Daily Chats and Encouragements
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That's funny Marilyn! When I go to the shop with a noise, I can never tell where it's coming from so can only describe it. Once, I thought it was my car with issues and it was my hearing aid.
Kim, you asked about fish oil...I've been taking it all these years...12-14, started with 4 a day and am at 2 a day now. I was prescribe vesepa (sp) in the beginning but it was way too costly and my insurance won't cover it.
Going back over my lab results, I saw my TSH is high, meaning my thyroid isn't functioning well and my CO2 was low and I checked those with a lab results site to see what it entailed. I see my cardiologist next week on the 21st and my PCP in July. I need to get my charts caught up for my appt. tomorrow.0 -
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Yippee! Endo appointment done, went well only angst was my reflection in the mirror after the wind got done with me. I looked ragged and roughed up! I go back in 4 months. He will send new scripts in for me and is increasing my Levothyroxine to 75MCG, my Levemir to 80/80....we will see how this all goes.
Now to get in my gown and hunker down for the afternoon....under the AC. We are still doing temps over 100 and I am so thankful I don't have to be out there in the heat. Have a blessed day, Ladies!0 -
Praise the Lord, it looks like there was improvement in some of those numbers! Every day, remind yourself of what you need to do to make things better.
I have been having a lot of headaches lately. I think that it might be what I add to my water. It's all natural, but there is probably a fruit juice in it that I can't tolerate. I am going to just do Pyure and lemon juice and see if that helps.
Turns out the tomatoes we got out of the garden were a little bit over ripe. They didn't look ripe enough, but...
We should be able to get three more okra pods today. I used the one I had gotten before and frozen and it worked great in my smoothie, no sliminess at all! Yeah fresh! Now for the zucchini to get a bit bigger! At least we are showing some on the vines. This is a learning season, we should know more for the Fall plantings.
Y'all have an awesome day.0 -
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I have such fond memories of the gardens I've had a part in, even with the maniac husband. The boy could do some gardening! Twice in my life, I helped dig one with a shovel, no tiller. Once Dave and I planted a mass of tomato plants and got no tomatoes! They grew 6 feet tall and beautiful, no fruit. The garden guy said..."you got all male plants"...how does one know that?
Yes...my meet up yesterday gave me new hope! I got a message from CareMark that my meds have been shipped...hooya! 90 day supply will be $492....when it's been $730 for a 30 day supply. Don't know what phase I'm in at the moment but this will help a great deal.
I got a message from my PCP's office that my labs for her were good/normal so I suppose no gout showed up. I remember my poor daddy suffering so with that and going to work on crutches.
I was down most of the day today after being out and about 2 days in a row. I hope to knock a few chores off my list tomorrow.0 -
One chore at a time, Bren. Don't overdo! So glad to hear the good news about the blood work.
My PA called with results from my blood work. He said everything was normal other than the cholesterol, it was up so I am going to take more fish oil and I ordered some Red Yeast Rice, a natural statin. He wants me to do blood work again in three months to see if that has helped. If not, will probably put me on a statin, which is fine with me, I've been on them before. Diet and exercise don't work for me, so a statin is the only way to bring it down. My kidney numbers were all within normal range - well, the Creatinin was .03 above normal. These numbers are better than my last two blood works two years ago! Praise the Lord. I'm hoping that Quest will get all the numbers up so I can see where everything is and work on whatever may be on the high or low end of normal.
Had another headache this morning, 7 in the last five days. The meds just wear me out! I called to see if my prescription for Emgality could be raised like they did with the Aimovig, but the NP said that it couldn't and she scheduled a tele-meeting for Monday morning to see what we can figure out. Please be praying I can figure out what the trigger is for these! Our weather has been rocky with afternoon storms, but no big fronts going through and that is usually the trigger - so not sure if that is the issue.
