I'b god a code

So what do I do?

In the past, whenever I had a cold, I treated myself to a large, steaming mug of tea with a teaspoon of lemon juice and two teaspoons of sugar.  Without the sugar, I can't quite do the lemon juice.

I'd begin the day with pancakes (or crepes) so that I could swallow down many tablespoons of lovely maple syrup.  Oooooh, that felt good.

Later, I'd make a batch of rice pudding.  With white rice, no less.  I'd cook the white rice and milk until the rice was just about to disintegrate, add a couple tablespoons of brown sugar, sprinkle with cinnamon, and nutmeg.  I'd throw in a handful of raisins.  Atop each serving I'dd add more raisins, more brown sugar.  Pecans.  Cream. Carbs, carbs, carbs, and cream.

Without carbs I'm drinking plain black tea.  I've had an Airborne (didn't check the carbs on that) and will eat my usual cottage cheese and fruit breakfast.

What else is good to eat when a lo-carb eater has a cold?

Freedom from Caffiene

I didn't think I was consuming that much caffiene. (For the record - one cup of coffee in the mornings. One glass of diet soda at lunchtime. One or two mugs of strong black tea in the afternoon and/or evening.)

Maybe the amount is irrelevant; maybe I just have problems with it. But drinking just the one cup of black tea each morning yields some surprising results. First, I'm tired by 9:30 p.m. Second, I sleep extremely well. And third, I think my headaches are milder. I still get them, but nothing severe lately. Fourth, when I do get a headach, I'm not sleeping the day away trying to get rid of it. Finally, I'm getting up earlier and earlier and have much more time for my daily activities.

I'm in my last few days of treatment and feel great. No more sore throat and no stomach upset. I don't know if I will be taking Prilosec daily or just with Axert - need to call the doctor's office and ask.

Healing is Such Sweet Sorrow....

Huh? Sorry to be healing? Did I say that?

Sad, but true. Now that my stomach is healing - I don't experience any more "stomach-ache" pain and have very little sore throat pain - and I am half-way through treatment, my appetite is back. So I'm hungry.....and can't eat much of anything.

Rice pudding is divine when you're in pain and can't eat anything else.....but once you're feeling better, you begin to wish for things like garlic and lemon and pickles and salsa. Oh, well.

On a happier note, I am down to a single cup of hot tea in the morning and perhaps one more later in the day. I try to make that later one herbal, though. Might as well take advantage of this opportunity to experience life without caffiene. If it's helpful, well, that's the cheapest migraine treatment ever. If it's not helpful, I can pretty easily stop treatment.

I always knew it would happen....

I always knew I was at risk for developing an NSAID ulcer. But when I got that awful stomach ache, spent a sleepless night, and got the diagnosis ("You must stop taking Aleve until this has healed."), I wondered....did it have to happen like this?

For the record, symptoms of a developing NSAID ulcer, which I did not experience, are...

Stomach pain, which one site describes this way:

• feels like a dull ache
• comes and goes for a few days or weeks
• starts 2 to 3 hours after a meal
• comes in the middle of the night when your stomach is empty
• usually goes away after you eat

Other symptoms are:

• losing weight
• not feeling like eating
• having pain while eating
• feeling sick to your stomach
• vomiting

I didn't have any of these symptoms. I did have a sore throat (which I chalked up to allergies), occasional illnesses which seemed like a very mild cold or flu, and of course an Aleve habit that I should have monitored more closely.

The symptoms I did experience were more like this: the sensation that my stomach had swelled to twice its normal size. A sudden sore throat more intense - I had a serious aversion to swallowing - than either mono or strep, both of which I recall as quite painful. Chills and night sweats. Discomfort that prevented me from sleeping at night, followed by lengthy daytime naps. (Which of course gave me a headache, which I had to treat without Aleve or caffiene!)