Product Review: Vog Mask

(Forgive my formatting - a lot of blogger features don't work on my phone.)


I bought a Vog Mask:


http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00KVIWMI4


It's made with organic cotton and features two respirators. The filter is made of carbon. I bought it mainly for flying, but I expect I'll get use out of it at home too.

Did it work?

I was doing well with it on the flights. I wasn't feeling well anyway, but I didn't feel I was getting worse on the planes. Until people used the lavatory. Every time someone came out of the lavatory a tsunami of fragrance filled the cabin. I believe this is Delta's signature fragrance named "Calm." I smelled it through my mask and it made me nauseous. I don't know how much stronger it would have been without the mask, but it was really bothering my non-MCS husband. This was a major issue for me on all 3 flights. I have written Delta about the health problems of their signature fragrance twice and never received a reply.

I wasn't able to wear the mask in the airports because I needed to eat and drink while I wasn't on the plane. I felt perfectly irritated and over exhausted by the end if the day, feeling very polluted and crabby. I only felt instant reactions twice in the airports, but I wasn't well enough to recover. I took extra glutathione and NAC, which helped quite a bit.

Despite wearing a mask, I ended up with a nasty flu-like virus. It made itself known 2 days later after flying, the perfect incubation time, but I was having a lot of stomach distress the first two days.

So, did the mask work? I think it must have to some degree, because I wasn't in too bad of a reaction when the trip was over. I was very uncontrollably irritable and moody, like I always get in a reaction, but I wasn't suffering many of my obvious reaction symptoms. In comparison, a few days later I spent a couple of minutes in the body care aisle at Whole Foods without my mask and spent the rest of the day reacting harshly. It was a very delayed reaction, by about 3-4 hours, but I was also fighting the flu-like virus. (Whole Foods needs to learn to put unscented products in separate aisles!)

 

As for comfort level, the mask is pretty good. The size large fit my face well, and the ear hoops didn't pull on my ears at all. I was able to breathe normally because of the dual respirators (I wouldn't want to try a single respirator kind as I would think it would be too stuffy.)  It did cover my face well, but it wasn't as close of a fit as some might need. If I talked the sides didn't stay snug with my cheeks, but the gaps between my cheek and mask were very small. The metal over the nose was perfectly adjustable and long enough to ensure a good fit.

For $30, yes, it's much much better than nothing. It will not be nearly enough for severe MCS people, but it might be enough for most light- moderate MCS people. I was hoping for more protection, but the real problem wasn't my mask, it was Delta's overpowering extra strong lavatory fragrance.

Checking In. A few thoughts while I'm away.

I'm finding myself away from my computer for an extended period of time. This post is very short because I'm typing it on my phone.


I'd like to share a couple of thoughts. I decided to get them out tonight instead of let them swim in my imagination while I try to settle down to sleep. I tend to develop anxiety when my thoughts get trapped.


1. I have a theory that chlorine in tap water causes eczema and acne. Ever since I installed the chlorine filters at home my skin has been soft, free from eczema, and free from excessive acne. I'm in a place now without chlorine filters, and my skin has been very very broken out. It's also been very dry and itchy. I can smell the chlorine with every shower and it's most unpleasant. My skin habits have been the same as at home, only this time coconut oil and avocado oil aren't enough.


2. My doctor told me to get a latex pillow, so I did. For those of you who like memory foam, but don't want the toxic chemical soup under your head all night, I highly recommend it. It smells like rubber. I won't deny that it's stinky. But it's natural with great support. I will be exploring latex mattresses soon.


3. I'm coming to understand how MCS is really such an important underlying cause of my health problems. It isn't just another issue, it's a root issue. I'll expand on this in a new post later, but I feel way way better in my doctor's clinic, which is deliberately low VOC with great filtration. Today I felt like me again for a while - a very exhausted me, but me, because I finally experienced my body being calm. I'm so used to being trapped and limited by my body feeling constantly on edge. That edginess went away for a while today because I wasn't reacting to anything and acupuncture was very very calming. I'm coming to understand how I'm usually in a constant low level reaction. Couldn't be happier to see my doctor!


4. I'm not my body. The person I am is not my body. My body heavily controls who I am because my gut and brain make up why I act the way I do, yes. But who I am is not my body, it's my soul. My soul has been so hindered by my body, but it isn't sick like my body is. I am not a sick person. I'm a healthy person limited by a sick body. I accept this, for now, at least. I am worth being a member of this society. I have value. Just because my body suffers doesn't mean I'm not able to participate in life. I am very much wanting to be a part of this world. I hope you can see me for the person I am and not for my weak body. I may be sick, but I am so so so much more. I'm a person.


