I know the title of this entry may sound a bit dramatic, but the following three products deserve the praise. Trust me.
The Wonder Hanger
My organizational dream has always been to hang every shirt I own. But before the Wonder Hanger came into my life I never had enough closet space to do that. Now you can open my closet and it looks like I barely hang any of my tops, but in reality I don’t have one t-shirt or top folded in a drawer. I do need to warn you not hang really heavy winter coats on the Wonder Hanger. Since it is made out of plastic, it will break. I have seen some that are made out of metal but haven't tried them yet…they may be even BETTER!
Space Bags
These are the plastic bags that you fill with clothes and bedding and suck out all the air with your vacuum. I have used these ever since my husband joined the Navy and we have moved from a three-bedroom townhouse to a studio apartment (400 sq ft) and then on to a two bedroom apartment. Since I never know how much storage we will have, I've had to become pretty savvy with space and these bags have been a savior! They range in size from a small travel size to giant cubes that allow for pillows and comforters. Oh and don’t forget to try the hanging bag version that you can use to hang winter coats or stick in your hanging bag for traveling!
Chi Flat Iron
This is the most recent addition to my “Life Changing Products” list. Over the July 4th weekend my step daughter came to visit and brought with her a Chi Flat Iron (hair straightener). I had seen these advertised before, but since they usually run $100, I never actually considered buying one. That was until I used it. I have naturally curly hair that is pretty darn thick and a pain in the ass to dry. My current hairdresser has even commented that the texture of my hair makes it very difficult to dry, therefore almost impossible to get straight without professional help. I have tried countless products, brushes and bought my own flat iron….none have worked….until now! My hair may never be curly again thanks to this miracle worker. In one swipe it makes my hair perfectly straight. And thanks to my spray-on heat protector, it is shiny too! Best $100 I have ever spent!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
It Always Come “Back” to This
As many of you know, three years ago I had back surgery. Yes, after suffering for over two months with a herniated disc (marriage and honeymoon included in that time), I had a laminectomy of my L-5 disc. The surgery was a “success” and I have been relatively pain-free since. I say “relatively” because to be honest, my back hurts everyday. I am always reminded that I have a bad back. I cannot walk or stand or even sit for a prolonged period of time without my back letting me know it isn’t happy. But as long as it wasn’t debilitating like it was three years ago, I have considered myself lucky. And it wasn’t until recently that I realized that daily pain doesn‘t make me lucky.
This isn’t to say that I haven’t been doing things to try to take care of my back. After studying for my personal training certification I learned that tight hamstrings and hip flexors could lead to back pain. So I stretch both daily. I learned that different back supports would help, so I bought them. I even tried my hand a yoga and Pilates (short attempts, but attempts nonetheless). I thought I was doing everything I could. The surgeon who had worked on my back said that I had degenerative discs and that I would battle back pain all my life. I accepted this as the truth and just tied to minimize the pain.
But six weeks ago I left my kickboxing class with a familiar pain shooting down my leg. And when I awoke the next morning and couldn’t get myself to stand upright, I knew I was in trouble. “Here we go again,” I thought as I began the slow, painful process of trying to get help for my back.
I know the process well. It begins with a trip to your general doctor who will give you muscle relaxes and pain meds. Some docs will give you steroids to help with the inflammation, others won’t. After about two weeks of being in acute pain, you return to your general doctor and he/she will then send you to physical therapy.
Nine times out of ten physical therapy is a waste of time. Each visit you spend an hour receiving heat therapy and electrical stimulation and are sent home to do some stretching exercises. This can go on for weeks and if it works, you’re cured! If it doesn’t, you go back to your general doctor and it is MRI time. By now it has been about 6-8 weeks and you don’t need a damn MRI to tell you that you have a herniated disc, but you wait for it to be confirmed anyway.
This is where an orthopedic specialist comes in. He or she will review your MRI, take some x-rays and tell you that you have two options: surgery or cortisone shots. Ironically, during all of this time, no one is trying to figure out why this has happened, they are just trying to find a way to stop the pain and avoid nerve damage.
Three years ago I chose surgery. I didn’t want to spend another minute in that kind of pain and the shots were billed as a “short term” solution. What wasn’t really acknowledged was the surgery was a short term solution as well. Granted I got three years and not three months, but again it was like they were just putting a band aid on the problem and not trying to actually fix the problem.
So I decided this time it would be different. I would make it different. I bided my time in agonizing pain as a played the game with the doctor and his pain meds, anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxers. But anytime my back was good enough for me to sit (sometimes I actually knelt) at the computer I was researching back problems, trying to find a different approach. Having recently moved to California, I was hopeful I could find some new approach or “new age” help. I love the Midwest, but progressive in alternative medicine it is not.
