LESS Alcohol ~ January 2024 ~ One Day at A Time

I've had a couple of days where I was tempted to drink,being on annual leave doesn't help.
I got around that by having dates and dark chocolate.
I'm pretty sure I ate something else sweet too, but no booze was consumed.
I'm cleaning my liver out so the first week of January I had celery and cucumber juice every morning before consuming anything else.
I'm now taking a Milk thistle capsule each day as and extra aid for my liver now, unfortunately they are like they was years ago when I first started buying them. They much more of the thistle in the capsules.
I remember how great we felt after 2 weeks on them.
Unfortunately for the O.H it made him feel great that he wanted to drink,so I have mentioned them to his this time as they're expensive.

I've got till August to get weight off hopefully get my cholesterol down otherwise I'll end up on a Statin which I don't want.
Mum was talking to my in-laws that her cholesterol was hereditary but she hasn't told me that for some reason,so I need to talk to her about that.
If what she said is correct it's made everything more scary.
I've been trying to get out of the prediabetic range as I was on the edge of tipping into diabetes but got it down from 46 to 42 so I went from almost diabetic to just being in the prediabetic range.
It annoys me though that they didn't test my cholesterol that year too. I could of worked on both and I would of been much more serious about everything and could of got at least half the weight off and kept it off.
I decided to get Christmas out of the way then start on some changes.
I'm sure I got the prediabetic range down by cutting out all prossed meats and now I've realised it may have been eating red meat again that has played a role in the cholesterol.
I've never had it tested before so I have nothing to go by as to if any changes I had done previously was the cause.
None of these tests would of been done if I had not had my head have a kind of explosion of pressure which caused me to no be a chronic migraine sufferer.
I have pain every day from just general movement such as sitting up or standing.
I get vertigo and no warnings of pain is coming,it just goes straight into pain.
I get stabbing pains to the head randomly.
I'm now on 60mg of the pain medication,that they will Only prescribe up to 75mgs.
Once I went up to 60 I was referred to neurology.
The pain causes my bloodpressure to rise to crazy numbers, so I'm on medication for that too.
It's debilitating,my last big attack had me off work for a week and all I could do was lay on the sofa otherwise the vertigo would kick in.
It scared me off walking to a client that's 45minute walk away.
I'm doing that walk again now but I've noticed I'm getting vertigo again. It stopped after walking when I moved up to 60mg but it's back again,not as bad as it was but it there making me unsteady when I stop.
I keep a diary of it all.

I'm in England by the way,I know medications will be different for treating the same conditions.
It's not fun having Atypical migraines along with the other things.
I also start going numb in my arm,hand,leg and foot on one side.

Isn't getting older fun 🙄.
I'm 45 is anyone is wondering.

AF - 23
A - 2

@LoveyChar
Thanks,I just get on with things as normal.
Though the head pain makes me tired, some times exhausted if it continuous. It's caused me to stutter,I repeat the last word I've said and have trouble getting my words out.
They kept taking me through the stroke tests when it all first started in 2022 because I was losing the use of my right side.
The children have migraines ,I got my daughter some blue light glasses which she wears to school to stop her getting migraines from the lights there,my eldest got himself a pair first a couple of years ago to help with his.
We all have Raynaud's disease too.

I always say I'm riddled 😆.
I've just got to see what happens with my cholesterol at the next blood test, if it's gone down (like I'm hoping it does) it might be a good sign that I don't have that problem. If it doesn't then I know I'll end up on statins and possibly something else along with watching my food. Palm oil and coconut oil are the worst fats for cholesterol. It's hard to avoid palm oil now with in being in so many foods. I'm finding it everywhere and in things I wouldn't of expected it to be in.
We're also gluten free.
The consultant said the reactions we have are not allergies but that of an auto immune disorder and that there is still a chance we are coeliac and could go through the test again.
That's a no from us. It 6 weeks of eating the stuff that makes us ill followed by taking antihistamines straight afterwards.
🤣 Like I said, getting older fun😂.
I work in care so you have to laugh at serious things sometimes. People would be shocked at things we joke about if they knew.

Damp January goals: 5/7 AF days a week

My best laid intentions turned into having a couple of glasses of red wine on both Thursday and Friday nights. The first red in about a month since I’ve been sticking to mostly low calorie / low alcohol.

Looking ahead, I am going to come short of a handful of AF days for the month but want to finish strong.
Personal limits have been good, not excellent but way better than fair. Honestly, I thought I had such a great physical appointment this year that I can now celebrate this week, but I know this is just myself rationalizing behavior. Today I am going to hydrate, clean the house and get outside for an hour walk.

I planned wine for tomorrow with the football games, but now I’m over with unplanned days, boo. Not sure what I will do just yet…..we may have a small gathering here.

Early morning commitments next week will help me with improved AF days. I seem to need those!

Current stats:
AF - 15 (includes tonight)
A - 12

Staying on the AF wagon. Staying healthy or trying to get healthier is just a full-time job, isn't it?

I share people's sentiments about cholesterol. It's tough. So many things raise cholesterol (body fat, aging, declining hormones, not to mention nobody really knows how much fat is in restaurant food). I get threatened to be put on pills, then I plead for a re-test in 3 months. I eat to "pass" the test (I track saturated fat and keep it to 5g a day which is do-able for a very short term, then LDL drops from 100 to 40 in weeks. After I pass the test, I fairly quickly slip back into my old pattern. It's tough for me to live on lentil soup and beans.

I have about 6 weeks before my next test.

accountability post

16 AF
9 A

I'm happy with my number of AF days and I am also doing better with portion control.

Day 1 none
Day 2 none
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Day 15 none
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Day 27 none
Day 28
Day 29
Day 30
Day 31

I finally talked to my mum about what she had said about her cholesterol.
And it's appears not to be the condition I have read about,She no knowledge of that condition it sounds like it was thought to be hereditary because other family members have or had high cholesterol.
I pointed out to my mother that she has no idea what kind of diet any of them had.
She hadn't considered that part for some reason 🤷🤦.
So scare,over as far as I'm concerned.

I'm trying to get off my regain that yo-yoed on and off last year.
I want to get it off so I can start working on the next amount when the weather warms up.
There's such a lot going on right now,this year is going to be just as busy as last year if not more.
I need to focus on myself just as much as I need to with everyone and everything else.

As far as booze goes, I haven't fallen for it.
I have to stay determined and on the right track, other I'll mess up everything.
Oh and there is booze in the house.
I was given 3 different types at Christmas,I've put them away out of sight.
I haven't forgotten about them though 😆😵‍💫.
I intended for them to stay there untill next Christmas or my birthday in October.
We'll see how I feel about it at that point.
I've always been a binge drinker, it's either a whole bottle or more and I don't want to be doing that.
The O.H is having a dry January.
I've had to tell him more than once that I'm going for as long as I can.
When he did a few months he went through alcohol withdrawal.
I remember it well,he was ill for a couple of months and probably longer if he had continued.
I'm glad to say I didn't get any of that,it just showed how much more he drank than me,plus I had a better diet than him.