I have received several comments asking how I am doing, and if I am okay. I realize it has been a long time since I have been back here.
The main reason I have been gone so long is that I have not been taking DE regularly, so there is really nothing to report. I don't know why, but I just keep forgetting to take it every morning. Though I do notice that, when I do remember to take it I feel better overall and my energy and motivation are generally up. Unfortunately, it seems I only take it once or twice a week.
The only changes I have noticed when not taking DE, other than my energy being a bit lower, is that I have put on a few pounds. I am averaging about 255, and I had been down to about 245 at one point. My blood pressure was 145/101 last time I took it, so not having the DE regularly does not seem to be having any effect on it at the moment. Both of my knees are pretty much back to normal, and not taking DE regularly does not seem to be having any negative effect on them either. I guess once they finally healed, they don't necessarily need the DE to stay healed.
In other areas of my life, I am still recovering from losing my roommate (I can't believe that it has already been 10 months since he died) and my aunt. I pretty much failed the entire last semester in school, and I really don't know when I will be going back. Hopefully next semester, but I will have to wait and see about that.
The best thing that has happened for me though is that the friend I spoke of in my last post is now my boyfriend. We live in different states at the moment, but are working on visiting each other in the near future, and hopefully he will be moving down here not long after that. It is a huge change in both of our lives, so this is something we are taking slowly and working on carefully.
Other than that, not much to tell. I am going to try to get back into the habit of taking DE regularly, so I will probably be back soon to post any results I get from taking DE again.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Checking In
School, another death in the family, and a new friend (maybe more on that later) have kept me away from this blog for longer than I had intended to stay away.
I was starting to recover from the devastating loss of my roommate, when my aunt, the one person who was there for me when my roommate passed away, had a massive stroke on Christmas Eve. She passed away on January 7th. In the midst of my grief, a friend I met on the internet reached out to me, and has helped me keep my sanity. His friendship is one of the things getting me through these rough times.
School has started again, which is also helping me to move forward, though it is still difficult for me to truly concentrate on my classes.
The good news is that I have lost the weight I had gained over the holidays - down to 249 now, and my blood pressure was 148/101 this afternoon. Energy is still way up, and I am having almost no trouble with my knees now. Seems like the D.E. is back to working again.
Well, that's all I have time for right now. I will hopefully get back to posting regularly again soon.
I was starting to recover from the devastating loss of my roommate, when my aunt, the one person who was there for me when my roommate passed away, had a massive stroke on Christmas Eve. She passed away on January 7th. In the midst of my grief, a friend I met on the internet reached out to me, and has helped me keep my sanity. His friendship is one of the things getting me through these rough times.
School has started again, which is also helping me to move forward, though it is still difficult for me to truly concentrate on my classes.
The good news is that I have lost the weight I had gained over the holidays - down to 249 now, and my blood pressure was 148/101 this afternoon. Energy is still way up, and I am having almost no trouble with my knees now. Seems like the D.E. is back to working again.
Well, that's all I have time for right now. I will hopefully get back to posting regularly again soon.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Back on track.
I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted. Besides dealing with grief and getting used to being on my own for the first time in my life, I have been working hard to catch back up in school and pass the two computer classes I was taking.
I have been taking D.E. steadily over the last month or two, but the results I have been getting are mixed. My energy is way up along with my motivation, I have lost some weight, and both knees are pretty much back to the way they should be. However, my blood pressure is running very high - 156/112 last time I took it, which was a few days ago.
The blood pressure could be due to the stress of school, which I was really struggling with over the last month. I was originally taking four classes, but dropped my beginning piano class because I felt I should concentrate on my two computer classes. I had intended to stay in my intermediate algebra class and get as much out of it as I could, then drop the class to avoid getting an F as there was no way I could possibly pass the class as far behind as I was. But I was way too distracted with everything else I was dealing with, and I did not drop the class in time so I now have an F in the algebra class. Because of that F I needed at least B's in the two computer classes - Office Application Development, and Data Management Systems. The first class dealt with Visual Basic for Applications, and the second class dealt with SQL. Two classes that deal with writing code are the perfect combination for stress, and I have learned my lesson - I will never take two classes like that at the same time again!
At one point I told my neighbors not to worry if they saw a computer fly out the window, that I was just doing my homework. I was 12 assignments behind in the VBA class, and struggling to keep up in the SQL class, but I am proud to say that I have at least a B in the VBA class, and probably have a B in the SQL class. Now that the semester is finally over, a huge amount of stress is gone, and I am hoping that my blood pressure drops.
