Boy, if I wasn’t already a believer in the benefits of acupuncture I would be now! I’d been having my regular weekly sessions every Thursday or Friday like clockwork, but the last 3 weeks my schedule has been all over the place.

The wonderful acupuncturist I’d been seeing, Jonathon Dodd, has moved back to the Seattle area, so it’s been a time of transition.   I had my 1st session with Kimberly Fried last Thursday after  an abbreviated session with Jonathon the Tuesday before, will have no session this week, & will have to wait until Tuesday next week to return to a regular schedule.  My 1st impression of Kimberly has been extremely positive & I’m sure we’ll establish an excellent relationship, but it does take time for any doctor to gain familiarity with a new patient & their body’s individual quirks.  Oh well, it took time for Jonathon to figure out his approach to my health issues so I’ll just have to be a patient patient until I have enough sessions with Kimberly that she’s got me sussed as well!  ;-D

Bottom line is I’ve realized how important the acupuncture component is to my health strategy.  I’ve been much busier now that I’m teaching classes again & have felt more tired, but I’ve begun to have trouble falling asleep again!  (And I’ve gone back to the ‘waking up at 3:00 am’ routine too.)  I’ve really  noticed that my chronic insomnia becomes much less of an issue when I’m getting those regular acupuncture sessions.  (And the insomnia gets worse the more over-tired I become.)

I’m still following the cleansing diet prescribed by Dr. Hedayat & taking my supplements, doing my PT exercises, & getting my chiropractic adjustments, so it’ll be interesting to see how getting back into the groove with the acupuncture will effect things.

And on top of it all I’m trying very hard to rest, choose where & when I’ll spend my energy, & to let the stress flow right off my back. It’s a struggle to try to balance everything but I hope I’m getting better at it!!  It’s so hard not to fall back into the old ‘Get-’Er-Done’ mentality I’ve used to power through my life, no matter how exhausted I am.  But that’ mentality is what got me here so I’m learning to ask myself if a task is really so urgent that it’s worth setting back my health recovery.  Now I can take a rest before I tackle it, or just cross it off my list–the world isn’t going to end!

Ohmigosh!  I sat down to write today thinking it was only 4 or 5 days since my last yak-yak and I did a double-take–where has the time gone this week!?!

I didn’t think I did that much this last week  <eye-roll>  but I do remember that I:

—–Finished my lesson plans, gathered materials, & began teaching my fall classes ( Math & Science) at our charter school, Greater San Diego Academy (GSDA).

—–Did our homeschool lessons each day (yes, I teach at home too!).    ;-D

—–Setup & coordinated the field trip & drove a carpool to Pasedena on Wednesday for an Aerospace & Science out-reach day for the kids  put on by all the industry heavyweights (NASA, JPL, Boeing, Northrup-Grumman, Wyle, NTSB, etc) to show how fun & rewarding a career in science, technology & engineering can be. They also had loads of  fantastic stuff for the educators. (ME: Puh-leeze can I have one of those cool NASA astronaut pens to go with all the great teaching materials you just gave me?!)   What a fantastic time but thoroughly exhausting!.

—–Coordinated our LEGO Engineering class, materials, & lessons at GSDA.

—–Had bad sciatica at the beginning of the week & drove to Renew on Monday & Tuesday for help, along with my regular Thursday session.

—–Put in solid exercise sessions each day for fitness, & to help my sciatica & lower back pain.

—–Toted my son to his sports group, archery lesson, did housework, ran errands,  blah, blah, blah, just like every other busy parent.

And now I’m in the middle of cooking dinner & arranging a last-minute trip to see my elderly grandmother in Seattle next month!  I guess I’d better sign off so I can finish making all the phone calls to various relatives before it gets too late but before that . . .

I want to report that I was able to do all these things this week & still feel pretty good because I’ve really been following my directives from all my health providers! I’m packing nutritious snacks & lunches (with the accompanying supplements to take at the appropriate times of the day).  I’m having to fight my family’s & my own tendencies to be up late but I’m adamant about my bedtime, & so I have been getting enough sleep.  I’m cooking meals, even when I don’t have the the time!  I’m really trying to listen to my body & when I begin to feel tired I’m having a snack & a rest.  And I’m taking time each day to just chill, whether it’s visiting with a friend while our kids are doing archery or taking half an hour to sit & read or practice my new guitar.

