Is anyone sick of these yet?  I hope not.  This is real life.  The ugly boring repetitive tasks that we do over and over … often poorly, in order to improve our lives.  This is it!

As always, I’m going to review what I’ve been focusing on this week and what went right or wrong as well as what I will work on next week.

Where was my focus this week?

I found that I had very little energy outside of work this week.  I haven’t had much for coughing spells this week, which is a much-appreciated change.  Due to the lack of energy, I didn’t even plan to do much during the week.  I’ve cut back to basics during the workweek and focused on a bit of catch-up on the weekend.

During the week, I continued to focus on using my Cefaly device daily as well as getting some sort of exercise in.  The weather has been crazy cold and windy so it was mostly reformer Pilates exercises. 

What were my struggles or stressors this week?

The biggest stressor was being fatigued with reduced lung capacity.  It’s much better but I’ve found myself not feeling rested even after 12 hours of sleep.  I also had some stomach upset where water was burning my stomach up until nearly noon for several days in a row.

I think soda was more likely to trigger migraine symptoms this week as well.  Additionally, the pharmacy was closed last Saturday so I didn’t get one of my medicines for migraine prevention started on time.  Just 1 day late.

What were my wins?

I do believe I was consistent with using Cefaly daily though many times it was last minute at bedtime because I’d forgotten.  My exercise was often less than 10 minutes, but I did get something in more than half of the days.

I returned the shelves that were fulfilled with the wrong sized shelves and also found another supplier for them.  I’m waiting for them to arrive now.  I had a message that they would deliver Saturday, which they didn’t even deliver by the end of the day Sunday, but I was able to get an entire batch of Beef and Noodles made up and frozen.  Additionally, I was able to try a new recipe for sugar snap peas as a possible ingredient for future Buddha bowl lunches.

While I took extra medicine to prevent and treat migraine symptoms, I didn’t feel much for cognitive dysfunction or pain.  I was a bit cranky which is very abnormal for me, but I’d still say this was an improvement because I would normally miss multiple days during this time.  So far so good.  Winter is always a bit better for my migraines though.

I also discovered that my stomach was able to handle PH balanced water when it was upset with tap or filtered water.

What are my plans for next week?

I’ve run out of content for the website.  I’m not normally terribly far ahead but often have a full list of ideas and some organizational ones that I can put together very quickly.  I can still redo spaces as I’m always changing them.  I’m working on refocusing from decluttering and organization to styling spaces now.

Later this week you can look forward to a post about digital clutter!  I was focusing on this at the year change and forgot about it, so I’m throwing together the steps that I’ve already implemented even as far back as a year ago or two even.  It’s been a process, but especially when I replaced my phone in the fall I really moved it forward.

As far as the meal planning goes, I may just take one side or main dish at a time for a bit.  I’m really challenging myself to figure out some practical lunch options which is requiring some effort in the fat category.  I no longer have a gall bladder and was never able to eat much fat after.  Additionally, nuts and seeds compound into MCAS flares so I need to keep those lower. 

Soy is out entirely.  I feel awful with soy.  Cutting that out has been so good for my acid reflux-like symptoms and some of the more vague skin issues.  I struggle to get it out of everything, especially bread.  I was reading some of my old lab work that suggested I was having inflammation from gluten (though not the only possible cause).  Soy wasn’t a possible cause that I could find, but corn is.  Also rice.  I’ve never noticed any symptoms from rice or gluten.  Yeast is another possibility though.

I don’t know if it’s realistic to eliminate all of these and still get a vegetarian dish, but that’s my goal.  I found a Soy-free Buddha bowl that relies on tamari and avocado for the fats.  I take a digestive enzyme to help process fats but I often forget it.  Before the enzyme, I would not have been able to eat 1/4th of an avocado, so I’m not sure if this will work.  The sources for protein seem to also be the tamari as well as quinoa so if I have to cut out tamari I may not be able to get enough protein.  I figure I’ll try it out first and if I have to modify it, then I’ll consult my Nutritionist.