A Little Bit of Everything

And a good, good morning to everyone. Yesterday was just awful.  Imagine attending community meeting from 10:30 to 11, running a group from 11:15 to 12:15, signing everyone out, dump garbage, bathroom run, and then out the door to the most boring training ever.   And the trip...first a bus, then subway...then a 7 block walk to get to where the training was.  When I came home last night, I was so drained that I ate and went to bed by 7:30 last night...and I slept until 9 this morning.  I was totally burned out.  Getting too old for that kind of stuff.  

The title of today's post was actually the name of my first ever blog...A Little Bit of Everything...and that is exactly what it was.  On a daily basis I posted recipes, flowers, quotes, special days, and all kinds of little tidbits.  I had to let it go, though.  The darned thing was taking me about 6 hours of research on a daily basis.  

Hey, anyone watch Royal Pains on Thursday night?  Well, for those that don't it's kind of a silly little show about a concierge doctor who works out on the Hamptons on Long Island.  Basically, he is a doctor who works on call for the rich; he also does some charity work with the poor.  Silly as the show may be, it may actually have saved my life.  See, I had a terrible overbite since I was a child that had gone uncorrected by my parents...Well, I can't blame them; when I was growing up, dentists didn't have any of the miracles that they possess today...so, I guess I was just born too early.  So, because of this and a car accident many years ago, I ended up losing my bottom teeth, and since I have little in the way of a jawline, I have to use things like Fixodent to keep my dentures in place..and have been using it now for almost 5 years.

Last Thursday, I was watching the show, and the doctor was treating someone whose legs were giving out on him.  I am not gonna go through the whole episode, but as it turned out, this was all a result of his denture cream.  It seems that the cream contains zinc, and excessive use of this denture cream causes a sort of zinc poisoning.  Well, I immediately ran to get my tube and lo and behold, there it was....contains zinc.  Who knew?  Of course, now I have to go do some investigating at Web MD...and you can imagine my shock when I read all about ME.  


Skin reactions:  At 63, I was wondering why I developed acne...or what I thought was acne...red bumps that can appear in a matter of minutes all over my chest and neck.  I thought it was the toxins leaving my body after stopping smoking.


Shortness of breath:  Oddly, when I first stopped smoking, I felt wonderful...could race up the subway without stopping; then, a few months down the road started becoming short of breath...even though doctor had said my lungs were fairly clear.


Cough:  Not like it was when I was smoking, but nonetheless, still there...and only started about a month or two ago.  I quit smoking a year ago. 


Body pain:  It's been dreadful and getting worse.  I can barely walk anymore.My knees, my ankles...so painful.


Nausea:  Unexplainable.  Was wondering why now...after all these years, I was feeling queasy quite a bit of the time.


Swollen ankles, neuropathy

I plan to have my doctor run some bloodwork on me just to be sure, but it was a real eye opener.  If any of you out there have been using things such as Poligrip or Fixodent for any length of time, stop using them. NOW!!! I ran out to the store this morning and bought some of the new poligrip which they are now making  zinc free.  


Gosh, who knew that I was going to discuss denture cream when I began this post...certainly not me. i had other things on my mind, but they can wait. I feel it's important that we educate ourselves on these things.  I had no idea that about zinc poisoning and that there are now many lawsuits out against these companies...We are not told this, and there were no warnings on the product.  It may just be old age creeping up on me that is causing these symptoms, but, hey, it doesn't hurt to look into these things so you stop putting these poisons into your body.  But, in the long run, isn't it ironic that the silliest of television shows open us up to an awareness that the big drug companies do not.   


And, by the way, silly as it is, I do love that show. LOL!!! Here's hoping you all have a wonderful, healthy weekend.