Product Reviews Due to Changes or Supply Issues

First, let's talk about Fitbit... No, I won't replace it since I have years of history in the app, but it's something I want everyone to understand about Fitbit, especially if you have POTS too. 

Earlier I opened my app to look at my heart rate, and I saw the bpm in real time. I can also see this on my Fitbit screen, but I cannot read my screen outdoors because I have an Inspire 2... and it's impossible to read outside. 

When I went to see my heart rate through the day, however, it doesn't show the 157 bpm. This is because Fitbit only shows an average of every 5 minutes, so it misses my peaks. 

There's an app called Cardiogram that will show you every single BPM reading the Fitbit took. I used to use it when it was free, and it was really enlightening to see how often my heart rate spikes high. Then they started to charge a yearly subscription that was over my budget, so I stopped using it. I feel a little blind by only relying on Fitbit now, but thankfully I've been monitoring for enough years to have learned how my heart is. 

And now let's talk about products I've recommended that have changed or are no longer available... 

1. Starting with Vital Proteins Collagen Creamer, my favorite part of every morning, and the reason my nails have been surviving thyroid issues! 

I have heavily recommended this product for years, but Vital Proteins decided to change the ingredients BEFORE changing the product description on any store front. Their own website, Amazon, Vitacost, and other stores all show the old ingredients, but they're shipping the "new and improved" product instead, which has different ingredients. They removed the silica, but also added stevia (it was good without the stevia, why add it?) Unfortunately, the new product contains Maltodextrin now, which is often made from corn (I'm allergic to corn.) I wrote Vital Proteins to ask if it's made from corn, and they said:

Thank you for reaching out to us!  Our Collagen Creamers have indeed undergone a recent reformulation- this change was made to improve the mixing experience. As this is our new formulation for this product, we will no longer continue to offer the previous version. Our team is working to update the product page to reflect the new formulation. The Maltodextrin used in our product is a combination of corn and tapioca. Based on the information you shared with us we recommend to not consume the product. 

Yes, corn. Thankfully I didn't consume it without looking at the ingredients for changes! Allergies aren't the only problem with this situation. Even if I was not allergic to corn I would never willingly buy and consume something with maltodextrin in it due to how it spikes blood sugar in the body (click the sentence for a link.) I'm too sensitive to blood sugar changes and I can't handle ingredients like this.

At the bottom of that email I noticed something:

In Health,
Team Vital

Customer Care Team
Nestlé Health Science U.S. - VITAL PROTEINS

How long as Nestle owned them? Here's the thing about Nestle: I think they do very evil things and I will not support them until they change their terrible habits, but when they bought Garden of Life they didn't change anything about the quality of the product as far as I could tell. I've read that they do tend to take a hands-off approach to companies they buy. So is this terrible business with their collagen creamer a problem of Nestle? Not sure.. but for the sake of having a scapegoat, I will happily blame Nestle! 

So I switched to Primal Kitchen Collagen Fuel. I don't like it as well, but it's good enough. No bad ingredients, but it also doesn't say grass-fed cows... normally I'd keep looking for something grass-fed, but all the other brands that make collagen creamers add ingredients like maltodextrin to help it mix better in coffee. This is the only option on the market right now without maltodextrin. By the way, Primal Kitchen was bought by Kraft Heinz in 2018. It is what it is. It's hard to avoid these megacorporations in this world unless I live completely on food I grow myself and farmer's markets. It's more possible to do that here in South Carolina than anywhere else I've lived... but I want my collagen!

2. Dickinson's Witch Hazel Wipes, individually wrapped. These have been "out of stock" for a very long time, and they have introduced a new package with multiple sheets per package instead. I'm all for less packaging, but that defeats the purpose. These were a perfect fragrance-free option for cleaning up while traveling. I used them on my hands, face, and body. They were small and fit into my purse or pocket, so I could keep them with me. I have not yet found an alternative that's fragrance-free at a reasonable price point. I bought out the last of the other TN Dickinon's witch hazel brand individual wipes for now, so I'll look for an alternative later when I need to buy something. 

3. Biokleen laundry powder... Now this one has me the most upset of all. I can't link to it because it no longer exists. I prefer powder because it significantly reduces plastic waste, it's pure soap and not mostly water, and it's easier to work with. The problem with powder is they normally require warm to hot water to work. At first, they made their laundry powder with hydrogen peroxide and enzymes, which meant it cleaned and dissolved in cold water really well. I also liked it because it contained zeolite, which binds to mold spores. It helped me decontaminate my clothes. Then they changed their formula and removed the hydrogen peroxide and enzymes. They switched to using citrus as the cleaning agent. I wasn't happy, but it's been working well enough for me. They also offered a fragrance-free version, which normally I would prefer, but I wanted the grapefruit seed oil to help break down biofilms on my clothes and that was only in the citrus version. Now they no longer make it at all. 

Instead, Biokleen started to make laundry sheets. 🚩🚩🚩 Red flag alert!! Let me make something very clear: Laundry sheets are TERRIBLE in every possible way. They claim to be better for the environment because they don't use plastic packaging, but what they don't tell you is that every sheet contains plastic: polyvinyl alcohol. You're literally washing your clothes in plastic if you use these, and no, the plastic does not "magically dissolve." Read this study about how 75% of it ends up in water ways. But it's worse than that: these sheets don't work well. They don't dissolve in cold water, but most natural fibers require cold water. They end up clogging up pipes because they don't dissolve. Look... there's nothing good about laundry sheets. Fine idea for reducing plastic, but wrong execution. I'm really upset that Biokleen went this direction instead of continuing to make their enzyme-based laundry powder. I would have paid more for it if I need to, because it worked... 

So I switched to Dirty Labs. It's liquid, it uses enzymes, it's fragrance-free, works great in cold water, and contains no plastic at all. Honestly, it's a great product. I really like how well it cleans. I like that it's super concentrated, so I'm not buying water. My complaint, unfortunately, is how messy it is. It's very thick and goopy, so it's slow to pour. It's hard to measure the right amount because not all of it will pour out. They made a dispenser bottle, but based on the reviews it's problematic and needs to get perfected before I spend money on it. 

4. ....Oh!! It's back in stock!! I don't have to lament about how my favorite product is out of stock anymore! Lauren Brooke Cosmetiques pressed powder foundation. Yay!!!!!!! This product is very clean, and it works brilliantly. It gives my skin life and a glow, but it doesn't look heavy like foundation. It's breathable and stays in place when I sweat. It's amazing. I frequently wear it without any other make up just because it makes me look normal and healthy.  

Aurora - The Seed

Things I Do at Home

I've been spending all my energy just managing this house... Energy for blogging? Hasn't really existed, but I have the desire to share some things I've been doing. I've also been feeling the return of wrist pain, and my muscles have been really stiff in my arms. Typing isn't flowing like normal, I have to work harder to do it.

1. Grating Frozen Beef Fat:

Yes, I've discovered this trick and it works brilliantly. We bought a quarter cow last year, but the beef was unfortunately 90% lean, so we asked for beef fat to add into the burgers. I'm not a fan of lean burger because they're so dry and unpleasant, but also because the beef fat is very healthy. It fuels my poor brain!  I can write about my experience with healthy vs unhealthy fats in a later post, but beef fat is one of the best for me since I can't have dairy. Anyway, the burgers grill so much better and taste so much richer because of the beef fat! I also use it for seasoning my cast irons, and I'll cook with it occasionally. I'd use it exclusively, but it's a real (excuse me..) bitch to clean up out of my ceramic pans. I go through too many paper towels... so I use it in my cast iron pans, which I only use on the grill or in the oven. 

