Trying Again

Remember when I started this (the second half of the post)? Yeah, I’m doing that again. Started this morning. I’m hoping to figure out what the new food allergy is that makes me break out in rashes and have random bouts of diarrhea. It’s going to be much the same process as the first time, except I will be able to keep butter and tomatoes in the diet. I am certain these aren’t a problem. All other dairy, grains, and potentially inflammatory meats and nuts are out. On the bright side, I am going to be home the whole time I’m on this diet. It’s a good thing, because eating out while trying to strictly control my diet is really hard. Not impossible, just hard.

In the meantime, I have a lot of knitting to do. I’ve got 3 expected babies to knit for, plus a few projects for friends who want or need something specific. Later this week I’ll put up a list of what I have in progress, plus the list of things I plan to cast on. I am thinking I need to make something to wear on the cruise I plan to take in August. It will be Michael’s and my 10th anniversary this year, so it will be nice to cruise even if I am not much better and not really up to it. I mean, there’s food and a bed on board – what else could I need?

As for the past month, I actually accomplished a few things. The biggest is that I caught up on my newspaper comics. Somehow, it’s nice to only have one day’s worth of comics waiting for me in the morning. I eat breakfast and read the paper, and when I’ve finished, there isn’t a giant stack still waiting for me. It’s just nice to feel caught up.

I also discovered a new treatment that seems to help.  I went to see a chiropractor who uses an acupuncture technique called NAET. When I walked in to her office, I was up front with the doctor. I told her I thought that this was just voodoo and I was only there to say I had tried it. The doctor was very good about the whole thing. She said that it was all right I felt that way, let’s just try it and see if it does anything. She said it works for some and not for others. Given that she was so laid back about the whole thing, I agreed to give her a shot.

Well, the three days after my first treatment were the best I’ve had in about a year and a half. I went back on the fourth day having regressed almost to the point where I was before the treatment, but feeling optimistic that a second treatment might produce the same results. In fact, it did work. I am by no means all cured – far from it. The difference is that I wake up in the morning feeling kind of crappy, I have a glass of tea, then have up to four hours of clear thinking and productivity. I can only do light housework and tasks like reading, but for those few hours, these activities are no longer a complete struggle. It’s improvement, so I’ll take it. As of today we’ve only worked on treating my autonomic nervous system imbalance, so I’ll be interested to see what happens when we actually start trying to clear food allergies.

Unfortunately, I seem to be out of focus for today. I plan on writing more over the course of the next few weeks, especially regarding the cleanse diet. I may need some moral support as it drags on – eating carefully is hard work!

Unexpected Breakthroughs

I’ve had quite a few surprises since I last posted, most of them good, but a few not so much.

The kittens have gotten to the point where they can use a litter box, if they are so inclined. I planned to put them in their “crib” on Saturday (the crib is a large plastic bin with wheels – it’s bigger than the the cat carrier, but it still keeps the little dudes contained and out of trouble) and introduce a litter box. When I woke up, Michael had already moved the kittens to the crib. Good deal. The little girls have sprouted their milk teeth as well, and have shown an interest in eating softened Baby Cat kitten food. They are mostly on the bottle at this point, but it’s nice to see them try food without being forced. At the first feeding since the kittens were moved to the crib, I noticed one of the black boys (we’re calling the larger one Bear and the smaller one Inky) squatting in the litter box. “No way,” I thought, but when he moved, there was the clumped up cake of cat litter (corn based litter, for those who worry). The next morning I noticed a lot of little pee spots in the litter box, so it seems that they all know how to use it. What a great development! These are the easiest bottle-feeders I can recall having.

I’ve achieved my goal of finishing three WIPs to account for the sock I cast on. The good news is, I’m not feeling the itch to cast on a new project – in fact, I’ve been content to finish old ones. As part of my second wave of projects that must be completed before casting on a new one, I’ve made progress on Robert’s boot socks. I was planning to work on the hemp shopping bag as well, but I just wasn’t feeling the project, so I switched it out for the beach skirt that I am designing. The newly cast on socks are part of the three active projects as well. I am doing a lot of traveling, so it’s nice to have that small project to carry around.

I decided that the circle rug did indeed need a border after all. I figured that if I kept thinking about it and feeling guilty for not adding a border, then that meant it was needed. The border helped to soften the edge I left when joining the long strip.

