What a Difference Four Years Make!

Of course I will never be able to fully catch you up on what has been going on for four years but...

Don't believe the smile..I was hurting here!

The health and pain thing.  The Mayo Clinic refused me, I went to Seattle to the UW he felt that it was all in my head. I went to a lovely allergist who decided that allergy treatment was worth a shot (I did have some mild allergies related to grasses, Juniper and dust).  I went through 3/4 of a round of allergy shots but i became so inflamed that she said enough..no more and either that worked or whatever crap karma was floating around decided to give me a break because i got better.  I still have the occasional flair up but mostly things are good on the health front.

Weight loss was not so great over the 4 year period.  I blossomed up to 212.  Menopause hit fully and my youngest moved out to go to university.  In our new empty nest situation my husband embarked on his health.  His method is no nose dive in to research and doggedly make changes.  To his credit he lost about 70 pounds by cutting wayyy down on his intake of carbohydrates (and yes it is KETO but not the fat bomb, bullet proof coffee kind).  This is a very measured carefully concocted kind that does not grab any old off the shelf KETO branded piece of junk.  It has been crafted by data, eating real food, and most recently fasting.


2016

He carried on his merry way and I would give it a whirl briefly until another delectable dessert temptation came along and fall off the wagon.  I of course would tell him that after two or three weeks on program that nothing was working for me and i might as well enjoy myself if I was going to have to live at this uncomfortable 212 for the rest of my life. It was not all gloom..during the two years of on again off again trying I did manage to gradually take off 13 pounds.









2017


2018

May-July 10, 2019

Then we took a long trip around the world.

Because we were together 24/7 we did an eating plan I would call Keto light.  OK really we ate mostly good food with carbs.  If the country we were in ate rice we had a bit but not all of it.  If we were in a coffee shop where I could no way drink caffeine unless it came with some sugar-I drank it.  If there was a dessert we wanted we ate it.  but each sugar, carb or pastry lapse was measured. We also walked...and walked...and walked.  averaging 15k steps a day for 6 weeks straight.
                                                         Pizza in Italy


July 11, 2019
We came home and neither of us had gained any weight but we both vowed to hit this low carb thing hard for a solid period of time and get this weight off.  We loved our trip and did not want to come home.  It reinforced for me that I want the weight off not for the clothes and not for the fun but for the health.  I want to go travel the world many more times and I do not want ill health or fatigue to get in my way.

Hitting it hard for me means black iced tea, 3 tbl. cream and sugar free vanilla sweetener for breakfast.  A piece of cheese or tuna salad and salad for lunch.  More tea mid-afternoon and then whatever hubby cooks for dinner with salad.
(he cooks meat..and only meat).  In the evening I have either whole fat yogurt with a sprinkle of berries or another iced tea concoction.

I dropped faster than ever before but hitting 194. I have always stopped and I did again..bouncing back up to 198. This beastly frustration when I had done everything I was supposed to was super disheartening.  Hubby talked me into attending the Ancestral Health Conference with him in San Diego a two weeks ago.  The mostly high quality research oriented presentations were not only inspiring but packed with a whole line of research that I had not ever really heard before.

My Husband Was Right! (You have no idea how much this pains me to say :))..

What I learned:

In the early 1900's the food industry decided that machine oil would make a great source of fat for us and turned machine oil into fake lard (crisco), fake butter (margarine), and vegetable oils.  They had to create a special chemical process to get said short-shelf-life oils to not go rancid and to make them palatable but they pulled it off.  the resulting chemical mixtures were ill suited to humans and screwed with our intestinal linings setting us up for all kinds of diseases (this actually might be the reason many of us even became obese in the first place!)

bad fat leads to... leaky gut

which leads to... intolerances of carbohydrates
which leads to ...our livers squirting out extra insulin
which leads to... inflammations which leads to diseases.

So..how do you fix it? and why did my compliance with low carb eating not work right away?

You have to fix the leaky gut and any imbalances in your microbiome (flora and fauna in the intestinal region..or as hubby and I like to say...butt gackteria).

At the conference the scary word came up a few times...FAST...this is not the kind that means quick instead that is...STOP EATING.  We decided on our way back home that we were going to do it.  My frustrations and he had come upon a plateau in his loss spurred us on. Hubby and I planned a three day fast.  Only plain coffee, water, or tea (no extra gunk) for three days.  We did include magnesium and potassium  (and boy howdy was that a life saver).

We stopped eating at 6pm Sunday evening.