What I do is.... well, look at the photos:

Yep, I grate that block of FROZEN beef fat like it's cheese. The shavings are light as air, and they do not get sticky as long as they stay frozen. So they key here is to grate it frozen, then put it in the freezer for storage. As long as it's FROZEN it is very easy to work with. 

Cleaning up isn't as terrible as it looks as long as the shavings are still cold. I like to rub it on my skin as a lotion! 

2. Car Wash, Naturally! 

South Carolina pollen is INSANE, so it seems pointless to wash my car, right? But all the bugs and spiders that love to live in my car need to go away. Normal people would drive through an automatic car wash, but I'm really not a fan of them. They can cause damage, they're horrible for the environment, and the soap stinks. So if I can do it at home with fragrance-free soap, why wouldn't I? All I'm missing is a power washer... that would save me a lot of strength and energy. I just used the hose, a giant sponge, and this fragrance-free plant-based car wash:

My car is black, not yellow (pollen)!! Who would have known? This soap worked really well. It's very concentrated, lathered very well, and didn't leave the worst sunspots I've ever seen. The best part? NO SMELL. I bought it on Amazon (click this sentence.) 

Guess how many spiders I found on my car while I washed it? 3... shudder... thankfully I have never seen one inside my car, but they sure love to build webs all over the outside. It's totally unacceptable. 

3. Making Popsicles

Normally I don't like ice in my water, or even cold water. I always drink room temperature or hot liquids. Cold "hurts" my stomach, if that makes sense. It feels like it puts out the fire in my stomach, and I need that fire. That said... It's SO HOT HERE. After I've been outside for a while, especially for a walk, I'm usually sweating and really need to cool down or I'll pass out. So instead of reaching for coconut ice cream (Cosmic Bliss...mmmm....)... I decided to make these instead. 

The pink ones are Ultima Electrolytes in water. It didn't work very well. The powder settled to the bottom of the mold, and I ended up with half of it being a very lightly flavored ice cube. No bueno.

 
The white ones were supposed to be more like an ice cream replacement, and they were pretty good. I used coconut milk, allulose, vanilla, and ground orange peel. I didn't measure, sorry. I kept adding and mixing to taste. I think I watered down the coconut milk too much because it was like licking an ice cube, but the flavor was good! 

4. Sticky Bug Traps! 

I bought them and tried them... and I'm happy to report that these work!! Living in SC means waging a constant battle against bugs, and I refuse to spray pesticides inside the house. I won't argue why in this post - I shouldn't have to explain why I don't want a neurotoxin around my pet birds and I. 

The Max-Catch slides under countertops, the cockroaches get stuck on them, and they can't get off. Brilliant! 

The Safter Plug-In is really effective for all the small flies. It emits a blue UV light that attracts the flies, and then they land on it and can't get off. Brilliant! 

I do see dead roaches, and I have to assume it's because they ate the boric acid tablets I put around the house. I have to assume boric acid works too. I put a layer of diatomaceous earth around the house too, and I've seen lots of dead ants in it.   

Okay, that's all for not folks. More to come in future posts. My hands hurt and I'm way too tired. 

Thoughts I have as a person with unending fatigue (ME/CFS):

- I day dream about cleaning, and I do the work of it in my head. I imagine myself vacuuming the whole floor. I imagine scrubbing the tub. I fantasize about folding laundry and organizing clothes. But actually physically doing the work? I wish I would just do it. It's not a lack of desire to do it. I just can't get my body to move. 



- Why does caffeine usually only make my heart beat harder, and not always fuel me to move? Somedays it works, somedays it doesn't do anything. So confusing. 

- Why should I spend money on treatments when I have no reason to feel better? What good am I if I feel a little better and stronger? Is it worth the investment? Am I just going to stay house-bound anyway? Then why bother spending the money to feel better unless I'm working and contributing? 

(People who love me have told me it's worth helping me have a better quality of life because it's my only life to live and I deserve to feel my best, even if I can't feel well enough to do much with my life. I'm having a hard time with this, because if I feel better then I'll want to do more with my life and it will make me feel more restless, even though I still won't have the energy to do much.)

- I used to have a firm body. Now with age and being sick for a decade, I look so soft and weak. My shape doesn't look like me anymore. My youth is gone. And this makes me feel like I truly am missing out on life. It's not fair. And I'm angry! 

- Why are some days better than others, and why isn't it more predicable? Why do I go a whole month feeling too weak and tired, then suddenly have a week of feeling like I could be working part time? It's impossible to plan my days. I have to just do things as I feel up to doing them. That's no way to accomplish anything in life. 

- Feeling like I had a lot to say and then going totally blank after I say only a few things.... I want to go lay down, but I'm washing my bed sheets. Ugh. 

Upcoming Medical Appointments and Symptom List

It upsets me that I have so much I really want to write about in this blog, but I just can't find the energy. I've been very surprised and humbled by how many views my posts are getting. Thank you so much for the support, and I very much hope that what I'm sharing helps you!

I just can't find the energy to reply to people I really care about on Facebook messenger. I'm too brain dead. I rarely watch TV on my own because I'd rather be doing something, and so video games help me relax while being interactive, but lately I've found myself watching more and more because it allows me to just lay on the couch and zone out. My games are calling to me to be played, but I know I can't think well enough to enjoy them. So please understand that I'm not ignoring anyone - I'm just trying to make it day by day, waiting for a time when I feel up to replying to messages or writing a blog post. I'm not even up to blogging right now, but people are asking about me, so I wanted to explain.

I'm tapering off all my pills again for some doctor appointments next month. I'm going to see a Cardiologist for a Tilt Table test to officially test for POTS and an Echocardiogram to monitor my Pulmonary Stenosis (heart murmur I was born with that never "went away.") Then I'm seeing a Neurologist for POTS and Chronic Fatigue, and he's going to run a nerve conduction test. Then I'm going to see my Naturopathic doctor (Dr. Bier at HumanNatureNaturalHealth.com) for an exam and treatments. I have to be at my worst for the Tilt Table test, which means I need to taper off my pills that help me manage my day-to-day life. It also means I need to stop seeing the Chiropractor since adjustments do help my symptoms subside for a little while.

Needless to say, this is leaving me exhausted: the stress of planning the trip to New Hampshire to see these doctors alone is too much stress. Finding an AirBNB that is fragrance-free, finding plane tickets, figuring out how to pack light for a trip in the winter... my parents have done most of the work and it's still too much stress for me. Oh, and how could I forget how difficult and time consuming it was to get the appointments scheduled? I felt bad for how much work I put my doctor through to get me these appointments. Now I have to call Disability to move my hearing, which is going to be a giant headache... and I honestly haven't had it in me to make the phone call yet. My appointments only worked out on the day that my hearing is scheduled for. I'm planning on making that phone call after my tea kicks in. Or why couldn't I just do it over Skype? My hearing is set to be a teleconference over a TV anyway...

In the midst of all this, the motor and pump on our dishwasher broke, and it was out of commission for almost 2 weeks. Thankfully the warranty covered the repair!

