Monday, January 20, 2014
The cat's outta the bag!
Original posting on Jan 17th, 2014 in Lifestyle change for the sake of narcolepsy on Facebook.
2 weeks in and still feeling great. I've lost 6 pounds, but this isn't about weight loss as much as life gain. This mornings juice was kale, carrots, 2 pears, 1 apple, 2 small oranges, 3 small sweet potatoes and ginger. Still sleeping way way way better at night and feel great during the day. Early on I thought if I felt this great after a couple of months, I may try going with out my daytime stimulants. I guess since I alerted my doctor about it this morning, there's no need to hide it. Today is day 5 off of the daytime medicine. I only feel that it has been this good due to the eating changes I have made. Kinda like being a diabetic and taking medicine but still eating all the things they shouldn't. Just take medicine everyday and eat however I wanted to. That's how I was rolling. I still don't know if I will be able to stay off of them, only time will tell. Your continued prayers, support and watching this group for my updates keeps me going in the right direction. Thank you.
I failed to post on there that I have been on stimulants for the better part of 9 years. 2 medications a day to keep me awake and medicine at night to make me sleep.
I have not given up the night medicine as of yet.
Do you know the benefits of ginger?
http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/10-health-benefits-of-ginger.html
Lifestyle change for the sake of narcolepsy
I started this group on Face Book Lifestyle change for the sake of narcolepsy to have some friends and family follow my progress of changing what I eat. I needed the accountability of people watching. Here is the about section from that page.
Follow my progress during 2014. It's a new year. Time for change. Narcolepsy and food. Will changing my diet help?
I have, for several years now gained weight over the winter months and start a "diet" soon after the new year. I have become pretty successful doing the Atkins based diet and dropping 15-25 pounds just in time for summer, only to regain the weight come winter. I usually feel better doing the Atkins just because it's less sugar. I have Narcolepsy. When I restrict my sugar intake, I sleep better and feel better during the day. My medicine works better. But How much of this medicine do I really need? I may need it even with the life style change I am embarking on but this is an experiment I am challenging myself with. I will be decreasing my meat intake. Increasing my vegetable intake and keeping a journal here.My journey begins. January 2nd 2014. This is not so much a "weight loss" diet life change but a healthy journey life change.
The juicer we bought after watching Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. It's on the higher end of the "lower" juicers but it really works great. If you have NetFlix, I recommend The Fat, Sick, and nearly Dead and also the Forks over Knives food documentary. There are a few others too but those 2 are great.
http://www.amazon.com/Breville-JE98XL-Fountain-850-Watt-Extractor/dp/B003R28HWQ
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Cell phone distraction causes wreck.
March 2003
Not that I like to relive what happened but I guess for the sake of blogging, I should tell what happened on that day. I had 2 kids that I had just dropped off at the elementary school. My youngest was in a car seat and I was going to be dropping him off at the hospital daycare center so I could go to school. As we pulled out of the school I heard him asking for something in the floor. He said he was going to unbuckle and I probably yelled for him not to do that. I was pulling over as I was telling him I would get it for him. He seemed to be very happy about that. I remember the excitement in his sweet little voice saying "give me". I had pulled off the shoulder of the road and unbuckled myself. I turned to see what in the world was causing such excitement for this sweet little boy. I asked him where it was and he pointed to a covered straw. I picked it up and handed it to him and asked why he wanted it. Then it hit me............he thought it was a pixie stick. I remember laughing just a little at his disappointment as I reached to get my seat belt. That's when the 1st hit came. It all happened so fast but I was hit in the back, then she swerved out and came back too quick hitting me in the front. I remember my sweet boy asking what happened and my answer was "I think we just got hit" She then continued down a hill and hit a building. She later confessed to having reached for her cell phone (in her purse in the passenger seat) because it was ringing. Emergency people came along with my husband. I declined going to the hospital at 1st. After about 25 min the tingling had started setting in. We had not left the scene yet and decided to let the medical team know that I was going to be checked out at the hospital. I was checked out and released with "severe whiplash". Doesn't sound so bad, does it? I would have been better off with a few broken bones. I would end up being out of work on a lot of pain medicine for the next 5 months. I spent a lot of days going to the chiropractor and then doped up on medicine the following day. When I finally got back to work, it was hard. I work 12 hour shifts and a good bit of time I am on my feet. There were times I would have to clock out and take pain medicine and rest a few hours before returning to work. I would work a day and be off a day to recover. It took some time but I finally got back in the swing of things and started winging myself off the pain medicine all together. That's when I noticed something was different. I started having issues with becoming very sleepy at inappropriate times. Like at work or while driving. I didn't understand what was happening. I remember there were plenty of times where I would hope to catch a yellow light so I could stop. I would put the car in park and the kids knew the "game" to be quiet until all could say "green light" as soon as the light turned green just so I could close my eyes. I needed to find out what my problem was...................................
Another day ..............................................................................................................................................
Not that I like to relive what happened but I guess for the sake of blogging, I should tell what happened on that day. I had 2 kids that I had just dropped off at the elementary school. My youngest was in a car seat and I was going to be dropping him off at the hospital daycare center so I could go to school. As we pulled out of the school I heard him asking for something in the floor. He said he was going to unbuckle and I probably yelled for him not to do that. I was pulling over as I was telling him I would get it for him. He seemed to be very happy about that. I remember the excitement in his sweet little voice saying "give me". I had pulled off the shoulder of the road and unbuckled myself. I turned to see what in the world was causing such excitement for this sweet little boy. I asked him where it was and he pointed to a covered straw. I picked it up and handed it to him and asked why he wanted it. Then it hit me............he thought it was a pixie stick. I remember laughing just a little at his disappointment as I reached to get my seat belt. That's when the 1st hit came. It all happened so fast but I was hit in the back, then she swerved out and came back too quick hitting me in the front. I remember my sweet boy asking what happened and my answer was "I think we just got hit" She then continued down a hill and hit a building. She later confessed to having reached for her cell phone (in her purse in the passenger seat) because it was ringing. Emergency people came along with my husband. I declined going to the hospital at 1st. After about 25 min the tingling had started setting in. We had not left the scene yet and decided to let the medical team know that I was going to be checked out at the hospital. I was checked out and released with "severe whiplash". Doesn't sound so bad, does it? I would have been better off with a few broken bones. I would end up being out of work on a lot of pain medicine for the next 5 months. I spent a lot of days going to the chiropractor and then doped up on medicine the following day. When I finally got back to work, it was hard. I work 12 hour shifts and a good bit of time I am on my feet. There were times I would have to clock out and take pain medicine and rest a few hours before returning to work. I would work a day and be off a day to recover. It took some time but I finally got back in the swing of things and started winging myself off the pain medicine all together. That's when I noticed something was different. I started having issues with becoming very sleepy at inappropriate times. Like at work or while driving. I didn't understand what was happening. I remember there were plenty of times where I would hope to catch a yellow light so I could stop. I would put the car in park and the kids knew the "game" to be quiet until all could say "green light" as soon as the light turned green just so I could close my eyes. I needed to find out what my problem was...................................
Another day ..............................................................................................................................................
Saturday, January 18, 2014
It's all in the jeans!
Guess I will start by introducing myself. My name is Terrie. I am happily married with 3 almost grown kids. I am narcoleptic. I did not have narcolepsy growing up. Mine is what has been called "trauma induced", after a car accident almost 11 years ago. I was angry at first for a long time because I couldn't control my alertness without medication. I didn't want to live like this. I hid my "disability" from family and friends. Not telling too many people with fear that people just wouldn't understand. I even hid it from my kids. They knew I had it, but I never told them all that went along with it. Then about 3 1/2 years ago my daughter was diagnosed as well. We spent her high school years on a roller coaster of events. She has narcolepsy way worse than I ever did and everything that could possibly go along with it. I've spent many days crying and holding her telling her everything was going to be ok, while I was waiting for her to come out of a cataplexy attack. She finally got on the right dosage of medicines to lead a pretty normal life. She is 18 1/2 now and about to start her 1st job. About a month ago, my youngest son was also diagnosed with narcolepsy. He is 15 1/2 now and just hopes his is not as bad as his sister.
I have been on medication for the better part of 9 years to control my symptoms. I take medicine to keep me awake and medicine to make me sleep. This year I decided I needed to see if I can change things by changing the way I eat. I started a group on Face Book Lifestyle change for the sake of narcolepsy.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/236055773234497/
Today I have been off of my daytime stimulants for 6 days with no problems. I have given up processed foods, soft drinks, sugar, ect...... and started juicing and eating clean. No red meat, chicken, cows milk. This is my story I am going to blog about for the next 6 months. Can I change what I eat and it really make me feel that much better?
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