Wednesday 27 June 2012

Ketosis & Me & Nylons

Okay so here is an update on this week in the life of a realtor/insurance broker on a low-no carb diet.

 Not so good. 

I gained back all of the weight I lost.  Which is only four pounds but I had hoped I had found the miracle cure.  That part of it doesn't worry me too much.  However I did get a little cocky this weekend.  I had chips, cookies, a couple of chocolates on Monday.  I had been doing so well that I was thinking I was off Scot free.   This resulted in a day of minor headaches.  I took two Advil in the morning on Tuesday and woke up in the night on Tuesday/Wednesday with the worst headache I have had in a month.  Not a migraine but a pretty bad one.  Although I took two Advil again and it went away so I am close to getting better.  There was a wicked storm on Tuesday night and I am sure the barometric pressure has something to do with it. 

So I am back to my pretty strict no carb thing.  I am trying the unrefined carbs if it's not possible to have none, and none is pretty hard to accomplish.  And some of the long term side effects of no carbs sound pretty horrible as well and I would rather avoid that if I could.  I have to combat the fatigue in every way I can because I do work a lot and need to have as much energy as possible.  Finding that balance seems hard to do.  But I will keep you posted. 

Here is my next dilemma.  You know that I have been trying to expand my horizans a touch.  Not a lot but some.  You all know that I tried a skirt on last time I went shopping.  I didn't buy it but I did try it on.  I am going shopping again and would like to try a skirt but here is the thing.  What do you wear with a skirt?  You see, if I don't wear socks I kind of feel like gagging.  Are nylons that horrible that no one is allowed to wear them anymore?  Would I be lynched in the town square for wearing nylons?  Would I be allowed to wear a peep toe shoe if I had nylons on?

The gauntlet goes out to all my fashion loving readers...What the hell am I supposed to do? Please comment and weigh in.  Guys you too.  I will take a vote from you as well.  Yes or no? 

Thanks for the reads and the advice.  Have a great night!

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Compulsion+Craving=Still No Headache

I am not sure exactly what is going on with my eating.  I am trying really hard to adapt to this carb-ish free life style but am not a hundred percent sure how long the adaption process is going to be.  I am totally ready to get it over with. 

I can tell when I eat a lot of carbs because my head gets tight.  If you get migraines you will probably understand what that means.  I don't get a full on head ache but my head and jaw get tight and feel like they are starting to build pressure in my jaw.  Weird I know but what can I say. 

However because it is raining every freaking day, its hard to tell what the barometric pressure might have to do with it as well.  I really want some chips.  I hate feeling guilty for eating hummus with snap peas.  I mean for the love of Pete- IT'S HUMMUS.  How bad can it be. 

My energy is my main concern though.  I just feel like someone pulled the plug on my energy.  Maybe it has to do with the weather but I have no energy and feel exhausted all of the time.  If anyone out there lives on this low carb diet I would love the input as to how to avoid this exhaustion or how long this takes to get over that feeling.  I keep waiting for my body to figure out how to make other energy but oye!  I am eating like a pig and still haven't got energy. 

But the plus side is 3 full weeks and no headaches.  That in itself is amazing.  So I guess I should quit bitching or eat the carbs and live with the head aches right?  Okay, quit bitching it is.  I guess I just never thought it would be this hard.  I kind of thought that I would feel so good with no headaches that I would breeze through this.  No change is easy and I guess I thought it would be.  Okay blogger land, I will try to quit griping about it.  I will go home now and go to sleep early and fingers crossed, will be better tomorrow. 

And to everyone in the last week that looked at me with concern and said "Are you okay? You don't seem yourself?"  the answer is "Yes I am ok.  I am on a diet to rid myself of pain and apparently get healthy in a way that makes me look like death warmed over just to fool you!  I don't want you getting all the low carb hummus in the store before I do!"

Regardless of my warped humor, its still worth it.  I'm sure my kidneys and liver are thanking me for not riddling them with the toxins of Maxolt, Tylenol and Advil by the handful.  It's still worth it.  It's still worth it. 

Gotta go.  Have to find some beef jerky to gnaw on at work tomorrow.  Have a good night!  Thanks for listening!