I'm also trying to manage at work through all of this - my goal has been to not lose any shifts. This is challenging. As long as my matcha powder in my water keeps giving me the strength to work, I can work. When the caffeine isn't enough, I can't do it. And I'm getting more and more vertigo without taking my b12. I took one b12 the other day because the vertigo was too strong for me to be able to drive myself to work. The b12 killed the vertigo - it worked. But I'm not supposed to be taking it. So I'm getting really nervous about working, but I can't afford not to. I have to save ALL of my strength and energy for work, which means chores at home are not getting done. My mom was really helpful and very nice and came to stay with us twice so she could do chores for me. My husband works so much that he shouldn't have to do any, and I don't want him to lose his health from overworking.

I'm really struggling - if only I stopped having things I had to do. If work was my only obligation I could make it. But things I have to do keep coming on, one thing after the other. Why can't I just rest? Why is everything full of phone calls and paperwork? Every day I have to accomplish SOMETHING... it's always SOMETHING. I'm not well enough to do all of this. I wish I had a disability lawyer hired to handle it all for me... but the work of getting a lawyer is way too overwhelming. Even if I get diagnosed, I don't think I'll win disability. North Dakota doesn't like to give it to people under age 50 because, and I quote, "Young people are resilient." You have no idea how angry this makes me. When I finally figure out how to recover and improve my health I'm going to fight this notion in our local government and strive to educate our judges. If I was resilient then I wouldn't have a health problem worth asking for disability over now would I? I'm asking for disability BECAUSE I'm not NOT resilient enough. And that's not my fault. I didn't choose to be this sick.

I'm honestly tempted to drop my case entirely, move to another state, and try again there. North Dakota is a difficult place to live if you have medical needs, and not just because of the rough extreme weather. The weather alone makes it difficult, and healthy people just don't understand that. When you're very sensitive to pressure changes, temperature changes, and extreme temperatures, but you also have to deal with shoveling and driving in sometimes large amounts of snow and ice... it's difficult. You have to be a resilient and rugged person to live here. I used to be. But it takes energy to be, energy I no longer have. I get so much crap from people here when I get upset over several inches or more of snow - they say things like, "Suck it up, Buttercup!" or "You'll get used to it." or "The rest of us deal with it, so you can too." There was a time when I was used to it and could handle it, but dealing with it takes energy. They all have the energy, and they don't know what it's like to not have the energy. It's very insulting to me to hear things like this because I used to take pride in being able to handle the rough situations. I used to not get anxiety over a little extra hardship. They didn't know me back then, when I was healthy and could take on the world. Back when a challenge was just an opportunity to succeed. I can't think that way anymore without getting sicker.




I've been getting asked what my symptoms are that have led me to getting these tests done. Here's a non-comprehensive list:

- Dizzy and short of breath when standing up. I'll see colors spinning all around me for several seconds before things come back into focus.

- Heart pounds so hard that it makes my teeth chatter with each beat. Sometimes it feels like my heart will pop out of my neck.

- Heart palpitations, especially when laying down.

- When I measure my heart rate from laying or sitting to standing up, it often (but not always) goes up 40 or more beats per minute. Sometimes it doesn't change at all, despite feeling very weak. It also jumps all over the place when I'm laying still - it's jumped around 30 bpm when I was laying perfectly still except for breathing. It would go up and down and up and down within 30 bpm.

- Normal blood pressure is typically about 100/60, but have been down to 90/50 frequently enough. Licorice does raise it back up temporarily. After exercising my systolic tends to rise a lot, but diastolic doesn't change much.

- Sharp shooting pains in my chest. Sometimes my whole chest will feel sore like I worked out the muscles too hard.

- Vertigo that comes and goes.

- Blurred vision or very tired vision, making it so that I end up squinting when trying to keep eye contact with someone

- Constant neck and shoulder tension, sometimes so tense that it gives me an earache or toothache. I get regular muscle work done and it's not enough.

- Headache at the top of my neck that comes and goes.

- Tinnitus in my ears that frequently changes in terms of severity

- Periods of derelization and depersonalization, where reality feels like a dream that I'm not actively involved in. Like I'm viewing reality on a TV and I'm not actually in it, but have to act like I am in it... because I am.

- Adrenaline rushes and crashes. I can shake and run around like a crazy person during the adrenaline rushes, and when I crash I crash so hard that I quite honestly can't get up. I often wake up with these adrenaline rushes in the middle of the night. Very similar to anxiety attacks, but it's not anxiety.

- Legs and arms can suddenly feel like jello. They can lose strength and feel wobbly.

- Never ending bloating issues, with sharp stabbing gut pains.

- Icy cold arms and legs while my torso is sweating as though it's in a sauna.

- Sweating when I feel cold, or being freezing cold when others are comfortable in t-shirts.

- Inability to determine if temperature is safe, like when I'm doing the dishes or taking a bath I can pour water that's way too hot and not realize I'm burning until my heart rate skyrockets, my skin is bright red, and I'm sweating like crazy. Other times the water will feel way too hot and I'll sweat like crazy when it's actually colder than I normally like it.

- Pale flushed skin, sometimes associated with my skin being very tender to touch, the way skin feels when you have the flu.

- I never feel hydrated, even when I drink so much electrolyte water that my stomach wants to vomit from being over filled with water. I'm always feeling dry. Sometimes I have a problem of needing to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes, other times I'm wondering why I can't go to the bathroom more often when I feel like I'm flooding myself.

- Energy so low that it can be exhausting to just grill a steak for myself.

- Energy so low that it's difficult to hold a conversation with someone because I can't focus on listening or forming replies.

- Slurring my speech and/ or stuttering.

- Joint pain that comes and goes

- Falling asleep is really very extremely difficult, even when I'm exhausted.

- Sleep is not restful. I either wake up feeling high adrenaline that gets me moving quickly, and I crash very hard once I eat breakfast, or I take until 11 or noon to get out of bed because I'm feeling so incredibly tired.

- My tongue sometimes swells up so much it doesn't fit in my teeth.

- I can't sit with my feet on the floor without getting overly tired and weak, so I sit on chairs with them curled up towards my chest.

- I can't lay still long without getting fidgety, my body needing to move.

- I can't just sit and talk to someone over tea. I HAVE to be doing something, even if it's just playing with something in my hands, but if you want to talk to me I should be doing the dishes or cleaning something while we're talking. If I'm not moving, I crash hard and can't focus. But if I move too much I get exhausted and need to go lay down where it's quiet. So in other words, being social is draining. I like the idea of having friends, but not always the reality of spending time with friends.

- Reactive to fragrances and other synthetics, meaning: widespread muscle pain, gut cramping, heart burn, vision loss, emotional instability issues, headaches, sinus aches (I got a sinus infection from going into a very smelly Staples once), heart pounding and palpations, rashes...

- Very reactive to foods, making it so I can't cheat on my diet without paying hard for it. Hives, rashes, adrenaline surge, nervous ticks, severe anger, stomach and gut pain, very high painful heart rate, bowel and bladder control issues, muscle pain...

- Mold is my worst enemy. It his me harder than anything else. Typically with nose bleeds, chest tightness, emotional instability to the extreme, unable to breath deeply enough, widespread pain, a major sense of fear and dread washes over me...

- ALL of my symptoms get MUCH worse during PMS and my period. My periods are very very heavy and painful. Very difficult to manage.

