Getting Healthy: Take 2

You could say this is take two, I suppose. You could also say it’s take 200 if you count up all the times I’ve tried to change my lifestyle in the past. It’s either insanity or tenacity…I’m not sure which. What I do know is that, no matter how many times I fail, my health is something I cannot give up on. And so, I continue onward in my resolve to kick the caffeine habit and get well.

Exploring Possible Dishydrosis Triggers

Ok, you know how I said I would have no more soft drinks for at least a week? Yeah, I may have fibbed a bit there. On Sunday, we ended up taking a family excursion, which meant that I would be traveling in the car again. I had more Dr. Pepper. Oops!

In addition to that, I had a good bit of coffee over the weekend. That whole having to stay up all day and all night thing necessitated the heavy use of caffeine. There was really no other option there.

Can you guess what else happened over the weekend?

Know When to Hold, Know When to Fold

I want to apologize for going on hiatus the last couple of days. I’ve not felt well at all and it’s been all I can do to sit up long enough to do my work, much less try to blog. So, that said, I’m a little bit sad, a little bit mad, a little bit frustrated, and a little bit glad. I had to break the cleanse last night.

Now, to be fair, my heart was never in this. I wasn’t doing it because I wanted to; I was doing it because I had to. Because my Coke habit had gotten way out of control, as had my coffee habit. Then the thing with my hands…I’ve been making myself sick and I had to try to undo the damage and get started in the right direction.

However, it looks like that as wonderful as the Master Cleanse was for me last time around, it was not the answer this time. I’ve felt bad the entire time, and yesterday was the worst. If it were just headaches or nausea, I could have dealt with that and continued. But I was severely dizzy all day yesterday. I had to go to town and got scared a couple of times that I might pass out while driving. I made it home fine, but the dizziness only got worse.

Something’s Not Right

Finally, I checked my blood pressure, since I am prone to having lower blood pressure anyway. In fact, I believe the only reason I’m not on low blood pressure medicine is because I smoke and have tons of caffeine. Even with that, my blood pressure stays in the perfectly normal range most of the time. But last night, it was abnormally low—and every time I’d check it after that, I’d just be lower.

My husband and I decided that I must have something to eat to get my blood pressure back up. Knowing that breaking the cleanse the wrong way will result in severe stomach pain and nausea, I thought that maybe just licking on a spoon of peanut butter would help…but I couldn’t get it down. So I opted for a bowl of chicken noodle soup, which has tons of sodium in it. It brought my blood pressure to just within normal ranges, but not much more.

As much as I really wanted to be done with the cleanse, I also didn’t want to give up before it had time to work. Plus, I have all this syrup and just bought a ton more lemons yesterday. So I’ve spent the day trying to rethink my approach, not sure as to whether I should continue or not. Then, about an hour ago, my blood pressure pretty much made the decision for me…it was lower than it was even last night—I could barely stand up properly.

Being Flexible

I’m not entirely sure yet what I’m going to do. All I know is that if I try to continue this cleanse with it bottoming out my blood pressure, I’m going to end up really sick. I have to eat at least a small meal every day. So I think what I’m going to try is to continue drinking the lemonade throughout the day, but allow myself at least one reasonable meal per day. I know I won’t get near the cleansing benefits—I may not get any at all—but it would be stupid to continue in this manner knowing that I could pass out any moment from low blood pressure.

Wellness is a great deal about learning to listen to your body and taking action to give it what it needs. Right now, my body needs food. So, as true to form as it would be for me to beat myself up about failing, I have resolved not to. If the goal is wellness, and this path is leading away from that, then it is not a failure for me to listen to what my body is saying. There is something good that has come from this, though…and I’ll discuss that in another post.

Saltwater Soak for Dishydrotic Eczema and a Rant

Ok, rant first. I was able to sleep for all of 2 hours before my hands started in. This dishydrosis has gone beyond the point of irritating and now has gotten to the point of being flat-out infuriating! Stress supposedly aggravates dishydrotic eczema, yes? And sleep deprivation causes stress, yes? So how on God’s green earth am I supposed to get better from this stuff if it won’t let me sleep?!?!? ARGH!!!!

