2018 has been a bit
of a bumpy ride for me. The issues at
work (with the big meanie) are still ongoing and have yet to be resolved,
although I do believe we are getting closer.
Fingers are crossed. There was
the incident at Burger King, excellent resolution, but unpleasant
nonetheless. Our funky weather which has
been all over the place. Long hours at
work, an admittedly overloaded schedule and to ice the cake, the incident with
the raccoon and our chickens. It's been
a lot to have happen in just two short months.
I know I'm not alone either, several of my friends have been having
their own things to deal with and I know it has been rough for them as
well. Like I said, it has been a bumpy
ride.
My health has been
kicking me in the butt. Toward the end
of the year my back went out again and held me captive for about three weeks
before I was back to "normal".
But I was still having some residual pain. Turns out it isn't my back after all, but a
bum kidney that is being "disagreeable". To top that off my migraines have been horrible and the tinnitus (ringing in my
ears) seemed like it was getting louder.
About a month ago I actually had to leave work.
My head hurt so bad and my ears were ringing so loud I could hardly
hear. Scary? Just a little bit.
Needless to say I
haven't been too happy lately with the path my life has been traveling
down. Well, enough is enough because I'm turning this tug boat around and we're
heading in a different direction. You
know why? Because I can!
Priority Number 1 is
to fix me. In order to straighten out my
health right now I'm now on a ketogenic diet.
Yes I am! Never thought I'd ever
do that, actually I thought it sounded insane first time I ever heard about it,
just some crazy fad diet, but my doctor insists this is the way to go. And quite frankly, I'm pretty much willing to
try anything at this point, within reason of course.
Talk about taking
everything I thought I knew and tossing it out the window. This is really different! I've read up so much on all of this, talked
with a nutritionist and for me I do believe this is the right path to
take. It has been just four weeks and
already I've had some amazing things happen which is telling me to continue on.
The first week I
immediately dropped 5 pounds of retained water.
I'd been swollen for so long my clothes barely fit. Now they do.
The waistband of my work slacks are no longer trying to slice me in
two. The next week my ears stopped
ringing for short periods of time during the day and by the beginning of week
three they weren't ringing hardly at all.
What a relief to get a reprieve of that persistent and annoying buzz in
my ears all of the time. Best of all I
can hear!
Then I noticed my
head seemed clearer and the Lupus brain fog I'd been struggling with seemed to
lift. This has been wonderful, because
now I feel like my thoughts are clearer and I'm better able to process better,
if that makes any sense at all.
My doctor also
thinks this diet will have a tremendous impact on my anxiety (which has been
off the charts lately with everything going on) and I think he is right. I swear there are times I'll be sitting there
and have this overwhelming sense of calm wash over me like I just took a pill or
had a stiff drink or something. Pretty
amazing.
My three main
issues, in order, are migraines, anxiety, Lupus and all the yucky stuff that it
entails. Is it possible a change in
dietary lifestyle can have such a significant impact? It just may be. As I'm reading up on stuff and really
investigating this diet I'm finding clinical studies and scientific data that
support ketogenic diets as a really good treatment for not only migraines,
anxiety disorders and Lupus, buy also other autoimmune issues like Chronic
Fatique Syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia.
Type 2 Diabetes, cancer, epilepsy. Parkinsons, MS, Alzheimers, chronic
pain, heart disease are all on the list among many others.
I wouldn't have
believed it had I not tried it. If you
think something like this might work for you I would recommend you talk to your
doctor, as it is a pretty drastic change. If
you want to hear more about what I am doing let me know in the comments and
I'll do more posts. I don't want to bore
anybody if this is a subject that holds little interest.
I honestly feel now
that I've got a handle on my health and things are improving that over time
everything else will fall into place.
Including the raccoon situation.
When you don't feel well, nothing seems to go right and it is difficult to make things go right. Getting myself on track physically is going
to also help me emotionally, I truly do believe that.
I hope you are all doing well.
Hi! I don't know that I've ever commented before, but I would love for you to do more posts about keto and how it's benefiting you. All I've really done so far is look at cookbooks on the keto diet from the library and since I don't really cook (although that could change come July...fingers crossed), I'm not sure if I want to pursue it further. However, I'd love to have as much info to reference as possible should I decide to make the change the 2nd half of this year. I suffer with migraines, anxiety, asthma and sleep apnea, in addition to being overweight, so I'm definitely in need of more of a drastic change than what I've been doing! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi Kim. I'm really glad you decided to comment. I am about a month in and I cannot believe the difference this has made so far. And it can only get busy. I love sweets and I still get to have some, although they are much different now. But my sweet tooth has definitely curbed itself so I'm not constantly craving them which makes a huge difference, believe me. And, knock on wood, I haven't had a migraine in almost four weeks which is pretty amazing. I have asthma too and haven't had any trouble with it lately either. I'm excited!
DeleteWow, that is totally awesome! I'm so glad you saw some immediate results. I have a sweet tooth as well!! I am so happy for you because it's not easy making significant changes, but once you do it, it's hard to go back to the way it was before. I remember about 10 years ago, I lost a bunch of weight through Weight Watchers and that year was the best I had felt in a long time. I can't wait to get back to that feeling again. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us.
DeleteMy pleasure Kim. I wish you all the best with your journey. We can do this! :0)
DeleteYay for doctor-sponsored dietary changes! Keto does sound a little crazy to me, but I am all for something that works for YOU, especially when your doctor and nutritionist are on board, especially when it's WORKING!
