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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Are they covered?

If they are, or most of it is, that probably isn't so bad Brenda. The ones my grandma had to wear when I was a kid were very obvious, but the last 10 years of her life you couldn't even tell that she wore them. They've come very far with that technology in the last 30 years.

If you need them now, you've probably been on your way to needing them for quite a while too. I'll bet once you get used to them you're going to wonder how you lived without them.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by Brenda:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Are they covered?

If they are, or most of it is, that probably isn't so bad Brenda. The ones my grandma had to wear when I was a kid were very obvious, but the last 10 years of her life you couldn't even tell that she wore them. They've come very far with that technology in the last 30 years.

If you need them now, you've probably been on your way to needing them for quite a while too. I'll bet once you get used to them you're going to wonder how you lived without them.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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That's the good thing Jack. They are completely covered and the batteries too.

They will be very different from the ones my mom wore and that was about 10years ago now.

The last time I had my hearing tested was almost 2years ago and they said then that my left ear was bad. This time I had to guess at some of the spoken test words for the left. The hearing in it is down to 75%, the right is still 100%. Having both aids will save the hearing in my right one and shore up the hearing in my left.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Are they covered?

If they are, or most of it is, that probably isn't so bad Brenda. The ones my grandma had to wear when I was a kid were very obvious, but the last 10 years of her life you couldn't even tell that she wore them. They've come very far with that technology in the last 30 years.

If you need them now, you've probably been on your way to needing them for quite a while too. I'll bet once you get used to them you're going to wonder how you lived without them.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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That's the good thing Jack. They are completely covered and the batteries too.

They will be very different from the ones my mom wore and that was about 10years ago now.

The last time I had my hearing tested was almost 2years ago and they said then that my left ear was bad. This time I had to guess at some of the spoken test words for the left. The hearing in it is down to 75%, the right is still 100%. Having both aids will save the hearing in my right one and shore up the hearing in my left.

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Wow! 100%. That's amazing.

I don't know how "self aware" you've become about things, but in the last year I have become more in tune with my body than I probably ever was back in the days that I took it for granted, and certainly during the time I was destroying it. What I've noticed is that it's amazing what you just learn to deal with as your new normal. I guess it makes sense... Afterall, when you're a kid and nothing is wrong with you, you tend to think that being old one day would just be agony for so many reasons. It's really not, but I think that has a lot to do with how your mind (thankfully) plays tricks on you and allows you to cope with the changes.

I'm going to bet that you've become quite accustomed to the hearing loss up to this point, and it's only after you get your new aids and it's so much better that you realize just how bad it has actually gotten.







I may have mentioned before that my Step Sister works with her husband who is an oral surgeon. She makes the molds for dentures. My step-dad called me last week and said he talked to her the other day and she said that "I'm family" and they're going to do right by me. I haven't called her yet, but with the price my step-dad said this would cost I'm guessing that they'd do it for me at pretty much cost.

Since I don't have any insurance and the problem has gotten so bad that there really is no way of even staving it off at this point, even though I'm not drinking and I'm eating healthy and taking vitamins, I think it might be time to say goodbye to my teeth and just get full dentures. The teeth still look good and I still have a great smile, but besides vanity there's really no reason to hold on to them anymore. I'm pretty sure at this point that every day I keep them in my mouth I'm shortening my lifespan by two days.

On the plus side... It will be nice to be able to eat steak and corn on the cob again. :)

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by Brenda:
With my low blood sugar Jack. I have to watch my carbs and sugar intake. I have discovered that I have to have gluten in my diet or I can feel sick.
So even with that discovery I still have to watch my carbs and sugar intake for my low blood sugar.

It's annoying but I've been doing it for so long that most of the time I don't notice it.

Since there is no soy milk I can use or alternate milks, I am back to cow's milk as long as it is organic which means no additives.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
With my low blood sugar Jack. I have to watch my carbs and sugar intake. I have discovered that I have to have gluten in my diet or I can feel sick.
So even with that discovery I still have to watch my carbs and sugar intake for my low blood sugar.

