Monday, November 07, 2005
Notes on coping and (pineapple) tidbits....
My Fibrohugs newsletter had a new article about how fibromyalgia complicates one's ability to cope with stress. Check it out:
Vicious Cycle of Fibromyalgia and Emotional Impact: What to Do?
Guess my emotional outbursts on this blog are normal, then, heh heh.
Update on Chip D. Dog: he gets his stitches out tomorrow! Yayyyyyyyy! He has been driving us CRAZY with the funnel head thing! I have bruises on my shins from where he has continually run into me; he has even swung into me so hard a few times that he knocked me down. Some of the walls have marks on them. We've tried taking the collar off occasionally and just watching him really closely, but the minute your eyes leave him, he starts chewing on the stitches on his back! Two of the incisions got infected; Dan had to put Neosporin on them several times. The big incision on Chip's chest where they removed the tumor has been itching him like mad; he couldn't reach it to lick it, but he could scratch it with his back leg when the collar wasn't on. And then Chip would get so mad at having to wear the Elizabethan collar that he would just stare at me and lick the inside of the collar. I'm really hoping that after the stitches are out we can get back to normal and he can play with his toys and fit through the dog door again.
I'm having adventures in figuring out what the hell to eat. As I mentioned last week, because my gastroparesis escalated to the point of not being able to keep anything down, the gastroenterologist wants me to go back to a restrictive diet with no meat, very little fruit, and no veggies unless they're pureed. The basic gastroparesis diet consists of broth and saltines. Well, because of the celiac disease, I can't eat wheat, rye, barley or oats, and most broth and saltines contain wheat. So I must make reasonable substitutions like rice-based items. My other problem with the restrictions is that I have to keep my glucose levels stable because of the diabetes. I must have protein, and with meat being a no no, that leaves me with eggs, dairy (THANK GOD I'm not lactose intolerant on top of everything else!!) and peanut butter. Of course, what am I gonna put peanut butter on? If I ever get some money coming in, I will venture out to the (highly expensive) health food store and look into some gluten free bread I might like and see if there is such a thing as gluten free pitas or something to put hummus and feta cheese on. The other big diabetic issue is carbs. Rice is very high carb, so I can't eat much without raising my glucose levels. That's why diabetics are told to eat lots of fruits and veggies, to pad their meals with more food and fewer carbs. So I'm gonna have to drink V-8 at least once a day to get some veggies.
In spite of all my whining, though, I did venture out to the grocery store and bought white and sweet potatoes (I can have them if they're mashed), low fat cheeses and milk, lots of High Protein Boost and rice snacks. And I'm going back to the foods I got sooooo burned out on when I was first diagnosed with gastroparesis: cottage cheese and nonfat plain yogurt. I did find some gluten free graham crackers that taste only vaguely of sawdust. I'm having to go back to doing the math to figure out the protein and carbs for a proper diabetic meal. For example, I just finished eating a half cup of lowfat cottage cheese, a half cup of canned pineapple tidbits, and a serving and a half of the pseudo grahams. And I WILL at long last learn how to make decent mashed potatoes! For some reason, I've never gotten the hang of it. Once I master the basics, I may try to move up the gourmet scale and make garlic mashed. And I e-mailed my sister and asked her for a recipe she has for a crustless pumpkin pie, which I will make for Dan and me for Thanksgiving. So I AM trying, I'm just kinda grumbly about it, heh heh.
That's all the news for now.
Vicious Cycle of Fibromyalgia and Emotional Impact: What to Do?
Guess my emotional outbursts on this blog are normal, then, heh heh.
Update on Chip D. Dog: he gets his stitches out tomorrow! Yayyyyyyyy! He has been driving us CRAZY with the funnel head thing! I have bruises on my shins from where he has continually run into me; he has even swung into me so hard a few times that he knocked me down. Some of the walls have marks on them. We've tried taking the collar off occasionally and just watching him really closely, but the minute your eyes leave him, he starts chewing on the stitches on his back! Two of the incisions got infected; Dan had to put Neosporin on them several times. The big incision on Chip's chest where they removed the tumor has been itching him like mad; he couldn't reach it to lick it, but he could scratch it with his back leg when the collar wasn't on. And then Chip would get so mad at having to wear the Elizabethan collar that he would just stare at me and lick the inside of the collar. I'm really hoping that after the stitches are out we can get back to normal and he can play with his toys and fit through the dog door again.
I'm having adventures in figuring out what the hell to eat. As I mentioned last week, because my gastroparesis escalated to the point of not being able to keep anything down, the gastroenterologist wants me to go back to a restrictive diet with no meat, very little fruit, and no veggies unless they're pureed. The basic gastroparesis diet consists of broth and saltines. Well, because of the celiac disease, I can't eat wheat, rye, barley or oats, and most broth and saltines contain wheat. So I must make reasonable substitutions like rice-based items. My other problem with the restrictions is that I have to keep my glucose levels stable because of the diabetes. I must have protein, and with meat being a no no, that leaves me with eggs, dairy (THANK GOD I'm not lactose intolerant on top of everything else!!) and peanut butter. Of course, what am I gonna put peanut butter on? If I ever get some money coming in, I will venture out to the (highly expensive) health food store and look into some gluten free bread I might like and see if there is such a thing as gluten free pitas or something to put hummus and feta cheese on. The other big diabetic issue is carbs. Rice is very high carb, so I can't eat much without raising my glucose levels. That's why diabetics are told to eat lots of fruits and veggies, to pad their meals with more food and fewer carbs. So I'm gonna have to drink V-8 at least once a day to get some veggies.
In spite of all my whining, though, I did venture out to the grocery store and bought white and sweet potatoes (I can have them if they're mashed), low fat cheeses and milk, lots of High Protein Boost and rice snacks. And I'm going back to the foods I got sooooo burned out on when I was first diagnosed with gastroparesis: cottage cheese and nonfat plain yogurt. I did find some gluten free graham crackers that taste only vaguely of sawdust. I'm having to go back to doing the math to figure out the protein and carbs for a proper diabetic meal. For example, I just finished eating a half cup of lowfat cottage cheese, a half cup of canned pineapple tidbits, and a serving and a half of the pseudo grahams. And I WILL at long last learn how to make decent mashed potatoes! For some reason, I've never gotten the hang of it. Once I master the basics, I may try to move up the gourmet scale and make garlic mashed. And I e-mailed my sister and asked her for a recipe she has for a crustless pumpkin pie, which I will make for Dan and me for Thanksgiving. So I AM trying, I'm just kinda grumbly about it, heh heh.
That's all the news for now.
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