Sciatica

Really struggling with this again the past 2 weeks. I actually had to take Ibuprofen and spend a day in bed on Wed with ice packs and just trying to reduce inflammation and tightness so that it could relax and stop being stretched/pinched, etc... I am doing some better and on Monday and Thursday this week actually was able to be pretty active and not notice much, but the next days were a bit more painful. I guess I am able to push myself, but not sure that's the best long-term. It is a throbbing/aching/pulling pain from below my hip bone in back and down through the buttocks and into my leg. I also at the same time get pain and a deep internal itch in my right hip where the hip bone sticks out the furthest - which can drive me crazy and the pain can get pretty intense especially at night when I try to sleep. I cannot lay on my right side for long which is annoying. I have noticed this time that I am also very constipated these last 2 weeks and that can make the pain and pressure much worse (enemas relieve it a bit). I can imagine everything in there inflamed and rubbing/pinching/constricting, not a good combination. It really makes me wonder about endometriosis on the sciatic nerve, uggh... I know I likely need some exploratory surgery, but uggh..... :-(

Painful cycle

 I am in lots of pain today.  I get this way every few months, so far this year has been December, January and April and now today.

I am on CD 21, taking no medications currently.  My ladycomp says that I ovulated on CD 16 (not sure why) my temp has been up the last 3 days.  According to my mucus symptoms, I would guess maybe an ovulation on day 18, but not quite certain.  I am still trying to learn how to tell the difference between semen and my mucus.  I had right abdominal pain/twinges  for the past 4 or 5 days.

Today, I have lots of lower back pain and sciatica pain, my legs are achey, I have this very irritating itchy feeling inside my right hip (nerve being pressed on? - can't scratch it!), I was very hot during the night last night and have slept restlessly the last couple of nights, I have joint pain and a slight headache today, I am SO tired... with the pain and exhaustion, I have been in bed for most of the day today, sleeping for 8 hours of it.

Not sure whether to associate it with actual ovulation, attempted ovulation, enlarged ovary, ovarian cyst, endometriosis, what???  I have 3 weeks until my appt with my specialist, but meet with my charting instructor next Thurs and will ask her if other clients have had this too... very curious and painful... wondering where it fits into the puzzle.

General update

Almost 3 weeks now since starting our new eating plan. It has been very easy and fulfilling to eat this way. I have lost almost 10 lbs in the past 3 weeks. I have days when I have a bit more energy, but am still fairly tired - though able to accomplish more throughout the day and not noticing the 3pm slump quite as much. I have not had issues with anxiety, difficulty breathing or heart palpitations recently, but am still taking SAM-e. I have not had severe endo pain, though some minor pain (not debilitating) in the past 3 weeks, but I also have not had a normal cycle since Nov 28. :-( I have not had a migraine in a while either, nigglings that I could get one but nothing serious. I have not any trouble with the tonsil stones for the last few weeks, my scalp has much improved, no thyroid pain. I have had itchiness on my face which I am working to figure out if it is an allergy to nuts or yeast growth, either way may need to cut them out of my diet. All in all, some good improvements.

My cycle is puzzling me for sure though. Have not had a menses since Nov 28 and have had 2 sessions of spotting for 2-3 days, now am spotting again. I get moody and achey and tired beforehand but then only spot. Need to figure that out. I have not used the pro cream since the end of December so it's not that. May need to consider another hair analysis and hormone panel soon.

Tom has mentioned that he has not had any heart burn for the last few weeks - hooray! The kids are doing very well on the plan. They are not complaining much, they are looking healthier. Rose said the other day that her lettuce tasted like candy - they were eating big wedges of it plain! Heather's attitude is much better the last few days, I had to stop in the middle of her grammar and tell her how much I liked seeing her smile and having her cooperate, she said that she felt happier - hooray!

That's it for now...

Failure?

Okay, so confession time: It has been a hard week. Thursday was very, very hard. Kids tummies were feeling better, but they were still weak and whiny. Will was having a hard time getting any energy or eating anything at all. I was in a lot of pain with my back/sciatica and had barely slept even with the heating pad. A wonderful friend brought us some herbal teas, and bless her heart some chicken noodle soup, a loaf of fresh whole wheat bread, basket of oranges and several DVDs. I gave up and served it all for dinner.... and then, I.... well, I convinced myself that I was battling depression and PMS and I *really* needed some chocolate.... so, I made brownies. Tom came home as they were coming out of the oven and made a hurtful comment, not on purpose, but ouch! So, I was in tears all night long (I NEVER cry). I felt sooo overwhelmed and tired of pain. I won't go into it all, but we talked through some stuff and I unloaded all my sorrows and yesterday was better, today is much better.

So.... today we have a church meeting and a planned meal at a local burger joint with the church officers and their wives (my hubby is a deacon). We will get more groceries on the way home. I am regrouping and re-evaluating. I am not sure what is going on with me, but I am thinking detox/die-off may have contributed. The kids were not very happy with eating soups for 3 days and were feeling very deprived. I *thought* it would be a good time to start since soups are great for sick tummies, but apparently not. I didn't think the food was that bad. Tom even liked the soups we had for dinner. But, I think we are going to step back and do the full GAPS diet for a while (meat, fruits, veggies - no sugar, no grains - broth and fermented at each meal) and reconsider doing Intro in a while, maybe then detox won't be as hard.

