Isolator Fitness Isopack: 10 Months of Use Review Update

It's been about 10 months since I did an initial review of the IsoPack so I figured it was about time I update you on how the pack is holding up, how/if I'm still using it today and etc. 

Short answer is yes, I still use it during the week and when I travel. Having everything in one place makes things so much easier for me as I have mentioned before and if I prep on the weekend then all I have to do is switch out the medication pod each morning, fill my water bottles and the lunch box area each morning and I'm out the door. I love it!

I don't carry as much in my bag these days as when I first started carrying it though. Over the past 10 months I've been working out what I actually need and what is unnecessary or redundant because I have it elsewhere. For instance, I have lessened the number of cords I carry in my electronics bag and found a USB charger that works with all of them... less bulk and weight than my original bag for electronics that had the cords that came with everything I might need to charge while out. A few other changes: fewer organizer bags, smaller (and fewer) salty snacks and electrolyte replacement options, less gadgets, and a more space efficient way to carry my workout clothes.


The bags I currently have in my bag are:

• Medical 
• This one is pretty much the same as it was before. The differences are simple: it has a few more essential oils than it did earlier this year and my blood pressure cuff has been removed. It doesn't fit in there properly in the case so it isn't in an organizer bag now.
• Make-up
• Much simpler selection with just one option of everything I might need to freshen up for a last minute meeting at work. No muss, no fuss, no extra baggage.
• Electronics bag
• I already mentioned the changes to this one. It used to be completely full but now it has room to spare after paring down the selection in the bag and using rubber bands to keep cords from tangling up. I did add an emergency charge/battery to this bag as I was having issues with my car charger for a while but everything is back to working again thankfully. 
• The "everything else bag" 
• This one has neck coolers, an ankle brace, some tissues, a salty snack, my glasses and electrolyte drink tabs and powder. 
• Other things in the bag:
• Workout clothes in a drawstring bag that also contains my phone's neoprene arm band
• Blood pressure monitor
• Stethoscope... which I can probably remove but I just haven't. I was having some issues with irregular rhythms for a while and my sister suggested carrying one during that time frame (she's a nurse and wanted me to listen for a specific pattern when my bp cuff said 'Irr. Rhythm Detected').

The front larger pouch I use as my 'purse' in that it contains almost everything I would have in a purse (and that come out quickly to be tossed in a purse on the weekend for church or etc.  

• Wallet, checkbook, hand fan, ear buds, daily meds pod, emergency meds container, my keys, sunglasses, contact case, and a pen.

The smaller front pouch is more meal related:

• Salt and Pepper shaker
• Spork
• Pop up cup (for electrolyte drinks... they don't do so well in my water bottles if I use a tab due to the fizz created as it dissolves)
• If I have a specific plan for the day that would require an additional protein bar, non-refrigerated snack, or etc. it might end up in this pouch as well. 

So, on to the question of how do I feel about this bag now: I still love it. The bag isn't perfect of course but it does it's job and is holding up to daily use better than I expected it to. Some non-positive things I've noticed about the bag this year are below but none of them would have made me change my mind on the option I chose.

• Some of the rigidity of the bottom/meal portion is gone now of course as it isn't designed to keep it's shape... but I knew that when I purchased the bag and made the decision that it fit my lifestyle better. 
• The lunchbox is a little more difficult to clean than I imagined it to be as I can't soak it and the seams can get messy if something comes opened.
• My new computer is a bit too wide to fit comfortably in the Isopack (and it makes it heavy to carry around), but it does still fit with some wrangling, so I only use that feature when I'm traveling or have a meeting that requires my laptop at the moment. The rest of the time I carry paperwork and the like in that area of the bag. It's not a big issue to me as I don't typically need to bring a laptop around with me. When/if I go back to teaching or have a job that requires bringing a laptop everywhere I will just opt for a lighter laptop. 
• I also had the clip on the chest strap break. Awesome customer service though, they simply sent me a new clip in the mail when I called- no questions asked and an apology given. I was quite pleased actually with their service representatives actually.

All in all I am quite happy with my purchase and would purchase this bag again. Though maybe in a bright color this time instead of the blackout... my personality has come back with a vengeance in the last year (it's been great rediscovering who I am again!) and I would be ok with a few random odd looks for a giant bright pink backpack now. Color makes me happy! :)


If you are interested in the original review series for the Isopack vs the Expedition 500:
Part One: The Isopack
Part Two: The Expedition 500
Part Three: The Comparison

Here's the post about packing for a trip (so you can see what I had in my organizer bags before).

