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Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

Lost Days

16 Aug

Have you ever just lost a day?  I did that today.  I had a list of things I needed to do…running, library, post office, bookstore.  And lots of things I needed to do at home.  And I did nothing.  Nothing.

I have an excuse.  A dumb excuse, but an excuse nonetheless.  I took 2 Unisom at 3:30 this morning when sleep looked impossible and I was frustrated and not thinking clearly.  Not only is that a much higher dose than I usually take (I prefer to start with a half pill, then take another half an hour later if I’m still not sleepy.) but I never should have taken that much at that late hour.  Needless to say, I slept.  And slept.  And slept some more.  It was nearly 1 o’clock this afternoon when I dragged myself out of bed.  Thank goodness my husband had planned to work from home!

And not only did I sleep late, but I had a Unisom hangover.  I never did get fully woken up.  I fell asleep on the couch around 5pm and only got up at 6:30pm because it was dinner time.  And now — at 10pm — I am wide awake.  I have a million things to do tomorrow (plus I need to do what I didn’t get done today) and can’t have a repeat.  I think I’ll just go take half of a Unisom and see how that works…

 
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Posted in Health, Me Stuff, Randomness

 

Murphy Bites. Hard.

03 Aug

Yesterday was one of those days…where everything that can go wrong does.  It started normally enough.  My husband had showings in the morning so I hung out with the little kids.  It was a very typical morning, except for the fact that I had a Benadryl hangover and “hanging out” consisted of me dozing on the couch while they played (OK, watched TV) in the living room.  Yeah, not the best situation but we all survived it.

I had a meeting that afternoon for some SocialSanford business, so once I’d managed to emerge from my stupor I had lunch and went over to Kelly‘s house.  Because I am nice, I took my husband’s car so he’d have the van (and the carseats) if he wanted to go somewhere.  He warned me that it was “missing” a lot while I was on my way out the door and I assumed it wasn’t a big deal.  Wrong!  The whole way there I’m terrified that this car is going to just lay down and die on me in the middle of Horner Boulevard and I’m going to die an ugly death when a semi runs me over.  (Anxious much?  I really need to be medicated.)  I was shaking and a nervous wreck by the time the drive was over and decided that I was NOT driving home in that thing.  I ended up having him come get me and I followed him to Autozone so they could hook the car up to the thingy and figure out why the “CHECK ENGINE” light has been on for months.  The news was not good (and I totally don’t understand exactly what the thingy said was wrong) and it looks like we will soon be a 1-car family.  In times past, this wouldn’t have been a big deal.  But between my classes, his work as a realtor, and me getting a job, 2 cars are pretty much a necessity.  UGH.

After we got home, I walked in the house to find it filled with smoke.  ”What’s on fire?!?!?!” I screamed.  I remember little else…I do know that my dear husband had put a whole chicken on to boil before he came to get me.  And apparently all the water boiled off while he was gone.  And then the stuff on the bottom of the pan started burning.  We probably arrived home just in time to avert disaster.  As it was, all that was ruined was our dinner (and dinner for the next several nights as well…you know how I like to stretch those chickens) and maybe the pot, but we’re trying to salvage that.  This, of course, led to us having to eat out because the only thing we could make quick was sandwiches and we’ve served far too many of those lately.  Eating out was not in the budget, but I’ll deal with that.  A house fire wasn’t in the budget either, and would have cost a whole lot more than a restaurant dinner.  And lest you think we decided to eat out without checking the chicken for edibility first, I want to reassure you that I did taste the chicken.  I am still trying to get the ashtray taste out of my mouth.