- I can't have a slightly confrontational talk with someone without shivering and sweating, and it feels like helium fills up my head. I avoid confrontation in person. If I has to be done I prefer to say most of it through text (email or whatever) and then finish talking about it in person when the shock is over.


Here's some video evidence of my heart rate issues. I uploaded my video to youtube and would rather link to it than embed it since blogger gives me too many issues with embedding videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5uUA-Qydps


...I'm sure I'm forgetting some important symptoms, but this should give you a pretty good idea of what it's like to be me. My supplements help most of these symptoms to be mild and manageable as long as I don't over tax myself, but I'm also paying about $600/ month for them. They're working much better than anything else I've tried, but I've stopped improving and they're just maintaining me.

I need to have an MD determine if I have POTS or something else, because I need to be able to either accept that I can't improve more than this or that I can try something else to improve. I can't plan my life out around the not knowing if I can improve or not. And unfortunately, only an MD has the credentials to make that determination. No employer or assistance programs will accept anything other than the right type of MD's diagnosis. I'm not going because my Naturopathic doctor isn't helping (he's been the most helpful person I've ever worked with), I'm going because I need to go the conventional accepted route to get what I need to manage life.

And it's oh so stressful.

Blood Pressure During Reactions

I get blood pressure problems in waves. I go a few weeks where it's good enough, then I go for a few weeks when it's problematic. Often it's just too low. 90/55 with a resting heart rate of 85 is pretty common for me. I always have a high heart rate. I have not seen it below 72 in the 2 years I've owned my blood pressure machine.

But a problem I'm seeing after exposure, in which I'm reacting, is that my systolic goes up while my diastolic goes down. Today I was downstairs, where a family member lives (so I don't spend much time there), helping my husband do some house repair. I spent some time vacuuming cobwebs and dust too. Fatigue and weakness increased quickly, but it took an hour or so before I got histamine issues. I used my neti pot and black gunk came out of my nose. I couldn't stop coughing for a while. Then came the vertigo and gut pain in the evening. I was so fatigued I couldn't follow what was happening in the TV show we were watching. I took my blood pressure at that point. Earlier in the day it was 93/58 then 98/60 (I took solid licorice extract). This last reading was 108/53. I see this happening whenever I'm reacting. Systolic goes up, diastolic goes down.

Apparently when this happens the body find a way to compensate. It restricts blood vessels and focuses blood on the brain. Apparently people can go years without being aware of blood pressure problems that are causing heart strain because of the body's ways of compensating. But what happens when those compensations fail? Heart failure. The heart can't keep up anymore. What happens when a person like me doesn't have a body that restricts blood flow by narrowing blood vessels? I get super fatigued and dizzy and have to lay down for however long it takes to improve.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700185266/Low-diastolic-high-systolic-blood-pressure-a-dangerous-combination.html

In all my research I can't find anything that will raise blood pressure at nighttime without raising cortisol too. Licorice raises cortisol. My nighttime cortisol is high, making it hard to sleep.

So tonight I'm laying here feeling a bit naceous and wondering what the gut cramping is trying to tell me, also feeling too fatigued to sleep. Fatigue and tiredness are not the same thing. I wish I felt more tired.

Tomorrow is another day, a day when my doctor will be in his clinic and I can talk to him.

Current Favorite Products

I've been updating this post as I think of things to add to it, and I may continue to update it. These are my current favorite products!

Lauren Brooke Cosmetiques

The whole entire brand. I've written about natural and organic make up before, including Lauren Brooke lip colors (I never finished that post because... fatigue and sickness making me not look camera ready), Mineral Fusion, and MyChelle. MyChelle no longer makes make up. I don't understand why, because they had this awesome foundation cream stick that I loved, but the company decided to focus on skin care instead of cosmetics. Such a disappointment. I switched to Mineral Fusion pressed powder foundation. I like it a lot, but I find it's a bit dry and I broke out to their liquid foundation. I learned that Mineral Fusion is not 100% trustworthy and only some of their products are safe, but the safe products are excellent and I highly recommend. I decided to finally try Lauren Brooke's pressed powder. I'm never going back. It's the bomb! It's not drying, applies really smoothly and evenly, and has this radiance to it that Mineral Fusion didn't give me. I don't feel it on my skin. It looks so natural and feels so natural, but covers the perfect amount and warms up my skin tone nicely. It also neutralizes my undereye bags without concealer! It doesn't hide them like concealer, but it masks the purple color so it looks like I'm not wearing make up or trying to hide them.

I just purchased two new items from them (as in minutes ago, have not arrived yet.) One is their lash conditioner. They sent me a sample of it last time I ordered. I never really thought I wanted a lash conditioner until I tried it, but the sample of it convinced me. It helped tone down my itching and my lashes did act stronger - as in, not falling out at the normal rate. What I would actually like from regular use of it is to regrow lashes. I have a "bald patch" in my lashes that drives me nuts. This conditioner has horsetail in it, and from my understanding, horsetail is the only herb known to create new hair growth (as opposed to helping the hair you already have grow more.)

The other new item I just bought is their creme concealer. I have an issue with eye shadows creasing on me - all brands, doesn't seem to matter if it's powder or liquid. Reviewers said this concealer mixes really well with eye shadow and prevents the creasing. I'm going to test this out and see if it's true! As it is, I tend to wear very light amounts of eye shadow so that when it ends up creasing it's not as obvious. I want to be able to rock a normal layer of eye shadow for hours!

I'm wearing Lauren Brooke Cool 20 Pressed Powder Foundation in this photo (along with Honeybee Garden eye liner, and Mineral Fusion mascara and blush.) I took this on a day when I was feeling badly and tried to get ready for work, so I did my make up, but wasn't strong enough to actually work. I never expected to use the photo, lol, but you can see how it makes my skin look natural with a glow. My chest skin was more pale than normal. I love it!






Biokleen Laundry Powder and Oxygen Bleach Plus

This has been a miracle worker for me! I use the Premium Plus one because it doesn't have corn products in it like the Fragrance Free one does (I'm allergic to corn.) I can use the Fragrance Free liquid from them, but I prefer this powder. It has Zeolite and hydrogen peroxide in it, both of which are excellent ingredients for KILLING perfumes and other fragrances. I might have to wash 2-3 times to get rid of badly contaminated clothing, but the majority of the time one wash is enough to completely remove any trace amounts of fragrances that stick to my clothes. It's awesome!!! It also cleans really well and keeps whites very white. This is the lowest effort most effective laundry product I've ever used.

The oxygen bleach is on the same page I link to. It's like Oxyclean, only with trustworthy ingredients. I use this in toilet tanks and to soak my bath tub with. The toilets have less grime and my tub that is stained a bit brown from using Redmond's Bath Salt Plus turned white. With no scrubbing. :D


This handmade turtle from a Fair Trade store in Minneapolis
...that was on clearance for $4 and I finally found a small succulent for.





Sierra Trading Post

Their website. It's part of the TJMaxx chain of stores, but is for outdoor and recreation enthusiasts. They sell a good variety of organic clothing and eco products. It may not be GOTS certified sweatshop free organic clothing, which is my preference, but I only work 12-16 hours a week. I can't afford my standard unless it's on clearance. I have a small variety of GOTS certified sweat shop clothing in my closet, but it was all purchased on good sales. When I need some article of clothing and I can't find what I need on sale elsewhere, going simply for organic cotton from Sierra Trading Post is amazingly helpful. It's all liquidation, so their selection is constantly changing, but their prices are fantastic. I've bought both organic clothing (brands like Prana, Patagonia, United By Blue, and Adventura) and natural leather with rubber shoes from them at huge savings. I can't rely on them to have what I need, but I've scored great deals from them. And it's excellent for men too! The focus on organic clothing is on women, but they actually have a good variety for men!

