Oy... Would You Like to Read an Overshare?

I'm often surprised since realizing how sick I've been/am to also realize how lucky I've been to feel as healthy as I have. Don't think I'm not thankful for it.

I've been reminded how thankful I should be over the last few days. We'll start with Thursday morning sometime around 4 a.m. That's when I realized I was awake. And I realized I had a migraine. A really bad migraine. I haven't had one of those in a while (thankful note: before going Paleo, they were happening about once a week. By the time I recovered from one migraine, I'd get another). I took my medicine after breakfast (thankful note: I know there are tons of migraine sufferers that would throw up at the thought of food. While it was a SMALL breakfast, I'm glad I could eat!) and went to work anyway.

That may not have been the best idea. Here's part one of oversharing. My medicine sometimes makes me sick. And this time it did. I threw up a little in my mouth shortly before lunch time. :( Yuckie. I went home after that. By then, my medicine had taken the edge off the pain, but I was still hurting. I drank some bone broth and ate some bacon when I got home because in this situation, if I don't eat, I will get even more sick. Side note: I have a feeling I'll have to be the forever snacking lady should I ever be pregnant. Anyway, I then laid down on the couch with my trusty heating pad on my neck and back and tried to nap. I was very unsuccessful. So I watched the first 3 Harry Potter movies and went to bed.

Part two of oversharing. There's only 2 parts, don't worry, but this is the super overshary part. I woke up the next day. Migraine gone, but migraine hangover in full effect (sore muscles, glassy eyes, very tired, minor headache. Kinda feels like having been beaten up by a ninja with a wooden club a few days prior.) Here it comes. I went to the bathroom. "Oh my god, that's not normal. I'm going to die." I had this thought. I won't go into it, but when I asked The Google what was happening, it said I wasn't going to die but I should go to the doctor because I probably had a UTI or bladder infection. I have never ever had either of these things. Chalk that into the thankful column as well please.

So I left a message at my doctor's office and went about my day. They were able to get me in at the end of the day. Through the day, my symptoms were less and less and I actually thought maybe I should cancel my appointment. But I decided that I would go, get a Rx for some antibiotics, try the home remedies The Google found for me, and if those didn't work, then I'd take the poison.

I've worked so hard to get my SIBO/gut dysbiosis under control (and I'm still not there yet) that the idea of taking antibiotics is really non thrilling to me and I'm trying my best to avoid it.

I get to the doctor's office, and give them a sample. I'm talking to the PA and telling her my symptoms. She's looking at me kinda like I'm growing a second head and I'm thinking to myself "oh come on lady, I know I'm not the first woman you've seen with this problem." Then she tells me my sample is negative. No bad guys in there at all. Hence the 2nd head growth stare. I have some mild symptoms of UTI/Bladder infection, but no infection. She decides however that because of the symptoms, and because I came in the same day they started, that it could just be too early for the test to detect anything and my planed course of action is most wise. Of course it is! This is me after all ;)

That means today I have to leave the house and interact with weekend shoppers to purchase home remedy stuff. That's a bummer because most weekend shoppers are: 1-decidedly not on a mission and 2-entirely unaware of their surroundings. I don't like weekend shoppers because I am always on a mission when shopping, and I'd really like for people to not be in my way. Missions should be accomplished as quickly and efficiently as possible, and people standing in the middle of the isle with their carts sideways staring at (but not seeing) the items on the shelf in front of them do not help accomplish missions.

The things I'll do for my health... My body better thank me, because my brain will not forgive me for a few days.

Now What?

I have another confession. I've not returned to Paleo perfect since this happened. I've been making better choices (like you know, not eating skittles every day or an entire box of peppermint patties-ugh!) for sure, but I could improve on those choices. And I need to.

As you know, my health is, um, wacky... we'll go with wacky. Sometimes I feel amazing, and sometimes a random symptom will reappear. Now I'll say this, even on my worst day since changing my diet, I feel better than my best day before this transition. That's a fact. But I don't want to just feel better than before, I want to feel my best. I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting that, and I don't think wanting to feel my best and accepting that I may never be able to repair all the damage I've done are mutually exclusive.

