Getting things done

When we got engaged and were thinking about how far away our wedding was, the Fella and I decided that as 2014 was the ‘year of the wedding’, 2013 was the ‘year to get things done’.

We wanted to pay off our debts and need to save up, a lot. I wanted to finally get a diagnosis from the hospital.As it turned out, being made redundant in the last few weeks of 2012, getting a new job was added to the list. To be allowed to marry in the church we want, we also had to attend services as much as possible.

Three, almost four months into the year, how is that going?

Debts – Mostly paid off. All I have now is a credit card on 0% interest which is being paid off quietly in the background each month and that’s it for me. For the first time since before I was a student, I’m actually in the ‘black’ not the ‘red’ which honestly, feels pretty good.
Savings – I have a nice direct debit set up for each month, and I will NOT spend it.
Hospital – Waiting on what will hopefully be the final test, then it’s diagnosis time.
Job – I did good. Within three weeks of being made redundant (two of which fell over Christmas/New Year), I had two offers on the table. I took the most sensible offer of the two and now, despite being terrified of the redundancy at the time, I know that it was the best thing that could have happened. I’m back up in London, working for a charity again and doing some pretty good work. Yes I’m tired and having to work on my work/life balance quite a bit, especially with my health issues but overall, great!
Church – we go pretty much every week and I have to say, I LOVE it. Not just because I get to have a little singsong. I like being in the place where we will get married, I love the feel of it and the people as well.

So the getting things done is going well.

As well as that, the church is sorted, the reception venue is booked and shortly we will be picking a photographer for the wedding. The weight is slowly coming off so that after my 30th in July (another post for another time), I can start shopping for THE DRESS. With less than 18 months to go now, our things to ‘get done’ need to be firmly centered around the wedding.

Although it’s not ALL wedding, we have managed to squeeze in there ‘have a holiday’ and ‘buy a new car’.

Pinterest in a haystack

We all know that Pinterest is great for philosophical quotes, pictures of cute cats and making a board full of pretty things for your wedding, whether or not you’re actually getting married.

But aside from making you feel fat, unfashionable, poor and hungry, is there anything useful on there?

It’s difficult to get past the thousands of pins of perfect bodies and heavily airbrushed beauty pictures and get to the things that might be good (all of those pins with recipes for cauliflower mash that ‘tastes even better than potatoes’  are honestly just a lie, don’t even bother trying).

So here’s my top three things that I have found on Pinterest and that I’ve actually tried and tested (and they work):

1.Coconut oil.
You can’t go three pins without seeing something about coconut oil but let me tell you, all the things you see, they’re true!It’s amazing on your skin (doesn’t make you oily like you’d think), it’s a great treatment for your hair (just use it in the shower not the bath otherwise you’ll end up with hair greasier than before you washed it) and it’s pretty yummy for cooking as well.

Apparently new mum’s are all of a buzz about it because there’s something about it that’s similar to breast milk – I think it’s to do with it’s anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties.

I’ve not gone as far as eating to help with energy levels and weight manangement yet (I mean eat an oil?! How?!) but I’m not far off trying it because so far, it’s great.

Make sure it’s organic and raw so all the good stuff it still in it. Most health food shops do it for about £5 and as it’s solid at room temperature (melts with the heat of your hands or in a hot basin), it lasts quite a while.

2. Apple cider vinegar.
For every pin on coconut oil, there’s one for this. I can’t extol its virtues quite as much as the coconut oil but I used it on me and Teddy when we had ringworm and it was gone in days (I just smelt a bit odd for a while).

Again touted as an anti-bacterial and anti-fungal, there’s lots about using it to get rid of fungal nail infections instead of the stuff in a pen you get from the chemist that’s £20.

I add it to the rinse cycle when I wash the cat’s bedding as it’s supposed to kill all the nasties, you can clean with it too to do the same thing.

Apparently if you use it 1:1 with water and rinse your hair with it, it’s a miracle…. I’ll leave someone else to try that though and if someone can tell me just how awful the vinegar/cinnamon/honey drink I read about is, that would be great.
Again, make sure it’s organic.

3. White wine vinegar for cleaning.
Mix 1:1 with washing up liquid in an old spray bottle, shake and use to clean your bathroom. It stinks but it’s seriously incredible. No need for this Mr Muscle shower spray that you have to use every day. I use this mixture and have no water marks on the shower screen and I don’t even have to scrub it – just spray, leave for a few minutes and wipe off (I use a soapy sponge)!

Or mix the vinegar with salt and use it to clean your oven door! Pour a bit on, leave it for a few minutes and wipe it. The vinegar dissolves the fat and the salt helps scrub it off!

Have fun trying them all out, and if you’d like to, follow my boards on Pinterest.

Hooking me up

As part of the ongoing saga of what might be wrong with me, I’ve been fitted with a lovely heart monitor for 7 days.

