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It seems like my entire existence now is about taking pills and capsules of the prescribed and over-the-counter varieties. They are not necessarily to keep me from dying, but to stave away the inevitability of pain.
There is a down-side to this practice that just evidenced itself with the dental problem I just experienced. The arthritis medicine is generally taken to prevent inflammation. I'm guessing that's what kept the rotten tooth from exploding into a major infection, but it sort of did that inadvertantly anyway. I could be wrong about that.
In the interest of getting away from taking all these pills I've been exploring probiotics. Up until yesterday the probiotics that I've been taking was in capsule form. Then, a couple of weeks ago I coincidentally saw some kefir at the the grocery store, and having read a little bit about kefir I bought some in quart containers. It was like a smoothie. I'm not all that familiar with smoothies. I've never made one before. The only kind I've used were of a commercial variety, and so were these.
A friend of a friend makes his own kefir, and my friend asked him to provide me with a starter source. I turned down the offer because I had no idea what the hell to do with it. In one way it was a mistake to turn down the offer, but I act like a fool so often I didn't wanna do it out of hand again. This offer did, however, motivate me to do some research about what's going on with making my own kefir.
The end result was that I spent several hours reading on web sites and watching YouTube videos about kefir. It was only when I saw the videos that I began to grasp what I didn't understand from the reading I'd been doing. It has to do with "kefir grains". Grains is grains to me. Like corn, wheat, barley, rice, and the various sorghum varieties. That may have nothing to do with kefir grains.
I suppose now I have to convince my friend whose friend has some kefir grains that I made a mistake in refusing his offer. I hope that he will understand that I really can't commit to a project unless I understand enough about it to make a informed decision.
If he doesn't, then there are other sources, but then my act of ignorance will sit there like a snake in the grass ready to bite me in the ass, and I'd prefer to make things right with this guy because he can help me personally with the deep down of what's going on with kefir.
If he doesn't, then there are other sources, but then my act of ignorance will sit there like a snake in the grass ready to bite me in the ass, and I'd prefer to make things right with this guy because he can help me personally with the deep down of what's going on with kefir.
My hope is that using kefir will eliminate some of the pills. If I understand what's going on with this ancient method of dealing with the digestive system, then developing a daily use of kefir that I make at home will eliminate some of the aging problems many old people have with the GI tract.
It purportedly helps younger people with some specific digestive problems like stomach ulcers that lead to stomach cancer. That's why this friend of a friend uses it for. Serious stuff, but older human systems seem to need it pretty much across the board in their dotage.
This has to do with a question I've been asking myself for the last couple of decades: What if I don't die? What if I just keep on living and deteriorating, and getting more and more decrepit, but without any of these lousy illnesses actually killing me.
This has to do with a question I've been asking myself for the last couple of decades: What if I don't die? What if I just keep on living and deteriorating, and getting more and more decrepit, but without any of these lousy illnesses actually killing me.
I wanna live until I die, like a sensible man should, or something close to that. My parents lived a long time. My father lived to be 88, and my mother 93, and toward the end they appeared to have problems associated with eating. Sort of a reverse Jack Sprat scenario. It was my mother who could eat no fat and my father that could eat no lean.
They kept dairy cows until shortly after I left home to join the Navy, and knew all the things people did with raw milk before homogenization and refrigeration came around, but their use of these kefir-like products dissipated as they approached old age and a little better financial situation, and gradually (like many people), they let all their rustic wisdom go the way of all good things, and lived off food they bought at the grocery store and ate in restaurants.
It's not that I'm convinced that letting go of the old ways killed them. Not at all. But, I do believe that using the various milk products they developed from scratch might have made the quality of their lives mo' bettah in the end time. That is what I have in mind for myself. Whether it actually does or not is moot, because death itself is unpredictable.
There is a chance I might die from this hot weather. The temperature is predicted to be at least 96°+ (35.5° C) for at least the next week, if not for the entire summer. My ancient, very inefficient window-type air conditioner won't offset that high temperature and a matching percentage of humidity very much.
Besides that, I'm poor and can't really afford the electric bill that goes along with that. Looks like I'm gonna have a lot more on my plate than taking handfuls of pills to occupy my time. Life is a tragedy, but I am is a dream. I'll either make it or I won't. No blame.
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