Have a blessed weekend!0 -
Prayers for you my sweet friend! I am so sorry the headaches are making life difficult and the meds are knocking you sideways. I hope you can run the issue to ground quickly. Love you!0
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@Restfinder you had good results from your blood work - good job. You mentioned your cholesterol and possibility of going on meds for it. Do take care with that - the med I was on for cholesterol is one that damages kidneys. Am off it now and on a different one. But for the last month and the next 2 months when tracking my food I am taking not to have it register 0 mg of cholesterol and see what the numbers are then - am praying that in August I can go off the cholesterol meds or at least have it reduced from 1 med to 1/2 a med. Right now I am taking the meds Rosuvastatin 10 mg and if I can reduce it in August to 5 mg and then in November to 0 that would be such a win.
I have been following a good food plan but have changed it up even more so now it is really health.
Have you heard of The McDougall Program - basically it is a plan that consists of no animal product, no dairy and now oil. Lots of vegetables and heavy on the starch. Doctor McDougall has been doing this for 40 - 50 years and has had 1,000+ people get off all meds. People with diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and damaged kidneys are now off of all meds and completely healthy. There is a book called The McDougall Program written by John A. McDougall, M.D. and it is well worth the read. It includes a 12 day food program.
I have been incorporating this program (except the no oil) for 3 weeks) and am seeing great results. Basically I have no sugar no flour and no salt. Also do not eat dairy products due to the cholesterol level and for 3 weeks have gone to only having 2 oz of animal protein in the day. This coming Monday I will be completely off all meat products for protein (protein is hard on the kidneys). Have spent some time researching the amount of sodium, potassium and cholesterol in the vegetables and am making the best choices. This McDougall Program is very heavy on the starch - you can have potatoes 3x a day if you want. Potatoes have no sodium but are higher in potassium. So I will be eating more potatoes then before but not as much as he says to try. Have got a large supply of brown rice which has less potassium than potatoes so will be eating more of it. Also eating more oatmeal and quinoa. I was always told and under the impression that with diabetes you should have very low starch but apparently the starch is something that our body naturally needs and desires. Also this Doctor mention to think of the Chinese, Japenese and Thai people - their mainstay is startch - yet you see very few overweight or obese people in that group unless they were born in North America where they have followed the American Diet.
Long story short in 5 weeks I have lost 14.3 pounds due to these changes. I am not hungry between meals and am actually quite full after having so many vegetables and starch at each meal. Am looking forward to see what the next blood work will look like after 3 - 4 months making these changes.
Sorry for the length of this post but thought I should update. My kidney function had gone done from 60 to 40 and now over 2 years it has gone down to 34 as of May and in June it was down to 32. Doc said it could go down to 30 and then will reverse due to the changes I am makin By the way I am also going to be getting connect with the hospital to the Kidney Program where I will meet with the specialist and a nutritionist to help pin point my food. Hopefully will get to see him soon.
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My GFR was 57.4 this round. I missed it before.
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Still waiting for Quest to post all of my results.
Marilyn, I don't like vegetables, so I would be miserable going on a diet like that. I also don't like rice and eat very few potatoes. I'm almost 63, so if I haven't learned to like vegetables by now, I don't think it is going to happen. I am learning to use okra in things and will use zucchini (probably liquified) in recipes. I'm not opposed to cauliflower, but I don't like it by itself. Broccoli has started to give me stomach problems. I do like baby spinach as the base of my salads, but about 1/2 to 3/4 cup is all I can handle.
I want to see if I can find a recipe for cauliflower pizza crust - it seems they contain cheese, and I can handle a little bit of cheese as long as there isn't wheat involved, so I may be able to do something like this!
Had another headache this morning. I have no idea what brought this on! I was having about six or seven headaches all month - this is the 9th since last Sunday! Hope my NP will have some answers come Monday.
Stay strong, don't give up, and trust God in everything. Love you0 -
@Restfinder - I get it about not liking vegetables. I am 74 soon to be 75 and have only enjoyed peas and corn (and wonder why as they are starchy vegetables that turn to sugar when eaten) At any rate I am learning - haven't had peas or corn in 3 weeks. We started with asparagus, zuchinni, bok choy, spinach, argula, of course onions, lettuce and tomatoes. When we go shopping this coming week we will be getting brocolli, cauliflower, kale, one or 2 squashes, green beans and some legumes and beans to have for protein.
It really is a learning process - and I have no choice - either seriously make the changes now or look forward to diaylsis in the very near future. So if I can change we all can - taking in small steps.
