Michelle’s Loosing Fibromyalgia and Weight Journal

[lmggallagher]

Hi Ana:

Chime in all you want - I'm open to suggestions because generally everyone here means well - whether it's part of their personal experience or not. The concept of "this is what I would consider if it were me" has great value too. Thank you

[Ruff]

Michelle! I’m back! It’s Katie! How are you?

[lmggallagher]

Hmm, won’t let me post?

[JeffN]

Isn't this your journal?

Looks like you just posted.

If not, give me a link to the journal you are talking about

In Health
Jeff

[lmggallagher]

Hi Jeff Won’t let me post anything longer than a sentence or a PM.

[lmggallagher]

just a test to see if I can post more than a sentence - JeffN was on this over the Thanksgiving Holiday - what a guy - many thanks Jeff!
I'm doing OK all through with the cancer treatments and - flunked all the oral drugs - but I want everyone who might read this that I didn't do chemo, I did do surgery and radiation. I'd already had that breast removed so it was just the tumour and a few nodes this time. Surgery added 40% to my five-year survival rate and radiation another 20%. Chemo would have only given me 10%! However I asked my doctor to see if diet and exercise were included in the program that runs the modalities against the pathology and bingo - diet and exercise CAN contribute up to 50%! So, guess what I am doing now. Plus, the radiation center at Kaiser Santa Clara - offers training sessions on whole food plant-based eating. Kaiser is really behind our way of eating - I'm on it very seriously now. More later

[SilverDollar123]

Hi Michelle,I'm RAS the one who wishes everyone Happy Birthday on the Lounge Board. Been reading your journal.Wow you have
been thru a lot. I was diagnosed with breast cancer this past March. Had a lumpectomy,Stage 1a.Estrogen+Progesterone - Refused Chemo..that's my choice. Did 16 radiation Rx.It is a new trial that gives higher doses of radiation for a shorter period of time..I think it's out of Canada. I Am on Letrozol for 5 years. I am
menopausal so Tamoxin is not for me.. I do believe this woe is the best I can do for my body&me. Also keeps the diabetes levels down. I hope this is not too much info for you.Maybe sharing will get us thru this..I took the LiveStrong Program at the Y,which was good too. Please keep posting as I care about you...& all of us trying to eat this way. RAS ps I also have the book "How Not to
Die" & "Super Immunity"

[lmggallagher]

Hi RAS!
Yes, I completely know who you are from the birthday greetings and around the boards. I am so glad you jumped in and shared all that you did and I now consider us buds to keep on track and keep healthy.

I did the exact same as you - but I'm just ER+. I did chemo the first time around 26 years back and no matter what will not go that route again - it hardly gives much in the long run for my pathology.

Like you I lost my pre-diabetes in two weeks by doing this WOE. I was so stunned - I'd had a full blood panel about 3 months before stating McD and wanted to do another as a baseline before going all in. However, it was 2 or three weeks before I got around to it and the prediabetes was already gone. I'd been doing the carb counting recommended by my health care provider at the time and still progressing quickly towards diabetes full-fledged. But my numbers dropped to normal in a few weeks on McD.

I'm still hugely overweight though and have to address that as more and more studies are coming out saying obesity is a huge risk factor for BC.

Anyway - I will get back to my journal soon and I hope you drop in as often as you want. I have things to share with you but I have to run now and get cooking a McD approved dinner

[lmggallagher]

Yesterday
Weight:235
Sleep:7
Fibro: 9
Fatigue: 7
Meditation: 30mins
Egoscue/Exercise: no
MWL/low FODMAPS: cheats
Friends, family and fun: none

Food
B: oat meal w/flax, blueberries,alm milk, blueberries, turmeric
L: kitchen sink salad/quinoa
D: engine 2 curry + quinoa and veggies
S: brownie from deli! Banana

Today:
Weight: ?
Resting pulse on waking: 72
BP 8 am ?
Sleep: 7
Fibro: 9
Barometer -rising most of day
Other symptoms:
Meditation: 30
Egoscue/Exercise: no
MWL/low FODMAPS:
Friends, family and fun: no

Food planned/actual
Food
B:oatmeal/kale/blueberries/flax meal/alm milk/turmeric
L: kitchen sink salad
D: broccoli and delicata squash
S: fruit but had a brownie instead

Fibro bad not doing anything. Haven't even eaten and it's 1:30 pm! Off to the kitchen now the barometer just went to steady the pain is a bit better.

[lmggallagher]

Yesterday
Weight:?
Sleep:7
Fibro: 9
Fatigue: 9
Meditation: 30mins
Egoscue/Exercise: no
MWL/low FODMAPS: cheats
Friends, family and fun: none

Food
B: oatmeal w/flax, blueberries,alm milk, blueberries, turmeric
L: kitchen sink salad/quinoa
D: engine 2 curry + quinoa and veggies
S: brownie from deli! Banana

Today:
Weight: 235
Resting pulse on waking: 72
BP 120/84 p71
Sleep: 5
Fibro: 4
Barometer -steady
Other symptoms: knee pain
Meditation: 30
Egoscue/Exercise: no but vacuumed whole house
MWL/FODMAPS: 100%
Friends, family and fun: phone call with cousin

Food planned/actual*
Food
B:oatmeal/kale/blueberries/flax meal/alm milk/turmeric*
L: kitchen sink salad* with millet
D: salad and soup made from leftover squash and broccoli*
S: chocolate/strawberry shake with flax and chia*

Fibro much better. good energy too. But I'm still not waking until late in the day. First I wake up at 3, 4 or 5 am and can't get back to sleep. I usually don't fall asleep until 12 pm so it's not enough sleep. I can't catch another sleep cycle until dawn around 7am and then I sleep til 10 am. I spoke to my radiologist about my sleep and low energy and he says this is my new normal for about a year. This bums me no end. I've also been so low energy that exercise has eluded me - I know that helps my energy level hugely - but I can't even get down the stairs to the laundry room let alone walk for 15 or so minutes!

