So I waited in the waiting room of the rheumatologist for 45 minutes. THen I sat in the room for 15 minutes. Then the doc came in and talked to me for an hour. His conclusion? Sorry, I can't help you. I paid $30 and took 3 hours off work for nothing. He rambled on about lupus and sjogren's and blah blah.. But he didn't think I have any full blown autoimmune disorders so he can't treat anything. There isn't very much available to treat fatigue. He thinks I probably have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. That's just about the most worthless diagnosis I can think of. We don't know why you're tired, but you are, so you have "tired disease". Gee, thanks.
So I'm supposed to exercise. I don't understand how the body knows when you're at work and knows not to count that as exercise. Granted, I don't get my heart rate up every day but I do a couple times a week. It wears me out. How does my body know to ignore that? I lift heavy things all day and I hardly ever stop moving. Oh well. Now I get to come home, utterly pooped, and run up and down the stairs for a few minutes. Yay. I'm going to start that on Saturday so I have a couple of days where that's all the exercise I'll do before trying it after work.
I wish it wasn't cold. During the nice part of the year I take Tuvok on walks in the park. We go 1.5-3 miles depending on time. That gets my heart pumping pretty good. But the cold air makes my lungs freeze. I don't like that feeling. I thought about bringing the Total Gym downstairs. It is technically weight training but I can make it so I'm not lifting very much weight and do lots of reps. I'll get to breathing hard with that too and I can watch TV while I'm doing it.
Sorry I'm bummed out today. I just need to process this stuff. I'll probably be ok soon.
On to nicer topics...
We bought the shelving unit that I'm going to convert to a plant shelf. We got one 4-foot T8 flourescent fixture that I'll mount this weekend and then we'll see how the plants on that shelf do. If they want more light, I'll put two fixtures each on the other shelves and use that shelf for lower light plants. If they're good, well then I'll just put one fixture per shelf. I got one warm light bulb and one cool light bulb to make sure the plants get the whole light spectrum. At first I was going to use the middle spectrum light but then I thought maybe it wouldn't have red OR blue wavelengths in it. Plants need both to do their best. So they'll get one of each. The plant-specific lights are twice the price for half the lumens. What a rip off!
Ok, we have to get up at like 5 tomorrow so I'm going to bed now.
Oh, I just hate when doctors don't know what's wrong with you and don't want to spend the time finding out! Seems like doctors can get spot-on when what you've got is going to kill you, or if you're a little kid. But otherwise, if it's something they can't solve off the tops of their heads, they just write you off!
ReplyDeleteI don't know if more exercise is the answer, but you'll be able to tell soon enough. You might research some herbal remedies. Have you tried yoga? Florida Jo swears by it. Couldn't hurt.
I think you'll like two fixtures on each shelf, if the shelves are deep. And I just use ordinary shop light fluorescent bulbs, they're cheaper. Okiedawn says the fancy ones don't do any better, but I don't know because I've never tried them. Don't start tomatoes and peppers until early Feb, or maybe not even till late Feb, unless you want to have big plants that you have to keep moving into bigger and bigger pots because it's still too cold to set them out. I jumped the gun and sowed them in early Jan one year and I never worked so hard on repotting plants and moving them around before in my life!
Being bummed just happens sometimes. A good walk will get your "feel-good endorphins" working again. Hang in there. Hugs, Ilene