health updates (mostly good news)

I am without medical insurance again. I was on taxpayer-funded Minnesota Care until recently. They stopped allowing recurring automated payments. I think they stopped mailing monthly bills too, because I can only find my cancellation notice. They keep requiring a full re-application each year. All 3 disincentives were enough to keep me from resubscribing. Apparently it's more cost effective for Minnesota taxpayers to just wait and let me go to a hospital emergency room like all of the other uninsured in America. *ignorant shrug*

The rest of the news is all much nicer.

I'm glad to report that my gut is still quite healthy. After getting lucky in January and "accidentally" curing a decade-long amoebic infection, I've been doing quite well. My weight shot up quickly during the next 3 months. It was probably a good sign that I was gaining much more nutrition from the food I that I eat.

I'm not effective at remembering to take pills, but I continued with B12 and multivitamins anyway. Wonder of wonders, I actually finished a large bottle of pills this week before it expired. I think the supplements might be improving my condition. I haven't had a single muscle cramp (although I've come close a few times in my left foot while bicycling) in several months!  I'm going to buy some more vitamin pills and continue for a few more months to see if the condition improves any more. Might my neurons be regenerating their myelin sheath with my improved B12 digestion? I'm hopeful.

I still get persistent muscle twitches, my energy level is still uncomfortably low, and I still get periods of strong tingling/numbness in my fingers and toes. If a few more months of vitamins don't offer additional improvements, then I've already selected my next experiment. A thorough study has recently confirmed previous evidence that smoking marijuana can reduce muscle problems associated with multiple sclerosis. My state of Minnesota does not recognize legal use of medical marijuana. Since I don't have effective medical care, though, I'll be sure to pursue my health care wherever I can find useful and affordable treatment. I don't have a supply of marijuana available, but this is America so it should be easier to find some here than in most countries.

Commuting by bicycle this year is also working out well for me. I've lost almost all of the 20 pounds that I gained after January. I'm looking forward to losing about 20 more pounds before the end of the year. I would consider 160# to be "healthy" for my body. I approached that goal after last year's bicycle commute, but I'll try harder to reach it this year.

My mood is still needing improvement, but I'm certain that it helped to stay home from Pride festival this weekend, Bear Coffee in recent weeks, and the Bear Campout this weekend. Isolation from humanity almost always improves my outlook on life. *laugh*

I need to pay more attention to my very limited finances, but I'll write more on that topic in a later post.