I also finished the Everyday Tweed sweater. This is one of the less pleasant surprises of the week. I made a small size and I followed the pattern. I even made the slightly differing dye lots work with a bit of fancy color work. Still, the sweater didn’t come out right. Somehow, it’s too large around the neck and upper back – the fabric actually bunches up and folds over at the top. It looks nice, though, so maybe I’ll wear it around the house over another shirt on cold days. <sigh>

(the comic is “Rhymes with Orange”)

I also achieved another goal that wasn’t on my list, but it’s something I’ve been trying to achieve for about two years now. (click to enlarge)

I finally broke 200 in bowling! Sweet! My next bowling goal is to get a clean game.

I’ve saved the best for last – I think we’ve finally had a breakthrough in figuring out what is wrong with me. It’s kind of a long story, but I’ll tell it as concisely as possible.

Earlier this week I watched an old episode of Mystery Diagnosis that has been waiting around on my TiVo. Ever since the onset of my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I’ve tried to get as much information as possible about what could be wrong, both by actively researching my symptoms and by just putting myself in the way of information. The episode I watched was about a kid who kept having hypoglycemic episodes. His were far more severe than mine – he actually had to be hospitalized for his condition. It turned out that he has a genetic condition that causes his pancreas to produce a lot of insulin, regardless of how much he needed to deal with the sugar in his blood.

I thought about my symptoms, and after assembling the puzzle pieces, some things started to make sense. I had a strong reaction to the new supplement. My primary care physician thought it had to do with the ATP in the supplement (ATP is the currency your body uses to transfer energy). I guess that I had so very little ATP that the small amount in the supplement was overwhelming to my body. Well, then I had to wonder, why am I not making ATP? My chiropractic endocrinologist/nutritionist then began to suspect mitochondrial malfunction, and ordered tests for antibodies for that, and a few other things. Those have not come back yet, as far as I know. Working from his theory, I researched what else might cause mitochondrial malfunction. At some point it became obvious – how can the mitochondria produce energy if they aren’t getting the fuel needed to do their job?

I have three known conditions: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (also known as PCOS, which is basically early type 2 diabetes: the patient is declared insulin resistant, but I am coming to suspect that insulin resistance may not be the only cause of the syndrome), Hashimoto’s disease (autoimmune low thyroid) and immune system malfunction (overactive, generally). Of these conditions, the one to look at is the PCOS. What if the syndrome is not caused by insulin resistance, but overproduction of insulin? What if I make too much insulin, just like the boy on Mystery Diagnosis, and when I eat, the blood sugar does not get into the cells like it should, and is instead whisked away into storage before I get the chance to use it. It would be like putting so much of your paycheck into savings that you have little to no spending money, to the point where you can’t even pay your bills. I’ve always had high triglycerides, which are your body’s way of storing excess blood sugar. It’s a form of bad cholesterol (sugar combined with some fatty acids).

I brought the idea to the chiropractic “endocrinologist” (I’m going to call him Dr. B), and he said that he had actually discussed that very same possibility with the chiropractic neurologist (Dr. A) the day before. There are several possible causes for the overproduction of insulin, but I only know of two: an insulin producing tumor (called an insulinoma) or a genetic predisposition to produce too much insulin.

Overproduction of insulin (also called hyperinsulinemia) would explain every single symptom I’ve had. The brain cannot store its own energy, so low blood sugar in the body means the brain isn’t getting enough fuel. A doctor on Mystery Diagnosis said that repeated and/or chronic hypoglycemia has the exact same effect on the brain as drowning and being revived repeatedly (because the brain doesn’t store oxygen either). That was the comment that led me to further explore the insulin problem.

I told Dr. B that I wanted to do an experiment. I said that I wanted to add complex carbohydrates to my diet (I’m supposed to be on a grain-free diet right now, per the neurologist, and this involves adding back grains) with protein to slow the absorption. The idea would be to monitor my blood sugar closely to ensure that I didn’t overdo it. I tried this experiment over the last four days (maybe three and a half – I didn’t wait for approval, I was really just telling him what I planned to do with the intention of stopping if he raised a compelling concern). On the first day, I started to sleep better (I now stay asleep rather than waking up repeatedly). On a later day, I started to feel actually refreshed after sleeping (for the longest time it was just like I lost consciousness for a few hours, and when I awoke I was just as tired as when I fell asleep). I’m still sleeping a lot, but I think that’s because I have an enormous energy debt to pay back to my body, and it will take time to do that.

