My Failed Capzasin Experiment

Filed Under (Health) by Cynthia on 27-03-2009

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Okay so I’ve been having some major chronic muscle tension and thought I’d try some over the counter meds to help me relax.  I should probably go to the doctor but I really hate going to the doctor.

So yesterday morning on the way to work I stopped and got some stuff. I got some heat pads for my neck, some doans pills (that I haven’t taken yet) and some Capzasin cream. I didn’t really know what capzasin was but thought I’d try it as it looked good sitting there on the shelf.

So I’m 90% the way to work (thank goodness) and I decide to put some on my neck at a stop light. So I do so.. then I’m sitting there still waiting for the light to turn green and I just barely touch my eye because it itches…

Okay, major pain. I manage to get the rest of the way to work with my eye burning like fire. I popped my contact out and put it in my mouth, and my mouth was feeling the heat too.  So I stagger into the bathroom at work and flush my eye out for the next 20 minutes. Bleh! Fortunately it cleared out okay and I was able to put my contact back in and work for the rest of the day.

The capzasin seemed to work pretty good on my neck. Though I didn’t put anymore on the rest of the day and I was fine. It burned a tiny bit but nothing major.

So I get home and decide I’m going to put some more on to help relax my muscles. So I put some on my neck, shoulders, chest, forearms, and my lower legs.  This was about 8pm and I was fine watching TV with the slight burning feeling.

I went to bed about 9pm and was fine. I woke up at midnight and I was on fire! Oh my gosh!  I couldn’t stand still my skin was burning so badly.  I was red in all the places I’d put the capzasin on my skin.  I stood in the shower for a bit, but the water was too hot on my skin where I was burning, and too cold on the rest of my body, so I was shivering and burning all at the same time.

My husband to my rescue. He put vinegar on me to help get the capzasin off. But I think it was mostly off already, really.  But he’s such a good guy. He was still up, of course, playing WoW.  :)   After about 30 minutes I started to feel better. I also got my ice pack out of the fridge and put that on, and that helped a lot. And I hate ice!

I was able to get to bed again after a bit. I woke up again at 4am and was burning again. Strange!  Ugh! I got the ice pack again and put it in bed with me on my chest, then my arms, alternating, until my body cooled down again.  That worked really well.

This morning I’m fine. My skin isn’t red so I guess I didn’t get a sunburn like reaction from it.  My husband thinks that I had an allergic reaction to the stuff.

Capzasin is from peppers. It’s the stuff that makes peppers hot. I really don’t like peppers, never have, never will. So my husband thinks maybe I’m allergic to them and that’s why I don’t like them.

I don’t know. I’m fine today. The Capzasin is going in the trash!  My experience was not a good one! I thought I was fine because I’d used it during the day. But oh my gosh, that pain was awful!  I don’t like feeling as though my skin is on fire! Bleh!  My pain was not a minor discomfort. It was very intense and awful.  So this is my capzasin review for the day. LOL.  I think the stuff doesn’t work well for me.

Well, now it’s time for lunch… maybe my appetite suppressants will keep me from eating too much. LOL. My husband got me some new type of lettuce I’m looking forward to trying!

Tags: Car, Medication, Physical Health

A Snowy Day

Filed Under (Daily Posts) by Cynthia on 28-12-2008

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Well, I hope everyone had a good Christmas.  I sure did. :)   It has been snowing the last few days around here and it’s very beautiful outside now. I got some pictures of the icicles hanging off our house.

icicles

icicles

I don’t think icicles are really good things to have, but we don’t have many rain gutters and so we have icicles. They really are pretty though! I tried to get a couple of pictures, playing with the dept of field… the first one the tree in the background is in focus. The second one the icicles are in focus.  I’m not sure which one I like better, I kinda like them both.

I want to change my copyright symbol though… I keep adjusting it, lol. I just barely set it up and I like it. Though I wish I could get that transparent copyright image, and the boarder, to be produced by Picasa. I really like using Picasa it’s a very easy to use photo organization software.  And I love how easily I can see all the pictures on my screen.

icicles

icicles

We got some nice fun things for Christmas… now maybe I have to rearrange the house and put some in self storage dangit, we don’t have much room in our house! I keep dreaming of moving to Richfield and building our own house. With a nice sized shed out back, too, to keep all our stuff in, and our agilty stuff… LOL which I’m not sure we’ll have or not. And a three car garage too.  Since we have the three cars now. Oh, I don’t think I’ve said… we are keeping the Outback. The economy seems so bad now, that I can’t sell my Subaru Outback for what it’s worth, so we are just going to keep it. It’s all reparied and it sure is nice to have an All Wheel Drive vehicle on this super snowy days.

Tags: Car, Chatter

Do you Crack?

