep when a jackhammer is hammering away on your poor temple or some mad scientist has you strapped down to a gurney while repeatedly shocking your eye in a failed experiment. My case is intense stabbing pains in the left eye, ear, or excruciating aches in my cheek.

A few years ago I made a decision to go to bed at almost the same time every night. My research told me it would help me manage the pain better. It worked. Oh, I’m still in pain, but the severity of it has greatly decreased. On those nights I don’t get a goodnight, well, it ain’t pretty.

Constantly battling pain drags us down, draining our energy reserves. Sleep helps replenish it, when we don’t sleep the pain increases and the vicious cycle continues. Here are some tips to try and help sleep well.

1. Sleep in a cool room

2. Roll up a towel and rest your neck on it…still can’t believe how well this works

3. Go to bed at the same time every night

4. Playing soft music helps some people who have trouble falling asleep

5. Stay away from caffeine in the PM

Headache Journal

If you suffer from headaches and don't have a journal, do yourself a favor and buy a spiral notebook. There's all kinds of back-to-school sales going on right now, especially Wal-Mart, you can pick up one for under a dollar. It will help you keep track of your pain as well as recognizing your triggers.

A friend told me to make one before my neurologist told me to. I started keeping track of the headaches, including my undiagnosed Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia, and the weekly migraines. I soon discovered that Swiss cheese and cold cuts were behind my fiery migraines in late 2010 and early 2011. One can also use it to track Trigeminal pain as well.

Tho I do recommend you writing nearly every detail when the pain strikes, the location, intensity, and whether its shocking, stabbing, or ache. It will help you identify different triggers whether they be food, weather, or other variables.

Check Your Meds

Blueberries

I've learned a lot about pain since my sporadic undiagnosed Trigeminal Neuralgia erupted into full blown TN Type 1 in April 2007. Much to my chagrin I've learned what works for someone, doesn't mean it'll work for me, or vice versa. However, I'm posting this in hopes that it might help others in their day to day battle with TN.

The family went to Cracker Barrel last week, I ordered the blueberry pancakes served with blueberry syrup. I hoped the blueberry anti-inflammatory properties would help alleviate some of the pain I had been going through.

I awoke the following virtually pain free! The pain did come back late in the afternoon, but it was manageable. Now I try to include blueberries in my diet as much as I can.