I have upped my food plan as of May 11 though I started on May 8 of eating health. I have lost 10.8 pounds since May 11 and 14.1 since May 8 - so this way of eating is working.
Also with eating this way just since May 18 the doctor has reduced my water pill by 1/2 - which is showing me this is the way to eat - can only imagine what I might be able to reduce medicine way by the time I get my next blood work done middle of August.
One big thing I have made is no dairy -dairy products are very high in cholesterol and as I was having 2 eggs a day - made that change. My daily intake re nutrients back then was 450 - 600 mg of cholesterol and now I am getting 35 - 45 mg of cholesterol with many days getting 0 mg of it. I am sure this will show up in the blood work as a positive for me.
If you want more information on what I am doing please ask
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Wow, Marilyn, I'm impressed. I was the same way, like peas, corn, and even carrots. I now do raw baby spinach on a regular basis and use okra in my smoothies (and recently learned that purple okra is better for you than the green okra, and it isn't as slimey!). A friend of mine sliced the okra thinnly and then roasted it. She said it didn't have a lot of taste but was crispy and would make a good crouton for salads. I like to use zucchini in recipes and have even made zucchini lasagna, but I did coat and fry the zucchini! I put it in a blender to liquify it and replace some of the liquid in the recipe for the zucchini sauce. Can't do tomatoes, peppers, onions or garlic - bothers my tummy. I do use tomatoes in chili though. I can eat tomatoes in stuff and cooked and cooked onions as well. Oh, if you can eat bacon, put a piece of bacon in with your green beans when you are cooking them, makes them tolerable! LOL! Getting fresh green beans makes a huge difference over the canned kind too. I hope that you continue to be successful.
Talked to my NP this morning and she is going to give me a double dose of the Emgality to start with (since we didn't do that the first time) and then go back down to the regular dose and see if that helps with the headaches. Praises the Lord, no headache today! God is so very good!
Love y'all.
Where are you, Bren???0 -
I'm here, Kim...laying low again with my back. This is day 2. Considered rescheduling my cardiologist appt. for tomorrow but have done so once due to my feet going out so will go and get it over with. This is twice in a couple of weeks and not normal. My appt. time is 2:30 so I should be OK enough to get there. I'm good for 6 months on his appointments. Hooya!
I got my meds delivered next day so that was great. Now I just have to deal with the cooler and ice packs which I will slip outside in the wee morning. Maybe someone can use it?
I'm hoping you get the trigger situation figured out and the meds round is beneficial. The double start seems a good move. I'd be crying all the time with a third of your sensitivities!
I'm thinking of egg beaters for dinner. It's been several days since I had them and they are yummy. I bought a toaster and it's seen me several times already....with toast and an English Muffin popped in.
I had a rib eye in the air fryer for lunch, a little catsup as carbs so my sugar is 138 right now. If I will behave, I pray I see those numbers in the mornings.
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Wow, Marilyn. You are doing great with your eating plan. I can't even imagine going to 2oz of animal protein. My hubby wouldn't get along well with that at all! And he won't eat many veggies, but all of those potatoes would be right down his alley.
My BIL (who lives in our basement and shares the evening meal with us) just found out that his potassium is running high. Now, I have to try to fit that into our diet: Uric acids (hubby), sodium (hubby), diabetes (although not severe - BIL), and potassium. It seems like what works well for one diet interferes with another. Potatoes are a big thing, since they work well into the other diets, but it looks like I will have to start using fresh and soaking overnight to leach out potassium and limiting. Nothing is easy!0 -
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Potatoes is something my NP told me to avoid since they will raise my triglycerides. Rice, bread, potatoes are all off the list - but I don't eat any of those very often. The only carb I can think of that I eat frequently are my veggie chips and I never have more than 2 oz of those a day, more times than not just the one oz. There are carbs in my protein powder and protein drinks, but I'm working on finding stuff with less carbs in it.
