Posts Tagged ‘Health’

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December 29th, 2009  Posted at   Health
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Around this time last year I was in incredible pain. Apparently this has been a common thing for the past three years or so in December/January. I am again in pain and ready to inject my elbow with monkey saliva to get relief. Everything hurts/burns. My glands are super-swollen in my neck, armpits, groin. Mind you, I worked 65 hours the week before Christmas and 40 hours the week of Christmas before the two holiday days!!! So stress could be the issue…

I am maxed out on my Zonisamide and Cymbalta right now and nothing is working. Trying Biofreeze and capsaicin cream on my skin to counteract the burn. Nothing is helping. So I’m going to see internal medicine tomorrow to rule out an actual *illness* although I am sure this is just more of the same. Huge work commitment next week and I need to be on my game. Staying home tomorrow to rest, recover and see the doc in the hopes that I can get it together before Monday. Sigh…

May 27th, 2009  Posted at   Dating, Family Stuff, Health, Mommy stuff, Single Parents
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Have I mentioned that I am horrible at coming up with blog post titles?

1) My state has a new updated snazzy sex offender registry. Not so sure I’m thrilled to now be armed with the knowledge that there are 72 sex offenders within a three-mile radius of my home. :shock: Fortunately very few who were arrested for pedophilia so I can keep mental images of the smaller bunch more easily. Probably time to have the Stranger Danger talk with Pumpkinhead…

2) I’m so sick. Off work today. Went to doctor and he said it’s not the Swine Flu (couldn’t rule out Pug, though…) and that it is just a nasty upper respiratory infection. That said, he thinks it needs 20 days of antibiotics because it is pretty set in and I can’t stop vomiting. Blah. And he also wants me to stay home and rest. :evil:

PhotobucketMr. V’s pug, Pixel, and cat, Raster

3) Okay, I used to think that everyone was way too hard on their assistants. Then I got one. F&^*&! Asked her to help me today with something our boss needed urgently. She had to pull some files together from ONE folder, zip them and send them too him. Oh no, first they weren’t named the EXACT thing he sent. Then she thought she had to print and scan them. :shock: THEN she called me and I didn’t answer because I was sick and in the bathroom. When I called her back about 3 minutes later, she was frantic and had two attorneys in our group in our office because she didn’t know how to zip files (and neither did they, apparently…). :roll: Okay, while it is nice to be needed, it is NOT nice to be super sick and unable to pass a simple task like this off. Grrr.

4) Speaking of being needed, my boss called me at 4:15 p.m. I had already informed him that I will be off tomorrow but hope to return on Friday. He said that he had an urgent project that needed to be finished by first thing tomorrow. Now it is urgent. And for a variety of reasons, most to do with access to the data and with technical expertise, I am the only one who can do it right now. But geez, I feel like crap on a cracker. And now I have to do cartwheels because this particular deliverable is going to some VIPs tomorrow. Ugh.

5) On the plus side, have I mentioned that I adore Mr. V. Sweet guy drove an hour across town to bring me his SUV. He picked up Crazy Roomie’s car that I have been driving and is taking it back to her to switch out with Big Ass Truck. Yay for men who pitch in with the dirty work. Then he took me out, makeupless and raggedy, to a local Mexican restaurant for a steaming hot bowl of tortilla chicken soup (really does cure all ills) and held my snotty hand even after I coughed. Swoon. :mrgreen: He’s planning a trip to his home state in August and asked me to come with (and, unlike past boyfriends, he actually wants to pay for my ticket!!) And he told Pumpkinhead tonight that he’s picking up Mario Kart for his WII so they will have something to play when we come over. Sweet!!

March 23rd, 2009  Posted at   Health, Politics
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The NY Times reports that a Federal Judge ruled today that the FDA must relax restrictions on the morning-after pill and offer it to girls as young as 17 without a prescription. However, it does still have to be offered behind pharmacy counters. While I agree that the behind-counter measure provides some sort of protection against young girls using this as their primary birth control method without any counseling from doctors or parents, I think it also serves to intimidate, especially in small towns. Hopefully the FDA will fully relax the restrictions and allow it to be sold without behind-counter measures.

