How to Overcome Fatigue - Find a Good Doctor

 (I promised to write about my journey out of fatigue - here is my first post!)                                     

For years, I have known something was wrong. I would go for a trip out of town, and be so exhausted I would be in bed for a day or two afterwards. The last time I went on a three mile walk (this May), I slept the rest of that day into the next, and could barely do anything but cook dinner for a week afterward. Little things, like seeing a scary part of a movie, would make me jump out of my seat and wipe me out for the rest of the day. I have seen doctor after doctor about this deep, persistent exhaustion, and they would tell me, “You are just stressed” or “You are depressed”.  When I would try to tell them that maybe I was a little depressed, but it was just because I was really tired, and when I was rested I wasn’t the least bit depressed, they would say, “Depression causes fatigue.” I felt like screaming “You are not listening”, but I would just keep insisting that there was something else wrong. They would run the same standard tests for anemia, thyroid, etc. and come up blank. Their conclusion – another hypochondriac on our hands. My conclusion - like a good man, a good doctor is hard to find.

Then this Spring, after praying with Pete about what to do for my health, we heard about Dr. Adema through a friend.  He is an MD who also incorporates natural solutions into his practice. He is also funny, a good listener, and a Christian. After running some blood tests (which would have cost over 1000$ if our insurance hadn’t paid for them  - praise God for Pete’s Starbucks job!)  told me I had very low cortisol, or “adrenal insufficiency”, as well as a Vitamin D deficiency and  low progesterone. I finally had an answer for why I was tired all the time, and a starting place to figure out how to get better. Dr. Adema has helped me a lot, but unfortunately, not enough medical research has been done on adrenal insufficiency and even Dr. Adema hasn’t had all the answers. So I have also had to do a lot of my own research about how to recover. But that is a subject for another post.

The moral of the story is don’t trust the system. Just kidding. The moral of the story is keep looking until you find a good doctor, because they are out there, even if finding one is like looking for a needle in a haystack!

Worry and Frugal Living

Matthew 6:25

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing?

 6:26 Look at the birds in the sky:   They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds  them. Aren’t you more valuable  than they are?

6:28 Why do you worry about clothing? Think about how the flowers  of the field grow; they do not work  or spin. 

I do a lot to save Pete and I money from home, especially in the kitchen cooking from scratch. And this year I was planning on trying all sorts of new things, like baking bread for Pete's sandwiches, sprouting seeds, hanging laundry out to dry (I was getting the hang of that one), and maybe even making keffir from scratch. But January I seemed to manage to catch every flu and cold bug going around, and am having to still force myself to rest because I managed to develop bronchitis! So if I can keep up with the dishes and the laundry (not line dried!), I am happy. Meals from scratch are mostly out the window (I hope you don't sick of kosher hot dogs babe!), and instead of  squirrling away money by my delicious frugal cooking I've been spending it in droves on organic carrot juice and antibiotics! Then on top of that, Pete found out he had to get almost a thousand dollars worth of dental work done over the next several months.(Pete's Mom - if you read this - please don't worry - we are doing fine! Just not giving Sallie Mae any extra nickels and dimes for the moment).

I have been tempted to be worried about all of this extra money spent (and not saved or used toward debt), but since my bronchitis and Pete's fillings and crowns are clearly outside of our control, we decided we would actually pray and ask for God to provide. And you'd think that after years of being a Christian, answered prayer wouldn't shock me, but it still does! Pete got a call Monday night asking if he wanted to teach an online section of "Biblical Hermeneutics" at the seminary he periodically picks up classes at. He has taught this class already, so it is not too much extra work for him, and it covers the bulk of the work that needs done on his teeth.

My point is this - it is good for homemakers to work hard to save their families' money. But in times of illness or emergency, it is not always possible to do as well at this as you would like. And ultimately, it is God who provides for us, and our confidence should be in Him, not in how many pennies we can save through hanging laundry on the line or baking bread from scratch.

Gratitude Despite Weakness

           Since New Years,  Pete and I have been fighting off one virus after another. Last week I finally recovered from the bad cold we had, although Pete is still hacking his guts out, poor guy :(. But then this nasty flu bug from work keeps dogging me, and while I don't have the nauseau and fever that some of my co-workers have, I'm just really fatigued and instead of doing my New Year Resolutions or going to visit my friends, I have to keep napping like a granny!  Monday I was so fed-up that I actually laid on the kitchen floor, crying like an over-dramatic five year old, "My life is over - I'll never be able to get anything done this year!"
         Then today, I was reading my sister Erica's facebook blog about how she was thankful for all of God's grace and all He taught her last year, despite finding out that on top of having endometriosis and PCOS, she has adrenal fatigue, a nerve malformation in her brain called "chiarri", and a heart arrythmia! Ouch!
           So despite having a little touch of the flu, I choose to thank God for:


These flowers Pete picked me:

This view I'll see the next time I walk up the mountain behind us at twilight:

This view I can see right now from my front porch:

And mostly Christ's death on my behalf:



What are you thankful for today?

50 Things in 7 Days

This week has been remarkably productive, considering Pete and I have been battling a stealthy peek-a-boo virus since Christmas! Seeing written down all that I wanted to get done this year I realized I needed to get organized and did a "New Year's cleaning" of our entire one-bedroom flat.

From the list I completed:
6. Make a real prayer list and don't lose it! :)   Well, haven't lost it yet :)
29. Put shelves into bedroom for organizing clothes   See "Frugal Tip from the Green Housewife"

As far as long-term goals go:

Spiritual - Bible reading is going well - I've enjoyed reading I and II Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews. Hebrews is so captivating, talking about our Great High Priest and the New Country we are looking forward to by faith.  But I have been realizing how anemic my prayer life is! Some days it has been a struggle to focus for 10 minutes on talking to the God of the universe. I need to focus on worshipping God for who He is - if I truly saw Him as being everywhere, holy, all-powerful, all-loving, at all-times, prayer would be a delight, not something I just tried to cross off my list.

Health - Obviously I couldn't exercise much this week, although I managed to eek out 6 miles. Had a few bites of hamburger and one cheese stick (forgot about the no dairy goal momentarily!), but turned down delicious chocolate brownies and birthday cake at the church potluck :).  Focusing on these goals will help me get more done this year!

Writing - So far, so good. Realizing that I am not good at descriptions of places, so my self-imposed deadline of posting "16th and Island" once a week is forcing me to not procrastinate.

Next Week I am focusing on beginning to:
8. Memorize Genesis 1 and John 1
33. Start a shop on etsy

What are your New Year's Resolutions? Goals for this week?