Seconds of Sanity
/With 15 plus diagnoses, things can get a little hectic. Managing all of my meds and my food schedule is a nightmare. I am not going for the best of the best of the best, just a little homeostasis. Homeostasis is when the balance within the body is just right, like Baby Bear’s porridge. Your temperature is a nice 98.6, your electrolytes and water concentration are balanced, and your food intake is right where it needs to be to keep the mitochondria in your cells pounding out the energy you need to make it through the next 24 hours. Most people’s bodies regulate this all by themselves. Mine has insurmountable difficulty maintaining stability and this causes problems for my brain.
A large amount of my issues arise out of an endocrine system that doesn’t function well, if at all. The endocrine system is bunch of glands that produce hormones that maintain help maintain homeostasis…you see where I am going with this ? The hormones’ signals are for regulating metabolism, growth and development, tissue function,sexual function, reproduction,sleep, mood, and more. Unfortunately, my little chemical messengers are at war with each other and my immune system so they aren’t paying much attention to the actual messages being sent. Telephone is a fun game as long it’s in a 4th grade classroom during school and not in my body.
I am doing my body’s work for it. To that end, in order to maintain a mental homeostasis I have had to set up rules for myself. By recognizing and hold up my own boundaries, by doing things I can do when I can do them, I create a much more me friendly environment. When things become unbalanced inside of myself, I turn to my indulgent coping crate. This vesicle contains comfort of all sorts. I have mine filled with a familiar book for a story with an ending I know, a new book to get lost in, Lindsey Stirling and Enya for soothing upset neurology, drawing supplies, knitting, chocolate, ibuprofen, thermacare heat wraps, a tennis ball in a sock (this works wonders when my herniated disc is giving me back spasms), a list of things I can do to recenter myself and written notes of encouragement from people I love.
What’s in your carton of comfort ?