Saturday, January 26, 2013

Sciatica Update and a Recipe and a Mosaic!

Photo Credit - Carmen Beecher
When last we got together I was one big throbbing ball of pain due to Sciatica! That was Wednesday and today is Saturday. Thursday and Friday actually got worse, the pain radiating and moving at times to my knees, then to the shin area of my leg, then to the top of my foot. I had a very difficult time sleeping and had to take a Vicodin...and I hate taking any kind of medicine, especially those that alter your mood and character!

Thursday night I went on an Internet hunt to try to find something, some exercise or food or medicine...that would give me some relief! I found this website, treatsciaticanow.com and reviewed it, searched online for reviews from others that have tried it. I contemplated it because you have to purchase an online e-book for $37.00! Anyone that knows me knows that I don't pay more than 80cents for a book because I buy them all at the Goodwill Store! But I was desperate and my pain-filled brain said, "Do IT!" So I ordered it and quickly reviewed it and went to bed, exhausted from the pain.
Sciatica Treatment

Friday I told my sister about it and sent her an email with the part of the book that tells you what you need to do in order to start relieving the pain in as little as 7 days if not sooner. She said she would come over that evening and help me as it requires some massaging in an area I can't reach. Friday evening I told her it would be better to wait until Saturday morning as I didn't know if having her massage me on Friday night might make the pain worse and I would be unable to sleep.

This morning she came over and we opened up the ebook and looked at the drawings and read the directions and she went to work. The book says you need to do the process for 8 minutes, it was tiring work and hard and painful on me so we did it for a little bit less. (It was also tiring for my sister, just try massaging someone for 8 minutes...8 minutes is a long time!) When I got up I told her I felt better, but it was really hard to gauge it as the massage itself causes pain.

She left and I sat for a while with the heating pad on my leg, which I had been doing all week and then I started watching low-carb videos on YouTube and that made me hungry. I debated just eating some cereal because it's very difficult for me to stand and walk with Sciatica, the pain is excruciating (and I have a high tolerance for pain). 

As I went into the kitchen to get the cereal, I noticed that the pain was not quite as bad. I walked around for a bit and thought, "hmmm, maybe I should try making those breakfast muffins I just watched a video on."

Amazingly I was able to stand and walk long enough to put these together.



I kid you not! After just one treatment! I did have to sit down while I chopped the veggies and the ham and usually I stand at the counter to do it, but I did it! I am amazed and SO happy because as I mentioned in the previous post I am supposed to go to Arizona in February for a huge family reunion and I was really looking forward to it but knew that with the Sciatica this bad I would not be able to attend!

My sister will be coming back tonight to do another massaging treatment and hopefully within 7 days I should be cured from Sciatica forever! (At least that is what they say on the website) Sciatica Treatment

So, I am going to continue to take it easy today and do the normal Sciatica stretches and continue to use the heating pad, but I can't wait for my sister to come back tonight to do another treatment! Maybe tomorrow, if I feel well enough I can take my mom to some Goodwill Stores and hit the supermarket to do some grocery shopping as our cupboards are bare.

For those of you that don't have Sciatica, or don't know anyone who has Sciatica and just want the recipe for those yummy breakfast muffins pictured on the mosaic above, here we go...

I got the idea from Pinterest and watched this video



As I mentioned...my cupboards are bare and so is my refrigerator. I didn't have any sausage or bacon, but what I did have was ham and veggies and the eggs of course. So I diced up my red bell peppers and diced up the ham. I sprayed the muffin pan with non stick spray and then filled them with the ham and some with ham and veggies. Because I love me some spiciness...I also chopped up some pickled jalapenos and even added some of my mom's Chile Macho (diced up roasted Ortega peppers with tomato and seasonings).


Then I mixed up 6 eggs, I figured one per muffin, but as you will see in the photos to follow, maybe 5 eggs would have been enough. I poured the egg into each muffin cup. 


That looked great already but then I remembered the cheddar cheese! BAM! as Chef Emeril Lagasse would say! That kicked it up a notch right?


Now it was time to put them into a pre-heated, 350 degree oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. DO NOT do what I did and overfill the cups...you can see what happened! See they rise up almost like a souffle but then start shrinking back almost as soon as you take them out of the oven.


Aren't they gorgeous???? Even with the horrible quality of my cell phone camera you can still see how lovely and puffy they are!


In the video you can see that she takes them out of the pan immediately  but mine seemed to be stuck, so I waited a little while but still had to use a butter knife to pry them out. They didn't break apart or anything but they did leave me a messy pan I have to clean up...later.