For three days..I woke up and made a glass of iced tea with  half a packet of potassium and magnesium).  drank a second glass with the other half a packet,  I then drank iced tea every time I wanted or felt hungry (mostly wanted).  If I felt at all slightly woozzy or tired I would mix in another half of a packet of the magnesium/potassium.  Before bed I had a glass of water and measured my ketosis (pee strip).  during the fast I went from a medium ketosis up to second to the highest.  My Post ketosis readings have been second from the highest to yesterday hit the highest marker).

It was rather easy!  I cannot believe it as I am a girl who has never been able to fast.  I did not have to before my lapband.  I did not have to really even for my colonoscopy.  each of those times i could have any clear liquid i wanted (broth, jello etc.) . This three day jobber was amazing.  I did not push walking my 10k steps.  I did about 5k per day.  I went from 196 to 193 in three days.  Losing is good :)!  Then we broke our fast Wednesday at 5:30 (Hubby cracked).  The next morning I hit 192. Then 191.4, then 190.6.  I am still hoping to crack 190 but we have both decided we are going to fast again for three days starting Sunday for round two (yes that is how easy this was!!)

Here are links to the videos I have been watching both for motivation and research (because I like both of course). I got to meet Tommy Wood in San Diego (super nice and well-read dude).

Benjamin Bikman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3fO5aTD6JU
Tommy wood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd5Ph5Ofc7Y
Dr. Jason Funk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIuj-oMN-Fk&t=35s
Professor Tin Noakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=horIrfmLvUY
L. Amber O'Hearn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX4qsJd_Plc

If all goes to plan I should be back at goal by Christmas.  I will make sure and post before then :)

A Good Day

Today was good.  I am not sure if it was my attitude, just random good day or the new meds having a super human quick acting impact.

My doldrums yesterday may have been the result of proximal PMS.  When I complained to my dear daughter that for some reason the 'illness' had gone to my brain and I spent the morning doing the wheepy thing.  She said.."ha mom your right on schedule.  I woke up this morning with cramps."  Now I am on the final run to menopause (4 months and counting).  When I told a long time menopaus-er about this she snorted and said that just because the periods stop does not mean the emotional rollercoaster does..Geezz :).  Who holds all of these menopause secrets anyway?

I started the new medication.  a tasteless colorless ampule of liquid.  I just have a drink of water with the stuff in it.  Wait around for 20 min or so and eat or drink a meal.  I felt like I was taking a placebo really.  I have no idea if it is working but I feel good today.  Hopefully this is from the meds but the box says it can take several weeks to make a difference.

I got things done today-post office run, bank run, crochet for a pattern in the morning. :) Much more positive outlook than I had yesterday.

Interesting How Frustration Brings on the URGE to Blog.

I just got off the telephone with the Mayo Clinic.  What is wrong with our Medical care system???   I know I should be grateful that I have the means/insurance to go anywhere for care but PULEASE..can we at least be clear about procedures in writing?


I am sure a back-up and fill in is required here.


Since last May the pain cycle has just been one continuous pain in my backside.  lymph swelling, pain moves fro hands, the neck, to shoulder, to stomach, to hips, to legs and even my brain at time (if my grouchy factor is anything to go on).  My GP has decided the prognosis is Mastocytosis.  Basically that means I am allergic to myself :)  well really all kinds of things.  Apparently how this condition works is that my bone marrow makes too many mast cells.  These guys hang around on the walls of my veins waiting to be called into action and then go on a kamakaze mission to take out whatever intruder shows up in my body.  The problem is because there are so many whenever I get the tiniest twinge of an intruder they go to work.

Because there are so many of these mast cells the bomb that goes off is bigger than it should be hence all of my lymp glands and stuff go into overdrive.  When the mast cells die the do something called degranulation.  This relases several substances one of which is histamine.  The rest of them are apparently unknown but they know there are a lot of those others.  The treatment is anti-histamine.  The problem is...guess what Tina is allergic to?  yup..Benadryl an anti-histamine.  There are others but I am a tad scared to try them.  My daughter takes one-I tried it.  My reaction was not as bad as Benadryl but it was a smaller version (twitchy like I had had 5-6 coffees and nerve spasms).  Additionally It didn't really cut the swellng/pain any.   I opted not to repeat it.  My GP has now suggested I try cromolyn.  This one is apparently a mast cell stabalizer. She called in a prescription and that is the plan for tomorrow's pharmacological experiment.  The pharmacy did not keep it in stock thus I hae to wait two days to get it.

