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  1. Med Mash-up

    February 13, 2013 by Dylan

    Last week I went to a (yet another) new doctor. She seems nice. I got all my blood work done and everything looks good. My good cholesterol is awesome. Go yummy foods! And my other levels were right on track. The appointment was for my annual, so we didn’t get to talk in depth about new ideas for meds that might work better, but I made appointment in March to go over all of that. Maybe this doctor will stick around for longer than a year and I can get some things dialed in. That would be very nice.

    The med that I talked with her about tapering off was Cymbalta. I am very tired (literally) of the side effects. I start on a reduced dose tomorrow, and I am interested to see how my person will react. Tapering off Cymbalta is notoriously hard, and I have no idea how my body is going to handle it. Fortunately, it is the only thing that I am reducing, so that might make it easier.

    Things that I am looking forward to while getting off Cymbalta:

    • More energy! This is one of my biggest annoyances. Right now, I need to sleep ten to twelve hours a night, and sometimes I still need a nap. I would like to not be so tired all the time, I’m sure my family would appreciate it too.
    • No more night sweats! Man, this is really annoying. I feel like I’m menopausal and I just turned thirty-one. Plus, (TMI) I get heat rashes and I had to get a creme just for that. Yet another prescription. Boo!
    • No more dry mouth. I drink a lot of water, and I still have dry mouth. This winter, my lips chapped so badly, that they bled. Often. Ick.

    Things that I am NOT looking forward to while getting off Cymbalta:

    • Return of the pain. My hips still hurt, it is much less than it was last winter, but on bad days . . . I have bad days and they aren’t fun. It will be a good baseline measure though, for future reference anyway. And it will give me an idea of my pain levels after a year of meds.
    • The possible withdrawal effects. These include, moodiness, brain zaps, depression, and other joyful things. This could be fun.
    • Having to do all this again with a different med.

    So, I have the next month to see what happens. I will keep everyone updated, because talking about health issues is fun. Plus, I want people to become more aware of these “Invisible Illnesses.” We aren’t just wusses, you just can’t see how much our life can hurt. Sometimes, I think it would be easier if I was in a cast, or something else that was visible, but I am (mostly) happy with my life the way it is.

    As always, thanks for reading and feel free to ask questions. I’m not shy.

    Category Health | Tags: , , , , , | No Comments

  2. Job Joy

    February 5, 2013 by Dylan

    My current day job has cut my hours (get better economy!), so I’m on the hunt for part time work. I’d love to find something in the writing or editing world, but I’d also consider retail, restaurant work, or child care. I’m up for cleaning houses on Tuesdays or Thursdays, if anyone would be interested in a housecleaner.

    I need to get my tush into gear on the personal writing front. There is the first Ruby story that I have to finish editing, then the second and third need writing. This winter weather is for the birds, it makes me supremely lazy. The Little Man and I have been having too much fun playing video games and watching movies. I need to get a move on.

    That’ll be it for today. But, I’ll be back later with more exciting posts about fun things, not just work stuff. If you hear of anything, or have any work for me, send me an email at dylancbenito@gmail.com. I’ll be checking the internet too. I gots rent to pay!

    As always, thanks for reading!

    Category Work | Tags: , , , , , , , | No Comments

  3. Catch-all Catch-up

    December 23, 2012 by Dylan

    Edited to add my NaNoWriMo certificate!

    2012-Trad-Nano-Winner-Certificate1.2 (1)

    Firstly: I am a terrible blogger. I will endeavor to write more in 2013. I have some good things to share.

    Secondly: I finished, and won my NaNoWriMo challenge! I wrote just over 50,000 words. I think I have a great first draft of a crazy, post-apocalyptic, adventure novel. The draft will need a bunch of work, but I am pretty happy with how it turned out. I discovered that it is just the first in a three part series. I’m looking forward to writing the next two, but I have to get some other stuff done first. The best thing about the project was learning my limits. I now know that I can write over 4,000 words in a day (if I have to), and that my imagination is much bigger than I thought it could be. Awesome.

    Which leads to point three: I sent off the first Ruby mystery off to a (my) delightful editor, Ms. Shelia Ashdown, and got back a ton of great advice. I am in the middle of another round of edits and I think I will be ready for some copy editing once I’m done. The next step is starting up the business and publishing. I’m thinking that I will start with e-publishing, then go on to a small print run. Things are moving right along, and it’s exciting. Of course, I will keep all of you updated as everything rolls out.