I fully expect this to come back with nothing out of the ordinary, as all of my other tests have done, and boy, is it annoying. Makes me wonder how people cope when they need to take oxygen and things around with them….they don’t really make things for ease of use.

The tests this time were a little stressful, started off by the fact that I walked into the first one and he told me to take everything off, including my bra and pop the gown on so it opens at the front…. not what I was really expecting but I guess I should have been more prepared.

The bike test showed that I’m actually a bit better at cycling than I thought but I really do not like having a mask over my face, almost to the point of it making me passing out in sheer panic towards the end.

After that, I was fitted with my lovely monitor and told to write down any ‘episodes’ that I have, which typically (aside from hysterics about something else) I have had none of. I’m just itching from the stupid sticky pads that I have on and trying to find ways of hiding all the wires away.

Anyhow, next up on the list seems to be a sleep clinic to see if I’m twitching when I shouldn’t be (instead of sleeping properly)…

I’ll be honest, I’m not at all sure where all of this is going with the collection of consultants that I’m seeing. I’m starting to feel like maybe I’m being a fraud, that I should just get on with things. It’s all so vague about what I might have and each consultant I see is suggesting something on top of what the last one said. I just want to sit down with someone so they can summarise it all for me.

I know I don’t feel right. I know I shouldn’t be so tired, have killer migraines all the time etc……. but they’re taking so long to put their finger on it, that the longer it goes on, the more I’m thinking I should just forget it all and find a way to get on with life, it’s taking up so much of it.

Added to this is the stress of waiting to see if I’m being made redundant, needing to save for the wedding, not being able to lose weight (probably due to all the above), coming off the pill and therefore being a swirling rage of hormones and having a new little kitten whose fur is all falling out…… I feel like my head is in a never ending cycle of worry about something or another. Of course, this means that I’m more often than not a stroppy cow who cries because she can’t find something to wear, or that dinner isn’t right, or that I look horribly bloated and rather ill.

But then, I know that compared to some people, that’s nothing at all….and then I worry some more.

 

‘Fall’ for Fashion

It’s not all that often that I indulge my love for fashion on this blog but  I love Autumn and this year in particular, love the signature colour – ‘berry’ and one of the statements – studs.So here’s a little of what I’ve been loving.

New Things

Top left: Date night dress. Midi, petite collection from ASOS, £25
Top right: New Illamasqua ‘Box’ lipstick, £16
Bottom right: Found this on Pinterest. French plait into a bun… I do this a lot on dirty hair days!
Bottom left: Managed finall to curl my hair with GHDs. Dress from Primark, £12 ish

Work Wear

Top left: Dress, Primark £12ish. Jacket, old from TopShop. Scarf, H&M. Bag, DPs £25.
Top right: Top, H&M in the summer.
Bottom left: Coat, Primark £15. Jumper, DPs. Jeans, Primark £9.
Bottom right: Top, M&S. Skirt, Primark £4.

Things I’d Really Like

Top left: Dress, Miss Selfridge £65
Top right: Dress, River Island  £35
Bottom left: Dress, Topshop £48
Bottom right: Dress, TFNC  also this one at ASOS £55

Top left: Boots, River Island £90
Top Right: More boots, River Island £55
Bottom left: Bag, New Look £14.99
Bottom right: Belt, Next £20

An almost diagnosis

I’ve been trying to find another website that quickly and easily explains what the doctors (finally) think is up…but I can’t. So I will try and explain how I see it – which might include medical inaccuracies but I’m doing the best with what I’ve been told and what I have read.
This is how my brain has interpreted it.

The underlying condition behind my possible condition is hypermobility. Put simply, due to a problem with the collagen in my body, everything is just way too bendy and stretchy. This means my blood vessels and all sorts of other things are too elastic.

So take some of my symptoms for example:

• My stomach doesn’t have the ping in it to really get my food moving so it sits about making me bloated and sicky and uncomfortable. This means smaller, easier to digest foods and not too many icky carbs which my stretchy stomach can’t handle.
• It can cause migraines. I can’t find an explanation of why anywhere but I assume it’s something to do with my blood vessels not contracting properly and the blood all wooshing around too freely. This can mean it sometimes ends up all down in my legs with not a lot left for the rest of me – a bit like a man’s brain and his penis trying to think at the same time.
• Somehow or another, this can also lead to Restless Leg Syndrome which is the probable cause of me feeling like I never, ever sleep. My sleep is disturbed and I rarely get into that nice, deep REM sleep that makes you feel fresh as a daisy because my legs are twitching away while I sleep.

The main outcome of this is that the consultant thinks I have, as a result of the hypermobility and way too elastic blood vessels, something called PoTs (Postural Tachycardia Syndrome). In simple terms, this is an abnormal response by the involuntary nervous system to becoming upright. This part of the nervous system is in charge of all bodily functions that we don’t have to think about, such as:

Heart rate and blood pressure
Digestion
Stress response

Basically, I stand up and my body thinks “HOLY SHIT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING”. Because of my stretchy blood vessels, too much blood rushes down to my legs leaving none for the rest of me….so my body then wants to lay back down again, quickly, and not do anything for a while.