We had lunch out today and I ordered the shrimp burger without the bread (but it did have the coating and were fried (which fat isn't bad for you in moderation, it's actually good for you to control insulin), and a 2 oz. cup of cole slaw. That filled me up. I think there were probably seven shrimp. I did have about half a glass of pink lemonade as well, but since she doesn't want me having any kind of artificial sweetener (which she says that Stevia falls into that category, but Stevia is natural, from a leaf, so I'm not sure why she thinks it's artificial, but she has heard of people having similar reactions to it that also react to artificial), so I'm supposed to just use sugar or honey, so the pink lemonade is on my okay list.
I've had a headache off and on all day today. Yesterday was just twinges. If I sit still I do alright, it's when I get up to do something that it starts hurting again! Ugh. There is a weather front coming through, so that could be the trigger today! I sure hope it dumps some water on the garden! I think our tomato plant is done for, but we got six or seven tomatoes off of it, so not bad. So far no peppers, but there are three or four zucchini in varies stages of growth so far; and the okra is doing well as well, we've gotten several off of them. The Romaine keeps producing as well. We clip some off and it grows some more. We share the garden with our neighbors (Pastor and his wife, our very good friends too).
Not much else going on. Hope your appointment goes well, sister/friend! Tell him everything!!!
Love y'all.0 -
I ended up rescheduling after all. My back was better this morning but my right foot was puffed up, painful and had me hobbled. Oh well....I see my PCP next month. Some days getting dressed is more effort than I want to make!0
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Starting to see some results of improvement re my change of lifestyle. Not having any salt at all except that which is natural in the vegetables I eat - I have been able to lower my water pill to 1/2. Was only 2.5 mg so not much of a water pill and am so happy that I have made this improvement. My one foot (left one) was swelling a lot and hurt so bad it felt like it was broken but doc said it was because of the water and it was stretching the skin. Well after 3 weeks no salt foot is not swelling like it was - still a bit but not at all like it was before. Am looking forward to seeing lots of changes in August when I get my next blood work done. If I can't get off any by that time even to have them lowered would please me.
But where the pain is in my back - have had this condition since birth and it is really is acting up now especially since having covid - wakes me up and wont let me sleep so 2 night a week I don't sleep at all. Go to bed at 10 pm one night and don't sleep till after 10 pm the next night. Did that on the weekend and then again on Monday. Called doc to ask about that as it is so frustrating as tynelol isn't working so he gave me a prescribed med for pain only to be taken if necessary as it can be addictive. Also am back on meds for my stomach/hiatus hernia - it has decided to flare up and when it does it gives pain the same as a heart attack so it is really frustrating. Have meds for that for the next week - gosh I dislike taking meds but there are times I need them and am praying that the Lord wants me to be off them also and will give me the knowledge and strength to make these changes.0 -
I take Tramadol when I just can't get away from the pain. I have a large backside, and when I lay down my lower back doesn't touch the bed, so I got a wedge to put under my lower back and that has helped immensely! I use, probably, 1/3 of the Tramadol that I used to use. Don't know if your situation is similar, but... Of course, when you were young that would not have been a problem so...
Started another round of Emgality. Was supposed to be a double dose but my insurance wouldn't cover both doses and I'm not about to pay $700 for one shot! So far I'm not real impressed. The Aimovig worked on all of my headaches, but maybe the Emgality only targets migraines and what I am having isn't a migraine. I woke with another headache (at 4:30) this morning. Twinges of pain starting up. Praise the Lord my pain doesn't debilitate me!
Well, y'all stay on track and trust the Lord! Love you0 -
OMG! $700 for 1 shot...oh how that hurts and is ridiculous! Praying for you Sister....I have always been so thankful that headaches of any kind are not on my list of issues! I might have one twice a year....
The pharmacy (or my Doctor?) missed my request for the refill on pain meds. Oh well...the arthritis strength Tylenol does about the same as far as results go. I love how I can place my requests on the portal for their attention. Finally got that billing issue taken care of! I paid it in February, as soon as I got the notice, and here 4 months later, they were getting ready to give me to collections! I argued the point at my appt. last week, she printed off info, showed my payment went to my endo guy, not my kidney Dr. and the SAME amount was due on that appt. balance....took her a bit to help me understand and when she first asked if I wanted to pay it I said "absolutely not!"...and showed her my bank print out where the amount cleared Feb. 4th...I never got a statement for the first balance due. My deductible is now paid and I should be OK the rest of the year with just my co-pays.