    Point four: My Little Man will be turning five on the 26th! I can’t believe it. We don’t have anything planned for the actual day, but we will be getting him bunk beds later in the week. I think it’ll blow his mind. I can’t wait. Expect a post with pictures. I’m hoping to get out with him today and run some errands, but the weather is gross and neither of us is very excited about going outside. I might have to tempt him with a trip to the toy store, he has some birthday money to spend, and he has been talking about a robot toy.

    What else has been going on? I’m still working at the music shop, and that has been work. The holiday season has finally hit and it’s been busy. I expect next week to be even busier. People love to spend their gift cards. After the new year, I will be compiling an inventory list again. That should be entertaining. I am still trying to figure out the best way to get it all together. I’m hoping I can put our iPad to good use. We shall see.

    Six will be a health update: My current meds are messing with me. After this batch runs out, I plan on changing meds. That could be really interesting. Tapering off Cymbalta is notoriously difficult and I have no idea how I’m going to react. I’m really tired of the side effects and am hoping for something a little easier to deal with. I have also been fighting off a cold/flu thing for a few weeks. Every time I feel like I’m getting better, I get hit again. I’m definitely ready for that to stop. Other than that, I’m doing alright.

    I think that’s about it for now. I’ll post pictures soon, and maybe an excerpt of the first Ruby book. If that is something that you all are interested in.

    Ta for now.

    Category Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | No Comments

  4. Writing Whirlwind

    November 12, 2012 by Dylan

    Hello all. Sorry that I have been so absent lately. It seems that life has decided to get in the way. Time is flying by and I have been having a hard time keeping up. We are all doing quite well in the Portmandia household. We survived the Little Man’s first Halloween, and are still enjoying the remnants of his candy. Mainly, writing abounds for our little family.

    Mr. Portmandia and I are both taking part in NaNoWriMo2012, National Novel Writing Month, it is a month long writing challenge. We are both trying to get to 50,000 words by the end of November. So far it has been a fun project. I am writing a post-apocalyptic adventure story and am relatively happy with how it is turning out so far. I will keep you all updated on if I make the final word count or not. Either way, it is a fun thing to participate in. I should hit 20,000 words today, and that feels good.

    I haven’t been cooking a whole lot, so I don’t have any fancy new recipes to share. Mr. Portmandia, on the other hand, has been making lots of delicious pickles and has just started brewing beer. He should be bottling the current batch this weekend. I am looking forward to tasting some. He has been quite the experimenter lately and I like it.

    I will leave you all with a picture of the beer that is burbling in our closet, and a promise to write more.

    Category Fiction | Tags: , , , , | No Comments

  5. Wheat Woes

    September 24, 2012 by Dylan

    I have decided to give this whole gluten free thing a try, for real this time. This decision came about because I read an interesting book, Wheat Belly, by William Davis, MD.I love reading books about food and books about science, so this book fit right in between the two disciplines. I checked up on the authors facts, and he seems pretty solid. I have also known so many people that went gluten free and had it make a huge difference in their lives. These considerations made me really think about what I was eating and what I could do to make a positive difference in my health. After reading this book, I decided it was my turn to see what a gluten free diet (GFD) could do for me.

    I have to caveat this by saying, I am not looking to loose weight or go on any fad diet. I do want to feel healthier though, and if some of my belly goes away, I won’t be upset.

    I started looking into a gluten free diet when I was first diagnosed with fibromyalgia. It seems that gluten can increase fibro symptoms, and I don’t need any help with those. My fingers and hips started aching early this year, it is still in the 70s and I already hurt. I can’t imagine what the winter will bring, and that is with the good meds. Le sigh. So, I am looking for dietary things to cut out that might just benefit my person.

    So far, I have been on a GFD for two weeks. I foiled myself and ate a lot of red licorice before thinking to check the ingredient list. Yup, the first thing on the list: wheat. So red licorice is out. It left me feeling bloated and tired. If you all want to be super particular about the whole thing, I will say I have been on a GFD for a week now. My, ahem, BMs have improved (sorry for the squeamish out there!) and my energy levels have improved too. I am still more tired than normal, that is from the meds, but I feel more functional lately.

    The biggest thing I have noticed is how long it takes me to get hungry after I eat breakfast. Usually I would eat pancakes, cereal, or toast for breakfast. Now I eat hardboiled eggs, yogurt and fruit, scrambles, nuts, or salads for breakfast. And, yes, salad for breakfast is weird, but awesomely tasty; especially with cheese and fruit on it.