Then while we were eating, I got a very sudden, very intense pain in my right side.  Those who know my history probably see where this is going…kidney stone.  We ate quickly and came home so I could get some relief.  I knew that I had only one pain pill left and I wanted to avoid using it if possible.  I tried the bathtub, I tried the heating pad, I tried curling up in the fetal position and crying.  None of these helped, so I caved and took the good stuff.  An hour later it still hadn’t kicked in and I was ready to tell my husband to take me to the ER so I could get a nice morphine drip and some IV fluids to help push the stone out naturally.  I was sitting in the bathroom floor, nauseated by the pain, sweating, and shaking, when I decided to just pray.  I didn’t know what else to do at that point.  Clearly the drugs weren’t going to work.  The prescription was 5 years old and I figured it was just no longer effective.  The tub and heating pad weren’t working.  And we can’t afford the ER unless it’s a matter of life and death.  At that point, praying seemed like the only option.  So I prayed.  And suddenly the pain went from being a 9+ to being <1.  In a matter of seconds, I was no longer in pain.  I’ve had a lot of kidney stones, and it has never ever stopped hurting like that.  Usually there’s a gradual decrease in the pain, or it passes into the bladder and the pain changes…even with drugs, it doesn’t suddenly stop.  I know there are people who think it’s a coincidence, but I absolutely believe God answered my prayer in that moment.

So yesterday was undeniably bad.  It ended on a more positive note, but the car is still in bad shape and my house still smells like an ashtray.  I’ll take that considering what could have been.  And today…well, today has been pretty good.  I have lots of good stuff going on and I’m really excited about some things that are coming up.  I can’t say any more than that right now, but I’m feeling very positive about a lot of stuff that’s happening.  Sometimes we need those bad days to remind us how good the not-bad days really are!

 
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Posted in Faith/Religion, Health, House/Home, Kidney Stones, Me Stuff, Money/Finances

 

Finally in Control

08 Jul

Men, this one isn’t for you.  So just walk away now…really, you’ll be sorry if you keep reading.  Fair warning!

Alright, so if you’re reading this I assume you’re female.  Or you don’t heed warnings very well.  Whatever the case, can we talk birth control?  I firmly believe in it.  Especially considering the fact that I absolutely do not ever want to be pregnant again.  If I change my mind about having another child, adoption sounds wonderful.  I have no desire to spend nine months feeling queasy, fat, and in pain.  Really…the last pregnancy just about did me in and I have no desire to repeat that.  However, permanent birth control didn’t appeal.  I considered having my tubes tied during my c-section, but wasn’t comfortable with the risks of long-term health issues.  (There are people who claim to have something called post tubal ligation syndrome.  There are doubts as to the validity of their claims, but I wasn’t thrilled about the possibility since I have other hormonal/female issues.)  Plus I just didn’t feel like I should close that door the minute she was pulled from my body.  I was hormonal and coming off of nine very unpleasant months and didn’t want to make that decision under those circumstances.  I’ve since made my peace with my family size and my hatred of gestating, though.  I’d gladly drive my husband to the urologist’s office for a little snip and make a big deal over him for a couple of days while he sat on a bag of frozen peas, but he’s not into it.  Which throws the ball back into my court.  Since I am the one who is adamant about not having any more kids, this has to be my responsibility.  (For now, anyway…I think he’ll come around eventually.  And lest you think my husband is less than awesome, I assure you he’s not.  If I’d exhausted all other options, he would go for it.)

Luckily, breastfeeding does tend to render me infertile for quite a while.  This is not true for everyone, though!  I suspect it is partially due to PCOS, but can’t be certain.  However, I am obviously quite fertile once my cycles return post-baby…this is how I ended up with baby #3.  Never take prior infertility for granted!  Even if you took every drug and had every procedure under the sun to get pregnant, this is no guarantee that you don’t need to worry about birth control for the rest of your life.  With that lesson learned, I had to make a decision.  So, like any woman does, I turned to friends.  Asked what they were using, what worked, what didn’t.  I came away with a lot of information and had to weigh them all with my personal situation.