The catch is, I don’t think I can keep this diet up forever. If I do, my triglycerides are likely to go back up, increasing my risk for heart disease. Dr. B is concerned that the carbohydrate load will stimulate even more insulin production, and if that happens, it will eventually become impossible to keep up with it. What I really need to do is find the cause of the high insulin load, and treat that. Depending on the cause, that can be tricky business, and it may mean surgery. But this is getting a little too far ahead – I haven’t confirmed that my (our?) suspicion about the insulin production is correct. It could just be really strong insulin resistance as well (the idea being that insulin tries to get the blood into the cells, but it can’t so it stores it instead. I’ll explain that further if it becomes the operating theory). I foresee a lot of testing in my future.

San Francisco as a Tourist

Visiting San Francisco is a bit like coming home to me – I did live here for five years, after all. I like that when I come visit, I know where to get things I want, how to get around (I was not paying attention when they handed out direction sense, so I didn’t get any – a problem when I travel) and that many of my friends are here. While walking around, I realized that I have actually failed to see the place from a tourist’s point of view before. The first time I came here, Michael was interviewing for a job, and we knew we were going to live here soon. The city never had a chance to be a novelty for me.

On this trip we are staying in a different hotel than we normally do. It’s on the Embarcadero, which runs along the north side of the city. It’s where you will find the Ferry Building, Fisherman’s Wharf, etc.

View Larger Map

I looked out the back door of the hotel a few days ago and noticed that we had a view of San Francisco Bay and the Bay Bridge. I don’t live anywhere near water anymore, and somehow the sight of the Bay made me regret that fact. The stiff breeze (it’s always cold here in SF, especially in the summer) made me feel thankful that I no longer live near the water. It’s funny what a little perspective can do for me.

I know this scene somehow looks warm, but don’t let it fool you – it was maybe in the mid-50s (and this in in the middle of July!) when I went out.

There are places in San Francisco that I miss. I love the Ferry Building. Inside, it’s mostly a farmer’s market, with shops selling artisan cheeses, olive oil, and other food items. There are also a few chain stores, but mostly the chains are coffee shops. There is also a kitchen gadget chain store inside. Right inside the door nearest to my hotel is a small kiosk for Mariposa, a gluten-free bakery! In the plaza right outside of the Ferry Building, there’s a local art market in the summer and an ice skating rink in the winter.

Another place I used to love? Mitchell’s Ice Cream. They have the most wonderful ice cream I’ve ever eaten. The secret is that they have the highest butter fat content you can get without turning the ice cream into… well… I don’t know what it would be, but there is a fine line between amazing ice cream and just a lump of fat. I confess that I went there last night. I hadn’t eaten any significant amount of sugar in a while, and I figured that it’s been a few weeks since I last tested the dairy allergy, so no big deal. I have good news and bad news about that – my throat didn’t swell this time, but I did have to sleep two more hours last night than I normally need. It’s progress.

And finally, I went to Imagiknit. It’s my favorite yarn shop ever. Imagiknit has more yarn than I do than any other shop I’ve ever been to. I can easily spend a fortune in there – as a matter of fact, I have spent a small fortune in there on multiple occasions (not that I engaged in that practice today…) . Maybe it’s best that I no longer live close enough to go every day. A few months ago, I bought the cashmere for the christening gown at Imagiknit. The store owner, Alison, asked me to show her pictures of the finished product, so I did one better – I brought it with me to show her in person. She was pretty excited, and she took pictures to put on her blog (so look for me, I’ll be famous one day!).

I took time to notice more than just the places I miss. There are small details about the city that surprise me, exasperate me, or just intrigue me.

It’s a nice surprise to see actual foliage in the urban landscape that is San Francisco.

It exasperates me the way that every place, no matter where you are going is uphill. The cold, dreary weather also made me miserable on a regular basis when I lived here. I should mention that there are micro-climates in San Francisco, and some neighborhoods(like the Mission) can actually be warm in the summer. Look carefully at the picture on the right, though, and you’ll see that on most days, everyone is bundled up for mild winter weather, even in July.

The random art that dots the streets of San Francisco intrigues me. I admit, I’m not into sculpture and paintings and such, but I do appreciate that you won’t find these things anywhere else. I hope to get a shot of some of the murals in the Mission before I go home this time. I did get a few things I haven’t seen before, though.