Another thing that should bring my blood pressure down is that I am actively working on losing weight. I now have a scale so I can keep better track of my weight without having to depend upon the scales at the houses I clean. The scale I have been using at the one house I clean weighed me at 152 last Friday, while my home scale weighed me at 155 this morning. I am getting a lot more exercise than I was getting when my knees were bad, and I am being much more careful about what I eat. I am hoping that I can keep myself on track through the remainder of the holiday season, especially since my customers like to give us candy for Christmas, and my roommate is no longer here to help me eat it. I do realize I could give the candy away, but my love of chocolate does not allow me to do this! Still, thanks to the fact that D.E. works wonders for keeping my appetite at bay, I think I can keep myself from overindulging with the holiday treats.
I have been taking D.E. steadily over the last month or two, but the results I have been getting are mixed. My energy is way up along with my motivation, I have lost some weight, and both knees are pretty much back to the way they should be. However, my blood pressure is running very high - 156/112 last time I took it, which was a few days ago.
The blood pressure could be due to the stress of school, which I was really struggling with over the last month. I was originally taking four classes, but dropped my beginning piano class because I felt I should concentrate on my two computer classes. I had intended to stay in my intermediate algebra class and get as much out of it as I could, then drop the class to avoid getting an F as there was no way I could possibly pass the class as far behind as I was. But I was way too distracted with everything else I was dealing with, and I did not drop the class in time so I now have an F in the algebra class. Because of that F I needed at least B's in the two computer classes - Office Application Development, and Data Management Systems. The first class dealt with Visual Basic for Applications, and the second class dealt with SQL. Two classes that deal with writing code are the perfect combination for stress, and I have learned my lesson - I will never take two classes like that at the same time again!
At one point I told my neighbors not to worry if they saw a computer fly out the window, that I was just doing my homework. I was 12 assignments behind in the VBA class, and struggling to keep up in the SQL class, but I am proud to say that I have at least a B in the VBA class, and probably have a B in the SQL class. Now that the semester is finally over, a huge amount of stress is gone, and I am hoping that my blood pressure drops.
Another thing that should bring my blood pressure down is that I am actively working on losing weight. I now have a scale so I can keep better track of my weight without having to depend upon the scales at the houses I clean. The scale I have been using at the one house I clean weighed me at 152 last Friday, while my home scale weighed me at 155 this morning. I am getting a lot more exercise than I was getting when my knees were bad, and I am being much more careful about what I eat. I am hoping that I can keep myself on track through the remainder of the holiday season, especially since my customers like to give us candy for Christmas, and my roommate is no longer here to help me eat it. I do realize I could give the candy away, but my love of chocolate does not allow me to do this! Still, thanks to the fact that D.E. works wonders for keeping my appetite at bay, I think I can keep myself from overindulging with the holiday treats.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Energy Returning
Since I last posted a few days ago, I have been taking DE regularly - 1 heaping tablespoon (maybe more since I don't really measure it) twice a day. I have noticed that, even with the struggle I am having with grief and severe depression, my energy level has improved dramatically along with my motivation to get things done.
Yesterday I managed to get a huge amount of the dishes that had piled up washed and put away. I don't have a dishwasher so I have to do everything by hand, which makes doing the mountain of dishes that had piled up a huge undertaking. Both sinks were full of dirty dishes, the counter was piled up with dirty dishes, and the stove is full of dirty pots and pans. There was not a single clean plate, bowl, or piece of silverware in the house. But now there are only a few plastic containers in one sink, and two dirty pans along with their lids on the stove. I did these dishes at night, which is another huge step forward for me as I usually shut down completely if I am at home when the sun goes down.
As I write this, the second load of laundry is in the washing machine, and I have put up several items on eBay. I also spent some time outside talking with a neighbor instead of wanting to hide away inside the house. Overall, I feel better in many ways. It's the same way I felt when I first started taking DE - energy and motivation way up from where they were before.
Another expected result of taking DE regularly again is that my appetite has decreased dramatically. Over the last month, I have been eating an unhealthy amount of food. I had been constantly craving sweets and comfort food, and since I have been too wrapped up in grief to really care, my diet has been extremely unhealthy consisting of sweets, fast food, lots and lots of cola, junk food, frozen dinners, chips, and canned pasta. At times I have added vegetables, but since I was too depressed to do dishes, my meals mainly consisted of what I could make using the least amount of dishes and silverware possible.
