who only by moving can balance

In Which I Have Adventures In Menstruation.

( Read more... )

• the Lincoln Ostomy Output Consistency Scale (and, relatedly, the Bristol Stool Chart chocolate cake [nb FB link])
• a selection of Journal for Minimally Invasive Gynecology papers (feat. videos of the kind of surgery I'm likely to be having) (which I have not yet watched because logging in is Difficult) [ 1 | 2 ]
• the role of CGRP in hunger signalling (awake at 4 a.m.; had moment of INSIGHT or, well, potential insight)
• the part where heart rate is affected by CGRP, and varies over the course of the menstrual cycle, and unshockingly Does Things during migraine, and I have Fitbit-provided heart rate data since a few weeks before I started having regular migraine attacks, for the purpose of Writing Myself Up...
• thenatureofpaper (WHICH flowers do I want to buy myself. HOW long will I be inpatient. HOW many decorative things is it reasonable for me to take.)
• and, completely unrelatedly, British stick insect populations

I have been intermittently mentioning Issues With Reflux. When last heard from, in early September, I was... working my way up to doing something about it? Working my way up to Doing Something about it.

At the end of September, I got officially bumped up from 20mg omeprazole to 40 mg omeprazole, having merrily done this unsupervised for the week I was at Admin: the LRP, and established that I miraculously did not have symptoms. At that point the conclusion was, okay, bump me up to 40 mg, with the intention of dropping me back down to 20 mg somewhere in the vicinity of four weeks after surgery, with onward referral for endoscopy if that didn't... work.

Then, obviously, surgery was... postponed.

And then! On Monday afternoon I hit the point of "no, this is bad enough I need to go back to the sodding GP", and yesterday morning I filled out an eConsult, and yesterday afternoon I was informed I had been booked a phone appointment for... today. Which, er, is much sooner than I was expecting.

... and it was amazing. I had an absolutely classic Let The Doctors Do Their Damn Job moment: GP expressed Some Concerned Frustration that it was Bizarre that the increased dose had initially worked and then stopped, and hit the point of going "When exactly did you start noticing symptoms again?"

So I told him that it was a few days ago![1] Four or five? And I couldn't think of anything I'd changed -- I was still cutting way back on chilli, still not consuming alcohol, etc etc etc -- the only thing I could even vaguely think of on that timescale, I said, offhandedly, was that I was recovering from my first confirmed case of COVID but couldn't imagine that was relevant --

....... I think I remember reading something about that, says the GP. Let me just go check with Doctor Google...

(Yes. Verbatim. I was DELIGHTED.)

And: BINGO. Apparently there's a study that found increased acidity (lower pH) in the stomach post-COVID infection, getting back to normal for about 98% of people it shows up in around 6-8 weeks post-infection. Higher acidity is, shockingly, associated with more by way of pain and discomfort and General Symptoms.[2]

In the context of I Contain Multitudes, and all the ways our immune systems interact with our biota, and the fact that "hypochlorhydria" ("low stomach acid") lets SARS-CoV-2 pass through the stomach Still Intact, I am now vaguely wondering about the extent to which this constitutes An Immune Response, but I should really attempt to not fall down that particular rabbit hole, at least not tonight...

(Next steps: bump the omeprazole dose up again for a week to try to get things under control; referral for endoscopy being made; please go get these bloods done ASAP because they'll want to see the results. No idea on wait times. And all of this after I'd said "oh! okay then, I'm totally happy to leave it for now and come back in the new year if it's still a problem!" so, like, I'd like to keep this one, thanks, I like this GP.)

[1] In fact I double-checked my notebook after the appointment and discovered that I first noted An Unpleasant And Unwelcome Resurgence Of Reflux on.... 07/10/2024.

[2] So far I've failed to track down the paper -- I think the journal was "BMU" and it was published probably around 2021? But I was absolutely getting Stats, Clearly From An Abstract quoted at me...

[Passing references to nudity.]

( Read more... )

Uncheerfully: I have spent a lot of time hanging around waiting for DHL to maybe consider being less cryptic and more, you know, of a delivery service. Alas the big box of ice cream did not arrive today, and is now marked as returned to sender. What's going to happen next? Who knows! But:

1. I brought home some mulberries, and have Plans for getting more. (Also I ate some plus a custard tart while sat on a bench underneath the tree.)
2. The Child (who I think I have not previously mentioned) asked of its own accord if we were coming to visit today. I am delighted. (We drew trains.)
3. Have Made Arrangements for the Zoladex due to be administered while I am In A Field, so as not to require any of arriving late/leaving site/delaying dose, all of which would be suboptimal.
4. Did a thing with the laptop that would prior to yesterday very definitely have caused it to fall over. It merely thought quite hard. (I am baffled that old laptop Coped Better and need to have a poke around to see what it even contains, then.)
5. Cycled up hill entirely in middle gear for First Time Ever, which I am Very Proud Of, and which continues to convince me that whatever it is that is Wrong in my hips probably involves the gluteus medius. Which means I can work on improving it.

