medical

Can’t Wait for The Copper Tarnish?

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Hello Readers!

If you’re as excited about The Copper Tarnish as I am, then you probably wish you could read it right now. (I’ve wrote it and I want to read it again.)

Pre-orders coming soon!

While you wait, however, you can now buy the second printing of Parasomnia and learn the origins of Agent Katherine Price.

At the Aux-Anges institute, nestled in the woods outside of North Bay, they study and treat parasomnias, or sleep disorders. Ashley suffers from night terrors, Terrance sleepwalks, Kiri sleep-eats, and Paul sets fires; they are there for treatment. Adelaide took the job as a counselor to discover why she still has an imaginary friend. When they discover the secret hideout of an old club called the Dreamers, they are shocked to find that the five of them are connected through more than just the Institute.

Amazon Parasomnia
Rakuten Kobo Parasomnia
Apple Books Parasomnia

Enjoy your reading!

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

Health Update January 2025

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Hello Friends, Fans, and Family;

It’s been an interesting couple of years for my health. I last talked about it in July 2024.

In short, I’ve been dealing with:

  • Pain in both my forearms
  • Dizzyness
  • Fatigue
  • Brain Fog
  • Tingling in my hands and feet
  • Numb and tingling on my left cheek
  • Blurry vision in my left eye
  • Pain in the joints of my hands and feet

Arms and Spine

I am doing exercises and stretches to help avoid pain. It still there in my arms but it’s manageable. I sometimes get pain in my neck that radiates down, but I double up my exercises and it usually goes away within a week.

Migraines

This is the big one. I’m currently taking Amitriptyline to try and prevent the migraines. So far I’ve been on it for two months with an escalating dose, and it hasn’t done much beyond make me sleepy and have terrible dry mouth. If this doesn’t work, there are other drug options.

I am starting to identify my triggers better. I know the following will trigger me:

  • Big change in caffeine consumption (If I have no coffee or if I have 4+ cups)
  • Alcohol (I noticed it with red wine and with cream liqueurs but I’m just cutting it all out.)
  • Changes in eating routine (If I don’t eat every 2-3 hours I start to feel faint and it can trigger)
  • Changes in sleep patterns. (Especially if the change is often)
  • Fluorescent lights
  • Strong smells (Mostly anything floral or going close to a soap store in the mall. Although someone had a poutine at work and the smell lasted all day. I loved the smell but ouch)
  • Changes of 10+ degrees in the weather and rainstorms. (I have no control over this one.)

Stress doesn’t seem to make the migraine worse but it does make the side effects worse. I had a really stressful day in December and for the next two weeks the muscles in my hips hurt like they were on fire. It’s caused by the migraine, the brain, and the two causing muscles to tense too far (probably what happened to my arms.)

I see my doctor on Wednesday and we’ll see what happens. I think this is a long haul.

Allergies

I have restarted my allergy shots and one week hasn’t cured me yet. I’ll be taking them weekly for 22 weeks. My allergist’s office prefers that I do the shots elsewhere so I’m thinking of going to an Appletree near my house on my lunch break.

Neurodiversity

As I mentioned in Friday’s post, I am Autistic and have ADHD. This explains a lot about how I burn out and how drained I feel in certain situations. It, with the migraines, explains a lot of why I feel like crap at certain times.

I’m not sure how this interacts with my other health issues but I’m sure that they interact and make things more complicated.

Sleep apnea and asthma

I have taken an asthma test and I am scheduled for a sleep test this summer. Hopefully these will be eliminated as concerns.

In Conclusion

Despite everything on this list, I feel better than I have in years. With my doctor’s help and hopefully finding the right thing to help with my migraines I should be even better by next year.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

I am Autistic

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Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;

A few years ago I started looking into getting diagnosed with ADHD and/or Autism.

Last year I was diagnosed by a quick online service with Inattentive ADHD. I found out afterward that most employers and insurance companies don’t accept the results of this sort of testing.

I decided that I wanted to know and got tested properly. As you can guess from the title I was diagnosed as Autistic. I’m considered level 1 which isn’t a cool RPG system but just means that I need little to no support in day to day life. (Until recently it was called Asperger’s after a Nazi-Eugenicist).

I was also diagnosed as ADHD mixed type, suspected Dysgraphia, and Rejection sensitive dysphoria.

A small build your own booknook that I got for Christmas. It was a lot of fun to make. If you’re wondering why I put this in the post, its for reach and because I`d say books are one of my special interests.

It’s been almost a month and I’m still processing what it means. Currently, I’m relieved to be able to look back at times where I thought I was broken and understand that I wasn’t. So much of my life makes more sense now that I know.

