ROW 80 POST 32 – FOREIGN SUBSTANCES AND DIPLOMACY

I didn’t really get up with the idea of doing this post on how I react to foreign substances, such as oh, “food” and “water,” but late last night, one of my blogging acquaintances; I can’t really call him a pal, we don’t hang out or anything. He’s in Chicago, and has a real job and all, but he writes extremely well and is funny. He puts up with, or ignores, my ravings in his comments. He has a Facebook page now, too. I occasionally bother him over there. Go bother him and "like" his page.

I've never been to France. It has French people in it, although the ones here seem nice. 

Anyway, Delfin Joaquin Paris III is running a contest on his blog, ThoughtsFromParis. A giveaway for something called a “E-Cigarette” from the kind folks at Vapor4Life. I moused over that bitch for about 4 seconds before I realized that if I took one hit off of that monstrosity, this whole end of Tampa would disintegrate in ashes, regret, fire and screams. I will not be entering his contest this go-round. If you are not sensitive to outside chemicals, feel free to go write about the stupidest thing you ever did and got busted for here (link) Be sure and mention I sent you; DJ will be underwhelmed, and probably won’t even get to whelmed. But he’s as funny as I am batshit.

It's no secret that I drank and smoked my way to success as a homeless, near-death individual and frankly, I am a better person for it. If I have to put up with some batshit bullshit and a bit of neurological inconvenience for my misbehavior, but got honest and shed some bad habits, I'd say I did okay for myself.

I wouldn’t have to enter DJ’s contest anyway, because I’ve pretty much busted my own self with all the stupidities I’ve ever committed. What I wanted to talk about is why is it, after all of this, for the last 9 or 10 months, or longer, everything that never used to have such weird and huge effects on me does now. I had the flu about 6 weeks ago, and after I took the antibiotics and got over the infection part of it, I still had this nagging cough. Of course, the answer from the doctor is “take Robitussin DM.”

It’s been years since I took that shit and I don’t remember it having quite the effect it had this time. Instead of drinking, like half the bottle for that zoomy feeling, I took the recommended dose, which was a new thing right there. I was already feeling odd from the flu. It didn’t feel like the “normal” flu. It felt kinda like flu, but more like flu-lite. I started out with a horrid sore throat, and that quickly subsided. My ears however, ITCHED ITCHED ITCHED from the back of my tongue to the middle of Tampa Bay. DAMN! That went on for a solid week. Nothing ever really ached, like “normal” flu. This was the oddest thing for me. Normally, when I have the flu, I don’t sleep for about 4 days. I can not sleep. At. All. Not this time. I slept for a week straight. I didn’t get pneumonia, but I got that damned convulsive cough.

So, the flu thing was “off,” along with all the other sensations. I took some of that DM and felt… nothing. But, I stopped that convulsive coughing, thank God. I was wearing myself out with this non-productive, constant cough. That quieted down. About 2 hours later, my sugar went from 195 to 71 in ½ hour. I feel like I'm being launched into outer space, from the center of the sun! Jesus, I hate that feeling, almost as much as when my sugar goes up to 269 and sits there. My eyes get blurred, but who am I kidding? I already can't see. Now, I can't see 2 of whatever I couldn't see before... just blurred. What the hell is that? So, medicine of any kind sets THAT off. Swell.

Stress of any kind causes crushing chest pain, but ONLY if I’m trying to eat and talk and ONLY if I’ve been experiencing that weird chest/neck/shoulder pain that Parkies get 4 or 5 days prior. During that time, I can’t swallow very well and I find that I am also more likely to have problems with my balance. There’s a word for it, “anile.” It comes from the Latin; adjective meaning feeble old woman, which I sure as hell ain’t.

What I’m doing now is pacing myself until March 1, 2013 and sleeping, goofing off and doing some writing. I’ve been spending more time out and about which is good anyway. I figure this is just another part of the whole “PD or non-PD” process. One thing I would like. I don’t necessarily care if I get better, but I sure would love to be a part of a study where some doctor who appreciates a good patient-historian (of whom there are many I know) would document all of this. Hmm?