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Sharing this, because it is positive that comes out of a heck of a lot of negativity

Suzanne

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
It all started on visiting the dr to renew some prescriptions and to ask for some blood tests. My last tablet for acid, caused near liver failure and so, I felt I ought to see if it is ok with the new meds. I also wanted to test for diabetes, as I have been getting way too many hypers and for longer period of time. And finally, want to know what is going on with my nails! So inconvenient when busy, to have them always bending and peeling!

Well she took my blood pressure and said that it was probably a bit high due to nerves and I went along with that.

I got blood work done and the nurse commented that my blood is a bit thick.

So my tests came back and although I am not diabetic, if I do not do something fast, I will be! My cholesterol levels are highish and my blood is milky which means fat has spilled into the blood. I then got to thinking about my blood pressure and it hit me, that never before have I had trouble with it and anxiety is my middle name o_O So I went back ( wow it was horrible in that blasted waiting room). I finally got to see her and she took my blood pressure again and said that it was still high and my pulse is slow. I was not worried. She said that she will send me to the cardio. Speaking with her, which is awfully difficult doing in a different language, I did ascertain that she is not there to prevent illness but to deal with illness and I thought: ok so you do not want to tell me how I can stop getting diabetes and how I can lower my cholesterol, so I will do some research myself.

My husband phoned to book an appointment with the cardio and a dietician and both, no chance for at least 3 month's!

I did not realise that my subconscious was going to attack me. For the pain in my heart that I put down to acid issues, was only sometimes in the night, but spilled into the day!

I went to the chemist ( seems my dr visit gave me courage to go the chemist without too much anxiety and even asked for advice in French lol). I was told that if my heart pain got worse, to phone the dr and she would get me an earlier appointment with the cardio.

I came home, I guess in a state of bewilderment. The pain would not let up and then, horror of horrors, I start feeling sharp pains and yep, phoned the dr and she said that yes, I need to get to the hospital and that she would write out a letter for me. Well she confused me because I couldn't go and collect it and she wouldn't bring it to me ie only live about 7 mins walk from the dr.

My husband was trying to be helpful but he was too far away to come and take me to the hospital. Tried phoning a good friend, but she didn't answer and all this time, my heart is hurting.

Hubby returned home to take me to the hospital but his very dogmatic attitude heart me. He was not one bit concerned and despite knowing how I find it chronically hard to just walk down the road, he says: if you have an emergency and can't find the number, just walk to the Marie and ask? I was blown away with his "tact". I mean: it takes courage to walk to the bins and he thinks it is no big deal to speak to the Marie???? :eek:

I was so angry and hurt and suffering and freaked out. Said that I had eaten a really healthy meal and immediately got heart pain. He said: well, couldn't it be your acid? I denied it strongly and then a little voice said: ah but you didn't take your tablet til AFTER your meal and thus, heart burn was probably what you were experiencing.

I also realised with horror that I was going through: psychosomatic period for when I calmed down, no pain. I had been using imagery imagination and seeing my thick blood not being able to squeeze its way into the valves of my heart and my heart weary with not enough fuel etc etc.

Ok so now the POSITIVE part lol

I have not had a hyper in 3 DAYS. I have drastically cut back on sugar! Instead of 3 sugars in my mug, I reduced it to 2 sugars and now, today, not quite a whole sugar and it is bearable. In my porridge only one teaspoon and wow, I can already sense positive changes. I am sure I have lost a bit of weight ( not obese, but do have a tummy). My tummy feels so much lighter than it has done.

It is not because I eat unhealthy; it is because I was eating too much sugar, to compensate the hypers I was getting, which in turn, was getting me closer and closer to being diabetic and also heart disease! Unfortunately, I am not a fruit eater nor a veggie eater and thus..... Come here apples lol

I have put away all the chocolate and will only allow myself a bit, when I have got through this.
 
Dear Courage.. I mean.. Dear Suzanne... you are truly such a brave spirit. You soothed yourself and sensibly explored a way through this scary situation, all on your own. And now, you paint beautifully such a positive perspective of a future of feeling so much better! :cherryblossom: May you continue to feel improvements in your body and in your moods. You are an inspiration to me, Suzanne! May your tea and porridge feel warm and nurturing, and may you feel much better. I am wishing you wellness!

You're amazing!
 
Dear Courage.. I mean.. Dear Suzanne... you are truly such a brave spirit. You soothed yourself and sensibly explored a way through this scary situation, all on your own. And now, you paint beautifully such a positive perspective of a future of feeling so much better! :cherryblossom: May you continue to feel improvements in your body and in your moods. You are an inspiration to me, Suzanne! May your tea and porridge feel warm and nurturing, and may you feel much better. I am wishing you wellness!

You're amazing!

So very kind of you, Warmheart, but I wish I felt how you describe me; perhaps one day lol and wow to be thinking I am an inspiration is quite something!!!
 
Suzanne, as a certified sugar junkie I am not lecturing! :D :p just informing .... Sugar is possibly the single worst food item we can possibly consume. It has ZERO nutritional value, is very unhealthy & usually addicting. I have even read that it ages our skin!

A nutritionist I knew years ago compared the body to an automobile, how every single thing we eat is equivalent to putting the proper gasoline into a car. Food is our body's fuel. When you think of it that way it is pretty illuminating.

It is extremely hard to maintain a perfectly healthy diet :( but every little healthy choice one makes every day .... decreasing the sugar in one's mug, adding some vegetables (especially green ones) ... is a positive step & even an accomplishment. Chocolate in small amounts is very healthy but it's the cream & sugar in milk chocolate that diminishes its nutritional value. Dark chocolate is supposed to be very good to consume in moderate amounts, especially high cacao/cocoa content chocolate (75% & 80%) which has less sugar.