Filed Under (Daily Posts) by Cynthia on 07-10-2008

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No no no… I’m not asking if you do crack, or drugs. LOL. I’m asking if you crack your fingers or your toes or your neck. I’ve been reading up a bit about neck cracking. Mainly because my neck hurts so much lately that I find myself cracking it even though I don’t know I am. The second I stop thinking about not cracking it, I crack it. So I found this article: Don’t Crack Your Neck.

I’m sure there are more out there… but I guess it’s really bad to crack one’s neck. It’s probably equally bad to crack one’s fingers and toes, which I also do. I never have cracked my neck before this freakin’ car accident and injury. I have the name of a Physical Therapy place to go to. They are closed Tuesdays though, so hopefully tomorrow they will call me back. Bleh.

I’ve also closed down two of my blogs recently, realizing I just can’t keep up on five blogs. So this will be my dream diary, my photo blog, and my personal blog all in one. It actually is quite a load off my mind, to only have three blogs now! lol yeah that’s still a lot but I think I can handle three.

Well, I want to just go home and sit on the couch and not move my neck for about three weeks. Maybe that’d help the pain. Ugh.. I really hate pain.

Tags: Car, Chatter, Physical Health

Too Much Neck Pain

Filed Under (Daily Posts) by Cynthia on 06-10-2008

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Oh my gosh.. Saturday night and Sunday morning my neck hurt so bad I could hardly move. I was at the Control Unleashed dog training seminar both days, and it was awful. My neck, not the seminar. ;) The seminar was good.

I wrapped my neck up with my Ravenclaw scarf the second day to see if it keeping it warm would help. And strangely enough I think it did. Also, standing and moving helped instead of sitting and dwelling on the pain.

Today I’m okay.. I still have much more pain than I’d like, but it’s not too unbearable. Bleh. I hate pain.

Well, I have to go feed Lucy her breakfast, I will post more later!

Tags: Car, Chatter, Physical Health

My Body Is A Wreck

Filed Under (Daily Posts, Health) by Cynthia on 01-10-2008

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Flower and BushesI went to the doctor today.. finally. The neurologist. To check me out since I had my car accident back on August 1st. When I was filling out the history, and all my symptoms, it just made me realize how awful I do really feel and how my body needs some serious fixing.

My arms keep going numb on me… all the way down to my hands. So does my left leg if I’m sitting wrong. I have pain from the base of my skull down to my upper back. My lower back hurts when I bend or pick things up. My whole upper body feels tense, my muscles feel all tight. My face feels tight too. I keep getting head aches off and on. And I also get nausea off and on.

I just generally don’t feel well. He signed me up for some physical therapy and he gave me some drugs. The drugs are for neurological pain but they are also an antidepressant and I don’t really want to take them, especially since I already take Zoloft. I’m going to call them and double check. I get intimidated and don’t ask as many questions as really I should. The doctor looked straight in my eyes and was nice, though a bit intimidating.

I get an MRI a week from Friday. Never had one before, so we’ll see how that goes. And I need to find a physical therapsit. Maybe I’ll call the lawyer and ask around at work. Part of the PT will be massage.. so that’d be wonderful! I think I could really use some of that.

I was feeling guilty while I was there… I don’t like to be sick, or incapacitated. Like most people, I think. I feel like no one will believe me unless I have symptoms that others can see. I also feel like I’m trying to mooch off the doctors or whatever. Really I’m a fairly honest person… though I also feel like I deserve some compensation for the accident and all the crap that has come along with it. It really sucks that life can be going along just fine, and WHAM all of a sudden some lady runs a red light and you slam into her and life changes.

The doc wasn’t too pleased that I’m going on a cruise that will have a lot of activity in a few weeks. But he said if it hurts me, we’ll just have to fix me up again after. I can’t not go on the cruise! I don’t feel bad enough to cancel the cruise. I’d have to feel pretty bad for that!

Well I’m going to watch some TV and wish I had some appetite suppressants to keep me from eating. I have eaten 22.5 points today where I’m only supposed to eat 21. I had the munchies bad. yesterday I ate 18, which was quite good! Now time to relax and drink some no calorie tea and snuggle with the pups.

Tags: Car, Physical Health

Dang The Neck Hurts

Filed Under (Daily Posts, Health, Techie) by Cynthia on 28-09-2008

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roseThis is just a picture of one of the last roses outside on my rose bushes. I kinda think they are a pain… but pretty for the most part. If they died, though, I wouldn’t be too sad. Okay maybe a little.

Yesterday was a great down day and I woke up this morning feeling much better. Physically, emotionally and mentally. But as I sit here again on the couch (I seem to get stuck on the couch once I start blogging) my neck is just killing me.

I’m sure it’s still because of my car accident. I got the car back, it’s up for sale already. I hope it sells, I haven’t gotten any bites yet. But my arms still go numb when I lay on my back, or have them above my head, or sit for any length of time.. all of which must be bad. I was going to go to the neurologist last Tuesday but they put me off again until this Wednesday. I really need to go in. I’m still in a lot of pain and discomfort and I want to be better. So we’ll see how that goes.

