Thursday, April 28, 2011
Allergies
After suffering from unexplained allergies for almost two years, I finally went to an allergologist to find out what's really wrong and what I'm allergic to.
After queueing for almost half a day, he saw me and I agreed to have a skin test done through scratch method immediately that night. The results were quite depressing. Turns out, I'm allergic to almost all the stuff that's on the list!
I'm officially allergic to the following:
A. INHALANTS
- House Dust
- Kapok (some type of tree/plant with fibre)
- Molds
- Orris Root (it's used as a base note in perfumery--no wonder I sometimes end up with asthma when I breathe a certain type of perfume)
- Pigweed grass
- Acacia
- Pine Mix
- Pyrethrum (type of flower which is used as a natural insecticide)
- Dust mite
- Feathers
- Tobacco
- Cotton Linteers
- Cat/Dog/Horse Hair
- Mosquito
- Cockroach
- Fire Ant
B. VARIOUS FOODS
- Pepper Mix
- Soy
- Chocolate (I've proven this. Broke out in hives when I drank my husband's fresh chocolate milk)
- Coffee
- Almond
- Peanut (yep, also proven. Had an asthma attack after eating Nagaraya)
- Egg
- Corn
- Brewer's Yeast (beer)
- Bakers Yeast
C. FRUITS
- Pineapple
- Apple
- Lemon
- Orange
- Strawberry
- Mango
D. MEATS AND SEAFOODS
- Pork
- Beef
- Chicken
- Shrimp
- Crab
- Oyster
- Clams
- Salmon
Those in BOLD letters were encircled by my doctor as I'm highly allergic to them.
It's quite depressing, really. I'm coping by having antihistamine and my inhaler with me at all times. If I know I'll be eating something which I'll be allergic to during the day, I take my antihistamine in the morning. Otherwise, I'm prepared for any attack.
I don't know why I'm suddenly allergic to a lot of things when I'm not this sensitive before. Everything just went to hell after I gave birth. I don't know if that is the tipping point that caused these changes.
Whatever it is, this is something that I have to live through everyday hoping that my next attack won't be to severe which would require hospitalization.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Losing my Excess Baggage
My weight is considered excess baggage for me and it's the only baggage that I'm happy to lose.
After my health scare last February, I was prompted to lose the excess weight which spiked all the bad things in my blood. I dusted off the diet plan that my dietician gave me and proceeded to follow it to the letter.
The first week was not as difficult as I thought as the doctor's words were still haunting me throughout my meals that I was deathly scared of eating anything remotely unhealthy. When I saw my neurologist that weekend, he ruled out a stroke and after clearing me from other worst-case scenarios simply ruled on migraine equivalence (I only suffered visual auras sans the headache). He gave me this medicine which not only manages seizures but has a nice side effect on suppressing hunger pangs. This helped me lose more weight that I could on my own.
I still continued on going to the gym and since then, I've lost a total of 20lbs. Not bad but not good enough. I need to lose more if I really want to be healthy. I'm giving myself a break from the dieting although I'm still controlling my intake portions and avoiding fried foods. It's difficult as I don't drink the migraine medicine anymore so I really have to solely depend on my willpower now. I do plan to go back to my diet which would hopefully jumpstart the weight loss again. Another 20 lbs won't be too bad but would undoubtedly be a big struggle.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Hillsong - At the Cross - With Subtitles/Lyrics
My LSS for today, and what a great LSS it is.
God truly loves me and I am truly humbled.
White Hair
I found my 3rd white hair this morning. Actually, I've caught glimpses of it the past few weeks but was not able to really catch a handle of it until this morning.
My first white hair was 5 years ago and I can excuse that because I was highly stressed. I have no reason now except *gulp* old age. What makes it worse is that I found two of them but one of them is still too short to pull out.
I'm not really that vain so a few white strands should not bother me. I guess I'm just reminded of my mortality and of the years that I have yet to live in this earth.