It's annoying but I've been doing it for so long that most of the time I don't notice it.

Since there is no soy milk I can use or alternate milks, I am back to cow's milk as long as it is organic which means no additives.

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How long have you gone without gluten in your diet before feeling sick, Brenda?

I've actually heard that your gut microbiome can effect your cravings and your mood when you change your diet up. Especially when removing gluten from your diet. I don't know how true any of that is, but new studies are starting to say that changing your diet might actually be more than just changing a habit long enough that you stick with it. Gluten especially can throw your system out of wack if you're eating too much of it and it can lead to inflammation and even auto-immune problems. It sounds like you don't eat much of it, but maybe because of your other problems whatever you are taking in is still too much.



I still haven't seen a huge reduction in pain yet myself, but there is another noticeable benefit from my overall change of diet and my more active lifestyle. For a while there some of my fingernails were growing in "wavy" and I would get white spots underneath them. The waves most noticible in the thumbnails. Though a few smaller white spots have still developed that are relatively new, they're nowhere near as large as some of the ones that I was getting. The nails have completely stopped growing in wavy now and in a week or two the parts of the nails that were wavy will have grown out and been clipped off.


Congrats on the free hearing aids. :)


Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Lady, I work for just redid the kitchen and the bathroom sink and counter in their house. The kitchen now has white cupboards with blue tiles. I don't like it at all.

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I'm a little bummed my pain hasn't gone away yet. I probably just have to give my change in diet more time. I've heard stories where arthritic and joint pain almost disappeared overnight, but those are just stories and they probably took longer than the people said they did.

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I do have a LOT more energy now. I'm sure it's not at the levels that your average 38 year old should have

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One thing I recommend to anybody is daily fasting. I haven't bought any kits to test for ketosis, so I'm not sure if I'm doing it right, but I have to imagine that for a large part of every day my body is in a state of ketosis. I just got back from work today and I haven't eaten since around 3PM yesterday. I'm actually going to wait about an hour and mow my lawn, so I probably won't even be eating until around 10AM at that point.

Don't get me wrong... when I eat I eat like a King. I'll probably eat about 2,500 - 3,000 calories between 10 and Noon.

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I'm going to keep at this a while longer and see what I can do. I really don't want to go see a doctor, and I'd rather be able to get my blood pressure and my pain under control without taking any meds for them. There's been great changes in other physical problems I was having. Just need to get those two things under control and then continue to eat right and stay physical.

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Potassium is an essential nutrient used to maintain fluid and electrolyte balance in the body. A deficiency in potassium causes fatigue, irritability, and hypertension (high blood pressure) https://www.myfooddata.com/articles/food-sources-of-potassium.php.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
It could be that you have a reaction to something other than wheat. See if you can correlate it to a specific food.

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Potassium is an essential nutrient used to maintain fluid and electrolyte balance in the body. A deficiency in potassium causes fatigue, irritability, and hypertension (high blood pressure) https://www.myfooddata.com/articles/food-sources-of-potassium.php.

The doctors who were the farthest ahead on this were Drs Michael and Mary Dan Eades, they wrote Protein Power and Protein Power Lifeplan https://proteinpower.com/ many years ago, and so far their advice has withstood the test of time.

You've really turned your health around, what an achievement!

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Lady, I work for just redid the kitchen and the bathroom sink and counter in their house. The kitchen now has white cupboards with blue tiles. I don't like it at all.

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What don't you like, the color scheme? Blue and white ... even tho it can look great on a Greek island, it can seem kind of cold, especially in a cold climate. Is that it?

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

America is an oligarchy
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876

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Originally posted by 1kiki:
"I've heard stories where arthritic and joint pain almost disappeared overnight"

My story isn't overnight, but within 3 days.

Long story - there's a young guy at work who was in a serious car accident - rear-ended by a cement truck sitting at a stoplight.

Anyway, we were talking about the two kinds of pain. There's the pain 'out there' somewhere, in your knee or your hand. It hurts, and sometimes even a lot, but it's out there and you can deal with it ok.