I kind of like the monster! He had friends, but I was in a hurry to get food and only caught this one.

It’s been fun to see San Francisco as a tourist. I didn’t realize just how much I could see, even given that I spend my days here flitting from one social engagement to the next.

On Wednesday, I replaced all the things I forgot to bring with me and then went to knit night. On Thursday, I took the day off and mostly stayed in the hotel so I could have the energy to make it through Scottish Country Dance class (my picture is still on the fliers – I’ll have to scan it for you!). I forgot to go to the Animal Welfare Commission meeting – oops. On Friday, I did something that I can’t tell you about until some people at home see it in person, then I went out to get my nails done with Naomi (knitting Naomi). In the evening, Michael and I met up with our friend Ryan for dinner and then a board game at another friend’s (Tim’s) house. Today, we started the afternoon by meeting an old co-worker of Michael’s, Vicki. I made her a blanket for her new baby last year, and they still use it – she even said it was the nicest baby gift they got! Michael went rock climbing while I went to Imagiknit. After coming home and taking a short nap (I’m very sore and wiped out from all the walking and from dance class), we met Harriett for dinner. Tomorrow, I am going to pick up a copy of Dragon Quest 9, then I am meeting a new friend in Union Square while Michael goes off to watch the World Cup game with Naomi’s husband. I am hoping to meet the other Naomi (kitten foster mom Naomi) after my lunch date. In the evening, I am hoping to catch my old friends Brendan and Bethany (we met them on a cruise to Mexico shortly after we moved to San Francisco) for dinner and maybe some theater. On Monday I plan to spend the day volunteering at the city shelter, then I am meeting Michael and Judie (whom we met on our first cruise to Hawai’i for our 5th anniversary) for dinner. I can’t remember if I have anything on Tuesday yet. Still, as you can see, the schedule is full – I am burning the candle at both ends while I’m here. I will attempt to put up another post before I go home, and I will continue to try to see the city from a tourist’s point of view. It should be interesting!

P.S. – I stole the emoticon from this site.

A day off (mostly)

I’ve taken a day off from my newly busy life. Not that I didn’t feel busy before, but now that my good days seem to be outnumbering the bad ones (yea!), I am busy in different ways. Ways that involve not sitting down for long periods of time in front of the computer.

I made arrangements to pick up kittens on the way home from the airport after our last trip. Since it is the heart of kitten season now, the shelter wanted to send me home with kittens who would be ready for adoption when I returned them. This means that the kittens would be on the larger side and already social enough to be considered “adoptable”. This is the new family:

From left to right: Aladdin, Cinderella, Mulan and Ariel. Disney kittens, these. Perfect in every way!

Mae, their incredibly affectionate and cat friendly mother.

These kittens and their mother are all love and comedy. I’ve been letting the babies out to play with Duck since he’s so curious about newcomers. What I didn’t expect is that their mother took an instant shine to Ducky, and when she’s out, the two of them hang out like old friends.

It’s good to see that this mommy cat is tolerant of others. It will help her adoption prospects immensely. Shoot, if I didn’t have four already…

But I do have four lovely cats. They were happy to see us come home from the last trip, perhaps in part because we arrived at home at the same general time of day that our pet sitter arrives to feed them. Ducky was particularly naughty on the day we got back, though, stealing and mauling balls of yarn he pilfered from my knitting bag. I realized that maybe they just missed being able to go outside, so I took the four of them out to burn off a little steam. The weather here has been so beautiful and the sun has been out so much that I had the opportunity to take really nice pictures of my kitties.

We  have Buttercup lounging on the porch.

Duck and Serra resting on the porch.

Duck thinks he’s hiding in the tall grass I need to remove from my garden.

Wesley observing the birds and bugs he wishes he could catch.

The cats look so beautiful in our yard. Sigh. It makes their naughtiness forgivable.

While we were traveling I managed to make a lot of progress on knitting the christening gown for Michael’s sister. Oh, poo, I should have gotten a picture of her in her seventh month of pregnancy. In any case, I did take a picture of the christening gown.

This is the entire front of the gown in its unblocked glory.

At first, the lace pattern was a lot of work. I had to keep the pattern with me at all times, referring to it after every few stitches. I couldn’t imagine getting it finished in time if I was going to work at that rate. At some point on our last trip I suddenly grasped the way the pattern worked and could knit without looking at the pattern anymore. The rows started to fly by, and before I knew it, I made so much progress that any concern I had about finishing it just vanished. I’m working on a sleeve now, but I will get to the back as soon as I’ve finished the sleeve. I just needed a change of pace.