The GP also suggested  I go to the Mayo Clinic where they are well versed in treating this problem. Now we get to the fun part.  She suggested I call and make an appointment for myself.   So I called..
Although their webpage says a patient does not need a doctor referral when you call to make an appointment guess what they require?  Of course..a referral.  So then I had to wait a week (because my doctor is good and gets you in) to talk to my doctor and then another week for her to get all of her paperwork together (it is approx 3 inches thick).  She then handed it back to me to send off.  Today I called to get specific delivery instructions and the woman on the phone said,  "oh your doctor has got to send the paperwork."  I kind of lost it in frustration and asked her what difference it makes...she provided no reponse just repeated.  The doctor has got to send it.  I said I have the referral..i have my records just tell me where to send it.  The woman repeated, "the doctor has got to send it....gahhhhhh. Is she really worried that I am some sort of a psycho record maker-upper patient?

Dear Mayo Clinic,

What the heck is your problem?  Your webpage clearly states that patients do not need a referral.  Is this a lie? When a patient is seeking treatment do you really think they feel good enough to mess with your clearly conflicting chain of command demands?  Can you please put a clear set of instructions on your webpage or at least talk to your PR people and make sure they understand that the medical care system is not patient driven and never will be easy, clear cut or straight forward?

Sincerely,

Tina

A patient who has been in pain now for over a year, has been to see a crap ton of doctors and been poked a crap ton more.  She is not looking forward to more and is therefore not faking.

oh.. and she is at the end of her rope of patience

UPDATE on Weightloss:

Oh hey-I am now down to 192.  My ticker is broken but slowy losing weight.  Apparently weight loss is a side effect of this stuff.  Ha..first a gain because I thought it was the lapband giving me problems and now that I have a partial fill again all of the stomach junk does indeed make me want to give up food for good.  Can someone live on fluids?  I am ready to try.

I had a second visit with the endocrinologist.  I have decided he is rather crap.  He added another anti-seizure drug to the speed that I was taking.  I took it for approx. 2 days.  Prozac was a better weight loss drug that this kitchen lab mix.  Perhaps it is because I have so much else going on but I really didn't need to add those two crazy things to this mess that is my health.

Additionally I have decided I really don't like the guy.  Sure I am willing to put up with that if he helps but I have had it up to my eyeballs with specialists that are so busy they cannot get you in in a reasonable amount of itme (6 months between visits when he said I should come in every 3) and then when I am in the office he doesn't care if I might have conflicting health issues.  he wanted to hand out another set of drugs and send me on my way.  No thanks..I still miss my original lapband guy..sniff sniff.

UP and Down and Around

I am fed up with the illness gig.  a couple of weeks ago half of my toes on my right food went numb.  This occured sometime during the night as I woke up with them that way.  They are not quite as dead as the one on my left foot.  Those lost feeling several years ago.  They are still though..not with full feeling.  Rather tingly I guess is the best thing I can say.

Two days ago my hands spazzed out again and I am back to waking up with them folded close in a very awkward way.  I wake up in the middle of the night with sharp pains that feels like I am getting a nail spiked through the middle of my palm.  I loosens up in the morning so that I can use it for the most part but still hurts.  I am back to taking an Alieve in the morning.  By 3 pm the pain starts up again.  The past two days I have popped a second one.

The weight-went back up to 204 but lo and behold yesterday had dropped back to 202.  This go round  I can feel my clothing get looser but..it is not budging over my belly.

My trainer guy left town to take a vacation, cycle in a race and see his daughter.  I have not worked out in 7 days (and yes I know I can work out on my own..I am LAME).  I have walked a bit.

I am trying a week without wheat to see if that helps my hands.  If I can manage a week I will do a second.  Oh and yes..the pain could be coming back because I quit exercising.  I am just going to try both at the same time and see what happens.

Down 2 :)

Just a quick update.  I popped on the scale and was down 2 pounds.  I am really surprised because frankly I have gotten used to the stability that 204 had become.  I am not complaining that is for sure :).

Today was pretty good.  Just a bit of hand pain and numb toes.  I took a single alieve and was good for the day.  Sooo much better than last week.

A Little Roller Coastering

Nothing lasts forever right?  Since I last posted I have ridden that ride back into a pain-from-hell and now apparently back into a pretty good place.  I am actually pretty happy it was a short trip (much shorter than the last session at any rate.

Around about a week and a Half to two weeks ago the almost pain free thing switched and I started getting some pretty bad stomach issues (gas, bloating, and the the poo was not its normal self).  I chalked it up to a bit of food poisoning or something and carried on.  So did the tummy thing and at the same time my lymph nodes really swelled up painfully.  The arm pain returned and my feet joined in with numbness every morning.  Needless to say I felt a little bit panicked at this point.

I got in to see my new regular G.P.  and we talked about this ongoing, never ending, never figured out ailment cycle.  She poked and prodded as they always do and then sent me off for more blood tests.  I reiterated my concerns about Lupis because of the family history and asked her what the odds were that my tests could have read as a false negative thing.  She assuremed me that more than one had been run and both read negative. So..we know its not Lupis.