I don’t like barrier methods (condom, diaphragm, cap, etc.) because they don’t allow for spontaneity, a requirement when you have three kids.  The failure rates for these are also quite high.  Not ideal in my current situation.  The hormonal methods (pill, shot, patch, ring) require too much maintenance.  I am absolutely awful at taking a pill every day or remembering to change a patch on get to the doctor on a regular basis to get a shot.  Even as much as I want to avoid pregnancy, I’d inevitably forget or not have the cash to get it when it was due and end up pregnant.  We actually used natural family planning (this is NOT the rhythm method, by the way!) for a while after baby #1 and were quite successful with it.  However, I was also infertile and couldn’t get pregnant with baby #2 until I shot myself up with fertility drugs and had many unpleasant procedures so I’m not sure how successful I can actually claim to be.  Besides, there’s always the possibility of serious miscalculation with this method and I’m not into taking that risk right now.  Permanent methods were out, as mentioned above.  This left me with one good (because abstinence is not realistic for a married couple) method…the Mirena IUD.

I asked my mom her opinion.  She last worried about birth control sometime in the late 1970s, so she wasn’t a lot of help.  Mostly ominous warnings about the old fashioned IUDs that weren’t useful based on the current options.  So I googled.  And googled some more.  And came up with lots of horror stories about the Mirena.  Uterine perforations, bleeding, pain, mood swings, weight gain, acne…they ran the gamut from merely irritating to life threatening.  I was scared of all of these possibilities, but I also had a lot of people (who I knew personally) who swore that it was the best.birth.control.EVER.

So I went for it.  I had it placed at 6 weeks postpartum, which means I’ve had it for over a year now.  Insertion was…unpleasant.  But I’d taken some pain medicine beforehand and knew what to expect.  I bled for several days afterwards, then had some additional random bleeding/spotting over the next several weeks.  But other than that, my side effects have been nil.  No acne.  No weight gain (that I can blame on the Mirena, anyway).  No mood swings.  If anything, I feel like my hormones are in better control than they were sans Mirena.  And the absolute best part?  No periods.  Once that initial spotting tapered off post insertion, I haven’t had any more.  I hear that they might come back.  And if they do, I’m prepared.  But I can’t convey the luxury this is for a woman with PCOS without getting (even more) graphic and truly scaring away any men who chose to read through this.  Let’s just say that I’m sold for this reason alone.  I also love that I can’t get a wild hair and decide to forgo birth control to “just see what happens” without going through the hoops of making an appointment with the doctor and having it removed.  (Last time I decided to “just see what happens” we ended up with baby #3!)  Yes, I will eventually have to replace it…in 2014.  By then I expect I will either have convinced my husband to take one for the team or will have decided to have a hysterectomy for other reasons.  And if that isn’t the case, it’s easy enough to simply have a new one put in.

So why am I sharing this?  Because I had a hard time finding positive stories about the Mirena.  For every one that I found, there were hundreds more that were negative.  And though most of my friends who’d tried it were happy, those weren’t the stories I saw when I consulted Dr. Google.  Obviously this is a decision between you and your doctor, but if you’ve landed on this page because you wanted to see a real-life experience, this is mine.  I love Mirena and would recommend considering it if you’re looking for a reliable birth control method.  There are people who are happy with it and I’m one of them.

 
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Posted in Health, Me Stuff, Pregnancy, Sites to See

 

Going on a nice, long trip.

16 Jun

Guilt trip, that is.  Between the massive amounts of time I spend in class or preparing for class, the short summer break for my oldest son (he gets about 5 weeks because he’s in year-round school), and the fact that my middle child starts full time preschool in the fall, I am trying my hardest to do fun things and spend lots of time with the kids.  The boys are fast asleep by the time I get home every night and I feel like the worst mother in the world for not being here to eat dinner with my family.  Not to mention the time spent away from them all.

