Goals!
As sayeth the Ministrix:
What do you want to accomplish in 2012 using both magical and mundane means?
Today I'm exhausted and limping around my workplace with some pretty terrible gut pain. This has inspired me to ditch all other goals except those directly health-related. I can come back to this prompt and make new goals if things start to work again. And the suggestion is "How much can you accomplish by Valentines Day?" so I think that could work.
Been feeling very frustrated about it all this week. Supposedly a side effect of cutting sugar and processed wheat is weight loss, but I'm actually gaining inches to my waistline with all the internal inflammation :-/
My doctor gave me a referral for a neurologist when I went "... Oh yeah, I HAVE been getting more headaches lately..." so I've been trying to get over my usual habit of ignoring pain (thanks to ten years of braces in childhood) to pay more attention to what kind of headaches these are. Typically they end up behind my eyes and forehead, but they often *start* asymmetrically behind one eye or one spot on the noggin. So, migraines. Great. Meh. I'm also going to a sleep specialist.
The mundane means are already underway, and I've thought of a couple new items:
-Elimination diet/Level One Diagnostic. I'm not really feeling better on it, but I'm willing to give it a few more weeks. Today's gastric agony may have been caused by bringing goat cheese back into my diet (and that's supposed to be easier to digest than cows milk? WTF?) so I may go back to rigid adherence (except for this weekend, otherwise I'll starve). If Santa brings me a blender for Xmas, I may try the smoothie aspect of the Clean Program after all, at least for dinners and weekends. I like my berries frozen but their frozen seeds are doing a number on my poor teeth.
-Track foods, calories, and macronutrients. Done and done, not too hard to keep track of while nothing else is happening in my life.
-Full battery of medical tests for everything evar. Went to my pcp last week, she finally agreed to give me *all* of the thyroid tests instead of half of them, plus several disease tests. Will try to remember to call today to see if my results are in since this office seems to have a worse collective brain fog than I do when it *isn't* the week before Xmas. I went to the allergist on Friday for many prick-tests, and I am allergic to the crab/shrimp/lobster trifecta, but nothing else. No nuts or soy, phew. I have yet to make appointments with the neurologist or sleep specialist, thanx to brain fog (ARGH). Will try to call this week, but probably won't get an appointment until after NYE.
-Figure out food sensitivities (NEW). I don't consider avoiding foods that hurt me to be a deprivation, its a survival tactic. Was today's tummy ache brought on by last night's goat cheese, or the lox, or the new brand of rice cakes? Or something else entirely? I definitely took a lactase pill with dinner, so maybe avoiding dairy for three weeks made me even more sensitive?
-Start taking probiotics (NEW). I'm still having tons of IBS inflammation problems despite the elimination diet, and they've been worse since I started trying to wean myself off it. Supposedly taking a probiotic can help. Also coconut oil, supposedly helpful. I take it in capsule form instead of cooking with it b/c the one friend who ever comes to my house is allergic to it. I've read about candida die-off, but I'm not convinced that's what I'm going thru. My tummy's a nightmare, but my skin and muscles seem as OK as usual. Also, I still eat fruit and beets, so I'm only off refined sugars. Will try to get them in pill form since I'm back to avoiding soy and dairy, and still avoiding sugar.
-Don't be sick for Winter Break, 12/24-1/2 (NEW). I've used a ton of my vacation days this year to cover my illnesses when I ran out of sick days. The only planned vacation was DragonCon, and I had crazy stomach upsets for most of it. And then a sinus infection when I got home. It would be really nice to spend some time off *relaxing* rather than *recovering* pls k thnx.
-Hobbies are not priorities. At least for the time being, tho I do have to get my stock together for Wicked Faire.
Magical means to better health:
-Honey Pot. Kinda ironic, since I'm avoiding eating refined sugars. Will try to pick up a yellow/gold or orange jar. Herbs will probably include ginger, rosemary, and others, still have more research to do there. Candles will be yellow or orange, not sure what I have at home.
-Meditation. B/c it's good for what ails you.
-Yoga. At least the poses I can remember at home. I know some yoga teachers, it would be nice to go to their classes and give them monies if I start feeling well enough to have a life outside of home/work again.
Unfortunately, the latter two ideas are frequently thwarted by tummy aches and brain fogs.
-Get back in tight with my patrons. Found my Norin Ni Rian CD Celtic Soul, with a nice Gaelic Brid chant. Sekhmet is all anti-pestilence, *maybe* vitality depending on how you look at it. I've lost touch with my first, main ladies.
I'd love to do rituals for creative projects and $$ right now, but I need to fix this first. Sick & tired body and spirit make for sick & tired magic.
I want to get to a point where I can get up in the morning without feeling my choices are "Throw up or go to work", and then get to the end of a work day and have the energy to go out and play.
Now that I think about it, I don't think I've made ginger root tea for myself since I started the L1D. I'd better get back on that.
<3 Chrysilla
Crossposted from Dreamwidth, http://chrysilla.dreamwidth.org/