Despite all the knitting I accomplished on the trip, it all came to a grinding halt when I got home. For the first few days,  I was very sick. I had some sort of throat infection that burned and left little blisters all along the back of it. I also felt a little inflamed. On Sunday night I laid down for a nap at about 6:00pm and awoke at midnight for a little food, then went back to sleep until 9:00am the next day. When I woke up on Monday, I felt great. Better than I’ve felt in a long, long time. I felt so great that I decided to finish painting the formal living room / dining room I abandoned last summer. The thing about the painting is I chose to paint the ceiling, and I didn’t really give enough thought to the fact that working above your head while standing on a ladder for 8 hours is brutal. I was just so motivated, and I’m not used to having that much drive. Additionally, I’ve gotten so used to the fact that my good days are few and far between, so I just worked myself to the bone. When I woke up the next day, my body felt like I had been in some sort of brutal vehicular accident, but my mind was clear and I still felt ambitious. I brought out the paint again and did some detail work, making a crisp line between the ceiling and the walls (the walls have this knockout texture on them that makes creating a clean line tricky). On the third day I went back to the ceiling and the ladder, making even more progress. I have been physically exhausted by the end of the day, but I feel so much more accomplished than I have in the past.

Here’s a peek at what I’ve accomplished:

You can see on the top left where I haven’t gotten to painting some of the ceiling. There’s a lot of real estate to cover here – the ceilings slope to a maximum height of 17 or 18 feet. The parts over the dining room table and in the hall are all at the maximum height. It’s slow work just because of the bit about working over my head.

I thought I was going to work on the painting more today, but that just didn’t happen. After I went to the chiropractor (for a spinal adjustment, not the diet/medicine piece of it) and did a tutoring session with the girl who lives next door, I just didn’t feel like it. I have bruises all over my shins from where I leaned up against the ladder for days, and I’m just a little tired. Even more pressing, I have a deep desire to knit. I haven’t even gotten started on my swatches for the skirt I’m designing. On the second day of my painting binge, I realized that I was going to have to learn to pace myself if I am going to have multiple good days in a row. This break is me pacing myself. I’m learning.

I have no idea when the painting will be done, or how much I will do. I am considering painting the kitchen while I’m so motivated, but there are a few things I want to fix first. There is an issue with the grout in the tile work I did when we renovated the kitchen, and it’s been bothering me enough to want to fix it. There are also some mistakes on the wood floor I laid that I can’t help but notice as well, so those will have to be addressed if for no other reason than to quiet the perfectionist who lives inside me and believes that everything I make is flawed and that everyone can tell.

I hope for my next post that I will have a sample of the new skirt to show you. Let’s hope it goes well!

Random, but at least it’s an update

I’ve been out in my garden all day, and I probably will be doing so for most of the week this week, given that I am leaving town again on Friday. When I come in, I am absolutely wiped from the hours of back-breaking labor. I really do want to keep up with the blogging, though, so I decided to write down a list of random thoughts.

1. I may have discovered yet another food allergy – corn. That would really suck, given the prevalence of high-fructose corn syrup. I need to experiment more.
2. The kittens are steadily growing, mostly uneventfully. That’s a nice change of pace.
3. Mommy cat came along a little bit in her socializing because I took away her privacy. I removed the doors to the cabinets because she would hide inside when I visited her. I then had to remove the drawers because she chose to hide in them when her doors went missing. She still needs work. I have got to get a video of her howling at me – it’s funny and sad all at once.
4. I can’t believe how much work goes into getting relatively little done in my garden. It gives me a whole new respect for professional gardeners and farmers.
5. I finally got really motivated to work on the christening gown. I don’t think I’ve cast on anything new since I last made a list of my yarn projects. I may narrow that list down yet!
6. The doctor has me taking 1/2 tsp. of Celtic sea salt twice a day in the hopes of preventing leg cramps. Drinking salt water wasn’t working for me, so I bought the vegetable capsules you find in health food stores and stuffed it in there. Much better.

I’m sure there’s more, but I haven’t the energy. I’m looking forward to dinner, then an early bed time. Maybe I’ll get the motivation to tweak my DnD character before I go to sleep, but I’m not going to count on it.