That said, the fact that it is so readily available and to girls so young means that there needs to be way more public awareness and education about using it as an emergency measure, not a primary line of defense against unplanned pregnancy. I’d also worry about girls who have been assaulted. If their only concern is pregnancy and it is alleviated here, will this reduce the number of girls reporting their assaults and seeking examination? The whole thing concerns me, even though the feminist in me understands the reasoning behind it and supports that. Still, education is key.

February 26th, 2009  Posted at   Health
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Guess the two water aerobics classes are doing the trick. I had one Vice President at my company, two random male colleagues and four females at my company tell me I looked pretty today (actually the VP said, “You look beautiful today, [PT-LawMom].” His particular position made that a bit of an inappropriate comment but I just grinned and said, “Why, thank you, sir!” and skipped off to enjoy my day. Gotta love compliments! :mrgreen: Definitely wearing that particular dress more often!

funny pictures of cats with captions

February 23rd, 2009  Posted at   Health
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My friend, T, has been encouraging me to see a naturopath for a while now. Her and my friend, Rachel. And my former massage therapist, Lizabeth. Okay, fine, I’m stubborn. :roll:

Well tonight I got over myself and went to see a doctor recommended by my current massage therapist. I really enjoyed talking to him, although it was a bit overwhelming to update my pain history sheet (now three single-spaced pages), surgical history (now a 1.5-page chart) and family medical history (adding additional death and disease). He basically confirmed what I already knew, which is that my immune system is in the toilet and that I need to build it back up to help me deal with the immune system/adrenal response to stress which causes my illness(es) to flare. What I like about him is that he is a complementary medicine specialist and wasn’t rushing in to tell me how my doctors don’t know anything or how I need to immediately stop the medication I’m on. Instead, he will introduce several supplements at a time over several months along with a whole foods meal plan to help me get the nutritional support I need to address the deficiencies I have and see how that helps.

First off, Cod Liver Oil (ew!) with extra Vit. D — 1 Tbsp 2x/day to provide Omega 3s and assist with my digestive process. Also bile salts to compensate for the lack of a gall bladder/intrinsic factor and to aid in digestion (one with each meal). An organic plant-based multivitamin to add alongside my current multivitamin (once a day) and these special plant enzymes to that fight pain (once an hour for 72 hours to see how my pain improves). I like that he uses a quality supplement provider, Standard Process, with a long history rather than a new, fly-by-night outfit (makes me feel more secure that he knows what he’s doing). I’m going back on Monday and we will talk about modifications to my diet and additional supplementation. I have to pee on a Ph stick every morning to test my levels (calcium?) and keep a food diary (blah). I’m up for it. I can’t sit around and complain about the pain and not try to do something about it. I’ll keep you all posted on the results.

February 23rd, 2009  Posted at   Divorce, Health
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This is not another post about my vibrator. Okay, you can stop sighing in relief. ;) Nope, this post is about self-image. I’m such a weirdo when it comes to that. You know what’s strange? I don’t have an issue with my looks. Lose 100lbs and then watch your body change through pregnancy and see a beautiful child come out of you and see if you give a shit what people think about how you look (I now truly understand that song “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman“). I do feel inadequate in certain ways (am I good enough, lovable enough, sexual enough, smart enough, etc.), but, perhaps oddly, looks usually aren’t one of those areas. Hell, I spend too much time staring at myself naked in the mirror marveling over the fact that I actually have curves (as opposed to straight up and down), that my breasts, though small, are so much fuller than before I had [My Son], and that I have beautiful shoulders and collarbone area (love it!). Hey, I have plenty to complain about. My looks are the least of my worries. So tonight I had to giggle a bit at the look on my doc’s face when I ragged on him for a remark about my looks.

We were talking about my ex-husband’s infidelity and the impact on my health (stress, STD, etc.). The doctor says, “Well in addition to your physical health, you need to take care of your emotional stuff. Cause you probably think something was wrong with you. Like you weren’t pretty enough or enough for him or whatever.” I just looked at him and said, “Are you calling me fat and ugly, doc?” :lol: You should have seen his face. He stepped back into the corner of the room and was like, “Um, no, not at all. Um, that’s not what I meant. Um, I just meant, well, that you must be feeling down.” Then he saw me grinning and he laughed, too. I said, “I was just playing with you, man.” He laughed and said, “That’s okay. I can take it.” :mrgreen:

February 16th, 2009  Posted at   Dating, Health, Law School, Mommy stuff
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Making some life changes right now. Feeling better physically, getting there emotionally, etc., and feel like I need to think about what I want to do with the rest of this year. I know, life throws curves (hell, I know that as much as anyone) but, hey, Carpe Diem!

