Friday, March 08, 2013

New low - 150.2 - and general updates

I swear, 2 to 3 pounds up or down make a big difference in how I look & how my clothes fit.

I am feeling a bit better.  A lady at my church meeting last night told me to put Vic's vapo rub on my feet & wear socks while I sleep, and it would help my congestion/cough.  I woke up feeling less congested.  I still have the cough.  I will do it again tonight.  I've heard of this before but haven't done it until now.  Have any of you tried this?  Has to do with the reflexology points in your feet connecting to the rest of your body.

I had an acupuncture session yesterday.  It had been 3 weeks since my last session, and it was wonderful.  The more "out of balance" I am, the more it makes me feel relaxed & centered. 

I am weaning off wellbutrin.  I've been taking it for a couple years now and it's at the point where it's not only not helping, it's making me feel worse.  I've been here before.  I talked to my psych nurse practitioner last week about weaning off.  She has other patients who do this, too.  The idea is that I get it out of my system for a few months, and then when I can tell I need it again, I start again and it works like it should.  I wean off slowly.  Take it every other day for a couple of weeks, then every two days for a couple of weeks, then every three days, etc., until I can get down to taking nothing.  It's a good time of year to do this, since the sun and warm weather (and the ability to run more often) will go along way in keeping my depression away. 

I'm still taking lamictal, which keep my moods stable.  I take 75 mg in the morning.  I took 100 mg last summer and it caused panic attacks, so I have to keep it at 75.  The same panic attacks happened in 2009 when I took 300 mg wellbutrin.  Clearly there's a level of medication that my brain can't handle.  It's good to know those boundaries.

Sophie has strep throat.  She had her tonsils out in 2nd grade but she still gets strep occasionally.  She must be a carrier.  There's a strong strain going around--doctor told us at her appointment yesterday that last week they had 6 cases of strep in one afternoon.  A friend of hers has it.  Many kids out for strep at school.  She's on an antibiotic and is home again today.

Luke is getting glasses!  He's such a cutie in them.  He has different levels of far-sightedness in his eyes; one is extreme, which causes him to have depth perception problems.  No wonder he doesn't like baseball or pitch & catch.  He's excited to get them.  I will be interested to see what he has to say about what the world looks like with them on.

The weather is going to warm up tomorrow--thank heavens.  I am hoping to feel good enough to go for a run or two.  I'm toying with the idea of doing a half marathon on April 6th.  My main hesitation is that it is hilly, and while I do train on a hill or two, I mostly run on flat roads.  A friend in OA has run it and she said they aren't that bad.  Others I've talked to have said it's really hard.  Guess if I want to challenge myself I should run it.  I'll see how my training goes in the next few weeks and decide.  I love races and they keep me motivated to run.

So that's it for me.  I am glad to not feel exhausted and to see the sunshine today.  Hope you all enjoy your weekend.

3 comments:

Vickie said...

very interesting about the meds!

And I can see the benefit of weaning off it in sunshine and then using it again if you cycle through lows again.

does Luke get headaches (with his eyes doing two different things)?

I am not sure what to think about signing up for a race with hills - is going to help more than it hurts? do you have easy/safe access to running path with hills to train?

Laura N said...

Luke doesn't get headaches often. After his eye exam he said his eyes & head hurt. Now that he's aware of his vision issues, I think he's paying more attention and can't wait for his glasses to help.

I have the same feelings about the race. I'm not gung-ho right now--toying with the idea & I know it's completely dependent on what I can do in the next month. I will not do anything that could screw up my knees or anything else. I have been extremely blessed with a working body all these years! I won't mess that up for one race.

I do have access to a few big hills that I can train on & do regularly. I would need to add hill repeats because they singular hills. The trail I run by the river also has a steady incline for a good portion. I ran that trail a lot for the Princess Half.

When I'm in good shape, I love hills and the challenge they present. There's a big, steep hill 2 miles from my house that I run on long runs. In 2008 when I was in super shape I ran up the entire thing--not one walk break. I felt invisible. I'm striving to get that feeling again. Might not happen in a month, but by the end of summer(or sooner)--after running & weight training--by the grace of God I'm going to get there again.

Vickie said...

Then maybe you should just start working the hills in on your runs, but not sign up for a hill race.