Whew!

Yesterday I flipped my mattress over and spent most of the day relaxing on my couch. What a difference it made! I woke up with pretty much no pain this morning.

As for the sinus infection, things were pretty hairy there for a while. I had been on antibiotics for 8 days or so and still my cheek was swollen. I spent a great deal of Friday and Saturday at a conference inside of a hotel, so there was a lot of air conditioning, which didn’t help matters. I was getting desperate! So, I fasted from about 4pm on Thursday to late Friday night (about 31 hours altogether). Then all day Saturday, I ate very little fruit, a few crackers and not much else. Basically I fasted/fruit fasted for nearly 3 days. I made sure to drink a ton of water and take lots of Vitamin C, zinc, etc. And what a difference it made! I was apparently full of toxins (and still probably am) because I was detoxing like crazy. I was sweating, feeling nauseated and lightheaded (super lightheaded at more than one point), felt weak, mildly feverish, etc. Anyway, my cheek swelling seems pretty much gone.

Here are some other things I’ve been doing to help get rid of the sinus infection: I keep my apartment at 75 or 76 instead of 72 or 73, which means the AC doesn’t kick in nearly as often; sleeping with my bedroom window open to allow the humid air in; using sterilized nose sprays (non medicated) a few times a day; putting warm cloths on my cheeks a few times a day; using very little (if any) perfume; and last but not least, drinking distilled water, as it seems to get things draining more than any other kind of water.

I also lost some serious weight (well, serious for me). Everything has gone down, including my stomach, waist, face, etc. On Saturday night my cheeks were both swollen from the antibiotics and infection and I looked terrible and felt even worse. I could barely focus on anything or anyone and felt like I had tons of involuntary muscle spasms as well as some other bad feelings. For the record, I was on Levaquin, which is a very powerful antibiotic. Never again, that stuff is AWFUL.

All of this basically screams at me that I need to go back to my fruitarian and vegetarian ways. Remember last year from March to October, I was eating tons of fruit and no meat and very little packaged food. In late November that changed and I started eating fish and packaged food again. And it didn’t take long to get sick with another sinus infection. Last year around this time I was vibrant and healthy from all the fruit. Obviously my body can no longer handle crap food. So I stocked up on lots of fruit and plan to do what I did before for the most part: eat lots of fruit throughout the day, then have a healthy dinner with cooked veggies (even potatoes if I want them) and whole wheat grains and what vegan protein I can find. But this time I’ll be taking vitamins, and I’ll allow myself fish 1-4 times a month (only wild caught salmon) to ensure my hair doesn’t start falling out again. Most packaged food will be off limits like it was before.

As for the invisalign situation, I’ve barely worn them in the weekend because I felt it was all I could do to fight off the sinus infection. Now that 90% of my neck and shoulder pain is gone, I will try and incorporate them back into my life more and more often. The problem is that even wearing them for an hour at a time causes pain in my neck to start back up, including when I put hot compresses on my jaws, take hot showers and baths, etc. So I’m going to talk to my dentist again today and see what else I can do about this. I am absolutely beyond fed up of popping Advil and Tylenol like candy – it’s got to stop and is not what I want to do anymore. (As of yesterday I am down to around 3 Advil per day, not bad for me considering I was taking upwards of 12 Advil and 2 Tylenol on my worst pain days!) My psychiatrist prescribed me an antihistamine (Vistaril) that I started taking as of Saturday night. It is also used to treat mild anxiety and sleeplessness but is supposedly non habit-forming. He said I can take up to six a day but I am sticking to 1 before bed. I don’t know if it was a factor in helping out with my sinus situation or not, but I figure it couldn’t hurt so long as I don’t stay on it too long.

So far today I’ve only had a pear as I got up late. I have lots of melon in my fridge and apples, pears, mixed berries, oranges and other misc. fruits. I’m planning to have sprouted whole wheat pasta and spinach for dinner!