Day 86

It has been a while since I have posted. My absence has been due to several things - school has started and I am taking 4 classes at the community college this semester, I have had a lot of jobs over the last two weeks, and a good friend - and former pastor of the church I go to - passed away a few days ago.

Though I have been keeping busy with work, it has not been the kind of housework that keeps me moving - I spent two six hour days doing nothing but washing dishes by hand. Time at home has been spent staying off my feet to rest the bad knee, and the depression over losing my friend has brought me to a standstill.

There have been few positive changes in my health - but there has been no negative changes from the lack of exercise either. Up until the last week, my left knee has been giving me a lot of problems, and my time away from work and my two on-campus classes has been spent sitting around and snacking more than usual. Even with the added stress and lack of exercise, my blood pressure has pretty much remained in the area of 138/98, and I am still only taking DE without any of the other supplements to lower the blood pressure.

One thing that has totally amazed me though, is that even with dealing with the grief and depression of losing my friend, my energy levels for work and school have remained high. The first day of working a temporary job cleaning a house that is covered in dust from renovations, I drank a 5-hour energy drink at the beginning of the day and got through a 7-hour day with no other caffeine needed once the energy drink wore off. That day was basic housecleaning and it was not an easy day.

The next week, school started, my friend passed away, and the work schedule went nuts. Even with a lack of sleep, I got through the remaining work and school days only drinking coffee in the mornings and cola later in the day. No energy drinks needed. Most of the time I drank water during work and school, and nothing else to keep me going. Still, my energy level was high enough to keep me going under circumstances that would have had me rushing for the energy drinks before I started taking DE.

As I type this, my right knee is back to being pretty much normal, and my left knee is much improved. No brace or bandage needed, and I am not limping. I do have to be careful when lifting heavy objects though, and I need to hold onto something when coming up the steps into the house. I still would not even dream of going up a flight of stairs, and if the elevators at the school quit working, there is no way I would be able to get to my classes. But I can walk all the way across the campus without problems.

Day 69

I have been taking DE for over two months now, and my knees are still giving me problems. After seeing me limping today, a friend who is very skeptical about all the claims that DE is a "cure all" and thinks I am crazy for taking the stuff, asked me if I really thought that DE had done anything at all for my health since it didn't seem that my knees were doing any better. I told her that DE had done a lot for my health, and that I was glad I had started taking it. Of course there was the usual argument that it seemed I was in just as much pain as before, and so forth, with me defending DE and all the things it has done for me.

Later on, after thinking about the conversation I had with my friend, I decided to make comparison of how I was doing before DE and how I am doing now. Here is what I came up with:

Before DE

• Weight approx. 270 pounds
  
• Blood pressure average reading 165/111
• Energy - extremely low to the point of needing energy drinks just to function at work
  
• Motivation to get things done is almost non-existent
  
• Appetite - somewhat out of control
• Suffering from back pain and sciatica
• Unable to walk at times because of the pain in my knees at times needing bandages and brace just to walk from room to room
  
• Difficulty sleeping at night, difficulty focusing during the daytime

After DE for just over 2 months

• Weight approx. 259 pounds
  
• Blood pressure average reading 137/98 - without taking any other supplements to lower it
  
• Energy - generally high rarely needing any kind of energy drink to get going
  
• Motivation to get things done is high
• Appetite - cut in half, at times need to force myself to eat breakfast
• Back pain is gone, though I still have problems with sciatica
• Knees are sore, though my right knee feels almost normal at times. Left knee is still giving me problems and holding me back from doing as much as I would like to do. Brace and bandages rarely needed.
• Sleeping much better at night, focus much better in the daytime

Looking at the before and after, I would say that DE has done wonders for me. I just wish my stupid knees would make up their minds to heal once and for all.