Tricia's Musings

Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto



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Losing weight too fast

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I just went upstairs and pulled out my old dusty weight scale. I have a hate hate relationship with it.

I think the last time it was used was about a year ago and it was by my husband to weigh the dog. LOL He weighed himself first, then he picked up our Lab and I peered at the scale as quick as I could to get their total weight before Midnight wiggled out of Chris’ arms. Probably not the best way to weigh a dog, but it worked.

Anyway … I rarely weigh myself at home because I hate seeing what the scale has to say. You see, when I’m really sick with Crohn’s I drop weight really fast so the scale is scary, and then when I’m on medications that make me gain weight or when I’ve been stuck at home due to illness (like the last few years) I tend to gain a bit of weight (not too bad luckily) and the scale results are frustrating. Plus … I see my pain doctor just about every month and for some reason she loves weighing me every time I see her so I generally don’t feel the need to weigh myself at home.

Today though … I felt the need to weigh myself.

I started taking a new medication for my migraines on August 19th and it seems to have helped quite a bit. I don’t have constant day in and day out migraines anymore – although for the last week I’ve had a couple of migraines and that nasty dizziness has come back (it’s bad again today).

One of my migraine medications many many side effects is that it can cause anorexia (lack of appetite) and weight loss. It can also cause taste perversion.

Taste perversion is a weird name for what basically amounts to carbonated drinks like Coca Cola tasting like salt, sweets tasting both sweet and salty, sour foods like anything flavored with lemon tasting salty or odd, and greasy foods tasting rancid and making other food items taste slightly strange, flat or just not as good as they used to taste.

I’ve never taken diet pills or fat burners, but I’m starting to think that this migraine medication (well really anti-convulsive) with it’s anorexia, weight loss and taste perversion side effects will keep me from looking for the best fat burner any time soon!

I was weighed by my pain doctor around the beginning of August and as I said I started the new migraine medication with it’s many many side effects on August 19th … and now, after weighing myself a little while ago it looks like I’ve lost 12 pounds. I’d say that most of that weight has come off in the last three weeks.

The way I’ve been feeling the last few days – with my stomach acting up (either a mild Crohn’s flare, a bug or yet another medication side effect) I haven’t been eating very much and when I do I’ve been getting abdominal cramps and it feels like I’m losing more weight by the day. I guess I’ll be keeping my hated scale out for a while and I’ll weigh myself a little more regularly. I wouldn’t be surprised if I lose another five pounds by the end of next week.





I think the dizziness is going away – fingers crossed

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I’m happy to report that I’ve been feeling a little better in the last day or two. I’m still a little dizzy but no where near as dizzy as I was on the weekend and at the start of the week. Thankfully.


Man, that was awful.

I’ve never experienced dizziness like I have in the last several months. I’m a nurse and I’ve taken care of patients that have complained of feeling dizzy all the time and I have to admit that I had no idea how bad it was. It’s really something that you just can’t understand until you experience it yourself. At least in my case it was.

I’m still having a few migraines a day. They only last a few hours at a time, but it’s disappointing since they were pretty much gone for about three weeks. Oh and my abdomen is hurting again. I’m not sure what’s causing that … maybe the new medication (Topamax) or just whatever happens to set off my Crohn’s. Who knows … I just hope it settles down again soon.

Like I said the other day when I was complaining about being so dizzy I think maybe my hormones might have set it off. I had my period and it’s over now and the dizziness seems to be starting to go away so maybe there’s a connection.

The one good thing about how bad I’ve been feeling lately and the new medication is that I’ve lost some weight. If this keeps up that might end up being a bad thing … but for now it’s a good thing. LOL I haven’t weighed myself, but all my clothes are looser. I think I might have lost close to 10 pounds by the look of how my clothes are fitting. Hmm maybe it’s time to treat myself to some new clothes and maybe even some lingerie ? Maybe … or maybe I should wait and see how much more I actually lose.

Anyway … if I’m lucky the dizziness will go away sometime over the weekend and maybe the migraines will go away sometime after that too. Hopefully I’ll start next week feeling better.

The dizziness is back

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I’m feeling kind of crappy today. Well, not just today … maybe the last five or six days.

Sigh …

Other than all the weird side effects from the new medication I’m taking for my migraines I thought I was feeling better. I mean, my Crohn’s has been doing a lot better for most of this year, and with this new drug my migraines and the accompanying dizziness seemed to be under control … until a week ago that is.

Big Sigh ..

I was feeling so good that I was actually starting to think that if it continued that maybe I’d be able to get back to work in a few months.

Now I’m not so sure.

The dizziness has come back. Big time. I’ve spent the better part of the last few days feeling like I’ve just got off a ride at the exhibition or something. My head is spinning. I get dizzy if I’m fast forwarding a show on the TV or scrolling to fast on the computer or even just turning my head slow or fast.

