Maybe the low-dose naltrexone has helped a little… I’m still very hesitant to say that with certainty because I don’t feel much different except my nights are better and that helps everything. The good news is, I slept over 8 hours last night with no night sweats. I have never, ever had such a string of good nights. Please, universe, help me to keep this going. The only downside is my thrashing about and crazy dreams and the number of times I wake up. I feel very achy this morning, very tired, headachy and swollen. I want to feel refreshed. Does that actually happen? Do people really wake up feeling refreshed? Who?? I want to know what their job is, what their home life is like, how rich they are, how many kids they have,  how old they are… I just don’t believe it. But, if I keep up my routine, maybe one day I can let you all know that it is possible to get out of bed not in pain, not stiff, not dizzy and swollen and achy. Maybe one day I will write that book. For now, my rules are: read a book before bed ~ not an ipad, make the room very, very dark, make sure the room isn’t too cold, kick the husband out if he snores, wash the sheets weekly, and don’t do anything that might disrupt anything in the night. Everything that can cause night sweats and loss of sleep, will. That’s why I’ve been taking Miralax in the morning when I’m sure most people take it at night (by the way, it hasn’t worked yet). The less my body is doing at night, the better I sleep and the less likely I’ll have the sickly sweats. That goes for my brain, my stomach, my bowels ~ everything needs calm and quiet.

When my drenching night sweats started out of the blue last November, the first thing the doctors told me was to stop all medication. I thought it was interesting and maybe this will help someone out there. I stopped taking hydrocodone/acetaminophen for my neck, I stopped taking liquid calcium/magnesium at night, I stopped the birth control pill for almost two months, I even stopped eating gluten. Now, none of these things worked for me, but it might work for someone else. My endocrinologist said, it doesn’t matter how long you have been taking a medication, it can turn on your body at any time and it should be the first thing you eliminate if you have an odd new symptom.

I didn’t do much yesterday. I made it to the dog park and tried to make myself walk faster than usual, so that could be why I’m feeling more achy today. I think it’s time to try some light muscle exercises. I’m scared of the repercussions, but I can’t go on atrophying this way. I’m thinking, some soup-can-arm-curls are in order. If I can’t eat my pea soup/ veg soup/ cream of anything soup, I might as well use them as weights.

We’ll see. My Dad comes for a visit this weekend and I may just decide to leave well enough alone today. Don’t rock the boat. Save your energy, don’t try anything new. I do have to wash the dogs today and I have a lunch date with a friend and, if I have the energy, I’d love to get to the dog park, too. So… we’ll see.

I meant to start signing off with something I’m grateful for ~ my version of a gratitude journal, to keep things in perspective. Today, I am grateful for sun. Every day that there is sun, I feel better. I’m very scared of the impending winter. But, my therapist says I must stop the future thinking, so, for now, thank you, Sun!