Anyhow, more can be read about it if anyone is interested, here.

So I think I explained that all ok, considering.

I’m now waiting on a letter and yet more wonderful test to confirm that the doctor is right. It’s all a bit much to take in and get my head around as not an awful lot is known about it. I will just be glad when I have an explanation as to why I always feel like crap.

At least now I know that it wasn’t all in my head, as my GP was trying to imply.

Finally: Perfect Mascara*

I’m a cosmetics girl and I always, always get taken in by advertising for beauty products – I just can’t help it.

I’ve spent a lot of years searching for the perfect mascara: pigmented, doesn’t clump, doesn’t flake, volumises and separates and holds the curl.

I’ve had several favourites that I’ve always gone back to but still never found one that is just right. Until now.

I  have regularly used the normal version of Max Factor 2000 calorie mascara, but not loved it because it can be rather clumpy. So when I saw the adverts or the new Max Factor Eye Brightening mascara, I was determined not to get roped in, as I usually do….. Events conspired against me though and I just happened to need a new mascara…and as it’s new and on offer, I thought I’d try it.

First off, I was gutted that it had one of those new fancy rubber spiked brushes rather than my favoured chunky bristled wand. I’ve found with other mascaras that the rubber brushes can be a bit vicious and really just dump all the liquid on your lashes…. however…this one doesn’t! Be careful with your pressure and don’t be too heavy handed and really brush the product through the lashes and you can layer it up without clumps. It also lifts and separates all of the lashes really fanning them out. Biggest bonus for me, it holds the curl in all day, lashes don’t fall flat again.

As for the eye brightening, I can’t say I noticed at all if there was any difference  but you know what? I don’t care, I love it.

Try it – just £4.99 at Superdrug at the moment and Boots have a ‘spend £12 on Max Factor products and get the mascara free’

- if you do this, try the cream blush but don’t bother with the lip stain felt tips, they’re useless. If you want a nice moisturising lip stain, try the new Revlon Just Bitten. It’s a lovely soft tinted balm and once it’s worn off, your lips will stay lightly stained.

 

*I have not been paid or been given anything for free to write this post.

An Apple a Day

I realise that I don’t have all that much to complain about compared to a lot of other people – and I didn’t really want to do it on this blog but some things you just have to talk about.

On and off over the years, I’ve had various ills, as people do I guess but the past year or so, things have steadily got worse.

My stomach is increasingly upset with various foods, to the point where if I eat something that it doesn’t like, I will be in a fair amount of discomfort and will look about 6 months pregnant, which is a little bothersome.

The mirgaines that I used to suffer from a lot about 6 years ago but that I had more under control, are back with a vengance. I think I’ve pretty much had at least one (72 hours each) every week since the start of July.

Then there is this tiredness. It seems to have been a bit better in the last few weeks but for most of July and the start of August, I was just shattered. Even having a shower meant then going back to bed afterwards. The doctor signed me off work for two weeks to try and catch up a bit.

With the doctors being rather vague on what it might be and not investigating the reason why my C-Reactive Protien (indicates inflamation somewhere in the body) has been five times what it should since January 2011…I took myself off to a ‘natural therapy’ place.

The test were odd I will say and I’ve no idea how this machine works but I held onto some brass handles attached to a machine and it spat out a host of things that are wrong. This machine said that some of my organs were ‘distressed’ including my stomach. That I have food intolerances incluing gluten, dairy, soy, caffine, aspartamine and various fruits. My iron was terribly low, as was my iodine which helps the thyroid work properly. The hum dinger was that it showed I have Lyme Disease and Rhabdo virus (yep, a strain of rabies, which believe me, sent me into a panic).

Anyhow, I decided to back these tests up with tests from my doctor. They don’t test for food intolerances on the NHS so I had to roll with that one. My tests for the iron and thyroid showed that apparently everything is fine.

Then came the difficulty. It was like the doctors surgery turned off it’s ‘caring profession’ button or something. The doctor wouldn’t see me when I was told I may have rabies. Which was terrifying. When they finally sent me for the blood tests for the Lyme and Rhabdo……. I chased and chased my results for four weeks, constantly being told that ‘we’ve not had them back yet’. After four weeks of being increasingly stressed and fed up, we managed to contact the microbiology department where they had been sent, who apparently send them on to another lab. When we managed to get hold of them, lo and behold….they’ve never heard of me nor seen my blood.

So there we have it. In 24 hours, The Fella managed to find out what the doctors obviously hadn’t been chasing at all.

A month later, I’m still waiting to find out if I have either infection. And chances are, they will both come back negative. Then I am back to square one. Constantly feeling ill, having to watch what I eat, spending days in bed and having a stupid amount of time off work.

Some days, it just all feels a bit much.