All Entries In Health Category
By Been in bed virtually all day with a headache and temperature. I feel considerably better now for the extended period in bed.
Got home from roleplaying about 1:30am this morning and more or less went straight to bed. I was asleep not long after 3am; I remember listening to the 3am news on the radio. Anyway, I woke up a few times this morning but really wasn't feeling great so went back to sleep. It was finally just after 1pm this afternoon when I finally emerged from bed. I really didn't feel like getting up but thought I better had. As a result, I've felt pretty tired all day and am just going to sit and watch a wee bit of wrestling before calling it a night again. It'll definitely be this side of midnight tonight.
I had some blood tests done last Tuesday, along with checking my blood pressure, and went back today to get the results. The Nurse is rather unhappy with my blood sugar levels, the tests show an average of around 8.1 rather than the less than 7.0 that she was hoping for. Rather than up my dosage of Metformin, she has instead given me another 8 weeks to get them down. She also wasn't too happy with my blood pressure readings from last week and decided to check it again. Testing on my left arm brought figures of 170 over 120 and an immediate referral to the Doctor. He checked my other arm, less than 20 minutes later, and got figures of 190 over 114. As a result, he has doubled my Irbesartan dosage and ordered me to visit him again in 3 weeks. He outlined his concerns over the fact that if I don't get my weight, blood sugars and blood pressure down then he feels that I'm only a couple of years away from either a heart attack or a stroke. A sobering declaration, to say the least.
Today has mostly been pretty good. I've spent the whole day at Geoff & Chrissy's. We made Flapjack this morning and Bread Rolls this evening. Between picking the kids up at lunchtime and mid-afternoon we also managed to pick up some more paint for the outside of their house, do some shopping at Tesco and have a really nice Ham Salad in JJ's Cafe in Egremont.
However, I have an intermittent twitch on my left eye for the last week or so and it really irritates. It's not a case of it'll twitch, be fine for a while, and then twitch again. It'll actually twitch for a good 10-15 seconds at a time and will do so anywhere up to a dozen times an hour when it's really bad. Nothing has seemed to help and it leaves my eye feeling very heavy and puffy; although it physically looks fine. It's got to the stage where I am now getting headaches all the time and my right eye will similarly twitch for 5-10 seconds every once in a blue moon.
The eye has just started twitching now and I really need to make an appointment to get it checked. In the interim, I'm feeling exhausted and had intended to have an early night this evening. But, problems with Dad's PC and Kev's 360 scuppered my plans to go to bed when I got home at 9pm.
One of the things that I have been neglecting recently that I should have been doing on a regular basis is the self monitoring of my blood glucose levels. I hadn't realised how long it had been since I had last checked them and was shocked to discover that prior to today, the last time they were checked was August 4th; a full two months ago.
Anyway, back in late July and early August my levels were fluctuating between 6.6 and 7.6 which was a little bit higher than ideal, but not much. This morning's measurement was a 7.0 and is just about bang in the middle of what the levels had been.
Time to knuckle down and see if I can get the readings down by at least another point to 6.0 or even lower. First thing to do is change back to a plain breakfast cereal.
I feel like crap today. My stomach is killing me, my back is playing up, I have a headache both at the front and rear of my head, my neck feels stiff and my eyes feel sore. Top that with a slight feeling of nausea and if I didn't have to pop to the roleplaying club to hand out a couple of things I would already be lying on/in bed.
Oh, and I've got indigestion.
One of the things I've struggled with over the last 15 years or so has been my weight. Ever since I severely injured myself playing football. I tore the cartilage in my left ankle, twisted/pulled the ligaments in my right ankle and hyper-extended my right knee. When I played football regularly my weight never fluctuated much from about 13 stone (182lbs / 82½kg). Depending on how much running I also did it sometimes was even less. In the first couple of years after stopping my weight went up to 15 stone (210lbs / 95½kg), it eventually went up to about 17 stone (238lbs / 108kg). My weight remained pretty steady there until about 7 years ago.
