Reality of Wisconsin Winters!

Reality of Wisconsin Winters!

Moved!!

I’m now at Muddymommy.blogspot.com. 

No More Internet

I don’t get internet at home anymore so that’s why I’m gone all the time. Now that classes are starting up again I’ll try to update when I’m on campus. But it’s been one hell of a busy summer and updating would be agonizing right now. Just know I’m alive :).

Love all ya’ll

Migraines are Not Just Bad Headaches

Migraines are awful and many people seem to complain of migraines when it’s just a bad headache. I had a migraine yesterday, a very mild one. It wasn’t all that painful really. Most times mine are quite painful, but yesterday, it wasn’t. I noticed light sensitivity prior to getting it by about a half hour. If I take advil (usually four will do) right when I first notice these signs, a migraine can usually for me be avoided. If it’s already started, sometimes the pain will not get much worse, but often it’s ineffective if I don’t take them right away. \

After I noticed the light sensitivity, there was no advil with me so I was out of luck. I figured it’d be a bad night. I brought my daughter to her sleepover (we were in transit) and the migraine was already starting. The pain was mild- on a scale of 1-10 it’d have been about a two, maybe three. But, communicating was pretty difficult. I had to talk to the mom of the girl who’s party it was and I’m suprised I was able to hold a conversation.

Many times for me with migraines I get the typical light sensitivity. I often feel nauseous and occacsionally have vomited. Very fun. But I never really attributed my difficulty communicating with my migraines. After doing a tad of research, I’m pretty sure my migraines do make it difficult for me to communicate. I’ve been “struck” my migraines while on the phone with my sister (we talk every day). I can hear her, but sometimes it’s very difficult to understand what she’s saying. Not the words themselves, I hear the words, it’s putting them together in my head that is hard.

Yesterday’s migraine was quite unusual, all the regular symptoms without the debilitating pain. Of course, being unable to comprehend conversation is pretty debilitating itself.

Apparently with migraines the blood flow to the brain can increase by 300%. I don’t know if that’s really a lot or not. Maybe it increases that much with exercise, maybe it increases that much with other activities. I didn’t look into it that much.

There are phases that I never knew about. Prodrome is before the migraine by a couple days and some syptoms can go with that. I have never noticed any, but they’re pretty unnoticeable overall. Then the aural phase is right before, this phase I’ve noticed quite often and can often lead to me taking enough advil to kill the migrane before it starts- the only way for me to really have “relief”. Then their is of course the actual migraine- often for me with a decreased ability to carry on with my daily life when I have them. Then the postdrome phase- I’ve noticed this one before. For me, I’ll often have a regular headache for a day or two after having a migraine and feel generally crappy.

Before, migraines were thought to be caused by blood flow problems. Now, they think it’s some sort of brain dysnfunction. Before reading any of this, I thought the problem was inflamation because advil is an anti-inflamatory. If advil helped, I figured it was decreasing whatever inflamation was causing the problem. There is one theory that goes with my guess. It’s the depolarization theory. Basically, the neurological function is decreased in a part of the brain leading to a release of chemicals that cause inflamation.

Then there is the trigger theory which to me also applies. Maybe it’s connected somehow, the trigger possibly causing some sort of cortical depolarization. The smell of vanilla is horrid- because it triggers migraines for me. So does the strong smell of coffee, particularly if it’s fresh ground.

Whatever the cause, migraines are not fun. And possibly bad for my brain. I’m not the kind of person who likes medications but with my migraines I’ve always taken a double dose of advil (one dose doesn’t work so four right off the bat and acetominophin is just plain ineffective). If early enough in the migraine- during the aura phase, I can avoid the actual pain phase and have a somewhat normal day. I think now, after my limited research, that it’s possible that gastropareisis is causing the medication to not get through to my system once the migraine has started or if I take it too close to the actual migraine/too late in the aura phase. People with migraines, their stomaches may be affected leading to things staying in the stomach longer than typical. Which might mean the medication isn’t going anywhere. This might also be why many of us feel like we’re going to puke (and some of us do- sometimes repeatedly- throw up).

It’s possible that migranes even cause changes in the brain in the somatosensory cortex. People with migranes have a thicker somatosensory cortex. People with alzheimers also have a thicker cortex- so I hope that doesn’t mean I’m more likely to get alzheimers. MRI has also displayed brain lesions in people with migraines. That would lead me to think the depolorization theory was at least partially on track. There’s some research that says people with migraines are more likely to have a stroke. That doesn’t particularly make me all that excited to be having migraines.

Some researchers think it’s the pain of the migraine that leads to structurally changes (the thickening of the cortex) in the brain. Some think the thickening of the cortex leads to the migraines. All I want is to not have migraines.

Now, headaches aren’t associated with cortical thickness, aura’s, difficulty communicating, muscle weakness, or any number of other things that migraines are associated with. Cluster headaches are the type of headache most commonly misinterpreted for a migraine because of the intense pain associated with this type of headache.

So anyway, migraines are not just bad headaches.

