Wow.. I can't believe it has been almost 2 years since I last blogged... well , yes I can actually.. the last time I blogged was just before I was diagnosed with my condition, and my life came to a grinding halt.
Back in Sept 2013, I was diagnosed with Extreme Adrenal Exhaustion, and Mitochondria Dysfunction... and it has been a slow process in healing.. or what seems slow to me.. but I am so much better than I was ... not back to where I used to be (energy wise), but I have faith that that will improve with time.
In Sept 2013, my family and I knew there was something wrong... I was going through something unknown and it scared me.. a lot!!
I was forgetting things big time.. forgetting how to drive (scary), forgetting how to cook and bake..I couldn't carry on conversations, or even follow conversations ... no memory of conversations just a day or two later ... I was forgetting to pay bills.. I was really believed that I was in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.. this was, for sure, biggest fear...
My energy levels were just dropping..I was sleeping hours upon hours, even after sleeping all night..there were some days when I would make myself a mug of tea in the morning, go sit down to wait for it to steep... next thing I knew, I was waking up 4 hours later.. the mug of tea still steeping on the counter.. I had episodes of what I termed being "stupid tired".. it was one thing to be tired, but it was really different being stupid tired.. where in that state of tiredness, NOTHING made sense.. nothing.. for example; looking at a clock and seeing the numbers, and not knowing how to tell what time it was.. or having someone tell me their plans for their day, and I couldn't connect the dots as to why they were doing what they were doing.. it was very frustrating! (thankfully I do not remember my last episode of being stupid tired.. now I just get regular tired and I can still carry on conversations while I am tired)
another issue I was having was that my muscles were taking a long time to recover from non-strenuous exercise... like the time we all went for a short bike ride (we were out less than a half hour), and my leg muscles seized up afterwards... it took 6 days before I could straighten my legs properly to walk without pain.
and being cold...all the time.. there were some days I would be sitting by the fire burning woodstove, and I would still be curled up under a sleeping blanket, or my huge bed comforter..
then there was my moods... arguing .... crying a LOT... being "short" with people without realizing it until it was pointed out to me... anxiety attacks.. my lack of concern for others.. I was a mess.... I totally felt like I was losing my mind, and had no clue how to get control of everything again..
Ron drove me down, and came with me to see my Naturopath Doctor, ... after doing some tests, listening to us describe what my days were like, what my health was like,, and what our fears were.., and passing me kleenex to wipe away my tears..she gave us hope that what I was going through was a fixable health issue... NOT Alzheimer's..
We left her office with some herbal pills and powders, a food plan similar to The Whole 30, and some relaxation and yoga exercises to do... all combined, (body, mind, and spirit) was the start if my healing process.
Fast forward to today...and I am much much better.
My mind is "normal" again.. well for me anyway haha.. my moods are stable again.. I hardly cry anymore, and when I do, there is an actual reason.... my energy is getting better..a couple of years ago, I only had a window of 2 hours per day in which to get everything done before I crashed... now most days I only need an hour in the afternoon to rest (not even sleep, just laying down reboots me)..
I am starting to work on exercising again ... my ND had taken me off all exercise at the beginning of 2014 . then around this time last year, I was able to start "restorative exercise" again..my first month of exercising again, the only pose I was allowed to do was "legs up the wall" yoga pose.. I really had to trust my ND that this "exercise" was going to do anything.. I am glad I kept trusting her.. that pose has been my "go to" exercise when I did not have the energy to do anything else..
after a month I added in rebounding (mini trampoline).. at first it tired me out after 5 minutes (now I can go more than 30 at one time)... after a few months I added in restorative yoga.. and T-Tapp..
lately I have been starting to ride my stationary bike again, but like the rebounding did a year ago, the bike is giving me a challenge.. I have been riding for 20 minutes..but my quads have been giving me trouble... a lot of pain for up to 2 days later...
I went for my first massage therapy session yesterday, and the RMT suggested that I start off really slow on the bike.. 5 minutes on the easiest setting.. so it is baby steps again.. but baby steps have worked in the past, so I put my trust in my RMT that her advice will work
I have had to embrace patience during these past few years.. I cannot rush my body ...otherwise healing takes longer..
that is a short (? haha) summery of my past couple of years.. and now that I do have more energy, the desire to blog has been stirred up in me again.. the first few posts will be about certain days ( I want to make sure they will be in my blog book when I get this years book done up), even though they happened months ago..