There have been some new happenings. I'll go with newest first. I have some sort of weird rash. It's not a rash per se, but I can't come up with a better description for it. It's not psoriasis or DH, it's not eczema nor dry skin. I guess it's hives? I went to my doctor to get my back adjusted and asked him about it, but I would have had to take my pants off to show him what was going on (because it's on my legs people... I know what you were thinking!), and really, the adjustment room is not equipped to allow half naked ladies to retain any dignity. He thinks it's my detergent. I hope he's on to something. But not my detergent. The detergent my neighbors use in our very crappy washers is more likely. I really cannot wait to get out of this place, but that's another posting entirely.

There's also a terrible possibility that because my gut is still leaky - skittles aren't known for their gut healing properties you know - that I'm reacting to something I'm eating. Have I been taking in too much almond flour? I have been indulging a bit in paleofied baked goods recently. Or, heaven forbid, bacon? WHAT IF IT'S BACON?! Bacon is my main source of fat. Truth be told, I tend towards under eating, so eating something so high in fat every day is pretty important for me. But what if it's not bacon? What if it's my tea? I would rather it be bacon over tea. Yes, I love my Earl Grey more than bacon. That's saying a lot. What if it's not tea? What if it's the worst of all? What if it's chocolate?! I mean, I know there's a meaning to life outside chocolate, but I really don't know what that meaning is. Nor do I really care to be forced to find out. Or maybe it's garlic. I really don't know why a person would bother continuing to eat for the rest of their life if they can't have garlic.

Ok, so maybe I'm being a bit dramatic. But I do love all these things. I eat bacon and drink tea every day. Chocolate... not every day. Sometimes weeks will go by and I won't have it. But then there are times when you just don't get between a girl and her chocolate. Same with garlic.

Next problem. Men, you may skip over this paragraph ok? No really, don't read it. You'll be sad if you do. Ok ladies. I'm fluffy. You know what I mean. The bloat. I has it. I'm a small person. Any change in weight more than a pound or two shows. I just can't get away with it the way non-petite women can. I've been carrying around an extra 4-5 lbs for the last month or so. It sucks and messes with my body image (because you know, that's not a problem for women as it is), my clothes don't fit right and blah! That's how I feel about it. I'm wondering if the bloat and the hives(?) are related.

So here's my action plan. I'm currently doing a cleanse of sorts. Nothing major (I don't actually believe in "cleanses" for the most part - they're generally a bunch of expensive and potentially damaging hooey), but I want to work on my gut dysbiosis. So I've been taking a lot of probiotics, as well as an enzyme that is supposed to kill candida. By eating up it's cell walls. I almost feel bad for the little guys, but they've gotten out of control and I must bring order back. It's working. I've been doing this since the weekend, and have started experiencing a healing crisis. Those suck, but they're short lived and life goes on. First thing on the food chopping block is garlic. It's the thing I reintroduced most recently, so I think it's my most likely culprit. Then chocolate if that doesn't seem to work. Then I cry myself to sleep for a week and ponder the meaning of life because I'll have to give up either bacon or tea next. Oh first world problems, how you torment me so.

I'm also thinking about doing a fairly strict 30 day Paleo (almost) perfect plan. Sugar in my tea loves. It's my one real vice in terms of Paleo perfection, and I am still at a point where I can live with that. By thinking, I mean I've already decided I'm going to do that starting Monday.

Why not today? Well, this weekend is Christmas. My dad was sick on Christmas day, and my stepmother was out of town, so we decided last minute on Christmas day that Christmas would be this weekend. That means a movie, and a movie means popcorn. So Paleo almost perfect starts Monday and that's that.

And I guess next time I need to do laundry, I'll have to ask my dad and stepmother very very nicely would they mind me in their house for a couple hours while I run up their water and electricity bills...