The only problem? Their return policy. You'll have to pay to return, which can make returns not worth it on some items. But their prices and discounts make up for it. Just make friends who will buy items that don't fit you.

Choice Mental Focus Tea and Choice Vanilla Roobios Tea

I drink a ton of tea. I can only drink water and tea, no juices or coffee or sodas. I'm limited in which teas I can drink due to medicinal properties of some teas and herbs, but thankfully both of these work for me. I use caffeine sparingly and I plan out when to drink it. I'm sensitive to it, so I have to be careful. Both of these are caffeine free, but work great in the day time! The Mental Focus tea is awesome when I'm wanting to lift brain fog without using caffeine. It really does help! The Vanilla Roobios tea just has this silky smooth dark flavor, and I love dark green and black tea. It's my caffeine-free dark flavor replacement. Sooooooo good!



GoWise USA Blood Pressure Monitor

I have blood pressure issues. I haven't written much about it yet, but I appear to have POTS (doctor tested). POTS is a heart rate issue, but in my case it's a blood pressure issue too. I'll get into this someday when I'm ready to write about the things stressing me out again, lol. Anyway, I bought this last year to monitor myself so I could learn when I was fighting low blood pressure instead of having another issue, like hypoglycemia. It has been really insightful. This monitor uses an arm cuff, which is much more accurate than the write monitors. It's not perfect because it's a machine, which uses averages to calculate. My doctor measures my blood pressure manually and spends a lot more time measuring it to be accurate and see how it fluctuates. This machine won't show fluctuations. But for an at home tool it actually is accurate enough to be helpful. I didn't get excited about it last year because it didn't ever seem to be accurate, but it was my fault. I was measuring incorrectly. I fixed my posture and arm position, which made all the difference in the world!

It does measure heart rate too. I think a normal person could trust the heart rate reading on it, but it doesn't read long enough for someone like me. My heart rate jumps all over the place within seconds. I think it give me an average, like Fitbit does (I'll get into why Fitbit is the wrong tool for people with POTS later.) But what it does tell me is when my resting heart rate is simply too high. Mine is often in the 80's, sometimes in the 90's. That's really not good.






This Shark Vacuum

Vacuuming has always been an issue for me. I get allergy issues if I don't vacuum, but I get allergy issues if I do. It's because the vacuum we had before just kicked up dust and only collected part of it. My husband came to me and said he wanted to get me a better vacuum, but didn't want to get it for me for a holiday or birthday because he didn't want to imply that I'm just an objectified house maid. lol! So he got it for us "for Memorial Day." Ha! He was teasing, because I'm not sensitive about such things, but I enjoyed the laugh.

Anyway, this vacuum sucks! It actually sucks hard without kicking dust up into the air! It has 2 more amps (power) than the last vacuum, and it has a HEPA filter built in to prevent any dust from leaving through the exhaust. It's not only collecting a lot more from our carpet, it's allowing me to vacuum as much as I want without even needing to wear my face mask! All the other features are wonderful on it too, but the fact alone that the suction is powerful and it has a HEPA filter is enough to make me fall in love with it. If you need an allergy friendly vacuum, I highly recommend this one!



This was after a quick vacuum around the upstairs to try out the new vacuum. I had just vacuumed the week prior with the old vacuum. Clearly the old vacuum wasn't picking up very much...



Om Pure Air mask

I've been using Vog Mask, but suddenly I couldn't find their organic cotton version anywhere for sale. My old 2 from them are too worn out and they're not refreshing in the sun. It's hard to breathe through them. So I was forced to find an alternative to buy. I bought this mask, and despite it taking 4 weeks to ship to me, I actually like it better than Vog Mask. It's easier to breathe through it, it fits my face better and seals better, and it's more effective. I think they have a better carbon filter than Vog Mask uses. I'll want to write a full review on this later, so stay tuned for that.





Hemp Organic Life Etsy store

This shop is awesome. All the products are made from organic hemp and linen, and they are high quality. I bought an organic hemp sleeping bag from her to use when I need to travel and sleep in beds that aren't my safe organic latex bed. I bought it as a barrier between me and the bed so I wouldn't have skin contact, at the very least, with the flame retardants, polyester, and other synthetics. I'll review this sleeping bag after traveling with it later this summer, so stay tuned for that, but snuggling with it at home is wonderful! It breathes so well, but also traps in enough body heat to keep me comfortable. The fabric is strong. It's mildly scratchy the same way wool is, but it's softening up with washing. I actually really like that slightly rough texture, I think it feels good on my skin. Anyway, she did a fantastic job with this sleeping bag. She's from the Ukraine, so shipping almost made me cry, but it was so incredibly worth it! You can see how comfortable it is:



She also sent me a free gift of these linen socks, which are so perfect. They're very breathable, but keep me warm. They feel cozy on my skin. These are the best free gift I've received with an order!






Redmond's new Tooth Powder in Black Licorice

So... normally I'm an advocate of making your own toothpaste from scratch in order to save money and save plastic. It's really easy to make with bentonite clay and charcoal. But in this case, Redmond made theirs better than the DIY version. How, you ask? By making it very powdery. It's so much finer than any toothpowder I've made from scratch, and therefore it feels so much softer on the teeth. It brushes better and is much easier to rinse out of my mouth. But the best part? The black licorice flavor. It's awesome. It's so good. I accidently bought the peppermint version and I don't care for the flavor of it.

Also, for those of you who really don't want to do DIY, this is a great option, even though it's in plastic, because the tooth powder lasts about 3x longer than their Earthpaste in the tubes.



Avocado Oil Spray

I'm not sure I have to justify why this is a favorite thing of mine. It's a super healthy fat in spray form without aerosol. I just spray it on salads and it's perfectly evenly distributed on the leafs. I spray it on chicken before it goes on the grill and it means I don't have to massage the chicken with oily hands to get a nice thin coating of oil on it.



Badger Face Oil Set:

Organic oils in a glass pump bottle - they're perfect! I don't react to any of the sets except the Argan oil one, which has orange essential oil in it. I don't do well with citrus oils. They're so gentle, take off make up way better than just coconut oil, and moisturize very well. I wear the face oil under my make up and it doesn't leave me greasy whatsoever. I can't say enough good about this set! My skin looks much more supple with regular use.



Vitamin C and Glutathione IVs (and my Mom.)

I had two of these on my last trip to see my doctor. They made me really nauseous and gave me some nasty headaches. I wanted to throw up, but was made very thirsty from them at the same time. I felt like a trillion micro explosions were happening in my body all at once. Why do I like them so much, then? Because they seriously help a lot after my body calms down from receiving the IV. Better energy, better mood, much less severe reactions to things, better digestion, clearer head and clearer thinking, less overall body pain... they're helpful! But the effect doesn't last long enough. I need to have them done regularly.



