Sunday Weigh-In August 11, 2019

[Barb135]

Good morning.  How is everyone this morning?  I hope you're all doing well.

There hasn't been a lot going on here.  It's going to be another hot day here and we're under heat advisories again so I guess my day will be spent inside, as so many have been, recently.  If I can't do outside work early in the morning, it doesn't get done.  

We did have to go to the neighbor's and do a couple things this morning, so when we got back, I spent a few minutes cutting back a vine that started taking over an area while I was away and of course, while I was at it, I managed to find several other things that needed to be done... ;-)  By the time I finished a couple of those, I felt like I could use a shower, but I'll wait because I know I'm going back out in a little bit.  

Anyway, health and weight-wise, I haven't done so well this week.  I had an appointment with my doctor on Monday that didn't turn out too well.  I've had a spot on my leg (doctor calls it a rash) for a couple of years now that keeps growing.  About a year ago, he prescribed a cream to put on it and it did away but within a couple of days of stopping the cream, it came back.  Subsequent uses of the cream make it go away, but invariably it comes back within a couple days of stopping the cream.  I've also had an itch on my back for quite some time.  He removed a couple small spots that he thought might be causing the itch, but it didn't go away.  Due to the spot on my leg and  itch on my back, which now extends to my legs, he's referred me to a dermatologist, which probably should have been done some time ago, but I guess it's better late than never.  

In addition, I've been having horrible acid reflux and even changing to a very bland diet doesn't seem to be helping.  The acid put quite a damper on my trip up north as I could only eat small amounts and everything caused my stomach to go haywire.  I thought it was being made worse by an antibiotic I was prescribed by my urologist for a UTI just before I left, but stopping that didn't help and of course, I didn't get rid of the UTI, either.  

Since being home, I've completely changed the way I'm eating and nothing is helping.  My doctor prescribed a new acid reducer and I've been eating a lot of yogurt to add back good bacteria.  The yogurt helps soothe my tummy right when I eat it, but those effects are short lived.  

Because of bloating, burping and other symptoms, my doctor ordered another H. Pylori test, which I did last week.   I got the results yesterday and it was positive.  Of course, the doctor's office isn't open on the weekend so I'll have to wait until Monday or Tuesday when they get around to reading the results before I'll be able to get treatment for that.  It's also possible they may simply go ahead and refer me back to gastroenterology for treatment, which could take a while to get an appointment.

Anyway, when I had H. Pylori a couple years ago, the gastro put me on dual antibiotics, plus an acid reducer so I supposed I'll have to go the same route again.  

Anyway, looking back in my records, my lowest weight was on May 14 and as of Monday when I saw my doctor, I'd gained 9 lbs since then.  Of course, some of this was due to being up north in May where diet consisted of pizza and burgers for 10 days, with little exercise.  Since then, I've not been feeling well so I didn't get back to eating or exercising like I should.  

Doing research on H. Pylori, I find that it causes extreme fatigue, of which I've had an abundance so I haven't felt like doing a lot, plus it affects blood glucose levels which affects sugar cravings - also of which I've had an abundance... I do remember being horribly tired when I had it previously, but I don't recall the sugar cravings like I have now, but then once we start eating sugary foods, the more we want them... Luckily, the sweet things I've been eating most is fruit (mostly watermelon and slightly unripe bananas), which is not so bad.

I'm also attributing some of the gain to lower thyroid hormone levels since they were substantially lower this time than they were last time, although my doctor says they aren't low enough to cause any of the symptoms I have.  I disagree because it seems like too much of a coincidence that I'd suddenly come up with all these symptoms just at the same time my thyroid levels drop...

Anyway... I'm doing the best I can to get back on track and I've managed to drop 2 pounds since Monday.  I've done that by sticking with very bland foods in an effort to soothe my acid reflux and although it's not working for that, I did lose the weight... I guess that's something, even if it's only because I can't eat very much at a time before I get really full and my acid starts kicking up... Sleep is a real problem because I'm trying to do a lot of it sitting up in order to keep the acid from choking me.  If you've ever tried to sleep sitting up, you know it doesn't work very well.  You also know that good sleep is necessary for weight loss because that's when our body does of its repair work.  My body is not being repaired like it should be.  My cardiologist recommended a sleep study, but I really don't feel that I need one because I know what things are keeping me awake at night...

So, that's where I am.  It doesn't sound very good, but then I don't feel very good.  I'm hoping to get started with treatment for the H Pylori within the next couple of days so I can get back on the road to recovery from that.  I couldn't get in to see the dermatologist until Sep 10, but hopefully, the time will go quickly.  