    More on the hunger length: I normally eat breakfast between seven and nine in the morning, depending on when I wake up, and I was usually ravenous by eleven. I am finding that I can now go until one in the afternoon before I get hungry. And, when I do get hungry, I’m not dizzy or spacey like I was before. If I don’t get anything else out of this, that fact will be enough. I turn into a total space cadet when I’m hungry and it drives me and my companions nuts. If I can eliminate that, I will be ecstatic.

    I have taken body measurements, but I don’t know if I want to get into that or not. I have a lot of friends who have triggers about those type of things, and I don’t want to offend or harm anyone. If there is interest, I will post something in three weeks behind a cut. The book recommends giving a full four week trial period before one makes any kind of serious decisions about a GFD, and to reexamine body measurements. So, let me know what you all are interested in hearing about and I will be happy to oblige.

    So far, I am having fun learning new cooking techniques and eating more vegetables. As I have written above, I have cracked myself up by having huge salads for breakfast. I look forward to finding more foods to eat. Tomorrow, I am planning on making a pizza with a cauliflower crust. I will let you know how it turns out. It could be weird, but I saw the recipe and thought it was worth a shot. Tonight, I will be making tacos with tons of fresh veg, yum.

    As always, thank you for reading. Let me know if you have any awesome gluten free recipes; I would love to start collecting them.

    Happy eating!

    Category Health, Home | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments

  6. Beach Bums

    August 23, 2012 by Dylan

    The Little Man and I had the opportunity to make a trip to the beach this week, and we took it. Our lovely friends Carina and Sam invited us to stay with them at the family beach cabin. I was looking forward to making the trip and erasing the memories of the previous time we stayed there. What a horrible visit! It rained the entire time (storm level wind and rain), the basement flooded, I had a major allergy attack and puked in a gas station on the side of the road, and no one slept. Needless to say, I was a little worried about going back. But I shouldn’t have, everything was awesome.

    Me and the Little man, being cheesy.

    The boys were a little worked up from the long car ride, that might be an understatement, but they did fine once we got them outside. The drive to the beach was eventful, this time the Little Man puked on the way there. He had been complaining about his tummy hurting the night before, and then, as he put it, “My tummy got smaller and smaller and then POP!” Fortunately, it was a pretty easy mess to clean up and we got back on the road fairly quickly. There were no other incidents in the car, which was nice.

    The boys on the beach!

    We got to the house around two and spent close to four hours on the beach. As you can see, they played hard. The house is on a private beach that is also a wildlife sanctuary, and it is beautiful. We had the entire place to ourselves the whole time we were there. Amazing.

    After a significant amount of play time, we managed to wrangle the boys back up to the house and stuff them full of mac and cheese, fruit, and other little snacks. There was some media time and then we read some stories together and finally moved to our separate rooms to get the boys down at a reasonable time. Surprisingly enough, it worked and they were both asleep by eight thirty or so.

    Then, Carina and I had some adult time. Which was great, because it is rare that we get to spend time together with out the boys needing constant attention. It can make conversations difficult. We watched silly movies and drank fancy ciders and stayed up too late. It was fun, but it made for a very early morning.

    We woke up to cooler weather and some light cloud cover, so we figured a movie might be a good idea. Unfortunately, the Little Man was having none of that. He was super wiggly. It was actually pretty funny, for me anyway. I think poor Carina was a little cranky, she had just gotten done visiting with a ton of family and was burnt out–understandably so. I was just so happy she still wanted to go to the beach with us.

    With the boys being squirmy, we decided that an early morning beach trip would be the best idea and it worked. The boys ran around, we looked at tide pools, and I found a cool agate.  After about two hours, we figured it was time for lunch and a break from the water. We had the boys in long pants, so those and all their other clothing was soaking wet. We decided to head into Newport to pick up a pizza and get out of the house for a while. Then it was back to the beach for another few hours.

    The Little Man, running from the waves.

    We managed to have a lot of fun, not get sunburnt, and only have one minor meltdown in the car on the way home. No puking happened either, which was really nice. Carina dropped us off and we got to hang out with Mr. P. for a bit before we packed the Little Man off to bed and relaxed before we crawled into bed.

    Today has been nicely boring. I am cleaning the house and getting ready for my work week. All in all, it was an awesome trip and I can’t wait to get back to the coast as soon as possible. The LM feels the same way. He keeps asking me when we are going back to the beach. I think we will have to convince my mom to take a trip before the weather gets cold and nasty again. It shouldn’t be that hard.

