Tuesday, June 24, 2014

tired and sore, but feeling good?

I woke up late this morning, with dry, itchy eyes, body aches and some residual bone-weariness.  It was great!

You see, I put in rather a strenuous day's work yesterday.  I finally determined that I needed to replace the shabby old window-shades in the bedroom with room-darkening ones.  I brought the ladder upstairs (old houses have high ceilings, and even my two-foot stepstool doesn't help me reach the top of the window-frames), and started measuring.

Of course, the lace curtains on tension-rods had to come down, and I determined they were overdue for laundering (old houses get more than their share of dust).  The dressing-table, reading-chair and settee had to be moved to get close enough to the windows, too.  My husband helped me with some of the cleaning, so I climbed the ladder only half as many times as I would have otherwise, but nobody but me is allowed to touch the dressing-table -- too many unique breakables!

Tossing the curtains down the chute kept me from having to breathe the dust of them, carrying them in my arms down to the basement, but taking some benedryl before following them down by stair was a wise move.  Half of them fit in the washer, and I gave them a prewash and a soak before the wash-cycle, so I had to handle the dusty things a lot more -- hurrah for diphenhydramine!  :-)

Two loads of laundry with that many phases = about ten trips to the basement.  The lowest flight has 14 steps, and next flight is 21.  Somewhere in the middle of all this, we dressed for going to the store, and I ordered my new shades from a shop that looks very good and professional -- it should be, having been in business there for almost 70 years....

When we got back from our errands (also visited a fabric store -- I've been raiding obscure sewing boxes looking for white AND black thread recently), I was surprised to find myself too energetic to sit down.  THIS IS RARE FOR ME!!!  I delightedly headed for the third-floor stairs (18) to work on clearing off my cutting-table (old pool-table left by previous resident) in preparation for making the period-correct swimsuit for my next living-history event.  Looking to put some LC beverages in the mini-fridge there, I discovered it was in need of wiping out and the freezer area was iced shut.  I ran back downstairs for "dog towels" and turned it off to defrost.

The dust up there was pretty bad, too.  I ran back downstairs for the dirt-devil, and walked around the worst area bent over, sucking up thread and dust-bunnies and fabric snippets and doghair, etc.  (benedryl still working, thank the gods)  I can deduce the number of times I trekked to the basement, but the trips to the third floor I can't begin to guess.

The biggest problem with that big room upstairs is that it's full of STUFF.  I have plenty of my own stuff, but when my mother moved from KC to Phoenix, I inherited an awful lot more.  Then my MIL moved from BFE to Colorado, and I got EVEN more.  Once, when I stayed home but J went to BFE to help her sort and pack and all that, there was a sale of "excess" by their local historical society, and he brought home an OBSCENE LOT more stuff.  Some of all this collected STUFF has been appropriately dispatched, but still more just doesn't have a place it belongs yet.  Thus there are boxes and piles -- dust-magnets!

A cutting-/pool-table is a big piece of flat surface!  It lies only a dozen feet from the top of the back stairs, and it's a very convenient spot to lay things and get them out of the way of day-to-day living downstairs.  The piles of books waiting to be shelved were transferred to their appropriate areas, music- and data-CDs ditto.  Fabric remnants also, and sewing and other tools actually put where they BELONG.  Living-history sewing tools were separated from the modern ones, and dispatched to the pile going downstairs for the next event -- remember I was looking EVERYWHERE for thread....

The table was finally clear!  WHAT a sense of accomplishment I felt -- and it only took the time of three episodes of The Avengers on the DVD!  I was starting to feel those tired muscles, as well as satisfaction.  I sat down and caught my breath for half an hour, then "shut up shop" and took my laptop and empty glass to the kitchen, and whipped up a quick dinner.

I was asleep well before midnight, but had a patch of wakefulness during which I was tempted to get up and take an Epsom-salt bath -- SOMETHING I did yesterday really seemed to have depleted minerals worse than usual!  Twitchy legs don't afflict me very often, but sometimes....  I never let myself wake up completely, though.  When I got back to sleep, I slept deeply, putting in over nine good hours, I believe.  I WAS tired!

