Asthma Update

Asthma update:

Thought I'd give an update on how I'm doing with my asthma, what I have been doing and what meds I am currently taking for this wonderful illness that takes the breath away of so many people.  This is mostly for me to help me track how I am feeling, what I have been doing lately and to help keep track of the timelines to see what changes I make that might help my breathing.

How my asthma has been lately:  

Well, the weather the last few days aren't fun (100 degrees or more) and take a toll on my lungs but I am hanging out in the a/c most of the day.  The only time I notice the imaginary hands around my next are when I am outside and the humidity is high.  Today is probably the tightest my chest has felt lately but it is tolerable and on the very low end of what the pain level was on a daily basis just a few months ago.  We have day care kids that are coughing at the moment and when you combine their colds with me it usually ends up with me getting sick.  I'm always a bit on edge when it comes to people coughing just because I get sick so fast and kids usually cough right on me or touch everything after they cough so the germs are sure to spread.  I am crossing my fingers, washing my hands lots and spraying Lysol like it's going out of style.  We also have an air quality warning for yesterday and today.  It's just a good time to stay inside.  :)

What I'm doing differently:  

starting a few months ago I changed some eating habits after reading an article about someone who had asthma symptoms and got relief from eliminating certain things, mainly pastas and breads.  (I can't find the article now but did get the info from one of the women with Girls Gone Strong.  You can find more info about this group here...it's a Facebook link).  For the majority of the time I drink no pop, I have cut out breads and pastas and have limited the amount of processed foods that I eat quite a bit.  Every day isn't 100% perfect but I have made great strides from what I used to consume.

Meds I currently take:  

only my inhaler as needed.  In the last three weeks I have used my inhaler about 5 times and this was just before, during or while I was exercising.  I quit taking my daily steroid three weeks ago.  A few months ago I quit taking Singulair.

My Goal:

my plan was to be off of my Singulair by the fall.  Because of the cost of this drug I quit it earlier than I had planned.  Honestly, I was pretty scared to be off of it because I really didn't want to get bronchitis again or worse, end up in the ER like last time because I was dehydrated.  I will continue to use the steroid daily when I am having trouble.  I have found that this helps me re-cooperate faster and sometimes is the only way that the coughing actually stops.  My current goal is to be bronchitis and pneumonia free for a year.  I have 4 more months and then I will reach this goal!  The real test will be the fall...when the weather starts to change from hot temps to the colder temps.  My lungs historically have always had a problem with this time frame.  :)

Do you suffer from asthma symptoms?  I would love to hear your comments...what works best for you, what medicine you take, what natural remedies out there might work as well?

"The Right Dose"...Jessica's Journey, February 11th

The number of things that a mom does each day really could qualify as a degree in a number of different things; pharmacist, chef, teacher, police officer, taxi driver, maid...the list really is never ending.  

All these different roles that we have as moms can lead us to forgetting one of the most important things...taking care of ourselves.

A few years ago I was unhappy.  I was so overweight and I just felt miserable.  I didn't want to see a picture of myself, be in a picture or go by a mirror.  I had zero energy for my kids and family which meant that I had zero energy for doing anything that I wanted to do.  I ate horrible things, put horrible stuff in my body on a regular basis and never made time to try to make myself better.  I was 60+ pounds of pure fat heavier than I am now.  My BMI was way above what it should have been.  I just felt gross and yucky.

Until one day...

Somewhere deep inside of me I wanted to change.  I think the words "you may need a hip replacement" was ringing in my ears and somewhere sparked the desire to see things differently.  I didn't want to accept that this was the outcome for me.  I didn't want to go down the path of needing parts of my body replaced when I was still in my early 30's.  Why were the doctors telling me all of this and yet not telling me what was so obvious...that I needed to lose weight?

Now I love the gym.  I love being able to get a workout in before my family wakes up and before my work starts for the day.  I have to think of this as a second job though.  I am learning that the right dose of the gym is 5 to 6 times a week with at least an hour or more of working out that includes heavy weights, intervals, and some cardio.  If I don't have a priority on this I know that I will one day hear those words "hip replacement" again.  I know that if I don't change the behavior that my BMI will again be very high and in an unhealthy zone.

The right dose of food is something that I struggle with constantly.  Why oh why do we have to have restaurants, yummy chocolate things that are so delicious and companies that make processed foods?  I am trying to eat more fruits and vegetables and am learning to like more and more.  I am working on swapping out some foods for others but still have those moments where I would just love to go eat some ice cream or brownies.  I have started writing on the side of the blog foods that I am learning to love.  2 years ago I don't think I was eating any of these foods.  Before I was eating bags of potato chips, now I will eat Greek yogurt.  I detested the word and thought of salad.  Now I try to sneak in spinach in various places...even in the pizza sauce that we made last night!  

Taking care of myself is a struggle at times but I am learning what my body needs, have seen a lot of changes and am still learning what I need to do and when.  