(I have been asked about this elseweb and want a static place to link to!)

( more detail )

Admin: the LRP episode 1 is coming up faster than, I think, anyone would probably like. The plantar fasciopathy flare I set off last summer is still grumbling along, at a low enough level that I've been ignoring the bonus extra physio for it buuut it reliably flares every time I increase the amount of time I'm spending on my feet. Which I will definitely be doing in a field.

So I have taken a deep breath and Started Doing My Sodding Bonus Physio and have, at least, discovered that some driftwood I picked up in Cornwall for possible crating purposes is exactly right for doing The Most Important Exercise After Leg Stretches (heel lifts with toes dorsiflexed), which is making even getting started much less aversive, so I'm now trying to build in doing a set of those every other time I get up to pace.

The other thing I am trying to do is sort out actually managing to keep up the whole "Pilates three times a week" thing while... spending a week in a field. I definitely feel better for doing it in the short as well as the medium term, and it's also a Very Useful Way for me to make sure I take (and for that matter model taking) Actual Breaks. Like, only two of them, and only an hour each, but still. Alas the scheduling challenge is not the only logistical issue: there is also the minor matter of needing a flat, rigid surface I can put a mat on, that isn't any of (i) underfoot, (ii) two feet off the ground so I can roll dramatically off it while pretending to be a seal, and for that matter (iii) something that will be damaged by me pretending to be a seal, thus causing other departments more work and aggravation. Plus, you know, ideally under cover, so that when it rains...

The ISO containers I have any claim to are both unsuitable, for reasons. I have been asking around a bit and have an offer from someone to bring an extra Big Bit Of Plywood I could just dump on grass, which is mildly suboptimal for reasons. One of the other departments has said "hmm, I think we might be able to help"; depending on how that works out I have a shortlist of people to mug for van keys (at the top of which is "big boss I hassled into getting physio"). I am mildly trepidatious and definitely intending to shift forward from my usual Tues-Thurs-Sat pattern (which gives me slack if I have to miss a day) to Mon-Wed-???Fri, which would let me do one session at home, one session before any players and most crew arrive, and one to fit in Somewhere during the event proper. For bonus points I am planning to repeat the Executive Decision I made last time I was away from home for a week, of "cool so I'm doing the Essentials sequence only", which actually takes me closer to half an hour than 45 minutes. I am sure I will waffle further once these theories have been applied.

Meanwhile, some things that are making me happy this evening: scrolling through the bokumondoh back catalogue; getting a double batch of rice pudding started; excellent information about a Relevant Toddler's ongoing indoctrination into The Banana Discourse, which I started last week (A opens bananas from the wrong end. the child wanted two bananas opened.)

1. Have received text message with delivery window for tomorrow's migraine meds acquisition process.
2. Relatedly: A accompanied me on a Stupid Little Walk this evening, in the rain and the (blessed) dark, and we have acquired both Trifle and Cheesecake. (Probably this time round it will be the Cheesecake, rather than the Trifle, of Positive Reinforcement. I am trying to not turn the misery trifle into an aversive stimulus.)
3. Two loaves of bread ready to be baked tomorrow morning (one for normal purposes, one specifically to make bread-and-butter-pudding for A's birthday this weekend).
4. Very expensive slippers, still. I am consistently capable of having actually warm feet (well, except when I am in bed, where slippers are Not Allowed, by myself, i.e. without a hot water Adam; whereupon I engage in mild contortions so as to wind up lying on my back with my legs crossed and my feet tucked into the crooks of my knees). I actually had to swap to Less Warm Slippers while trudging during my Duolingo this evening. (Current routine involves Less Warm Slippers first thing while I'm dragging myself through the shower and physio that works better with bare feet, then swapping to Warmer Slippers once I'm done with wanting to get them on and off repeatedly.)
5. I continue to accumulate evidence for my theory of endometrioma-induced chronic migraine. (This is a good thing insofar as treating myself as an experiment entertains me, and also Being Right provides The Illusion Of Control. Obviously the actual data collection isn't much fun.)
6. I have discovered that fruit bat Experiences are a thing.
7. I utterly failed to work my way through Bruce D. Perry's video/seminar series on developmental trauma + COVID-19 back when the relevant central list was still up on the main neurosequential model website, but it was archived and the videos are still live on YouTube, so I'm starting to work my way through those while Doing Mending now that I have actually read (and got on very well with) The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog.

The best explanation I can come up with for this evening's Symptoms is "I suppose I get abdominal migraines now", and: no. Really REALLY not the time. Please make an appointment; we are scheduling in February.

Had, for afternoon tea, (1) a toasted teacake and (2) a mug of weak jasmine tea. I was not specifically craving caffeine-as-tea, but wanted to double-check whether I could safely drink it in small quantities given that I seem to tolerate it in the context of the specific cravings!

And have spent the rest of the afternoon-into-evening twitchy, tense, constantly on the edge of tears or hyperventilation or both, and generally suffering from a creeping sense of dreadful foreboding. In, er, exactly the way all past data suggests was entirely predictable.

Nonetheless: alas.