If you are interested in checking out the Isopack on Amazon here's a link: 

New Year's Resolutions 2016 Update

Just a quick update on my "New Year's Resolutions" (let's just call them what they are: Goals. Ok? Mkay.)

Religious:

1. Complete a Bible-in-a-Year plan. 
• I am on 'Day 73' which is about a week ahead of schedule. I've been doing a lot of audio-Bible time on the way to or from work along with some worship songs. It has helped me be more centered throughout my day I feel. I've also been doing some shorter studies and devotionals to help with healing and on topics that I felt would benefit me. So far I've done short studies on: abuse, miscarriage, grief, depression, healing from pain, divorce, prayer, happiness, hope and finding comfort in the Lord.
2. Make more Wednesday Bible studies 
•  I am doing well so far. I have only missed 2 weeks due to bad traffic one of the highways I have to take to get home (they started a new phase of construction on the highway, ugg!)
3. Invigorate my prayer life. 
•  The  younger ladies at my congregation have decided we would like a class on this so have asked someone and she has agreed to teach a lesson for us! I'm pretty excited about this as it is an area I would really like to grow in and I think this class can help me do this.

Health/Medical:

1. No soda. 
• A few here and there that I still need to cut out but I never finish them as they are simply too sweet and I don't really enjoy the flavor anymore.
2. Prep more and try new things! 
•  I've been meal prepping for Monday-Friday for the past few months now with great success... saves me money, time and helps me stay on track. I've been trying a lot of new ideas recipe wise... that means that there are less posted recipes though since I make something new instead of perfecting something I've already tried out so I think I need to work on finding a balance.
3. Water
•  Most days I am keeping to my goal these days which is lovely. I'm not sure I really want the app to remind me to drink water on the weekdays at the office but I need it on the weekends still so reminders are staying on for now. :) When I don't make my goals I get headaches... interesting tidbit to let my neurologist know about. It could be dehydration is playing a part in my migraines more than we thought. I'm pretty much always on the edge of dehydrated it feels like but I've added extra Thermotabs and extra water since the New Year and haven't had to have an IV saline drip yet. Progress!
4. Meds
•  Changed some things up but still doing well with the reminders my app is shooting my way.
5. Exercise! 
•  Still walking... the 5k I signed up for isn't for a while yet so nothing new to report here really. 
• I picked up a FitBit HR Charge to help with pushing me to meet my goals as well as track my heart rate. There have been some interesting observations on that front but my meds seem to be doing a good job most of the time keeping the tachycardia under control so I feel safe to continue my speed walking plan for now. Of course that med is actually to help with the migraines so there's that :P but both the neurologist and I knew that my heart rate and blood pressure would be affected by them as I've been on other medications of this class before for my tachycardia. The first few months were horrible and I couldn't exercise until my body adjusted to the meds. Looks like we're set now though so *fingers crossed* that the neurologist leaves them alone or that his changes don't affect my ability to stick to my plan.
6. Lose 50 pounds.
•  So far I have lost 13.8 lbs. out of the 50 I had as a goal for the year.

Financial:

1. Budget, budget, budget! 
•  Going strong... I'm LOVING the budgeting software I have now so I will definitely review it soon.
2. Pay off debt.
•  So far I have paid off: $1,811.84 worth of debt between my vehicle, student loans and the credit card I took out to move last year.
3. Savings
•  So far I have saved: $2,148.58. Part of this is due to not having to pay rent so far this year as I moved in with my parents as a step towards this goal. I still have storage fees and etc. but I'm trying to put as much as possible towards debt and saving for my future house as possible as well as a healthy emergency fund. I picked up some side hustles with tutoring and work with apps which I will let you guys know about in another month or so as well. I want numbers for 2-3 months to really see which apps I feel are worth looking into and which are a waste of time. So look for those posts in a month or two.

Personal:

1. Get back into the dating world.
•  I've been out in the world of online dating for a while now... nothing major update wise here.
2. Complete at least 50 blog posts this year. 
•  So far this year: 8 of the 50 I had as a goal. I'll be working on getting this number up some.

DIY Deodorant... 6 Months In

I've been using DIY deodorants for a good long while now and 'natural' deodorants for even longer due to my allergy to aluminum- since high school. It's been a long and frustrating journey I have to say but I'm almost to the end of it in that my latest batch of deodorant was nearly exactly what I wanted. I'm pretty psyched about that fact actually and that means that I'll have a post upcoming on my finalized recipe in the next few weeks if things go as expected. 