Sunday 17 June 2012

Update on my headache free lifestyle

I have had a few odd things that I have noticed with this new diet. 
I am trying to do the whole ketosis thing to get rid of my head aches.  I have noticed that there are some side effects so to speak but one of them is that I am down four pounds as I said before.  So that is kind of a weird spin off because I am eating enough to sink a small ship.  I thought that since I don't really need to worry about weight loss as much that I would work to be satisfied with this new way of life so that I don't end up hating it and going back. 
I eat a lot now.  All the time it seems.  However I have had some wicked cravings. The need for carbs seems to consume my brain.  It seems to be all I can think about.  I have caved a couple of times and then I notice the real difference in what the carbs do.  For example.  I have been incredibly tired this week.  Exhausted actually.  Bone weary tired.  Some of the reading I did on this diet warned about being tired but I did not really expect it to be so bad.  And because I have been paying attention I noticed that my cravings have been fierce.  My guess is that my body is craving the energy from the carbs. 

On Saturday I caved to my cravings and had some popcorn.  It was awesome and the spin off side effect was energy.  Almost immediate.  I had the energy to clean my office which was a huge mess. I forgot and put a teaspoon of sugar in my coffee in the morning and I had a peice of licorice that my loving husband brought me.   So I can really see the difference in the carbs vs not having carbs.

Resolve has been tough but there is one huge upside.  I have not had a migrane in 2 1/2  weeks.  This is the longest I have been without a headache in at least two years.  I have had to take advil three times but all three times the headache has gone away.  "Often with one dose" lol.  I take two magnesium citrate pills, one malic acid with magnesium, my other headache pills and a multi vitamin.  And the multi vitamin doesn't contain any calcuim because I have found that calcium triggers migranes as well. 

I am continuing to eat as few carbs possible.  I will keep trying.  I read that this diet does give you more energy as the time passes and your body gets used to it.  I will keep trying.  Not having a head ache is worth it.

Thanks to all of you for reading.  It means a lot. 

Friday 8 June 2012

So Far Ketosis and Me!

Okay so the strangest thing is happening.  I have gone a week without a headache.  Well sort of anyways.  I took two Advil for a headache that was coming today and it went away.  This was very cool.  Now the key will be if I can get through the weekend.  Sunday's have always seemed like headache day so we will see how the rest of the weekend goes. 

I also started my second dose of the Sandomigran so we will see how that works now too. 

I haven't lost anymore weight but since I was never too concerned with that I am okay with it.  I have also been eating like a pig lately because I have been starving and PMSy so bad combination. 

I tried a low carb pizza crust made with milled flax seed that I got from SaskMade Marketplace in Saskatoon.  It's local and organic so a really good choice.  It was good.  Not real pizza of course but still really good.  And really easy.  You could easily make it on a work night as the crust doesn't really have to rise, just rest for 5 min. 

I did have some wicked cravings this week.  Two evenings actually.  And I caved and had a couple of cups of popcorn on night but other than that a pretty good week. 


But this is by far and away the best thing that happened this week.  I am an Auntie again.  Meet Choochie, I mean Brooke.  She is perfect and I can't wait to actually meet her. 

It don't get any better than this!

Thanks all!

Monday 4 June 2012

New Diet sort of? Ketosis and Me!

Well everyone I am trying to do something for myself now to make my head aches better.  The doctor put me on Nortriptyline that didn't do very much at all.  I had to go back to the neurologist this last week.  I was very full of hope the last time I left his office but was very quickly knocked back down. 
I got a head ache three days later. 

For the record, when I say headache, I mean a migraine.  I don't mean a headache that you can take two Advil for and have it go away.  When I see the Advil commercials that claim that Advil can fix a headache "Often with one dose"  (I hope that is the right quote.)  I always roll my eyes.  (Sorry Advil).  I mean, really, who calls that a headache. 

When I get a headache I start by taking two Advil.  This is my hoping stage.  Sometimes this does actually take a headache away for me.  But it never stays gone.  When I realize the hoping stage isn't going to last long, I take two Tylenol.  All of this is extra strength by the way.  About an hour later, the pressure begins.  The pressure I think is a lot of the pain.  The pressure feels like my brain is going to swell and push my teeth out.  It feels like if I could pull out my back teeth, that I would have relief.  I know that isn't true but that's the best description I have.    

Now to begin to combat that, I begin taking pills.  Usually two X strength Tylenol and three migraine Advil every two hours for as long as the headache persists.  Usually about  three days.  I have Maxolt now so they work better and I don't have to take so much by the way of drugs.

So with all that being said, I have been given a new pill to take everyday but I am also very interested in how my diet affects my headaches.  I have spent most of my adult life trying to figure out what causes my headaches.  I have always approached it in the way that one specific food triggers a headache.  That's what everyone always says anyways.  So when I looked up migranes it always had a list of trigger foods.  However, when I took them all away I still had headaches.  Not exactly what I had in mind. 