Eventually I found what I was looking for…someone with a different approach to back problems. I found a website for a physical therapist who combines the practice of physical therapy with yoga. When I read about her approach I knew I hit pay dirt! Finally someone was pulling information and practices from different disciplines to find a way to not only align the spine, but teach the patient to keep their body in alignment.
I’ve had three visits with my new physical therapist. At the first visit she discovered that my right leg is almost an inch shorter than my left and that I have a week core (which I knew). She said that my spine needed to be decompressed to relieve the acute pain and she showed me how do this with extremely simple moves. I was also referred to a foot doctor to get orthodics to help with my length discrepancy. Within 24 hours the severe pain was gone and I could put on my sock and shoes without having to lay on the bed.
After three weeks of treatment I am back to my normal daily routine and workouts. This isn’t to say that I’ve been pain-free, I still have my moments. But what makes me happy is that my therapist hasn’t stopped searching for answers just because the acute pain is gone. She still spends an hour, one-on-one, working with me at each appointment and explains what my back is doing to cause me pain and how we are going to train it to move correctly. She also believes that correcting the height difference in my legs will make a huge impact on correcting my spine problem. She agrees that I may have degenerative discs, but that doesn’t mean I have to have a lifetime of chronic pain.
And I agree with her.
This isn’t to say that I haven’t been doing things to try to take care of my back. After studying for my personal training certification I learned that tight hamstrings and hip flexors could lead to back pain. So I stretch both daily. I learned that different back supports would help, so I bought them. I even tried my hand a yoga and Pilates (short attempts, but attempts nonetheless). I thought I was doing everything I could. The surgeon who had worked on my back said that I had degenerative discs and that I would battle back pain all my life. I accepted this as the truth and just tied to minimize the pain.
But six weeks ago I left my kickboxing class with a familiar pain shooting down my leg. And when I awoke the next morning and couldn’t get myself to stand upright, I knew I was in trouble. “Here we go again,” I thought as I began the slow, painful process of trying to get help for my back.
I know the process well. It begins with a trip to your general doctor who will give you muscle relaxes and pain meds. Some docs will give you steroids to help with the inflammation, others won’t. After about two weeks of being in acute pain, you return to your general doctor and he/she will then send you to physical therapy.
Nine times out of ten physical therapy is a waste of time. Each visit you spend an hour receiving heat therapy and electrical stimulation and are sent home to do some stretching exercises. This can go on for weeks and if it works, you’re cured! If it doesn’t, you go back to your general doctor and it is MRI time. By now it has been about 6-8 weeks and you don’t need a damn MRI to tell you that you have a herniated disc, but you wait for it to be confirmed anyway.
This is where an orthopedic specialist comes in. He or she will review your MRI, take some x-rays and tell you that you have two options: surgery or cortisone shots. Ironically, during all of this time, no one is trying to figure out why this has happened, they are just trying to find a way to stop the pain and avoid nerve damage.
Three years ago I chose surgery. I didn’t want to spend another minute in that kind of pain and the shots were billed as a “short term” solution. What wasn’t really acknowledged was the surgery was a short term solution as well. Granted I got three years and not three months, but again it was like they were just putting a band aid on the problem and not trying to actually fix the problem.
So I decided this time it would be different. I would make it different. I bided my time in agonizing pain as a played the game with the doctor and his pain meds, anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxers. But anytime my back was good enough for me to sit (sometimes I actually knelt) at the computer I was researching back problems, trying to find a different approach. Having recently moved to California, I was hopeful I could find some new approach or “new age” help. I love the Midwest, but progressive in alternative medicine it is not.
Eventually I found what I was looking for…someone with a different approach to back problems. I found a website for a physical therapist who combines the practice of physical therapy with yoga. When I read about her approach I knew I hit pay dirt! Finally someone was pulling information and practices from different disciplines to find a way to not only align the spine, but teach the patient to keep their body in alignment.
I’ve had three visits with my new physical therapist. At the first visit she discovered that my right leg is almost an inch shorter than my left and that I have a week core (which I knew). She said that my spine needed to be decompressed to relieve the acute pain and she showed me how do this with extremely simple moves. I was also referred to a foot doctor to get orthodics to help with my length discrepancy. Within 24 hours the severe pain was gone and I could put on my sock and shoes without having to lay on the bed.
After three weeks of treatment I am back to my normal daily routine and workouts. This isn’t to say that I’ve been pain-free, I still have my moments. But what makes me happy is that my therapist hasn’t stopped searching for answers just because the acute pain is gone. She still spends an hour, one-on-one, working with me at each appointment and explains what my back is doing to cause me pain and how we are going to train it to move correctly. She also believes that correcting the height difference in my legs will make a huge impact on correcting my spine problem. She agrees that I may have degenerative discs, but that doesn’t mean I have to have a lifetime of chronic pain.
And I agree with her.
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