On this journey to finding something that works for me I've learned a few things that would have been super helpful to know.

1. Natural deodorants don't have antiperspirant (so you still sweat) for really good reasons but I still miss them and the lack takes some getting used to. 
2. Eating properly changes the need for deodorant (and your natural scent... eww, I know, but true). 
3. There are million DIY deodorant recipes out there it seems... and not all of them will work for every person. That's why there are a million of them. We didn't all like Secret or Dove or what have you deodorant when we used store bought deo and we have ALL said that one brand worked better than another and had someone completely disagree with us. Why would DIY be any different?
4. Similar to the last one... this is a process and everyone is different. I've tried out a different recipe each and every time I made a new tube of deodorant. Some of those recipes were recipes I'd found online, some were based on recipes or combinations of recipes, some were completely mine. Many worked pretty well... some very much so did not. Reviews of recipes stating they were awesome didn't mean they worked for my body (see the next one... that was a painful week).
5. Baking soda can burn. The underarms are sensitive places, enough said right? Ouch. I ended up using a very tiny amount in my latest batch but for those who are even more sensitive than me you may want to sub arrowroot powder for baking soda completely in recipes you find for deodorant online. It doesn't seem to work quite as well as baking soda (for me) but its a close second. I've had to experiment with ratios over the past few months for each batch I created to see what worked best on my body.
6. Texture is very important for me. I wanted a deodorant that I could roll on from a normal deodorant tube but this was often far from the case. Most recipes I've tried have been not quite firm enough for what I am looking for... or too firm and the tube wouldn't rise. This has been the part I've spent the most time working on to be 100% honest. There have been recipes I've churned out that worked great but were simply too soft many times in this process.
7. Ingredient quality is important. This is pretty self-explanatory I think, if I bought the cheapest one of unknown quality then I was more likely to get variable consistency and quality. Do your research on brands you want to use basically.
8. Scent matters... oh so much. Some of the oils I've used to scent my deodorant just did not work well together, or worse, were not a good combo with sweat. This is likely the reason I have had several natural deodorants that didn't make the cut (sorry Tom's) before I tried my hand at DIY.

That's all for now. I'll be posting an update on what I've been working on lately  this week as well (I haven't been slacking, promise, just trying a lot of different things with mixed results). One of those things is my Instagram account... feel free to hop over and check out things I'm working on recipe wise, see some meal ideas and just keep in the loop on what's going on with me (my two pups pop up from time to time as well... love them!).
 
Instagram: @reallifewithheather

Chronically Ill and Flying... with Dogs, Part Six: Wheels Up!

The morning of travel I was exhausted and my bp was being pretty touchy but I was able to get to the airport. Brain fog had me nearly to the wrong airport before I realized I was going to the wrong one and had to turn around and go the other direction. Luckily they aren't too too far from each other and I was able to get there in the time I had left without issue. I try to always leave extra early in case of long lines, traffic, needing to stop for meds (or sit a spell), or etc. so that the stress doesn't make me more symptomatic. Having that extra time was very useful this trip. My luggage ended up getting checked 1 minute after the cut off time. 1 minute and my luggage wasn't guaranteed on the plane anymore. It was beyond frustrating since I knew that, even with the detour, I would have had no issue getting my baggage checked in on time if I didn't have dysautonomia. Luckily it did get on the plane in time so there were no issues. I made sure to wear compression stockings and added extra powdered electrolyte drink packets to my carry-on as I would be drinking them non-stop for the rest of the day. This trip I had to use a wheelchair in the airport. I don't normally need to when I am not flaring or when it is a milder flare but there was no way I could stand in the TSA line, walk through a large airport, and stand in line again to board the plane just to endure the pressure and altitude changes then walk/stand more at my layover and destination airports. It just wasn't going to happen without serious repercussions. I hate using the wheelchairs even after all this time as I always assume people think I am faking a need for one... pretty much the same as when I had a handicap parking pass and let it lapse because I hated the stares. I only use help when I absolutely need it so I need to get past that... but it is a common sentiment I hear from others like me so I am far from alone on this. On the wheelchair front I will say that having a carry on AND the pet bag was rather more difficult than I imagined it would be even though they escorted me to the gate as not all airports/airlines will let you put a backpack on the back of the wheelchair I found out. 

