Hey, you sound like me! I broke my back in 1980, and my brother gave me a computer, saying, “You don’t HAVE to be disabled when you write!” There wasn’t an internet yet, so my first attempts at writing lies were in “Amateur Publishing Associations.” That led me to the Forbin Project (or the RBBS as it’s sometimes called,) which eventually became CompuServe where I found a “virtual world” I loved, and now I’m on Face Book, and tend not to lie — mostly because I had a major stroke in 2006.

It wasn’t until I had my stroke that any doctor paid much attention to my skin problems (the area under my breasts looked like hamburger and bled constantly), my dry mouth, and my ever changing weight. (Sometimes my weight changed 30 pounds in 2 months when I didn’t change my diet or my constant lack of exercise — and the weight could be either a gain or a loss. It made no sense!) It didn’t matter that this kind of stuff had been happening long before my stroke — having a stroke means you’re going to get completely checked out no matter what.

My weight problem turned out to be thyroid, and easily fixable via a pill. Dry eyes were fixed via tiny tubes inserted into my tear ducts. It didn’t hurt, didn’t require anesthesia, and took less than 5 minutes. The dry mouth still isn’t fixed completely, but I can live with it now thanks to a product called “Bioténé.” It comes in 3 strengths and I use all three, the gel at night, the gargle as often as needed, and I carry the other to use during the day. (An unfortunate kidney stone also taught me to drink 8 bottles of water a day. That helps the dry mouth problem too.)

But my skin problems stumped the doctors. Finally a friend told me to run a litmus test on my skin. DUH! Every inch of my skin is far more acidic than anyone else I’ve talked into trying a litmus test. I learned to make my own soap, from scratch, using lye and animal fats. When you make your own soap, all the glycerin stays in the soap. The soap is slightly more alkaline than the detergents we call “soap” today, but it is also much more gentle on your skin. (Glycerin Soap, BTW, is an oxymoron. Glycerin is a byproduct of soap. Transparent soap is made by removing the glycerin and adding alcohol.) I found a place to purchase powdered Myrrh, and began adding a scant tablespoon of that to the melting fat. And finally I discovered a product called Zeasorb, a pure white, very, very fine powder that contains zinc. I bathe with my soap, very lightly powder my entire damp body with Zeasorb, and the difference in my skin is nothing short of miraculous.

I wish you all the luck in the world! I can think of few things more miserable than a dry mouth, dry eyes, and painful skin!