5. I miss my hubby. This isn't health related, but I just wanted to say it. I'm not used to being away from him so long!


6. I just battled a nasty flu-like virus. I'm sure I got it from flying, even wearing a mask. I'll review the mask later. Getting sick when I was already feeling weak was scary. I haven't been that hypoglycemic in a while. I wasn't so sure I was going to survive that one. I highly recommend being careful and keeping your immune system strong. There's a lot of viruses going around right now.

Low Blood Pressure, Muscle Tension, and my Reliance on Acupunture

It's been a while since I've posted. This past month has been very rough for me. I actually started two posts, but abandoned them because I realized I just didn't have the energy or focus.

My digestion started failing me about a month ago. It started with bloating, gut aches, and slow digestion. Then I was starting to get aches around my pancreas and liver (upper stomach,) and I even had rashes across my upper stomach. I had occasional mild heart burn too. My energy plummeted, my mood dropped, I wasn't able to exert myself as much, and I had lots of pain in my shins and shoulders. I was struggling to eat anything at all, and there were a few days where I ate only a couple light meals. Because I was undernourished, my blood pressure and blood sugar dropped. I was fighting vision loss, extra fatigue, more widespread pain, headaches, nasty eye pain, and circulation issues. I found myself drinking extra protein shakes during the day because they were the only thing that didn't upset my stomach and would offer me some nourishment.

Due to all this struggling, I am going to spend a few days with my doctor in the next couple of weeks. I've needed help in the mean time, though, so I've been going to acupuncture often. He's even started a new type of treatment with me: cupping. I'll get into what that is later on. What started to scare me was the realization that I was relying on acupuncture to keep me stable. I was on a roller coaster, where I would feel pretty good for a few hours, then would drop and feel horrible for the rest of the day, then the next day I would have more energy than I could handle, but then drop and hardly be able to move. This roller coaster lasted most of the month, but in the last week it's finally finally evened out. Acupuncture was doing a great job to balance me, but within a day or so I would start to break down again. My acupuncturist then had me come in 3 time a week last week (as opposed to once per week like before,) and tried needling new points for digestion, and I've been back to a more "normal for me" state. I'm back to eating every 2-3 hours again and I've felt my blood pressure rise.

There's a couple topics I want to get into individually.



Low Blood Pressure

Low blood pressure is an actual problem that actually exists, despite what doctors tell you. "The lower the better!" is a lie. Back in 2013 when I first started to really break down, my blood pressure was usually around 80/50. I was told by multiple nurses that this was a great number and they were impressed. Then I saw my naturopathic doctor who was very concerned about it. He said that low blood pressure can be dangerous because it means blood has a harder time getting to the brain. Even one second of blood not getting to the brain can cause permanent damage. He used the analogy of a hose. If water is running through the hose, it will always pour out the end if the hose is on its side. If the hose is lifted up, the water will only continual to flow out if the water pressure is high enough. If the water pressure is too low, it may stop flowing out the top for a few seconds. If that happens to our bodies, where we stand up and can't get enough blood to our brain temporarily, it is very dangerous.

With my doctors help, my blood pressure rose to an average of 110/67. This felt so much better, and I was getting used to the feeling of good, healthy blood pressure. The week before last it had dropped substantially again, and it's a very alarming feeling! First I noticed lots of fatigue, but fatigue can be caused by many issues. Then I developed lots of eye pain, mainly on the top of my eyes. My vision was blurring and fading as well. Muscle tension in my neck and shoulders can cause this problem for me too. I was fighting eczema and rashes on the rest of my body, but MCS or allergies can cause that. Then I started noticing circulation problems. My legs and arms were cold and falling asleep easily, and my face looked completely flushed. Then the loopiness settled in. I felt like I was spinning, my brain was shutting down, and I could hardly stand. Laying down and putting my feet up felt better for a while, but laying down too long actually made me feel like my blood pressure was dropping even more. I couldn't find a balance.

I was actually surprised that this problem occurred, because I've discovered that enough minerals in my diet keeps my blood pressure stable. I add a mineral powder to all the water and tea I drink, I soak in mineral baths regularly, and my diet is full of unrefined Himalayan salt (which has about 80 minerals.) My digestion was very poor, though, so perhaps I wasn't absorbing enough? Maybe I was otherwise too weak to keep my blood pressure high enough? I'm really not sure why my blood pressure dropped.

