December 24, 2008 - Wednesday

Sunny but cool in the afternoon, rainy at night.

I have a quandary. Do I write what's really in my head at the moment, or should I just do the regular blog post? Probably better to do the regular blog post.

Today was okay. I got up, watched the news and drank the worst coffee I've had in ages. Fumihiko's new buy may be cheap, but it's horrible. I hope we won't buy that again. Yuck. I tooled around on my computer for a while, then decided to go out.

I had a not very healthy lunch at McDonalds, then proceeded to the drugstore. I was looking for echinacea. They still didn't have it. I think they must be releasing new packaging or a new formula or something. I've checked 3 local drugstores and no one has it. (Sort of like the whole sunflower seeds thing too. They've totally disappeared from Aeon Jusco shelves.)

Finally I hit the new craft store and had a good poke around. I got some tea tree oil and a crochet hook there. It was a nice store, but when I asked for a membership card when I paid, they said something that I didn't understand and they didn't give it to me. Not too happy about that. Oh well, I don't have to go there again, do I?

Came home, had a quick shower and used a drop of tea tree oil on my head, very diluted in shampoo. The relief was great. The last few days, my head has been itching and hurting like crazy again. My best friend's theory is that it is caused by stress. Well, last year if you were with me then, I had horrible headaches for 2? 3? weeks straight at Christmastime. Coincidentally, that's now! From Saturday I'll have my husband underfoot for a whole week and let's just say I'm a tad nervous about the prospect.

When Fumihiko came home we chatted for a while and then we went out to get a few groceries for our dinner tomorrow. Came back home and had dinner. I fried a few French fries in the frypan (Good grief, what a tongue twister!), and had salad and cold chicken for dinner. It was nice. Afterwards, Fumihiko did dishes and while he did that, I printed more nengajo for myself. He turned on the TV and does what he always does, just watches what was on the screen. I asked him if he was going to watch something we both could watch. I'm frankly getting tired with the crap he's been subjecting me to lately. He said it was the news, I told him he could watch it then (It didn't look like news, but what do I know?) but he stormed off. I took over the telly and found Bridget Jones-Edge of Reason on so watched the end of that.

I worked on my nengajo and he came back finally. He worked on some of his nengajo, but I actually made him write the addresses on mine more!

I'm done my New Years Cards. I'm sure I'll have a few that I'll have to make later, but I've decided to drop people from my list if I haven't had any contact with them this year.

The movie Once was on at midnight so I had set up the vcr to tape it, but Fumihiko decided we should watch it. I watched some of it and it was good, but I'd like to re-watch it when I wasn't distracted.

And now, what's in my head.

Fumihiko is having major back problems at the moment. The weather isn't helping much, his pain medication isn't working well enough and his disposition isn't good. He's been a grumpy bear for the last few months and it's wearing me down. I don't have enough actual people that I can call on and talk with to get a breather from his moodiness. It's not just him that's moody...I'm not saying that this is all his fault. My stress level is rising, and I'm getting tired of bearing the brunt of his bad humour all the time. There is a glimmer of hope in the future, but the glimmer is also stressful so I'm not sure what's going to happen.

Anyway, on with the show. It's late, I'm tired and so I'm going to wish all my readers A Very Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays.

5 comments:

Sherry said...

Merry Christmas!

Hope your scalp and his back are better soon.

Kelly said...

I used to suffer terribly with dandruff and i was told by a skin specialist the cause is stress. On the same token, i also suffer eczema whenever i get stressed out, so they definitely go hand in hand together.

Does the tea tree oil work for you? I was told another good thing is zinc, either orally or a shampoo with zinc included.

Hope you feel better soon.

Sorry to hear about Fumihiko's back. Have you considered acupuncture? I have used it for a lot of different health problems and it's always come through for me. He may also get some relief from having reiki. When yasu gets back pain i reiki him and it relieves the pain quite well.

I'm not sure if you've heard of it or not but there is a tonic called "swedish bitters", if you rub that on the affected area, it can relieve pain too. I have tried it on yasu and it usually works overnight. I'm not sure if you can get it in Japan, if you need some let me know. It's strictly herbal, no weird drugs or anything.

You can also get cell salts/tissue salts which may help.

A list below for various types of back pain.

AESCULUS: used for dull, nagging pain
ARNICA MONTANA: used in cases of trauma to the back
COLOCYNTHIS: used for weakness and muscle cramps in the lower back
GNAPHALIUM: used to treat sciatica, which is often associated with back pain
LYCOPODIUM: used to treat burning pain
RHUS TOXICODENDRON: used for lower back stiffness and pain

They are little pillules that go on or under the tongue and work in conjunction with prescription meds, so no worry of interaction.

We swear by cell salts, we have some that, at the first sign of getting a cold or sore throat, we take them, and we don't end up getting a cold, they're great. Yasu also uses them for muscle pain for his legs, as he gets sore muscles from sport and standing at work all day.

Well, sorry for info overload, if you want to know anything else, feel free to msg me by email.

Have a great day!

Oh yeah and also about the membership card, that's just rude. Do you think it's a gaijin thing? Maybe you should get Fumihiko to go there...they may have run out or something.

Kelly

Helen said...

Thanks Sherry!

Kelly, thanks for the ideas. My best friend in Canada is always after me to get him to try "alternative remedies" too. She does Pranic Healing which is a little similar to reiki. I would try, but he's the non-believer.

He has a couple of bad spots in his spine, due to a car accident before I met him. The problem is really starting to affect his life. I'll try suggesting some of your ideas to him.

The tea tree oil did seem to help. Maybe because I was desperate? My scalp still feels itchy, but not quite as bad as before. It started earlier this year after a trip to my hairdresser. She used a new "treatment" on me, and a week later I started having incredible problems with my scalp. Not sure that it was her treatment, but it could have been. I've had trouble ever since.

I don't really think it was a gaijin thing at the store, they seemed friendly enough. They were probably thinking that I couldn't fill out the form...well, I could in romanji...or that maybe I wasn't going to stay in Japan long enough to use the card? Maybe I'll take Fumihiko back some time, but it's not really his type of shop!

Thanks for the comments!

flapjacs said...

Merry Christmas Helen!

Hope your woes improve.

His back / my head - we are in the same boat here. only he's not a grumpy bear thank goodness that's me!!

Helen said...

Today he's not a grumpy bear, but he often is! I'm sorry about your head. Hope you're feeling better soon too.

Thanks for visiting!