Monday, April 09, 2007

Weigh In week 5

Well, true to form, at least my latest, no loss again this week. I seem to be loosing every other week. Oh well, at least I didn't gain!


Had a nice surprise this past week. I have google mail, and on there you can set up "alerts" which will send you an email whenever there is a new article, news item or blog about a topic of choice. So naturally, I set one up for low carb! Well, imagine my surprise when I see the name of my blog mentioned, but not in an article I posted! So I follow
the link and find a very well written piece about low carb diets. And, near the end of the article, I see my blog listed as "Other Great Resources on this Nutritional Approach"!!! What? Me? MY blog? Cool!!!

Needless to say, I've added
Mark's blog to my list of must read blogs! Check it out! His article How to Lose Weight and Keep it off Permanently, is very well written. Mark is "25 years young, Irish and hopelessly addicted to continually improving myself in every area of my life and, in turn, sharing this knowledge with others." Looks like a good site to watch!


Last week,
I posted about my visit to the doc's with ankle pain. Well, since then, things have gotten interesting. Not interesting good, however.

After reading a post on Dr Mike's blog, I started taking Krill oil (2 caps/day, increased to 4/day. 500mg each) and noticed a VERY fast reaction!! I have fairly severe degenerative arthritis in my spine and pelvis, have bone spurs in my neck and pelvis, and have at least 3 (old) ruptured discs. I've also been told I have bursitis in both shoulders (L worse than R).

I took 1 pill Friday (3/30) evening, and then 1 in AM and 1 in PM daily. Yesterday (4/7) I increased it to 2 AM and PM.

Sunday afternoon....not even 48hrs after the 1st dose, I noticed my neck didn't hurt!! When I do my stretching I still notice the pull, but much less painful, but no pain at rest, no pain with movement!!! This has been pretty consistent over the week. I get a little pain, but it doesn't last long.

Now, this is the reason I increased the NKO: For several months now, I've noticed that I often have joint pains, in joints that have never bothered me before (except one knee). When I started paying attention, I found that I would have pain in 1 or 2 joints, it would last for about 36-48hrs, and go away. Sometimes another joint or two would start in, sometimes I'd have several days between episodes.

Both ankles, knees, elbow, wrist and various finger joints. About 2 weeks ago I ended up in urgent care for my right ankle, which was now also red and swollen. Doc first said gout, then strain, and gave me the name of a new doc (long story, but no PCP for over a year). Since then, I've continued to have various joint pains, but only my left knee was red or hot. Well, over the last few days I've had red, hot, swollen joints: right (inner)wrist (Friday), base of right index finger (Saturday), and now (Sunday) the last joint of my right middle finger. I see the new doc 4/20. I've done some research, and think I might have rheumatoid arthritis. I hope I'm wrong.

I'm a bit concerned, as I'm figuring the NKO is helping to at least lower the degree of inflammation, but yet I'm seeing redness, swelling and a fair bit of heat in the joints...I mean, what would I be seeing if not for the fish oil and NKO!?

Anyway, whatever this is, at least my neck and back don't hurt!!

I've been following Protein Power pretty cleanly since Jan 2. Few processed foods, cooking/preparing almost all my own foods, mostly keeping under 50g carb a day. I also take Mg, CoQ10 and a couple of other supplements. I still take fish oil, but cut back to 4/day.

I've read a bit on anti-inflammation diets, and the only thing I eat that they say I shouldn't (except more fats than allowed) is red meat. Beef is big in my diet. I love beef. I'd be willing to cut back or even stop it, but I'm not sure it would be worth it.


I am planning on calling the doctor's office and see if I can move the appointment up some, but I doubt they will have anything.


I've only been checking my blood sugar in the morning, fasting sugars over the past week have been running 84-86. I did check after one meal, but I had been drinking tea (with milk) so I'm not sure the after meal reading (95 after 1hr) was really accurate.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Cindy--I'm so sorry things are going this way for you. It is a mystery about the inflammation. I hope it is not RA. A 1hr post prandial of (% is not that bad--but a 2hr would be a good thing to check. When my diabetes was so bad before losing so much weight--my 2 hr was the telling point for me. But we know how everyone is so different.
I used your advice about the krill oil myself--have so pretty bad back pain from the huge "apron" of skin hanging from my belly. since starting have not needed my Darvocet but twice--and that was after working in the garden for 3 hours. So thanks for the tip.
Good luck on getting the appt moved up---you really need to see what is going on.

Alcinda (Cindy) Moore said...

When I did the 1hr test I had planned to do another at 90 min and then 120 min, but didn't bother due to the tea I was drinking. I'm going to check it later this week with one of my "normal" lunches of caesar salad, and maybe a dinner or two. I am not diabetic, but got the monitor free, so I figure I'll play with it a bit. I also want to bring the numbers with me to my new doc.

Regarding the Krill oil! Awesome!! Let me know how it works after a few weeks. I sent an email to Dr Eades with my progress and also asking if he has any advice on the joint issue. But I think I would have been in much more pain if I hadn't already started the Krill. Last week the ankle pain was bad, and I had a couple of days with my left wrist/hand that was pretty bad. I have to believe it's the Krill that's keeping it from being intolerable.

TESS said...

I am sorry you didn't lose but a no gain is wonderful in itself. I am so glad the drill oil seems to be helping. I have heard it is remarkable stuff!

Alcinda (Cindy) Moore said...

I'm actually OK with the no loss this week. Like I said, I seem to be on an every other week schedule! LOL

The Krill is amazing!! I don't know how it works, but boy it sure does work!

Unknown said...

Hey there girl!

I still think you should check eariler than an hour if you want to see the spike. Like I said, I check at 45 minutes.

Great news that the fish oil is helping!

After gaining 1.2 last week I lost 1.6 this week, so it's all good. :)

Alcinda (Cindy) Moore said...

Actually Victoria, I did check once every 15 min, and 45 min and 60 min were just about the same. 30 min showed just a slight increase, then it peaked at 60. Of course, this could have been what I ate (which I don't remember right now what it was). I'm mainly trying to see how bread changes things. Bread is the one thing that I like, but try to minimise...and I want to see what it does to me....so far not much.

Great on the loss!!! you lost more than you gained! My scale is not the greatest, doesn't do decimals.

Unknown said...

I'm going to add Krill Oil to my supplement regimen. I have lower back arthritis and shoulder tendonitis that has been flairing up something awful lately. Thanks for publishing the tip!

Alcinda (Cindy) Moore said...

Carol...I've gotta give credit to Dr Mike!

Let me know how you do!