Most importantly, I’m sticking to the priorities I’ve set as to how I will spend my energy each day & I’m refusing to let guilt from myself or from other sources push me to try do everything at once. (I refuse to stay up past midnight like I did in the past)!   I’m not Suzy Homemaker or Super-Woman! There, I said it!

I’ve been trying to make a conscious decision each week as to which days I’ll work on the house & what are my priorities each day.  So this week I deliberately decided to let all but the essential housekeeping wait until Saturday, so it’s been kinda messy around here this week.  But it’s not disgusting or life-threatening, & where I used to beat myself up I now remind myself that my priorities are my health, my family, my educational responsibilities, & having some time to see friends & relax.  Having a picture-perfect home would be nice but it’s not at the top of my priority list.  (Honey, when can we afford some maintenance help?  ha ha)

So I’ll just keep on track with my health strategy & begin to enjoy my life & my family again & if I get busted by the White Glove Squad, they’ll have to leave my demerits on the front door knob ’cause I’ll either be workin’ out,  outta here, or sittin’ on the back porch watching the hummingbirds while I’m eating a healthy lunch & sippin’ a tall (decaf) iced tea!

P.S. Oh, I forgot to add that I verified that my home scale is the same as the medical scale at Renew, so I had a very pleasant surprise last week when I weighed myself & realized that from the beginning of my challenge I’ve shed 15 pounds!  (I knew my clothes fit differently . . . )

I’ve had energy all week!! AMAZING!! I feel pretty darn good & even have been waking in the morning feeling happy & reasonably well-rested!  (I’m still having some trouble falling asleep, but not more than a couple of hours.)  This is just fantastic!! I do still get tired if I try to do too much without taking a real break, but if I’m conscious of how my body is feeling & respect that I can have a 20 or 30 minute break, & then continue with my day with no huge drop in energy.

Part of this new feeling of health, I believe, is I’m being very conscious of eating my prescribed meals & healthy snacks on more of a schedule–I think I was right in that I really can’t wait to eat until I get hungry because my energy level falls too low & I never really regain it that day.  So the ‘scheduling’ thing seems to be working pretty well.  (And I’ve lost almost 10 pounds!)

Dr. Hedayat ordered the blood panels for my Endobiogenic testing & I have a follow up appointment in 2 weeks so it will be interesting to see what the results show.  I’m very aware that my newly-found feelings of mental clarity, less muscle & joint pain, & greater energy are just beginning, & so are still quite fragile.  I will  have to be quite vigilant of my daily structure & actions–to continue to protect myself from myself –& not delude myself that I’m instantly better & can now go back to my old, destructive habits.  I’m in this for the long haul!!  I want to treat the root causes of my health issues, not merely trim a few symptoms here & there, so I’m very interested in what the test results will show & what my next steps are.

But I think the greatest impact my higher, more consistent energy level is having is on my physical therapy/pain relief conditioning. Now (2-3 days per week) I’m able to ride the stationary bike for 45 minutes, throw in some intense interval training (e.g., 30 seconds as fast as I can possibly go, then 45 seconds slow for rest, 30 sec on/45 sec off for 3  or 4 sets) & still not be dizzy when I finish!! (But of course I’m sweating like crazy!)  I’m finding it easier to do the core-strength building exercises & have begun to do some gentle yoga moves along with my prescribed exercises.  And I’m using some of those specific exercises as pain-relievers when my back hurts so I’m still not popping pain pills!! Sure I still hurt–sometimes quite a lot– but I’m working hard to retrain myself to use the exercises as my first-line of defense.  And you know what?  They’re helping me to have less pain in the long run!  < DUH!! >  I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to find exercises that really work!  (Or to learn to use them as ‘medicine’ instead of just part of physical conditioning.)

My biggest challenge this week has been really painful sciatica.  Dr. Buchel has been giving me really great chiropractic adjustments & Dr. Vanessa (& Dr. Kevin) have been doing lots of mobilization & mucle therapies on my hips & low back–including my favorite, the cold laser!–so between the adjustments & the soft-tissue thaerapies I’ve felt tremendous relief!  (I’m actually sitting here typing & only have a minimal amount of pain instead of it being torture, or not doing computer work at all!)   Dr. Vanessa even had me out this week waling around the block with these crazy walking poles (they’re sort of like cross-country ski poles) that totally kicked my butt, or should I say abs & core body!!  Then I got to ‘play’ (read: sweat!) on the Wii Fit doing soccer, cross-country skiing, hula-hooping (go ahead & laugh–I dare you to do it too!), & yoga.  Normally I would have taken a week to recover but I actually felt more of a normal tiredness & just slept for about 12-1/2 hours that night & felt a good energy in the morning!

