Friday, yesterday, I went to the Doctor. I had gone 2 weeks prior to get all my issues checked out: achy hips, achy foot, numbness in foot, light headedness, etc. My dr. said the light headedness was probably because my ears were full. I have an appointment with a foot dr. on Monday to get that checked out. But, I haven't had an annual exam in over two years, so she had me get my blood work done and come in for the lovely pap-smear.
My blood work results were: My sugar is good, my blood pressure is good, my bad cholesterol is somewhat high, but not terrible; but my good cholesterol is "dangerously low", my tri-glycerides are high, and my thyroid is low. So, she prescribed me some Niacin tablets and some thyroid medicine. Not to mention the medicine she prescribed for my achy hips. Oh, and not to mention the anti-biotic and Mucinex-D I was on for the sinus infection I ended up having in the middle of these 2 visits! (I went to Quick Care for that.) And I am taking a pro-biotic for digestive health. I feel like a walking medicine chest!
The Niacin medicine is weird. It causes "flushing". Flushing, for those who don't know (like me) is when you experience warmth, itchiness, swelling and faintness ALL OVER YOUR WHOLE ENTIRE BODY! I experienced it at 6 o'clock in the morning this morning!!! You take the Niacin at night and the directions suggest taking aspirin or ibuprofen 30 minutes before you take the Niacin, as these help the symptoms of flushing. Well, I didn't take it before I took the Niacin, but I did take some aspirin when I was experiencing the flushing. Flushing is an awful feeling and if I didn't know what it was I would have freaked out!!! When I got up to take the aspirin, I felt like I could have passed out, my whole body was itchy, swollen and hot! Thank goodness it only lasted about 1/2 hour! The Niacin is to help raise my good cholesterol and lower my tri-glycerides. If she hadn't said my good cholesterol was "dangerously low", I probably would have chosen not to take it.
The other advice she gave me was to get on a high protein diet, like South Beach. Those of you who know me, know I have done the South Beach diet before and hated it. I just hate all the meat and cheese! I get so sick of it. Well tonight, Kara (my niece) and I went grocery shopping and we picked up lots of salad fixings, some good meat, lots of nuts and some yummy drink mixes with no carbs. Kara would like to lose a few pounds too so we decided to work on this together.
It's difficult to adjust your lifestyle, especially your eating habits! I love breads, cereal, tortillas, chips, and stuff like that. The sweet stuff like cookies and ice cream aren't so hard to give up, but the bread and cereal are for me! I got some soy milk to make my Revival Soy protein shakes with since I can't mix any fruit in them. But I did discover I can put peanut butter in them...yummo! I also got some summer sausage for a snack with cheese. Tonight Kara and I made a tomato soup of sorts with tomato sauce. We seasoned it with garlic powder, chili powder, salt, pepper and cilantro. It was yummo! We added a little mozzarella cheese and it was like eating cheese stix, but without the breading. A nice little concoction!
Anyway, I'm on the road to getting healthy and losing some weight! I really want to stick with it this time. I think with Kara doing it and our friend Kim, I just may be able to! I'll try to keep you all up to date with my progress each week, as sort of an accountability. If anyone else would like to join, that'd be great. I'm competitive, so if I know someone else is doing it too, I will stick with it better!
Hi Mary, I take "non flushing" niacin...much easier to handle, but it is more expensive. I get mine online through the Vitamin Shoppe. You can get it elsewhere.
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