The guilt is crazy-making…and the worst part of all?  It is completely self-inflicted.  My friends haven’t been negative, my husband is completely supportive, and I hate to say it, but I think the kids enjoy having daddy all to themselves for a few hours.  And I know lots of women who work outside the home and are wonderful mothers, so I know simply being away from them for a few hours a day isn’t making me become this horrible person.  So what is it that makes me feel this way?

I wish I knew.  Wish I could track down the reason for I have for feeling this way.  It’s causing me to have lots of other stress-related issues, like sending me into panic attack mode (literally) when someone asks me to add something to my schedule.  I’m having at least 2-3 a week right now and I’m fairly certain that anxiety is playing a part with the blood sugar issues, which are continuing.  I never would have believed the two went hand-in-hand but something told me to google the two terms together and lo and behold, there is a connection.  So now I need to figure out how to deal with this without the benefit of a doctor or drugs.

Once again, I find my self counting down…until the day my oldest returns to school, the day I finish my class (and the day I pass my state licensing exam), and the day my middle child starts preschool.  By then, I’ll have a new set of things to stress about…my fall class, a job (I hope!), and God only knows what else.

For right now though, all 3 are napping or resting, I have nothing I need to do before class tonight, and there’s a library book calling my name.  The guilt is at bay for a few moments and I have peace.

 
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Posted in Back to School, Health, Me Stuff, Parenting

 

Sinking Spells, Part Deux

13 Jun

Back in high school, I was prone to hypoglycemic episodes as well as anemia.  I fainted at school a couple of times before we got everything under control and figured out how to prevent it.  There were rumors floating around for a while…I was using drugs, pregnant, or both.  Luckily they never went too far because I just wasn’t *that* girl, but it was humiliating.  Not to mention scary, because I never knew when it would happen.

As I got older I got a little bit better at recognizing the symptoms and usually managed to take care of things before I actually passed out.  I was diagnosed with PCOS (which generally includes a diagnosis of insulin resistance) right after I got married so I have been on diabetes drugs off and on since then.  They helped me to get pregnant with  and carry all 3 of my kids to term.  Right now I’m not on them since I am not interested in getting pregnant and because I don’t have insurance.  I thought my blood sugar was being controlled pretty well, but I was really caught off guard today.

I woke up late for church and didn’t have time for breakfast…certainly not anything out of the ordinary so I didn’t think anything of it.  It was my week to serve in the infant room, so I was helping set everything up.  It was hot, I was bending over, and when I stood up I had tunnel vision.  My head was spinning, I was sweating and shaking, and I knew what was going to happen next if I didn’t sit down immediately.  Luckily there were plenty of people around to help me…I was given some animal crackers and a bottle of water.  I felt well enough after a few minutes to get back up but I still felt disoriented and not quite right.  I made it through the rest of set-up and managed to hold it together through the service and help take care of the babies.  During break-down, the same thing happened.  This time was worse.  I got nauseous and my heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest.  It was awful!  This time, somebody got me some Coke.  That helped a lot and I finally managed to get out of the floor and go out to the car.

I’m nursing a horrible headache right now and fighting the urge to just lay down and take a nap.  The physical aftereffects are really awful and the mental/emotional aftereffects are just as bad.  Blood sugar crashes not only make you feel bad physically but they do terrible things to your mood.  I should have known something was up this morning because I was definitely not feeling like myself.  Instead, I ignored the signs and I’m paying big time now.

My next worry is trying to figure out why it happened all of a sudden today.  I haven’t been feeling bad lately.  If anything, I’ve been feeling better.  I’m exercising regularly again and eating a lot better…isn’t that supposed to help with blood sugar?  Granted, I’ve been really stressed out.  I’m overwhelmed and exhausted, but that’s not really anything out of the ordinary.  For some reason, I feel like God is smacking me on the head and saying “Slow down and take better care of yourself, you big dummy!”  It was definitely a wake-up call for me.  Now I just need to figur out how to prevent it from happening again!

 
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Posted in Health, Me Stuff

 
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