I really feel like the co-ordination of the different therapies, diet, & medicines are beginning to show their synergistic effect. And Jonathon has been giving me awesome acupuncture sessions that not only help my sciatica, but even more importantly, have the effect of bringing everything together. No, that’s not a very good description.  More like, confirming the placement of and & ‘comforting’ the newly re-aligned parts of my body–physically, functionally, & mentally.  I feel like the acupuncture helps in re-integrating the disparate parts of my being that have been long divorced,  & in the reconnection of  normal function & communication. Or I can just say it makes me feel terriffic & leave it at that.   ;-D

Just a quick note before I head off to bed:

I’m feeling so much better this week!  My energy level has picked up a little each day, & Friday & today were great!  I’m riding my bike for 45 minutes now (still fairly low resistance) but I’ve started interval training & I’m still having just minimal dizziness after the aerobic work!!  Yay!!  The dizziness has been such a huge obstacle to working out that I hope it’s gone for good.

I’m also being very good & sticking to my cleansing diet, even when I get cravings for pastries, pasta, etc.  Today was my 51st birthday & I didn’t even have cake (although my friends did)–I had a lovely bowl of fresh fruits with my favorite gourmet vanilla yogurt on top, with a sprinkle of cinnamon & a handful of toasted pecans.  YUM!  I truly didn’t miss the cake (well, maybe only when I was smelling it while I cut & served it!).  I know how good I feel now, when I’m careful about what I eat, so I want to keep feeling good.  Cake & other yummy things will come back into my diet later, but not at this stage.

And, today several friends noticed I no longer have those huge black circles under my eyes I’ve had for years! I still have some darkness in the corners but they’ve faded to less than half what they were & the rest of the circles are completely gone.  Folks also noticed that my skin color was very healthy looking, not strained & sickly-looking, & that I had  much more energy!  I guess I’m not the only one noticing the positive changes I’m going through now, & it feels good.

I’ll write more tomorrow but now it’s time for me to stick to my bedtime schedule (it’s becoming very important for me to go to bed when I feel tired & not push myself to stay awake).

Now I think I’ll just go to sleep & dream of my next 50 years;  feeling good, regaining my health, & of all the adventures that await me!!

I don’t know what’s been up with me the last 3 or 4 days but all of a sudden I’m craving sugar & caffeine.  It’s very strange.  I’ve been on the modified low-carb/no sugar diet (see post, ‘New Habits”) for almost 4 weeks now & I haven’t really had much cravings, & when I did they were very mild.  But now?! Yikes!!

I totally want a really good cup of espresso & some kind of rich dessert–New York-style cheesecake, any kind of french pastry, my grandpa’s homemade cinnamon rolls with walnuts & raisens!  Or a nice strong cup of Earl Grey or Irish Breakfast tea, sweetened with a bit of honey & a plate of scrumptious, British scones. < *Sigh* >

I know the foods I eat have a direct effect on my mood & my body’s health, so I’m definitely not indulging.  But man, it’s soooo hard to follow my head & not my tastebuds!!!

Instead, my son & I split an apple’s worth of slices dipped in  organic, roasted peanut butter,  & I had a strong cup of Kava tea.  (I’m hoping the tea will help with my insomnia, which returned at the same time the cravings started.  Hmmmm . .) Definitely not as drool-worthy as all of the above, but passable.  So, now I’m off to hit the showers, & (hopefully) have a good snooze tonight.

Well, I’m happy to report I’ve had more energy yesterday & today!  I’ve been religious about eating a healthy snack within the first ten minutes I wake up, & that has helped a lot. I must need instant refueling after no food all night because if I don’t snack ASAP I start getting fuzzy-headed & I never really get to full power all day.   Hmmm . . . I wonder what this means?  (Good thing I’ll speak with Dr. Hedayat on Friday.)