Within a year of starting work at Perkins my weight had ballooned to over 20 stone (280lbs / 127kg) and in the following five years it went up to approximately 24 stones (336lbs / 152½kg). After embarking on a new diet and taking some weight loss medication I got back down to under 20 stone (280lbs / 127kg) within a year. Unfortunately, I have very poor dietary control and really lack the desire to stick to a managed diet plan and am now back above 24 stone (338lbs / 157½kg) again.
Anyway, after doing some reading on the internet I've come across a few sites suggesting a regime of intermittent fasting as a potential solution. The beauty of the plan is that you don't have to strictly manage the kinds or amount of food that you eat. The plan relies on intermittently fasting, much like palaeolithic man did and most wild animals do. The plan calls for a period of fasting followed by a period of eating in a cycle. I'm going to give it a try.
My plan is that I will eat normally today until 6pm. I have already had my breakfast and will eat our main Sunday meal sometime between 4pm and 5pm as usual. I may then have a small snack before 6pm. I will then fast until 6pm tomorrow eveing at which point I will have a normal evening meal and perhaps snack a bit later. On Tuesday I will have my normal breakfast and then eat normally in the afternoon until 6pm at which point I will fast until 6pm Wednesday. I will have a normal evening of eating on Wednesday after 6pm and then have breakfast and normal afternoon eating until 6pm on Thursday at which point I will again fast until 6pm on Friday. Friday 6pm onwards to Sunday 6pm I will eat normally and then repeat the cycle next week.
- Sunday: Breakfast, Lunch, Nothing After 6pm
- Monday: Nothing Until 6pm, Dinner/Supper
- Tuesday: Breakfast, Lunch, Nothing After 6pm
- Wednesday: Nothing Until 6pm, Dinner/Supper
- Thursday: Breakfast, Lunch, Nothing After 6pm
- Friday: Nothing Until 6pm, Dinner/Supper
- Saturday: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner/Supper as Normal
I've had a splitting headache all day. I had planned on getting some serious work done on a friend's website today but only managed to get 4 or 5 pages converted before giving up. I've taken some tablets for the headache but to no real avail and ended up going for a lie down about 3pm. I woke up briefly as a thunderstorm rumbled outside with rain pelting down, before falling back asleep. I finally woke back up just before 6pm to discover bright sunshine splitting the curtains and just a slightly damp ground to suggest that any rain had actually fell.
I think I've just put my back out. My Dad was in the back garden in his wheelchair and ended up slipping backwards down the path and out of it. Luckily, he hasn't injured himself beyond one or two little scrapes but he needed help getting back into his chair. I felt something give as I was helping him back into his chair and now any twisting motion causes pain in the lower left of my back.
I had an appointment with my podiatrist this morning; and as it turns out, it was my last one. She's happily informed me that the toes are fully healed and I don't need to dress them anymore. The bits of dead skin that are on top of the toe matrices will disappear over time. I'll still have annual check-ups with the diabetic podiatrist but don't need to visit my normal podiatrist unless something crops up. It feels weird just wearing socks with no dressing but I'll get used to it.
I really can not be bothered with the world in general today.
My head is pounding, nothing I've taken has worked and I feel like I'm at the bottom of a deep, dark pit. I just want to crawl back into bed and let the world pass me by. I hope my sister's kids are quiet when they turn up later.
Anyway, I'll see you all tomorrow; if I can be bothered!
One of the pieces of advice I was given when I had my toes done was that I should refrain from having a bath whilst they were still healing. The information suggested at least 2 or 3 weeks as a minimum. I've gone 2 months. Now, before you go 'ugh' I've not gone 2 months without any form of bath/shower. I've had regular showers during that period. Although we don't have a shower my sister does and I've been popping round to her house regularly in the last 2 months.
Anyway, I've obviously been paying close attention to the state of my toes whenever I've soaked them and changed the dressing. I had planned to go round to my sister's house yesterday evening but her shower is now broken; apparently the pipe from the unit to the head has come away from the shower itself. I decided that my toes were sufficiently healed and I had a bath instead. It's quite remarkable how you can miss something as simple as a bath. It felt so relaxing just lying there and having a soak; and my toes came out of the process relatively intact. I even took the opportunity to tidy up some of the scabbing when the scabs were suitably soft. Now you can go 'ugh'.