So when I woke late with itchy eyes and aches in my back and legs, I felt GOOD.  This is what NORMAL people feel after a good day's work and a sleep, not that melting-into-the-mattress, terrible I-can't-move-i'm-so-exhausted fatigue I was suffering from late last summer and fall! 

When people complain to their doctors and families of debilitating fatigue and they hear in return (with a smirk), "yeah, I get tired, too," THIS is how they WISH they felt when tired!  There's a big difference between normal-tired, driven by expended energy, and that horrific exhaustion-upon-trivial-exertion that the pathologically-fatigued individual feels.  When you've put in the mileage I did yesterday, the sense of accomplishment -- and knowledge that you can do it again today -- makes those tired muscles worthwhile, even rewarding.

28 comments:

  1. What huge accomplishments, you little Tazmanian devil, you! :)

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    1. :-) thank you, Gwen! i'm currently back up on the third floor, looking around at what still needs to be done, but feeling a lot less overwhelmed by it! (the pool table is clear, but the pingpong table is still covered with finished, cooled ironed things which need to be folded and put away, half-completed living-history projects, and worn-out favorite clothing i want to make patterns of, before discarding....)

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  2. You did great, Tess! Instead feeling tired you look around for what else to do!

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    1. thanks, Galina! :-) today, though, my record isn't nearly so good. i beat myself (barely) in a game of pool, and not much more.

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    2. It is not surprising, just a part of having a dust allergy. I changed all drapes on window treatments to make my environment less dust-friendly, but it is still finding places. Probably I will buy a robot-vacuum cleaner some day.

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  3. Wow, you had that much energy after taking a benedryl? You must have really been a ball of fire! Last time I took one, I woke up several bus stops past my house.

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    1. benedryl only makes me sleepy when i'm sitting still. if i'm moving around, I don't find it bothers me ... but i'd hesitate to use it on a highway day!

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    2. Out of OTC remedies for allergies I use Claritin only , I would feel tired and cranky from Benadryl 100%.

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    3. none of the other OTC antihistamines do ANYTHING for me in the presence of the bad stuff -- if i'm around oak or sage pollen it's benedryl or nothing. for light applications I can use one of those almost-useless 24-hour things for overnight allergen-control....

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    4. I also have a solution of calsium chloride as a heavy-duty staff- a very strong anty-allergy remedy, my husband also uses old-fashioned anty-histamines he brought from Russia with a strong sedative side-effect. I just can't stand how miserable I feel the next day after I take it.

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  4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  5. Hi Tess,
    Thanks for sharing the blogs for the person who asked, "Does anyone know of a lchf or paleo blog targeted at fat, middle-aged ladies?" on AuthorityNutrition. Eventually I found you.

    I agree about the different kinds of tiredness. Yesterday I was so exhausted - probably from what I'd been eating - that I had to lay down for an hour. Today, I ate right, and went for a long, fast walk and still feel pretty energetic after 9p.m.

    I thought I'd written a comment, but it disappeared...please delete if I have double posted!

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    1. Hi, Amy,
      I guess we met before on the blog of Dr.Andreas.

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    2. hi, Amy, and welcome! i hope our little community here can be helpful to you! :-)

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  6. Can some of you smart outliers advise me please. I've got some blood tests back and despite crazy high fasting and post prand blood my A1c has fallen from last year's 5.2 to 4.8 (perfect according to Dr). So I am putting away the glucometer as it was just causing unnecessary angst.

    However my cholesterol has risen from 7.0 to 8.7 and my LDL from 4.3 to 5.6 - am I heading for heart disease with this way of eating? I don't add extra globs of fat but do eat fatty meat ad lib. Anyone in the same position and an offer any advice? Thanks in advance.-

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    1. There is a ricent long discussion on the subject http://www.lowcarbdietitian.com/blog/lipid-changes-on-a-very-low-carb-ketogenic-diet-my-own-experience

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    2. Thanks Galina, that was an interesting discussion for sure and I now wonder if it's a thyroid issue pushing up LDL - my TSH numbers had dropped from 1.32 mIU/L to 0.92 since VLC. Of course it's within the so called normal range so Dr won't do the more expensive reverse T3 etc testing.

