Posted in Art, Catholic, celiac disease, Sam's adventures

Trust the Process

A little while ago, I was working on a drawing for a friend for confirmation. I realized this would be a good time to share a bit of my process. I’m sure professionally trained artists may wince a bit. Still, outside of the regular school curriculum, I believe fashion design was the only course I ever took that covered drawing techniques.

Despite this, I’ve always loved to draw and practiced consistently throughout my life. I think I’d be a better artist if I didn’t lose motor function from neurological damage due to celiac disease. In some ways, that challenge makes the art I am capable of more special. I don’t get to rest on my abilities; I have to work at it, and relearn if I have accidental gluten exposure. Thankfully, that doesn’t happen too often, but a couple of times a year presents challenges (can’t escape the word filled with wheat products).

When I draw, I tend to lay out the general outline of the subject. After that, I will sketch in detail to see tentatively if I like how it will look. From there, it’s erase and refine… on repeat. This particular design, called “Confirmation,” was drawn with graphite and pencil crayon. I keep the main subjects in grey to emphasize the unseen reality of the Holy Spirit descending during this sacrament. It was very fun to draw! You can find prints on Redbubble if you are interested.

Posted in celiac disease, Healing through Nature, Health, Herbalism, Recipes

Sam’s Celiac Remedy

This was not actually what I had planned to write about this week, but I’ve decided that it’s the best time to share this remedy. I had two back-to-back celiac reactions 2 weeks ago, and I want to share both what helped and how big of a difference this herbal remedy makes in my recovery.

To make this recipe, gather your ingredients first. I sourced the base remedy from The Tea Store here in Ottawa and the Slippery Elm Powder from Herbies Herbs in Toronto. Many of the herbs in the base recipe are fairly easy to come by, but quality does matter when you are working with remedies that support your body’s innate healing processes. I find having individual pre-made doses ready to go has been extremely useful. My husband can prep the infusion for me without any worry when I am too sick myself by simply plopping the mini container’s worth into the teapot. I have included the cayenne with the remedy in these mini jars.

When preparing the remedy, I always choose to cover the spout of the teapot as well. Infusions like this contain volatile compounds that evaporate within the first few minutes of exposure to boiling water. These are the compounds that the body needs most to move from acute illness to healing, so although you would not lose many through the spout, I prefer to cover it.

Let’s start steeping!

While the infusion is steeping, I recommend you wait before starting on the slippery elm. If you prepare the slippery elm too early, your drink will turn from a mildly thick chia seed (or basil seed) like texture to a lumpy, mucousy goo, which can be unpleasant to drink. My husband does not like the texture of the well-mixed, smooth slippery elm, so there is an option to make the recipe with milk or non-dairy milk as well. That gives you a drink with a texture somewhere between latte foam and marshmallow. If using milk, heat the milk on low in a covered saucepan for 15 minutes to infuse the milk with the herbs.

Another important note when preparing the slippery elm powder is to fully incorporate the brown sugar and elm. This prevents clumping and promotes a smooth texture. When the two are mixed, you can move on to adding the cold water. Here you will mix it until it has a consistency similar to a roux when baking.

When mixed, add to your mug and top up with your infusion. The drink tastes delicious (so long as you don’t mind the texture). I find I need to drink it 3 times after a celiac reaction if there is a single CC exposure before I am nearly back to normal.

Herbal remedies are wonderful ways to support your body in healing, but aren’t cures. They give you what you need when you need it to repair tissue damage and bring back homeostasis.

In using this remedy, I find it accomplishes everything needed to address SYSTEMIC autoimmune flare-ups that I experience with celiac disease. As I learned from this last double-whammy reaction set, it doesn’t pass the blood-brain barrier or help directly with neurological symptoms. I experience neurological damage (I have damage in my cerebellum, the neurologist believes it is celiac and not MS because of my history and the occurrence of neurological symptoms during celiac flare-ups). The first of the two CC only gave gastro and joint symptoms, but the second, oh, it was fully body and brain.

Unlike previous accidental CC, this time I was much sicker after the 2nd reaction. Before formulating this remedy as a Chartered Herbalist, reactions like this would leave me sick for weeks. Prolonged neurological symptoms would last for weeks to months. Recovery from the loss of motor function took time and dedicated practice to work with my neuroplasticity. This time, I recovered from the majority of the bodily symptoms within 4 days. The neurological symptoms have mostly cleared up 2 weeks later. I still have some light and sound sensitivity above normal, but my balance and motor skills are back up to par, and the headache is gone. Is this a game changer for my overall quality of life? You BET!

