Movie Monday: Next Exit

My husband and I took a break from the hectic holiday season recently with a movie. I chose Next Exit. I'm not sure where I first heard about this movie, but it was on my very long list (an Excel spreadsheet!) of movies I want to watch. The premise sounds a bit dark (and my husband doesn't like dark), but I liked the trailer and read that it had some humor in it. We both enjoyed it very much, though it is hard to categorize, as it includes elements of drama, comedy, and even science fiction.

The movie is set against a science fiction backdrop, but that only comes into the story at the very beginning and the end. A scientist has proven there is an afterlife, and her video of a little boy playing cards with the "ghost" of his dead father brings wide media attention to her work. She's overseeing a large study, where people volunteer to go into the afterlife (i.e. die), and she has developed a way to track them into that world. But this film focuses in on just two people who have signed up for the study: Rose, played by Katie Parker, and Teddy, played by Rahul Kohli. Rose is haunted by a ghostly presence that seems to be her dead father, and she copes by drinking heavily. We're not sure at first why Teddy signed up for the study, except that he seems to be mostly alone in the world, with no family. The two of them are both headed cross-country to California and only have five days to get there. Due to a series of travel mishaps, they end up sharing a rental car. Rose is especially prickly at first and not interested in getting to know Teddy, but the long hours on the road, plus some challenges they encounter together eventually lead to them talking and gradually sharing their stories and connecting, in spite of Rose's reticence. 

If that sounds depressing--two strangers sharing a ride on their way to commit suicide--it's not! In fact, it's a surprisingly uplifting movie. It has a great sense of humor, with plenty of funny moments to add levity to the somber plot. The two lead characters are both excellent, and it's entertaining to watch them slowly engage with each other. As they each gradually reveal information about their history and the reasons why they embarked on this trip, the viewer comes along for the ride (if you'll excuse the metaphor). And, yes, it's a road trip movie, so there is plenty of inherent fun in that trope (though, as a veteran road-tripper, I thought their route made no sense--but it was good for the story). All in all, this isn't a story about death; it's a story about life. It's about hope, meaning, and connections. We both thoroughly enjoyed it.

Next Exit is currently available on Hulu and for a fee on many other streaming platforms.

Chronic Illness Holiday Update

Wow, I knew it had been a while since I had the time or energy to post here, but I see it's been three weeks! Sorry about that. I am still in the throes of a bad relapse of my ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome)--about two and a half months now--and the holiday season has been rough.

I've had terrible flu-like aches every day for about the last 10 weeks, so I know my immune system is in an "activated" or hyper state. But I have no idea what triggered it this time. When the same thing happened at the same time last year, it turned out to be a flare-up of yeast overgrowth (common in ME/CFS; treatments at the link). So, I first tried a stronger prescription antifungal than I normally take for a month. However, I've been sticking to my stricter keto-style diet all year (which has been very effective), and I double-checked with TWO visits to my dentist, who confirmed there was absolutely no sign of thrush or yeast overgrowth. So, my best guess is that this lengthy crash was "just" triggered by exposure to some random virus, like a cold. Though I wear a mask out in the world, my son comes home sometimes, and we occasionally have close friends over and eat together. Who knows.

I also tried two short (5-day) rounds of prednisone (a steroid) to try to calm my immune system down. That did help a little bit (especially the second round)--and I added two more days just to get through Christmas--but I'm still not back to my normal baseline. I still have those flu-like aches every day, though they're not quite as severe as before.

You can hear all the details in my recent Chronic Illness Vlog, recorded two weeks before Christmas during that first round of steroids. It's an honest peek into my daily life for a week: the good, the bad, and the ugly! You can watch the video on my YouTube Channel or I'll include it below.

So, I was in pretty bad shape on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day: off the steroids and had overdone on Sunday, trying to help my husband a bit with cleaning and decorating (I know better but he's been doing everything). That's why I restarted the steroids--just for 2 days--on Christmas. I didn't sleep well Christmas Eve in the early morning (too worried about everything I had to do!), so I was pretty wiped out. I somehow just zombied through my day with a smile (and a mask) on my face. Our son (with a bad cold!) and his girlfriend came to visit, as did my mom and her husband, our usual crowd for Christmas Day. We smartened up this year and ordered the food in--a full turkey dinner that was delicious! It still required some work to get everything warmed up, table set, etc. but everyone helped. 