What I did to fix the situation was eat extra unrefined Himalayan salt, take extra mineral baths (I use Redmond Bath Salt Plus in water as hot as I can tolerate it,) use my Far Infrared Sauna a few extra times, and get acupuncture. I wasn't strong enough to exercise, so I used heat to get my heart rate up and encourage circulation. The spell lasted only about 4 days because acupuncture was so helpful.

During this time, I was told I had some blood deficiency, qi stagnation, my liver had a yang (I think he said yang, lol) deficiency. Rather than explain this myself, you should read up in it yourself. I'm not a Traditional Chinese Medicine expert by any means, but I'm getting better and more direct answers to my problems from it. It provides answers where western medicine cannot. http://www.sacredlotus.com/go/diagnosis-chinese-medicine/get/differentiation-syndromes-qi-blood-fluids-tcm



Unending Muscle Tension - Cupping
My shoulder and neck tension has been horrendous. It's been causing jaw and eye pain as well as sleeplessness. I have been massaging daily, sometimes multiple times a day. I've been using a Theracane to give myself deeper trigger point massages. I've been laying on my acupressure mat daily. I've been soaking in salt baths and using my sauana. I stretch multiple times a per day (and part of the problem with this is that I'm very flexible, so sometimes I struggle to get a good stretch.) The best I've been bale to do is loosen the tension for a few hours at a time.

My acupuncturist also works on my muscles. He not only needles the points, but uses a massage technique called Tui Na on the muscles while I stretch them. It has been very very helpful... for a few hours to a day at a time. My chiropractor does relieve some pain from the area between the adjustment and a bit of trigger point work.

From what I understand, qi deficiency and blood deficiency can cause muscle tension. If this is the case, it's no wonder I can't resolve this muscle tension issue - because my blood and qi issues seem never ending! Acupuncture should have resolved these issues a year ago, and yet I keep going in week and after week for more because it's the only thing that actually helps, even though the issues don't want to resolve. Clearly, there's more going on in my body, and I'm hoping to get that figured out.

So my acupuncturist tried something new: cupping. Several cultures use this healing technique, but it's known for being part of Chinese Medicine. A practitioner rubs oil on the area of the body to be cupped, creates a vacuum in a glass jar with fire, then quickly sticks the glass jar to the body. It forms a suction that lifts the skin into the jar. The jar can either be slid around on the body, or multiple jars can be used all over.  Here is a video for reference:


I had the sliding technique done instead all over my back and shoulders, and I've had 3 sessions of it. This helped more than anything else has helped so far. It has not completely reduced my tension, and my tension does keep coming back. However, it gives me instant relief and the relief does last longer than any other method.

Yes, it leaves some discoloration. What's been very interesting for me has been looking at my back after a session. There is no sign of cupping over most of my back, but the areas where my muscles have hurt the most are a very deep purple with tiny lumps. It isn't bruised - there's no pain on the skin. It's supposed to indicate blood stagnation. The suction pulls stagnate red blood cells to the surface of the skin and helps the blood move again. It also breaks up scar tissue and cellulite for the same reason. It feels just like a reverse massage. Instead of pressure pushing down on the muscles, pressure is pulling the muscles up, and it feels amazing. It's a very intense, strong feeling, so if you have a low pain tolerance you may not agree that it feels great.



Acupuncture Documentary

I watched a BBC documentary the other day called The Science of Acupuncture. If you're skeptical about it or on the fence about trying it, I recommend you watch it. I was not impressed with the first half of the documentary because it was disjointed, repetitive, and acted like it was about to deeply explore an interesting topic, but then moved on. If you've totally unfamiliar with acupuncture, it is a decent introduction to it. The second half of the documentary is what really impressed me. The host explored all the scientific studies already done on acupuncture, but then worked with a team of experts as they created a new study which turned out to be the largest and most helpful study to date. The study had people in two categories: the first got fake acupuncture and the second got real acupuncture, both groups were monitored under an MRI machine during the process. Each participant had no idea if they were getting real or fake acupuncture, as no one in the study had ever had acupuncture before. The results were favorable for acupuncture, showing it as a profound effect on the brain. If you would like to watch it, it is free on Youtube:

The Science of Acupunture