TSA was no issue whatsoever. I walked, shakily by that point, through the detector then had my hands tested and we were done. They didn't care about any of the food items I had chosen to bring with me and my laptop and liquids bag were easily accessible so we were done within a few minutes. As soon as the pups and I were through they brought the wheelchair through to the other side of security and I gathered my belongings quickly and we were back on our way. My heart rate from that small standing/walking bit was quite high so I was grateful for the wheelchair and didn't even care about the stares at that point... I needed the help and I was glad I had it. Next time I hope I won't need it but if I do then I will make the request just as I did this time. Never judge someone if they use a service such as a wheelchair, handicap bathroom stall or parking placard, etc... you never know what is going on medically with them just by looking at them from the outside. No idea whatsoever.

The dogs know how to travel as they have been doing so for years so they were pretty much perfect the whole time in the airports and on the planes. There was one little tiff where one ended up falling on top of the other (my fault) and the landed upon pup got upset but we were cool within a minute or less. My neighbors on the plane didn't even know I had them with me. One was totally surprised when I let her know that I would let her out and then wait until the plane cleared a bit before leaving as I had the dogs so needed a bit of time and space to maneuver. She asked me if I had to drug them... I let her know that "No, they are seasoned travelers and are likely napping at the moment but will wake up when we land." and she asked a few more questions about cost, their carrier, and about them in general and then it was time to de-board. Once we arrived at my grandmother's house the pups had everything they could want in the world: plenty of people to love on them 24/7, food, toys, a big backyard that they could go out and play in whenever they wanted. They were quite happy to be there.

As for me, well my trip wasn't quite the success it was for the pups. My flare kept getting worse until I was practically hooked to a bottle of Gatorade and a bp monitor 24/7. I couldn't stand for more than a few minutes without issue so I spent most of the trip lounging on a couch brain fogged and symptomatic trying to keep everything in check enough to still interact with my family who was visiting. I *think* I did a pretty good job of pretending to be 'normal' when needed but for the most part I probably just looked pretty lazy and out of it unfortunately. I'm still glad that I went of course but it was sucky not being able to really be up and about and really interacting fully with my family since nearly everyone was there- including my 19 month old niece, most of my aunts and uncles, my sister, brother-in-law, parents, a cousin and both sets of grandparents. I saw a really cute play with my grandparents the last night I was there and it wiped me out but I'm glad I got to spend that time with them nevertheless and didn't just stay home.

Headed back to TX was pretty much the same issues and process... wheelchairs, Gatorade, compression stockings, nausea meds, and sleeping/resting as much as possible. I wasn't quite as symptomatic by that day as I had been earlier in the trip and might have been able to walk the airport on my own but I had parked in long term parking (I know, bad choice... I didn't realize how far it was from the entrance when I parked there. My body hated me by the time I got to the ticket counter on the way to KY. BP was crazy and I was so tachy the room was spinning and I was sick, no bueno.) and I knew I was flying into a storm so I didn't risk it. Worsening my flare was the absolute last thing on my to-do list for that day. It took a few more days for the flare to finish calming down but I am back to my 'normal' more or less now it seems thankfully.

DIY Deodorant Update

A while back I did a post about DIY deodorant. I wasn't a big fan of the scent and the consistency needed to be firmed up a bit in my opinion. The original recipe can be found here and is pretty awesome in and of itself so you should go check it out. My tweaks are below.
INGREDIENTS:
1/4 C Coconut Oil
1 Tbsp Beeswax Pellets
1/4 C Baking Soda
1/4 C Cornstarch 
10 Drops Purification Oil
10 Drops Sweet Orange Oil
5 Drops Lemon Oil

OTHER:
Empty Deodorant Tube

PROCEDURE:

1. Melt coconut oil and beeswax pellets slowly over very low heat in a small saucepan.
2. Remove from heat once completely melted.
3. Mix in cornstarch and baking soda until smooth.
4. Add any essential oils you so desire. 
• You can add the ones from the original recipe, the ones I am using or different ones altogether. If you do not have any oils feel free to leave them out, the deodorant will still work. 
5. Pour mixture into an empty deodorant tube or other twist up container. I prefer to let mine sit for a minute and begin to settle then give it a quick mix before I pour it but this isn't necessary.
6. Allow the tube to cool completely.

The tube can be a little difficult to get going but, out of all the variations of beeswax I have tried, this is the easiest while still remaining solid enough to use easily in a roll-on form.