At the moment I am in the middle of the biggest asthma attacks that I have had since October.  Yesterday was a very rough day.  Today is better but has the possibility of taking that corner and becoming a horrible day.  I am constantly trying to figure out the right dose of medicine that I should take for this breath taking illness and am trying to find non-medicated ways to help with this illness too.  On days like today this is what I pump into my body just so I can take in a breath that many people don't even realize that they are taking:

• inhaler at least every 4 hours (my body knows when that 4 hours is almost up.  I am able to take just shallow breaths and am coughing a lot by the end of that 4 hours)
• steroid inhaler before I go to bed
• Singulair before I go to bed
• this little pearls that I swallow every few hours throughout the day to help keep the coughing a minimum. These can make me dizzy though so during the work week I only take them at night.  On weekends...I have them several times throughout the day.
• warm drinks & soft foods for my throat.  During these wonderful attacks my throat gets really irritated from all of the coughing.
• water, water, water
• rest...meaning I don't get to go to the gym until I can talk without coughing again.  

Today I have my pharmacist hat on and my mom hat has been put to the side.  There are a lot of mom duties that I should be doing on a Saturday but I have to rest and just lay down as much as possible while I can and keep my talking to a minimum.  I am trying not to dwell on the fact that I didn't get to go lift weights this morning but the thought is in my head constantly today.  Two days now in a row that I wasn't able to go.  

The right dose of everything that we need in life takes trial and error.  Today is a trial and error day.  If I keep on doing the right dosages of medicine, the right amount of talking, the right amount of rest...I should be back to the right dose of exercising soon.

Jessica's Journey...November 29th

I am slowly realizing that the scale is just throwing a number out there and really isn't showing how healthy or unhealthy I am.

I know the range for where I should be in order to be in the ideal range for my bmi.  I have to tell you though, just so you have an idea how far away I am from those numbers...to get to the lowest amount in the range that is "ideal" I have to lose 67 pounds.  67 pounds, people!  I just lost about 65 pounds...I don't really think I have another 65 pounds on me to get rid of without starting to take my organs out and passing them on to those that might need them.  The high part of the range...before I head into that "overweight" number, I have to lose a minimum of 27 pounds.  I know I have more weight on my body that shouldn't be there.  27 pounds...not real sure about that.  In high school, when I played basketball and volleyball I weighed 10 pounds more than that highest number on my "ideal" range.  Can't say that my diet of Mt. Dew and Snickers was a healthy way to start my day though back then.

So, are the bmi calculations actually realistic?  I have no idea.  But, I can tell you what I do know.  My body has never, ever (even in high school) been a body that is on the smaller side and I don't know that I have ever been in the "ideal" range for bmi other than when I was born 3 weeks early.  I am not built to be a size 0...or even an 8.  I have always been tall.  Even as a kid I was usually the tallest one in my class.  Now, this tall thing works pretty well because I can still see my kids when they are on a stage and I am somewhere in the back watching them. :)

I work out at the gym 5 to 6 times a week for the last year.  I actually joined a gym almost 2 years ago to this day.  I work hard!  I'm not one of those that is at the gym and just walking on the treadmill or riding a bike while reading a book.  (I even see people on the treadmill reading books...how do they do that?...ok, I won't get into that right now...another blog post someday).  I lift weights and I am now starting to see some baby biceps.  Yes, that's my word for them.  Don't laugh.  :)

My weight has not changed more than 2 to 5 pounds...back and forth...in about the last 6 months.  I have still managed to go down in sizes though even without the change on the scale.

I have been tied up with the numbers on the scale and I know a lot of women are.  Reality though...that number on the scale isn't who you really are.  That number on the scale isn't telling anyone how much muscle you have compared to fat.  The flash of digits is not the true you.

Instead of looking at numbers to determine if you are feeling good and healthy, ask yourself these questions instead:

• when you walk up a flight of stairs, do you get winded?
• do you have a fruit and/or vegetable every time that you eat something?
• are you drinking enough water?  Sometimes that feeling of hungry is actually you being thirsty.  
• when you are carrying in the groceries, what is too heavy...a 12 pack of pop, gallon of milk, 24 pack of pop or none of those?  How many gallons of milk can you carry with one hand? 
• do you choose fatty cuts of meat or have you transitioned to include lean choices, such a ground turkey?

I read an interesting blog today and thought I would pass this information along.  I will post the article below or you can look at the article here...yeah, just click here.  :)

MAKING WEIGHT

November 20th, 2011 | Author: Rachel Cosgrove

Every once in awhile someone will ask me – “I know it doesn’t matter but I’m just curious…and you don’t have to answer me but how much do you weigh?” or recently one of our clients whose husband also comes to the gym said, “So, last night at my house we were discussing how much we thought you weighed…”

Me, in disbelief – “My weight was the topic of conversation over dinner at your house last night?!?!?!??!”

“Well, yeah…because I think you’re probably in the 130’s…are you?”

“Ha, Ha. Me? 130 pounds?!?!?!”

