Ivy Lily Creative

A little (iron deficiency) health update and channel update: I currently feel better doing smaller tasks and projects I can finish in full in a day or a few days. So, I've been editing pre-filmed videos, editing shorts from older videos etc. But I'll try to get back to filming new videos soon, too (it's been over 2 months since I've filmed anything). I've started planning Christmas videos.

I've been taking iron supplements (and eating more iron rich foods) for 2 and a half weeks now. I got a reply from a health center doctor (probably the 5th doctor at this point) that I need to keep taking iron for 3-6 months, but there won't be any follow-up blood test, because my hemoglobin was fine and they don't follow up on ferritin.

I am slowly getting better, but it's still up and down. Iron supplements are also pretty rough on the stomach and I noticed I can't take ibuprofen painkillers with them (I won't go into details but it was a bad time, even the stomach protection medicine came back up), so when I need ibuprofen, I have to stop taking iron for a couple of days. And that takes me a few steps back.

The worst symptoms have gotten more sparse. I can walk short distances outside, but I still take walking canes with me. I even went mushroom picking once (a specific area with funnel chanterelles). We drove the car as close as possible, so it would be a short walk. I did get out of breath just from squatting down to pick a few mushrooms and had to rest by locking my knees and leaning against a tree 'cause there was nowhere to sit, but it was worth it.

I can work longer on the computer and I can watch tv again. (I used to get breathing difficulties, dizziness and muscle twitching even from watching tv.) And I can sleep a little better again. I'm no longer waking up to my heart racing because of every tiny noise in the middle of the night. And my resting pulse is going down. (And this is without the heart medication I was prescribed. I only took it for a few days and figured it was making me worse, tapered it off and stopped using it and later on the doctor admitted that the medication probably wasn't good for me. They really like to throw all kinds of medications at you instead of doing a simple blood test to figure out what's actually wrong with you. But I've noticed that besides staying calm physically, I also need to stay calm mentally, so I won't go deeper into this topic or how I got treated at the health center, in general.)

I do some light stretching or mobility exercises everyday, but I don't do any heavy exercise and I've started to accept that I maybe can't go to my usual dance classes and exercise classes again 'till next year. Once I feel like I can do more exercise again, it's probably safer to just do online classes that I can stop at any time if I need to.

This has limited my daily life and I haven't been able to do things I'd normally do at this time of year, but I'm alive and my health is slowly recovering and I'll be able to get back to normal life eventually.

1 week ago | [YT] | 8

Ivy Lily Creative

Remember, if you sell on TeePublic, you might need to verify your account via Stripe (if you live in the US, UK, EU or Canada and have made over 25 sales). It's not difficult and it doesn't take long. You do need to give Stripe an email address, your first and last name, your address and bank account IBAN, but it's not for TeePublic payment purposes or for TeePublic in general. It's to verify which country you live in for tax/legal purposes. If you choose not to do the verification, TeePublic might suspend your account. You don't need to have a Stripe account beforehand, at least I don't think I had one.

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 0

Ivy Lily Creative

Cleaning my paint tubes by peeling off the dried paint from them (over on the ‪@IvyLilyASMR‬ channel): https://youtu.be/q2DryElffQw

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 8

Ivy Lily Creative

🍂 SEPTEMBER PATREON REWARDS 🍂
www.patreon.com/c/IvyLilyCreative
🍁ASMR audio podcast: Sorting and organizing my art (no talking, no music) 56 min
🍁Coloring page printable: Kalevala mythology Louhi outline drawing
🍁Phone & desktop wallpaper: Nanday conure & pumpkin - watercolor painting
🍁Extended video: Kekritär harvest festival watercolor painting
🍁Reference photo pack: Autumn leaves

Skip the Carousel

1 2 3 4 5

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 6

Ivy Lily Creative

How to make your Redbubble mockups more interesting than the generic ones Redbubble gives you: https://youtu.be/XEvOgm27f1k
*Get a free Photoshop trial to make the templates work: prf.hn/l/VxjA9Ny/ (*affiliate link)

4 weeks ago | [YT] | 8

Ivy Lily Creative

A cautiously positive health update. It turns out you can be pretty severely anemic even if you have high hemoglobin. The doctor really did not want to give me a ferritin blood test, but I insisted (because my sister told me to) and lo and behold, my ferritin was under the threshold. There's still the question of why it's so low, when I should be getting plenty of iron from food. I don't know if the thyroid issues were a red herring or if they still somehow have something to do with the anemia. But I started taking iron supplements and I should start slowly getting better. It can take months to fill up the iron storage, but I assume I'll start feeling a little better sooner than that.

1 month ago | [YT] | 7

Ivy Lily Creative

Slowly starting to edit the next video again to get my mind off how I'm feeling. My health has been fluctuating. I don't think I'm getting better yet, but I am learning to manage it better. On the days when I feel better, I still need to be very calm. Can't even go out for a walk, because I'll immediately feel worse after it. I have pillows and a sofa cushion stacked up under the mattress to have my upper body elevated, when I have problems breathing lying down.


The only exercise I do is stretching my shoulders and neck daily. And when I start feeling like I can't breathe, I need to not overcompensate with heavy breathing or let it go into a panic attack. Singing is one thing that helps control my breathing and lower my pulse. And then if I also play the piano at the same time, I guess it helps shift the focus onto what I'm doing instead of how I'm feeling. Talking to someone or reading out loud helps, too.


I think I know what I have now. I was still very unsure last week, I didn't know which symptoms were the real ones and which ones were connected to the panic attacks. Now it seems clearer, but the ultrasound of the neck is required before anything can be done. So, it's just waiting and calling them everyday for any cancellations at this point. And if I suddenly get worse, then I have two other options to get help faster: the emergency room and private healthcare. So, I think I'll be ok, it's just gonna take more time.

1 month ago | [YT] | 9

Ivy Lily Creative

How to make diagonally repeating patterns in Photoshop: https://youtu.be/M742HLk46tQ
*Free 7 day trial: prf.hn/l/VxjA9Ny/ (*affiliate link)

1 month ago | [YT] | 3

Ivy Lily Creative

I've continued editing the next video but i can only do a little bit at a time before i start feeling the pressure in the front of my neck and i start getting dizzy, so its going very slow. I still dont know what i have. My sympthoms somewhat match many different things, so there isnt any clear answer.

The first 2 bloodtests indicated hypothyroidism but the 3rd one didn't anymore, while my sympthoms had gotten worse. Now they just want me to wait for an ultrasound checkup on my neck for a few weeks unless i get even worse.

1 month ago | [YT] | 11

Ivy Lily Creative

A quick health update. No video this week, because I didn't get it edited before I started getting more sick again. I've been having strange symptoms since the beginning of June, but the daily migraines, dizziness and nausea have turned into heart and breathing problems. Hopefully I can finally get a diagnosis and treatment soon (I do have medication for the heart problem currently). But for now I need to try to be calm. I'll get back to editing when I can again.

1 month ago | [YT] | 8