First off, as I mentioned in a recent post, my job duties are changing. This, combined with my continued/increased illness, had left me already deciding that I would already switch to a law school with a more convenient schedule (more single night and weekend classes) or stop altogether. Since it looks like I will be traveling a lot in the next year or so, probably starting later this summer, I will probably put law school on hold. My son needs me and I am enjoying spending time with him. The divorce has been hard on him and having me spend every spare minute I’m not working studying is no fun. I need to have my weekends free. So, although nothing is final right now, it looks like I may not continue to seek a law degree right now.

That said, I do have a paralegal certificate and I will continue to work in the legal department of a large corporation in a position with a lot of growth opportunities (so I can still get away with calling myself PT-LawMom). It’s in an area that is very hot right now and continuing to grow. Especially in the industry and in the town where I live, there are a lot of jobs in this particular practice area. So I could certainly return to get my degree down the road if someday I have a rich husband to support me or, better, a job that is willing to pay 100% and give me time off to study and for exams. ;) I just can’t do it all. My body won’t take it, my son won’t like it and, honestly, I don’t want to. The people who told me not to do it if I couldn’t cut back at work and/or go full-time were right. For me, with a kid, my divorce, being sick, a demanding career, etc., I just can’t do it right now.

Now for my list:
1. Visit four museums with Pumpkinhead (doesn’t sound like much but they are freaking expensive! Not like the free ones in DC we were spoiled with when he was an infant.)
2. Do one craft project a month with Pumpkinhead (this may not sound like much but I am NOT crafty!)
3. Save up some money and take a vacation somewhere Pumpkinhead would enjoy
4. Save up some money and take a vacation alone somewhere I would enjoy, preferably with some girlfriends
5. Get my muscles back in shape and see if some of the pain improves (I’ve lost a lot of tone in my arms/legs over the past two years)
6. Go swimming at least once every weekend with Pumpkinhead in the pool that is right outside my bedroom door (I am not much for water/getting wet, but I need to do it for him).
7. Keep up with the biweekly water aerobics classes at the local gym with my mother (and make her continue, too!)
8. Go out to happy hour at least once every two months
9. Get a good friend or two (or three!) to set me up with someone they think I’d be good with (maybe I can trust their judgment since I obviously can’t trust my own). Preferably someone who, within the next five years or so, will love me enough to tell me this:

10. Find a church. Go regularly. Get involved! Get Pumpkinhead involved. I’ve been trying to go to the one where we attend DivorceCare but it’s just not my style. I like the one where I go for my Wednesday night group but it’s a Baptist church and I just don’t agree with the basics. Maybe Lutheran… Darn. We will find something. Where we live, everyone goes to church so not going really will isolate my son. Maybe I just need to get over my non-denominational issues (I’m very stuck in my Episcopal ways, apparently).
11. Figure out what Pumpkinhead’s Love Language is and try to give that to him.
12. Try to be present in all conversations.
13. Call people on it when they violate my boundaries (especially my parents) and try a lot harder to respect theirs.
14. Don’t settle!
15. Take lots and lots and lots of pictures of my son and get them into the scrapbooks and photo albums I have collected but not used. Enjoy every special day!

February 10th, 2009  Posted at   Health, Women in Law
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Several really positive things have happened this week. I refuse to let the fact that my mortgage payment rose $200 today (damn escrow shortage!!!) spoil the positive post I was going to write. With any luck I will win the Mega Millions tonight and it will cap off my run of good fortune (damn mortgage aside).

1) My masseuse referred me to his clinical nutritionist who is a physician who takes on patients with complicated illnesses and assists with developing a targeted whole food diet composed of the proper nutrients and occasional highly bioavailable supplements to reduce symptoms. He has worked on gastric bypass patients and many with fibromyalgia. What I like is that he does extensive bloodwork and looks at it from a functional perspective, not just at the pathology (i.e., a “low normal” iron level is still within the “normal” range pathologically, but you are probably experiencing fatigue and other anemic symptoms so functionally you need iron support). He also feels a call to help ill people so he charges only $40/visit, which is like a co-pay rather than the $200 that most nutritionists charge.

