Postby Kathryn-in-Canada » Sat Nov 01, 2014 9:41 am
I had so wanted to have a 7 as my middle digit when I set my goals for October. But life got in the way.
I'm not sure I didn't go up this month - the change in my eating pattern for these drugs have completely messed me up. I don't weigh myself until after breakfast but lately that number is up a pound. I've still lost 7 pounds since the beginning of September, but I had hoped to be down 12 by now so it feels like I've 'gained' five pounds in October.
I feel like this is all the fault of the drugs.
First of all, I'm having Dr. Pepper daily because it is the only thing I've found that settles my tummy in the daytime. I don't have the issue with the evening pill but then again, I'm heading for bed and lying down helps it too (once I'm past the "no lying down" time from the pill's instructions.)
Secondly, I'm having a small, unsatisfying, breakfast and then unable to eat anything substantial for 4 hours. By that time, I'm starving, tummy is growling. I've forgotten and eaten 20 minutes early a number of times, or sat with a cooked meal waiting for the clock to chime. And since I can eat at that point (except for milk/iron/magnesium), I eat a lot. Then eat throughout the day. My calorie count is up 500 - 700 calories as a result. Some of those are from the crackers I have to eat when I take my pill, and the extra 100 calories from the yogurt, although that replaces the milk I was drinking.
Thirdly, I'm not getting all my vitamins and minerals. Hmmm. Just realized my exhaustion could be due to no obvious iron in my diet just a bit of red meat occasionally but no multi-vitamin with iron, no chocolate (30% of my RDA). The few supplements I can take, I can't have with my breakfast and I'm forgetting them most afternoons when I can take them.
Fourthly, I'm not sleeping well despite being exhausted. I'm forgetting one glucosamine/chondroitin each day, plus I can't take my calcium/magnesium pill at bedtime. In the past, not taking night-time pills has lead to poor sleep. I've doubled my ibuprofin at bedtime but it makes no difference. Perhaps I'll take the second one when I'm up in the night to go to the bathroom. My knees are aching and I think they are the cause of the disrupted sleep.
Fifthly, I'm worried about bleeding in my upper gastro track. The signs of that are improving slightly, but only slightly (that's part of the reason iron has been restricted since excess iron gives the appearance of bleeding, plus it can't be consumed within 2 - 3 hours of a pill which limits when I can have some.)
All in all, the only plus from this is that I've learned to like Greek & Balkan style yogurt.
I am moving more, I went from 100th in my fitbit group for September to 74 for October.
I'm swimming less because it is inconvenient with my pill timing.
I hate, hate, hate, eating breakfast first thing in the morning. My alarm goes off at 7:15 but I seldom finish my breakfast before 8:15 despite getting out of bed and going straight to the kitchen and starting the kettle. I sit there with the food, trying hard to put just 2 blueberries in my mouth. I've never had to psych myself up to eat blueberries before. I desperately miss my chocolate, which had the effect of slowly waking my digestive track up in the morning. Now, because I've forced food on it, my tummy is twitchy until 11:30 (the earliest I can have a Dr. Pepper.) The later I eat my breakfast, the later my lunch can be since I have to wait at least 2 hours after if I'm planning to eat anything healthy (I can have nutrition-free crap after an hour and often do in order to try and settle my tummy but it is the minerals in healthy food that reduces the meds effectiveness so I have to avoid calcium, iron, magnesium and other minerals - you know, the stuff found in healthy food.)
Sorry about the whine. I still have one more week of this and then, hopefully, I'll be able to stop. Don't know what the regime will be if the tick tests positive for Lyme Disease. I try not to think about that but am following this stupid regime as closely as possible because I want the meds to be as effective as possible in case I do have Lyme Disease.