Attending a recollection during Holy Week made me realize how short those years can be and how my spirituality has suffered these past few months.
I can't really blame the whole RH Bill brouhaha thing. I should know that religion is different from my God and my spirituality. Religion just gives me the channel to worship Him but I know in my heart that He is there and there is only one God. I have just grown spiritually dry these past years. I've been yearning to go to confession but I'm rather partial to the priests that I go to as I don't want to go to one who's a rabid anti-RH bill protestor lest he should pepper my confession with his anecdotes.
I still haven't lost faith in my religion and I still believe in what it stands for. The recollection that I attended last week made me realize that like me, it is not perfect.
I have downloaded (yay for Itunes!) songs from Hillsong to which I listened to on my way to work to remind me of God's love for me. One thing I realized is that I have stopped doing things out of love and have been doing them out of my sense of responsibility.
I look forward to the day that I would gladly embrace my white hair and all that they stand for.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
US Trip
After 24 years, I'll be returning to the birthplace of Disneyland; the so-called land of opportunity; yep, good ole' US of A.
I've been wanting to return ever since I spent two months there in the summer of 1987 but I never had the opportunity to do so until now. I'll be spending 3 weeks at the east coast to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday and my nephew's baptism. It would be great to see them again and relatives who I haven't seen in over two decades.
As time is short, I have to plan our itinerary up to the last day. Hopefully, we'll have enough time to visit all the places that I want to see. Too bad we won't be able to see Les Miserables but I hope Leo will change his mind and agree to accompany me to LA so we can watch the tour.
Friday, March 11, 2011
My Health Journey
I could not actually say that I'm on the top of my health. I'm obese, my sugar, triglycerides, uric levels are high and I'm polycycstic to boot. I'm still not diabetic but I'm on my way there if I don't control my diet. I've always disregarded my doctors orders and I've always had dozens of wake-up calls but nothing as life-changing as what I've had recently.
On the first week of January, I contracted gastroenteritis which took out a quarter out of my allocated annual sick leaves. The upside of that, I lost the holiday pounds. It inspired me to lose weight further and I enrolled in a gym near our office.
So together with my annual OB check-up, I went to a cardio who supported me on my gym plans and an endo who gave me something to bring down my sugar. She also gave me strict instructions to go on a diet--which I tried to follow half-heartedly.
A few days after, I woke up either in the middle of the night and I couldn't see anything from my left eye. After furiously blinking, I regained my sight and went back to sleep. I forgot about it and went about my business. A month after, it happened again and on the same eye to boot! It scared the bejeezums out of me and made me run to the nearest available ophthalmologist at Asian Hospital to have my eye checked.
After checking my eye and not seeing any trauma, she referred me to another eye specialist and a neurologist. As the eye specialist won't be in until Monday, I went to the neurologist first. The neuro prescribed me to take an MRI/MRA and EEG. MRI stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging. It's where your body/head is inserted in this machine which creates a magnetic field which in turn makes the nuclei in our body align and the computers pick this up forming an internal image of our body--without the radiation.
I scheduled all the tests at Asian on a Monday. After informing my boss, I rested and returned to the hospital on Monday.
I went first to the eye specialist who scared me further by saying that I might have ALMOST suffered a stroke in the eye. Based on my blood tests alone, there must have been a clot in my veins that must have caused my eye to temporarily lose its vision. He prescribed a 2DEcho and Carotid Doppler to look for that clot and a Perimetry and another test to detect if I'm at risk for Glaucoma.
With my mortality in mind, I proceeded to my EEG and MRI appointment and tried to fight the claustrophobia. I was subdued when my husband and I went home after the tests. I asked him that we pass by the grocery so I can buy my food for the week--which consists of kamote, salads and lowfat stuff.
The next day, I went to Makati Med as I wanted to have the carotid doppler done immediately for my peace of mind. Fortunately, I was able to get the results a couple of hours later and it was happily clear.
