Kissa da Fighting Fish

From what I have learned in the last couple years I attribute back to the Endrocine system.
The major glands that make up the human endocrine system include the:

* hypothalamus
-The hypothalamus (pronounced: hi-po-tha-luh-mus), a collection of specialized cells that is located in the lower central part of the brain, is the main link between the endocrine and nervous systems. Nerve cells in the hypothalamus control the pituitary gland by producing chemicals that either stimulate or suppress hormone secretions from the pituitary.
* pituitary gland
-Although it is no bigger than a pea, the pituitary (pronounced: puh-too-uh-ter-ee) gland, located at the base of the brain just beneath the hypothalamus, is considered the most important part of the endocrine system. It's often called the "master gland" because it makes hormones that control several other endocrine glands.
* thyroid
-The thyroid (pronounced: thy-royd), located in the front part of the lower neck, is shaped like a bow tie or butterfly and produces the thyroid hormones thyroxine (pronounced: thy-rahk-sin) and triiodothyronine (pronounced: try-eye-oh-doe-thy-ruh-neen). These hormones control the rate at which cells burn fuels from food to produce energy.
* parathyroids
-Attached to the thyroid are four tiny glands that function together called the parathyroids (pronounced: par-uh-thy-roydz). They release parathyroid hormone, which regulates the level of calcium in the blood with the help of calcitonin (pronounced: kal-suh-toe-nin), which is produced in the thyroid.
* adrenal glands
-The body also has two triangular adrenal (pronounced: uh-dree-nul) glands, one on top of each kidney.
* pineal body
-The pineal (pronounced: pih-nee-ul) body, also called the pineal gland, is located in the middle of the brain. It secretes melatonin (pronounced: meh-luh-toe-nin), a hormone that may help regulate when you sleep at night and when you wake in the morning.
* reproductive glands (which include the ovaries and testes)


My theory is that some how out Hypothalamus and/or Pituitary gland has been compromised. For some people it could be a near death experience, for some it could be a Cerebral Fluid Complication, or something else that caused the Hypothalamus to be compromised.
I have another rare disease called Psuedo Tumor Cerbri which is a build up of fluid in the spinal cord and brain. How I was diagnosed was because I had a CT showing my Pituitary Gland being smaller then usual and being surrounded by some kind of fluid.

In my situation my Pituitary gland was comprimised first. This may have caused a chain reaction that finally left my hypothalamus comprimised and since it is the link between the endocrine and nervous systems it makes sense that when I got hurt my nervous system was in the right state to bloom into full blown RSD.

Needless to say I am no doctor but it makes sense to little old me that if they are connected they can spread different problems that if they go unnoticed can cause bigger problems.

I think where doctors need to study is our brains. Mainly how our hypothalamus works compared to an normal brain that hasn't been comprimised.

Doctors please help us. This pain is awful. We want a cure. We would love it as maybe a birthday or Christmas Present.

So its over I am married....I know I know....the Single Men of the World Weep and Wail over their loss LOL. It was amazing! The Friday before my friend, Tara, planned my Bridal Shower Some of my Closest Friends and Family came and it was a blast! Tara set up an interview on tape of Joey answering questions about him. They then asked me the same questions and for every one I got incorrect I had to put a Marshmallow in my mouth. I ended up messing up a lot cause I was in a bad RSD fog that day but it ended up being hilarious. We also did a Honey-do list and I got all of them right.


