I recorded a chronic illness vlog last week, full of videos (and some photos) that show an honest view of my life with ME/CFS and Lyme. And these days, it's a pretty good life! I am still doing really well and have been quite active, as you can see in the video. I've been able to see friends, go shopping (!), run errands, and even begin to work on our house a little (baby steps!). Small steps toward decluttering feel so good after feeling so helpless the past few years; it feels great to be productive again. Last week, I also went to the movies with my husband and enjoyed a weekend trip to v ..read more

Several of our favorite shows have returned for new seasons (including Will Trent, The Rookie, and So Help Me, Todd! - my reviews & trailers at the links). But there is one new show that began in February that we're really enjoying: Tracker. Colter Shaw, played by Justin Hartley (who played Kevin on This Is Us), is a loner who travels all over the U.S. in his pick-up truck and classic Airstream trailer (a set-up my husband drools over in every episode!). Colter calls himself a "rewardist"--he earns a living by finding missing people when a reward is offered. Teddi, played by Robin Weigart ..read more

Looking for a movie to watch Saturday night, I went through the list of Oscar Best Picture nominees, and we chose American Fiction. I'd heard great things about it, and my husband trusted me (well, that, and the 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and 96% audience score!). We both enjoyed this warm, thoughtful, entertaining movie about books, writing, and the publishing industry. Thelonius "Monk" Ellison (yeah, it's a mouthful--that's why he goes by Monk), played by Jeffrey Wright, teaches disinterested college students about literature and writing and has published several literary fiction novels. He's a ..read more

In a series of surprising twists worthy of a thriller and a bit of serendipity, researchers from the NIH's Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) were studying genetic mutations in a family with cancer and ended up making an important discovery in ME/CFS research. It's a fascinating story, with excellent repercussions for ME/CFS patients, possibly leading to clinical trials in the near future! One member of the family being studied, a 38-year-old woman, had a genetic mutation associated with the cancer that ran in her family. However, this woman (and none of her family members) had experie ..read more

I just updated my summary of ME/CFS Treatments (always available through the tab at the top of the page on my blog). It provides a good roadmap for patients and doctors to all of the many effective treatments that are available now for ME/CFS and long-COVID. Many of those treatments are inexpensive and readily available everywhere. I had to add a whole new section on treating endocrine dysfunction because it's something I hadn't covered completely on my blog in the past. I decided to reprint it here, as a new blog post, to be sure everyone sees it. ME/CFS causes severe endocrine dysfunction ..read more

I first heard about the newly published results of the first-ever NIH (National Institutes of Health in the U.S.) study of ME/CFS when a friend of mine forwarded an article from Medscape to me (I have some great friends). My first impression was, "Meh, not much new, and it was a tiny study," so I have been interested to see how much attention it is getting in the mainstream press and what ME/CFS top experts and advocacy groups are saying about it. Here's a brief summary: Just the Facts Bottom line of this study: It was tiny - just 17 patients with ME/CFS. 17!! Out of the many millions suffe ..read more

While most cable shows had a delayed "fall" season that is only just starting now (due to the strikes), a few new shows did start on time in the fall. Our favorite is The Irrational, a crime show with a behavioral scientist at its center. Jesse L. Martin plays Alec Mercer, a behavioral scientist at a university in D.C. Alec teaches and has two grad students working with him: Pheobe, played by Molly Kunz, and Rizwan, played by Arash DeMaxi. His ex-wife, Marisa (played by Maahra Hill), works for the FBI, and Alec's sister, Kylie (played by Travina Springer), is a brilliant computer expert who l ..read more

Chronic Illness is often said to be a rollercoaster (in fact, Riding the Chronic Illness Rollercoaster is the name of a chapter in my book!), and that was definitely true for me last year, with plenty of ups and downs in my life with ME/CFS and Lyme. I'm a little late with my usual year-end wrap-up (and only just set my goals for the new year!), but that's another fact of life when you have chronic illness; we make accommodations.  NOTE: I like data and am an analytical person. For details on how I simply track how I feel on a calendar, check out my post, My Progress in 2020 and Goals f ..read more

A few weeks ago, my husband and I were looking for a movie to watch and stumbled on Stillwater, starring Matt Damon. It was excellent, combining family drama, a mystery, and legal drama, about a father trying desperately to save his only daughter. Bill, played by Matt Damon, is a widowed oil-rig worker living in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Between jobs and estranged from his only daughter, Bill flies to Marseilles, France, to visit her--in prison. Allison, played by Abigail Breslin, was attending college in Marseilles when her girlfriend was brutally murdered. Allison was convicted of the murder an ..read more

Lots of people have been asking me about the new carnivore diet I began on January 2 (with a gradual move toward it in the two weeks before that). This has helped me to finally get chronic yeast/candida overgrowth (often a part of ME/CFS) under control, which has resulted in huge improvements for me. My immune symptoms (flu-like aches and exhaustion) cleared up and my energy has been really good for most of the past month (with a few rundown days this past week but today was better). As I explain in the video, I am not a medical professional and am not recommending other people do this. I'm ..read more