But over the last couple of days, I have cooked my breakfast - 2 eggs with two slices of turkey bacon and one glass of cola (compared to the nearly half of a two liter bottle that I have been having with breakfast for the last month). Last night I had a frozen meal for dinner, but that was before I did the dishes, so I really had no way of making anything healthier. This afternoon, I think I will make some biscuits and tuna salad for lunch and drink apple juice instead of cola. Tonight I am planning on making homemade burritos. Overall, much healthier meals than I have become accustomed to. I really have no desire for sweets at the moment.
Unfortunately, my blood pressure has not come down. It was averaging 155/109 earlier. Just have to be patient with that. I think it took nine or ten days before DE had any effect on my blood pressure when I first started taking it.
Yesterday I managed to get a huge amount of the dishes that had piled up washed and put away. I don't have a dishwasher so I have to do everything by hand, which makes doing the mountain of dishes that had piled up a huge undertaking. Both sinks were full of dirty dishes, the counter was piled up with dirty dishes, and the stove is full of dirty pots and pans. There was not a single clean plate, bowl, or piece of silverware in the house. But now there are only a few plastic containers in one sink, and two dirty pans along with their lids on the stove. I did these dishes at night, which is another huge step forward for me as I usually shut down completely if I am at home when the sun goes down.
As I write this, the second load of laundry is in the washing machine, and I have put up several items on eBay. I also spent some time outside talking with a neighbor instead of wanting to hide away inside the house. Overall, I feel better in many ways. It's the same way I felt when I first started taking DE - energy and motivation way up from where they were before.
Another expected result of taking DE regularly again is that my appetite has decreased dramatically. Over the last month, I have been eating an unhealthy amount of food. I had been constantly craving sweets and comfort food, and since I have been too wrapped up in grief to really care, my diet has been extremely unhealthy consisting of sweets, fast food, lots and lots of cola, junk food, frozen dinners, chips, and canned pasta. At times I have added vegetables, but since I was too depressed to do dishes, my meals mainly consisted of what I could make using the least amount of dishes and silverware possible.
But over the last couple of days, I have cooked my breakfast - 2 eggs with two slices of turkey bacon and one glass of cola (compared to the nearly half of a two liter bottle that I have been having with breakfast for the last month). Last night I had a frozen meal for dinner, but that was before I did the dishes, so I really had no way of making anything healthier. This afternoon, I think I will make some biscuits and tuna salad for lunch and drink apple juice instead of cola. Tonight I am planning on making homemade burritos. Overall, much healthier meals than I have become accustomed to. I really have no desire for sweets at the moment.
Unfortunately, my blood pressure has not come down. It was averaging 155/109 earlier. Just have to be patient with that. I think it took nine or ten days before DE had any effect on my blood pressure when I first started taking it.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Starting Over
It has been just over a month since my roommate passed away and about month since I last posted. First of all, I would like to thank all of the people who were so supportive in their comments. I have found that the kindness of other people has lifted me up during some extremely dark moments. It has been so difficult to even function these last few weeks. The house is so unbelievably lonely, even with the dog and cats to keep me company. Except for one aunt, I pretty much have no family that I keep in touch with, so I feel very alone through all this. If it weren't for my aunt, and a handful of close friends, I would not have made it.
During this time, I have been very sporadic in my use of diatomaceous earth, taking it once every other day or so. It's just been difficult to make myself do anything at all. The dishes had piled up, the house has gotten filthy again after a friend had cleaned it for me, and I have gotten way behind in all of my classes.
But today has been a better day. I got some laundry done, I did some dishes, and I went to class tonight. I also took D.E. this morning and this afternoon. But I am pretty much back to square one with my health with two exceptions - my knees are pretty much healed, and I have actually kept my weight where it was even though my diet has been horrible. For the first week, my aunt kept me fed by taking me out to eat morning, noon, and night. She also bought candy bars for us to snack on while cleaning the house. After she went back to her house, I found myself buying cookies and candy to snack on. I also spent some of the money that others gave me on fast food because I could not make myself cook, but then again once the dishes built back up in the sink, I had nothing to cook with or eat off of.
So thanks to all of that and not taking D.E., my blood pressure is averaging 165/108 again, and my energy level is nonexistent. My motivation level is also nonexistent. Of course I am still extremely depressed much of the time, and I still have problems with severe anxiety.