Sun Causes Sneezing

At least for me. For many years, bright lights have caused me to sneeze- particularly sunlight and particularly when first walking outside. People have told my I was crazy to think that bright lights caused me to sneeze. But it’s true.

About 60% of the population has this “disorder”. It is autosomal dominant- so it’s passed on from parents to their kids if the dominant gene is passed on vs the recessive gene. I’ve never noticedd either of my parents sneeze when walking outside, but my mom has sensitivities to lights.

It seems that this happens by overstimulation of the optic nerve which triggers the trigeminal nerve. I’ve wondered if there is any connection to this and migranes. Light sensitivity is pretty common with migranes and it would be interesting to know what percent of migrane sufferers have photic sneeze reflex from bright lights.

See wikipedia for photic sneeze reflex for more info.

Steak?

Primal eating is something a fellow blogger or two are interested in. Though I first termed this as clean eating, I’m more than interested in this lifestyle.

Primal nutrition and clean eating are pretty similar. The first degree of clean eating is fruits, veggies, meat, and nuts and seeds. That’s also what primal eating is. Clean eating varies person to person and definition to definition though, so I guess it would be safe to say that my clean eating is primal eating.

Things like meat, fruit, and veggies have a life span and then they die. This is what makes them real. Food that does not die is not “real” food. It’s processed crap. It’s NO better than eating dog food- yes even that “nutritious cereal” in the morning is not any better than what you put in the dog’s bowl. In fact, it’s probably worse than what you feed your dog (or cat).

But in this world of fast food, carbs, and easy sugars what are parents and families supposed to do? It’s more expensive, right?

Well, tonight I bought a bag of frozen brocolli for 97 cents. I bought four round steaks for 4.50 (no, not grass fed, but hey, got to start somewhere). That’s enough for our family of three for less than 6 dollars. And really, the brocolli is probably enough for two meals so about 5 dollars for one meal for us three. Even the steaks might be enough for a second meal for at least one of us. A trip to a fast food restaurant could easily cost us 5 dollars per person. Not only that, but the food we’d eat at a fast food place is not very nutritious and probably contains a lot of nasty stuff. Another comparison to this would be one of those “box meals”. They’re about 4 dollars around here and enough for our family of three with a tad left over- usuallly enough for one persons lunch. By going that route I’d save one dollar in the short term- but since it’s usually pasta and fillers in the processed box meals, my family is going to be hungry again- and quickly. That dollar savings doesn’t go far if my family has to eat again an hour later as the carb crashing begins. And think of the long term health damage of processed foods… Eating good foods (food that lives and dies) is by far better for health than any of that processed junk you find in the boxes in the grocery store.

But again, with kids and families, what to do? They want that junk. They see it on TV, their friends are eating it, and they drive past it every time they’re in the car with us in forms of signs and fast food dives every half a block. Our compromise here is trying a new food each week. This week I’m trying steak again with my daughter and husband. This is on the menu for Thursday night. I plan to take it slow, I haven’t had red meat in over five years. With eating primal, I can’t live on chicken and turkey for the rest of my life and I know that. It’s just that I never much liked red meat. There is no way I’ll be able to eat pork again and I know that for certain, but I’ve been on the fence about steaks for a couple years now. It’s just taken me this long to build up the courage to actually put a bite in my mouth again (in two days from now actually, so not quite the courage yet tonight 😉 ).

When kids see us modeling this behavior and making it FUN to try new things, they learn food doesn’t have to be in a wrapper. With consistent variety in meals, and trying new things, eating is a mystery and exciting (and yes, sometimes a tad scary). They might even learn they like things mom and dad don’t.

But yet, that temptation is there and this is my plan to deal with it- I still have two cheat meals per week. Tuesday and one other day of the week. Tuesday because I work in a different city on Tuesdays and it just makes my night easier to pick something up (even if it is more costly). And one other meal because even I miss carbs sometimes. So, two cheat meals. Not just for me, but for my family. Plus my daughter does eat bread, pasta’s, and other “dog food” (aka read processed foods) during her lunches and snacks during the day. So, she has her lunches that although not primal, are not totally unclean either.

The other way we’re dealing with the issue is for everyone to be able to pick out one item of “pure processed nastyness” to have for the week. My daughter picked a box of ginger snaps for the week. I have some frosted oatmeal cookies. This is new for me so maybe I can skip my cheat night, right? hehe, we’ll see about that.

I can’t force my family to eat primal, I can’t even do it 100% of the time. It’s not something a person MUST do 100% of the time either. Doing a little is better than doing nothing. Eating primal will get easier as time goes on. It’s an adjustment in a lifestyle for most of us. If only one meal is primal to start with, so be it. I eat two meals per day (though my lunch lasts from 10:30 am till about 2pm with a little here and a little of it there). That’s 14 meals per week. If I have a “perfect week” that’s 12 primal meals since I get two free. Well, even if it was the other way around with only two primal meals, it’s certainly better than NO primal meals.