And then there's the other pain that just grinds into your brain. It doesn't even need to be intense, but there's something about it that affects your entire being.

I had the second type since at least the age of 35. Then about 2 years ago I stopped using olive oil and changed to sunflower oil. And just like that - like a switch - the grinding pain was 95% gone in 3 days. And while I still have arthritis and bursitis and their pains, it's out there in my joints.

My point is that people can be reacting to something VERY specific - completely idiosyncratic - and something that general advice doesn't address.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I've still got hope that it's the gluten. Here I was thinking that I was gluten free now, and I'm eating a half a box of Life cereal everyday.

I'm too cheap to throw out good food, so my gluten free diet starts next week.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Hearing aids are in. Will make an appointment tomorrow to see about fitting them.

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Originally posted by 1kiki:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Hearing aids are in. Will make an appointment tomorrow to see about fitting them.

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YAY !!

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Originally posted by 1kiki:
I have them. I got tired of not being able to hear what people were saying.

My hearing used to be not just good - it was phenomenal. My eyes were good. But, age happened.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
It pays to do your research....

https://www.eatthis.com/worst-healthy-cereals/

My go-to healthy cereals were Life and Honey Bunches of Oats.

Guess not.


I usually eat my cereal with peanut butter now, and that drowns out the taste of the cereal anyhow and it's really more for the consistency than anything else. Cheerio's it is, until I make more money and can buy the more expensive stuff.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by 1kiki:
I know about the glasses thing, at least somewhat. Whatever grade it was where you go from block print to cursive, my eyes went suddenly, terribly bad. And the ophthalmologist couldn't get a bead on the scrip, since every 6 months my left eye was different from the 6 month exam before. It would make wild swings, nearsighted to farsighted, and back again.

Then when I was 18 I got a scrip I just couldn't get used to. Maybe it was mis-filled. Anyway, I stopped wearing glasses. But age-related nearsightedness hit me early, before 40.

And I've always had floaters, but now they're so bad I can hardly see. No correction seems to make up for that.

But all in all, the bad hearing and vision, arthritis and bursitis, are acceptable so far. And thank god I found an answer for the pain. The asthma and terrible fatigue though ... now those are things I could do without.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Got hearing aids today. Wore them all afternoon now ears are tired. Going to take some getting used to.

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Originally posted by 1kiki:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Got hearing aids today. Wore them all afternoon now ears are tired. Going to take some getting used to.

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That was my experience. A large number of people give up on the hearing aids they get and become hearing aid 'quitters'.

I've read that the way to avoid that is that you get used to them very slowly. Hearing aids don't restore your hearing to what it used to be. They seem to increase the background noise and kill spatial resolution ie, it's hard to hear where the sound is coming from.

I think you mentioned your right ear is worse? Try starting with just one ear, like your right ear, a couple hours a day. Then gradually increase the time over 3 or 4 months. Then do the same adding in your left ear.

Your brain had a long, long time to adapt to the hearing loss, assuming you're like most people and it was gradual. It'll take time for your systems to rewire for the hearing aids. Going too quickly could lead to too much frustration and discomfort.

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Originally posted by 1kiki:
Hey! it just occurred to me. When do you get to move into government housing? By the description of your place, it sounds like there could be mold there. Not necessarily the black toxic kind, but at least mildew behind the walls. That could really be triggering your allergies.

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Originally posted by 1kiki:
it's useless voodoo, but I have my fingers crossed for you.

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Hey! it just occurred to me. When do you get to move into government housing? By the description of your place, it sounds like there could be mold there. Not necessarily the black toxic kind, but at least mildew behind the walls. That could really be triggering your allergies.- KIKI

That is an "I don't know" Kiki. Whenever the places on the list decide I fit into their box. These places have specific criteria and if you don't fit then they won't consider you. This hearing aid situation may shake something out of the woodwork. At least I hope so. There is mold around and dust and I am sure some mildew. That is most likely what is triggering this coughing bout. It's almost over now but very annoying. BRENDA

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
So I just did some more shopping to stock up on my healthy on a budget reserves.