I’ve also had a couple of migraines. Not as bad as what I was experiencing in June, July and August .. but still, it’s disappointing.

I have thought of one possible cause for my symptoms coming back. It’s my time of the month and I almost always get headaches or migraines during this time. So I was half expecting to be a little more headachey or to possibly have a migraine this past weekend … but I didn’t count on the dizziness. Maybe my hormones made the dizziness come back. Maybe if I’m lucky when my period is over and my hormones settle down the dizziness and the extra headaches and migraines will go away again.

Sigh …

If it doesn’t and if this is all starting up again I guess my idea of going back to work soon might not work out. Too bad as we kind of need me to get back to work. Our finances are shot. We have to watch every penny. Literally. Hmmm maybe I could look into online schools and see if I could find a career that I could do from home, so if I continue to feel this bad for the foreseeable future I can at least start earning a better income?

In the meantime … Do any of you suffer from periods of dizziness? I mean truly disabling dizziness? What do you do about it? Maybe I should talk to my doctor and see if there’s any other kind of medication I can take for it? From the research I’ve done over the last few days it seems medication is pretty hit and miss and the medication that I’m taking for my migraines (Topamax) might eventually help the dizziness however dizziness is also one of it’s many side effects too.

Have to complain about the letter carrier

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I don’t know what’s going on with our mail delivery service this summer. We’ve lived in this neighborhood for almost ten years and for most of that time we had the same mailman.

Actually our mailman ended up being a friend of ours as he was seeing (and living with) a close friend of mine from work (they even helped us put in our skylight) so it was always nice when I’d see him delivering our mail.

I haven’t talked to him lately, and I haven’t seen him delivering our mail either. Perhaps he got a better route or a big promotion? It seems that over the last few months we’ve had a series of temporary mail carriers.

The lady that’s been delivering the mail the last couple of weeks is the worst. I hope she doesn’t turn out to be our permanent carrier! I think she’s afraid of our dog barking. Yes, even when the door is closed and there’s no way our dog can even see her or you know … get to her. Of course if our dog could make contact with the mail carrier it would only be to say hi and probably give her a lick since she’s the absolutely friendliest dog in the world. She just likes to bark when she hears someone at the door.

It doesn’t help that this woman who delivers the mail has big heavy mail bags on both sides of her body and she bangs into our screen door every time she enters our front porch.

Anyway I guess she’s afraid of the sound of a barking dog because she certainly never even sees our dog. So now, when she hears Midnight barking she just drops the mail and runs!

The mail doesn’t even get into our mailbox. It’s often left scattered all over our inner front porch and sometimes it doesn’t even make it to the inner front porch – sometimes it’s outside on the steps! That’s not good.

I’m picturing soggy, ruined mail in the winter if this keeps up.

Oh and yesterday I found not only our mail but our elderly neighbors mail in my rose bush! It was our neighbors social security disability check! Imagine if I hadn’t found that mail or if it had blown away? Then my neighbor wouldn’t have received the money she probably needs to make it through the month.

I think on Monday I’d better remember to call the Post Office and make a complaint about this letter carrier. I hate to do it, but this kind of poor mail delivery has been going on for weeks. It’s not right.

Halfway Point – Activia 14 Day Challenge

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Take the Activia Taste Test Last week I took the plunge and decided to take the Activia 14 Day Challenge. Over the last few months I’ve been stepping up my efforts to improve my health and adding yogurt to my diet certainly seems like a good idea.

If you read my post last week when I started the Activia 14 Day Challenge you’ll probably remember that I stocked up by buying two flavors of low fat Activia Yogurt.

I bought two 8 packs – one of Raspberry and another of Strawberry and Rhubarb and I have to tell you that they’re delicious! I like that they have chunks of fruit in them. Yummy.

Activia advertises their yogurt as being very creamy. Now prior to taking this challenge I didn’t eat yogurt regularly or have a favorite brand so I can’t say it’s the creamiest – but it is creamy and smooth and I like it.

The television commercials that I see for Activia often talk about how Activia will make you regular and their website says “feel the difference in your digestive system.” I don’t feel any major difference so far, but then I’ve always been regular so I don’t really need any help in that area.

What I’m hoping to get out of taking the Activia 14 day Challenge is simply a step towards better health. As I said in my first post about the Challenge this yogurt has live bacterial culture in it (BL Regularis) and we need “good” bacteria to help us digest our food properly, and if we’re digesting our food properly and getting all the nutrients out of it that we should be we have a better chance of being and or staying healthy. That’s my reasoning anyway.

Anyone else taking the challenge along with me? How is it going? What Activia flavors have you tried?

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