Diary of Doom

G'day, eh? Tuesday - second day of the week - as if I would notice, being Retired and all.  Let's see, it's been about 10 days since the last post. What has happened.

Well, I've had good days, (like yesterday and to some extent, today, although right now, my leg if friggin burning like hell!), and I've had bad days, where I actually did get out of bed, did the minimum of feed the cats, then go back to bed.

The diet, if my personal, non-professional opinion, is not helping me. I'll get to that later.

Right now - BP~4, Burning ~6, one small BT this morning ~6-7 for about 10 minutes - I was at Sobey's sitting down, surfing for a hotel room in Calgary for the weekend. More on that later too.

Depression - Moderate ~5. GAFF also Moderate, ~5, although I am trying to stay motivated, pain is a strong de-motivator in the personal activity sense.

Last Sunday was a So-So day, Saturday sucked, BP averaged ~5 all day, and I had (I think) 4 BT's one strong enough to may be throw-Up my lunch shortly after I had just finished eating it.

Oh, hell, I can't remember - That may have been last Friday.  Yesterday, my wife, Ms. T. was trying to make me remember a trip to Calgary where we visited some friends - and she was describing their house, their beautiful basement, their cat. My brain was drawing a complete blank. I have absolutely no recollection of even going to their home. I remember some other homes of friends we visited, but not that one. Selective memory or what?

So, anyways, my leg pain has actually gone up a notch, some stabbing happening in addition to the burning. Mr. Weasley is insisting on sitting on my (much reduced) tummy as I type, and he is not impressed that my wrists are moving. Thankfully, I have an ergo keyboard, which helps reduce movement of the hand, eh?

BP~5 - intense enough to almost bring tears to my eyes - I have my leg stretched out to try to work thru this - could be a precursor to a full blown BT, but I'll hold on and see.

Ms. T wants to go to Calgary to attend a Conference on our Diet - called the "Ideal Protein" diet. The diet is also called the "Unbalanced" diet; Its purpose is to stimulate the pancreas and insulin production, causing the body to burn more body fat, and not any muscle mass, reducing the overall body-fat ratio, reducing caloric intake, causing the skin to become smoother, and weight loss in the 4-8lb/week category.

This diet, in essence, puts the body into a kind of Ketoacidosis, a condition  common in Type 1 Diabetics, caused by high concentrations of ketone bodies, formed by the breakdown of fatty acids and the deamination of amino acids.

With me so far? OK, the diet is also known as a "Low Carbohydrate" diet, where foods with Carbs are severely reduced, and Protein is substituted, as well as copious amounts of water is consumed to help "flush out" the ketone's generated by the action of the diet. So, what is a Low-Carb Diet?

Low-carbohydrate diets restrict caloric intake by reducing the consumption of carbohydrates to 20 to 60 g per day (typically less than 20 percent of the daily caloric intake). The consumption of protein and fat is increased to compensate for part of the calories that formerly came from carbohydrates.

So, this diet supplements our food intake with "Protein", via "Shakes", "Puddings", "Snacks"  and so on. Of course, we have to purchase these "products" from them to better control our diet and maintain our proper "caloric" intake of Carbs and so on.

I've noticed lately, that my nerve pain increases as I lose weight, but I have to tell the truth - I cheat on this diet. OK, So I occasionally buy a small pack of "Soy-nuts" - I need to "crunch" on something, especially when I'm in a lot of pain - crunchy foods, like nuts or popcorn, used to be my "solace food", the "ice cream" of my pain. But on this diet, no more.

So, no more popcorn, no more chips (hmmm, chips...) but I have been good - no chips!  About a month ago, I did eat 2 packages of Reeces PeanutButter cups in a frenzy, then felt guilty as hell about that for a week!

The Soy Nuts - I thought were safe, as I thought most of our Protein Supplements were also made out of Soy as well, so it wouldn't hurt taking care of my "crunch" craving and not blowing this diet.

But, I found that when I cheated on this diet, my nerve pain was less...everyone said that it was my mediations that was causing me to stop losing weight, and I thought that I was putting on weight because of my cheating. Perhaps. On this diet, even one cheat "apparently" takes 3 days for the body to get back into the "weight-losing" phase. So, if I cheat with a chocolate bar (just for "an example"), on Monday, My body stops losing weight until Thursday (perhaps), so I have wasted 3 days of dieting for nothing, spending money for food supplements for 3 days, for nothing.