The Tuesday before the Wedding my friend Sarah came into town all the way from the UK. I was sooooo happy when she was safely here. We went to the Zoo that Wends. and we had a lot of fun. Sarah had never been to America so going to the zoo was a blast and we also saw stuff there that we hadn't see when we went the day Joey proposed.
Thursday and Friday were spent working on setting up and getting last min. stuff for the wedding. The groomsmen finally got their outfits and they looked amazing!
July 16th we had rehearsal. I was so tired and in pain because I couldn't sit down correctly. My RSD kind of ruined the moment but I still had fun. Joey and I were sooooo nervous.
When I woke up the morning of my Wedding I felt sick to my stomach but I was excited. We ran off to get me and my friend Tara's Hair done and we both looked killer. We ran to the church and I started getting ready. I got to talk with Joey's Mom a bit as I was getting ready and it helped me to relax and focus on this happy day. Finally we were ready to put on my dress and i felt like a Princess as I put it on and was strapped in. Everyone lined up and my mom left to go light the unity candles with Joey's Mom and she then came back to join me and my dad to walk me down the aisle. It was heaven. As my parents walked me down the aisle my dad realized that he hadn't taken off his Shoes. Everyone was shoeless in honor of me because I can not longer wear normal shoes because of my RSD. So halfway down the aisle my poor arthritic 64 year old father bent down and proceeded to try to take off his Shoes. It was one of the funniest things ever.I finally got to the end and was handed off to Joey. He looked so handsome in his Blue Shirt and Tie. I was speechless. We said our vows and we were getting ready to exchange rings and we turned around to get them from our best man and maid of honor. Suddenly Joey's Brother Josh who was one of his Best Men whipped out a Cracker Jack box and proceeded to open it eat some and pull out my ring. It was one of the funniest things I had seen in my life. We finally exchanged rings.
We then walked to light the unity candle and walked back Husband and Wife.
We walked out of the ceremony and into our reception and it was amazing. It was beautiful. Our wedding cake was more then I could have imagined. Joey's Grooms cake was beyond amazing! The food was lovely and the company even more so. Everyone ate and had a blast. Joey and I danced and I tossed my bouquet. Sarah my friend from the UK caught it.
Joey took off my garter and he tossed it and Josh his brother caught that. So we made Josh put my garter onto Sarah who we had been trying to hook up together since she got into the States. They are such a cute couple.
Finally everything settled down and a lot of people left so we opened our gifts and got so much stuff. It was amazing!
We finished and decided to change and got ready to leave. My friends had decorated our car with cute sayings and the back had a big Just Married written on it. We finally left and got out on the road. We went to West Virginia to a little State Park Called Pipestem and stayed in a little hotel at the bottom of Bluestone Gorge.
It was amazing! We stayed there for 5 days and went to Hinton. Princeton, Sandstone Falls, Beckley to the Coal Mine. It was amazing! All together it was a heavenly trip with my husband.
I love my hubby and I am sooooo happy to now be Mrs. Christa Whightsel
Here are some photos.

So I haven't written in quite a while so today I was like I should write something cause a LOT has happened lately!
The date was april 7th, 2010 and my boyfriend, Joey, decided to take me to the Columbus Zoo to help me take my mind off of the fact it had been exactly 2 years since my accident that caused my RSD. We had a blast we saw all the animals and laughed so hard when I joked that his relatives were there. (The monkeys) He pushed me around in my grandmother's wheelchair and never once complained! It even took 45 mins to wait in line of lunch but he did it all with a smile.
If you know anything about me it is hard and close to impossible to surprise me. My mother tried when I was 17 and I knew what was going on weeks before the surprise party. So knowing I knew what could happen that day Joey told me that he forgot the ring. He really had me going, and I got to the point I was rather miffed he could have been so careless to leave something as important as my engagement ring at home.
Finally due to my Rsd pain we had to leave so instead of going home we decided to grab dinner at Applebees.
We sat down and ordered and got the awesome 2 meals & an appetizer for like 20 dollars...I know goods deal eh? LOL I suddenly wasn't hungry and this is normal for me but oddly Joey wasn't hungry either. He was oddly jittery and totally not like himself.  We paid the bill and boxed up the left over food but we didn't leave he just kept telling me to wait a second.
He finally got up and asked me if I knew what was in his hand. I was confused because I thought he didn't have the ring. He proceeded to get down on one knee and ask me if I, Christa Elisabeth Azbell would do him the honor of becoming his wife, his best friend, and soul mate!
Well after all that I of course said yes! He proceeded to put the ring on my finger but something was wrong. Number one it was too small and number 2 it was the wedding band of the set and not the engagement ring. Me being the type not to correct and thinking it was truly the ring I love it because it was a symbol of my future husbands love for me. I literally couldn't breath let alone speak to let out the emphatic "yes."
He put it on my pinky for the time being and we went home to show mom and dad. I was stoked all the way home! I was engaged!
I showed mom and grandma because dad wasn't home from work yet. Grandma made me cry because she told Joey to take care of her baby grandchild. I have never seen her that proud and happy! Mom decided we should go to a jewelers to see about getting the ring sized correctly. We ended up not finding a place but Joey asked my mom while I went in to ask about sizing if he should give me my other ring to get sized. He then pulled out the engagement ring. Mom immediately told him to give it to me and he brought it in and I turned around to see him sheepishly standing there with the ring. I nodded and he put it on my ring finger.
We went home and showed my dad we took pictures and re enacted the scene for posterity's sake and went outside and took pics of the ring and me and Joey.
The next day I researched a little and found out that there was a well accredited jeweler in Worthington,OH 17 mins from my house. So before I had to pick up Joey to take him to work I took me and my mom to there and got sized. I told Joey that it wouldn't be back till saturday morning.
Later in the day after taking Joey to work my mother yelled up at me and told me to get in the car. We went and I found out that my ring was already done! So when I went to pick Joey up from work I was very excited! When he got in the car I flashed a grin and then subtly showed off the ring. He got all excited and I took it off and handed it to him and asked if he wanted to make it offical. He placed it on my finger and its never coming off! Ever!!!