    Thanks for reading! Oh, if you want to see the rest of the beach photos, they are on flickr.

    Category On the Go | Tags: , , , , , , , , | No Comments

  7. Doctor Debut

    August 19, 2012 by Dylan

    I found a new doctor. YAY! She is not as amazing as my old doctor (that would be difficult for anyone), but she seems reasonable and was quite friendly. My visit went better then I had planned, and I get to stay on my current meds without any hassle. Awesome. If anyone in the Portland area is interested, her name is Dr. Lina Takano and she works at the Portland Clinic.

    I was very impressed with the Portland Clinic. They were friendly and quick. The nurses seemed to know what they were doing, and I didn’t get any funny looks. The receptionists were awesome. Plus, I called for a doctors appointment and was able to see the doctor I wanted the next day, which was great. They were very professional and I highly recommend them. The other cool thing about the Portland Clinic, is their online record system. If you sign up for it you have access to the record of your visit, and you have access to your doctor. Instead of making an appointment for a med refill, I can just email my doctor and she faxes off the order. I really like that.

    Anyway. I am happy that I get to stay on my current meds. It seems that the Cymbalta and the LDN are working out pretty well. I have a lot more energy than before and my stamina is a much higher than it used to be. That being said; today sucks. I had a really hard time waking up this morning and I am still out of it. So, I decided to put that fuzzy feeling to use by writing this.

    There are a few of you who are interested in the LDN effects, so I wanted to give a quick review. When I first started taking it, I slept a lot. I was needing at least ten hours of sleep a night, but that was what happened when I first started taking the Cymbalta too. It might be that I react to new meds by sleeping a ton. As the days went on, riding my bike became easier and I had more energy. The main side effects are an increase in vivid dreaming (which I like, for the most part) and the need for more sleep. I find I do better if I can have an hour nap in the middle of the day. Unfortunately, I can’t always take a nap. I have been sleep deprived for years and am fairly used to it, but I hope that mellows out with time. So far it has been totally worth it.

    At my doctor’s appointment, I found out something interesting about the LDN: people with a history of addiction, family or personal, have much better results with the drug. It makes sense that it works so well for me. I think that now matter how it works, it is working and that is what I was hoping for.

    I am excited to have found a doctor that listens to me and agrees that the meds I am on are working and we should keep on them until I need something else. I was really happy not to have to argue my case and get into a bunch of hassle with someone new. I feel like I got the hard work done with Dr. Glasser, and now I can keep on a steady path, hopefully, for the next while.

    As always, I will keep you all posted. Thank you for reading.

    Category Health | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | No Comments

  8. Sweet Summer Salad

    August 13, 2012 by Dylan

    Summer is the best time for salad. And salad is awesome food. Salads can range from a simple one or two ingredients to a complicated multi-ingredient masterpiece. One of my favorite ways to add a little zing to my salads, is by adding fruit. The contrast of sweet and savory is a favorite of mine. The salad that I am writing about today features some of the best aspects of summer. At least in my opinion.

    This year has been an interesting one, weather-wise, so we have strawberries and peaches ripe at the same time. This fruit combo makes for many delicious meals, and are delicious all on their own. Add some blueberries and yogurt and you have one of my favorite breakfasts. At any rate; on to the recipe.

    Sweet Summer Salad:

    3 cups spinach, or other greens (a cup is about a handful)
    2 ripe peaches
    6-8 medium strawberries
    ½-1 cup mozzarella cheese, cubed or grated
    2 tbs red wine vinegar
    salt and pepper to taste

    Chop the peaches and strawberries into bite size pieces, set aside. Grate or chop your mozzarella, set aside. In a large bowl combine your greens, fruit, and mozzarella. Pour the red wine vinegar over the ingredients and top with salt and pepper. Toss the salad until the juice from the fruit mixes with the vinegar and serve immediately.

    This serves four people as a side, and two as a meal.

    I hope you are all enjoying the summer as much as I am. Happy eating.

    Category Home | Tags: , , , , , , , | No Comments

  9. Tiny Tattoo

    July 26, 2012 by Dylan

    I have been wanting a new tattoo for a while now. But, money has been tight and I feel bad spending cash on myself. On the other hand, sometimes you have to do things for yourself, right? Right. Also, it has been about three years since the last time I got a tattoo. It was definitely time, overdue in fact.

