Insomnia

For weeks now I've had a weird sleeping pattern. Generally I work late evenings from 3pm to midnight, and this is actually my dream schedule....don't have to wake up early in the morning or fight traffic getting to work. I peak in the evenings, after 7pm or so is when I get a radical burst of energy.

However for the last few weeks, I've been having difficulty falling asleep...staying up later and later, and having to wake up still no later than 1 to get to work. Even right now it's 6am and I'm still up writing.

I know the L-Arginine is supposed to give you wicked bursts of energy but damn...this is putting me into overdrive.

Checkin' In

What's up fam?

It's been a week and surprisingly I've been well. Very well in fact. Nothing much to report...I think the L Arginine is really giving me a boost nowadays. It's like my own personal crunk juice/spinach.

Speaking of spinach, when I was younger in high school, the house mistress of my dormitory used to gather all the sickle cell students in her quarters and make us nightly a foul tasting, bitter brew that was supposed to 'cure' sickle cell. My parents believed in that hardcore and I drank that shizz faithfully to no avail, I still fell sick.

The house mistress, bless her heart would come to see me in the hospital and BRING with her some of that tea. Mary Jesus and the orphans it was sheer torture trying to keep that down on a nauseated and pain filled body. I'm so glad I graduated from that school.

So with the Pro Arginine, I'm having a field day, it's tastes so good compared to all the other concoctions I've ever tried. Hopefully the results are going to be longterm.

Double Whammy

I'd been skating on thin ice for weeks, dealing with daily pain and my eyes were definitely juandiced. I knew I was about to fall sick, the question was when. 2 weeks ago, I was thrown into a crushing series of L3's uncontrolled by meds. This hit me right after work, when I was on the way home. I could attribute it to the change in weather, but all I know is that my ass was laid out in pain.

Norio took one look at my face and said, "You're going to the hospital." For once I didn't argue, just gingerly put my shoes on and a thick coat. It was a fast admission, and I was in lala-land approximately 45 minutes after I got into the hospital. My hematocrit was 7.5, which for me is low but not low enough to transfuse. The ED docs wanted to admit me anyway, so I went for it.

I was hooked up to a Fentanyl PCA, which left me dealing with hardcore constipation and drinking prune juice like water. The first few days were a blur of myriad images and hallucinations, the only constant was Norio's soothing presence. I remember one time I was zonked out fighting demons in my nightmares, and all I could hear was his voice talking to the nurse, and that was enough to calm down. By day 4, I was lucid, and day 6, I was ready to come home. I hate being in the hospital, I feel like my life is being wasted with every minute I'm a patient there.

My discharge was on Friday, and I spent the weekend recuperating, gearing up for work on Monday. On Sunday I had a burst of energy and decided to clean the apartment from top to bottom, the dead flowers were really starting to bother me. I even went ahead and made dinner, slipping into sexy lingerie before Norio came home.

Except by the time he got home an hour later, I was shivering under the blanket, heat blasting on 90 degrees. He was surprised to find me decked out in a sexy outfit, but unfortunately I couldn't use it, I was in that much pain. Grrrrr!

He took me to the hospital a few minutes later (yes, I did change my outfit), and then I went through my hellish ER experience. That's a story for another day. I was in the hospital for a whole 'nother week, and even I wanted to throw in the towel when 2 days after my blood transfusion I still wasn't feeling better. Add to that, my HR department let me know that if I was out of work for more than 30 days I would lose my job...thanks fuckers!

Added to that, there was some family drama going on---people really do have bad timing. The bright spots were that I once again felt the outpouring of love from my family and friends, even my former boss sent me a huge gift basket. I was more than ready to go home when the Dr. asked me, I didn't even wait for him to finish. The nurse pulled out my PICC line and it was like losing my best buddy, that PICC line helped me when all my veins crapped out.

All in all, I was home for the weekend and then had to drag myself into work on Monday.

The Wonder of Nitric Oxide

Norion's dad sent me a forward a few weeks ago about L-Arginine that he had gotten from a fellow scientist researching the benefits of L-Arginine and nitric oxide to cardiovascular conditions. In addition, someone had left a comment on a previous post about L-Arginine weeks ago that was around the same time. Serendipity was pointing that I look into this. The more I read up on it and did research, the more information I found about this wonderful amino acid.

L-Arginine is the semi-essential amino acid that has been shown may help in the effects of cardiovascular disease and many other inflammatory conditions. It's the major source for nitric oxide synthesis.

Not that many people with sickle cell know about it, however, it's been shown in reduce the crippling crises and pain that we usually go through. One of the main attributes of Nitric oxide is that it prevents cells from sticking together, makes the blood vessels more pliable & elastic as well as keeping the blood flowing freely. It's like Hydroxyurea, without all the nasty chemotherapy drug side effects. Can I get a hells yeah!

The compound is specially formulated with Vit C, B Complex and tastes like dilute grape juice to improve memory and mental agility, and give you energy. The only side effect is mild diarrhea and most people don't even get that. Compared with the 35 debilitating effects of Hydrea, this is definitely one for the game books.

It's sold as a nutra-ceutical, so it's over the counter, no prescription needed. Be sure to get the Pro Argi 9-Plus formula as shown above, because that the one that is specially formulated for those with sickle cell. Pretty much you take a scoop of that in 4-8 oz. of water twice a day, regularly on an empty stomach. Arginine takes on the properties of whatever food you take it with, so don't mix it with juice or food, just water! That way, it will flood your system with pure, wonder working NO (Nitric oxide).

Okay, I just started taking it, so as your guinea pig, I'll report back to let you know how it goes. Wish me luck!

If you want to do some research on this for yourself, here are some helpful places to start:

http://www.scinfo.org/SickleNOarticle.pdf

http://medicineandman.com/blog/2005/07/06/arginine-deficiency-in-sickle-cell-disease-causes-hemolysis/

http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/36776.htm

http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/3E992.htm

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/99/2/552?ck=nck

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0CE2D61231F932A25752C1A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

I'm Baaaaaack!

What's up fam? What's good?

Yeah, I'm back in the flesh, better than ever, with only 2 units of blood (ick, ick) added to my veins. In addition, I had to have a PICC line placed as well as 2 rounds of PCA and the pain was excruciatingly debilitating...but what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger to kick ass another day.

One of my main issues is that I really tend to over exert myself at times. I over extend, love to work out at the gym and then have a full time work schedule and a busy, fun life. I don't want to be the fluff sitting on my couch eating bonbons because I'm anemic, I want to drag myself out of the house and DO STUFF!

So when I stop listening to my body and start doing whatever I want then of course my body starts tripping out. Then I just pop painkillers, ignore the pain and keep doing what I'm doing. Which just leaves me more worn down, tired and sick at the end of the day. You think about 27 years I would finally learn.

Not.

I think it's going to take me the rest of my life to figure out the fine art of balancing sickle cell with everything else on my plate and still do everything I want to do this lifetime. I can't imagine how crazy it's going to be next year when I add school into the mix...*wink*

Alright, thanks for all the good wishes and to my sister for holding down the fort. Thank you all for your comments, calls and emails...you all are so sweet! I will gist more about my double admission (that's NEVER happened to me), but for now I just want to sit back, kick it and smell fresh air and think, damn, it's good to be alive!