In addition to the insanity of my hands, I’ve been indescribably thirsty. Since I cannot have my beloved Coke—which I miss sorely, by the way—I’ve been chugging the heck out of some water. This is why I don’t like drinking water…because the more I drink, the thirstier I am. Coke, tea, and coffee don’t do me that way.

Imagine There Being a Witty Title Here

Bleck. Not feeling so hot today. I’m having a hard time thinking well, so creativity has gone out the window. Hence, my apologies for such an underwhelming title. But I did want to at least update…this will probably be a rambly post.

I went to sleep around 11 last night with every intention in the world of sleeping till at least 9 this morning. My hands woke me up at 5:30 with an angry kind of itch. In trying not to actually scratch them, I ended up rubbing them half raw with a towel in an attmept to abate the intensity of the sensation. Excessive weeping ensued. So, as much as I knew it would burn, I thought this was the opportune time for a vinegar soak.

The Master Cleanse and New Beginnings

It took me two hours this morning to get up the gall to do my flush, but once I started I was ok. I’m actually feeling pretty good right now. I’m working on my 10^th glass of lemonade and I only have a mild headache. Of course, I’ve been drinking water like it’s going out of style, too, so I’m wondering if that has helped to minimize the caffeine withdrawal symptoms.

I’m actually just a tad concerned that I’m not feeling like I’m about to die. Don’t get me wrong…I am most grateful that the first day has not been like it was the last time. But at the same time, I should be seriously detoxing from caffeine right now and I feel fine for the most part. So I have to wonder if the worst is yet to come, or worse—the cleanse isn’t doing anything.

The Master Cleanse and Hunger

I was not remotely hungry up until about two hours ago. That’s when the family ate. Grilled cheese sandwiches…and they smelled sooo good. C was originally going to make bacon and eggs, but I gave him a look, while calling him evil, that suggested his life may be at risk if he made me smell bacon cooking right now. ;)

The Saltwater Flush

I purposefully waited to discuss the saltwater flush in detail until today. I wanted to go through the experience again, fresh, so that I could be sure of my feelings about it. They haven’t changed. I do not enjoy this portion of the cleanse overly much.

However, it’s really not as terrible as you might think. The hardest part is getting down a quart of saltwater within a fairly short time. For me, it’s not the saltwater as much as it is that it would be hard for me to chug down a quart of anything within a short period of time. I’m more of a sipper kind of gal.

Getting It Down

I will say this…using very warm water—almost hot—to do the flush is much more pleasant than using cold or lukewarm water. I learned last time that you can easily pretend that the flush is a very salty broth when it’s warm. When it’s not—gag! Also, it’s important to remember that it’s 2 TEAspoons, not 2 tablespoons of seasalt to a quart of water.

Master Cleanse Shopping List

First, let me adamantly state that I loathe to go grocery shopping. It is the bane of my existence and I detest the entire experience. I don’t know if it’s that I’m a semi-recluse, having to fight traffic and rude people, budgeting and spending money, or the insane amount of organization it takes to get the most you can for your money. I suspect it’s all of these things combined with some sort of strange personal quirk, but I digress. Point made.

With that said, today is the day I’m to go shopping for my Master Cleanse supplies. I’ll have to make a few more runs to the local grocery before it’s over to restock on lemons, but everything else I intend to get today. This will include:

Prepping for the Master Cleanse...the WRONG Way

I have two recipes that were my great-grandmother’s: chili and chicken and dumplings. They are a mainstay of my family’s winter menu and I enjoy them much more than I should. This week, I have made both. It’s not that it’s been unusually cold—it’s actually been rather warm for this time of year. But I know that, after Saturday, I won’t be able to enjoy them again for quite some time. So, I indulged.

Master Cleanse Preparation Rachael-Style

A smart person would have taken this week to slowly wean away from caffeine, junk food, and rich dishes—especially if that person had done the cleanse before and knew what the first day is like if you don’t prepare properly. But, I am not a particularly smart person when it comes to things like that.