Every bite of every meal matters. Don’t eat dog food.

Truth

The truth is that I’ve been working quite alot lately. And I might be bordering on being burned out a bit. In fact I slept from 7 pm yesterday till 6 am today. Then I ended up with the afternoon off today so I came home, chatted for a bit, and then instead of doing my paperwork I took another nap after sleeping 11 hours yesterday. I feel much better. MUCH MUCH better.

But I still have a headache that hasn’t gone away for two days (post migrane headache, should be gone tomorrow if patterns continue as they do).

I haven’t eaten as well as I’d have liked. I haven’t gotten to the park as often as I’d like. I haven’t cleaned my house as often as I’d like either. Mostly, I’m getting through my work day, coming home and doing what I can before I fall on my face at night. So, it’s quarter to ten and I’m about to go to bed again.

I know I haven’t been the best “blog friend” as of late and I’m sorry for that. I am doing my best and I will stop in eventually to visit you all. And maybe, one of these days, I’ll post something worth reading :).

Sleep is Important

So many of us have so many things to do.

With so much to do, what is the first thing people usually skip? Well, for me it would be getting my full eight hours. I know that I am a person who needs eight hours. Sometimes even nine. Yet when I get busy you’ll find me going to bed around 11pm or 12am only to have to get up at 5:45 or 6am. Sometimes my lack of sleep isn’t a huge deal. When life is relatively simple and there are no big stressors, 6.5 to 7 hours four or five nights a week isn’t something that affects me much. When my life is hectic, the lack of sleep affects me much more. Such as now. Today I’m tired, a little cranky, and a lot lazy. My eyes even feel burning because they have this burning desire to close and SLEEP!

Lack of sleep can cause people to overeat. I do that quite a bit when I’m tired. Lack of sleep can cause decreased motivation. I’m a great example of that- no workout tonight even though my scheduled time is 40 min from now. I already know that I’m not going to go out and run and head to the park to do my workout. Lack of sleep can cause depression and anxiety issues. Well, there I’m alright anyway.

This is also a bit cyclical for me. I don’t get enough sleep so the next day I’m tired and lazy. Then I have things to do that need to get done. I’m lazy, don’t want to do them. But since I have to, it just takes me much longer to do them with my frequent “breaks”. I get distracted more often and find myself doing things that I don’t need to be doing or that I wasn’t planning to do. Then by the end of the night, I still haven’t really sat and relaxed so I’ll watch a movie or do something else equally as stupid and meaningless. Then, shower and get ready for bed and it’s already two hours past my bedtime.

Last night my plan was to get home, go to the store, and make our lunches for the week. I did those things and was done at the reasonable time of 9pm. Then I watched a movie. I should have been in bed by 10. Instead with the movie and still needing to shower and stuff, it was a tad after 11. Just me being stupid about my priorities. Well, I’m going to stop whining here and make it a priority to get some sleep tonight.

Goodnight everyone (in a few hours).

A Long Weekend

Over Friday to Sunday I worked 30 hours. Had a cookout. Spent a couple hours at Menards (like a Home Depot). Put together a ten foot by four foot square foot garden. Planted the garden. Had another workout at the park. Went out to dinner. Watched two movies. Oh, yes, and I showered at some point ;).

And it was a long weekend from posting. I had really anticipated getting on every day after work, but now right after work I water my wild flowers out front, garden out back, and feed my fish. It only takes 15 min but somehow when I’m done with that and then unloading my car, it’s already time for dinner. I promise to be better :).

There is currently not much exciting about my workout. Another trip to the park. Another ten times up the pole, then five on this chain thingey covered with rubber with a thing for your feet- sort of like a rock wall. Some jumping up to press over a bar about chest height and lower down ten times. Then climbing over a bar about hip height five times. Attempted reverse crunches but they hurt my legs to darn bad this time. I need to bring some cushion for behind my knees. I’ll bring a towel with me next time. I already look like a crazy lady anyway. May as well add a towel. Then I noticed the little little kid area had a great 12-14 inch high step I could jump on and off of. Fifteen of those…

Lastly, those damn monkey bars! I conquered three rungs on that thing! THREE RUNGS!!! Before I fell to the ground (okay, all I had to do was straighten my legs).

Overall it was a great weekend and I was online here and there- I was just studying square foot gardening. I plan to plant quite a few things next summer and want to know what I’m doing by then.

How I feel about last week- I cheated a little more than I’d like to have cheated with my meals, but overall not terrible. I would have liked to workout other than at the park but as long as I get my three minimum I’m happy enough. I’m disappointed that I didn’t work more hours at work.

Last Night

Yesterday was a lazy night. I went to bed at 9:15. In good news, I shaved my legs! They were starting to look like a thousand year old redwood forest. It was quite pitiful. I’m taking yet another night off to have a date night with my hubby. I’ll be heading to the park with my daughter tomorrow and either Saturday or Sunday to get in three times this week. Probably on Sunday though. Anyway, I’m off to cook supper. I hope we can eat it when I’m through with it.