Dr. Bronner's Baby Mild Soap

This soap is fragrance free, doesn't dry out my skin, is organic and doesn't irritate my skin, and is very travel friendly. I accidently left my container of it in the bathroom where my Chiropractor and Acupuncturist are. As you can see that building stocks heavily scented soaps - it's hard for me to use their bathroom and I need to slip on my mask to go in there (it's a shared building and they don't choose the soap.) My container was mostly full when I left it there, and exactly a week later it was only a quarter full. People were choosing my fragrance free soap over the fake scented cancer causing soap! That gave me a lot of hope for humanity, lol.

I buy the large 32 oz container of it and keep refilling this little one. I keep this small container in my purse so that I have safe soap with me in public.






Wokamon App

I got myself the cheap Fitbit Flex 2 because AT&T was having a special on them. I wish I had researched fitness trackers before impulsively getting it. At the time I didn't think I wanted to spend more for a heart rate monitor, and I was wasn't wrong to think that since Fitbit's heart rate monitoring isn't detailed enough for people with POTS, but some monitoring would be nice. It also doesn't have a GPS, so I can't map my walks with it. I was mostly interested in the sleep tracking feature, but as it turns out, it's not accurate. I think it's sleeping when I'm laying in bed with my eyes open wondering when I'll ever finally drift off to sleep.

But it's not all a disappointment! I know I can't challenge myself to do more exercise with it in my condition, but it's actually been helpful to see how much walking I do on a normal work day vs normal non-work day. I can see how active I really am when I tell my doctor how much exercise I think I'm getting.

The best part? Wokamon and Achievemint, two apps that are weirdly motivating.

Wokamon is the modern day smart phone Tomagachi, lol! You must take care of your monsters by leveling them up with steps from your fitness tracker. When it tells me I only need 156 more steps to level up, I actually want to get up and get those steps in, even when I'm feeling lazy and tired. I am too motivated by reward systems in video games. :) But hey, it's fun and it's working! I might only average 3,000 steps a day (so I can't compete), but my monsters are leveling up!

Achievemint pays you for using a fitness tracker. You can earn up to $10 a month for all the activity you do with your fitness tracker. It's going to end up being more like $10 every 6 months at the rate I earn points, but hey, I'll take the $10 when I finally earn it!




30% Grain White Vinegar

This stuff works amazingly for killing weeds. It burns weeds, but leaves the roots. After the weed shrivels up you'll have to spray again to burn the roots. The fact of the matter is that it's non-toxic and highly effective! That said, it does burn the skin. Cover your skin when applying!

It IS made from corn, but it's non-GMO corn. The company doesn't verify if the corn was sprayed with Round Up or not, but they do claim the corn is non-GMO and Round Up is mainly used on GMOs. It's also just the acid from the corn, so it doesn't seem to cause me allergic issues (I'm allergic to corn.) I'm not consuming it, just spraying it on weeds.


These reusable organic cotton produce bags

I've been using these for years now, but they're still one of my favorite things. They are fantastic for buying fresh produce with because they weigh nothing, they're breathable, and they keep produce fresh and clean. They wash very easily.

But I discovered a new use for them! They're perfect for washing bras in and other delicates in! Instead of a nylon mesh bag designed for bras, I just stick my bra in one of these, tie the top loosely, and throw it in the washer and dryer. My bras are coming out cleaner than when I used the nylon mesh bag, and I'm guessing the cotton allows more soap through. These bags make my life so much easier!


Alaffia Bubble Bath

This bubble bath is by far the best Alaffia product. It bubbles really well, the bubbles last a long time, it's effective soap, and it's great for washing hair with! I like to mix Starwick Botanical's Kelp powder, baking soda (to neutralize chlorine), and this bubble bath together. I'll wash my hair in the bathwater and soak in it for a while. Then I'll even shave my legs in the bathwater. The bubble bath stays soapy enough to keep my legs lubricated enough to shave with. I rinse in the shower after, of course. I don't particularly care for this brand's shampoo or conditioner (I loved them at first, then it started leaving residue in my hair that wouldn't wash out), but this bubble bath couldn't be better!


Mantra Sports Pilates Ring

I had to let this off gas for a while before I could use it - it's not safe right out of the box for MCS people like myself. But after it stopped being smelly I was able to play with it. The reason I like it is because it allows me to use my muscles even when I'm stuck in bed on my back. I just put it between my legs and squeeze. I put it between my ankles and lift it with my legs. I hold it in my hands and squeeze it and pull it apart. The simple resistance it offers helps me a lot when my muscles feel restless but I'm not feeling strong enough to stand up and walk around. There are probably other great similar products, but this is the one I chose and I really like it!



My acupressure mat - I still love this thing so much!!



....And more. I'm forgetting plenty of things I want to share with you, I'm sure of it, but I've been working on this post slowly all day. I'm done. :) I've leaving out obvious things I've already reviewed, such as my new organic latex bed, which I can't say enough good about! Seriously, your bed matters. A lot.

Latex Mattress Review Part 2: The Bed and Bedding Review (Updated!)

If you read part one of my review on my new latex mattress, you will have learned the need for choosing a natural non-toxic mattress. I encourage you to at least skim that post before reading this view, because this review is based on my need for a natural bed.In this review I'll cover 4 bedding items I bought from Sleep On Mattress: The Pillow, Foundation, Mattress, and Mattress Pad. In the upcoming Part 3 I'll discuss other pillows, sheets, and blankets. Bedding should not be as complicated as it, but because it is, this review deserves 3 parts to cover it all!

The Pillow: Malouf Convoluted Contour Latex Pillow
(Click the link to see the pillow on the company's website)
Yep, the name is a mouthful, as my husband was quick to point out, but bear with me! After too many dollars and too much neck pain from buying several different pillows online, I decided to try something novel: going into an actual store and trying out pillows before I bought them! The problem is that I can't step foot into most stores without getting sick. Thankfully for me, Sleep On Mattress is a store in Bismarck, ND, where I live, that caters to people like me. They offer natural synthetic-free bedding, and they're located in a mall that isn't heavily scented (like most malls are - I normally would never dare step foot into a mall.) I learned about them because they advertised their organic latex beds through the health products store I work at, Terry's Health Products. Amazingly, the very first contoured latex pillow I tried in the store ended up being a winner! It's a Malouf pillow, but done right (I tried others of this brand first, which I'll get into in Part 3.) It is made from natural talalay latex in a polyester case, so I removed the polyester case and replaced it with an organic cotton zippered case:

I love this pillow. So. Much. One side has a higher loft than the other and it's contoured, so it supports my neck if I'm on my back or side and it doesn't put too much pressure on my ears. It's soft and supportive without being hard and firm, meaning that it keeps my head at the right height and angle all night, whereas other latex pillows I tried let my head sink down to the mattress or didn't let my head sink in at all.

The latex on the pillow falls apart very easily, and that is my only complaint. It needs to be treated gently. Sorry folks, this will not work in a pillow fight. In simply switching out the cases I lost lots of small chunks of latex. You can see in the photo that some of the points are missing. I haven't had any problems with losing latex since then, and it hasn't affected how comfortable and supportive the pillow has been for me.


The FoundationI do not have a brand name on this foundation, my apologies. This was the hardest part of purchasing the new bed. Let me back up a bit. My husband was willing to try a new mattress if it meant improving my health, but he did not want to lose the frame we already owned. It's an upholstered queen size frame with a built-in head board that looks very nice. I also like it, so I agreed we could keep it (even though it's all synthetic and probably has plenty of flame retardants, it's old enough where it has off-gassed, the mattress doesn't actually touch the frame at any point, and we hardly ever lean up against it.) That meant we needed to buy a traditional foundation to support the mattress, because the frame is meant to hold a foundation.