I am now hoping to get myself back into taking D.E. regularly, and get myself back into some sort of routine. I am hoping to be able to make myself post more often, though with everything else I am dealing with, I cannot promise to be posting regularly yet, but that will hopefully change as I get through this dark time and begin healing.
During this time, I have been very sporadic in my use of diatomaceous earth, taking it once every other day or so. It's just been difficult to make myself do anything at all. The dishes had piled up, the house has gotten filthy again after a friend had cleaned it for me, and I have gotten way behind in all of my classes.
But today has been a better day. I got some laundry done, I did some dishes, and I went to class tonight. I also took D.E. this morning and this afternoon. But I am pretty much back to square one with my health with two exceptions - my knees are pretty much healed, and I have actually kept my weight where it was even though my diet has been horrible. For the first week, my aunt kept me fed by taking me out to eat morning, noon, and night. She also bought candy bars for us to snack on while cleaning the house. After she went back to her house, I found myself buying cookies and candy to snack on. I also spent some of the money that others gave me on fast food because I could not make myself cook, but then again once the dishes built back up in the sink, I had nothing to cook with or eat off of.
So thanks to all of that and not taking D.E., my blood pressure is averaging 165/108 again, and my energy level is nonexistent. My motivation level is also nonexistent. Of course I am still extremely depressed much of the time, and I still have problems with severe anxiety.
I am now hoping to get myself back into taking D.E. regularly, and get myself back into some sort of routine. I am hoping to be able to make myself post more often, though with everything else I am dealing with, I cannot promise to be posting regularly yet, but that will hopefully change as I get through this dark time and begin healing.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Day 104
This has been such a difficult time for me, I don't know where to start. In my last post, I mentioned that I had been sick. Sadly, my roommate, who was somebody that I loved more than words can express, caught the cold from me. He had asthma and was having difficulty with his breathing before he caught the cold. I recovered quickly from the cold... he did not. On Tuesday, September 7th, I came home from my aunt's house to find my roommate slumped over in his desk chair. He had died from what appeared to be an asthma attack.
I am still having an incredibly difficult time dealing with his loss. We were together as a couple, then friends who were more like family for over 20 years. Needless to say, I have not been taking any of my vitamins or diatomaceous earth on a regular basis lately. It is everything I can do just to make myself function. I have not been back to work or school since this happened, and I do not know when I will get back to any sort of regular routine.
Once I have gotten myself back into some sort of functional state of mind, I will begin posting on this blog regularly again.
I am still having an incredibly difficult time dealing with his loss. We were together as a couple, then friends who were more like family for over 20 years. Needless to say, I have not been taking any of my vitamins or diatomaceous earth on a regular basis lately. It is everything I can do just to make myself function. I have not been back to work or school since this happened, and I do not know when I will get back to any sort of regular routine.
Once I have gotten myself back into some sort of functional state of mind, I will begin posting on this blog regularly again.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Day 91
Between dealing with my pastor's passing, and a horrible cold that caused me to miss a week of work and school, I have no desire to go anywhere near a computer except to check my email. I think the cold is finally going away now, and my thoughts are finally becoming less jumbled so I can write a coherent post.
During my absence, two things have happened that have given me perspective on D.E. - both as an insecticide, and as a nutritional supplement.
We adopted a kitten several weeks ago, and have been bathing her to keep the fleas in check as it seemed D.E. wasn't really effective at killing the fleas. But with both of us sick, we did not feel like dealing with the injuries we generally receive when bathing the kitty. So one night when the poor thing could not take two steps without scratching and biting, we dusted her thoroughly with D.E., but we didn't notice any difference that night. The next morning, however, she was barely scratching at all, and I didn't see any fleas anywhere on her. It would seem that D.E. really is effective on an indoor animal.
The other thing that happened was that I quit taking D.E. for about 6 days while I was sick. This was not a conscious decision - I just wasn't feeling well, and I was spending most of my time sleeping, so I really did not think about it. But one night as I was trying desperately to focus on catching up with some of the homework I needed to get done, I noticed both that my energy and mental focus were extremely low. I had noticed the low energy the day before, but attributed that to being sick and taking cold medicine. But on this day I hadn't taken any medicine. I was still feeling rough, but I should not have been that tired and out of focus. That was when I realized that I had not taken D.E. in several days.
I went into the kitchen and took a tablespoon full of D.E., and after about an hour I noticed some improvement in my mental energy. Physical energy stayed low for a couple of days after that though. I have now been taking D.E. again for about four days and find my energy is returning, and I am able to focus much better when doing my homework. Today, I find my motivation to get things done is also returning.
