The New Regime(n)

This is what I've been doing to heal my adrenal glands. I know I'm not the only mama around here with symptoms, so I thought I'd share what's working for me...

1. Most importantly -- beginning and ending the day with prayer and reading my Bible, NT letters lately. Some days I get tripped up, but waking up and looking immediately to the Lord has made the biggest difference in reducing anxiety. No surprise, right?

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  -- Phillipians 4:6

2. Reducing stress, increasing rest. Lowering social expectations of myself. Not being afraid to cancel plans if I simply cannot do it. It's not fun, but it's necessary.

3. Diet.  The adrenal fatigue symptom I struggle with the most -- the one that affects everything else (energy, mood, headaches) -- is the hypoglycemia. The protein/carb ratio and TIMING of meals is critical. Fifteen minutes late and a few bites too few or too many can get me off course for the next 24 hours. This is what's been working lately...

No caffeine or sugar. I gave up my weekly soy lattes first, and eventually even my morning Earl Grey tea. Now I'm drinking Yogi herbals, which have all sorts of good things to support the immune system.

Two eggs and one piece of Ezekial cinnamon raisin bread toast for breakfast.

Snack at 10 a.m., earlier if I woke and ate breakfast early. Berries, milk, yogurt and protein powder smoothie and a handful of cashews.

Lunch. Yeah. Still working on that one. I'm supposed to be eating salad with a good dose of protein. Sandwiches don't work, even with Ezekial bread, but I'm not sure why. Leftovers are easiest.
 
Snack at 3 p.m. Don't forget!  Nuts or string cheese and a piece of fruit. I should do veggies and dip.

Dinner -- no pasta, no potatoes, no cornbread, nothing made with white flour. Beans, meat, veggies, brown rice. And not too much of it. I need some new recipe ideas, but my belly is shrinking!

I was having a bedtime snack (usually string cheese) for a while, but I don't seem to need it anymore, which is AWESOME!

4.  Supplements:
Vitamins A, B, C, D, E, F (oh, wait, there's no F vitamin...). Calcium, magnesium, chromium. Ashwagandha, licorice root, Raw Adrenal.

5.  Exercise... I sneak next door to ride my mom's exercise bike every once in a while. I should be doing more, but it requires more calories, too. Right now I'm just enjoying the fact that I've dropped a size and had to buy new jeans last week!

6. I also had my copper IUD removed, on the chance that my symptoms are related to copper toxicity. I started feeling different during the first two weeks after having it removed -- more weepy, less angry, as though my estrogen level was changing. Also, I started having headaches after eating meat. Meat contains zinc, which helps counteract excessive copper in the liver, and headaches are a symptom of copper detoxification.

I am still learning about how all of this works, and I need to see my doctor again in a few weeks to discuss how things are going, and if I should change anything. I'll start my period this weekend, and the last time was pretty rough, so we'll see if things have improved.

Early morning prayers

She gets up while it is still dark,
She provides food for her family...
--Proverbs 31:15

The days are growing shorter, and the early mornings darker. My doctor told me two months ago to sleep in because my body needed it, but this week I've been waking up in the dark, much earlier than usual.

I don't know if it's because Littlest spent a few days waking at 5 while adjusting to the colder temperatures, or because my cortisol levels are improving. I'm not seeing other evidence of this, but I want to take advantage of my eyes popping open -- better to get up early and take a nap later, than oversleep. I went back to sleep the other day after waking up when Scott got up, and my only reward was a nightmare.

She watches over the affairs of her household,
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
--Proverbs 31:27

There have been days recently when I could not get out of bed. When I felt the same as when I had mononucleosis as a child, and lay in bed too tired to even watch tv. There have been other days when I moved as much as I could, but wore out quickly. There have been days when I felt "normal" again, and used every ounce I had, only to be useless the next day. And there have been times when I probably could do more, but chose to be idle instead.

