Thursday, July 17, 2014

Squirming and Worming

Hi, All,

Writing today to share some good news from J's pain management dept.  (Said pain being still, some nasty thoracic daily aching from about 1pm on.)

Due to an allergy, codeine-based pain killers are not tolerated well by moi, (I turn into an itching machine), and of course, due to the renal disease, NSAID's are off limits.  Even aspirin, I've been directed to avoid by my Nephrologist.

This leaves few other non-narcotic options.

(For those of you wondering, medical marijuana is not yet approved in France for Vasculitis.  Though recently, it has been approved for the treatment of MS pain, which is a good start.)

Upon being released from the hospital back in Jan '13, I was prescribed Tramadol, (a synthetic opioid), and that too caused some major itch-fests at doses of both 100 and 50 mgs but recently, I tried a lower dosage, mixed with paracetamol and lo' and behold--IT WORKED!  Only 37.5mgs of Tramadol per pill and that one wee dose, combined with paracetamol works for a good 5 hours--and I itch only a little!

It so thankfully takes that burning pain down enough notches to keep me from needing to get horizontal and/or turning me into a chair-squirmer and I cannot express how blown away I was this past weekend in Brussels with glorious relief.

On the train ride back to Paris on Sunday evening, I teared up with joy, realizing deeply, that for the first time in a very long time, I had just experienced two near-NORMAL days pain-wise.  TWO!

<--Had to take a pic of what I was looking at when the happy drops fell.   :)

I had no naps while there either, driving home just how fatiguing enduring seemingly endless pain is.  Pain you always hope will be better the next day, but it never is and with that hellish loop comes frustration and, (as I sadly learned this past year), often after just too much of that, depression.

Living with MPA, Kidney Disease and the many treatments and side-effects therein, makes it extra-crucial to keep one's mojo in full working order and being less of a slave to pain makes that a whole lot easier.

Knowing I have these precious pills at my disposal is just gold and to ensure they continue to work well each time I am electing to not take them daily.

I have read that they are very addictive and that dependance comes easily too, so for both of these reasons, I will be sure to leave days between days of use.  Another plus is that of the addiction accounts I've read about, none were at low doses like 37.5mgs/day.

Also in my googlings on Tramadol, ('cause I always research the hell out of anything new going into the ole tank), I came across this interesting study comparing my mix of tramadol+paracetamol with higher doses of Tramadol only.  All here for the curious.

Ehhhhh voila, that's it for moi, for now.

+++vibes,

: J

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Healthy & Simple Crepe Recipe

Hello again, All,

And even moreso, to the healthy eaters/fellow CKD patient crowd today, as I just finished shmangin' down a very satisfying lunch and wanted to share.  I've been rather into crepes lately but just as into finding ways to make them as healthy and CKD-friendly as possible.

Today's kitchenings yielded this, (click to enlarge):












The crepe/flatbread (as it's a tad thicker than an actual crepe), itself scores high due to various pluses like:

-ease
-minimal prep time
-no cholesterol, (for those of us keeping a lid on that)
-low-sodium (good for the heart-healthy crowd as well)
-low potassium

So for many of us, kidney patients in particular, these are all very good things.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup of flour, (I used multi-grain this time, which I added some quick oats to as well, but I have had success using buckwheat, of course white and semi-complet, (60% whole wheat in English, I think), also.

1 cup of water, (plus a few table spoons to add once blended to make it as runny and thusly crepey-thin as you like).

1 egg white, I was tres curious to see how it would turn out sans-yoke and it's nice to know I'll never need yokes in crepes again.

Whisk away and pour onto a hot, lightly oiled, big and flat pan, being sure to tip it in all directions to get the batter to spread out as much as possible.  (I used a few drops of organic light sesame oil this time.)

Serves 2.

I filled mine today with said garlicy free range scrambled eggs, (one whole, one white), some slightly steamed arugula, (to both shrink it and take a bit of the personality out), a modest spreading of light "Philly" type cheese, (called "St Moret", here in France).  Plus a few drops of lemon juice with fresh ground pepper and I admit it, probably 20 small grains of sea salt.  Like 1/4 of a normal pinch, I'd say.

As you can see, the crepe browned and puffed up almost Nan-like and it was so good I just went at it like a big ole taco.

Gonna add the garlic to the batter next time and experiment with herbs and spices too.

Will work of course as a meal or fruited-up good in a dessert.  Or with chocolate sauce.  Or...  ;)

Bon ap et +++vibes,

: J