The Week in Boston

When I last posted, I mentioned that I was going to Boston for a week. I did hope I’d find some time to blog while I was out, but for some reason (that I figured out later and will get to at the end) it had become increasingly harder for me to focus enough to write a coherent post. I guess it doesn’t matter now, since I’m doing it from home, but I do wish that I was able to get on this sooner.

I’ve been to Boston before. Massachusetts is one of the original colonies, so there is a lot to see in the way of history, particularly relating to the Revolutionary War. Alas, I didn’t do any of the historical touristy stuff this time. I did, however, get around the city enough to photograph some of its character.

Let’s start with the hotel. We stayed in a boutique hotel, paid for by Michael’s work. It’s the same hotel we stayed in on the last trip to Boston, in fact. This hotel has a unique style.

Note the choice in bed covering – bold, no?

This is what they offered in the way of a bathrobe – wild.

The night we landed, Michael and I decided to visit a seafood restaurant we visited the last time we were in town. I still don’t like seafood, but I figured with the diet and all, it made sense to give the place another shot. The food was cooked well, I’m sure, but I still wasn’t able to really like it. I’m trying. Really.

While we were out, I noticed white horses and carriages everywhere. In fact, there were also quite a few younger, adult-like people wearing formal attire. I can only figure that it was prom season.

For the rest of the week I toured the city, but mostly with the search for local yarn shops in mind. I believe that the artistic mood of a yarn crawl helped me notice something I may not have otherwise – the architecture. Some of the buildings that were in use at the time of the Revolutionary War are still maintained and used for tourism purposes. Some of the older buildings are just moss-covered. What struck me the most, though, is the juxtaposition of the old and new buildings.

The reason I really wanted to go to Boston this time had nothing to do with Boston at all. It had everything to do with Sara. She and I met here, through my blog. I learned about nine months ago that she was expecting a new baby, so I set about making a baby blanket from wool I spun myself. The drive from Boston to Sara’s place wasn’t all that long, so we made the side trip to deliver the blanket.

Already, the little guy is wrapped up in my handiwork!

We played Dungeons and Dragons at Sara’s house the first night, then simply hung out with her the next day. I really wish I had her drive – she made efforts to clean her house when we were coming over, even though she just had the baby on the previous Monday. I insisted that she needn’t worry about us, but she did anyway. It was so very cool to meet someone who was a complete stranger to me before I started writing online. She’s just as wonderful as I hoped she would be. Yea, internet friends!

I also finished a little something from my long list of yarn craft WIPs:

The Razor Cami. I used Arucania Ranco Multy, in color 309. I bought the yarn at a point when I felt I needed to broaden the color variety in my yarn stash. I bought 2 skeins of the same dye lot at the same time, and yet they were very different. When you click on the picture, you can see that the top inch of the camisole and the arm straps are a slightly different color than the rest of the body. I can’t decide if this is an artifact of the fact that the yarn is hand-dyed, or if someone maybe switched a label at some point. The pattern called for a contrast color at the top anyway, but I wanted the thing to be a single color. Maybe I’ll get my wish on the next one. For what it’s worth, I chopped my head out of the picture here for the same reason I didn’t post a photograph of me with Sara – I look particularly terrible in all the pictures taken of me that week.

I think the reason I looked terrible is that I felt a little bad, health-wise. At the hotel’s steak restaurant, I told the waiter that I have a dairy allergy, and I assumed the fact that he went through the menu with me to show me what was dairy free meant he understood. I ate my steak and asparagus, and as I got back to my room, I had a swollen throat and an upset stomach. They didn’t take me seriously. It’s the first time this happened since I started the new diet, but honestly I’m shocked that it hasn’t happened more often, given the sheer amount of traveling we’ve been doing.

I also learned one more thing I am allergic to: my birth control pills. The reaction was identical to the reaction I had to dairy. I can directly connect the weeks that I felt bad, even those on the cleanse diet, with the times I was taking the pills. They made me feel inflamed, tired, and sore, and they left me unable to get rest while I slept. Another odd bit – they made it impossible to adapt my circadian rhythms to the  Eastern time zone. I was waking up at 8:00am in Mountain time, and 10:00am Eastern time, without fail. As soon as I got home and realized the pills were making me sick, I stopped taking them. Within three days of discontinuing the pills, all of the symptoms disappeared. I started waking up earlier – this morning I woke up at 5:15am, feeling great. Why couldn’t I have figured this out before I traveled? In a few weeks we’re going back to Eastern time (a long business and family visiting trip, which I will try to blog about now that I am healthy enough to do so), so I’ll see how I fare then. I am willing to bet that I adapt much better this time.