I had a bit of a late night last night, no drinking involved however; I was actually playing about with my website a wee bit more. I woke up just after 9am this morning with an absolutely pounding headache and decided that rather than get up I would give the headache another couple of hours. Anyway, went back to sleep and roused again at about 11:15am, still with the headache. I once again decided that I'd give the headache a wee bit more time and went back to sleep. I finally woke up just before 1:30pm, still with a headache. I decided that I'd wasted enough of the day and got up. I've taken a couple of tablets and to be honest I feel okay now.
I was back at the Podiatrist this morning for a quick checkup and dressing change. She's really happy with my progress and indicated that they may take less than the estimated three months to heal. She's advised me that because of the way that I walk and the fact that my toes tend to turn/point upwards rather than lie flat that I should try and take pressue off them as much as possible. She's suggested that I should stop wearing slippers around the house and either walk around in socks or, due to how sore my toes still are at times, barefoot.
Forgot to take my Metformin yesterday.
I'd normally take one with my breakfast and one with my tea; which covers my current dosage. Anyway, I had breakfast in the kitchen yesterday and hadn't taken any Metformin down with me so was going to take it when I went back upstairs. The post landed and I spent an extra 20 minutes downstairs before going back upstairs to hook up the recently arrived iPod to the PC. I forgot all about the tablet. Later on it was a similar story as I was distracted by a phone call after my tea and likewise forgot to take my tablet then.
I only realised that I'd forgotten my tablets when I was going to bed and spotted my Irbesartan on the side and thought "Damn, forgot my tablets" or rather, thoughts similar to that effect. Anyway, it was too late to take my Metformin then so just took my Irbesartan and went to bed. I've checked my bloods this morning and surprisingly enough they are still pretty low at 4.6; which shows just how little sugar I now have in my diet. You can guarantee that I remembered to take my tablet after breakfast.
Anyway, as a side-effect of not taking my tablets yesterday, I've woken up this morning with a headache which feels similar to hypo/hyper headaches I've had in the past. The current plan is not to take anything for the headache and hope it'll fade as the day progresses. I've gotten pretty good over the years at determining how badly a headache is likely to affect me and this one doesn't feel like it's going to have a debilitating effect on the rest of my day. Although, I do occasionally get it wrong.
As mentioned previously, my doctor has been concerned about my high blood pressure and he prescribed Irbesartan to try and solve this just under a month ago. He gave me instructions to have a blood test after three weeks to check that kidney function wasn't adversely affected and to see him again within a month.
Well, I had a blood test last week and was back to see the doctor again this morning to check the results and have my blood pressure checked again. Thankfully, there is no concern for alarm with my kidney function and the tablets have successfully brought my blood pressure down to a manageable level. They are keeping me on the tablets and have told me that they don't need to see me again for another 3 months and even then I just need to see the practice nurse.
So, with my blood sugar down around 4.5 - 6.5; it was as low as 3.6 this morning; and with my blood pressure within acceptable limits, the only outstanding issue at the moment; other than my weight, are my toes. I'm currently changing their dressing every other day and have started to notice a lot of discolouration seeping through from the wounds themselves. They do seem to have finally started to scab up and I don't think there's any cause for alarm and will be seeing the podiatrist as planned on Friday. However, it would be nice if they weren't so sensitive; not only is knocking/stubbing them painful but the dressing seems to grate against the toe matrix whenever I move my feet whilst either in bed or wearing footwear.
I had a job interview this morning with Allerdale Borough Council; for the position of Benefits Clerk, based at Allerdale House in Workington. Allerdale is the borough north of Copeland; where I live, and has a population of approximately 95,000. It includes the towns and surrounding villages of Workington, Maryport, Cockermouth, Keswick and Wigton. I think the interview went okay and hopefully I managed to answer all their questions to a satisfactory standard. My only concern is that I don't know a lot about Council Tax or Housing Benefits but I'm hoping that a lot of the people interviewed are going to be in a similar position. There's actually 2 positions up for grabs so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
I must admit my feet were really sore first thing this morning when I put my shoes on and I was hobbling around the house grimacing and thinking "This isn't going to work." After all, it's the first time I've worn socks and shoes since getting my toes done. However, by the time I'd reached Workington my feet weren't anywhere near as sore as they had been and although there was a fair bit of discomfort, it wasn't enough to cause me great hardship. I managed to limp through the morning okay.
