migraines

Oil Pulling

/ Ronni Jean / Leave a comment

IMG_2321So I go through these really vicious phases on Pinterest and recently one of my Pinterest-athons led me to these ‘phenomenon’ of oil pulling.  All the uber crafty Martha Stewart type mom bloggers say to take 1 teaspoonful and swish it around in your mouth for about 20 minutes and the oil will pull toxins from your mouth, help whiten your teeth, help with migraines, and a medley of other ailments.

If you know me I will try just about anything to keep my migraines at bay and getting whiter teeth in the process? Heck sign me up. So I took my coconut oil from the kitchen cabinet and moved it upstairs into the bathroom. (I am sure my grandmother thought some sort of craziness was going on when she saw this, but she still has yet to comment on it.)

So it has been about a month now maybe even 2 since I have been oil pulling; still have the migraines but my teeth and mouth definitely feel more fresh and the oil appears to be keeping the chompers pretty white.

Like I said you take 1 teaspoonful and swish it in your mouth for 20 minutes. If my oil is more solid because of the months cooling down I don’t do a full heaping teaspoon because I find that my mouth starts to get sore from the swishing and if the oil has liquified I tend to do a little more than a teaspoonful. Given that bit of information I am not sure why I or anyone else suggests 1 teaspoonful because chances are you will alter it to your comfort level.

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I take X teaspoonful and plop it in my mouth before I take a shower so while I am getting all squeaky clean for the day I can oil pull as well; multi-taking at its finest ladies and gentlemen. I cannot tell a lie 20 minutes is a loooooong time when you first start pulling, I read that you should start off with 5 minutes and then go to 10 minutes and keep adding time until you reach 20 because it really is a mouth exercise. But because I am a go-getter I started out with 20 minutes, my jaw was sore but obviously I lived. Okay so swish swish and then when it comes time to spit DO NOT spit it in the sink it will solidify and clog up your drains and chances are that won’t be a pretty thing. I kept an empty jar in my bathroom to spit into and this was a cool and convenient way to get rid of my oil until about 3 weeks into. Whenever I opened the jar the worst smell ever would come out and I wold gag to the point where I would almost throw up. So needless to say I got over the jar quick and just started spitting it into the trash can (make sure your bags don’t have holes in them:) )

Like I said I still have headaches but my teeth and mouth feel better so I will more than likely keep on with the oil pulling, next I want to experiment with oil pulling with essential oils. I have a few oils (I am not yet a crazy oil fanatic) I think I might try that soon. I am not sure if oil pulling is a legit practice in this time but it is oddly fun and now that I have created this habit I just keep on keeping on.

On a slightly unrelated note coconut oil is also super awesome for removing eye makeup and I often use it as a mask on the dry ends of my hair. I love cure-alls and coconut oil seems to be more and more a very practical cure-all.

Until next time

r

10/18/14

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Botox: Part 2

/ Ronni Jean / Leave a comment

So it has been 3 months and 16 days since I had my first Botox injects; and roughly a week since I went for my second treatment (you have to go every 12 weeks for injections).

In those 3 months, get ready for this, I had 5 headaches! I know that may seem like pfft whatever but for me that is ahhh-mazing, if you know me or if you have read my previous posts about my migraine situation you know that 5 is pretty much a miracle. And to make it even better these headaches never got to the point of no return like my other headaches use to do. These past 5 I was able to take an Excedrin or Relpax and bam no more headache.

I honestly wish I had known about Botox sooner, or that it was even made an option available to me years ago; I told my neurologist this too. My neurologist said that Botox is a last resort and the reason that they do not offer it is because it is so expensive. I will have you know I have a warped sense of real world insurance costs because I work for a big healthcare company that graciously offers benefits at a low cost to me. So for my injections I pay five bucks, that’s it, five and done. I was curious to know how much Botox costs in the real world so I did a little bit of research.

Botox prices can range from $10 per unit up to $18 per unit, there seems to be no rhyme or reason for the cost fluctuation some websites I read seem to suggest that it has to do with the physician giving the injections; if he/she is in demand, how much Botox they buy, the areas that it is injected, etc.  So I figure the average price per unit is around $15, which doesn’t seem so bad until you take into account how many units you actually need per treatment. Botox for migraines requires 155 units for the treatment. So 155 units x $15 = $2,325 Yikes. When I sit back and look at that number I think is that amount of money something that I would be willing to pay for? I mean for my migraines I would give anything, but cosmetically is that really worth it? At my age now I would say no, but who knows what I will say 30, 4o years down the road when my skin starts to sag and I get wrinkles and such. I do know that I won’t have a problem with forehead wrinkles thanks to my migraine Botox. (kidding, but only kind of)

I really just wanted to update about my progress with the Botox treatments; scariest, yet best decision I have made to get my head under control. Rumor has it that after about a year’s worth of treatment that the headaches should just dissipate and hopefully they will cease to exist; I can’t complain about that. I cannot even express how nice it is to have my life back, to not miss out on activities because I have a migraine. I can also genuinely say that I am happier, living in constant pain really does put a damper on things and now that I no longer have that pain I feel like a weight has been lifted off of me and it is fabulous.

 

r

5/28/14