So, no failure, just learning and starting again. I need to do better about taking my supplements too, the last couple weeks have not been very good.

Pretty miserable today

All of us, well almost all, are feeling poorly today. Rose woke up feeling sick to her stomach and has lain around and slept most of the day without eating. Will is not vomiting anymore, but feels tired and says his tummy still hurts, he has not eaten either and took a good long nap today. Heather is feeling fine, Tom is feeling fine. I am in quite a lot of pain in my back, sciatica and legs. I have no idea if it is pre-cycle stuff or detox stuff or what, but not feeling well at all. I'm trying to get office work caught up on and I have a lot of other paperwork to do pre-taxes, but having trouble focusing and getting much accomplished. I took a small nap yesterday and today. I sure hope this all passes soon! We will all get salt baths again today to be sure we are detoxing well, I already got one and did my skin brushing.

Symptoms after the Holidays

I have not been eating well or exercising since Thanksgiving. :-( Many, many of my symptoms and several pounds have found me again... and a few extras:

• Very tired and low energy
• Heart palpitations
• Back pain and kidney pain
• Constipation
• Missing menses
• Sciatica with spotting/menses (from endo?)
• Knee and ankle pain
• Migraines
• Difficulty sleeping and rising
• Tonsil stones
• Itchy, flaky scalp and face
• Twitchy right lower eye lid
• Breakouts along chin
• Bloated and gassy
• Dark, sweet, cloudy urine (though blood sugar has been normal)
• Loss of appetite but increase in cravings for sugar
• Foggy brain and difficulty conversing and focusing on tasks

Hoping and praying for quick recovery as I start taking better care of myself. I need to remember to come back and read this when November hits next year - IT IS NOT WORTH IT!!!!

Been sick

Came down with a cold / cough / sinus infection Thanksgiving day, been pretty miserable. On top of that, started spotting and then full-blown cycle at the same time. Very short (16 day) cycle this month. :-( It wasn't too bad as far as sciatica pain, but the endo spot on my nose did flare up and bleed the last day of menses as usual. Not sure if the sciatica wasn't as bad because I was already in bed and not moving around on it or what. I have been taking my supplements this past week, but not my smoothies (just no energy to make them and keep forgetting to ask Heather to) and I have been eating poorly (whatever Tom brought home / felt like warming up). So... not feeling great still, but feel like it's improving slowly. I hope to get back to my good diet and all the supplements by this weekend at the latest, I will weigh on Monday and survey the damage.

I am contemplating starting the GAPS diet in the New Year. Any thought or experiences anyone?

Update on last couple weeks

A quick update... my cycle started again this past Friday, 29 days since the previous one - that is improvement! I was pretty tense the night before and very tense the morning of, but once started I felt much better. I don't know how my family lives with me some days. It was only about 12 hours this time with the horrible pms - that is a bit of improvement too. This cycle has been very light so far, not sure what that is about. No migraine - woo hoo!

I have had some pain in my thyroid over this weekend, Fri - Sun. Not sure if it was hormonal due to the cycle starting or what, but it has gone away now.

Two weeks ago (Oct 7-12) I had some very bad sciatica pain. It started out the first day in both sides and I was taking it easy, but able to function - the next day was in my right side, horrible pain and pinching and tightness - I could not sit up at all and being upright made it spasm. I was bed-ridden. The next day I forced myself to take the kids to classes, I took tylenol and got through the morning (though near tears for most of it) but was back in bed all afternoon once I got home. It improved quite a bit by Sunday and Monday I was pretty close to normal. I remembered Friday night that a homeopathic blend had been a help to me in the past for relaxing the muscles and allowing the nerve to move out of it's pinched position. I think that helped get me on the mend.

In other news, I am feeling pretty good about the weight loss so far, but definitely need to step up and exercise to get it moving a little faster. I am having very little to none of the panic/anxiety and have started taking 400mg of the SAMe and 1 tsp of the maca. I do think both of these "new additions" are helping me.

Symptoms today

Feeling a lot better than yesterday, mind more clear, headache lingered a bit and then left by the end of the day. My throat is bothering me - harder to swallow, feels like the tonsil stones are gathering and I am coughing up a good bit. I feel hoarse, my tongue feels very fat. I have some shoulder pain. No heart palpitations. I only took 1 of the thyro-complex tablets instead of 2, going to experiment with that. Still constipated though stomach pain is better. Spotting a little?

Symptoms today

Horrible migraine started suddenly mid-day. Very constipated and some stomach pains. I had flashy lights in my vision, mostly left eye - almost completely obstructed vision on that side. Pain was quite bad and after some sleep seemed relieved but returned due to a short trip out of bedroom into the lights. I did a water enema, skin brushing and salt water bath, felt some better but not completely. I was nauseous and finally gave in and took some tylenol. It took at least a good hour until I could sit up and then was able to eat dinner and visit as long as it was dark in the room. Around 11pm, I got up and turned off most of the lights around the house and then worked on office work until around 4am when I went back to bed and slept until 7:30. Another symptom I had was my heart was racing and I was jumpy all day. I was wondering if it was too much of the glandular support, but it started before that.