(Latex and Memory Foam mattresses cannot use a box spring. They need to be supported by a foundation with no more than 3-4" between each slat. The mattress will wear out too quickly on the wrong type of foundation or on a box spring, because they'll allow the mattress to sink in when it should never sink in at any point.)

I looked into a couple of different options: a Savvy Rest Insert without any synthetic material concerns (sold by Sleep On Mattress), a much cheaper basic wooden foundation with a removable synthetic cover that had flame retardants (I don't have a brand name on this) (also sold by Sleep On Mattress), and a solid wooden Amish foundation that was on sale on Amazon.com. If money were not a barrier, I would have chosen the Savvy Rest Insert without question. It really was the right choice for us, but our finances said otherwise. The basic affordable wooden foundation with the removable cover made me a bit nervous - did the wood absorb some of the flame retardants? For someone without MCS it would have been a great option. The Amish foundation on Amazon looked like it would fit my needs very well, but there were just enough reviews cautioning me against buying it. Then we were presented with a new option: Sleep On Mattress had one metal and wood collapsible foundation for sale. The price was right at $130, it appeared to be right for our needs, and it was easy to transport because of the collapsible frame. My husband chose to go with it. Sleep On Mattress does not normally carry it, but I bet they can order it for you if you're interested.

The foundation has been working just fine, but if I were to make the decision over again, I probably would have tried to convince my husband to get the Savvy Rest Insert instead.


Setting this foundation up was not at all as easy as it was supposed to be. This photo shows the foundation after we opened it up from the collapsed form. We then attempted to put the two horizontal support bars on. The idea is that the end of the bars go into holes - they should slide right in. The reality is that the fit was very tight and they required a cloth and a hammer to force in.



Then we inserted the wooden boards across the top. The ends of the boards have plastic caps with two little pegs in them. The pegs go into holes in the metal frame to support the boards. 3 of these pegs were broken off. The construction was fairy poor on these pegs, and I wouldn't be surprised if most of them break off in tearing down the foundation - if we ever do that.





We then put an old sheet over the top of it as the cover. It came with a synthetic flame retardant infested cover, but the cover came separately so we simply didn't put it on.

Even though the wooden slats are flexible and look thin, the foundation has worked well. It is supporting our 150 lb latex mattress.

...But it's also a bit squeaky. This was my greatest concern when buying a metal foundation, and it proved to be a bit of an issue. The squeaking is only on my side of the bed, and I only hear it when I get in and out of bed. Thankfully it never squeaks once I'm already on the mattress. A wooden foundation can squeak too, but squeaky metal tends to be higher pitched and it echos through the rest of the foundation.


The Mattress: Sleep On Mattress's own Latex Mattress

The mattress we chose to go with is Sleep On Mattress's own brand of a 9" Dunlop Latex mattress with an organic cotton and wool casing. The wool is the fireproofing that brings it up to industry standard, so they didn't have to add synthetic flame retardants. They have it manufactured for their own store. They explained to me that they were searching for a natural latex mattress comparable to Savvy Rest (an organic latex mattress company that's top tier), but with a lower price tag. Making their own ended up being the most economical, and the mattress is therefore more affordable than the Savvy Rest. It is normally $2,000 for the queen size, but in exchange for this review I was given a reduced price. If you are interested in this mattress, but are not from Bismarck, don't despair! They will ship!

I was told that they are in the process of making different models of their own store brand of latex mattress, some with gel and foam added in, and with different heights. So if the mattress we bought from them doesn't sound right for you, ask about their other models. The owners are interested in working with you to find what you need instead of pushing their agenda on you. They'll help you find what you need, and they do understand the issues between natural and synthetic mattresses!

When we purchased the mattress I expected this review was going to be very easy to write. I expected within a week I'd be able to write all about it with ease, but that hasn't been the case. 3 weeks later and we're still trying to make a decision on the mattress! This isn't a bad thing, and I'll explain:

First and foremost, is the mattress solving my MCS problem? Was it worth purchasing a natural mattress to better my health? YES! On the old memory foam mattress I regularly fought a rising heart rate every night I went to bed, and if I couldn't fall asleep before my heart rate skyrocketed, I'd be doomed to toss and turn and take even more herbal sleeping pills to try to knock myself out. I regularly had stress dreams and nightmares. I would often feel high anxiety as I was trying to fall asleep and again when I woke up. I experienced more fibromyaliga pain in that bed than anywhere else. I also had more skin rashes when I slept in that bed.

I haven't had a single nightmare or stress dream since sleeping on this new latex mattress. I have not experienced the skyrocketing heart rate on most nights (but I had the problem on a few nights after a food reaction or being in a public place where I was reacting.) I'm waking up feeling peaceful, not on high alert. The fibromyaliga pain has been greatly reduced, and I'm feeling it more after eating the wrong foods and not so much in bed. My skin rashes are reduced, but not gone (but there are other causes, such as the mycotoxins in my body.) Yes, I feel SO MUCH BETTER on this mattress, and my sleep is higher quality.

Secondly, is it comfortable? Yes... The floor model of this mattress was softer than the one we received. The floor model was about right for us, in that it was firm enough to give support, but comfortably soft around pressure points. My hips and shoulder sank in the right amount. The mattress we received was definitely more firm. It didn't let our pressure points sink in much, and my husband and I both woke up stiff and sore for the first week. The longer we sleep on it, however, the softer it gets. We've had it for 3 weeks and both of us are less stiff and sore, and I'm feeling my hips and shoulders sink in further. At first we were seriously discussing buying a topper to soften it up. Sleep On Mattress offers a soft dunlop latex topper in 2" or 3" that is of the same quality as the mattress itself. We chose not to purchase the topper because the mattress continued to soften up. It's still not as soft as the store model. I went back into the store and tried it out and I could immediately feel the difference. It is, however, finally feeling comfortable for me. If my husband decides it needs a topper then we'll go with a 2", not 3", because we both like a slightly firm mattress. 3" would probably soften it up too much. All we would want from the topper is softer pressure points.  (Update: we bought the 3" topper, and it's so so so so much better than expected: please see my review of it below.) If you're the type of person who needs a firm, but comfortable and cozy, this mattress will probably be perfect for you. It's not nearly as firm at the floor, thankfully, but if you feel best sleeping on the floor then you're probably not shopping for a mattress anyway.

One adjustment I had to make to reduce my shoulder pain on the new mattress was lift my pillow up a bit. I'm a side sleeper, so a little more loft was all it took. I did this by adding a homemade organic cotton pillow under my latex pillow. I made it a while back to try to add loft to other pillows I was trying to make work for me, but that failed because the pillows I was trying to make work were simply wrong for me. I made the pillow very flat, so it only adds about half an inch, but that was enough in this case. I'm noticing that as the mattress softens up with use the pillow is starting to feel a little unnecessarily high, so it might continue to soften up enough that I no longer need to use the second pillow.

