Stinging Nettle - Failure due to User Error

So, the stinging nettle is fantastic. Except when I forgot to take it. Duh.

More Granola Bars

So the other day, I was at Lisa's house and I made more granola bars. With some help. The 6-year-old across the street helped. And had a ton of fun. Then he was afraid to try them. About what I expected, honestly.

We made tropical flavor bars - dried pineapple, papaya and coconut, and crushed macadamias.

Then later, I made another batch with Raw Chocolate and Sweet Cherries.

Put it to the Test

So a while ago, I decided to switch to an all natural deodorant. I bought Crystal Body Deodorant, which is a mineral salt, aluminum free "chunk" of deodorant. (also, you can use it on your feet.) I feel like it's not as good an antiperspirant as Mitchum, but I don't think anything is, and it seems to be, for me anyway, a better deodorant. **edit** I checked, Crystal Deodorant isn't an antiperspirant at all, duh **

The reason I looked into this in the first place was because I was getting huge pimples in my underarms. I mean, pimples that felt like I was sprouting a 2nd, evil, head from my armpit. And nothing, not even a prescription borrowed from a friend seemed to clear them up. It hurt like there's no words to apply deodorant over them or even touch them, and going without deodorant seemed to make them get even worse.

Well, this Crystal stuff seems to be doing the trick. No break outs, it keeps up with me in spite of my hyperhydrosis (excessive sweating) and I don't stink. A winner all around. Of course with summer getting here, we'll see if this stuff continues to keep pace.

So far, so good.

So, I took the stinging nettle yesterday, and I felt really good. Better than I have in a long time, but I was thinking that the morning would make or break it. This morning was much better, even without the added benefit of a sinus rinse. I'm excited. Although, honestly, it still remains to be seen if this continues working. I seem to build up a tolerance to allergy meds awfully quick, but I'm hoping that this is different what with being a natural remedy and not really an antihistamine.

A very tasty fix, and a not quite so tasty one.

So, since the doctor has nothing helpful to say about my allergies at this point other than "if you find something that works, stick with it," I'm pretty much willing to try anything. Yesterday, I saw an article in Woman's World that recommended Stinging Nettle as an alternative to things like Claritin and Zyrtec. So, I stopped at Sign of the Bear today to pick some up and we'll see how it goes.

This is where I'm at for allergy fixes.

Claritin - useless unless I take 3, then I can't function
Zyrtec - useless if I take if more than 2 days in a row
Allegra - works, but makes me unconscious
Benedryl - makes me groggy AND gives me night terrors (that's an awesome combination)
Clarinex - way too expensive for what little relief it provides
Xyzal - helped a bit, but nothing significant enough to be bothered with the Rx.
Flonase - useless except for when I'm severely congested
Alavert - see Claritin
Astelin - doesn't stay in my sinuses no matter what I do, therefore not helpful

Sinus rinses have helped a lot so far, but not enough. So the new plan is all natural - Stinging nettle once a day and sinus rinses as needed.

Now, the tasty fix - in order to keep exercising the way I need to, I need to keep my asthma and knee pain under control. My asthma's basically under control, that is, I rarely if ever need my rescue inhaler and we decided to take me off of the maintenance meds (Singulair) because I didn't seem to need them since I lost a little bit of weight.

My knee on the other hand, goes in spells, related to both the weather and my level of activity. Here's where the tasty fix comes in. Chocolate is a natural anti-inflammatory! The darker the better, it needs to be at least 70% cacao to work. Dagoba Chocolate makes a bar called Eclipse - 87% cacao - which I love! So, I'm going to be adding Extra Dark chocolate to my daily routine. (don't twist my arm!)

Wish me luck.