When I returned to my neuro that Saturday, he gave me positive results and said that my brain scans are normal. I just have migraine equivalence. I was surprised as I have not been experiencing any headaches but vision auras is one of the symptoms of a rare kind of migraine. He gave me Topiramate to treat it. He also informed me that a wonderful side effect of the drug is that it suppresses hunger pangs and with just one week taking drug, I can positively say that it works.
Later that afternoon, I had my stress test, 2Decho and ECG done as requested by my cardio as baseline tests. He also had me hooked up to a holter monitor which records the electrical activity of my heart for 24 hours. Yes, I had to take it home me and unfortunately, I could not take a bath for 24 hours because of it which kept me in the house during that period of time.
I'm returning to my optha later to get the results of my perimetry to check if I'm really indeed at risk for glaucoma. I'm also going to an allergologist and pulmo as I've been having allergy attacks either through rashes or asthma intermittently for the past year. I don't know if it's something I've been eating but it's really alarming already.
It's still a long journey before I can say I'm physically fit. Knowing that I really do not have a clot is not an excuse to skip my diet (besides, I'm not hungry most of the time). My goal is to say that I'm fit by the time I turn 40 which will be in 5 years time. It's a pretty doable goal and I'm on the way in achieving it. As long as I see my doctors and stick to my diet, I can do this.
On the first week of January, I contracted gastroenteritis which took out a quarter out of my allocated annual sick leaves. The upside of that, I lost the holiday pounds. It inspired me to lose weight further and I enrolled in a gym near our office.
So together with my annual OB check-up, I went to a cardio who supported me on my gym plans and an endo who gave me something to bring down my sugar. She also gave me strict instructions to go on a diet--which I tried to follow half-heartedly.
A few days after, I woke up either in the middle of the night and I couldn't see anything from my left eye. After furiously blinking, I regained my sight and went back to sleep. I forgot about it and went about my business. A month after, it happened again and on the same eye to boot! It scared the bejeezums out of me and made me run to the nearest available ophthalmologist at Asian Hospital to have my eye checked.
After checking my eye and not seeing any trauma, she referred me to another eye specialist and a neurologist. As the eye specialist won't be in until Monday, I went to the neurologist first. The neuro prescribed me to take an MRI/MRA and EEG. MRI stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging. It's where your body/head is inserted in this machine which creates a magnetic field which in turn makes the nuclei in our body align and the computers pick this up forming an internal image of our body--without the radiation.
I scheduled all the tests at Asian on a Monday. After informing my boss, I rested and returned to the hospital on Monday.
I went first to the eye specialist who scared me further by saying that I might have ALMOST suffered a stroke in the eye. Based on my blood tests alone, there must have been a clot in my veins that must have caused my eye to temporarily lose its vision. He prescribed a 2DEcho and Carotid Doppler to look for that clot and a Perimetry and another test to detect if I'm at risk for Glaucoma.
With my mortality in mind, I proceeded to my EEG and MRI appointment and tried to fight the claustrophobia. I was subdued when my husband and I went home after the tests. I asked him that we pass by the grocery so I can buy my food for the week--which consists of kamote, salads and lowfat stuff.
The next day, I went to Makati Med as I wanted to have the carotid doppler done immediately for my peace of mind. Fortunately, I was able to get the results a couple of hours later and it was happily clear.
When I returned to my neuro that Saturday, he gave me positive results and said that my brain scans are normal. I just have migraine equivalence. I was surprised as I have not been experiencing any headaches but vision auras is one of the symptoms of a rare kind of migraine. He gave me Topiramate to treat it. He also informed me that a wonderful side effect of the drug is that it suppresses hunger pangs and with just one week taking drug, I can positively say that it works.
Later that afternoon, I had my stress test, 2Decho and ECG done as requested by my cardio as baseline tests. He also had me hooked up to a holter monitor which records the electrical activity of my heart for 24 hours. Yes, I had to take it home me and unfortunately, I could not take a bath for 24 hours because of it which kept me in the house during that period of time.
