Craig and I enjoyed a good 13th anniversary night last Sunday, with a movie and Starbucks. We got out and headed home, and forgot to stop for dinner! I guess we were full enough from the coffees that it wasn’t bothering us, until we got into Blanco, where EVERYthing is closed on Sunday night at 10 pm. It’s not like I was going to cook then, so we just skipped it.
Luke got his new reading glasses last week, and he seems to like them. He enjoys wearing them, for now, and he has been speeding through his math pages since he got them. The only reason he has to wear them is because one eye focuses faster than the other, as I understood it, so this evens it out so they can both work together, and he should grow out of the problem. That’s not to say he won’t need glasses later, but for this problem, hopefully not for too long.
Monday morning, we went to see Dr. Roby in Austin at the Roby Institute. We had a good visit, and he knew all of my symptoms and personality before I really had to tell him, just based on my appearance… thin, focused, can’t sit still, small chest (no joke.) Based on my lab results, and demonstrated by my appearance, I have low estrogen and testosterone for my age, and I’m allergic to progesterone. Also, of course, I’m very allergic to several things in the air, so that compounds my problem. Most of the hormone imbalance is due to the fact that I move at the speed of light, always going, going, going, drinking coffee, and producing adrenalin all day. Then, although I fall asleep easily, I never get adequate rest because of the adrenalin in my system, my allergies make me feel worse, and I’m reacting to the normal release of progesterone in my body. Since I’m spending so much energy and dhea (the hormone that is necessary to make all the others) making adrenalin, there is nothing left with which to make the other hormones, creating the imbalance, and the adrenalin is wreaking havoc on my body, causing headaches, tight neck and jaw, fatigue, etc. Based on these facts, there are several facets to my treatment plan…
First of all, I’m wearing a heart rate monitor all day to make sure I don’t get my heart racing by doing too much or getting upset, causing the release of adrenalin. Secondly, I’m walking on the treadmill for an hour each evening to burn off the adrenalin in my system, and I’m forbidden to do anything to raise it again before bed. The doctor told Craig HE had to deal with the kids when he got home, in order to keep me calm before bed… what mother doesn’t want to hear THAT? I must say, he is usually really good about doing that, anyway, because he wants to preserve my sanity! Scaring one another, one of our favorite pastimes, is also totally off-limits, especially in the evenings. Jake was relieved to hear that, because he is our favorite target, since he goes into a mini-seizure if you just walk into his room without his noticing. I won’t lie and say it’s not totally satisfying. But I’m getting off the point… I am using the sublingual allergy drops to develop my immunity to the airborne allergens, as well as drops to desensitize my system to the progesterone. I’m also using a testosterone cream to bring that one up, and taking phytoestrogens in small doses to bring the estrogen up, but both of those remedies are temporary ones.
The best thing about this doctor and his ‘treatment’ is that most of what I have to do is up to me. I’m not taking poison to fix my symptoms, I’m working with my body to help it repair itself. I have to change my lifestyle to make it work WITH my body, not against it. He said that the MOST important part of the healing is the movement, slow and easy, and if I would do that hour walk every evening, I would be 50% better without doing anything else. We also made small changes at home, like installing air filters in every room and casing all our pillows and mattresses in allergen-free covers… things I’ve been told by allergists all my life but haven’t really heeded. Here is a picture of what Dr. Roby says is the best air cleaner around.
We paid $15 for the 20x20” box fan and taped a $14 20x20” Filtrete 1200 (or higher) air-conditioner filter to the back of it. We put one in every bedroom, and keep the doors closed all day with the fans on high. At night, they can be turned to low, and not only do you have that wonderful fan hum to help you sleep, you have much cleaner air in your bedroom! Considering ‘good’ air cleaners are over $100, and sometimes two or three times that, I think this one is a pretty good deal! One word of caution… pay attention to where the dial is on the fan. We got home with our FIVE fans and started opening them up, only to find the control knob on the BACK of the fan. Instead of carting them all back to town to exchange, Craig just cut a hole in the back of the filter, but if I had to do it again, I’d pay closer attention!
