Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff

[Gingerlily]

@Arkandel said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

Can't/won't change food habits? This too is so annoying because... I'm the worst cook in the world. But putting chicken breasts in the oven/pressure cooker and waiting for X minutes isn't exactly rocket science, and adding a salad out of a bag isn't that hard. Done. Plus it's way cheaper than eating out. And this shit tastes good, too.

But is it as good as those Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies with orange flavor? Or a double stuffed Oreo?

I can't quit you, sugar.

[Gingerlily]

@Aria said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@Cupcake -- This is why I have (legal) drugs. Ones that I take daily, and ones I can carry around in my bag in the event of the sudden onset of panic. I very rarely use the latter, in no small part because carrying them around and knowing I have them if I really need them alleviates some of anxiety. Huzzah, psychosomatic nonsense?

I recommend having something -- not necessarily meds, but whatever works for you -- that you can carry around and know it's there if you need it. Even if you end up not needing it, that reassurance is surprisingly helpful.

Yes to this! The effect of having a Xanax in your purse is calming on its own, without ever having to consume the Xanax in your purse.

[Arkandel]

@Gingerlily Pizza is the best food in the world. Delicious, easy to make, easier to eat - you don't even have to look at it while you're munching, let alone use plates or utensils. It can literally come to your door and once you're done, go out in that same box as well. I love it.

I eat pizza twice a year.

I mean, life's not fair.

[Auspice]

@Gingerlily said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@Auspice

What migraine meds did they change you to? Preventative or acute or both?

I somehow forgot this thread was a thing so forgive me for asking a question related to something you said a month ago

I am on the generic of Trokendi for a preventative. And then when it stopped working completely, we added maxalt for when migraines do hit. Which is sort of so-so.

[Gingerlily]

@Arkandel said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@Gingerlily Pizza is the best food in the world. Delicious, easy to make, easier to eat - you don't even have to look at it while you're munching, let alone use plates or utensils. It can literally come to your door and once you're done, go out in that same box as well. I love it.

I eat pizza twice a year.

I mean, life's not fair.

But is a life without cookies, or Breyer's Black Raspberry Ice Cream, truly worth living?

(I'm jesting and not, I've been working on cutting out sugar all summer and have added wheat too and it's just -torture-. But I have failed utterly and done the thing where I behave all day and then 'crack' at 8pm or so, going downstairs and scrounging for whatever contains the most sugar in our kitchen. It's /hard/)

[Gingerlily]

@Auspice said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@Gingerlily said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@Auspice

What migraine meds did they change you to? Preventative or acute or both?

I somehow forgot this thread was a thing so forgive me for asking a question related to something you said a month ago

I am on the generic of Trokendi for a preventative. And then when it stopped working completely, we added maxalt for when migraines do hit. Which is sort of so-so.

Topirimate? I was on that for a couple of years. It worked great at first and then didn't so much. That's been the case with every migraine preventative I've ever tried though. Like my body adapts to the foreign substance and then pushes me back to my 'natural state' of brain pain.

I've never tried Maxalt but I've tried several other triptans. My go-to currently is Zomig. The nasal spray is pretty epic, it works crazy fast. If only I could use it every day...

[Catsmeow]

@Auspice

Trokendi

Do you find yourself moody? I think that's the stuff that made my sister cry at EVERYTHING.

[Auspice]

@Catsmeow said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@Auspice

Trokendi

Do you find yourself moody? I think that's the stuff that made my sister cry at EVERYTHING.

I don't think so, no.

[Tinuviel]

@Auspice Disagree.

[Auspice]

@Tinuviel said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@Auspice Disagree.

You don't even talk to me!

[Tinuviel]

@Auspice See? Moody.

[Auspice]

@Tinuviel said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@Auspice See? Moody.

Psh. I'll stop missing you, then. Ungrateful wretch.

[Arkandel]

@Gingerlily said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

(I'm jesting and not, I've been working on cutting out sugar all summer and have added wheat too and it's just -torture-. But I have failed utterly and done the thing where I behave all day and then 'crack' at 8pm or so, going downstairs and scrounging for whatever contains the most sugar in our kitchen. It's /hard/)

An article I read a while ago said we can treat willpower as a muscle. So you know how you can grab a light weight (say, a cookie jar ) and hold it up at shoulder height, then at first it's easy to keep there but over time it gets harder and harder as our muscles get tired? Willpower is the same way.

So the takeaway from that is to not need to exercise it so much. If every time I walk by the kitchen table I need to resist picking up something delicious but covered in processed sugar then the first time I'll ignore it, the second time it'll be a little bit harder... then it'll find me at a weak point at 11:30pm when I just grab one... or two, on the way to the TV. It's far easier if the delicious stuff isn't there at all to begin with.

I mean that's what worked for me. Other people's takes may vary.

[TNP]

@Arkandel said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

It's far easier if the delicious stuff isn't there at all to begin with.

Oh hell yes. I love bread. Therefore I don't keep any in the house. I love Doritos and Cheetos especially but also anything crunchy. Therefore I don't keep any in the house. Once in a while I'll buy stuff as a treat knowing that when I do, they won't last long. But definitely just don't keep it in the house.

[Paris]

@Arkandel said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

It's far easier if the delicious stuff isn't there at all to begin with.

I mean that's what worked for me. Other people's takes may vary.

That's how it is for most people, me included. If just using willpower worked, we'd all be thin. Your body wants carbs, it loves carbs, you evolved to eat all of them.

[Arkandel]

@Paris Yes, that's the problem. Our body is the product of evolution and it doesn't care about what we want, it really doesn't give a shit we want a sixpack or whatever... it wants to survive. That's all it aims to do.

And since evolution hasn't caught up with the realities of the modern western world yet where food will, for most people, be available tomorrow as it was today, our bodies are trying to ensure we are not going to starve to death because hunting got scarse in the area or the antelopes moved away.

So carbs? Mmm, processed sugar, easy to break down, a ton of energy ready to convert to fat reserves... perfect for the harsh months of winter ahead! Gimme.

[Paris]

@Arkandel yeah. My diabetes got much worse after chemo and is not improving (I can't get my numbers to budge lower than 250 no matter how much insulin I take) so I'm having to start pitching a lot of food and making different choices. We're moving at the end of the month, so I can just not bring any of that into the new place.

[Cupcake]

@Gingerlily I'm actually on Zoloft, but I'm wondering if I either need to consider a dosage increase, or ask for a medication specifically for when I get an anxiety spike.

[Aria]

@Cupcake said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@Gingerlily I'm actually on Zoloft, but I'm wondering if I either need to consider a dosage increase, or ask for a medication specifically for when I get an anxiety spike.

^ Same thing I'm on, albeit in generic form. The 'purse Xanax' I have is clonazepam, which is marketed under the brand name Klonopin. It's pretty awesome, I gotta admit, but be careful about a) taking it in public until you know how you react and b) taking it with cold meds. I learned that second one the hard way after being so zonked out I accidentally walked out of a store holding a bag full of stuff I paid for and a handful of stuff I somehow literally forgot I was carrying. Security was not amused.

[Auspice]

I am sort of baffled by the stuff I hear re: klonopin.

I had a doctor try me on it once and it might as well have been a sugar pill. I had absolutely no response to it. But other people talk about it like @Aria. Like it hits them super hard.