When my energy is low

Health and Wellness

Image credit: Fotor AI art

Last week was rough. I spent three days with the fire alarm chirping into the apartment. At first it stared every two hours and at the second day it had gone to every ten minutes. If I hadn’t had earplugs, I would have gone crazy. Still almost a week later, it ended on Friday, I am exhausted and have not caught up on my sleep.

As a three year dialysis patient, sleep is crucial for me. I’m supposed to be able to get a good nights sleep while connected to the dialysis machine. I get two to three hours of sleep before the machine wakes me as it drains the dextrose from my body and then fill with more dextrose. This happens three times a night.

I shouldn’t complain. Other people have to do more dextrose and more often than I do. Still it doesn’t make for a good nights sleep with all of the burbling noises from the machine. So sometimes I take a nap during the day. I still don’t catch up.

Today I finally couldn’t think or move much. The tiredness is in my bones and even in my head. It is a wonder I can type. It also meant that any creativity that I had that could go into my stories or poems were depleted.

I can’t think of a word to rhyme with rose for the life of me. Nose maybe? And what kind of poem would that be? A Nosy rosey?

So sleep is necessary if I am to survive the fun times ahead.

Medication & Nutrition

What I wanted to write about before I got side-tracked on the importance of sleep was the importance of food and nutrition with someone who has medical problems. Unfortunately when I have one problem it will escalate to two and then three problems.

For instance my kidneys have been failing for years now, but only in the last three years did they fail to the point of dialysis. However, my blood pressure, which was quite steady before illness, began to get higher and higher in the range of 160-200.

This meant that many times I was on two to three blood pressure medications. One of my doctors realized that when he put me on certain blood pressure meds, my blood pressure would get higher. I also had a really bad reaction to lisinopril and anything in that category.

When I went on niacin for a short period of time, I was able to get off most of the blood pressure meds. I did find out later that I was having an asthmatic reaction to metoprolol, which was my major blood pressure pill.

My blood pressure did not go down until I changed my diet. No, it was not a fat-free diet that most doctors say is healthy, it was a lard and protein laden diet with carrots, potatoes, and berrys. I even ate apples.

I did lose weight, but more importantly my blood pressure stayed between 100-120, which is a far cry from 160-200. And even better I was off the pills.

Nutrition

I had thought that a lot of my problems were sugar related, which is also a fallacy taught in the medical schools. I don’t drink sodas and quit eating all deserts for a long time. Now that I am eating what my body needs, I can have a cinnamon roll or a piece of pie once in awhile. I can eat honey.

It was a matter of finding out what my body could and couldn’t eat. I had to forget everything I had been told for sixty years.

The first thing I learned is that I have a severe gut reaction to corn—any type of corn which includes corn syrup, corn starch, tortilla chips, popcorn, etc. It would cause inflammatory pain in my gut. At one point I had diverticulitis. Because I quit eating corn my gut began to heal.

What is so pernicious about corn is that it is in everything that is processed including store bought bread. This is why I bake my own bread so I don’t get a stomach ache from eating.

What the doctors don’t know

They don’t know that one size does NOT fit all. For instance, that food pyramid? You know, the one they say will keep us healthy? It won’t.

You need to watch what your body does with food. In my case I thought I might have a gluten sensitivity. I don’t. You might.

The best way to find out what you can and can’t eat is to go on an elimination diet and then add food back into your diet after 2-3 weeks. When you are finding out if you have a gluten sensitivity, the doctor can take you off all foods except protein for 6 weeks. I wasn’t that extreme.

Conclusion

Take responsibility for your own health. The doctors know a lot, but they don’t know how your body works. Figure it out. Decide what food is good for you and what isn’t.

If you do this, you will have a healthier and happier life. If you are like me with a chronic illness, you will live a healthier life with less pain.

Go forth and heal.