The last important part of the plan, and the VERY hardest, is eliminating problem foods from our diets. We decided to do this for the boys, too, since Jake has asthma, they all have allergies, and we know that a lot of hyperactivity is caused by food allergy. (Ahem… Levi.) For five days, Sunday evening through Friday evening, we cannot eat the following foods: dairy products, citrus fruits and juices, tomatoes and tomato products, brown colas (don’t get those here, anyway!), chocolate (gasp!!), grains of any kind, sugar, and eggs (What?!?). In addition, for me in particular, no caffeine, or potatoes (because they are carbs.) So, you’re probably wondering, as we did, “What in the world CAN we eat?” Well, any green vegetable, meat, fish, or fowl, and low-fructose fruits. That’s it. Can you think of a single thing for breakfast that doesn’t involve one of those 8 things? NOTHING! For breakfast this week, we’ve had black beans, tuna salad, protein shakes, and peanut butter with 2.5 slices of apple each. No kidding. The cravings have been pretty intense for me, especially the first day, when I REALLY wanted any kind of bread, sugar, or any other carbs, but it’s gotten better. Club soda, though not terribly enjoyable itself, does help curb the cravings. The boys have actually shed tears over some things, but we’ve made it the first week.
Today, we began breaking the diet, adding in a few things, one at a time, and the first thing was a little cocoa in the protein shake. I had a stomachache within 15 minutes. Bummer! That means I will have to get chocolate out of my diet if I want to feel good. At least on the weekdays, if I’m willing to suffer on the weekend when I splurge. I’ll definitely test that one again, though, just to make sure it wasn’t a coincidence. For lunch, we met Craig and had chicken fried steak. You have never seen four people happier to eat fried steak, breaded okra, gravy, and rolls!! It was pretty sad, but funny. All of our lunches and dinners this week were tasty, healthy meals, but without sugar, grains (including bread), or cheese, we were never quite satisfied. It’s like we’ve been hungry ALL week! Nobody had a reaction to the grain or dairy today, but I was pretty groggy after lunch. Tonight we are having chicken mushroom alfredo, and everyone is excited! Whatever foods don’t cause a reaction, we can have those the next week, so we’re holding our breath. I can do without chocolate, albeit with sadness, but bread, oh, bread… Whatever it is, though, we can still have it on the weekends if we’re willing to suffer the consequences. Tonight, I told the boys I would make dessert to break the sugar fast, so they may get some oatmeal cookies, and tomorrow morning, it’s biscuits with jelly. Oh, I’ve been dreaming of biscuits with jelly all week! You don’t realize how much we are really addicted to certain foods until you can’t have them!
Now that I’ve listed the treatment plan, I’ll say that I AM feeling better! I’m keeping a daily journal of how I’m feeling, any symptoms I’m having, and how I react to different foods, so it will be interesting to see how I feel in a week or two. I think the biggest difference is that I haven’t had a headache in two days (unusual for me), and I’m waking up feeling more rested. Even when we didn’t go to bed until midnight, I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to go. That’s a big difference from never wanting to get up in the mornings and hitting the alarm for an hour before turning it off and going back to sleep. Three mornings in a row, I woke up at 5:30 am and could have gotten up, but I just laid there until I got back to sleep. I’m not quite ready for 5:30 mornings, even if I DO feel good! I have also noticed a marked change in the boys, especially Levi. He has been MUCH calmer this week, and I’m guessing it’s the missing sugar. I guess we’ll find out after those cookies tonight.
This morning, when we were trying to decide what disappointing food we could eat for breakfast, we watched a home video from 2005, when the boys were 2, 4, and 6. I just love watching those! We all enjoyed it, and I remarked on how cute they were numerous times. This afternoon, when I said something about another kid we know being cute, Jake said, “How come you only think little kids are cute? You never say that to US. Just when we were little.” I explained to him that it’s because he was adorable when he was little, but he’s just not anymore, and that’s a good thing. I retracted my statement, though, and told him that they do still have moments when they’re adorable… usually between the hours of 10 pm and 8 am. It’s a good thing he knows how much we really do love and adore him. Otherwise, I’d be worried, with a cruel mom like me, lol. Oh, and he said something like, “Don’t blog that!” All I have to say to that is, “Muha-ha-ha-ha!”
Craig just walked in from work and started on dinner. That’s his way of saying, in much fewer words, “Get OFF the computer and start on dinner so we can eat before 8 and get to bed before midnight!” I guess I’d better take the hint…
No comments:
Post a Comment