As much as I try to de-emphasize the scale and what you weigh people are still determined to put emphasis on it focused on what # do I need to weigh to look the way I want to look. I always debate whether I should share what I weigh knowing that they are comparing themselves to me but usually when I do share what my weight is (which I don’t always know because it isn’t something I focus on) they are surprised that I weigh as much as I do. In fact, my grandma who doesn’t understand the concept of muscle weighing more every single time I see her says- “I can’t believe that tiny body weighs so much!” “Um, thanks Grandma…I’ll take that as a compliment…”

This past week I was extremely focused on my weight because I had to “make weight” for the powerlifting competition I was competing in. Why did I have to make weight? The weight classes were Under 165 pounds or Under 148 pounds. My weight is usually around 155 pounds (Not 135 pounds like people seem to think!) so I am right between these two classes. If I stayed put I’d be in the 165’s and I knew there was a girl in that class who already held all of the records and could lift a lot more than I could. Being the competitive person I am I knew if I dropped my weight by 7 pounds I wouldn’t be against her and would have a shot at making a few records and winning the GOLD.

Here’s the crazy thing – My husband (who has had a lot of experience helping fighters “make weight”) knew he could manipulate my weight by loading and depleting my water to drop the 7 pounds no problem. Little did I know what exactly he meant by that and what all was involved but it should have been a hint when he said- “You have to do everything I tell you to and you can’t be mad at me or cry…and I’ll help you make the weight.” Sounds extreme but I can handle it! The few weeks before the competition I was confident in my husband’s knowledge to help me do what I needed to do to make weight so, although I should have, I didn’t try to drop a few pounds first but instead had a weekend in Vegas and then the week before we enjoyed our usually Saturday night splurge of Pizza and on Sundays in the winter time we go to the local pub for roast dinner with potatoes and gravy and of course a Guinness…so come Monday before my competition my weight had creeped up to 157. Usually I would not even know this because the last time you should weigh yourself is right after a splurge. All I know is that I can get away with a few splurges a week and maintain my jean size which is all that usually matters to me. I knew the couple pounds was bloat from my recent splurges but I had to be 148 or under by Saturday. Can you drop almost 10 pounds in a week? My husband said he can do it but again I can’t be mad at him and can’t cry…this is not going to be fun…(disclaimer: do not try this at home)

I ate clean and drank my water and got back to 155 by Wednesday dropping the splurge bloat. Then we started to load my water and then deplete by Friday I was at 152 pounds but that meant I still had to lose 4 pounds by the next morning! No way!

How I spent my Friday night…submerged completely under a hot bath (only my face showing), then sitting up in the bath sweating like crazy, then sauna style wrapped in two robes and a towel on my head sweating even more. This sequence took about 20 minutes the first round (again disclaimer: do not try this at home). I’ve done a lot of physically challenging things including completing an Ironman and this was one of the TOUGHEST things I have ever done! I had conversations in my head of – “I can’t do this. I have to get out of here.” Then I’d talk myself back down- “Breathe. You can do this…”

What did that do? I dropped 2 pounds of water! I did one more round taking about 15 minutes and finished Friday night where I needed to be at 148 pounds. Saturday morning on an empty stomach I was 147 pounds- I had lost 10 pounds in one week. My body was EXACTLY the same (did you catch that? EXACTLY THE SAME) and remember it was temporary! Just because the scale said a certain # didn’t mean anything had changed.

Immediately after I stepped off the scale I started a regimented refueling schedule of Gatorade, protein, and high sodium foods getting my body back to my normal weight before competing.

One of our clients (who is super fit and looks amazing) at the competition heard me talking about what I had done and she said – “I want to do that.” “Why?” “So I can drop that much weight.” “Why?” “To be down on the scale.”

Really?!?!?! Why would you put yourself through THAT just to see a number on the scale for one moment. It amazes me that no matter what, people still put so much emphasis on the # on the scale. They can look fit and be in phenomenal shape and still want to see a certain # on the scale.

I hope this blog post illustrates how you can manipulate the scale to get it to say what you want (it’s not easy but it can be done) but it doesn’t mean your body has changed at all. I didn’t lose any fat this week or add any muscle. My body is the same and could lift the same amount of weight and wear the same jeans it could wear a week ago when I was 10 pounds heavier. Plus within a few hours of stepping on the scale I was back to weighing what I weighed a week ago.

Stop putting so much emphasis on the scale and enjoy your fit, healthy body!

Oh and it was all worth it…I got the GOLD!

My workout today:
This was a day of rest for me.  My body was very tired and just not feeling good today...and I was up a lot with Quinn last night.  No gym for me today.  I will try again tomorrow morning.
I have been doing really well with my asthma meds though and compared to yesterday morning, when it felt like someone was started to sit on my chest again, that feeling is almost gone.  I know I still have a few days where I really have to watch how I take in air and cough.  I am so glad when that feeling goes away.  It is so hard to explain that feeling to someone who doesn't understand.  But, I really feel like I can take a breath now and it has been a few years since I have felt that way.