It's been just over two weeks now since I had my toenails removed and I was back at the podiatrist yesterday to get the dressings changed. I've changed the dressings a couple of times myself but this was the first chance for the podiatrist to have a look at my toes since they first changed the dressings themselves the day after the procedure.
Anyway, the podiatrist was fairly happy with my progress but decided that I should change the dressings more frequently than I have been; every other day rather than every third day, and to continue using Inadine dressings on both toes for the next 4 changes to give them a better chance to heal. They still haven't started to scab up properly and do still weep a wee bit. They don't look at all pleasant at the moment.
My toes tend to hurt most of the time at the moment; although, not mind-numbing agony, but rather a dull ache. There are times during the day when they hurt a lot more and I end up taking a couple of painkillers to try and ease it. For example, I didn't need to take any painkillers at all yesterday but took 2 earlier this afternoon. I'm usually averaging 4 painkillers a day but there's been a couple of times when I've ended up taking either 8 or 10 in total and a couple of days when I've taken none. The weird thing is that it's rarely both toes at the same time and it's also interchangeable as to which toe is sorest at any given moment; although, it's mainly been the right toe for the last couple of days.
Wearing socks is painful and I currently tend to avoid doing so unless absolutely necessary. I can just about get my normal trainers on but when I put weight on either foot they hurt enough to persuade me to take them back off. My new slippers, although really soft and comfortable tend to crowd my toes so I'm currently wearing my old slippers, which have a nice, wide toe area, in the house and my really old trainers; which are more like a laced plimsol but very loose fitting when undone, if I have to go anywhere. Luckily I haven't needed to try and put shoes on since the procedure but I guess if I get an interview I will have to endure a couple of hours of extreme discomfort.
Thankfully, I've become a lot more aware of my surroundings and have taken great care to avoid knocking my toes in the last week or so. I've even gone so far as to place cushions/pillows in the bottom of the bed to raise the bed clothes off my feet at night and avoid scraping my toes on them. I tend to limp on both legs at the moment and driving any distance longer than a couple of miles is currently beyond my ability.
It's slow progress but the healing process is going in the right direction. I just hope it's far enough along by the end of March when we intend travelling down to Birmingham to see Nightwish.
I don't know if it's just me but has anybody else ever noticed how many times you stub your toes during a normal day?
Obviously, my toes are rather sensitive at the moment and I've been taking it easy and trying to pay attention to where I'm placing my feet. However, I'm still managing to stub at least one of my toes once or twice every day. And, it bloody hurts...
Hopefully, they won't be quite so sensitive when they finally start to scab up.
The doctor has decided that my blood pressure is high enough to warrant concern and has prescribed Irbesartan to try and bring it under control.
I had a follow up appointment with my Nurse today. Although she's happy with my self-testing results my blood sugar levels are higher than she'd like and she's upped my dose of Metformin.
She feels that sooner rather than later I will have to switch over to Insulin injections; mainly due to my relatively young age for diabetes.
She also has concerns over my blood pressure and has arranged me an appointment with a Doctor for next week to check it and discuss the possible prescribing of some medication to also control that.
Both of my big toes have ingrowing toenails. I'm scheduled to get them treated under local anaesthetic tomorrow morning. Apparently they are going to burn out the sides of my toenails with phenol which should prevent the problem recurring.
Just been recently diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. Quite a shock to the system and a significant change to my lifestyle.
I went roleplaying yesterday, as I do virtually every Saturday.
I read on Pixie's blog that he'd been feeling ill at the start of the week and felt a wee bit of sympathy for him. It was only a wee bit. because, after all, it was him that was ill and not me. Now, in a case of you get what you deserve... I'm full of cold. It sucks! That is all...
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