Christmas dinner

I was quite a bit better yesterday after a much better night's sleep (it sucks how one hour of sleep more or less can mean functioning OK versus feeling horribly sick). So, I managed to enjoy our annual cookie decorating/Grinch party with our oldest and closest friends--a cherished tradition, even though the "kids" are in their 30's now!

The cookies we decorated last night!

And today, everyone had gone back home, my husband and younger son went golfing, and I had a spectacular day in quiet solitude! Still mildly achy and worn out (woke too early again), but with absolutely nothing I had to do. And now it's time to reheat leftovers for dinner!

Tonight I plan to add an extra 1 mg of my extended-release melatonin (from 2 to 3 mg) to my usual regimen of treatments to correct sleep dysfunction (which I am really appreciating!) to hopefully end this too-early waking in the morning.

Tell me how you spent your holidays this year!

How have you been feeling?

Do you get worse in late fall/winter?

How do you accommodate your illness and still enjoy holidays & family?

Let me know in the comments below.

You can also connect with me on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram.

Diets Recommended for Chronic Illness: Paleo, Keto, Carnivore

I finally edited and uploaded my video on the three diets most often recommended for ME/CFS, long-COVID, and other immune disorders: paleo, keto, and carnivore diets.

The video describes each of these three different diet options in detail, including what each entails, how they can benefit someone with chronic illness, and lots of ideas on what kinds of foods to eat, with plenty of suggestions for meals, snacks, and recipes. All three of these diets are often recommended for a wide variety of medical conditions, including immune disorders like ME/CFS and long-COVID, autoimmune disease, and any health problem that involves inflammation. They are all low in inflammatory foods, low in foods likely to exacerbate food allergies or intolerances (which are very common in ME/CFS and long-COVID), and good for those with yeast overgrowth (also very common in ME/CFS due to our specific kind of immune dysfunction). Surprisingly, these diets are also very tasty, with a wide variety of flavors, and are easier and less work than a traditional diet.

We have tried all three and have seen benefits in reduced symptoms, increased energy, and better control of yeast overgrowth. We ate paleo for about a decade or so, and I wrote a detailed blog post about the paleo diet, if you prefer to read about it. However, as I explained in the video, I now know it was a mistake to make exceptions to it, so ignore the modifications I talk about in the post! When I have more energy, I'll update that. It worked well for us for a long time and might have continued to work for me, if I'd been stricter with it. At the start of 2024, I ate mostly carnivore for three months, which helped to get my yeast overgrowth under control. And since April, I have been eating more of a keto diet. My husband has also been eating keto, all year. We both lost weight (though that was not my intention), and my cholesterol and triglycerides are the lowest they have ever been, by a lot!

You can watch the video on YouTube or here:

These diets have definitely helped my son and I over the years. In fact, discovering my son was severely gluten-intolerant in 2020 and getting him on a gluten-free diet (which all of these are) was a key to his current excellent condition. Eliminating gluten and following a paleo/keto/carnivore-ish diet (he eats sort of a mash-up of the three these days) helped to not only improve his gastrointestinal symptoms but also significantly improved all of his symptoms. Since June, he has been working a fairly rigorous, physical job in the field he studied full-time! It still feels like a miracle to us, but he says it's the best he's felt in as long as he can remember (he's 30 now and has been sick since age 10).

We are still learning, so I would love to hear about your experiences (or your questions).

Have dietary changes helped you?

 

Have you tried any of these diets?

 

Please share your experiences with diet or your comments and questions.

You can leave a comment below.

You can also connect with me on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram.

Giving Tuesday 2024: Help ME/CFS and Long-COVID Patients

Today is Giving Tuesday, a day devoted to giving back, after the commercial excesses of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Every little bit counts, even if it's only $2 or $5. If you, like me, spent way too much shopping online for the holidays yesterday or you just want to give year-round, you can even set up a recurring donation. That's what I did years ago with OMF (see below) so that $5 was automatically donated from me each month, and last year, I increased it to $10 a month. I don't have to think about it or do anything else, and my donation now adds up to $120 a year! It only takes a few minutes to either donate or set up recurring donations. And every little bit counts.

And there are some amazing deals in place right now that will double or even triple your donation, turning $10 into $20 or $30! All of the groups listed below that do ME/CFS research and/or support ME/CFS patients are now also helping those with long-COVID.

Where to Donate:

Here are some wonderful places to donate to support ME/CFS research and patient support & advocacy--all are doing great work and the first three are the top ME/CFS research organizations in the world, funding or conducting the bulk of the scientific research today:

• Open Medicine Foundation - #TripleGivingNovemberOMF - Thanks to generous gifts by multiple donors, every donation made in November (through today, December 3) is TRIPLED, up to $1,000,000! It's a great opportunity to make your money go farther! This organization does some outstanding, groundbreaking scientific research into causes, treatments, and cures for ME/CFS and long-COVID, with doctors, scientists, and researchers in Collaborative Centers across the globe. You can read about their End ME/CFS Project here.
  
• Solve ME/CFS Initiative - Donations made to Solve ME today will be doubled, thanks to donations from their Board of Directors! And today only, on Giving Tuesday, another generous donor has offered to also match donations up to $25,000, so donate today and your money will be tripled! This organization does a lot of work in both ME/CFS and long-COVID research and advocacy. You can read their newsletters here, including research updates and read more about their Solve Long-COVID Initiative here.
  
• Simmaron Research - Donate through their website and you can read all about their research projects here, including the first-ever biomarker-based treatment trial.
  
• #MEAction - This organization is focused on advocacy and outreach rather than on research, and they are doing some amazing work with patients, communities, and governments! For instance, gaining Congressional support in the U.S. is absolutely essential to increasing research funding. Read more about them here, ways that anyone can help and take action, and you can donate to the organization here. They also have information on Long-COVID and ME. 
• American Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Society (AMMES) - they focus on meeting the needs of patients and caregivers through support, advocacy, and education. They have an informative newsletter, loads of useful information on their website, and advocacy programs. They also, uniquely, have a Financial Crisis Fund that I recently donated to, to help patients in dire need of food, housing, medical care, or other support. You can donate to AMMES here.
  
• ME Association - This UK organization supports patients and research in both ME/CFS and long-COVID. Here's more about the organization and what they do, plus their current research projects.They also have an online shop featuring all kinds of books, t-shirts, cards, and more, with proceeds supporting the organization. And you can donate here.
  
• Emerge - The primary ME/CFS association in Australia provides research and patient support and advocacy. They are now also helping to support the Australian Collaborative Research Center of Open Medicine Foundation. Donate here.

Host Your Own Fundraiser:

To have an even bigger impact on these organizations, you can host a Fundraiser on Facebook. I have hosted fundraisers on Facebook for my birthday every year, and it's very simple to set up. Just go to the Facebook Fundraisers page and click on "Select Nonprofit" (all of the ones listed above are available), then follow the steps. You set your own fundraising goals, and share your fundraiser with Facebook friends.

Donate While Shopping:
And remember - especially this time of year - to make your shopping work for you with automatic donations to your favorite ME/CFS charity every time you shop! 

Goodshop or iGive have almost every online store covered between them - I always stop at iGive first before doing any online shopping. You can also earn by using the site to search. And use that iGive link I posted in the previous line, and we'll earn an extra $5 for Solve ME!

To show you how well this works, my iGive page currently shows that I have selected Solve ME as my cause, that I have personally earned and donated $314.10 to them, and that they have earned a total of $6,611.39 from all supporters! Isn't that amazing? Over $6600 just from clicking a button before we shop online. Amazon is not a part of either program and got rid of its own charitable donation program last year, but you can find most other online stores on at least one of these.

With so many painless ways to give, we can all help to move ME/CFS research forward and support patients! 

 

Let me know if you know of other organizations or other ways to give that I missed here.

You can leave a comment below.

You can also connect with me on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram.