No, I'm not a hypochondriac...

....I'm just trying to find out why I feel like I've been hit by a ten ton truck so often!

Those of you who are used to me moaning about feeling unwell or who have the pleasure of my regular company will know what I'm talking about.

I'm just kind of writing this blog post as a reference for the future.

It's been a year now since I was first referred to the hospital mainly for investigations as to why I don't sweat (ever!) and why I overheat so often. A year later and I'm no closer to finding out why my body can't regulate its own temperature like most people do, and why I have days or weeks of every month where I wake up feeling like I have a hangover and feel generally awful.

A year ago at that first appointment they did take me seriously, but got sidetracked from my initial symptoms when they took my blood pressure. Back then it was averaging about 145/90 and was considered high. A year later it's been hitting 197/128 at times and is considered dangerous.

So, the average thirty-something year old doesn't have ridiculously high blood pressure. Even the ones who live on fast food, smoke 20 cigs a day and never get off the sofa don't have blood pressure like that. And I eat healthily and rarely sit down.

So to cut a long story short I started undergoing tests. Lots of tests. Firstly these involved taking lots of blood, and moved onto collecting ridiculous amounts of urine and a chest x-ray. They ruled out thyroid problems and adrenal problems, ruled out Cushings Disease and various other things from these tests.

Then I had a kidney scan, followed by an MRA scan of my renal ateries (an MRI scan with the addition of dye in the artery) which ruled out a condition called Fibromuscular Dysplasia. Then I had an ecocardiogram of my heart which showed my heart is pumping pretty damn fine and is really healthy (phew!) and wore a blood pressure monitor for 24 hours so that they could measure the full extent of the problem.

So all these tests took a year. I was back at the hospital last week to be told that they still don't know what is wrong with me or why my blood pressure is so high. The 24 hour bp monitor proved that my blood pressure is indeed high, both during the day and whilst sleeping. So the doctor started talking about making lifestyle changes, such as cutting salt out of my diet. I explained that I'd studied nutrition and hadn't been adding any salt to my diet for quite some time.

Soooooooo now I'm on blood pressure medication and have been collecting more pee-pee. Oh joy! I was told that my thyroid antibodies are high and that I may be developing an underactive thyroid but its too early to tell. The doctor went over all my symptoms again and then asked to look at my arm pits!! Hah, yeah really. I have various patches of vitiligo around my body including under my arms pits. This, along with the thyroid anitbodies made her decide to test for one last thing.... latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (or LADA). This is a very rare type 1 diabetes that can also cause the same symptoms I'm having. Because type 1 diabetes only occurs in children (apart from this rare form of it) and usually progresses very quickly (whilst this one progresses slowly) it is rarely tested for and usually overlooked.

God knows if I'll ever find out what's wrong. But the blood pressure medication has done wonders already. I am on the lowest dose, which wasn't expected to work at all, but which has brought by BP down to almost normal in under a week! Yay!

And the good news is that I haven't had a migraine for a few weeks now and currently don't feel hungover or that I've been hit by a truck!

Making raw granola from sprouted buckwheat

It’s been about 18 months, maybe longer, since I last made a batch of cereal.  But it’s so easy to do with a dehydrator, and so tasty, not to mention jolly good for you!
I used sprouted buckwheat to make my cereal.  I bought the buckwheat in Tesco’s and have been using it to make veggie-burgers etc.  But it can be easily sprouted to become more nutritious, more enzyme packed, and much better for the digestion.  Sprouting a grain allows it to make its own enzymes, which aids digestion and means that your pancreas doesn’t have to work quite so hard. Keeping the grain raw instead of cooking it means that none of those precious enzymes, or any of the vitamins and minerals are destroyed.
I sprouted the buckwheat by soaking it over night in water. Then letting is sit in a colander for 2 days, thoroughly rinsing 3 times a day. 
The making of the granola only took me 5 minutes of work. I put the buckwheat into a large bowl and mixed in some olive oil, a cup of honey, some crushed almonds, a cup of ground sesame seeds, a cup of ground linseed (or flax), then threw in some dried cranberries, a few goji berries, raisins, and a few pumpkin and sunflower seeds.  It was so delicious that I could have eaten it like that!
I dehydrated it on a very low heat using my excalibur dehydrator, using the setting for ‘living foods’.  It took over 24 hours to totally dry out.  Dehydrating means that the food feels like its been cooked, but has the same nutrient content as if it was still raw.
We ate a bowl of our gorgeous granola in fresh almond milk, so it was a totally vegan breakfast.  And there’s lots left over. Yummy.
This is the sprouted buckwheat. You can see the little shoots that have appeared…

Next I added all the other raw ingredients…..

Then I dehydrated it for a long time… (you can see Kale Chips dehydrating too)…..

To make yummy raw granola, with fresh almond milk….

A family of cress heads...

Barney has been taking good care of the cress heads that he's been growing. It's amazing how fast cress grows! The little egg family all have a full head of green hair already. Soon they will need a hair cut. Yummy.

Tomorrow Badger is having his 14th birthday party. He has a load of friends from school coming over. Marty is going to supervise and I am going to go somewhere with Rosie and Barney just to keep out of the way. I'm not sure where we are going yet though. I'm pretty sure both Barney and I won't cope with a house full of teenagers, so we are best off out of the way.

There's only one week of school left for the kids before the summer holidays start. I love the summer holidays. No school runs, no uniforms to wash and iron in time, no waking up at the crack of dawn to get ready for school. And lots of time with my precious babies. I can never understand it when I hear parents complaining that they can't wait for their kids to go back to school.

I've ordered some books about Aspergers/high functioning Autism to read from Amazon but they are taking ages to arrive. One called 'When My Worries Get Too Big' has arrived, but it's a book for Barney to read. We haven't tried it yet, but the idea is that it teaches children how to relax and calm down rather than going into panic. We shall see if it works or not. I like the idea behind it, but wonder whether it will make a jot of difference. When Barney gets an idea into his head it's very hard to change his direction.

Here are a couple of photos from today. Rosie at age 6 months, with that lovely chubby baby look. Aren't chubby babies just delicious? And Barney the explorer about to head off on a mission.

I've been thinking about getting back into the healthy eating and nutrition that I was interested in before our trip away. I still love sprouting, but really want to get back into it. Since I was too busy being pregnant and recovering from the c section, I didn't get to plant or grow any vegetables this year. It's a shame as I really enjoyed growing our own food. But I've been so busy with the baby and other things that my own interests have taken a bit of a back seat. I've been reading a few healthy blogs to inspire myself lately. I really want to get back into the swing of things - sprouting, wheat grass, raw foods, veganism and home bread making. I'm not a vegan, as most of you know, but I really do like the idea behind it and appreciate that we eat far too much meat and dairy in our diets. Anyway, here are a few blogs I've been reading lately that have inspired me....

Making Love In The Kitchen
Eat Air - A Vegan Food Log
Green As A Thistle
Urban Organic Gardener

Click me better

Yesterday was a first experience for me. I paid a small fortune to see an Osteopath. I've been in so much pain for so long. But recently it got unbearable. Especially in the right side of my neck and shoulder area. So I booked an appointment with an Osteopath who came highly recommended. I've never been to one before so wasn't sure what to expect. After chatting about my medical history for 15 minutes he decided that I should see him twice; once for treatment on my bones, and once on my muscles - a week apart. I need so much doing that he said it would be too much for my body to do it all in one session!

After looking at my posture he seemed rather shocked that I wasn't in even more pain than I actually was. He said that my hip joints were both out of alignment, so badly so that I had one leg an inch shorter than the other! When he realigned them he told me I might fall over when I stood up as I'd be used to walking with different length legs! Both hips joints were twisted, but in the opposite direction to each other, which I guess is why my back and shoulders were in so much pain. My back was probably compensating for my wonky hips. After discussion we decided that it had probably happened 18 months before when I'd fallen down the stairs and broke my toe. I landed on my butt so hard that night that my hip joints were in pain for weeks.

Anyway, my pelvis was also out of alignment due to the SPD I'd had during pregnancy so he clicked that back into shape, then he realigned all the vertebrae up my spine with a lot of clicking and crunching sounds! He twisted my body into all sorts of shapes to shift everything back into line. A big crack from my chest area made him exclaim 'oh my goodness, it looks like one of your ribs was out of line'. Eeewwwww. But he did the most work on my neck and head. Usually every time I turn my head I can hear crunching sounds in the base of my spine. Those sound have gone now, thank goodness. He clicked my neck and head this way and that, then I felt a tingling warm rush go up the side of my head, which he said was the blood flowing more freely as it had been trapped. Lastly he manipulated the back of my skull in an attempt to relieve me of the migraines I've been suffering with for years.

So I had a big old overhaul and felt very stretchy and limber afterwards. I'm going back next week for my muscle treatment. No idea what that involves, but I'm sure it will be just as interesting.

Nothing like Mum's home cooking

Don't we all love our Mum's home cooking? (It's true that my Mum is an exceptional cook - I'm not sure my own kids would say the same about their Mum!) Anyway, today I spent the morning cooking up Rosie's first batch of baby food. She's only just started having her first few tastes of real food; banana being her favourite so far. She's not having very much every day, just a spoonful or two, but I think it's important that what she does eat is healthy and good for her. And helps her poop! (That's always important - remember your five a day folks!)

So I cooked up various vegetables and fruits and made her some main courses and some desserts. The main courses are all a base of potato, carrot and parsnip, and then I have added cauliflower to some, broccoli to others, courgettes to some more, and asparagus to the other. I made two types of fruit desserts. The first is steamed apple, pear, and strawberry mixed with banana. And the other is banana and raspberry puree. And I must say, they all taste yummy! Let's hope Rosie agrees!

Motivation

It's time to get myself a bit motivated about something. I am trying to get back into nutrition again. As readers of my old blog will know I have been very interested in sprouting and raw foods for many years now. When we ate a lot of sprouts, sunflower greens and raw foods I felt on top of the world and full of energy. I need to start feeling that way again. Instead of sluggish, slow, recently pregnant and tired. If you're not sure what sprouting is, you can read my blog post all about it on my old blog by clicking here. And for a little about eating raw read this blog post.

So today we had our first fresh batch of sprouts which were a detox mix including mung bean, broccoli, clover, beetroot, alfalfa, radish and a few others. Today I've set a jar of clover sprouts to germinate and they will be ready in about 3 days. I love sprouting. It's so refreshing and rejuvenating, and just full of life giving goodness. I got out of the way of it when we were travelling across America, and I really must get into it again. I always feel so much happier when I'm producing good healthy nutrition for my family.

So I've been thinking a lot about what to do to benefit my health at the moment. I want to get back into making my own flour and bread again too. I don't think I have the get-up-and-go this year to get the vegetable garden back in working order. Not with a small baby to look after. Which is a shame because I enjoy the fresh air and I get a real buzz in the summer from spending time in the vegetable garden. It was one of the most beneficial projects I have ever under-taken. I felt so at peace, yet so alive when sitting out in the vegetable garden, pulling up weeds in the summer time. Here is one of my vegetable gardening blog posts, from the good old days! My vegetable garden is now 4 ft tall with weeds. But that's what happens when you leave it all behind to go travelling, and I don't regret that for a second!

So I have ordered two vegan cookbooks. I do like my meat, but I don't like to eat a lot of it. I'm much happier with a mostly vegetarian diet, and I think it's more natural. I have a lot of cool raw food books, but thought a couple of vegan books might inspire me to get back into the kitchen. My kitchen has been taken over by a man. Lol. A man who likes to cook, but likes to eat a lot of meat, and not a lot of veg! It has been nice not having to cook while he's been off work, but I do miss my creativity in the kitchen. I think I will let him cook the main meals while I fiddle around with the raw foods.

So there you have it, I am trying to think positively and to do things to fulfill my life again. I am very cross that I let myself be so affected by someone who obviously didn't give a damn about me in the long run. I must try not to get so hurt by people. But it's never easy. I am what I am. Too caring for my own good half the time. But I am trying to perk myself up before I go into a depression. I have a few good days and then I just feel totally wrecked and sad. I feel sorry for my family when I'm like that. But it's hard to just get out of it.

I have also started a music blog. Well, its just something silly for myself really. A sort of music diary. I tend to use music as therapy and so I've started to document that a bit. Not sure how long I will keep it up for.

Precious people

It's almost 1am and I'm not in bed yet, despite Rosie being tucked up fast asleep in her moses basket. After Rosie and I got home from our trip to England yesterday, I went to bed and didn't get up for 14 hours! I was shattered. I will write another blog post tomorrow all about the rest of our trip. But right now it's a bit too late to start all that.

Rosie has slept almost constantly since we got home. I gave her some Calpol this evening as I think she's feeling a bit under the weather. It's not like her to sleep so much, and she sounds a bit hoarse when she's awake, so I think she might have that sore throat that's going round at the moment. (I've had it for almost 3 weeks now!)

Well the trip to England certainly took my mind off of things for a while. But now that I'm home I'm thinking about what to do next. I need to start something that's going to occupy my brain somewhat. But I'm not sure what yet. A course? A job? Volunteer work? Write a book?

I went to the doctors today. I've been feeling like I did in America just before I ended up in hospital. Although I'm not as bad as I was then, it's certainly progressing that way. I've been choking, coughing, struggling to breath and feeling tight in the neck area. I do get that way at night often, I wake up struggling to breath. But not during the day so much. Lately though it's been happening up to about 30 times in a 24 hour period. So a trip to the doctor was in order. She did the puffer test thing on me to see how good my breath was, and it was dismal. She said I should be reaching about 550 and I was only reaching around 340. So I have new inhalers, powder ones this time, and I have to go back in a month to see if there is any improvement. I do hope it works. My blood pressure was through the roof again though and she's talking about putting me back on medication for that.

After talking to my Mum about it all this evening I'm wondering if it's all anxiety related. No doubt about it, the things that have been happening lately have left me extremely upset and anxious, so maybe she is right. I do have a severe dust allergy and it makes sense that it could also cause asthma, but perhaps it gets worse when I am anxious. I keep dreaming that I can't breath and then wake up feeling like my throats closed over and I'm suffocating. Then I start choking. All rather unpleasant. I do hope it's not anxiety related. I've never been an anxious person before.

Well, as I said I shall write a post tomorrow about the trip. I have some truly precious friends in England and I desperately miss them. Miss C has been a good friend to me through thick and thin for many, many years. And Mrs T never fails to make me laugh and cheer me up. I treasure them both with all my heart and I hope that they know this. I think they do. Thanks for everything girls. I do miss you both so much. xxx