    I had a hard day at work the other day (actually about two weeks ago, and for personal reasons, not work reasons) and wandered up to the tattoo shop two blocks from Trade Up. It’s called New Rose. One of my coworkers has gone there twice for tattoos with great success. I met with the amazing Leslie Hero, whom I will definitely be going back to, and we talked about what I wanted to do. It was a bunch of little stuff, and she was game for it all. She saw no reason to break it up into multiple sessions and figured she could get it all done in about an hour. I scheduled an appointment then and there.

    There are two older tattoos that have that needed a few things fixed to make them feel right, and I wanted to get my little crab done. Leslie gave me an estimate, very reasonable, and I put it on the calendar. The older things weren’t too exciting, a border on one, and a final seed pod on my dandelion. The crab, on the other hand, is totally new.

    The story behind the crab is very simple. Mr. P, the Little Man, my mommy, and I, all went to Cannon Beach last November and stayed for the weekend. It was an awesome trip, but I was having a crazy fibro attack and didn’t have a lot of energy for beach walks. At one point in time we were all in the house and the LM was drawing things he had seen on the beach for me. Then he drew this little crab on a piece of cardboard, and I fell in love. I have wanted it as a tattoo ever since.

    20120726-142441.jpg

    Now I have it! It is done and mine and on my arm. Yay! I can’t wait to take some pictures of it after it is all healed up and not so puffy. I’ll also get some shots of the other work that I had done, but I am impatient and wanted to share this all with you. In many ways, it feels like a present to myself for getting through the winter. And I wanted something that would be super special and always remind me of the amazing time the LM and I have together. Hopefully, this will be a good reminder when I am frustrated with him.

    The appointment went well. I seem to be healing normally, and I am finally getting adjusted to the LDN. It has made me sooo tired, but that is for a whole other post. I was good though, I had a nice rest the day before, and I went to bed early the day I got it. All in all, it was an awesome experience, and my tattoo lust has been quenched. At least for a month or two.

    As always, thanks for reading!

    Category The Arts | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments

  10. Doctor Drama

    July 19, 2012 by Dylan

    I am so very sad. My amazing, wonderful doctor is moving to Seattle. I will have to find a new doctor and (I am going to whine here) I. Don’t. Wanna! Dr. D was wonderful. She listened to me, she was intuitive, she was inventive, she made my person hurt less . . . Le sigh. Life will go on, but I will definitely miss her.

    I had a final doctor’s appointment with her on Tuesday and we covered a lot of things. I have been feeling like I have been slipping back into my pain. It has really been bumming me out lately. I got so excited that I was finally able to move and do things and not totally exhaust myself by doing the dishes that I didn’t even let myself think about what would happen if the pain came back. When it did, it was a major bummer.

    Dr. D and I talked a lot about what was going on, when the pain started again, and how I was coping with it. She was really good at talking about my anxiety, which made me feel like I was a reasonable person. With a quick exam, she pressed all the trigger spots for fibro, (those suckers hurt!). After I flinched with all of them, Dr. D decided that I was having a flare up, probably from a bit of life stress and a lack of sleep. Together, we decided that the benefits of staying on Cymbalta were worth it, but she wanted me to try something new. I’m up for experimenting on myself, so I said sure.

    My new drug is Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN). It is an opiate antagonist and blocks endorphin production for a short amount of time, thereby increasing endorphin production the rest of the time. This helps one’s immune system properly organize CD4 cells so the body doesn’t attack its own chemical structures. The structures that usually get hit are myelin, myelin insulates our little nerve fibers. When the nerve fibers are attacked, they do really funny things to your body, including sending pain signals when there is no pain—this is where the fibro comes in.

    LDN has been really helpful in treating all kinds of autoimmune disorders, so I am really interested to see what it can do for me. I have a three month script for it, which should give me plenty of time to see if it will work for me. It also gives me some breathing room to find a new doctor if I decided to say on it. Dr. D leaves at the end of the month, so I have a week or so on it while I can still call her. The whole thing could be really interesting.

    I have been doing a little research, and I talked with the pharmacy tech about the side effects. I seems like the most common side effects are headache and sleep disturbance in the form of vivid dreams. I told the pharmacy tech, “I have had headaches and wacky dreams my whole life, I think I’ll be fine.” I immediately found some wood to knock on.

    In summation: I am bummed that my doctor is leaving, hopeful that the LDN will help out, and curious to see where my dreams will lead me. I have the feeling I should start a dream journal. Maybe that will have to be my next blog project. Either way, I will keep you all updated, and as always, thank you for reading.

    Category Health | Tags: , , , , , , , , | No Comments

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