Thank You!

Alright so for those of you that used to follow this blog page regularly, you may have noticed that I've been on and off for a while now. Life has gone insane around me and I'm barely hanging on some days! For those of you who don't know, my mother and I helped remove custody of my nephews from my little sis until she can get some help. I like to say she fell into the family curse. One grandparent on each side of my family, along with both my mother and father were alcoholics. So, it was bound to hit one of us I suppose. Out of four of my mother's kiddos, two of us are still on the straight and narrow. Out of my father's 3 girls, there are still 2 of us, still doing good. :) So, I suppose things aren't too awful. Anyway, it's been hard, it is hard but, we're all hanging in there.

Another reason I haven't been on much is because between a month in a cast from tearing all of my ligaments, some completely from my bone, and then a month learning to walk. I got a tad behind in homeschool preps. Yes, I homeschool my children, well just one kiddo really. When I began my preps though, I got whooping cough from the only whooping cough vaccinated nephew! Nice huh? Spent a month sicker than a dog, in and out of the hospital and that my friends, was THE best thing that has ever happened to me!

If you've followed this blog all the way through, once upon a time, I wrote a piece on how to loose some weight. I did so because I had gone from 300+ lbs. to just under 200lbs. I did it several ways but, mainly I was in the gym 6 days a week, back when I could afford to go. I was cross training and I loved it. I am one of those weird people who loves the morning after pain! Lets me know I have done something, you know? Anyway, almost 3yrs ago, I stopped going to the gym and my money had to go towards children's diet changes, new therapy ideas (i.e. occupational, physical and speech therapy at home), homeschool supplies, etc. I started eating the way I had prior to my oldest son being born and that's when it began. I started to feel the way I did before my youngest son was born and lost the motivation to go to the gym flat out! 

How did I feel before my son was born? Almost 2yrs before he was born, I noticed I suddenly felt tired all the time, I began to loose my hair, I felt depressed almost but, it wasn't that kind of thing right away, I just didn't want to go out anywhere. I began to have panic attacks, I would have horrible mood swings, I was getting sick all the time, etc. I could go on and on but, I will spare you instead and tell you that what it amounted to was metabolic disorder.

What is metabolic disorder? Here's a definition from Medline Plus:

Metabolism is the process your body uses to get or make energy from the food you eat. Food is made up of proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Chemicals in your digestive system break the food parts down into sugars and acids, your body's fuel. Your body can use this fuel right away, or it can store the energy in your body tissues, such as your liver, muscles and body fat.

A metabolic disorder occurs when abnormal chemical reactions in your body disrupt this process. When this happens, you might have too much of some substances or too little of other ones that you need to stay healthy.

You can develop a metabolic disorder when some organs, such as your liver or pancreas, become diseased or do not function normally. Diabetes is an example.

So essentially, your body just kind of begins to loose it! When I landed in the hospital, my liver enzymes were high, my liver was even swollen! My white count was high, I had apparently had a UTI for some time and had been unaware of it. They took an A1c test and mine was something like 8.7. An A1c test is a blood test where they can determine a 3 month average for your blood sugars. Mine averaged out to something like 195. Which is high but, not too bad. Truthfully the only reason mine was so low is because I often skipped breakfast and would not eat until I was ready to pass out. In the hospital my blood sugars never dropped below 250 on my own the first week my sugars were in the 300s!!

It's been almost a month now and my sugars are still higher in the mornings than they'd like sometimes but, not too bad now overall. To date, (starting from 2 weeks ago) since starting diet and mild exercise since I have high triglycerides too, I've lost 10lbs! Ready to start pushing myself now and take on some more challenging things. Maybe start doing beginners steps towards how I used to exercise. I will say that I am not one for medications, I think we are a nation hooked on the pharmaceutical industry but, I also know that sometimes, things need to be done right now until you can get where you need to be. Case in point, I have one ADHD kid on meds and one not. Though to be fair, the one on meds, has more than just ADHD and I have cut his meds in half by a better diet, the other one is just the text book sensory processing disorder, auditory processing, ADHD kiddo...enough to loose 10lbs in a day if you follow him around! Anyway, I did some of this with the blood sugars and triglycerides with medications. I only take two right now, and if I can help it that will be all and hopefully, I can get rid of one of those in time. :)  I'd like to be rid of both but, because of genetics and the proof of having gestational diabetes twice, the doc says short of a miracle, I'll be on the diabetes meds for life. I was heartbroken but, so be it. I did this to myself and now I must pay the piper. In the mean time I can do what I need to do to get back on the right track for myself and for my boys. One because they need me here and two because of genetics and my having had gestational diabetes, they are now doubly at risk to get it as well. I wish they had told me then that something like half of women with gestational diabetes will go on to get it within 5 - 15yrs after the birth of their child, would've saved me a lot of issues! 

So, now I wear socks all the time, no more barefoot and that was like a death in the family for me! :) I love going barefoot. I take better care of me teeth, always have glucose tablets with me just in case, I carry my diabetic pouch with lancets, strips, logbook, etc. and you bet I carry a calorie/carb/fat counter book! Thank goodness for those because I am not always home when I need to eat. The one my dietitian gave me is called, The Calorie King: Calorie Fat & Carbohydrate Counter 2012. The website is here if you'd like to check that out as well. No, I was not asked to endorse that place nor book, it is simply the one I use but, I know that there are plenty of sites and books out there if you look. So, if you see a lot more healthy posts, or more posts about diabetes. This is why!

Anyway, I'm almost back up to perkily annoying on a daily basis. My neighbors once again like me, though they look at me as if I have two heads! :) It's been a HARD summer to say the least but, I've learned a lot and am getting more together and organized, so look out and thanks for hanging with me so far! You guys are really just a bunch of amazing individuals! I hope you know that and how much I've appreciated your support!