But the problem is - I'm in less pain when I cheat! My background pain goes down to about ~3 or even ~2 on some days. Oh, sure, I still get attacks (BT's), I don't think that will ever stop, but daily living with background pain in the 5 out of 10 range - that's like living half-way to insanity all the time. Like I am now!

I don't know how to explain this to my wife. She insists that I stay on this diet as I am starting to look good (I've lost a ton of inches around my legs, waist, belly, chest, arms and neck), but have been in more pain in the past 2 months than I have been in several years! I am beginning to suspect that this diet, and not my weight loss, is the cause of my pain.

My diability is one of a "Nerve Pain" problem. "We" think it is nerve impingement, similar to, if in fact, not actually a disorder called "Meralgia Peresthetica". My leg is normally numb. For some strange reason, just before I retired, my right foot started getting pins & needles too. Different nerve. Different condition? Or is it? I dunno.

Anyways, I've been reading where Diabetic Nerve pain can be caused by high levels of blood fat in overweight diabetics. And that is what this diet does - cause the body to burn more body fat cell, increasing the amount of fat cells in the blood to be eventually "cleansed" via this diet and acidosis

Now, I know I am heavy, perhaps even considered moderately "obese" (I'm a big-boned, Ukrainian Stock, at 5'11", 250 lbs right now). I used to be 310, but I've lost that weight through diet change, and the last 20lbs or so, on this diet. My goal is to get to 220 - that should be a good start for me to get off this diet and start a "maintenance phase", and hopefully, lose more weight through increased activity. So What? I'm NOT Diabetic. In FACT, every time I check myself, or get checked by my doctor or pharmacist, I a a rock solid 4.7 to 5.2 Max. So what has that to do with anything? Well, look at the "Symptioms of Diabetic Neuropathies" I got from Wikipedia:

What are the symptoms of diabetic neuropathies?

Symptoms depend on the type of neuropathy and which nerves are affected. Some people with nerve damage have no symptoms at all. For others, the first symptom is often numbness, tingling, or pain in the feet. Symptoms are often minor at first, and because most nerve damage occurs over several years, mild cases may go unnoticed for a long time. Symptoms can involve the sensory, motor, and autonomic—or involuntary—nervous systems. In some people, mainly those with focal neuropathy, the onset of pain may be sudden and severe.

Symptoms of nerve damage may include

• numbness, tingling, or pain in the toes, feet, legs, hands, arms, and fingers
• wasting of the muscles of the feet or hands
• indigestion, nausea, or vomiting
• diarrhea or constipation
• dizziness or faintness due to a drop in blood pressure after standing or sitting up
• problems with urination
• erectile dysfunction in men or vaginal dryness in women
• weakness

Symptoms that are not due to neuropathy, but often accompany it, include weight loss and depression.

There ya go! Now, what symptoms do I exhibit daily with my pain(s)? Numbness, tingling, pain in legs, extending to buttocks and on occasion, when a bad BT hits me, even to the groin area.

What else? Indigestion (I have GERD), I am frequently nausious, and I vomit during bad pain attacks if I happen to have food in my stomach.

Constipation almost constantly now on this diet. Frequently Dizzy, I take FloMax for my prostate because I have low "flow" issues. I'm not going to get into my sex life, but lets just say that I'm not 20 years old any more, unfortunately.

Weakness - every time I go out to shovel snow, or to go for a walk, I have a harder and harder time recouperating after getting home. I did a lot of walking today, from the car repair shop to Sobey's (about 6 blocks) - I didn't want to waste money on a Taxi for such a short distance. I could use the exercise. But One-Way would have been enough. I walked back to the repair shop early so I could sit down and recouperate a couple times on the way back, and then sit in the shop's office for 30-45 minutes before my car was ready just so I could "re-energize", and be able to drive home without having dizzy spells, or, god-forbid, a BT on the way.

OK, just got back from a BT...about ~7-8 for 10 minutes or so. I just laid down on the couch and did my breathing exercises...now I want to finish this off and post the frakkin' thing before my computer crashes and I lose everything or some other stupid thing. Freekin' leg still killing me.

Anyways, will try to update more tomorrow.

Edwin