Friday, May 15, 2009

The addiction goes on....

So I have now been off Mt Dew for 4 weeks today. Ta-da! And what does Aaron do? Brings home a liter of the sweet, radioactive yellow goodness. humph. I took one sip today. Couldn't help it. I think I need to dump the whole bottle down the drain though. The first 3 weeks was one permanent headache. They aren't as frequent now. That is really the only difference I have felt from not drinking. I wasn't very functional for a while with the withdrawal headaches and frequent migraines. But, on the up side: I have lost 5 pounds kicking the habit. Monday I am starting back on the South Beach diet to get myself healthy again.

Speaking of healthy. I just finished the last round of all of my tests. We found out I am hypopneic. In other words, my brain forgets to tell my lungs to breathe. When I sleep I drop to 4 breathes a minute (normal is 8-12). The cause? What else? Getting hit in the head.
Currently I am using oxygen to sleep. The pulmonologist is thinking about getting me on a bi pap. It blows at the normal rate of breathing, in and out. But not sure how good that will work. I can barely handle the oxygen concentrator.

So all in all. Still doing good. Still pooped. But I am making progress. Just not having a migraine this week makes me feel like I've made huge progress.

7 comments:

Vidal's Nest said...

Actually, sounds like the addiction isn't going on and on...you are doing it! You fell off the bandwagon once, dump the rest of the liquid gold and go on...
I am impressed. I did it and suffered through the dang headaches, and feeling sick and then being stupid I started drinking. Not sure I want to go through withdrawls again!
Way to go losing 5 lbs. I'm jealous! I want to excersize now.. but that makes me puke. frustrating!
We should start a diet pool with whoever wants to when I have the baby. Like a buy in of 5 to 10 bucks and weekly weigh in/repoting. Then winner take all at the end!
keep it up!

r said...

WAHOO!! Congrat's on losing 5 lbs! That's great. Keep it up! I'm glad the headaches are going away. Kick Aaron in the pants.

Kricket said...

Good job hanging in there with the ol' addiction. So funny, b/c we you guys talk about "drinking" I keep thinking of alcohol. In fact, I was eating lunch today and thought, "what a great day to have a beer." hehe Not going to happen but I still want it.

I'm really sorry about the sleeping issues. I have another friend going through the same thing. She's so tired all the time. Hang in there!

Lynda said...

Did that with the breathing.. I was about 8 to 10% at night. Got a CPAP machine a few years ago. After ONE night felt better than I had in years.
Go for it. It may look strange, and it may leave marks on your face every morning, but there is nothing that makes you feel better than a good night's sleep with enough oxygen. AND you WILL gain weight if you're not getting enough oxygen. So I didn't actually lose any after, but for a long time didn't gain any more...

Juli said...

I quit drinking after my stroke, as you know. But, I was able to sleep off my headaches. I wish you could too!
I am so proud of you. I'm not sure I could have stuck with it like you have.
Do the breathing machine. You will feel so much better. Lynda is right, it will be so good for you.
I love you!!
I like Lauri's idea of a diet pool, could it work? It would be fun to try. :)

Shelli said...

Keep on fighting off the caffeine! You don't want all those headaches to be for naught.

Also, thanks for the vitamin tip! I'm taking the multi mid-day now. I have had anemia issues in the past, especially during the curse. Anemia does NOT help fatigue!

sherry said...

Seriously, get that stuff out of the house! You have already been through the difficult stuff, you don't want to do it again! It is so hard to be a good mommy with a headache, let alone a good working mommmy. Congrats on your progress, keep it up!