Also, I’m still having sciatica, but thankfully not as bad as last week (I could barely walk!).  Every time it begins to flare up I do some of the exercises & stretches that Dr. Vanessa & Dr. Kevin have given me.  I’m very determined to use OTC pain meds only when I must, so I’m referring to my exercise printouts constantly.  I’m finding which ones work best for different kinds of pain, so I should be able to just stop & do whatever I need pretty soon as I’ll have memorized them all!

I’ve read some articles about how certain types of yoga can be very beneficial for fibromyalgia patients so I may try going into some of the basic moves I’m familiar with very slowly to see how my body tolerates them. (But I guess I should probably check with Dr. Vanessa first.)   ;-D

Yesterday I was able to ride my stationary bike (with low resistance) for 30 minutes, so I feel very good about that.  I was pretty tired physically today but not so bad that it interfered with my day–now that’s progress!  Yay! I’ve had to set my timer, but I’ve been eating either a healthy meal or snack about every 2 hours–it’s the only thing that keeps my brain engaged & energy up.

Now to make more progress at night.  For some reason I’ve been having insomnia again. (Pain? Worry? So tired I can’t sleep?  All of the above?  Again, something to speak with Dr. Hedayat about.)   So now I’m off to take a relaxing shower while I sip my Sleepytime tea & do boring-type crosswords until I can’t keep my eyes open. Rah.  :-D

Finally!!  I’m getting my energy back!  I woke up this morning & actually popped out of bed within 1/2-hour, not the 3+ hours of grogginess I’ve been going through before I can drag myself out.

But really, I’ve felt like this week would never end. I can’t believe it’s taken me TWO weeks to recover from that intense cleaning/house arranging marathon!  I hate being this fragile.  But I guess it really shows how run-down I was because even though I’m feeling better than before I began my health journey, I must be mindful that I still have a long way to go to be ‘sturdy’ again.   (Must . . .  pace . . . self . .  . . . . . . . have . . . patience . . . . . . Gah!)

This last week I had extreme sciatica to boot so walking has been full of surprises–I’ll be fine one moment, then I’ll stand for 5 minutes & can barely hobble across the kitchen.  Dr. Vanessa is on vacation so Dr. Kevin & Adam really helped put me back together.  Lots of stretching, plus Adam really worked over all my seized up muscles.  I felt so much better!  (And when I got home I was even better after a hot shower & Tiger’s Balm!)  I guess some of my sleepiness has been due to the pain–it totally wipes me out.

But  today I’m feeling pretty darn good, which is very encouraging.  (Yes!  I need encouraging right now!)  I’ve been very careful to stop, have a healthy snack, & rest whenever I start feeling tired so I’ve been able to go pretty much all day.  Not a lot of heavy work mind you, but the everyday chores I’ve had a hard time tackling.  So, yay me!!

My hubby, MIL (Mother-in-law), & son are coming home tonight from their week-long vacation, so I guess my vacation ends tonight too.    ;-D    Guess I’d better pull my garlic-roasted chicken off the rotisserie, grab my mega-salad & curl up with the DVR before they get home!

Rats!  Just when I think I’m finally getting in the groove, I totally flub up.    /:-P

I worked on science & reading with my son (no rest for the homeschooled–am I the meanest mom in the world, or what?), worked in the garden, cleaned, cooked, paid bills, changed from sitting work to walking around work when I began to get stiff, took my son to the library to do his reporting for the Summer Reading Program, & worked on my upcoming Math & Science curriculums.  I ate regular meals, each including animal protein, had my nuts before eating fruit snacks,  made cherry stem tea (yuck, but another part of my body’s cleansing program), & took all my vitamins/supplements at the appropriate times.  I feel good about what I have accomplished today, I really do.   So I should feel good about my juggling skills, right??   Oh yay, yay me, oh yeah, yay me, oh . . . uh . . . oh man!!!

What about my exercises?!! Gah!!  Will I ever get it all together?   OK, I’ll admit (partial) defeat for today (it’s almost 11:30 pm) so I guess it’s time to whip out Scarlett O’Hara:  ”Oh fiddle-dee-dee.  I’ll worry about that tomorrow.”

I really do have to watch what I eat and when I eat it. Today I didn’t eat breakfast until I’d been up for almost two hours working & then only remembered to eat because I was getting foggy minded & shaky.  Then I scarfed 5 walnuts and ate about 2 cups of cherries.  Of course I ran out of energy/brain power in about an hour and a half so I had a few more nuts and a plum.  Again, fuzzy & tired in 1.5 hours.  By now it penetrates that I need some serious protein, not this ‘fast food’ pattern I’ve fallen into again. (see my previous post, Chasing Time.)