Beginning Treatment

Now that the cleanse is over, my doctors are starting me on the treatment part of the whole diet business. I am allowed to add everything on the “no” list back, one every few days, except for a few things: dairy (but I do get butter back for some reason!) caffeine, alcohol, sugars, grains, and starches like corn and white potatoes. I added steak back to my diet yesterday. I have to wait a day or two, then I can add something else. I am thinking eggs, because they are useful in many recipes. The reason I have to wait a few days is that we are looking for bad reactions to the food, from aches and pains, to inflammation, hives, or diarrhea. This should weed out the things I am allergic to or can’t digest for whatever reason.

The other part of the treatment is the addition of supplements. To start with, I am taking really high doses of vitamin D in order to get the receptors in my body to actually accept it. I only have to do this for a short time, then I take a smaller dose for maintenance. I am still taking an antioxidant/anti-inflammatory cream several times per day, as well as a supplement for adrenal support and one for sugar metabolism support. I am taking far fewer pills a day now – only eleven, plus my regular meds. I know it seems like a lot still, but it’s not as much as I originally had to deal with.

So far, I feel ok on the supplements. Not much has changed yet, but I only took the first dose last night. I did sleep really, really well though., with lots of very involved dreams. I think I woke up maybe just once, and the cats may have had something to do with it – it’s hard to tell.

The dietary change made me very, very happy. Michael and I went out for steak, and it was the best steak I’ve ever had. Admittedly, it probably wasn’t the preparation that was so good, just the first taste of beef in a long time. It was one of the few meals I’ve eaten recently that made me feel full. So good. So happy.

The Worst is Over

I think the worst is over with the diet. After the first two days, I actually have times of day when my primary thoughts are not about food. I’m not so tired as I have been either. On Friday, I woke up at 8:00am and only took a nap at 3:00pm because, while I didn’t need it, I felt like I could still use one. On Saturday, I woke up at 9:30am and didn’t need a nap at all. I have more hours in my day now, and I am actually productive during those hours. Don’t get me wrong – I’m still wasting some time in front of the TV. I knit while I watch, though, so it wasn’t completely wasted. Bottom line – so far, I’m seeing results. Now if I can just get the grey hair to go away…

I intend to compare pictures at the end of the six months to see how it’s changed.

Since I am full of so much motivation, I’ve gotten a few things done that I’ve been putting off. I finished spinning more of the undyed fiber for the baby blanket, and I knit the last few color blocks. I might need to get to Boulder to get more fiber, I think, but that’s a long drive, so it’ll have to wait. I also started the Christening Gown for Michael’s sister’s baby. I had to rip it back at least three times already because of mistakes. I think that I was absolutely brilliant for putting stitch markers after each pattern repeat – if there aren’t enough stitches in a section, I can tell right away that I’ve made a mistake and I can look for it efficiently. I’ve got to place a life line in the work at some point as well, just in case a real disaster crops up. I feel very secure in the knowledge that my baby projects will all be done ahead of time. At least, as long as they aren’t confiscated at the airport this weekend.

On Thursday, we are going to Florida for my friend Jen’s wedding. On Sunday, we are leaving Florida for Puerto Rico for a business trip. I have no idea what knitting I will be bringing with me. The baby blanket, while smaller than I would like, it too big for the carry-on bag, especially with all the supplements in there. The christening gown is too intricate to work on in such a small space as a coach class seat (I need to have the pattern out at all times), and I fear they may take the needles on the way back from Puerto Rico, so I’m going to put that one in my checked luggage. Yes, Puerto Rico is a US commonwealth, but the airline reservations desk treats it as an international flight, so that makes me worry that the stricter rules will apply. I have two socks in the works – Michael’s socks and the January/February Socks that Rock club pattern. I have about four other WIPs that just aren’t a big enough priority right now to consider. Well, maybe the cat couch, but it involves some assembly (with foam cushions) and it’s not practical for travel. Maybe just the socks on the plane. Sigh. Or maybe I, in my infinite ability to be distracted, will cast on something else… maybe a sweater? I was thinking this camisole (not a Ravelry link, so anyone can see it) would be great for summer. Ah, the possibilities!

