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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Fourth Picture Tag


My dear friend Angel tagged me in her blog and so I am fulfilling the tag by posting the fourth picture in the forth file of "My Pictures". This picture is of our youth group at Church... I'm not exactly sure why they were posing like this... but they are always doing crazy things at youth.
So now... I get to tag four people to do the same for their blogs...
So I am tagging:
Nancy E.
Michelle (Creative Treasures)
Debbie
and Nicole
So it's your turn to post the fourth picture in the fourth file of your "My Pictures". Can't wait to see!

Thanks Angel for tagging me... this was fun!
Much love and hugs
Kelly

Monday, November 10, 2008

The Wonderful Life of Living On Effexor...And it's side effects...



You know how we all do stupid things once and awhile right? Well... I tend to do them often! LOL For instance, I recently decided that I needed to try and ween myself off of my Effexor which I have been on for several years now. Why did I do this? Well because my doctor scared the bajeevers out of me when he explained how this medication could cause a few problems in my body as I get older and if I gain any more weight. "What?" I didn't think I was that overweight but he thought otherwise. For one thing the medication has made me gain weight... it may not be the Effexor but possibly the Seroquel that I take with it for sleep... however no matter what the reason I knew I had to lose weight. I also knew that losing weight while being on Effexor is extremely hard... you have to go above and beyond just the normal changing the diet and exercise. So... my solution... I attempted to ween off my Effexor. I took my 150mg pill and opened it up and took 7 tiny balls out of it for one month. How did I do? Well my moods began changing immediately... but I was okay. I made it through the month with not too bad of a time. Then the next step came and I took out 10 more tiny balls... within three days I was a mess! I was getting flashes (like mini-blackouts) in my head, anxiety through the roof, I wasn't eating, sleeping or functioning too well. I recorded everything I did in my day timer, including my moods, exercise, diet or any stressful events that I experienced. The results ~ I lost 11 pounds but as I just stated I WAS A HUGE MESS!!! I began to think back to the beginning of my depression when my second son was born and it all started with post-partum. I remembered the 4 and 1/2 years of memory loss and the dark, dark, dark time in our lives as a family. I knew I had made a mistake! I couldn't put my family through all this again ~ it wouldn't be fair, and I didn't think I could do it anyway. My doctor has always said that I am a "Lifer" and that I should be okay with that. If I had a physical illness I would need to take medication for it right? Well, I needed to change my thoughts in this regard to make myself okay with taking my medicine. God got me through this depression by His grace and by His grace He also brought me to the proper doctors to get me on the medicine that would help me function as a normal person again. I should be thankful that I am here and functioning properly right?
My husband bought me a treadmill a few months back (for $100), a huge blessing as the family we purchased it from took excellent care of it and it is the perfect treadmill for me. I tend to take out a lot of my anxiety or moods on the treadmill and every second or so day I have been doing Yoga on our Wii Fit. I am also going to go to a Yoga class once per week.
Also, as I was researching Effexor and weightloss I found a health site that said to take Fish Oil, CLA, and Vitamin E and drink lot's of water to help with weightloss. I have been doing that and I am beginning to come around. I am still on a somewhat downward spiral of moods and lack of sleeping but hopefully with God's grace I will be coming out of that really soon! God is good and I know that He is in control.
God bless you
Kelly

Fall Daylight Savings Time



I don't know what it is this year about the Daylight savings time but I am really not liking the fact that it starts to get dark at 5pm. As soon as I'm walking outside the door from work it is almost completely dark. Maybe that is the difference... I haven't worked this late into the day in years and have not had to drive home in the dark. The entire atmosphere changes and it's almost like everyone in their cars put on 'Grumpy Gus' hats ~ probably because they are feeling the same way I am feeling. The day seems much too short for me and it makes me tired and grumpy.
I usually have a hard time this season ~ when fall turns to winter and the air outside becomes nippy. My doctor recommended that I purchase a S.A.D. light (Seasonal Affective Disorder) which should help my moods during the winter (I still have to purchase one). I am supposed to sit under this light 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes at night and I believe that is supposed to simulate sunlight. Basically I think you are tricking your brain into believing it is not lacking sunlight ~ it's like... "See Mr.Brain... I am not neglecting you, there actually is sunlight in my house!" LOL.
The light pictured above is from www.sadlight.com and on this site are many different mechanism's a person can purchase to help them through the long months of winter.
Let me know if you suffer from S.A.D. and tell me what you have done to help yourself through it.
Kelly