After several weeks of not feeling quite right, but able to function, the bomb dropped this week. Seems that what started out as a cold, evolved into an infection, which lodged itself in my sinuses. A visit to the doc this week informed me that I had acute sinusitis. Yup. I was thinking allergies, head cold, even (wince) possibly the flu. But nope, it was all in my head - so to speak. Well not exactly, because the infection then traveled to my ear and on to my stomach, causing nausea, and the real gem....vertigo! No wonder I was walking sideways and banging into doors! Who knew?!
Antibiotics were prescribed. I rarely take antibiotics because I think we use them too frivolously in this country, but I know when my body needs them, and I agreed to take them this time. Also prescribed was a steroid called Methylprednisolone. Yea, say that three times fast. I told the doc about my reservations of taking a steroid. She said I should research it first and if I wasn't comfortable I didn't have to take it. Wasn't comfortable? Here's a partial list of what it's used for: arthritis, blood disorders, certain cancers...yes, I repeat, certain cancers, and kidney/intestinal/lung diseases. No mention of sinusitis by the way.
And the side effects? What a lovely array of possibilities. It can compromise your immune system and cause diabetes! Huh? That alone stopped me in my tracks, as it did my sister when I shared this with her, but I read on just for the heck of it: nausea, vomiting, heartburn, headache, dizziness (hello!), trouble sleeping, appetitie changes, acne, muscle pain, weight loss - now this one had my attention for a minute. The list goes on and on.
I'm not going to get into a commentary about our pharmaceutical/medical practices in this country. That would be a dissertation and not a blog. I'm writing this to suggest that you don't just pop a pill in your mouth just because the doctor says so. Read, research and explore other methods. In addition to my own internet research, I turned to two dear & trusted friends, one here in New York City and one in Italia. They gave me some wonderful nuggets to work with. Here's what I did in lieu of steroids: massive amounts of sleep, I mean massive, healing juices & smoothies with extra garlic and ginger, water with lemon, teas, blasts of vitamin-C, saline spray, neti pot, healing meditation, and a big pot of veggie broth. I took every veggie in my fridge and boiled it up in a pot. Then put it in my Vitamix and blended it up. I still had to strain it, so if you don't have a heavy duty blender, I suggest you remove the veggies whole and just drink the broth.