Here's what's in my cupboard, so to speak.

Organic bananas.
Organic creamy peanut butter (I can't seem to find organic chunky :( )
Peanuts, lightly salted with sea salt.
7.5 dozen eggs (for Hard boiled eggs only).
Some form of vegetable medley (I know it's got broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and at least one type of pepper in it).
Vitamin D milk (to replace the skim milk).
Long grain rice.
Cheerios. (To replace the not-as-healthy-as-you'd-think Life cereal that does have plenty of gluten in it).
1/4 lb pre-formed, uncooked Angus beef patties.
And I use Ceyenne Pepper for spice when I cook up rice and the vegetables together.

And that's it. Figured I might as well just list off what i'm eating now since the list is so short.

Anybody have any thoughts about anything potentially negative about what's in there, or any cheap suggestions to augment this short list?

I'd love to be eating real nuts instead of peanuts, but they're too expensive. I know that peanuts and peanut butter could be a potential problem, but I've eaten it all of my life and as far as I know nobody in my family including myself has ever had an allergy to them.

I'm also taking an "old man" multivitamin every day. I also alternate between taking a D vitamin, a garlic vitamin and a fish oil vitamin along with it, so each one of them I get once every 3 days.

This list is surprisingly cheap when you buy it in bulk. I was amazed that you could get a 10 lb bag of long grain rice for under 5 bucks, for instance.

By far, pound for pound, the most expensive item is the angus beef, of course. But I got 40 patties for around 27 bucks and I only eat 2 of them a day, so that lasts almost 3 weeks. (Oh, and I eat the patties alone without bread, but I do use a few table spoons of Heinz ketchup or A1 steak sause for a little kick).

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Originally posted by 1kiki:
There's a pack that sometimes howls on the hill across the street from me.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Hey! it just occurred to me. When do you get to move into government housing? By the description of your place, it sounds like there could be mold there. Not necessarily the black toxic kind, but at least mildew behind the walls. That could really be triggering your allergies.- KIKI

That is an "I don't know" Kiki. Whenever the places on the list decide I fit into their box. These places have specific criteria and if you don't fit then they won't consider you. This hearing aid situation may shake something out of the woodwork. At least I hope so. There is mold around and dust and I am sure some mildew. That is most likely what is triggering this coughing bout. It's almost over now but very annoying. BRENDA

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A comment and a suggestion:

We've been watching Love it or List it Too which is a home renovation show set in Vancouver (there is a similar show set in N Carolina) and I have to wonder ... are ALL Vancouver homes built like crap? It seems like every home that they attempt to renovate has a serious flaw .... or two or three .... and one of them almost always involves rot, to the point of structural unsoundness. Yeah. I know it rains a lot there ... but it rains a lot on N Carolina too, and I don't see the same number of deficiencies in N Carolina as I do in Vancouver. Was there a housing boom 40 years ago that tolerated substandard construction?

SUGGESTION: I don't know what form your allergies symptoms take, but if it involves difficulty breathing (stuffed nose, swollen palate, uvula and back of throat, swollen tongue) to the point where it interferes with your sleep, there are LOCAL ways of treating symptoms which shouldn't interfere with your other medications. What works for me: nasal decongestant spray, nasal steroid spray, and a ZQuiet mouth insert.
I used to go sleep on the sofa when I was suffocating in my sleep, so I could prop myself up on the arms of the sofa. I even bought a wedge pillow, but I have to say that NOTHING worked as well as the combination of localized treatments (including the ZQuiet). I have terrible allergies, but rarely take antihistamines in pill form.

Also, I DO have a prescription for montelukast (advair), which is a very targeted immune modifier which has worked tremendously well for wheezing/ coughing; I can't imagine any mechanism by which montelukast interferes with any thyroid or anticonvulsant medication so you might want to look into that.


-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

America is an oligarchy
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876

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