But regardless of them spilling over and sticking to the pan, they were so pretty! And the best part is you can freeze them or just put them in a plastic container in the fridge and grab one and nuke it and go in the morning, or take them to work with you for a delicious filling snack!


I let my mom be the guinea pig and she tried one and proclaimed it to be very good (she ate the whole thing so she was either starving or it really was good.) Now it's my turn, here's my breakfast muffin!


Mmmm, it is very good! It's got a great texture, you can pick it up with your hands and eat it like a cupcake, or you can be refined like me and use a fork! Either way it was yummy. I was going to eat a slice of avocado with it, but it was so good alone I didn't even think about the avocado. 

I found this great tool online where you can type in your ingredients and it will give you nutrition info, including how many carbs per serving. You can find this at Calorie Count. As you can see from the info below, these muffins have 1.5 grams of carbs and only 0.9 grams of sugars. You could probably add flax seed to add some fiber to it. But that's awesome! This site is great because it gives you grades for each ingredient and then gives you pros and cons of the recipe  As you can see it is high in cholesterol and sodium, so you might want to use Egg Beaters which would help.


So anyway...I hope my healing progresses and I'll keep you all updated. For now I'm going to go take a little walk and maybe clean that muffin pan and then I'm going to watch a movie and perhaps nap a little. I am recuperating you know.

Hey! Thanks to all of you that have emailed me suggestions and ideas on how to help my Sciatica pain or just emailed me to send me get well wishes...it is so appreciated!



Joining the gang at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday. It's been a long time since I've played along with them and it feels good to be getting back into the swing of blogging!




 

13 comments:

  1. Alicia, I'm so sorry that you are having painful issues with your sciatica. That really sucks. I too, have a high pain tolerance but this R.A. really has been bad since October. I hope you feel better soon and I hope that book really is a Godsend.

    My goodness thouse muffins look delicious. It's going on my recipe list to make soon. Maybe even tonight.

    I like that food tool. How very cool. I'm surprised though that the pickled jalapeno got a grade of D. I thought it would have been at least a C but closer to an A.

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    1. It's just so sad that two such young women should have to suffer from Sciatica and R.A.!!! As much as I dislike the heat and summer it will be nice to get it back and maybe that will help both of us.

      Let me know how those muffins came out. The possibilities of what you can put in them are endless!

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  2. I am glad that your book is working for you. It had to be a shock to pay that much for a book. Hopefully it will all go away and not come back. But you are going to owe Lisa big time.

    Your muffins looked great, although probably a bit too spicy for an old
    Irishman.

    Get well soon and good luck with your therapy.

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    1. Oh Lordie! You know how it must have hurt me to spend that kind of money on a book, but it is helping so it's cheaper than my co-pay to go to urgent care right?

      We could always make those muffins without jalapenos, you would love them!

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  3. I'm so glad to read that you are getting some relief. I, too, suffer from sciatica and know just how incapacitated you must have been. I have a couple of little exercises that I do each morning now to try to stave it off and so far they have worked for nearly two years. I like the idea of a special massage - bless your sister for helping you.

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    1. Sciatica is the worst isn't it? I have been a little lax in doing my stretching exercises but I will definitely be doing them from now on! My sister is pretty darn great :)

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  4. Hope you continue having success with your pain relief! Your recipe looks YUMMY! Visiting from Mosaic Monday...
    Cindy

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    1. HI Cindy, Thanks for visiting. Looks like I'm finally starting to heal!

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  5. Glad you are feeling better and thank you for sharing the recipe. Blessings. Jen

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  6. Raising my hand as another sciatica sufferer. Have been flat on my back in bed with it one time for a week, but no more. I have learned how to keep it under control for the most part, though mine involves an ice pack and a recliner. Glad that you have found a way to do the same and a massage sounds great.

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  7. I'm fortunate to have never suffered from sciatica and I hope the relief will make life easier for you.
    The photo of the recipe looks yummy!

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  8. Alicia, I am so glad that your back is better. That's amazing how fast the pain went away.

    I loved this post and I plan on following that recipe. So easy.

    Wishing you restored health in your back. So lovely to meet you.

    Karen

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  9. Hi Alicia! You poor thing. I'm so glad to hear your back is better and your were able to bake these scrumptious looking delights. It's so hard to deal with pain. I pray you continue to do better.
    Thanks for popping in to see me.
    Be a sweetie,
    Shelia ;)

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