I Hate Particleboard!

Pretends to be wood. Chemicals & what-not jammed together to make you think it’s furniture or subflooring or cabinets or what-have-you. A drop of water, and it turns to mush. Irritating. Not the worst of it, though.

I wrote a post a while back called Gifts, Monsters, and Blessings about some of my experiences with a toxic house, which we escaped, and have significantly healed from. Hindsight’s supposed to be 20/20. We’ll see. We all walk learning.

I bumped into a blogpost online from a lady who got formaldehyde poisoning from the formalin in a hair product. Reminded me of a book I read once, Your Health & Your House by Nina Anderson and Albert Benoist. P 47-54 describe problems that can come up with formaldehyde-laden products, and another lady’s experiences w/ formaldehyde poisoning. Hers was from the particleboard subfloor in her home. She had her carpets cleaned, and the moisture released the formailn. Her symptoms looked like a milder version of my own– more like what Hubby & the kids experienced. The picture fits better than the ex-meth house picture. There was a known meth user in that house, and it was a “party house”, covered up nicely by the landlady before we moved in and found out the history on it, but I’m thinkin’ maybe formaldehyde fits better with our experiences there.

We steam-cleaned the floors, trying to get “something” out of the carpets. They felt all crunchy & springy– not like normal carpet fibers. It only seemed to get worse. Whenever we’d take a shower or run the dishwasher, the air seemed to cloud up, and the respiratory & skin & joint issues were more pronounced. It was definitely more intense near floor level. When the hot water heater flooded the garage, a big cloud of it hit me in the face, and I got 16 cavities all in one month immediately after that.

I did a bit more research, and found that formaldehyde or formalin breaks down bone tissue. Hmm… pitted bones that could be felt through the skin, holes in teeth that had been perfectly healthy for 5 years prior to this experience. I’m thinkin’ this may be a new avenue of healing for me. Thought I’d write it out to give other folks a heads-up. I’m on a warpath against formaldehyde in my world.

For me, in my world, avoiding formaldehyde entirely may become more realistic than for most, but I figure I’ll let you know what I’m doing.

1. We don’t buy new clothing except for socks & undies, and wash those 3 times in hot, soapy water before wearing.

2. No particle board furniture in the house.

3. Running charcoal / carbon filters (the kind that get formaldehyde out of the air best)

4. LOTS of spider plants (several species are good at getting formaldehyde out of the air. Spiderplants are one of ’em)

5. Keeping the humidity in the house low (there’s still some particleboard in most construction. Unless you own your own home, and can do what you want for yourself, it’s likely that the subfloor will contain formaldehyde)

6. Moving toward an AWESOME BLESSING! We’ve been given (YES, GIVEN!!!) LAND!!!! TODAH, YHWH!!! (thank God) Wanting to keep our location offline under my hat, but also wanted to share that bit of news w/ all of you who have known our hopes & dreams that all center on having our own “bit of Earth” to care-take.

7. Planning a home that will not include formaldehyde 😀

A huge thank you to all of you who have been praying for us!

 

If you suspect that you may have experienced something similar, I’m happy to share w/ you various tools in my basket that have been an enormous help.

 

Standard Disclaimer:

I’m  no doc, and don’t pretend to be one. I am therefore not legally licensed to diagnose, cure, treat, prevent, or otherwise mitigate any disease, and neither is the stuff I generally choose for healing… but then, I’ve not been educated indoctrinated by boards with big pharma reps on them, either   so do your own research and find what works for you

Arthritis Adventures…

So I grew up eating pork & shellfish, stepped on a few rusty nails, dug up a septic system when I was a kid (forced labor LOL!), had a run-in with a chemical something-or-other in an on-campus apartment in college, and spent a few decades running around getting Rx’s from docs for various ailments, which didn’t work, and then hunted down natural healing & detoxes, which finally did. After that mess, I’d finally got my body back, and I hit another “chemical something-or-other,” with a husband and 4 babies in-tow! My best guess is that it was an ex-meth house made over like a dream-home rental. At any rate, that sent me into a tail-spin, and fast. We got outta there, quick as we figured out it was the house, and I’ve been healing since.

One of the things the doc tried to pin on me was Rheumatoid (autoimmune) arthritis. He told me I had fibromyalgia, and that my “something-or-other” was high. I asked him what it was, and he said, “Oh, it’s a big word. You don’t need to worry about that.” …um, yeah… that went over like a lead balloon! I’m no doc, and don’t pretend to be one, but don’t tell me that somethin’ in my body is “too big a word”, and that I “shouldn’t worry my pretty little head about it.”!!! I was livid! All done with that doc, LOL!  My body got a LOT better once we got out of that house, but it took time and a LOT of work to make the headway that enabled me to become a strong, active, and even athletic woman again.

