Waiting for relief

I've been a bit delinquent in my blogging lately, my apologies for three of you who read my blog. :)

Truth is I've not been feeling well. It's spring again and that means a complete lack of energy as my body attempts to ward off the tree pollens and grasses and all those other things to come back to life this time of year. Not fun at all for me. Spring is my least favorite time of the year. Sinus headaches abound and never ending quantities of snot and postnasal drip and itchy, watery eyes. Loads of fun.

On top of that, around the last time I blogged I had a gallbladder attack. After consuming so much wine the weekend before it was pretty much inevitable, especially if I didn't follow a strict detox diet. Which I didn't. The day of the attack I consumed Aleve and Allegra to try to combat the raging sinus headache I had, and then had a full-caffeine cappuccino (with skim milk) to attempt to stimulate my liver to process the meds quicker (which does sometimes help, not that day, though), and finished it off with a Twix bar (because it sounded good). Had I eliminated just the Twix bar or just the cappuccino I think I would have been fine, but good judgement was not a quality I possessed that day. So, by the time I got to dinner, it was an inevitability. Had I skipped dinner, I might have made it out okay, too, who knows. But after just a few bites I could feel my liver and gallbladder start to swell and the nausea kicked in hard core. For the next five hours the lower right quadrant of my back was inflamed and wreaking havoc on my body. Luckily it didn't last all night and by just after midnight I was able to lay down and sleep.

One of the recommended relief tools for a GB attack is to sip on flaxseed tea. You make it by boiling flaxseeds in water for five minutes and then letting them steep for another ten. What the tea comes out to be is essentially a flaxoil, from what I can tell. The tastes isn't bad, it actually tastes kind of fresh, but sometimes the tea can make you vomit. For a some gallbladder attacks, it's actually the best solution. Then your gallbladder doesn't have to try to process the offending foods anymore. Other times I just gets things moving so that if a stone or sludge is blocking the GB duct, it slips out of place. At least, that is how I believe it works. Thankfully, I didn't have to vomit after drinking the tea this time.

Acupuncture the next day helped to finish calming things down, though I was exhausted the whole rest of the week. GB attacks are physically grueling things. For me, it can take up to a full week to completely recover.