coming apart and falling together?

[anotheranon]

Haven't posted in the last few days, due to.. well, nothing to say, really. Neither D. nor myself have been feeling a million percent for the past few days, so I've been trying to rest up and make D. laugh. This involves Star Wars Trivial Pursuit and "Daily Show" reruns, so by necessity I've not been at the screen much :P

My muscle/joint aches this go round were probably related to a cold, but for the past couple of months it hasn't always been the case, and given that cold makes these pains ten times worse I've made a September appointment for the 30,000 mile checkup, or I'll have a really uncomfortable winter! Worst fear: it's my genetic heritage of autoimmunity finally manifesting; best hope: I'm exercising or lifting something I oughtn't and need to stop/seek a personal trainer/something.

On the up side, my hair is finally getting back to its' old self (see prior fret). N-Acetyl-Cystiene twice a day + Nizoral twice a week and while I don't exactly have a lush full mane (pixie cuts tend not to do that), it's got more body and is, I swear, growing faster. My nails are unbelievable - for the first time in my life I have to cut them because they don't break off on their own!

Little else to report. No fencing this week as my primary fencing bud A. has pneumonia :( (recovering, but he emphatically doesn't need to be sweating buckets with a sword just yet!) Will try to break through the writer's blockade this week (though with two days left, I'm not optimistic). Big weekend plans include hitting the JoAnn's 99 cent Simplicity pattern sale and hosting the first meeting of the women's book group.

Linkies so you get some payoff for reading this - what do you get for the manly man who has everything, including nice legs? A kilt, of course! Utilikilts or Amerikilts take your pick :)

Comments

[nminusone.livejournal.com]

If you're taking enough NAC (N-acetyl-cysteine) that your nails are growing noticably faster, you can be pretty sure that your hair is growing faster as well. It will also make your skin cells turn over faster, although it will probably be hard to notice that directly, especially at your (relatively young) age. Hair, nails and skin are all highly keratinized, and keratin synthesis relies heavily on cysteine, which is not very abundant in a typical diet. Providing more cysteine (via NAC) allows the body to make more of these things, especially hair and nails, which are mostly "luxury" items from a biochem/nutritional point of view. (One theory is that long, full hair is considered sexy because you have to be healthy and well-fed to get it, so in that sense it's advertising your evolutionary/social success.)

One thing NAC will usually not do, however, is make your individual hair strands much thicker. It might do that a little bit, and maybe a lot, for some lucky people, but in general that's not to be expected from NAC. They will probably be a bit stronger and more durable, though. Also if your hair is growing more quickly, then it's younger than slower-growing hair of equal length, and that's got to help a bit too.