I got up at 2 AM...was very chilled. I keep my AC on 73, run a fan by the bed every night and have a nice, comfy blanket I snuggle under....just could not get comfortable. Thought about putting some fuzzy socks on...decided to get up instead.
Since my foot is better, I got trash out, unloaded/reloaded the dishwasher, have played a bit online, placed a Wal-Mart order and am dressed to shoes for all of that.
I want to make some soup today from a pic I saw on Fat Secret....I got chicken meatballs and a bundle of kale and some pre-chopped onion since I need to be simple and quick. I miss my normal unsalted broth but have the Herb Ox no salt packets and will use some of those and the Better than Bullion, even tho it's high sodium...since I didn't get more broth in my order yesterday. It looks like this and I hope it will be yummy...and resemble it somewhat. I have 4 gold taters to use as well.
I didn't get more bananas or milk either....trying to reign myself in and those spike me. I did get some NSA canned pineapple, cottage cheese, and have some light yogurt on hand. I have a kitchen full of lovely things...just need the energy to put things together for decent meals. I had sugar readings over 340 about 4 times this week...took extra Novalog and monitored it but don't want to make a habit of that. Beans....yummy beans and my loaded toast were the culprits.
Wishing you all a blessed day as we prepare to enter a new weekend....Time flies.
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Yikes, that number is high! Glad you have it figured out. I like when you give us numbers under 200! LOL! Can't say that soup looks as yummy to me as it does to you, but it does sound very healthy - yeah for you!
Very happy Roe V Wade has been overturned. Now to pray for the places that are trying to help women keep their babies alive!
A/C guy is coming out today to let us know if our HVAC system has any life left in it. When we turn on the AC it comes out cold, then starts blowing hot. Sometimes it just starts out hot. The thermostat hasn't ever given us a correct temp either. We'll just go portable if it gives up the ghost!
Have a great weekend. Love ya0 -
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My opinion is rather than have abortions on demand, keep your pants on. Just like everything else in the world....loud, angry, foolish protests will fill the streets. They've already shown on a news segment here, a place women can cross the border into Mexico for an abortion and his services are in high demand.
Your opinion on my soup choice is the same as Sharon's was more than once on my veggie filled yumminess! She'd say...."oh, that looks good! I wouldn't eat it, but it looks good! She did eat a salad now and then, no tomatoes or cucumbers....fried okra...can't remember many other veggies at all. Tho she didn't eat fresh tomatoes, she would eat tomato sauce with macaroni!
Oh no! AC issues! Hope it can be fixed or replaced tho I know both are costly.
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Me and Sharon know what we are talking about! LOL! A/C is sorta fixed. Right now it will only cool, but the guy is coming back Monday to put in a new thermostat because this one keeps telling the gas to come and and turns on the heat! Hmmm??? Good thing I don't believe in ghosts. He thought he had it fixed and while he was doing the paperwork he could hear it click back to heat, so he took it apart and found that problem. Yippee! Nice and cool now.
Yeah, these pro-death protestors are really confused. I don't say pro-choice because they aren't - they are destroying places where women have made the choice to keep their babies - so they aren't for choice, they are just for death. It's amazing to me how evil people can be - but the Word says that in the last days their love will grow cold and their hearts will be darkened, and as it was in Sodom, the intent of their thoughts was only evil continually! Crazy! Not a surprise to God though, but how it must break His heart.1 -
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Hope y'all had a good weekend and are doing well today. My headaches seem to have backed off some. Oh, Bren, you would not have liked my Emgality this time - it was not one of those plungers, where you set it on your leg and then hit the button, no, this one had an open needle and I ended up just inserting it in my tummy! I'm glad I'd done the B12 shots on myself because that would have scared me! LOL! It seems to be working even though I wasn't able to take the double shot.
Haven't been doing much exercise-wise, just a wee bit of stuff now and again. I've been trying to get back into doing my squats while brushing my teeth. Can't get very low with my bad knees, but I can still feel that it is doing something in my thighs.
I need to get some laundry done, so will talk to you soon. Love ya0