I upgraded the memory on my VPS (server, host, whatever you want to call it) by 256Mb. I hope that helps. It’s not flash memory but regular old memory. So now I’ll have 768Mb and we’ll see if that speeds up the websites some. I might have to ask those I host for to give me a wee bit of money to cover costs. Maybe $6 or $10 every three months or so. Not really too much, just enough to help when my bill comes due.

I think I’m going to flop over and take a nap now. Sitting on the couch makes me sleepy. :)

Tags: Car, Physical Health, Tech

The Car Saga Continues

Filed Under (Daily Posts) by Cynthia on 17-09-2008

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Well, I got my car back yesterday. My Subaru Outback. Looks good… strange, though, to have such an odd feeling toward my car. I still love the car. I still am attached to it. How come we have such emotional attachments to vehicles? I just don’t get it.

It kinda freaks me out still… I drove it to work today because the body shop said I should drive it for a while to make sure all is well. It seems fine though stepping on the gas pedal seems weird, crunchy like there is some vibration or resistance. But maybe it’s just me.

Anyway, I will probably be selling it. It’s 2004. Though it’d be cool to keep it, and sell my husband’s Nissan Sentra instead!

Tags: Car

First Long Drive in the Minivan

Filed Under (Anxiety, Camping, Daily Posts, Dogs) by Cynthia on 15-09-2008

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Van and Trailer2Well I’m back from St. George, Utah, and flyball with my dog Chase. Muffit and Tatum came along for the ride too. It was fun. I pulled the trailer down on my own… the first time I ever took it on my own. I was scared and nervous until about half way home today. Then my nerves finally settled and I was fine.

I also had a passenger, a 14 year old girl who is a member of our flyball team, and her border collie. It went well though I was nervous about what we’d talk about and I’m always a bit shy as I don’t know her too well. But she’s super nice and it was fun. And I was nervous about the van and the trailer and getting there okay, but it went just fine. The van pulled the trailer nicely I will admit. Better than my old Outback did. My drive home was by myself, and it the weather was nice and the traffic was good.

So when I go to more dog shows next summer, or Vegas vacations, I can take the trailer myself. Now, though, I’m just glad to be home and I’m rather glad to be done with traveling for dogs sports for the year. The next trip is the cruise, end of October. For a while, i get to have some weekends off and to rest!

Tags: Car, Chatter, Dogs, Travel

And it’s a MiniVan!

Filed Under (Daily Posts) by Cynthia on 25-08-2008

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MiniVan-1Buying a car is way to freakin’ easy. Man.. go in, say I have excellent credit (which I do) and they fall over backwards. :) And the dealer was nice, too. They didn’t even hassle me or push me. And I got a tow package thrown in. Though of course I had to take the van home today, because it’s just new and fun to drive!

MiniVan-3Levi is modeling it for us. He is such a good boy, jumped right in. I’ll be pulling out the seats and putting in dog crates. It’s a 2007 Hyundai Entourage. $17,000 which isn’t too bad. I hate to haggle, so maybe could have gotten a better deal but whatever. I’m happy with it.

MiniVan-4My Outback is still in the shop, probably until September 10 or so. When it comes back I’ll be selling it. I’ll miss my Outback, I really do like that car. But the Minivan will be better for me and the dogs, and safer too.

I like the color okay, the papers say light blue, but looking at it it looks rather Gray. My old Toyota Pickup was gray like this. In some light, though, it kinda does look light blue more than gray. And it has nice indoor lighting to read by if needed. It doesn’t quite have all the bells and whistles my Outback did, but that’s okay, I didn’t need them anyway!

Anyway, I need crates and things to put in it now. And I don’t like having this loan… Bleh. But it’ll be gone, hopefully, shortly, with the outback. And as much as I loved the Outback, I hope I’ll love the van more!

Tags: Car, Chatter

Have You Used Carfax?

Filed Under (Daily Posts) by Cynthia on 24-08-2008

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Carfax is that place online where you can go check out a vehicle’s history. Not that I’d be opposed to buying a car that’s been in an accident, as long as it’s been repaired to factory specs… I was just wondering if anyone has used Carfax and what you think of it?

I am considering buying the unlimited plan. It’s only $10 more than the 1 car view plan. And only a few $ more than the 10 car plan. But of course I’m having a hard time deciding.

There are two Hyundai Entourage’s that I’m really interested in, Loaded with climate control and heated seats. And I’m thinking of getting an auto loan through my credit union for one. Then I’ll sell my Outback. Though I’ll miss my Outback, it’s a good little car. But I think I’ll like the Minivan better.

So anyway, thoughts thoughts. I hope to go have a look at the two Hyundai’s tomorrow after work. One is north of me, one south. Of course. The one north, though, is about $2,000 cheaper. So I’m not sure why, and thought I may want to check out Carfax to see why!

Tags: Car, Chatter