#healthblr
Be gentle with yourself! Be kind to yourself! Speak to yourself like you would those you love the most!
Be kind to everyone, including yourself.
Yoga for health
Yoga every day!
Meatless Monday! One day a week! Give it a try!
Self Care
Growth, personal evolution. We are all unique and different, and that’s ok….and beautiful too!
3/29/2021
Bit the bullet today and finally made an appointment with my healthcare provider. The heart palpitations are back, and I can only hope it’s taken seriously this time around.
A bit of backstory, last year I decided to explore my options for ADHD treatment. I was diagnosed with inattentive-type when I was 8, was put on medication (Concerta), and after a few months was pulled off of it because of extreme weight loss due to the appetite suppressing side effects.
Cut ahead a few years to college, I get reevaluated, and yep, I’m still very ADHD. I decide to go to student health with my evaluation results, and give Vyvanse a go. I’m gonna go ahead and say it, that semester fucked up my entire college career, and led to my dropping out my senior year (1 ½ years after this.) I experienced weight loss, but it wasn’t as alarming because I needed to lose weight at the time. But the other side effects were…yikes. Dry mouth, extreme anxiety and paranoia (and when you’re paranoid, you don’t realize you’re paranoid, there’s something wrong with everyone else) which led to my losing my entire circle of friends at the time. I don’t blame them, but I wish someone said something. The straw that finally knocked me to my senses was when I developed extremely painful stomach cramps and digestive issues, and I passed out in a stairwell due to dehydration. I stopped taking that medication, and steered clear of ADHD meds for a good 5 years or so.
Well, last year was kinda the year from hell for me. I burned through two jobs because I wasn’t a very good fit for them- my attention to detail and time management issues were under a magnifying glass at these places. In an ideal world I would’ve bounced and found a better fit, but it was 2020, I live in a small town with an already lean job market, and I needed to pay rent. At my second job, I could tell I was struggling, so I decided to take advantage of my health insurance and go ahead and find a provider who would work with me on finding a fit for medication. We tried Ritalin, where it worked out initially, but after three months I started to develop heart palpitations. At 27.
We stop the Ritalin, get an EKG done, and they essentially went “possible left atrial enlargement because you’re fat, but nothing to see here” and left it at that. I was disappointed to not have a solid answer, but the palpitations petered out and it was pretty obvious Ritalin was the cause.
We decide to move on to Wellbutrin and give it a shot, because it’s actually an antidepressant am3d contains no methylphenidate. Things go great for 4 months, we go “hey cool!” And things were great. Until I was fired from my job, which provided my health insurance. And I got covid. And the palpitations came back.
I was in a pretty dark place at this point, so I did the irresponsible thing and stopped taking my meds on my own without telling my provider, or letting them know that hey, my heart is doing the thing again. But also keep in mind that I didn’t have insurance anymore, and actually still don’t. Because America is the greatest country in the world, amirite? The palpitations faded a bit, but not completely, I would get a tiny stutter every few weeks, but it wasn’t nearly as alarming as it *was*.
Except this last week. They’re back. The only things I’ve done different recently is start losing weight (something my provider reccomended ages ago, I only now got myself motivated to seriously do it, and I’m no longer in denial about it. This needs to happen. ) and having an occasional cup of tea or coffee in the morning to help me get going when I wake up at 6AM for work. I know it’s the coffee that setting it off, but…a single cup of coffee shouldn’t be giving me palpitations. That’s not normal. Taking a hot shower shouldn’t set off palpitations. Or bending down to pick up my cat.
It’s very frustrating, but I’m hoping that maybe they take me more seriously at this appointment on Wednesday. I’m also nervous because I know the tests that they might order could wipe out my savings plus some. The last EKG I had cost $85 with insurance, but without it would’ve run $800+. I have money in savings, but not enough to cover medical bills with no insurance. So I’m a bit nervous about what that’s going to look like. I did learn my lesson though, I have a relative who also has really weird responses to drugs, and I’ve accepted that the gene sequence responsible for that has skipped a generation and was passed on to me. I’m done with psychiatric drugs, they clearly don’t agree with me.
I’m still losing weight though, healthfully. It can only help things at this point. Down to 182.4 lbs as of today, I was at 187.2 when I started noom on March 17th, so nearly 5 lbs gone!
Feeling high anxiety, but we’ll just have to wait and see. “Keep calm and carry on.”
See you at the journey’s end.
Italy, 21/11/2019
Someone says you should surround yourself with people capable of looking through words.
Italy, 10/11/2019
IR
italy, 04/11/2019
Sometimes
Italy, 19/02/2019
This morning I ran the perfect 10 miler for the 3rd year in a row! It was perfect temp and a little drizzly. The miles flewwwwwww by. I love how short everything feels after running a marathon! I ran with sarah the whole time and we just had fun! One of my fellow GOTR coaches ran with us for a bit as well.
Such a gorgeous morning, right?!?! Ugh, too pretty! I ran 3 easy miles- the temperature and view were on point!
I am seriously obsessed with these! Motivational quotes are my jam plus these bracelets are super soft and running friendly!!!! If you want your wrists to look cool like mine http://www.designsthatmoveyou.com/
What a gorgeously warm morning. Not many of these left before fall officially takes hold. 4 easy miles listening to my newest audio book.
mynewnormaluc: What a gorgeously warm morning. Not many of these left before fall officially takes hold. 4 easy miles listening to my newest audio book. Damn, I had no idea this post was going to get so much love!
“I don’t need therapy, I just need to go running.” 6 warm therapeutic miles.
I’m not a snooze button kinda person. But to give you a look into how my day started. I hit it 4 times today and fell back asleep every time. Once I pulled myself out I ran 3 miles in drizzly warmth. I can’t believe it’s November 5th and I’m still hot when wearing a tank top on my runs. Soooooo many leaves fell this week! I’m kinda ready for some cooler temps!
