More Changes

Life does not want to give us a break. The summer has been chaotic at best. In May, Garth and I decided to it would be best to look for new employment.  Lincare was not living up to promises made when they hired Garth.  We didn't really know what to do.  We prayed that we would be able to find something that he could do that would pay better and give Garth an opportunity to grow and be challenged with.  Our prayers were answered and he is now working for Five Star Disaster Services as a carpet cleaner and does some of the construction when he doesn't have cleaning to do.  He also works for Vector Disease Control as a mosquito fogger.  Which means that he is gone all day and most of the evening.  We are both tired and ready for cooler weather so he doesn't have to fog anymore.
As for me, I began to have health problems associated with my weight loss.  I was doing so well and was feeling so good. But one weekend in April, I noticed I was starting to swell up in my feet, hands, and face.  I was also vomiting and felt ill and tired.  Not something that should be happening in a person who was working out for nearly 2 hours everyday and eating healthy food.  One morning I was eating breakfast and drank my 32oz of water and vomited immediately.  There was no warning.  It was the strangest sensation to feel dizzy and nauseated just because I ate breakfast.  I decided to take a pregnancy test.  I didn't think I was, but I wanted to be sure.  It was negative.  I had been trying to avoid seeing a doctor because we didn't have insurance, but it was becoming more clear that I probably should.  I asked Garth to give me a priesthood blessing later that evening.  We went to bed thinking that maybe I would be better.  That morning I wasn't better and my blood pressure was even higher.  Garth left for work and about an hour later he called me and said he felt very strongly that I needed to see a doctor right away.

I was able to see a doctor that morning and I had very high blood pressure, but no explanation why.  I asked if it had anything to do with my weight loss.  I explained that I was working out a lot and drinking a lot of water.  I asked if that would have anything to do with it.  She told me that if the color of urine was completely clear that I might have a problem.  I told her that it was, but she kind of shrugged it off.  She put me on blood pressure meds and said that I should come back once a month to check how things are going.  I continued to work out and drink my water as usual, but I kept having dizzy spells and nausea either during or right after working out.  I figured it was because of the high blood pressure so I stopped working out, but continued to drink a lot of water.

I was frustrated.  High blood pressure is a symptom, not a condition.  I began to research for myself.  I kept track of how much water I was drinking and found that I was drinking nearly 2 gallons of water everyday.  (Which, it turns out, is way too much water unless you are in Death Valley running a marathon)  I felt inspired to look up the symptoms of water poisoning.  I read several articles that discuss how water poisoning happens and the symptoms matched what I was experiencing.  I felt like this was my answer to prayers!  It was a good thing I went to the doctor because the treatment is the diuretic that was prescribed for me.  The swelling was a sign that my kidneys were overwhelmed by all the fluids.  While working out, I only had water to drink and because I was working out for so long and not replenishing electrolytes correctly, my kidneys were starting to shut down.

So to make a long story short-ish, all of this is happening at the same time we are going through Garth looking for a new job and having all of this stress pretty much halted my weight loss efforts.  I really shut down when stress gets too high and when I stress I eat.  Now that I am doing better, I am taking this moment to re-commit and get back on track.  My blood pressure is still high so I still need to take it easy, but I am excited to work my way back to where I was.  I am going to start by counting calories again and walk on the treadmill for 30min. every day.  I have the goal to lose 15 lbs by the end of September.

Here's to a healthy September! (And maybe one of these days, I'll learn to post more often so my posts aren't so long.)