(no subject)

[the_rck]

Well, the nutritionist had a few concrete suggestions. She wants me to get away from using sweetened creamer in my coffee. She thinks whole milk might work and then try stevia in place of the sugar in the creamer. My suspicion is that, done like that, the only thing that coffee will actually do for me is to keep me from getting a caffeine withdrawal headache. She wants me to add a bit of psillium (sp?) husk powder to my orange juice so that the sugar hits much, much more slowly. She wants me to find a way to sleep uninterrupted for long enough not to feel the need for sugar to help me wake up.

She didn’t have any suggestions for the brain fog/fatigue, but she did understand why I’m not willing to pursue gastric bypass options (for GERD and weight loss).

She seemed to believe me when I talked about how different foods affect me physically. I got the impression that she’d really like me to do an elimination diet of some sort to see which foods really give me IBS and/or GERD problems and what kind. I don’t think she understood when I tried to explain that my anxiety levels affect that enough that something can be okay one month and not the next.

She was pleased that I’m reliably walking ten to fifteen minutes a day. She thought that that should make me sleep better, but I’ve been doing it for months, and it doesn’t at all.

She strongly suggested turning up the AC at night given that overheating seems to be a factor in my having problems falling asleep and that having problems falling asleep is pretty huge in terms of me not sleeping enough. She thinks that lack of sleep may be a big factor in my blood sugar issues.

Scott and Cordelia won’t be comfortable, but maybe I’ll be able to fall asleep faster. Right now, it takes anywhere between thirty minutes and two hours for me to fall asleep. That will be a huge problem when Cordelia goes back to school because she wakes me two or three times every morning (only once deliberately) and is getting up an hour and a half after Scott does.

Comments

[edenfalling]

Apparently sleep studies suggest that people tend to sleep best in cold rooms under a bunch of blankets. (And possibly also with bedsocks on?) I don't remember the rationale for this, but I can tell you anecdotally that my summer sleep quality has been VASTLY improved since I got an AC a few years ago. So I'd say it's certainly worth a try!

[laurajv]

I will say that, anecdotally, this is true for me. I've also found that layering blankets is helpful because the weight quiets my anxiety. I'm gonna get me one of those weighted therapy blankets because I bet it will help even more.

I don't know why weight quiets my anxiety down, but it does, quite a bit. (I also can't sleep without something on my feet, even if it's only a sheet -- I have panic attacks about floating away. Obviously gravity isn't going to stop working on me but tell THAT to my fucked up brain.)

[the_rck]

I need to have at least a sheet over me, and I do better if I tuck all the edges underneath me. My night time anxiety is about the possibility of something getting in under there with me. It's the big reason why my husband and I have always had separate blankets. At this point, it's also because we're too warm/too cold at wildly different temperatures, but it started because I need to cocoon.

[the_rck]

I need to figure out how to program the thermostat and to consult with Scott about the timing and such.

[edenfalling]

Good luck!

[iamshadow]

I've had really good success using stevia based sweetner. The trick is finding one that tastes great - a few I tried tasted really fake, but then I found Natvia, which tastes pretty much just like sugar when you put it in coffee. Their website only lists Aussie/NZ/UK stockists, but there has to be a good product like it in the US.

[the_rck]

The main problem I run into with stevia is that it's very hard to find it in the US without things I can't have mixed in. I can't have sugar alcohols at all, and most companies add those to the stevia. We've found one brand that's safe, and that's all. I don't care for how it tastes, but it's okay if I mix it into something like chai that has its own strong flavor.

The big US brand for stevia is Truvia which has erithrytol (sp?) mixed in and makes me quite sick.

[the_rck]

And the Natvia website says it, too, contains erythritol. Pity.

[iamshadow]

Ah, sorry. Yeah, I just went and checked the canister, and it does. :( Sorry, I have so many friends with food allergies I forget which triggers go with whom! All I knew was that it didn't have xylitol, so it wasn't going to poison my dogs. Good luck with finding a pure product.

[lemon_badgeress]

She wants me to find a way to sleep uninterrupted for long enough not to feel the need for sugar to help me wake up.

Does she also want you to buy a damn pony? Sheesh. Like it had never occurred to you that might be nice.

[the_rck]

She didn't seem to get why I would find taking three hour naps once or twice a day to be a problem. The only thing she could come up with for why I wouldn't do it was if it made me dislike myself.

Not, you know, because it would mean a lot less time to do the things I want to do and need to do.

And not because every single doctor I've ever seen has told me that I should never, under any circumstances, nap because that will mean I don't sleep at night.

[lemon_badgeress]

She might have valid useful professional knowledge and I hope you end up with a handful of useful things from this but as a person she sounds like an idiot. Oi.

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

Adding psillium husk powder to your orange juice to slow down the absorption of sugar is an interesting trick. Here's hoping Scott and Cordelia will understand and at least be open to turning up the AC overnight. You should be able to tell if this helps fairly quickly.

[the_rck]

I tried it today. It's kind of gross, texture-wise, but the OJ still tastes the same, and it still ought to keep my gums from bleeding when I floss.