It is difficult with a chronic illness to find the balance between resting to recover, and working to recover. Because if I do not put some effort into planning and preparing meals, and learning more about adrenal fatigue, it may get worse. I need to lean on the Lord every day, and continue to pray for healing, but he has also given us "every green plant for food" -- part of His healing regimen is ready for the eating.

I had a few good weeks after my diagnosis, after getting off sugar and caffeine, taking my supplements, and improving my diet. It was almost too easy. And it didn't last. I got the flu, my adrenals took another hit, and I needed to start all over.

It does not depend, therefore, on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.
--Romans 9:16

I have to be careful not to grow discouraged, when eating feels like a chore -- when so many things that used to give me pleasure are now forbidden. I have to be careful not to despair, when my energy runs out before the day's even begun, when the infection for which I cannot take medicine returns, when my blood sugar and hormones cause my mood to drop dangerously low and the boys can see it on my face, even if I bite my tongue.

All day long I have been plagued, and punished every morning.
--Psalm 73:14

And yet, I know this is such a mild, temporary ailment. All around me I witness others suffering from life-threatening disease, from heart-breaking circumstances, from chronic pain which will not end.

I know I am abundantly blessed, with a husband who loves and cares for me, with three beautiful, healthy children, with a home we can afford, and food and clothing as we need it, with friends who know and love me, and parents who live close and are not estranged.

I can know all these things, but if I do not put my hope in the Lord, if I do not listen carefully to His voice, and not my raging thoughts, then I grow hopeless.

But now, Lord, what do I look for?
My hope is in You.
--Psalm 39:7

I am so thankful that I know what the issue is now, and that healing is on its way. I am so thankful that He is with me every step of the way. I am so thankful that He's given us His Word for encouragement, and made healing possible with His blood.

Catching up

Can it really have been two full weeks since I last posted? Yes, it can. What have I been doing while ignoring my poor blog?

• Reading "The Red Queen" by Phillipa Gregory. I read "The White Queen" while on vacation, and liked it enough to buy the sequel when it came out in August. I wouldn't call it soul-nourishing, but it's a fun way to learn a little 15th Century British history.

• Obsessively chasing every "hint" in my family tree on Ancestry.com. I took the two-week trial bait after watching most of the episodes of "Who Do You Think You Are?" It is fascinating to find lines of my family that I didn't even know about -- I have an ancestor named "Sir Lancelot"! 

• Cooking. Last week the weather cooled down enough that I felt like actually turning on the oven. I made lasagna for the first time in a year. I made bruscetta on whole wheat baguette. I baked muffins with honey and almond flour. (I'll have to make those again so I can share the recipe.) It had been a sad, boring menu for a while.

• Washing a lot of bedding. I'm not sure if the boys are suffering as the result of a couple of Saturday barbecues, or if it was a virus Scott brought home the first week school -- possibly both. They'll be fine for a few days, and then we're woken up at 4 a.m. again with another boy in misery. Miraculously it has skipped over me so far.

• Enjoying our homeschooling, and trying to stay organized!

What I haven't been doing...

• Going to church. We've missed the first four weeks of Sunday school now because of "the Sunday morning flu."  Choir started up again this week, and I was sad not to be there.

• Sleeping as much. Not just because of being woken up by sick kiddos. On the mornings the boys have been fine, I've actually been waking up around 7 a.m.! This may not seem like much, but I was recently diagnosed with adrenal fatigue. For the last few years, I've been dragging myself out of bed at 8 a.m. after going to bed by 10. So, it feels amazing to have some energy again.

• Gardening. I keep thinking I'll start seeds indoors and get a fall garden going in September, but it's apparently fallen off my priority list. My tomato and eggplant bushes are still producing, but I'm not doing much besides watering and harvesting. We're going to dive into Exploring Creation through Botany starting in January, so we'll start the spring garden then. As fortunate as we are to live where one can garden yearround, sometimes it's nice to have a break, too. Especially when it's 105 outside for weeks at a time.

 Okay, well, it's not very exciting, but sometimes I just have to post ANYTHING to get started again. 

What have you been up to?