World Sjögrens Day

 

Today is World Sjögrens Day.

Last November I was having trouble swallowing, which I initially assumed was a recurrence of trouble I'd had earlier where stomach acid was burning my swallowing muscles so they didn't work right. However, it now seems that I've developed Sjögrens disease, an autoimmune condition where your body attacks glands that produce moisture. In my case I had dry eyes that were so dry I was getting blotchy vision, and a dry mouth that made it hard to swallow. Eye drops and being careful to drink really often have made an immense difference.

However, I recently came across the idea that having low stomach acid can trigger autoimmune conditions. As I understand it, low stomach acid alters what bacteria are present in your gut, and one of the things 'good' gut bacteria do is mediate what can get from your gut into your bloodstream. Messing with the gut microbiome can mean that larger molecules get through to your bloodstream, and those can then lodge in bits of your body that are in some sense vulnerable (I don't understand the explanation of what makes them vulnerable), causing inflammation that then triggers an autoimmune response.

Some fun things :-)

My health continues to be pretty dicey, but I've been trying to make sure I include some fun things in my life day to day.  That's definitely helping me to feel more human!  Here's some pictures of some of those :-)

A felt picture I made for my nephew's birthday

Health update

 I thought it was time to post an update on where I'm at with my health.

1. It looks like I've developed Sjögrens syndrome, an autoimmune condition where your immune system attacks glands that make moisture.  This explains my swallowing issues (which seem to be due to a dry mouth, and have gone away since I've been a bit more careful about drinking regularly).  The dental hygienist has suggested some products I can try if it gets worse.  It also explains my dry and scratchy eyes.  For that I'm now using eye drops every 1-2 hours, which helps heaps but is a pain to do!  I've been given new drops to try that might work for a bit longer, but I decided to finish off the current bottle before I open those, as they go off pretty fast.
2. It also seems that I've had a recurrence of my concussion symptoms, which is where the brain fog and nausea fit in.  There's some medical controversy as to whether this can actually happen, but my symptoms are responding to the treatment that helped with the concussion, at least.  My GP is of the opinion it doesn't much matter why this has occurred, seeing as I've found something that's helping!

Camping at McCreadies Paddock

Over ANZAC weekend Martin and I had four nights at McCreadies Paddock campground, near Karekare in the Waitakere ranges.  With my health at the moment AND the trains not running that weekend AND some campgrounds being fully booked for part of the time we wanted, we ended up choosing a place we hadn't been to before and having a friend drop us there and back by car.

It turned out to be a really lovely spot.  It was two areas of flat ground surrounded by trees and a creek.  One of the flat areas had a small cooking shelter and some toilets at the edge, and there was a carpark with space for maybe 6-ish cars.

I'm not very well...

In July of last year I had a cluster of 'real' migraines.  For some years I've had clusters of auras without other symptoms, but these came with light sensitivity, nausea and headaches as well.  I've only had a handful of those in my life and each time, as with the first of these, I haven't recognised what they were as they happen so rarely.

Over time the headaches stopped, but I developed other visual weirdnesses and the nausea became near-constant - never gone, although sometimes better and sometimes worse.  In recent months I've developed huge fatigue, too.  Issues with swallowing that I had a few years' back have returned, and haven't gone away with a medication increase.

Hīkoi ki Waitangi with Karuwhā

On Sunday February 1st Martin and I caught the bus to Waitangi to participate in Karuwhā's annual commemoration of the signing of the Treaty/te Tiriti.  I wasn't all that sure what to expect (and was pretty apprehensive of how my energy would hold up!), but was hopeful it'd be a thought-provoking week.

In the mid-1990s I was in the young adults group of the Baptist Tabernacle when one of the other young adults, a law student called Sam Carpenter, was starting to think about how Christians might respond to the repeated dishonouring of the Treaty.  He was a direct descendant of Henry Williams (whose Māori name was Karuwhā), the man who translated the treaty into te reo Māori.  Karuwhā was born out of that thinking, and exists to encourage Christians to know and respond to the treaty story they are part of - particularly bearing in mind the strong involvement of Christians at the time of the signing and the much lesser involvement ever since.  They run a variety of events (many of them Haerenga/journeys like this one), but their 'signature' event seems to be this annual trip to Waitangi.  Over four days the participants are welcomed by Te Tiriti O Waitangi marae, told stories of our nation's early days by Māori, serve the marae as it hosts thousands and thousands of people, do guided reflections and participate in prayer times and a church service, and observe the treaty sites and happenings there over February 5th and 6th.

I'd long heard that, whilst Waitangi Day on TV looks like non-stop political arguments, in person it's much more joyous, and that was 100% my experience - although there were clearly many serious discussions going on, and if we go back some time I'd like to listen in to more of those.

A guide to maintaining and using lievito madre (Italian sourdough starter)

In recent years I've greatly enjoyed baking with lievito madre - the Italian 'stiff' sourdough starter.  I've been intimidated by the challenge of keeping an 'English' sourdough starter alive, and the complexity of making English sourdough bread.  The Italian version seems much more straightforward, and has the added advantage of being less sour so being suitable for making sweet baked goods as well as breads.  However, I've found very little information on lievito madre in English so have decided to put together a guide and hope it is of use to other non-Italian speakers.

The below guide is also available as a pdf. 

Most of my information comes from Giovanni Tiso, who posted instructions on making the starter and various recipes on Twitter in 2021.  I've also incorporated some things that he's posted more recently on Bluesky, as well as recipes from a variety of other sources and from my own growing experience.

If I know you and you're local I'm very happy to give you a ball of starter.  Otherwise, if you don't have one and would like to make your own there are instructions on doing that at the end.