With that nut-shell background, a bit on what has been helpful for me in fighting the symptoms of severe, crippling (had to be carried when I could no longer crawl) arthritis:

MSM: methylsulphonylmethane– organic sulphur. No USRDA on it. Too much can give loose bm’s (which is a place where the zeolite can come in handy), but when I’ve been hurting badly, 2,000 mg every 2 hours has helped immensely. 3-5,000 / day maintenance dosage seems to be about right for me now. Also a nice anti-cancer tool.

FYI (by Garden of Life) or Rejuvenzyme (cheaper, but same strength of stuff): It’s pineapple enzymes, but super-potent: stronger than regular bromelain. Works better than Ibuprofen, and without the side-effects.

Wild Yam Root: terrible tasting stuff, and it took a good bit when I was in real pain. I’d take 2 heaping Tbsp of it every 2 hours, alongside the MSM when I needed it. I ordered it in by the pound b/c it’s cheaper that way, but it’s like swallowing gravel, so I had to be sure to have plenty of liquid on-hand to get it down. Again, an anti-cancer tool.

Ginger Root (Rhizome for technical folk): STRONG-brewed tea– great anti-inflammatory stuff. I was doing 3 quarts / day of about a heaping TBSP of ginger root powder per quart of hot water. Be sure to cover it while it brews to keep in the healthy stuff– steam can leach out some of the best properties in teas of all sorts. Also great for warming up cold tummies, and great for digestion.

Aloe Vera: 2-6 ounces / day– recipe here, and another post I wrote on it, with the Ancient Hebrew pictograph here. I’ve seen this plant do some beautiful things, both inside and out! Another anti-cancer tool in my basket!

Cod Liver Oil: 4 Tbsp / day– more info on my experiences with it & what king here. Great for weight loss and detox, too!

Zeolite: Great for drawing toxins out of the body. Slows down bm’s a bit if you have difficulty with diarrhea. Special kinds of minerals are just amazing tools!

Arnica: (only if you have some form of trauma you’ve dealt with) I was at the 1M level, as-needed for quite a while, but have since healed, got a reaction (“proving,” meaning that I’d healed at that level, and needed to move down to a lower potency) at the 1M level, and moved down to the 200C level, eventually had a reaction at that level, and was able to move down to the 30C level, again, as-needed. Only need it very occasionally now 🙂  More info on different potencies and how I use them here.

Diet : No GMO’s, No sugar, no grains except for brown rice, no legumes, TONS of Brassicas (broccoli, kale, collards, maca, etc.), no “unclean” animal meats (pork, shellfish, etc.), and for a while there, no dairy or eggs. Later on, I’ve been able to incorporate eggs & dairy back in, slowly and carefully– no hormones or antibiotics, no blood spots in the eggs, and the milk has to be RAW, and CULTURED– raw-milk organic cheese, or keifer, for example.

Sauna / Sweat: Great for getting rid of pesticides and petrochemicals– my joints LOVE sauna sessions. More info here.

Exercise / gentle movement, increasing as able– this one started out as moving whatever small appendage I was able to move in the mornings when I would wake up in the toxic house. Eventually, I’d be able to move another finger or toe next to that one, and so forth, until I could crawl, and then walk (most days). During that time, it was a choice– I could lie there and just quit breathing, or I could move a bit, even when it hurt. I recommend moving… as gently, and as much as possible 🙂

Heat at night: When I was living in the toxic house, I found that my lymph fluid would kind of “freeze up” in my joints– I’d wake up in the mornings with lumps everywhere– fluid that “got stuck” All but two are gone now– one in my right hand, and one in my left leg. Still working on those, but they don’t impede movement anymore 😀 Anyhow, I warm a cotton bag filled with rice or other grain in the oven or microwave ’till it’s as warm as I can touch, wrap it in a towel to hold the heat all night, and put one on my guts (where lymph fluid is supposed to drain into so that it can be eliminated through the normal channels), and one on whatever joints were worst-off, and elevated those joints, so the lymph fluid would flow back down toward the gut for natural elimination. I invariably woke up with better functioning when I started doing this.
I’m currently working on a book– if you have time to investigate any or all of those links (yeah… I know LOL!), I’d love feedback on what is / isn’t clear, helpful, etc– The book will be entitled, My Body Knows Torah… And I’m Not Jewish! (btw, for my Christian friends: Torah is the first 5 books of the Christian Bible)
OH… and the disclaimer thing:

I’m  no doc, and don’t pretend to be one. I am therefore not legally licensed to diagnose, cure, treat, prevent, or otherwise mitigate any disease, and neither is the stuff I generally choose for healing… but then, I’ve not been educated indoctrinated by boards with big pharma reps on them, either   so do your own research and find what works for you

I’m also no rabbi, so please don’t take my experiences and path as your Rx for Kosher living