I know I can. . .

I WILL get there. I'm not sure whose timetable we're on here, but it will happen.

In another bit of synchronicity, yesterday I learned that a medication I was taking that I thought was going to be okay to take while on the MP won't be. I also got a mailing from my doctor informing me that it's time for my annual physical, so they won't renew any prescriptions anyway. I got blood drawn this morning and have my appointment for the physical on Tuesday morning. I think this is going to work out to be perfect timing if I wait and start the MP on Wednesday.

I have started making curtains. The first one was of course the hardest, but now that I have all the preliminaries done and a method established, the rest should go pretty quickly. I got pull-down shades for a couple of rooms and it turned out that the shades, which are cut-to-fit, are exactly the right size as-is. Also, a pair of blackout drapery panels I bought last week and decided I couldn't use for their initial purpose turns out to be exactly the size I need in another place, so I can use them instead of going to the trouble of returning them. Everything's falling into place.

Today I went shopping, and had a terrible headache all day, which was threatening to turn into a migraine (nausea, etc.). The usual meds (including coffee, chocolate, half a hydrocordone, and ibuprofen) didn't help. It was overcast, cold, and rainy, but when I finally decided to head for home I got out my new NoIR sunglasses (the special ones I had to order for the MP). They block all IR, UV, and blue-spectrum, and only allow in ten percent of the visible light spectrum (the other pair only allows in two percent). I put them on and it was like throwing a switch. I could feel the blood vessels in my head, especially around my eyes, relaxing. By the time I got home, my headache was almost gone.

I was amazed, because I'm not taking any of the MP meds yet, so I figured I wouldn't be any more light sensitive than usual. Well, I think I've learned that my "usual" included more significant photosensitivity than I knew, including intolerance to flourescent lighting (in all the stores I went in). I have always hated flourescent lights with a passion! Other people thought I was nuts. But now I know that it's real.

I've been wearing them indoors since I got home, including at the computer (LCDs are backlit by flourescent light), and I feel so much better than I did earlier today. It is AMAZING. I had been using them at the computer about 60% of the time since I got them a couple of days ago. Now I will use them 100% of the time!

Other people have written over at the MP website that the NoIRs are "soothing." I didn't know what that meant. Now I do.

Marshall Protocol, in English

Now, I haven't decided for sure to do the Marshall Protocol. Have to talk my doctor into it first, and I have to convince myself before I do that.

Short version is: Ph.D. clinician claims to have discovered a "bacteria-like" common cause to CFS, lupus, lyme, rheumatoid arthritis, and all related autoimmune diseases. The bacteria supposedly are very tiny (so tiny that a scientist friend of mine takes issue with calling them bacteria) and very sneaky: they live in white blood cells, where the immune system can't find them. The Marshall Protocol involves taking a drug that is supposed to allow the immune system to see the bacteria and start killing them. Also other drugs to assist in the kill-off.

Vitamin D (some of which is actually a hormone) supposedly plays a large role in helping the bacteria to hide, and people with these autoimmune diseases supposedly have a Vitamin D "imbalance" or "dysregulation" (it's a lot more complicated than that). So one of the things you have to do is avoid all ingestion of Vitamin D (no "enriched" food sources, from milk to flour) and all exposure to sunlight. As if that weren't enough, the drugs also cause photosensitivity, so I will have to wear special dorky sunglasses all the time, even indoors. (Actually, those are the new "fashion" frames, so I won't have to wear the really dorky ones. )

And it will make me a lot sicker before I feel better. The Herxheimer Effect is a major part of it, from the bacteria die-off.  Also, it can take two or three years to finish. I am still a little unclear on how long the hiding in a cave part will take, but I think that's at least six months.

But supposedly, at the end, I will be truly cured. I don't know whether to believe it or not. It would be horrible to go through that much misery and still be sick when I'm done. On the other hand I could put up with anything if I knew I was going to be cured. I've been sick for ten years and I don't really want the next forty to be like them.