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Well, I'm back. I haven't posted in a while, though I've been lurking.
I think the last time I was on was before Thanksgiving. That went well....I allowed myself to enjoy the meal and have a piece of Pie. Unfortunately for me, something other than my diet was lurking under the surface.
I've been having issues on and off with my legs for a few months now. A bit of discomfort and some swelling at times.....note, if this happens to you repeatedly GO SEE YOUR DOCTOR!!!
Long story short, legs ballooned up around Thanksgiving...I mean really ballooned....left calf was 31 inches at one point...ankle was so large I had to go buy new shoes. My weight shot up from 392 to 447 over a three week period....mostly fluid. My doctor referred me to the vascular lab, and many tests later they determine I have venous insufficiency. First phase of treatment is compression stockings and keeping my feet up. That was January. So far the legs are responding, the right one is almost normal but the left is still around 27 Inches....but a "soft" 27 inches rather then a hard shiny 31.
A silver lining to this cloud is while we were trying to track this down I had a great talk with my Doctor....in the discussion we analyzed my sleeping habits. Lousy is the short version...I haven't slept well since I was a child. He ordered a Sleep study which I had mid Feb, and lo and behold I have extremely severe sleep apnea. As I understand if you have more than 30 apnea episodes an hour you are considered severe....I had 127. I couldn't believe I stop breathing twice a minute all night long. The worst part is my blood oxygen saturation level, which average 85% for the night, and hit a low of 56% at one point. Incredible. The technician performing the study didn't believe it either....in fact he recorded in his notes that he thought there was an equipment malfunction, and even swapped out the unit that was in the room with me. Hah hah.
My Doctor believes this has been going on for many years, as I seem to have somewhat adapted to it and show no signs of drowsiness or diminished cognitive ability. He prescribed a CPAP machine for me, which I got at the end of Feb. It took a little bit to get used to, but let me tell you I can really tell the difference. Its like someone lit the afterburner. I have had this kind of energy since I was a child...its crazy!!! I've been pretty tired for the last couple years at least, but I've been working insane hours with tremendous stress and a horrible home life. But I never had a lot of energy before that either.
Regardless, I think I am on the mend at this point. I lost 19 pounds the first week of March, and 11 pounds last week.....I really can't take any credit for that as I feel it is mostly fluid. I am @ 418 right now, but hope that I will continue to lose fluid over the next couple weeks.
Oh yeah, my divorce went through on Jan 12th and she moved 1800 miles away. So that effective closed the book on another terrible portion of my life.
Now I just got to move on with life, diet, future.
I think the last time I was on was before Thanksgiving. That went well....I allowed myself to enjoy the meal and have a piece of Pie. Unfortunately for me, something other than my diet was lurking under the surface.
I've been having issues on and off with my legs for a few months now. A bit of discomfort and some swelling at times.....note, if this happens to you repeatedly GO SEE YOUR DOCTOR!!!
Long story short, legs ballooned up around Thanksgiving...I mean really ballooned....left calf was 31 inches at one point...ankle was so large I had to go buy new shoes. My weight shot up from 392 to 447 over a three week period....mostly fluid. My doctor referred me to the vascular lab, and many tests later they determine I have venous insufficiency. First phase of treatment is compression stockings and keeping my feet up. That was January. So far the legs are responding, the right one is almost normal but the left is still around 27 Inches....but a "soft" 27 inches rather then a hard shiny 31.
A silver lining to this cloud is while we were trying to track this down I had a great talk with my Doctor....in the discussion we analyzed my sleeping habits. Lousy is the short version...I haven't slept well since I was a child. He ordered a Sleep study which I had mid Feb, and lo and behold I have extremely severe sleep apnea. As I understand if you have more than 30 apnea episodes an hour you are considered severe....I had 127. I couldn't believe I stop breathing twice a minute all night long. The worst part is my blood oxygen saturation level, which average 85% for the night, and hit a low of 56% at one point. Incredible. The technician performing the study didn't believe it either....in fact he recorded in his notes that he thought there was an equipment malfunction, and even swapped out the unit that was in the room with me. Hah hah.
My Doctor believes this has been going on for many years, as I seem to have somewhat adapted to it and show no signs of drowsiness or diminished cognitive ability. He prescribed a CPAP machine for me, which I got at the end of Feb. It took a little bit to get used to, but let me tell you I can really tell the difference. Its like someone lit the afterburner. I have had this kind of energy since I was a child...its crazy!!! I've been pretty tired for the last couple years at least, but I've been working insane hours with tremendous stress and a horrible home life. But I never had a lot of energy before that either.
Regardless, I think I am on the mend at this point. I lost 19 pounds the first week of March, and 11 pounds last week.....I really can't take any credit for that as I feel it is mostly fluid. I am @ 418 right now, but hope that I will continue to lose fluid over the next couple weeks.
Oh yeah, my divorce went through on Jan 12th and she moved 1800 miles away. So that effective closed the book on another terrible portion of my life.
Now I just got to move on with life, diet, future.
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