Third, how easy was it to set up? Well, let me be clear: this is a 150 lb mattress that comes compressed and rolled up into a tube. It's not easy to transport due to the weight and awkward length. Once it's unrolled, it's like trying to move a queen sized piece of Jello that weighs 150 lbs. Once the mattress is set up, leave it set up. Don't plan to move it. My husband and I were able to carry it out of my truck, up the stairs, down the hallway, and into the bedroom. By "carry" I mean slide on the carpet as much as possible. We were able to unroll it, get a full encasement allergy cover on it, and then get it in place on the bed. Nether of us are that strong. Neither of us want to do it again. But it was well worth it, and we quickly forgot about the hassle after a few nights of sleeping on it. And if setting it up yourself really bothers you, have the guys at the store do it for you. ;)

It came in an awkward box:



It was plastic wrapped to keep it rolled up and compressed:




Removing the plastic made it quickly decompress and unroll, before we could control the process. First thing we did was slide this allergy protector on it, which was the biggest pain of all. I'll explain which allergy cover I got in Part 3. We had to lift the mattress and pull up the cover an inch at a time, which was very tedious and difficult. I forgot to get a photo of the mattress before the cover was put on, so I pulled back the cover for this photo so that you can see the organic cotton and wool casing. Notice how the mattress falls like jello off the end of the foundation to the floor:

Set up and made our bed (forgive all the clutter, we had to push our stuff out of the way to set up this bed). As you can see, it's thinner than most mattresses. Our former mattress was 12" thick, and this is 9" thick. Big difference! We're closer to the floor, we don't have to jump up onto the bed to sit on it, and best of all, we're not stretching out our sheets! We have deep mattress sheets, but even they would come untucked on our old mattress. Our blankets hang further off the sides of this bed, which means we no longer have cold air attacking our legs in the middle of the night!

Final verdict (which I will update in another few weeks to see if it softens up more):

The mattress was worth it! While I would prefer it to be a bit softer, it is comfortable now that it's had time to soften up. I love that we have the option to add a latex topper of the same quality if we choose to soften it up more. The latex feels better than the memory foam in that I can adjust my sleeping position on it easily, whereas the memory foam mattress wrapped around my shape a bit too much to make it easy to move. I love that I'm getting better, deeper, more restful sleep on it! I'm not reacting to the mattress at all, so my body can actually relax at night!

If you're intrigued by all the benefits of this mattress, but the firmness worries you a bit, Sleep On Mattress does sell other latex mattress options. They carry a Talalay line that has some synthetics, but is mostly natural. They also carry the top-of-the-line Savvy Rest mattresses, which are certified organic latex mattresses. They had a couple options in the store to try in this line, and they have different feels. Again, this store is awesome because they will work with you. And they do ship! You don't have to live in Bismarck to buy from them!

UPDATE 12/22/16 - Latex Topper:The mattress continued to soften up and my body began to adjust to it. I actually found it to be comfortable and would have been happy with it as it was. My husband, however, still found it to be too firm, so we ordered the 3" soft topper. He decided against the 2" because he wanted to make sure we bought the best topper and not take a chance on a thinner model that might not have been enough for him.

I'm being sincere when I say that the mattresses was comfortable before the topper. But I'm also being sincere when I say that the topper is an AMAZING addition! I was worried it was going to soften it up too much, but this latex is amazing in that it softened it up a lot for my husband (who is obviously heavier than I am) and didn't soften it up much for me. The topper is very supportive, but lets pressure points sink in easily. I was worried about losing support by going softer, but I didn't lose any support while gaining pressure point relief! I stated in the original post that I needed to prop up my pillow so that my shoulder wasn't squished on the original mattress. I do not need to prop it up now. This topper lets my shoulder sink in the perfect amount and my head rests perfectly on the pillow. My husband went to the chiropractor, finally, and got rid of his back pain (for now - he needs go to regularly.) So he can say for sure that this mattresses and topper is not giving him back pain. He's sleeping very well, waking up feeling good (not stiff and achy like on the mattress before the topper), and is actually starting to compliment the bed!

This topper is normally about $400. Don't fear the price tag: it's worth it. Remember that latex can last 15-20 years if you take care of it. Most mattresses only last about 5-8 before you really should look into replacing them. So investing an additional $400 into a bed that is safe, healthy, won't make you sick, very supportive and comfortable, and very long-lasting is an excellent deal.

The ONLY thing I'm a bit sad about it is that we now have a 12" mattress + topper. Many of you might think this is better - it all comes down to preference. My husband likes the height better. For me it just makes it a tiny bit more challenging to put my sheets on. They are now a snug fit. I'm only 5'5", so I have to jump up a bit to crawl into bed.

I, of course, have photos to share:

It came in a much less awkward box. They were able to fold the topper in half before compressing it and rolling it up, so the box was actually very manageable. I could carry it up the stairs into the bedroom myself.


I was able to unroll it on the bed because because it wasn't awkward, unlike the mattress. The mattress was difficult to set up, but this was very easy.


It unrolled folded in half. What you can see in this photo (which I forget to get a good photo of for the mattress itself) is the organic cotton cover. This is the exact same cover (and type of latex) as the mattress has.



It does add some height, as you can see. You can also see how much padding it gives in order to soften up the mattress. Thinner versions are available (they're also cheaper), but I think it's good to see what the full size looks like when making a decision.

  (Sorry, excuse all my pill bottles in the background. I meant to clean up the bedroom before taking photos, but I only had enough energy to set up the topper.)



The Savvy Rest Cotton Mattress Pad:

I didn't purchase this with the mattress. I understood the benefits of it, but I thought the allergen cover might be enough for my needs. What changed my mind was reading up on how to care for a latex mattress, and I kept seeing that body sweat and heat can slowly deteriorate latex over time. I want this mattress to last me as long as possible (I've read 15-20 years when cared for correctly,) and I decided that I really don't want to have to wash the allergen any more often than necessary because it is such a pain to get on. The mattress pad is very easy to take off and wash, and it will collect any body fluids that get through the sheets. What really put me over the edge and made me buy the pad is when someone told me that they had a latex mattresses that molded. This really confused me, because latex is naturally mold resistant, and that was one of my biggest reasons for choosing latex over another natural mattress. She was not using a mattress pad. I wouldn't be surprised if the latex wasn't molding, but body fluid that got into the mattress was molding. She had mold toxicity in the past, and mycotoxins do sweat out of out of people with mold in their bodies. Either way, this made me decide to buy the topper. I do have a mycotoxin issue in my body, and I don't want mold to grow in my new safe mattress.

The topper is very nice: it's 100% undyed organic cotton with a stitching pattern to keep it from bunching. It is made slightly over sized so that it has room to shrink after washing. I washed mine in cold water with plant-based non-toxic detergent, and then I dried it by draping it over two dining room chairs and placing my air purifier under it. The air purifier creates quite the breeze on the high setting. Even after washing it properly, it did shrink to exactly the same size as the mattress. So that wasn't a problem, and it was very easy to care for.

I thought it might add a soft layer to the mattress, but it did not. At first it actually made the mattress more firm, but that was because I tied it too tight. After loosening the grip of the ties the mattress felt the same as it did without the pad.





Thank you for reading my review! Comment with any questions, and I'll be happy to answer them. You can look forward to Part 3, which will be on the bedding (blankets, sheets, etc) in a week or so. Let me get past Thanksgiving first. :) (Update - that might come after Christmas. This month is too stressful for me!)

Thank you so very much to Robert and Mike at Sleep On Mattress for this amazingly healthy mattress and for your wonderful high quality service! I've really enjoyed working with you both, and I cannot recommend your store enough!