The doctor asked me to go get a blood test (yes more).  When the order came David and I spent  a while looking up what all the tests were and what they were for.  Basically it was the fullmeal deal.  She is/was testing from liver problems to Kidney, to blood cancer and so on.  She says that after these come back she will decide whether I will need to do a 24 hour urine test (yet another way to check my chemical junk).  I am still waiting for blood results.  I am sure some of these have already been done but hey..if she finds something (that isn't too bad of course) than I am game.

By Wednesday I was in agony-peak tummy, lymp, no sleep pain-o-rama. I went in for a second visit to the massage therapist and he was so nice..did the lymph draino thing and said he wished a couple of times he could work it all out.  The morning of the massage I did not take any allieve but I felt so bad even right away after the massage I took the pain killer while walking back to my house. At that point I decided that perhaps the morning Mango, Carrot smoothie was impacting these things as it was the only thing that was different in anyway from before.

 and..on Thursday...

I Went back to a single tall latte for breakfast.  Back in the the coffee and out with the healthy (pseudo) protein and fruit int he morning.  I was pretty quickly better in the stomach department and by today (Saturday)  I am feeling MUCH better.  I had my now regular massage and felt great!  I did a whole bunch of running aroud dong errands and got tired but Grace the 13 year old was tired too :) so I figure we just did a whole bunch :).

I am popping back on to add to this.  It is Sunday morning.  I feel pretty good.  Since morning is when the pain tis is usually at its worst I can say the symptoms are OK-a bit of hand pain, my toes are numb on both feet but it is all tolerable enough that I don't feel the need to swallow a bottle of pain pills :)

weight and fitness update:  I have not lost anymore.  I am still sticking around the 204 mark.  My fitness is still improving though as the  massage therapist moved up to the third floor of the building he rents in.  I ran up those three flights yesterday with him to the office and guess who was breathing heavy and who was not breathing heavy.  I love out fitnessing a young guy :)  It is really good for this old lady's ego.

Progress

This time around seems soooo slow but I am relatively happy thus far.


The physical training is continuing.  After my six weeks my trainer repeated his evaluation and I lost 8 or so pounds in the 6 weeks.. This loss did not read as fat the scale thingy indicated it was all muscle.  The trainer and I know that was not so thus we concluded that the scale failed to see the lovely organ fat that I probably lost.

My measurement changes were pretty wonderful-with a good 4 inches in my wait (my waist is the bane of my existence).  this waist thing bothers my newest doctor too (apparently) I drew this conclusiong from the number of times he waved his hand at my waist and commented on how us peri and post menopausal women must suffer from it.


I managed to do several more repetitions than I did on the first day and I ran around the entire park (without dieing).  The park is 1/3 of a mile and given that I have never been a runner I was pretty proud of myself.

Since the six week mark I have met with the trainer 3 more times and he is working me a little harder (I am not sure how I feel about this).  On Friday I manageded to run almost 1 mile during the hour workout.  My trainer Martin is pretty cool actually as he runs with me and does it nice and slow (even though I know he is gagging to do it at his normal pace).  After one lap he forces me to do stair steps, work out my arms with big old rubber band thingies and do sit-ups and then another lap..and then after more arm bending and steppy upping we run yet a third lap.  We did some stretching too (beginning and end).


I am now down to about 204-206 (depending on the day and the water bloat).  I would dearly love to get past that evil 200 mark again soon.

Pain?  well it is almost gone.  I am not sure what did it-as the exercise has got to be helping.  I am still getting one massage a week.  They are now prescribed by my doctor.  The masseuse does lymphatic draining methods to help employ out my hands (the main ones are just below your clavicle).  I also get my back, neck and shoulders massaged too-

Finally I have been trying to eat better.  Still no coffee!!!

In all I feel heaps better and whatever caused it as long as it keeps improving I am OK with that and will keep doing my part to build muscle and stay healthy.  The hands have only slightly ached at any given time and once when I sat down on the floor I had difficulty pushing off with my hands to get up.  I think I am going to do more of that..perhaps in this last 6-7 months my muscles have just weakened too much.

Finally-today I went curling!  one of my customers (neighbor and friend too!)  Curls with her husband so she invited a bunch of us down to learn to play.  It is pretty hard work and difficult to stretch out and push the stone off.  All together 9 couples come out to play.  Although I was sad he couldn't play one of the husbands had an injury and had to sit out and watch.  Thankfully he used this time to snap a couple of photos of us-

 I am holding my broom ready to sweep in front of the stone to keep it moving down the lane.

all of the group learning how to push the stone.  (it is a very difficult crouching position to get into).  I opted to use a push stick this time but I think I am going to practice with socks on my dining room floor so that I can manage it next time on ice.