I have Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Yep. It's true. When all my labs came back negative from my GP, she referred me to a rheumatologist. My reheumatologist did an exam, more labs, and more xrays. And I have Rheumatoid Arthritis.

I'm thankful to have an answer.

I'm thankful to be able to start treatment to slow the progression of the disease before any real damage is done so the damage can be delayed.

I'm thankful for a quick diagnosis. Sometimes it takes a couple years to diagnose.

I'm thankful that low impact exercise helps loosen my joints.

I'm thankful that this disease will make me slow down and take life at a slower pace.

I am thankful that the medication used to treat this disease most likely won't make me gain weight.

I'm thankful that my broken body will reveal God's glory.

I am thankful for this disease.

6 month check up

Looks like it's been about 6 months since I blogged here. The last blog post pretty much sums up the last 6 months. I had my sleep study: I have sleep apnea. I now have a CPAP I lovingly named Fergie. I'm still tired. I still hurt. I did a candida cleanse because I thought I had a candida yeast overgrowth. I'm pretty sure I did. The cleanse took care of that. I'm still tired. I still hurt. As part of the cleanse I cut out all gluten and dairy (and a host of other things) and I stayed gluten and dairy free for 2 months. Then I finally went to the Dr. because I am still tired and I still hurt. The pain has just been getting worse, and I seem to have a lot of things going on that might all be related. It was time to see the Dr. I had a chest x-ray to check for sarcoidosis (which my mom has, though her chest x-rays have always been clear) and it was fine. I had a rheumatoid panel done on my blood. It was normal. I do have a vitamin D deficiency, but I'm on supplements to help that. I get rechecked in about a month. After all of that came back normal, my Dr. put me back on gluten to see if I have celiac disease. I had that blood work done yesterday and should hear the results soon.

Today I'm exhausted. I went to bed at 9 last night and got up at 5:15 this morning. I've been going to Jazzercise 6 times a week. I'm still tired. I still hurt. I'm still gaining weight. I did manage to lose about 12 lbs while on the candida cleanse, but then I plateaued at 12 lbs. And then at least half of that decided to climb back on while I was on gluten. WHILE I was burning an extra 2400+ calories a week through exercise. Today it's all I can do to function. I'm moving in slow motion. I'm grumpy as all can be. Actually, I'm referring to myself as "angry and sad" today. I'm mostly sad (which is weird, because I have nothing to be sad about, except that my head hurts and I just don't have the energy to muster an emotion beyond sad) with occasional bursts of irrational angry. I don't know where the anger is coming from, but all I want to do is scream. It's strange. And annoying.

That pretty much sums up where I'm at. My house has settled into a functional disaster. I hate it. I want to get up and clean and have a happy, sparkling home! The most I can muster is clearing the table. Occasionally.

According to my Dr, the fatigue and chronic pain could be auto-immune. It could be vitamin D related. It could be celiac. It could just be my stupid hormones.

I requested copies of my medical records so I could see if there were trends over the years that could give me some answers. I should be getting those soonish. It would be nice to have answers. Yes, answers would be nice.

In pondering what is causing the fatigue and pain, I thought that perhaps it's the flouride in my water. I'm not sure I drink enough water for the flouride to be a problem, but the crazies out there think that could be it. But, then, I'd have to go buy a fancy water filter and use it. Meh. As of today I'm back off gluten and dairy, so maybe I'll start to feel better, celiac or not.

I'm so tired... all the time.

I don't know why I'm so tired all the time. But I am. I tried to get up this morning to go to Jazzercise. I woke up to my alarm... at 5:50. Why didn't it go off at 5:15? Who knows. Maybe it did and I snoozed it. Sigh. But Jazzercise starts at 5:45, so I missed it.

I'm tired. and my back hurts. And I want to exercise, but I'd rather eat. Or sit here and do nothing. I don't really know what to do with all this tired.

I suppose I should do things like schedule the sleep study I have a referral for. Or get to bed at the same time every night so I can wake up at the same time every morning. Sigh.

Some weight loss math...

I don't know what I weigh. I don't want to step on the scale. But for math's sake, let's assume I'm 160 lbs. I'm hoping that's high. But it might not be. Blegh.

If we assume I'm 160 lbs, my BMI is 31.24. That's officially obese. Blegh again.

According to a magic calculator at Self magazine, I burn approximately 400 calories at Jazzercise.

I eat 200 calories at breakfast.

I have about 300 calories for lunch.

I have about 350 calories for snack if I eat a tube of nuts.

That leaves me between 350 and 500 calories for dinner.

Sigh.

I hate calorie counting. But I also hate that I am gaining weight. I don't want to be this weight and the only way I've ever gotten weight to drop off is by counting calories and exercising.

So here we go...

I am going to try to limit myself to 1400 calories a day for this week, Monday through Friday. I am going to try to go to Jazzercise Monday through Thursday. I am going to weigh myself tomorrow.

And now I am going to bed. We'll see where tomorrow takes us.

Today I stepped on the scale...

... and found myself a little lighter. I weighed in at 153.4. That's 2 lbs down!

Lemon Blueberry Shake

1/2 C Greek Yogurt
1 Probiotic Shot
1/2 C Quinoa (cooked)
1 Leaf Kale
1 C Frozen Blueberries
1/4 C Lemon Juice

I forgot the banana... =(

Calories - 367.7
Fat - 43.3
Carbs - 66.9
Fiber - 10
Sugar - 23.7
Protein - 20.9

Measurements - Post Wrap

Last night I did a body wrap (Mary Kay Cellu-Shape Night Gel, saran wrap, heating blanket)

Here are the measurements in the areas I applied the wrap...

Left thigh - 24.5 in (-1)
Right thigh - 23.5 (-1)
Waist smallest part - 31.5 (-.5)
Hips below butt - 39
Hips around largest part of butt - 40.5
Waist belly button - 35 (-1)
Chest below bust - 31

So there's no change around my hips, but the rest of my measurements lost between .5 and 1 inch in just one application. Crazy! Not only that, but my skin is super soft! I'm going to have to keep trying this, though it's easier (for how weird it looks) while Leif is gone. LOL!