All the Birds with One Stone

Occasionally I run across a real stroke of luck.

I was feeling pretty good on passing my 60th birthday 9 days ago, but there were a few things that bothered me that I was uncertain how to proceed in finding a cure for.

For the past year, I've become increasing aware of poor quality sleep that left me feeling very tired all the time. The major syndrome was sleep apnea, or a disruption or cessation of breathing while sleeping that causes one to awaken, and in some unfortunate cases, die while sleeping. But usually, the stoppage of breathing causes one to wake up. I noticed it was caused by the collapsing of the airway, accompanied by an extremely dry throat.

For a while, I thought to have water always on hand to drink, but I didn't like the taste of plain water because of the bad taste in one's mouth one usually has on awakening, and so I thought to make it more palatable by adding tea, and even lemon juice to make water more palatable. Then I started having sore gums that made drinking anything quite painful. It seemed like I was trapped in a weird conundrum.

But because I felt like celebrating my birthday, I thought I'd go down to the Dollar Store and look around specifically for liquid acetaminophen, and check out everything else. One of the first things I spotted was those mesh back supports that were being sold at the state fair for $20 each, with another thrown in for free. They seemed like a good idea but at $20, it was above my threshold for trying all those products one can obtain at such events -- but when I saw it for a dollar, I bought two, just in case they worked enough to make a difference.

When I got them home and tried them skeptically, I felt very positive that they did eliminate back pain -- and so I was overjoyed by that realization because back pain had been a major problem for me for most of my life, until I discovered the guaifenesin protocol almost eight years ago. Then, I no longer had debilitating back pain -- but just the common variety most people have.

While there, another product I took a chance on, was instant dissolving strawberry flavored TUMS powder, in 24 premeasured packs -- because it seemed like a good idea and way to flavor my water to be more palatable, while reducing stomach acid (a problem for most people) and obtaining calcium, which is difficult for me to obtain because I cannot tolerate dairy products with the exception of cheeses. My major concern was that it might contain trace amounts of sugar that would cause cavities -- because it lists sucrose and dextrose, while providing 5 calories and 1 g of sugar.

As the week wore on, I first noticed that my gum pain was gone, and there didn't seem to be a major problem with sugar, because I'm actually quite sensitive, if not allergic to it. I seemed to enjoy drinking my antacid solution very well and no longer had a problem with sleep apnea or parched throat, and then today, when I wasn't certain whether I wanted to be up yet, I was shocked by the transformation I saw in the mirror -- at first because it seemed my hair was darker and manageable, and then the slight bag under my right eye had disappeared -- after I thought it might have been my imagination that the one under my left eye was shrinking yesterday, and by today, was completely gone, and the one under my right eye was becoming virtually undetectable also.

My entire body seemed to have taken 15 years off -- in a span of a week, by the addition of this antacid drink -- they must have been clearing out at the Dollar store, or test-marketing. By the packaging, I'm sure this was intended to sell for $5 a box at least (24 packets -- 2 packets per pint bottle enhanced with 2 saccharine tablets.)

I'm really quite amazed at the things I've been able to glean from the Dollar Tree store -- just by looking at everything and being openminded enough to try these things. A few things don't work out, but far and away, I'm amazed at how many life-changing things I've gotten there -- for only $1. I went back and bought 6 more back supports and 6 more boxes of antacids.

Almost exactly a year ago, I was working the Salvation Army table at the home remodeling fair when some children came by to offer a free cup of water, along with a description of a water filter whose primary task was to convert the water from acid to base, and I thought that water was remarkably good tasting, for a filter/treatment another distributor claimed couldn't do the miraculous things claimed by simply changing the PH of the water -- because supposedly, that effect was nullified by the acid produced by the stomach. However, the water does taste a whole lot better to me -- and while I kept that thought in mind, this antacid, was my first opportunity to test this thesis is a fairly uninvasive way I thought would be a godsend if it addressed just one of my afflictions/concerns -- rather than seeming to have addressed them all at once, and then shocking me, when I noticed the transformation in myself after a week on the project.

I was just hoping I could tolerate it -- and it wouldn't have the negative side-effects like causing more tooth decay. Instead, it seems to even have strengthened the enamel, by always immersing my teeth in a base solution of calcium. Oh, and I never seem to have any digestive upset -- which I suppose is what this product was specifically designed to do.

As people get older, one of the telltale signs of that aging effect is that their cells no longer seem to hold water as well, to give that full, robust look to the tissues anymore. This manner of ensuring adequate hydration seems to address those problems as well, as well as eliminating digestive upset and problems -- which is what it was specifically designed to do as most people have increasing digestive upset with age, and no effective way of countering this drawn look of a body operating at the edge of its capacities.

Instead, there is the familiar look of a person optimally hydrated so that the tissues, particularly the muscles, look full and vital. The dryness of skin also goes away. The skin becomes soft and smooth again -- along with the hair.

I think this addresses most of the problems of aging -- physically.