The more I learn about Autism and ADHD, the more I feel better about myself. I’ve spent so long being told I was lazy, unreasonable, not applying myself, melodramatic, picky, annoying, or just weird. Over forty years of being told things like that, it starts to become part of your own inner monologue. My whole life, I’d wonder why certain things were so hard for me and those were the only answers. Now I have a better one, and I need to start being kinder to myself.

It’s a disability, and I’m starting to understand how it affects me and my life.

The big take away, for now, is understanding that I’m not broken but I am disabled.

Feel free to ask me any questions.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

Shadowbox Ornaments: Parasomnia

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I got the idea to make shadowbox out of the cover image of our books, and I thought it would be fun for you to have access as well!

Template Download

Materials:
Paper (or cardstock)
Colour printer
Scissors
Exacto knife
Cutting board
Tape (or glue)
Patience

Instructions:

  1. Print the template provided (PDF download above)
  2. Cut out the pieces using scissors
  3. Cut out the greyed out background with the Exacto knife
  4. Tape (or glue) the parts together.

Health Update April 2024

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Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;

I haven’t written an update since January because I’m still waiting on some results. However, there are some things I can tell you.

How’s my body doing

Heart

I wore a heart monitor for three days and despite what the RSV did while I was sick, my heart is back to normal. My heart rate is still a little high but within normal ranges.

Arms

My arms still hurt, pretty much all the time, but it’s manageable with exercise and stretching. I’ve only needed to put muscle cream on my arms once this year.

Face and left eye

Still numb and still having vision issues. It gets worse if I spend a lot of time concentrating or sitting in a computer chair.

Tests

MRI

I did an MRI of my head, neck, and back. I have an appointment with the neuro-etymologist in June. He might talk to me about it or I might have to wait for the MS doctor in July.

I saw the results but it’s in Medical-jargon and I’m not sure. It seems that there’s a UBO (Unidentified bright object) behind my left eye but according to the internet that could be a bug in the test.

It also say that I have no sign of, “demyelinating disease”.

Lastly it says that I have, “Multilevel degenerative changes within the cervical spine causing various degrees of spinal canal foraminal stenosis, worse at the c5-c6.” Which the internet tells me is a “narrowing that happens in certain places around the nerves that come out of your spinal cord”.

But again, this is my quick googling and not anything official from a doctor.

Vision Tests

I have a few repeat tests for eyes in June and a few to test for MS (unscheduled – doctor wanted to see MRI first).

Allergies

I have bad allergies. In 2007 I woke up feeling super weak and forced myself out of bed. The exertion burst the veins in my eyes. I got an appointment with an allergist and was tested and put on shots. They really helped.

After 5 years, I was told that they wouldn’t help me more and that if my symptoms worsened after 5 years to come see the allergist again.

In 2019, my allergies got really bad and I started getting what I call Allergy Attacks. My bowels cramp, and I get weak, and it takes about a week to recover. I didn’t realize it was allergies that caused it until last year.

I really felt it in 2020 but pushed it off.

I finally broke two weeks ago and contacted my allergist. Unfortunately after 10 years you need a new referral.

Long story short, I have an appointment with my family doctor on Wednesday to talk about allergies.

Colds

Last, and certainly most frustrating, are head colds. I’ve now had 4 since January and I’m pretty tired of blowing my nose and coughing.

I feel better today then I have in a while but I’m still sniffling and coughing. The whole thing is made worse combined with allergies. (And no, going outside and eating dirt will not help strengthen my immune system.)

Conclusion

I’m doing okay and I have leads to what might be wrong with me. Hopefully the doctors can narrow it down and I can start treating whatever it is to make sure it doesn’t get worse.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

Some movement! (AKA: I saw a doctor)

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Hello friends, family, and fans,

I SAW A DOCTOR!!!

Christopher Eccleston as the 9th Doctor dancing

No, not that sort of doctor. I saw a medical doctor. An elbow surgeon whom WSIB referred me to. I also saw a very nice occupational therapist. All three of us were confused as to why WSIB sent me to an elbow surgeon, but after a very thorough history review and exam they concluded I needed to see a neurologist. (What my family doctor said 6 months ago.)

They’re also going to schedule an MRI for my neck.

The surgeon said that since it’s both arms, that it’s most likely neck or brain. Neck is most likely since I’m not getting headaches or nausea. (Of course he said that and this weekend I’ve had both, but I’m 98% sure it’s just weather and stress.)

I should hear in the next few weeks about the MRI and then within the next month about the neurologist.

THINGS ARE MOVING! I’m really relieved to have finally gotten to this point. Next milestone, figure out what’s wrong.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric