When I sat down to write my first novel, a "novel" view of diabetes emerged, instead:

The Water Principle ©

The teacher, diabetes, imparted lessons she could not have learnt any other way.

For decades, she had depended upon what she’d always considered to be the “cooling” property of chocolate after lunch and dinner. Although she could not have enunciated it at the time, she’d had a “thirst” for the refreshment of chocolate as though it were a badly needed glass of water after the exhausting, internally “sweaty” labor of chewing and digesting a meal.

Indeed, the chocolate and other sugars seemed to have usurped the place of water in her life for over five decades, until water, itself, protested the reversal. In the woman’s fifty-second year, water rose up to demand an immediate accounting of all the water not ingested which needed to be in order to match the glut of sugars left over from chocolate and company. Water made its voice heard via a thirst of such sudden and crippling intensity, the woman could barely speak until delivered bottle upon bottle of water.

This raging thirst would repeat itself upon the woman’s every ingestion of sugar and gluten. Some sugars and some gluten products induced more thirst than others, but the new pattern was set: The woman now needed to imbibe as much water as she’d once “needed” to ingest chocolate. The lessons of diabetes had begun. Through her pancreas and kidneys, the woman’s diabetes seized command of her body to speak to it.

Diabetes taught her body the difference between slightly sweet and far too sweet. Chocolate candy bars and chocolate ice cream became distasteful to her, the chocolate sensation now overwhelming, sometimes even sickening. There were many hours and days when the water she’d gulped down to relieve the insane thirst seemed to leave her body by a half-gallon or more at a time.

Was diabetes all about low water intake, in the first place? Did the bodies of some people mistake thirst for a chocolate-and-other-sugar craving? Was it the usurpation of water by chocolate and other sugars which eventually dehydrated and deregulated the kidneys, upsetting, in turn, the fine balance of sugars and insulin otherwise maintained by the pancreas? Did diabetes manifest itself, therefore, first through the kidneys and, secondarily, through the pancreas?

Should the primary treatment of diabetes be switched from the pancreas and blood sugar to the kidneys, perhaps with periods of fasting and reduced food ingestion, overall, accompanied by remedial water intake?


December 2, 2018. © 2018 Carolyn Cucinotta-Marra. All rights reserved.

At the Movies: Sound and Vibration Sensitivity

Hello, friends,

I'm not going to research the term "vibration sensitivity" before I write about it.  I want to hear and feel my own voice on the topic before I read about anyone else's experience.

I went to the movies this afternoon for the first time in 27 years.  The seats in this movie theater had high backs -- which made no sense to me.  This made it a strain to be able to view the bottom of the movie screen.

The soundtracks of advertisements-plus-movie had a deep bass tone and rumbled throughout my entire being.  This wasn't the kind of ear-piercing, shrill tone that would cause me to hold my ears.  It was simply cataclysmic sound.

By the time I had been in the movie theater for 45 minutes, I felt profoundly impacted on a physical level.  My jaw felt stiff, I was beginning to get a headache, and it felt as though all the tumbling, crashing, and bashing in the movie had been happening to me.

It was a horrible movie of lewd scenes interspersed with ever-changing varieties of physical impact.  I finally stood up and left.

As I walked outside into the summer sunshine, dazed, weakened, exhausted, head pounding, I had the insatiable desire to fall into bed.

That wasn't to be the case just then, but when I finally arrived home, I collapsed into my bed and slept for two hours.  When I awoke, I still felt physically and emotionally devastated, as though -- metaphorically speaking -- someone had taken me apart, spilled me on the road somewhere, run over me, and left me there to suffer.

I would have to "bring it all together again" -- revive myself -- somehow.

I began with a cup of coffee and a few cookies, then went along for a car ride and some fresh air ... unusually cool fresh air for northwestern New Jersey in late June.  The brisk air, and the lulling effect of being a passenger in a car, reset my equilibrium.

Now, I'm asking, "What was that horrible feeling occasioned by deep, bass sound accompanied by on-screen impact that left me feeling physically shattered?"

I don't yet have this answer.  I just felt it was important to write about it.

Cheers!

~ Carolyn

Good Fats versus "Low-Fat": Complexity, Questions, and Reassurance

Hello, friends,

I just came across this gem of an article on the topic of good fats versus "low-fat" recommendations as they relate to cholesterol and heart disease.  It provides an excellent and informed introduction to this subject, which consists of much greater complexity -- and hope! -- than previously concluded by mainstream thought:

Workblog:  "For decades, the government steered millions away from whole milk.  Was that wrong?" - by Peter Whoriskey, October 6, 2015, The Washington Post

Well worth the read!

Cheers!

~ Carolyn

Health: To Help Someone Feel Better

I don't know what I don't know, but months ago I thought a friend was sick or despairing.  I was afraid that this person would get so much unnecessary or untrue "bad news" from people that he would despair and . . .

I was afraid, also, that the friend was sick and people might talk him into euthanasia or assisted suicide.

I tried to urge people not to give this person rashly judged or invented "bad news" and/or not to "euthanize" this person.  I tried to urge the person not to listen to such negativity.  I had no idea if I was right about either the despair or the sickness, and I knew I risked looking like a fool -- but, you know what?  Just in case I was right about any part of it, the person was certainly worth my effort!

So, I spoke out.  Call me crazy, but I felt it was the right thing to do.

Vision and Balance

Hello, friends,

Whatever I did in Ireland, I must do again . . . for the sake of my vision and so many other physical blessings.

Would you care to join me on my journey of managing . . . diabetes?

As I'm in no position to declare any answers other than my own anecdotal experience, I expect that these posts will be filled with questions.

Having experienced a dramatic improvement in my vision and overall well-being within a two-week span in Ireland this summer, I experienced an equally dramatic regression in my vision -- noticed by me last week -- since I came home.  I ran to get a comprehensive blood test.  My eyesight has reverted to its worst lens prescription, and I have now been formally diagnosed with diabetes.

Upon returning home to the U.S. from my brief vacation in Ireland, I grew slightly lax with sugar, and especially lax with gluten   The gluten ingestion has made me feel quite bad and, usually, extremely sleepy.  (I'd had bloodwork for gluten intolerance in the early 2000s, and it came up positive for gliadin antibodies.  I had been in a toss-up over gluten -- should I eat it or not? -- ever since.)  The beneficial daily walking ceased, as well, since I returned from Ireland.

Clearly, exercise is an urgent necessity.  Upon receiving my diagnosis yesterday, I went right outside and began my walking regimen.  Now, for the rest of it . . .

I have serious disagreements with the typical protocol of managing diabetes the mainstream way.  Not only that, but I believe myself to be a poor candidate for diabetes medication due to my previously high degree of chemical sensitivity.  Also, I'm only too aware of the attendant risks that come with errors in diet while one is on diabetes medications:  low blood sugar, coma, and death.

Having been chemically sensitive for so long, I fear strange and unexpected reactions to such medication(s) posed by my body's inability -- even if this has lessened -- to tolerate many chemicals.

For these reasons, I'm aiming immediately at managing my diabetes through alternative means.

On July 18, 2015, I received my strongest eyeglasses prescription ever, as of that date.  This had been my second lens prescription in three weeks.  My vision had suddenly deteriorated just prior to June 26th, 2015.  Then, three weeks later (July 16-18th), I experienced an unquenchable thirst for a few days.  No sooner would I finish one bottle of water than I would have to stop to get another one.  My vision deteriorated further, and back I went to get new lenses.  The prescription had increased.

Suspecting a problem with blood sugar at this point, I immediately tightened up my diet.  By the time I flew to Ireland, I was feeling perky again and the eyeglasses felt good.

Within a few days of being in Ireland, however, my vision changed dramatically again.  At first, I wondered if I might be dying.  However, I'd then been walking a great deal for a few days and the rest of me felt quite well.  Unusually well.  Still, there I was in the Irish supermarket with huge halos around every light and exceptionally blurry vision through my eyeglasses.  I found that looking through the bottom section of my bi/trifocals helped.  This was the reading section of the lenses.  In the back of my mind, I began to hope that, this time, my vision had actually improved -- since my best vision through the lenses was now through the "reading" part of the trifocals ("distance" at the top, "computer" in the middle, "close reading" at the bottom).

By the time I returned home on the morning of August 8th, I could not bear to keep the eyeglasses on my face because everything I now looked at was distorted through them.  Within a few hours I was back at the optometrist.  My lens prescription had improved so much, the new prescription was weaker than any prescription I'd had since before 2013.  Since I don't have the prescription records in my possession for my lens prescriptions prior to 2013, I can only guess, by the weakness of my August 8th prescription, that the improvement took me back, perhaps, to my vision of 2000 or even earlier.

I was happy.  I was elated.

After that, I became engrossed in the busyness of life and . . . started having a few desserts and permitting myself a lot of gluten, especially on the road:  buttered (wheat) rolls.  This was to be the beginning of the end of my dramatic improvement.

The optometrist was not surprised at the dramatic fluctuations of vision -- which he believed, from the beginning, were due to diabetes.  None of this was out of keeping with the visual regressions common to high blood sugar and the remarkable visual improvements his diabetic patients had enjoyed upon stabilizing their blood sugar.

I was fortunate that he also agreed with me that, for a gluten-sensitive person, gluten could be especially devastating to the blood sugar and, by extension, to the eyes.

Here is where I begin.  Obviously, all traces of refined/granulated/honey sugar must go.  But, now, gluten -- I'm asking the serious question about its effects on vision.  Some literature states that it can have a direct impact on vision by affecting the sensory nerves.  Since my first symptom of gluten sensitivity, back in 2002 and 2003, was severe dizziness and ataxia at times, I have no trouble believing this.  I became aware of my need to do a gluten-sensitivity blood test when I read literature on autism and came upon the genius of Lisa Lewis* ("About Lisa") through Karen Seroussi's book about her son, Miles:  Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder: A Mother's Story of Research & Recovery – by Karen Seroussi (January 8, 2002).  I wrote to Lisa Lewis (around 2002) about my symptoms and she advised me to test for gluten.  (Thank you, Karen Seroussi and Lisa Lewis, if ever you read this.)

If this post is a little bit rambling, it's because I'm looking at the page through (hopefully temporary) visual distortions; and it's a rather sweaty enterprise to organize thoughts while feeling, overall, physically awful.  It makes one feel queasy to post little links and such while looking through a blurry haze with tired eyes . . . almost like motion-sickness . . .  One just wants to get it over with!

I do want to mention that there is an increasing awareness that gluten can have a devastating effect on blood sugar.  I hope to follow up with more posts and links on this viewpoint.

So many more angles to explore . . .   I must, in my next post(s), discuss the diabetic diet regarding "beneficial fats" and the common reliance on "low-fat" foods . . . the potentially direct impact of gluten on vision . . . and the potential causing/worsening of high blood sugar through gluten ingestion.
 
In the meantime . . .

Cheers!

~ Carolyn


*"An Experimental Intervention For Autism" - by Lisa S. Lewis, Ph.D. 

"Neurologic and Psychiatric Manifestations of Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity" - NCBI - PMC - US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health 

"UNUSUAL CAUSES OF ATAXIA" - by S.H.Subramony M.D. Professor of Neurology University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 

A Beautiful Life

Hello, friends,

These interviews are so dear to my heart . . .  Gianna Jessen's near-death experience and survival speaks for itself; and I have nothing to add to that.  No matter how many times she repeats her story, it's always eloquent with reality and love.

However, the reason I keep coming back to her videos is not because of her near-death experience or any of the conditions or persons connected with that.  No -- the reason I keep coming back to hear her speak is because of her beautiful, beautiful life.

I could listen to Gianna speak all day long.  Her life is a song of joy and forgiveness that just keeps on singing.  It's contagious.   :)

I feel privileged to have found these videos on YouTube and to be able to share them with you.  May they bring you joy!

Abortion Survivor Gianna Jessen - theDove.us

Gianna Jessen Tells Glenn Beck How She Met Her Birth Mother | Glenn Beck Program 


Cheers!

~ Carolyn

     

On a Summer's Day

Hello, friends,

It's a lovely day outside and, after a long time away from this blog, I'm inspired to write once again.

While I wouldn't put myself in a room with a burning, synthetically scented candle and other strong chemical irritants -- and perhaps not with a non-burning synthetically scented candle if the scent could be felt by me (some synthetic scents carry an abrasive texture when smelled by chemically sensitive people) -- my chemical sensitivity has gone way down.

And yet I would not linger in front of a laundry vent or in a place where heavy laundry scents were evident.

However, lately I have enjoyed the experience of smelling various chemically scented products for the sheer beauty of the scent -- despite my hard-earned knowledge of the drawbacks.  Still, knowing the extent of the damage that synthetically scented molecules -- whether perceived by the senses or not -- can do to the body, I cannot disregard this invaluable, perhaps life-saving, information.

I'm at the point where I have to make decisions about many such products without the exponentially amplified chemical sensitivity to guide me.  This is progress -- tremendous progress.  I've done not a thing to have earned it, except to have been treated with herbal products for Lyme disease two summers ago.

I wish to leave all of my research/links in place for those whose chemical sensitivity is still active and mushrooming.

My writing here, going forward, will deal with a variety of topics both physical and biological, from an anecdotal perspective supplemented by occasional scientific/anecdotal links of a relevant nature.

I'm very happy to have learned that, as opposed to a fulminating, systemic problem, I have inflammation in one foot due to an orthopedic, mechanical difficulty.  For months, I'd put off looking into the matter for fear that I'd be told I'm a metabolic disaster.

Imagine my surprise to learn that surgery on a little toe, over 30 years ago, left the toe so unstable and strained that I'm walking funny -- the body's involuntary compensation for the weakness and instability of that one toe.  Other toes/parts of the foot grow inflamed as a result of the motoric compensation . . .

The good news is that this can easily be alleviated with a new surgery on that toe . . . which I never thought about and did not know.

It's wonderful when something is not systemic and not a disaster -- just a challenge.  :)

Cheers!   :)

~ Carolyn

      

Reminiscing . . . My First Thoughts for Beginning This Blog

Hello, Friends,

I was just recalling my first visits to chemical sensitivity websites way back in 2010, when my ideas for this blog were just beginning to percolate.

Following is the text* of one of my first dips into the waters of this vast field of environmental medicine and environmental awareness:


                  ********************************************************   

*TEXT of my letter to The Chemical Edge website:

Dear Author,

I’ve missed your name — but what an outstanding piece you’ve put together! This is an incredible resource. I’ve been suffering with MCS for the past 20 years. I only began making sense of the pattern of reacting to chemicals, however, in the mid-1990’s. It took a few years for me to “get it.” I’m only now taking the proactive route of trying to boost public awareness.

I was asked, yesterday, to provide statistics on how many homeless people are homeless specifically due to MCS. The person who asked me is a public advocate for the homeless. This person could begin to raise public awareness very effectively, armed with the proper statistics.

Do you have such statistics? (And I would love to know your name, also!)

Thanks so much.

Carolyn Marra

  by Carolyn Marra June 25, 2010 at 13:39 


"MCS 101.2: Definitions and Links" [scroll down for comments]


Thank you, Varda Burstyn, for the kindness of your communication back in 2010; and thank you, especially, for an outstanding website with volumes and volumes of information on common chemicals and their detrimental effects!


Readers, don't miss a visit to:

The Chemical Edge - Everyday Chemicals and Our Fragile Health


Cheers!

~ Carolyn