I know that stress can contribute to both, H. Pylori and the itching problem and I can't deny having plenty of that, with my husband's mother passing in May, along with all the illness in my own family, as well as issues with my husband that creates pretty steady chaos at home.

So that's my story... I hope your week has been a good one.  

~~Wishing everyone a wonderful, successful week~~

[AnnieBrooke]

Sheez Louise, what a catalog of woes for you, Barb. I hope you don't mind me saying, but your doctor sounds like a slowpoke at getting things diagnosed.

All is a little better here, the cough I developed when crushing it to get our house ready to sell is much eased, and I did get the work done on the house except the plumbers who are coming Tuesday to fix the drain my husband managed to break. (Honestly, when that man "helps," everything he touches, he breaks, or drips on with paint, or messes up, or doesn't finish. I think he does it on purpose. lol)  The only thing I still have to do myself before we go live is to get rid of about six pieces of furniture that are now in the garage. The real-estate agent is unconcerned -- by comparison to how garages look when people stuff all their junk in them while selling a house, ours looks like the Taj Mahal even now. But I'd like to get every single thing out all the same, and then mop the floor, paint a sheetrock repair the builders did (husband poked a hole in the wall with his car) and have it be empty and tidy. It gives a nice finished look. I really did get tired of peeking into attics or crawl-space storage when we were looking at houses, and being presented with all the ugly junk the people in the family owned. It never looks good, and it makes you feel like the house isn't clean.

We did have the stagers come last week. I liked their choice to stage our sunroom (beyond the living room) with a huge sofa and rug, but think they made our front hall look like the lobby of a Ramada Inn. Overall, though, the decor it is innocuous and has no whiff of "happy hands at home" like in most houses for sale, and if it sells the house, they can do anything they want. Photos were Friday; it was interesting to talk to the photographer. I added flowers in two places where I thought things were just too bare, and he said he liked my eye.

I take walks with our new puppo so she won't dig in the yard. This plus all the work at the house has probably contributed to my weight staying down. I set the marker on our non-digital scale two weeks ago and haven't moved it, and this morning was down a good pound and a half from that mark. I haven't been making an effort to eat in a healthy way, but definitely have been eating less, and when we do have a meal out, it's usually Thai, Vietnamese or sushi, to help me catch up on all the veggies I am missing. We did get hungry and have schnitzel and spaetzle at the oom-pah German place the other day, but that kind of eating is a rarity now.

Have a great week!

[Barb135]

You're right about my doctor... he does tend to drag his feet a little bit.  I think part of it has to do with the fact that doctors don't take women's complaints as seriously as they should and part of it is because he prefers to see if things will take care of themselves before he  prescribes drugs.  Trying to see if things will take of themselves before prescribing drugs isn't all bad, except that I've been seeing him since 2009 and he knows by now that I've already done that, plus tried everything I can buy OTC before even talking to him about a problem, so by the time I come to him, it's time to do something...

The H. Pylori  re-infection isn't his fault, as he did send me to a gastro when I had the last one and it was the gastro who diagnosed and treated it.  I don't think I was ever really over that one, but they insisted I was because  stool sample came back negative.  What they failed to listen to was that the original diagnostic stool sample was negative and they had to do an endoscopic biopsy to make the diagnosis in the first place.  In view of that, why would they think a negative stool sample would indicate that the  infection was gone???  I think I've had it all this time and it just got overgrown enough to cause issues again.

Anyway, hopefully, we'll get something figured out within the next couple of days.  I'm getting tired of the constant taste of acid reflux...

So it sounds like you're coming right along with your moving project.   I do feel sorry for your husband.  You've heard the old saying: "If you do a bad enough job on things, people will stop asking for your help..."  Perhaps that's what he's trying to do by breaking pipes, dripping paint, etc - get you to stop asking for help... LOL   Seriously, some people simply aren't handy with home projects like that, but they're very good at other things.   :-)

Anyway, it sounds like everything is all set up to get the house sold, which is a good thing and I hope it sells quickly for you.  

I'd almost forgotten about the puppy.  I bet she's growing... and those walks are good for both of you.   That's one thing I miss about having our dog - nothing to force me to get out and take a walk every day.
You're getting enough exercise that you  probably don't need to  really watch your eating all that much... anyway, congratulations on the 1.5 pounds down.  That's pretty awesome.

Have a great week.