ReplyDeleteI was a hard core vegetarian for 12 years. My doctor recently recommended that I decrease my carb intake, and to compensate for that, I increased my protein and fat intake, and despite all the literature saying those are bad, they're working for me - my lab work improved drastically! So while I don't love eating meat, and I feel like I've been eating a lot of cheese lately, I'm not going to argue when my numbers are getting better and my doctor is pleased with my health.
- Molly
I totally get it. We are all different and so are our needs. When I first heard of Keto I thought it sounded pretty crazy. But I found it has been around a lot longer than I realized and it has had some significant results for cancer patients. I think we eat too many chemicals, especially in processed foods.
DeleteSounds interesting. What about your girls?? Ketogenic is fairly extreme from what I've read. Can you go over what you're eating, I'm always interested in diet things.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like people are interested so I will post more about what I'm doing. The girls are eating healthy, but they aren't doing what I am. I thought it would be pretty extreme too, but it isn't as much as I thought it would be. I'm actually enjoying it and look forward to my meals just as much, maybe more! :)
DeleteGood for you! It actually doesn't surprise me that your feeling better, I have a lot of the same symptoms and when I cut out all carbs I'm a different person. I hope I am not being critical, but I did notice that although your meals were thrifty, quite carb laden!! Glad your feeling better!!
ReplyDeleteYou are not being critical, you are dead on. Even though we tried to limit the carbs for the most part it wasn't always the case. My girls eat far more than I do, but still giving it up altogether was a smart move. As a result of what I am doing they're actually eating less now and more veggies because they like a lot of what I fix for myself.
DeleteI'd love to hear more about your diet. Really glad it's helping you :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Allegra. There definitely seems to be some interest in this so I will definitely share more.
DeleteI am so sorry you have to deal with this. Auto immune conditions are the pits.
ReplyDeleteThey are, but when there are still options to try and you get results it is really empowering.
DeleteThat's great news and I'd like to hear more about the program. I've heard of that way of eating but haven't researched it. Feeling healthy is the best feeling!
ReplyDeleteAll I can say to describe how I feel lately is RELIEF. I had no idea how bad I felt until I didn't any longer. Amazing.
DeleteOh my goodness. You've just listed my chronic medical conditions, except the lupus. I am so sorry you have been having these problems, but I am so glad you are sharing them with us. I've had tinnitus since I was a child (as far back as I can remember). Also, I've had migraines at least 4 days a month since high school (I'm 52), the type that completely debilitates and makes me vomit sometimes (sorry to get so descriptive). Within the past few years I've had anxiety to the point of almost panic attacks.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the tinnitus, mine was a symptom to what my ENT doctor diagnosed as possible Meneire's Syndrome which involves bouts of vertigo. I haven't had vertigo for about 10 years but I my equilibrium/balance is always a bit off every day. I fear sometimes that people might think I'm drunk or something!
I just recently had blood tests done to see if my memory loss lately is attributed to vitamin deficiencies. It isn't, my tests were all normal (except my cholesterol is high)...
Sorry I've written so much here, but you've touched on so many issues I've been having in just this one post. Please do keep us updated on your health and what you're doing to improve it! I'm going to look into the diet you're on.
D.
You know what? I can relate to the memory loss a little bit, because I think I mentioned brain fog. That has lifted so much and this week especially I feel like I'm doing quite a bit better in that area. You are only a year younger than me and we are way too young to feel like this. Supposedly, this diet is good for cholesterol, which is surprising given you eat more fat. May be worth checking out.
DeleteIf nothing else, if it keeps the tinnitus at bay it will be worth it. So bloody annoying to hear that ringing all the time. Plus I can hear so much better now. I had no idea how much was being drowned out.
I'll join in with all of your other readers/commenters and say that I'd be interested in hearing more about the keto diet and the benefits you are feeling! I've got a slight "ringing" tinnitus along with another low sounding "roar" tinnitus (I guess you can call it "pulsatile tinnitus"...anyways, never been professionally diagnosed. If I could rid myself of that horrid sound 24/7, I know my restlessness (and inability to relax completely) would remedy as well! Thank you for posting about this!
ReplyDeleteOh man, that ringing is awful. So wasn't expecting to have this diet help that, but what a BONUS! Hope you can find relief.
DeleteHi! I'm also doing keto but I've only completed 4 days. I'm experiencing a lot of keto flu symptoms. Do you have any advice?
ReplyDeleteHi Margaret. Drink lots of water and make sure your electrolytes are up. I've read that magnesium supplements help. I've been taking magnesium for quite some time. Make sure you are eating enough too. It is really easy to skip eating when you aren't hungry. I didn't experience the keto flu, but I was feeling so lousy before that if I did it was an improvement. Ha!
DeleteI am glad to hear that this is working so well for you. I'm sitting here with the slight ringing in my ears at the moment too. I think mine comes and goes with the pressure in the air changing...at least that is what I have noticed over the years.
ReplyDeleteOh Debbie, I can't tell you what a relief this is. So very nice.
DeleteMy husband has been on a modified keto diet since last May. He has lost 90 pounds. Says he doesn't even miss carbs and he is also eating way more veggies which makes me happy. He was a meat and potatoes and bread/starch person. He doesn't have to take his stomach med anymore and looks awesome / feels awesome. He eats during a 5-6 hour window and never gets hungry. In fact he eats better food choices and more than he used to. I haven't taken the plunge yet but with my fibromyalgia will probably be heading that way. Take care!
ReplyDeleteI'd be curious to know if you find it helpful. I've heard it really does make a difference. Everyday I feel better and better. We had four pies at work yesterday for "Pi" day and I wasn't even tempted. Sure did surprise myself. :)
Delete