I have been planning the wedding since that fateful day, and so far not a lot of stress cause it causes my pain level to rise drastically. I have my whole budget planned out and everything we want split between me and Joey doing it and I pretty much have everything but my photos budgeted in but that will come on Saturday!

Anyway! Hope you guys enjoyed and I can't wait to be married this summer July 17th!

Here are some photos LOL


 I will put up pictures of the ring on my correct finger when I take them.

My RSD Leg is getting worse. It is very scary sometimes, and it is very very hard to deal with mentally. You don't want to let on to the people around you just how bad you are hurting. I have found if you talk about how much pain you are in, people tend to think you are just being a baby. It isn't fair that I have to have RSD, and it is very scary. I try to keep the good people in my life and the ones that don't care I leave them on the side of the road of life. It is very hard to push those people out of my life. Even though they have hurt me they are still a part of my life. I have to watch and take care of my mental and physical health and negativity doesn't help any of that.
The last couple weeks I have been very busy, and now I am paying for it. My future sister in law and I went to the Art Museum and did art projects also. We had a blast it was treat to have Delilah over and hang out and be silly girls. We watched a lot of movies,ordered pizza, ate cookies with lots of icing,ate chips, and had sandwiches. It was amazing and very yummy. 2 days of just being silly.
Now my ankle is huge because I pushed myself too much. It wasn't a good idea to push myself like that.
I really want to go see Joey today but I don't know what time I will feel up to leaving the house let alone getting cleaned up.
We are currently still celebrating World Wide RSD Angel Month. In order to celebrate we are collecting RSD stories from patients and caregivers. We need to educate the masses on the horrors or RSD/CRPS.
The road to a cure starts with education! Check out www.rsdcrpsdoesntownme.com and share it with your friends and family. Help us spread awareness!

These last couple of weeks have been rather stressful but now we are only a few days away from the beginning of World Wide RSD Angel Month. For the whole month of March RSD/CRPS Doesn't Own Me is hosting a month filled with celebrating our Battle against RSD. We are looking for testimonies and personal stories straight from RSD Angels themselves.
We hope to collect as many as possible and to have them on our website to spread Awareness about RSD/CRPS. It will be the largest collection of RSD Angel Stories ever!
RSD/CRPS Doesn't Own Me has been growing in leaps and bounds lately. So many people are learning about RSD and why we struggle each day to stay positive and live our lives.
Also our store is growing as well. We have almost tripled our products within the last 3 months.
Check out RSD/CRPS Doesn't Own Me's store at www.zazzle.com/kissdatfisha/gifts all of the proceeds go to Continued Awareness, and expansion of Awareness about RSD/CRPS. We are fighting this battle every day and we are working hard to win this war against RSD/CRPS. We will have a cure!

Pain hasn't been a big problem lately. I have been learning and growing a lot as a person these last few weeks. Joey and I have been growing as a couple also. I love him more and more each day. He just makes my heart flutter. I can't wait till we can be together forever! He is a great man!
He really helps me over come my pain and not sit on my bum and be a slug. It gives me hope and happiness to be around him!
In General life is good. I have been sickly though lately. My leg hates me on a regular basis. It is rough but I like my life.
Joey took me to Dave and Busters this past week and also took me to Build-a-Bear. It was nice and just the thing I needed.

So it has been majorly busy lately. This past weekend COGS had their premier of our new Movie "Phantoms of the Twin City Opera House." It was amazing! We then hosted a public ghost hunt after the movie and a large number of people came. We had a lot of really cool activity and the cool thing was that my boyfriend Joey and my dad were there. I like sharing my life with Joey. We are always around each other. I miss him when he isn't there. It is like a part of myself isn't around.

I have another Ghost Hunt Movie Premier this upcoming weekend at Bobby Mackey's Music World. I can't believe how cool it is that we get these opportunities and get to meet the people that we do.

So I am planning on going away for vacation soon and I am totally excited! Joey is taking me camping in a cabin! Woot! What a nice valentines day gift? We are planning on talking about something very important while we are there. I am looking forward to sleeping and just being away from it all.
We aren't going to have any cellphones, computers, video games, nothing. Just a book to read, maybe a movie or two, and some board games. Its gonna be amazing!

This week I wrote something for RSD/CRPS Doesn't Own Me and I wanted to share it with anyone who hasn't seen it yet. It is a rallying cry to arms against RSD. This was never written about anyone personally, private, or other wise. It was only to remind all of us that RSD is our true enemy. Not each other.