So I pry myself away from the computer where I’ve been stuck with bills, business, & other boring stuff & get ready to cook myself a nice veggie omlette.  But just then my 8yr old comes powering into the kitchen & wants to make me a healthy breakfast because he knows I’ve been working hard.  His idea is to make me a power smoothie so he puts non-fat vanilla yogurt, unsweetened cocoa, & a dab of milk into the blender.  I also put in a few teaspoons of fermented soy powder to add some extra protein, and 2 bananas.  Tasted pretty good & I drank about 2 cups, but again no energy in a couple of hours.

This time I’m dizzy, foggy-minded, & exhausted.  My body is really showing me what it likes & when I don’t listen, it whacks me down hard. So I finally sat down & ate three hard-boiled eggs, a giant handful of cherry tomatoes, & small handful of baby carrots.  Sat down in the recliner & took a nap when I was done eating.  Better . . .but still not that good. I managed to get through the rest of the day with some nuts, a banana, & yogurt with blueberries,  plus I’m finishing another ‘super salad’ as I blog (again, see previous post).  Unfortunately by the time I finished cooking the chicken/prepping the veggies, my left leg was so numb I had trouble walking to the computer–standing really gets to me right now.

Now don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy a good meal–honest!!  Just watch me at Thanksgiving, or when I get the baking bug.   But most of my life I’ve thought of food as merely fuel (I’m not a picky eater), or as a reward/energy boost.  I’m so used to trying to ignore back pain that other body signals like hunger are sometimes something I just don’t notice until it gets critical.  (My friends are falling down laughing right now!  I’m known to walk into a store so hungry that I’ll aimlessly walk up & down the aisles like a zombie, almost unable to choose something to eat.  Crazy, huh?)

So I definitely learned (or re-learned) three very important things today:

• Eat proper meals with meat or eggs–yogurt doesn’t do the trick
• Eat breakfast within 1/2 hour of waking
• When I’m so exhausted/fuzzy, I’m not using my muscles to support my back–Ouch!

This time the knowledge is coming to me at a time when I’m putting it into proper context.  I’m really beginning to understand how this pattern of making food a time-waster in my mind has caused me to develop some very unhealthy eating habits–even though the foods I eat are, in and of themselves, generally pretty healthy.  Well, tomorrow is another day!

I’ve been eating lots of healthy, yummy salads over the last few days & I realized another roadblock that’s been in my way: TIME!!

It takes time to make a salad, even when you buy bagged greens & cherry tomatoes–no cutting.  What with all the other  prep for all the veggies I like it takes me at least 10 minutes.  Then it takes me at least 1/2 hour to eat one (I’m a very slow eater).  So while I was steadily eating a marvelous blend of spring greens, romaine, baby spinach, carrots, cucumber, red cabbage, red onion, an entire red bell pepper, & a large handful of cherry tomatoes (lots of red foods!)  a grilled half of skinless chicken breast (chopped), topped with a smidge of Italian balsamic vinegar/olive oil dressing, I had a revelation.  (And yes, I know I make extravagant salads, but YUM!)

So as I was chomping happily away, it suddenly hit me: With the extreme time crunch we’ve had here for the past 3-4 years I don’t make salads that often because it’s so time-consuming.  I’ll get salads when I’m out or at someone’s house–no cheese, heavy dressings, croutins, greasy stuff–but I might make a salad st home once a week, if that.  Plus,  much of the time I’m literally on the move in the car, between teaching sessions, or just cleaning the house & yards.

When I really think about it I still try to make healthy choices, like non-fat yogurt topped with frozen fruit and a few walnuts, or a piece of fruit with an organic, low-glycemic whole-food protein bar, but I choose these types of things most of the time because they’re fast & I realized this sort of fast food has become the norm of my daily diet, not the occasional thing as it should be.

Now I have to make time for:

1. Time to stretch & exercise
2. Time to relax (some ‘me’ time with no work allowed)
3. Time to prepare healtheir food
4. TIme to eat the healthier food
5. Time to clean the kitchen after preparing said healthier food

Whew!  Talk about changes.  Looks like it’s time for me  to figure out how to do this!!