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    3. Jasmine, actually the drop in TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) indicates the more active thyroid, when TSH is on the rise it is the indicator that the dose of supplemental thyroid should be increased.

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    4. Ahhh I am stupid - so I have been confused - so you say a drop in my TSH since being VLC is a good thing, it doesn't mean I have lower thyroid?? But it may have pushed up my LDL which may be lowered by cutting down on sat fat (well according to the experience of the blogger you referred to).

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    5. Jasmine,
      Yes, your thyroid is actually is in a better shape now than at the time of your previous blood test since your body signaled it by lowering its stimulation of your thyroid gland, so - congrats! I am not very confident when it comes to the cholesterol issues for everybody, that is why I sent you to the current discussion on the blog of Franzisca. My husband keeps his cholesterol at a reasonable range by exercising a lot and taking soluble fiber supplement before a bed time (don't take it with your food) - bile salts (made from cholesterol) get reabsorbed and returned into a circulation at the end of a GI tract, but the fiber absorbs it, and body takes more cholesterol from a circulation to produce more bile. I am not a chemist, so please, excuse my simplifications

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    6. I guess I hear so many times LCarbers blaming the diet for tanking their thyroid that I was almost expecting bad news, so it's quite a shock that I have done a good thing. LC has helped my BS and thyroid and weight maintenance so I am over the moon. Also J Stanton says women are different to men in that higher TC levels decreased mortality for them...go figure..anyway LC and no starches/sugar for me forever!!

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    7. Hardly any clinicians or researchers say they see the phenomenon of thyroid problems developing in their patients or subjects after starting a LC diet. The only one I know of is Chris Kresser. I think it's people who a) have an underlying autoimmune problem, for whom LC lowers their blood sugar to normal and makes their immune system functional again and b) people doing their own LC programs, eating vegetables by the pound, doing crossfit until they throw up, intermittent fasting--those things add up to a low-calorie diet, which will give you the problems they report.

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    8. RIGHT!!! just like VLC'ers have physiological (not pathological) insulin resistance, so do we also have LOWER BUT NORMAL-RANGE T3 numbers!

      thyroid hormone is not a constant reading -- it varies (probably both from production and conversion) depending on a lot of factors. when you're sick, your body dials back on production/conversion because it wants you to slow down, rest and heal!

      this is why that "worthless TSH test" is actually very useful -- it's a gauge telling you your brain THINKS YOU HAVE ENOUGH, or NOT enough, or TOO much. I agree with Rosedale on the subject of thyroid -- running a low normal, if you feel well, is probably a lot healthier than staying revved high all the time.

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    9. I don't know much about thyroid, but this annoys me: people running themselves ragged on a low-calorie diet and wondering why they feel like shit. Well, they don't wonder, they blame LC. And people snacking on peanut butter sandwiches and eating handfuls of nuts throughout the day and saying that Atkins induction isn't working for them. Or saying that Atkins wrecked their metabolism, but LCHF is great.

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    10. That gentlemen was of a kind who felt that without bread his life would be too restrictive., and he had almost a constitutional right to enjoy his peanut-butter sandwich. There are many people around who keep explaining to themselves that there is nothing wrong with some cookie or candy here and there, and on one hand they are right, while on another hand such inner dialog is the key to their weight-loss failure.

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  7. Oooohh just wanted to tell you about a treasure I found whilst rifling in the charity shop today - Dr Atkins Vita Nutrient Solution - I have heard of this book but have never seen it IRL. Looking forward to reading it!!

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    1. tell us what you think of it, when you're done! he mentions that book in the New Diet Revolution, but I never felt impelled to order it....

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    2. Nothing we don't already know Tess thanks to to internet and outliers and bloggers etc. He was way way ahead of his time. So sad he's not around to see what is happening now,, however I did read he liked a good debate and he had many :)

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