Thanks for sharing this story. I am glad it has a positive ending! :) You ARE an inspiration, always so bravely sharing your experiences & feelings. Others - myself included - can learn from your experiences, as well as from your bravery. :hibiscus::hibiscus::hibiscus:
 
Coincidentally I just saw this report on SUGAR so am sharing it here:

Eating sugar may fuel cravings for more by quieting stress

By Lisa Rapaport

(Reuters Health) - Eating sugar may quiet stress signals in the brain, leading some people to seek comfort by consuming more sweets and making the habit very hard to break, a small study suggests.

In a two-week experiment, 19 women drank three beverages a day sweetened either with real sugar or aspartame, a substitute. Researchers did magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans to see how the sweets affected the women and found that sugar, but not aspartame, triggered activity in a part of the brain involved in reacting to stress.

The MRI results suggest that sugar may have interrupted the normal response to stress in the hippocampus region of the brain, limiting production of the stress hormone cortisol, said senior study author Kevin Laugero, a nutrition researcher at the University of California, Davis.

"The findings suggest an explanation of how, mechanistically, sugar may positively reinforce its habitual consumption in people experiencing chronic stress," Laugero said by email.

Without the sugar, the researchers might have expected to see a surge in cortisol during the experiment because they gave the women impossibly difficult math problems to complete in their heads – a challenge designed to trigger a stress response – before the MRIs.

But the women who drank beverages sweetened with sugar had MRIs showing significantly higher activity in the hippocampus and lower levels of stress-induced cortisol than the MRIs of women who had aspartame. Normally, acute stress blocks activity in the hippocampus, the researchers write in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

The study is small and only included women. More research is needed to understand how sugar consumption might impact feelings of stress, Laugero said.

It's possible that stressed out people might crave an experience of eating something sweet, rather than just a specific ingredient such as sugar, David Benton, a psychology professor at Swansea University in the U.K., said by email.

"The idea of being attracted to palatable foods in moments of stress is well described, for example chocolate, but this reflects the temperature at which it melts, the flavor of cocoa, mouth feel and a mixture of fat and sugar," said Benton, who wasn't involved in the study.

Generally, though, people who use foods to cope with stress do tend to make indulgent choices, said Julie Rish, a psychologist with the Bariatric and Metabolic Institute at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

"People don't crave carrots or celery, they crave chocolate or ice cream," said Rish, who wasn't involved in the study.

While there isn't a single, simple way to short-circuit these cravings in times of stress, it is possible to develop other ways to cope, such as taking a walk, she said. To make it easier to turn to exercise instead of food, it's best to keep tempting treats out of the house.

"Keeping a positive environment makes it harder to make an unhealthy choice and it also helps you to delay a response to the craving," Rish said. "Those cravings peak over 15 to 20 minutes and if you can just delay them and distract yourself for that long the cravings start to come down on their own."

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1DWzOqp Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, online April 16, 2015.


Eating sugar may fuel cravings for more by quieting stress - Yahoo News Canada
 
Suzanne, as a certified sugar junkie I am not lecturing! :D :p just informing .... Sugar is possibly the single worst food item we can possibly consume. It has ZERO nutritional value, is very unhealthy & usually addicting. I have even read that it ages our skin!

A nutritionist I knew years ago compared the body to an automobile, how every single thing we eat is equivalent to putting the proper gasoline into a car. Food is our body's fuel. When you think of it that way it is pretty illuminating.

It is extremely hard to maintain a perfectly healthy diet :( but every little healthy choice one makes every day .... decreasing the sugar in one's mug, adding some vegetables (especially green ones) ... is a positive step & even an accomplishment. Chocolate in small amounts is very healthy but it's the cream & sugar in milk chocolate that diminishes its nutritional value. Dark chocolate is supposed to be very good to consume in moderate amounts, especially high cacao/cocoa content chocolate (75% & 80%) which has less sugar.

Thanks for sharing this story. I am glad it has a positive ending! :) You ARE an inspiration, always so bravely sharing your experiences & feelings. Others - myself included - can learn from your experiences, as well as from your bravery. :hibiscus::hibiscus::hibiscus:

I know, just been in denial, but with the scare ( horrible that it takes a scar), I am fully not in denial and wow so glad lol

I do try to be brave and many thanks for saying so and also for thinking me an inspiration. It sure does help to keep up.

Did some cycle exercises and just waiting for Jem to return so I can munch on an apple.
 
I used to consume large quantities of sugar laden stuff, but now I have switched over to other things; for example I still buy sugar, but instead of white sugar I use Sucanat which has more nutritional value and is not as sweet. I was told that my cholesterol was high, but that I also had a high ratio of good fats to keep it even. That is because I also take fish oil capsules along with Lecithin capsules. These keep my cholesterol in check; maybe you'd like to research these things?

Do you ever eat dates? They are so sweet and delicious and good for you as well!
 
I know Suzanne, me too. It's hard to give up everything sweet. :(

I don't actually use any sugar directly, & few sweeteners although we keep Stevia (a natural sweetener) & organic honey (healthier than sugar but should not be used by diabetics because it raises glucose levels) in the pantry, & I bought Truvia last fall to try but haven't opened the box yet. Unfortunately I love (not loving an inanimate object! but as in I enjoy it too much!) :p things like milk chocolate & other products containing sugar. :( Fortunately I also like healthy foods like fruits & vegetables & we mostly eat wholegrain versus processed grains.

garnetflower13, my in-laws love dates & figs too. They are always recommending them to us!
 

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