So I have embarked on a new adventure.  It is called the ketogenic diet or ketosis diet.   Basically no carbs.  So I started it last Friday and have already lost four pounds which is pretty cool but not why I am doing this.  So I invite you along for the ride.  I will explain more of my new plan and if anyone wants to try along with me, post along and let me know how you are doing too.  I would love to have company for my adventure. 

Thanks for the reads.  You all amaze me every time!

Sunday 3 June 2012

Twenty Years!

(This is actually a reprint from another blog I write.  I republished it on this blog to help everyone that may want to follow me with my new journey.)

Twenty Years


I do a lot of volunteer work but sometimes the one who needs help is me. I realised this today when I was sitting in the doctors office crying because someone finally listened to me.

It started with a nurse practitioner in town who listened to my complaints about my chronic head aches and took steps to actually help me a few months ago.

Over the years I have suffered with head aches. I remember my first head and stomach ache in grade three. I remember the doctor telling my mom that I probably just didn't like my teacher.

After my kids were born a doctor told me "You have kids, what do you expect?" After a few years another doctor told me "You're a woman, that's what happens." A few years after that one said "As long as you're working sixty hours a week don't come back to see me about this." (And for the record, after I sold my business and didn't work at all for six months and the head aches were just as bad.)

Throughout the years I envied people with what I considered low grade headaches. You know the people. The ones who can take one or two Advil and the headache goes away. I couldn't even imagine it. To put it in perspective, when I get a head ache I take three extra strength Advil and two extra strength Tylenol about every two hours for three to five days. I do this so I can function. My headaches wake me in the night. I was given Demerol, however that was kind of a joke. (That by the doctor that told me I was a woman.) I was also given a type of Aleve that was apparently quite strong. These were not helpful unfortunately. These all dealt with pain.

My headaches peak in the evening usually in the third or fourth day. And by peak I mean they get so bad that I will lay on the bathroom floor. I have, in those dark moments, contemplated banging my head against the door frame. The thought is that if I hit my head hard enough I would pass out and it wouldn't hurt anymore. Even typing it sounds crazy. But I know I'm not.

Because I was lead to believe that my head aches were normal, it never occurred to me to go to the hospital. (Which apparently does help you get noticed by the medical types.)

In all this craziness of Demerol, Advil, Tylenol, Maxolt and anything else I could try, I would wake my husband in the middle of the night to tell him what I was taking. I wanted him to be able to tell the EMS if anything happened. It became a running joke in our household because what could we do but laugh.

So with my last really bad headache prompted my husband to tell me to go to the doctor again. And he supported me/ badgered me until I went. And this is when Angela came in. She listened. She ran some tests and tried me on some stronger pills. (Maxolt is the spelling I think) My pharmacist came into play here too. She warned me about the pills, watched my refills and when I came back for the third refill in less than three months on a prescription that should have lasted a year, told me to go back to the doctor. She told me the drugs weren't doing what they were supposed to. Took the time to explain what they were supposed to do. The best thing about a small town is that these people are your neighbours. They care about you.

The new pills reduce the size of the blood vessels therefore taking the pressure off in my brain. They would take my pain away for a few hours but it would always return. I know nothing about pills. What I just told you is a dumbed down version of what they told me. Most of what they told me I don't really remember. I do remember Kelly telling me not to accidentally kill myself.

But I understand how it happens. How much you want the pain to just stop. In March I had nine migraines. With Maxolt they lasted two to three days. Mathematically I had about nine or ten days without a migraine. After every headache I have a half a day of a "brain bruise" so what does that leave six or seven days in a month with no pain.

When I type it its seems awful. But my life is good. Just this one area is tough.

Today I went to a neurologist. I got referred by Angela. Again he listened to me. Validated my pain and gave me something to try to prevent the headaches instead of treating the pain. He told me that in three months my life will be better. I believe him. I cried. I told him how much I appreciated him helping me.

So here's to me and getting my life back.

And because this blog is supposed to be about Forever Friends here's the tie in. Some of the people in the medical field are fantastic. Some aren't but in Canada we get health care so we can have a second opinion. If you are in doubt about any aspect of your health go to a doctor until you get what you know you need. I am a huge believer in intuition. I have heard lots of stories with women that know something is wrong but get brushed off. If you KNOW then trust yourself. Go until you find someone that will listen to you.

This is not to dog on doctors that have missed something. To err is human. This is to hold up the people that listen, to the members of the profession that are fantastic. If you know them, tell them. They deserve to hear it.

Thanks to you all for the read today.