2) My boss sat down with me today and basically offered me a change of duties/promotion of sorts and an assistant. :mrgreen: This is all in the works and the details have to be finalized but I’m working on drafting a job posting for an assistant that he said will support my group but who I will directly supervise so that I can shift a lot of my work to him/her and start to travel and work on some really exciting initiatives we have coming up later this year. I am thrilled. I really enjoy the work I do and they have been giving me increasing responsibility over the past year. I will have been there a year in mid-March and I feel very happy with the direction my career is going. Yay. I’m especially pleased that my boss is happy with the work I have been putting in because I have been really trying to give 110% at work. I’m dead when I get home, especially the past few weeks when I was so sick, but I’m trying to really give all I’ve got at work and it looks like it paid off. I work in-house at a large corporation and will be traveling at least within the U.S. and probably to Canada, Latin America and the UK. We do business in over 100 countries worldwide but it’s unclear whether I will be traveling farther afield. I hope so. :wink:

February 8th, 2009  Posted at   Health, Law School, Mommy stuff
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I wasn’t sure if the extra Zonisamide would do the trick but fortunately by Friday I was feeling significantly better. I do think the weather has a lot to do with it as well. It warmed up a lot towards the end of the week and my pain lessened. While I still had morning and evening pain this weekend, I actually got up and was productive. Went to the movies with Blue Eyes Friday night (after a quick nap), ran errands Saturday and then spent today going to DivorceCare, working on organizing my taxes and doing an artsy crafts project with Pumpkinhead for school. I am so relieved to be feeling better after almost a full month of hellish pain!! And my mother is finally going to go register us for the twice weekly water aerobics class I mentioned so that we can start this week.

One of the stress relieving moves I had considered right before all this pain started was switching law schools. There is another law school in town that is a lower tier but is much, much, MUCH better for working students. They have single-night classes, Saturday classes and a variety of weekend clinics. My law school only offers night classes Mon – Thurs and has nothing on Fridays or weekends. The other school is more expensive but it also has a focus on the area of law in which I currently work. If I am going to finish this degree, the least stressful and most convenient way might be the best way. That is if I can even do it. These past few weeks really kicked my ass… Work is incredibly busy and Pumpkinhead has so much homework, so many papers to sign, activities to juggle, etc. I am just not sure what decision to make here. Not that it needs to be made today. But it’s on my mind. The other law school is a bit more expensive, too. I’m listening to all my night student friends grumble about the stress and the workload on top of their jobs. I read the MILPS taking the bar talk about how much it sucks to have to take time away from their kids. Can I handle a few more years of that as a single mom with a full-time job and this Goddamn illness to boot? I just don’t know…

What I do know is that my doctor has recommended exercise and a lot of extra sleep. More than the 5-7 hours I was getting during law school with study time. More than the 7-8 I get now. That said, it’s 9:30 and I’m going to hit the hay and worry about all of this another day.

February 5th, 2009  Posted at   Health
   |   6 Comments

Pumpkinhead lost too much weight on Concerta. The psychiatrist has switched him to Vyvanse. Ugh. He has been getting in trouble at school consistently the past few weeks. :( We’re working on his behavior but I really do think part of it is him and a large part of it is the school being obnoxious. Grrr.

My health – went to neurologist on Tuesday. He wants to try doubling the dosage of my anti-convulsant, Zonisamide, and see me in a month. He gave me his e-mail to let him know if it doesn’t help. It’s Thursday and I’m still in a lot of pain, although I did feel a bit better today. Just trying to make it through the very, very busy days at work and don’t have much left when I get home. Pumpkinhead is sleeping with me tonight because I just didn’t have the energy for books and songs. If he cuddles with me, I can avoid that. Bad Mom. Neurologist said that if the pain doesn’t get better with the now SIX capsules I take each day (two Cymbalta, four Zonisamide), he is going to give me medical marijuana. :shock: It’s called Nabilone and apparently it is very effective in neuropathic pain treatment. Unfortunately it has weight gain side effects (munchies!) so I’m kind of hoping the CrazyMeds work. Although, as Ana points out, at least pot is more of a natural remedy. LOL. Not one I’ve ever tried, though, and not one I want to explain to HR and the Bar over and over, even with doctors notes. So we will see.

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