I'm returning to my optha later to get the results of my perimetry to check if I'm really indeed at risk for glaucoma. I'm also going to an allergologist and pulmo as I've been having allergy attacks either through rashes or asthma intermittently for the past year. I don't know if it's something I've been eating but it's really alarming already.
It's still a long journey before I can say I'm physically fit. Knowing that I really do not have a clot is not an excuse to skip my diet (besides, I'm not hungry most of the time). My goal is to say that I'm fit by the time I turn 40 which will be in 5 years time. It's a pretty doable goal and I'm on the way in achieving it. As long as I see my doctors and stick to my diet, I can do this.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Test of Faith
My faith has never been tested as it is being tested now.
For the first time in my life, I'm beginning to lose faith in the Catholic religion and all that it stands for. I don't know if it's only a group people who is ruining it for me, or the actual Church itself. But I am seriously thinking of either moving to a different parish or worse comes to worse, convert to another religion.
I was raised a Catholic--I studied in Catholic schools from Prep to my MBA. I believe in God, our Creator; I believe in Jesus Christ, His Son who died for our sins; I believe in Mother Mary; I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection etc etc.
I was part of a catholic organization during my 20's and my relationship with God was at its highest during that time. Praise and worship are my favorite activities as I get to give thanks for all the blessings that I have received.
In other words, I am a Catholic through and through.
My test of faith started last year when the RH bill brouhaha happened. The barangay/parish where we live has taken a VERY active stance against the RH bill. Every Sunday, they would find ways to interject the parish's violent objection to the bill and I'm just sick of it. I understand where they're coming from--what I can't stomach is how they twist everything to make it look that the RH bill is the most evil thing in the world. They pass out leaflets saying things against the bill which is FAR from the truth. They interpreted it based on how they want to see it without actually seeing what it's for.
I'm tired of how they're shoving THEIR truths down my throat.
My husband said I should just ignore the anti-RH bill segments during the mass but it's so hard for me when I have these negative feelings in my heart. I cannot anymore listen to the homily because I cannot bear to hear another twisted truth. Everytime they say the prayer against anti-life, I just want to walk out.
I don't know if I am right to feel this way or if I'm really sinning against God for going against our parish or if I'm really condoning abortion (the way I see it) by supporting the RH bill. But I just feel so unsettled that there is something not right about this.
For the first time in my life, I'm beginning to lose faith in the Catholic religion and all that it stands for. I don't know if it's only a group people who is ruining it for me, or the actual Church itself. But I am seriously thinking of either moving to a different parish or worse comes to worse, convert to another religion.
I was raised a Catholic--I studied in Catholic schools from Prep to my MBA. I believe in God, our Creator; I believe in Jesus Christ, His Son who died for our sins; I believe in Mother Mary; I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection etc etc.
I was part of a catholic organization during my 20's and my relationship with God was at its highest during that time. Praise and worship are my favorite activities as I get to give thanks for all the blessings that I have received.
In other words, I am a Catholic through and through.
My test of faith started last year when the RH bill brouhaha happened. The barangay/parish where we live has taken a VERY active stance against the RH bill. Every Sunday, they would find ways to interject the parish's violent objection to the bill and I'm just sick of it. I understand where they're coming from--what I can't stomach is how they twist everything to make it look that the RH bill is the most evil thing in the world. They pass out leaflets saying things against the bill which is FAR from the truth. They interpreted it based on how they want to see it without actually seeing what it's for.
I'm tired of how they're shoving THEIR truths down my throat.
My husband said I should just ignore the anti-RH bill segments during the mass but it's so hard for me when I have these negative feelings in my heart. I cannot anymore listen to the homily because I cannot bear to hear another twisted truth. Everytime they say the prayer against anti-life, I just want to walk out.
I don't know if I am right to feel this way or if I'm really sinning against God for going against our parish or if I'm really condoning abortion (the way I see it) by supporting the RH bill. But I just feel so unsettled that there is something not right about this.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)