It has come to my attention that there is a lot of gossiping, slander, and hate among our RSD Angels.

When I made this Awareness Group and Fan Page I never would have believed I would hear that my wonderful Angels were fighting among themselves.

We deal with horrific pain everyday. Wouldn't we want happiness in our life? You are the only one that can control what you say and do!

I hoped not to have to write a note about this topic. But apparently some people need to be reminded that WE ARE ALL in horrid gut wrenching searing pain 24/7.

When you are an RSD Angel you need to think of all of the RSD Angels. We are fighting for each and every one of us to someday have a cure. Not just one!

This isn't a one person fight or dream. It takes team work, and who can work as a team when we are divided?

If we are allowing ourselves to be catty or go around spreading lies that is making our fight for a cure and awareness of RSD/CRPS that much harder. Instead of taking that much needed 2 steps forward we have brought ourselves 10 feet back.

I don't care who started any of the gossiping, slander, or hate, I want it to end here and now.

As I said a couple of days ago. Let us start anew! This is the first day of the rest of our lives. Are we going to let our emotions, or this horrid RSD control how we act? I say no!

Let us stand up and say we are RSD Angels we walk through fire, hell, and brimstone everyday and we still are here. We still are smiling. We are victorious and we will overcome RSD/CRPS! Now Who is going to join me and put aside everything else and fight against our only common foe..........RSD/CRPS!

There is a copy of this and other articles by RSD/CRPS Doesn't Own Me Staff Members @
http://www.rsdcrpsdoesntownme.com/articles.php

So the next few weeks are gonna be crazy busy.....I am so nervous about it and I pray that everything is going to go ok. I have one movie premier the end of Jan and one the first week of February. I have planned the one at Bobby Mackey's myself. I am very nervous and hope it goes over well. We will be signing autographs and showing the movie starting at 7 on the 6th of Feb. Then on the 30th of Jan. we have the McConnelsville Opera House Premier and Public Investigation. This will be our third Open Public Investigation there and I am really looking forward to it!
Then the weekend after that Joey is taking me Camping.....I am very excited!

My pain has jumped up through the roof lately. Maybe because of all the stress I have been under. I had to go to church yesterday cause I am in charge of some service stuff. So I was there from 9 till almost 1:30. Then I had to go change and go to Tara's to hang out. By the time I got there I was dead. My whole leg was shooting pain and I wanted to die. So Joey and I decided to go back to his house and see if hanging and chilling there would help. But by the time we got there I was crying just from the vibrations of my car. So he decided that I couldn't drive myself home so I had to stay at his house.
He is soooo very protective of me....I was in so much pain but he didn't want to allow me to be alone.He held me most of the night and tried to calm me when I had bad pain spikes. All in all he is an amazing man. I can't believe how lucky I am to have him. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him.
Life is stressful but when I look to the future I tend to have a smile on my face and that is something I haven't really done since before my accident. The future looks very bright! It would be even brighter with some bling bling but I am just saying LOL!
Anyway I am off to lay down and chill for a bit. HUGS!

So I haven't been writing lately though I don't know who read this blog anymore.....I am pretty much writing for my own sake I guess. New Years was good. Joey and I went over to Kat's House. I helped her plan the party and I ended up dying the whole time there and my ankle blew up to the size of a house. Just the left one aka my RSD Ankle. I am sooooo frustrated with my RSD in general and also I am frustrated with Workman's Comp!
I woke up this morning and my mother gave me a report from an email I got about my Workman's Comp case stating that I really didn't have RSD that is is really cause I am overweight and to put a horrible cherry on top of all that stated they called my mother enabling!
How can they get off saying things like that?! I am the one with the Neurological disease called RSD not my mother....she has nothing to do with this!!! How dare they attack her?! I can deal with what they say about me because I am used to it but bringing my mother into this is the last fricking straw! You thinking I was fighting barely before but now they brought my family into this and now it is all out war now!
You try to help your family while you want to crawl into a ball and die because the pain is through the roof and your whole leg is spasming!? I would like to see any of those pencil pushers deal half of what I deal with on a daily basis! UG! I just can't believe it!
Anyway enough being pissed off at the state.
Sorry if this offended anyone.....I am just sooo tired of bending over backwards and being in this horrid pain. I just want to be able to sleep without having to use a sleep aid because I can't fall asleep or stay asleep because of my pain. I am tired of dealing with the shocks and the swelling within my legs. I am tired of people not believing me!
I am so tired that I just wanna run away but that isn't possible! I am injured! I just wanna get better. I am 22 years old! I have dreams I wanna be a regular member of society and I just want my life back!