Today I feel pretty good and will get down to the laundry room and even hope to do some vacuuming. This is a big change in energy - it might just be mental energy -I'm still going to give it all a go.

I hope I have figured out how to circumvent the brownie thing - yesterday I ate the banana I needed for my afternoon chocolate/strawberry/almond milk/flax/chia seed shake. This is actually part of my daily cancer meds - strawberries go after my particular breast cancer pathology. I'm not sure shakes are good for weight loss but I need something that keeps me away from other bad chocolate, gives me energy (chia seeds) and the flax and strawberries are part of my daily dose of anti-cancer drugs. I have plenty of bananas now

Also, realized the scale was stuck on my last weight and needed new batteries - so today's weight is real.

Was 100$ on target and feeling good - EXCEPT for a sore throat. I am so hoping today's high energy is not just my immune system revved up because I have kind of a sore throat. that would be a bummer because I am really liking the energy I had today

[bunsofaluminum]

It's actually good that you're falling back asleep and getting those few hours more. It's not healthy to go on such low sleep too many days in a row, and grabbing a few more zzzz's is wise, even if it means being in bed until later in the morning. But argh, it's not fun waking up and not being able to get back to sleep. Glad you're able to do it after dawn.

[lmggallagher]

Hi Buns
Thanks for the encouragement! Now I am back on this WOE I think I am sleeping a bit better - today I woke up at 9am and was awake less in the 3 to 5am block. Been reading here about how people hack their sleep with potatoes at night to improve their sleep - going to test that theory tonite!

[lmggallagher]

Yesterday
Weight:?
Sleep:7
Fibro: 4
Fatigue: 4
Meditation: 30mins
Egoscue/Exercise: vacuumed house that's a lot for me
MWL/low FODMAPS: cheats
Friends, family and fun: phone convo Cousin Mike

Food
B: oatmeal w/flax, blueberries,alm milk, blueberries, turmeric
L: kitchen sink salad/quinoa
D: engine 2 curry + quinoa and veggies
S: brownie from deli! Banana

Today:
Weight: 235
Resting pulse on waking: 7
BP 115/78 p71
Sleep: 7
Fibro: 2
Fatigue: 5
Barometer -steady and SUNNY today
Other symptoms: knee pain
Meditation: 20
Egoscue/Exercise:
MWL/FODMAPS:
Friends, family and fun:

Food planned/actual*
Food
B:steel cut oatmeal/kale/blueberries/flax meal/alm milk/turmeric*
L: kitchen sink salad* with millet
D: kale and Yukon gold potatoes
S: chocolate/strawberry shake with flax and chia*

AM: Ate 100% McD/FODMAPS yesterday woke up at 9am that's much earlier than it has been - feel good to more energy - lower BP Weight may be up though?

[lmggallagher]

Well, survived Christmas and New Year's too. Of course, being me health stuff happened that was pretty mysterious. I have been having arm pain that is residual from the short period I tried Aromatase Inhibitors and Tamoxifen. Luckily, I rejected each of the by reactions (I kind of did short trials to placate my oncologist that I am trying her recommendations) that is, very quickly by unusual side effects. I seem to fall into the category of persons who get the less than 1% have this bad reaction. The arm, shoulder tip pain is pretty universal though and it's going away with fewer incidents and further apart.

Last week though I had one that was a bit different and seemed to be more arm muscle that joints. That could be fibro instead but it was the heart attack side too - though actually they now say there is no predominant arm. Coincidentally my breathing was awful and had been getting much worse in the last few weeks.

I went to my wonderful primary care - who loves I that I am a Mcdougaller - and I got EKG, CTScan (for pulmonary embolism) and about a million blood tests (none useful to McDougall tracking). None of this showed a thing amiss and all showed I am right where I should be - considering.

Going into this I said it could just be fibro and allergies - it's just what the heck is out there in the dead of winter - when it's raining non-stop. However - something is out there - and it was in the parking lot I had to traverse to get to the radiology department. Both nostrils slammed shut and I had to mouth breathe until I was in the building. My nostrils didn't open until I was stuck in a hall waiting with no external windows or doors. Luckily, when I left it was raining slightly - enough that my breathing was not shut off entirely like the time before. Allergies it is. And the arm pain just fibro.

I was already on allergy drugs and we added one more to it and I am breathing like a normal person now. My sleep the first night was great - but it's gone back to the sleep a couple hours, awake a couple hours, and then one last cycle of sleep. I feel like hell after this as it's usually less than half the sleep I need.

Plus, I feel that if I was exercising sufficiently the sleep would improve. I think the day of the doc appointments it did sleep exceptionally well because I could breathe again and I was walking building to building to get all those tests. I ended up doing far more walking than I do most days.

But without the sleep - it's not safe for me to walk - I'm too dizzy. My doctor could see this and told me I should do my walking in my driveway so I'm close to home if I should fall- that won't work! I have to ponder this - I will figure it out because I need to sleep desperately!

Meanwhile - I am eating right and continue to drop slowly

[Rosey]

I have Fibro too. I seem to do best when I strictly stick to McDougall. I notice when greens are one of my veggies I have less pain as well. Everyone is different but maybe it would help you too.