Posted in Health, Sam's adventures

Healthy cleaning? Norwex to the rescue!

As an individual with chemical sensitivity, I have struggled to find cleaning products that my system can tolerate (other than vinegar and soap– those are great). One of my best friends introduced me to a company she loves, and I have not looked back since!

Norwex offers deep and thorough cleaning products that are free from harsh chemicals! I love their emphasis on low environmental impact, sustainability, and mechanical cleaning solutions.

Although I have not tried every product, I have nothing but good things to say about what I have used. I have personally found their laundry detergent leaves clothes smelling clean, with no perfumes, and I have had no adverse skin reactions! Their latest laundry deep clean detergent tackles even the worst dog messes with ease, which is more than I can say for other brands I have used in the past.

Our son ADORES the chenille hand towels, and drying after hand washing is simple when he pets the cute “pet to dry” towels. Their kitchen scrubbers are wonderful to use. I have tried samples of their oven cleaner, surface cleaner, and a few other products. I love their products! If you are looking for safe cleaning products without the harsh chemicals or fumes, give Norwex a try!

Posted in ADHD, Goal Setting, Mental Health

Habitica: Happy little dings for doing all the things..

Over the last few months, I have been using a productivity app that has been surprisingly impactful in my day-to-day functioning as a mom with ADHD. My husband had been trying to find ways to compensate for his memory issues that don’t involve asking me to remind him, and with the help of ChatGPT, found a list of different apps that are supposedly meant to help with ADHD, memory, and productivity. Now, when I say memory issues, I mean that he has the textbook case where if he is not hyper-focusing on whatever it is, it goes in one ear and out the other (completely unintentional, too). This is lifelong ADHD struggle territory, and I’ll be honest, not much has worked over the years except me carrying the mental load, which, let’s be real, isn’t sustainable.

Habitica App!

In comes: Habitica. Originally, I downloaded the app to support him because he figured gamifying his life would probably be fun (we are both gamers after all). Did it help? Oh, man, did it ever. He has been successfully using it for several months, and I RARELY have to remind him of things. In general, if something hadn’t been done on his dailies, he chose not to do it because he wasn’t feeling well. Now here’s the kicker: I’ve been the one using the app MORE than him!

My normal way of coping with my lack of executive function is to hold onto the thought of all the things that need to get done in a mind palace like Sherlock Holmes’. It takes a tremendous amount of effort, and mixing that with compassion fatigue and masking led to me becoming burned out last year. While I have been learning to not mask 24/7 (IFS and parts work with the RCC has been a game changer), allow myself to stim when I need to regulate, and become more compassionate with myself, at the same time my husband demonstrated huge improvements in his mental health, I never really found a way around carrying the big mental load.

Reducing the mental load

In using Habitica, I have unloaded the giant mental load of all the things I plan to do and all the steps to take. I have a GINORMOUS to-do list, with steps broken down neatly. The length of the to-do list is a relief because I am no longer going over it in my mind on repeat to make sure I follow through (lest it be lost in the void).

Habitica is also programmed such that the longer something is on the to-do list, the more difficult it is to finish, and it adjusts the rewards accordingly. This has been massively validating, as many of the projects on my to-do list are longer-term (such as uploading designs to Spoonflower or Redbubble, making resources, or finishing the books that are in progress). I have habits set for tracking virtue and various ways I want to grow as a person. I’ve even learned how to set up my monthly virtue challenges to be hosted on there, too! You can join for June, where we practice growing in trust HERE.

… and finally… the most delightful little dings for doing daily things. I don’t know about you all, but I find with my particular flavor of neuro-spicy deficiencies, I get ABSOLUTELY NO dopamine from completing a task. Does that prevent me from getting stuff done? Well, no. I do it anyway because I learned long ago that action begets motivation and… I’m as stubborn as a bull.

An impressive impact…

Although I found taking medication a few years ago helped with sensory processing disorder, and getting that little “oh look! I did a thing!” dopamine release, it hasn’t been sustainable to stay on them for several reasons. In general, I usually hate bell noises of any kind, but this app has a ding that is lovely to me. I put together my list of dailies, and with the party I’ve formed with my husband and a few friends, I get to share the fun I’ve found in this relief of my mental load. We hold each other accountable through the quest feature, and it has brought a lot of good! I wouldn’t say this app will help everyone, but if you think it may help, I highly recommend you give it a try!