One of the only bad things about this trip coming up is that I have to give back the kittens. Charge has been so friendly and desperate for attention that we started letting her roam the house with Neutrino. She sits on our laps to watch tv (displacing my knitting, but I love her, so it’s ok) and Neutrino snuggles on me to fall asleep. The littlest ones are only just getting to the point where they are awake for other purposes than eating, so I haven’t gotten the chance to get to know them yet. I did save their lives, so at least I have something to show for them. Fudge is half the size of her bigger brother, Marmalade, and about 100g smaller than Butterscotch. It’s bad, but at least she’s alive and not suffering. The boys have been totally unremarkable, but as healthy as they come. I will get another picture to show you before I take them back tomorrow.

Have I ever mentioned that I love kittens?

A Rough Road

I have not knitted anything in the last few days, save for a few stitches on Michael’s socks. I’ve played with the kittens and their mother some, and I am happy to say they are all still healthy and still growing like weeds.

The reason for the lull in my knitting activity is that my hands are busy shoveling food into my face. On the new diet, I am always hungry. Ravenous, really. It’s like nothing I eat fills me up. If I didn’t have Michael doing this with me, if I had to watch him eating things that I am desperately craving while I went without, I might have jumped off the bandwagon the first day. Maybe the second.

To make matters worse, I realized the most intense part of the new diet will be in force right when I am going to be spending large amounts of time on a plane, without access to foods I can eat. This is really, really bad.

The first morning, I was willing to believe that the reason I was so hungry had everything to do with the fact that we just didn’t have a ton of the foods I can eat in the house. We had some apples, some pistachios, and a few random berries. I had almond milk already. We went grocery shopping right before we went bowling, and picked up some roasted chicken and cooked veggies from the salad bar (at Whole Foods – I can trust that the food is safe to eat there). I was reasonably satisfied after that meal, but not long after eating I was hungry again. I think it was because of the lack of complex carbs. Like most Americans, I have a grain based diet that I am very, very used to.

Yesterday, I woke up believing that our shopping trip had solved the hunger problem. Ha! Not a chance. I started the day with the powder supplement mixed with water this time (not doing that again voluntarily), and I ate an apple with it. I then ate all the roasted, salted plantains (they taste like potato chips!), some blackberries, some kiwis, and some mango. I just kept eating things all day long. I made a point to try new foods while I am so restricted in order to liven things up. I have never liked fish, but since it’s one of the few meats I am allowed to eat, I decided to approach it again with new eyes (and taste buds). We went to a fish restaurant (neither of us has much experience cooking fish, and I think that it won’t help to have badly cooked fish) to see what I could eat. They had a salmon salad on the gluten-free list. I made certain to ask the waitress if they meant salmon salad like fish in the salad or like tuna salad (mixed with mayo, etc.). It was a whole piece of fish on the salad. The dressing was a vinaigrette, which is ok for me to eat. It should have been fine.

Except that the waitress brought me the version that was not on the GF menu. There were some dry, wheat based noodles on the salad. I picked them off easily, and removed the tomatoes (important to remember when I am traveling). Then I realized that the vinaigrette was the creamy version. I used my blackberry to check what made it creamy. Turns out, it’s either mayo or mustard. Mayo is off my list. It was so frustrating – I was starving and could not eat the salad. I made an executive decision at that point. I scraped off as much of the dressing as I could and ate it anyway. The nutritionist said some contamination wouldn’t be a problem, so I just need to make sure that I’m more careful in the future.

This morning I woke up at 8:00am, several hours before I normally do. It was hard to get started, just like it normally is. I really wished I could have my black tea. I started this post, and then my friend Julie called and asked me to spend the afternoon with her. I was glad to do so because it would give me something else to occupy my mind. She brought me home around 2:00pm and I realized something amazing – I’m not so tired I have to sleep. I could take a nap, I guess, but I don’t need it. I hate to admit it, but the doctors might be on to something with this diet – I’m starting to feel better.

I’m going to put some pictures of the labels on my supplements here because I was asked about it in my comments. If you want to know what’s in them, just click on the pictures to make them bigger.

This is the powdered supplement that I have to mix with the almond milk in the morning:

And these are the supplements – I take 2 pills of each 3 times a day with meals. Yes, that’s 18 pills a day, plus my regular drugs for a grand total of 21 pills a day.

These are both the Metacrin DX.

Methyl-SP

Bilemin