Other things I had noticed, but hadn't attributed it to not taking D.E. until now, is that I was having trouble sleeping for the three days that I was not taking the cold medicine. At first I thought it was because I had gotten used to having the night-time cold medicine after taking it for a couple of days. But I don't think that having something to make me sleep for two or three days would make it so difficult to sleep three days later. The second night after I started taking D.E. again, I slept soundly, and I slept well last night too.
My appetite, which should have been low due to being sick, went crazy on me for a few days. There were at least two days where all I wanted to do was snack, and I found myself eating more at mealtimes as well. But my appetite seems to be back under control again now. The last couple of days I have not snacked much at all. Come to think of it, I barely had anything to eat at all yesterday, and today I only had a two-egg omelet with chile verde for breakfast, and a slice of cheese with lunchmeat for lunch. I haven't even wanted a snack this afternoon.
My left knee was suffering as well during my time without D.E. I had noticed it was hurting, but just didn't think about why it was hurting. It is feeling better today. It doesn't hurt as much when I walk, and it wasn't aching at all last night.
One last thing that I am not sure whether it could be attributed to not taking D.E., is that my skin has gotten very dry over these last few days even though I put lotion on at least every other day. The skin on my heels, which had actually stopped cracking so much, is so bad I can barely walk even though I have put something on them to heal the dry skin, and I am wearing socks.
All of these things let me know, beyond any doubts that I may have had before, that the D.E. is making a difference in my health.
During my absence, two things have happened that have given me perspective on D.E. - both as an insecticide, and as a nutritional supplement.
We adopted a kitten several weeks ago, and have been bathing her to keep the fleas in check as it seemed D.E. wasn't really effective at killing the fleas. But with both of us sick, we did not feel like dealing with the injuries we generally receive when bathing the kitty. So one night when the poor thing could not take two steps without scratching and biting, we dusted her thoroughly with D.E., but we didn't notice any difference that night. The next morning, however, she was barely scratching at all, and I didn't see any fleas anywhere on her. It would seem that D.E. really is effective on an indoor animal.
The other thing that happened was that I quit taking D.E. for about 6 days while I was sick. This was not a conscious decision - I just wasn't feeling well, and I was spending most of my time sleeping, so I really did not think about it. But one night as I was trying desperately to focus on catching up with some of the homework I needed to get done, I noticed both that my energy and mental focus were extremely low. I had noticed the low energy the day before, but attributed that to being sick and taking cold medicine. But on this day I hadn't taken any medicine. I was still feeling rough, but I should not have been that tired and out of focus. That was when I realized that I had not taken D.E. in several days.
I went into the kitchen and took a tablespoon full of D.E., and after about an hour I noticed some improvement in my mental energy. Physical energy stayed low for a couple of days after that though. I have now been taking D.E. again for about four days and find my energy is returning, and I am able to focus much better when doing my homework. Today, I find my motivation to get things done is also returning.
Other things I had noticed, but hadn't attributed it to not taking D.E. until now, is that I was having trouble sleeping for the three days that I was not taking the cold medicine. At first I thought it was because I had gotten used to having the night-time cold medicine after taking it for a couple of days. But I don't think that having something to make me sleep for two or three days would make it so difficult to sleep three days later. The second night after I started taking D.E. again, I slept soundly, and I slept well last night too.
My appetite, which should have been low due to being sick, went crazy on me for a few days. There were at least two days where all I wanted to do was snack, and I found myself eating more at mealtimes as well. But my appetite seems to be back under control again now. The last couple of days I have not snacked much at all. Come to think of it, I barely had anything to eat at all yesterday, and today I only had a two-egg omelet with chile verde for breakfast, and a slice of cheese with lunchmeat for lunch. I haven't even wanted a snack this afternoon.
My left knee was suffering as well during my time without D.E. I had noticed it was hurting, but just didn't think about why it was hurting. It is feeling better today. It doesn't hurt as much when I walk, and it wasn't aching at all last night.
One last thing that I am not sure whether it could be attributed to not taking D.E., is that my skin has gotten very dry over these last few days even though I put lotion on at least every other day. The skin on my heels, which had actually stopped cracking so much, is so bad I can barely walk even though I have put something on them to heal the dry skin, and I am wearing socks.
All of these things let me know, beyond any doubts that I may have had before, that the D.E. is making a difference in my health.
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