Thursday, December 31, 2009

Goal Setting for the New Year

There are lots of articles out at this time of year about resolutions and goal setting.  It reminded me that I did in fact set some "intentions" last year, and I looked them up to see what they were.  There were 6 all together, with weight loss being #1 and way down the list:

     5.  Successfully get off all the drugs.

You can see by how far down the list it was how likely I thought it would be.  Then again, at this time last year I was taking bioidentical hormones and I had big hopes that they would enable me to stabilize my mood as well as promoting weight loss.  So it might have been more pro forma, because I thought it was a done deal with the hormones.  However, soon they were causing terrible migraines, and I had to go off them.  I really tried everything imaginable to get off my drugs before I found Truehope.

So of the 6 things on the list only one was realized, but heck, I am pretty darn satisfied with that one!

For 2010 I have a new list.  It includes exercise and work-related goals, neither of which were on last year's list.  So that shows some progress that wouldn't have been possible without the Truehope.  One item has carried over -- this year I really am finally going to finish a quilt!

Happy New Year everybody!

Monday, December 28, 2009

Lessons Learned

I have been waiting to post until I had good news, but good news seems to be a long time coming so I thought I'd better give an update now anyway.

My vegan diet has gone by the wayside, for at least a year until this protracted withdrawal is more under control.  I tried rice protein powder, the third type of protein powder I've tried now, and I was immediately allergic to it too.  There is nothing in it except rice protein, no additives or flavours of any kind, so it is clearly the protein that is the problem.

I have been experimenting with small amounts of meat at lunch, at that seems to work better for me.  I've also found that my body is getting used to the meat again, it does not bother me as much anymore.  I definitely feel better the next day after eating some meat, so it will stay in my diet for now.

Right now I'm fighting some kind of throat infection, which has made me sick right through the holidays.  The protracted withdrawal is worse again too, probably due to the infection.  I don't want to take antibiotics though, because I've heard those really aggravate the protracted withdrawal as well.  I'll just wait it out and see how it goes.

Happy New Year everyone!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Rollercoaster

Whew!  What a week!  It started out great, and then, just as I thought I had mastered this thing, all hell broke loose.

With my goal to stay vegan and just add more protein to my diet, I went out and bought a vegan harmonized protein powder, which had various ingredients.  It really helped with the protracted withdrawal, my symptoms cleared up and my energy soared.  I took Dr. Martin Seligmann's Authentic Happiness Inventory Questionnaire, and scored really high.  I took the same test several years ago when I was depressed, and I've raised my score by about 50 percentile points since then.  It is really an amazing improvement, which I attribute partially to the Empowerplus, and partially to my mental discipline of always trying to think a better feeling thought, thanks to the Abraham-Hicks teachings.  I was feeling great.

The next day the protein powder caused an allergic reaction.  Not a big one, but enough to realize that I had to stop taking it.  It had been giving me minor allergic symptoms all along, but I thought I would get used to it.  That's not how allergies work, of course.

The day after that I was feeling poorly all day, and I made a baked potato with some sauteed mushrooms for dinner.  I had a huge allergic reaction, not life-threatening, my throat did swell somewhat but it didn't actually stop my breathing.  And of course there was the diarrhea and overheating that goes with anaphylaxis too.  I nearly died from an anaphylatic episode in my early 20s, so I knew what was going on.  I have eaten mushrooms all my life without incident, but this time they did me in.  I think probably it was the earlier reactions to the protein powder that primed the pump for such a bad reaction this time.

For the next two days practically everything I ate re-triggered the allergic symptoms.  I thought I was allergic to the Empowerplus, and stopped taking that, and then I thought it was the Total Amino Solutions, and I stopped that too.  My blood pressure dropped really low, another result of anaphylaxis, and I've been eating salt like crazy to try to restore electrolytes.

Two days after I stopped the Empowerplus my protracted withdrawal symptoms cleared up.  I have been suspecting that it is the Empowerplus that acts as a detox that releases the stored medications from the body's tissues, and this pretty much confirms that theory.  On the third day without Empowerplus I had a big anxiety attack.  I have not had any anxiety since July.  I had been hoping that I would be able to stay off the Empowerplus for a while, but after that anxiety attack I went right back to it.

Another result of the allergic reaction and the diarrhea is that my IBS is back every morning.  That's been gone for months also, so I am not happy to see it return.  I had thought that it was the FermPlus probiotic that cured my IBS, but clearly the Empowerplus was a factor there as well.  I have always suspected that my IBS had a psychological component, I guess this proves that too.

Today I am eating without incident, although my face has been hot all day.  Something is still not right.  I have a feeling my thyroid is misbehaving.  If I am still no better by Monday I will get it checked.  I'll just have to see how this plays out.