Symbicort and the cough syrup prescribed by the doctor have offered some relief but no healing for the cough that has plagued me for at least two months. I doubt this is allergies, as I thought at first. It seems to have more in common with the virus that seems to have afflicted so many people this year, except it does not really drag me down most ( Read more... )

There is a great divide between knowing what we need to do and doing it. This is particularly true of diet and exercise, as pointed out by Jane Black of the New York Times in Changing habits, not just diets (thanks to Sue on FB for pointing this out).

I have gained weight despite improvements in my diet. When I complained to a dietitian last year ( Read more... )

Today I went to the hospital and got knocked out for gastroscopy. The main purpose was to check the hiatal hernia, which has caused little trouble recently but needs a good look every few years. Perhaps my persistent cough this winter has had more to do with reflux than allergies, but I doubt it. The surgeon also planned to do a biopsy to look for ( Read more... )

I finally received results from the sleep study. I have moderate sleep apnea. I had sufficient deep sleep and REM sleep during the study but stopped breathing on average 22 times per hour ( Read more... )

I'm scheduled for gastroscopy to check my hiatal hernia and reflux issues on April 3. The specialist said he can also check for damage from celiac disease, however that means I'll have to go off the wheat-free diet for four weeks. I have never been diagnosed. The advantage of doing it now is I can skip the blood test (which costs $120 because it ( Read more... )

I dreamt I met queenmomcat and stephe. We were sitting around a table somewhere outside with lots of trees. stephe's hair was buzzed short. We had only a few minutes to visit because they had to go home so their cat could take a shower. stephe was nonplussed. He said he had been living alone for a long time (apparently this was their first pet). He was not used to people ( Read more... )

Q: What do you call a bear who isn't getting enough protein?
( A: )

I booked tomorrow off work. I have to collect samples for a couple medical tests (nuff said) then take them to the lab on Friday morning and get some more blood tests. I do not feel like telling people in our shop and the adjacent engineering company I have to keep a peculiar mandatory bottle in the fridge for the day. But more than that, I so need ( Read more... )

For dinner I made zucchini-ricotta fritters accompanied by Essex County corn-on-the-cob. Simple, nutritious, easy to adapt, distinctly different from anything else I make, and a tasty meatless entree, they will likely become part of the household culinary canon.

Problems with fatigue plague me most days. My moods have been fine, and the new ( Read more... )

Effort to reduce my blood cholesterol has been frustratingly ineffective. On Wednesday morning a nurse went over the numbers with me and we looked at a course of action (I attempted to write this post twice last week, and LiveJournal ate it twice). Since September 2009 my total has risen from 5.78 mmol/L to 6.32 (it should be less than 5.2).

I've ( Read more... )