Before I get to my week 4 weigh in, I wanted to update you all on my dr's appointment in Tampa last week. I met with Dr. Gans at American Institute of Balance. He and his staff were fabulous. I just can't say enough about the clinic. After reviewing my chart, the symptoms I was having and all of the previous testing I had done, he was pretty sure he knew what was wrong. Of course he wanted to make sure, so he ran about 5 different tests on me. He tested my inner ear function and my eye movement. All tests came back normal, just as he expected. His diagnosis was MdDS (Mal de Debarquement Syndrome).
Mal de Debarquement Syndrome (MdDS) or disembarkment syndrome is a rare disorder of perceived movement that most often develops following an ocean cruise, other type of water travel, or motion experience including plane flights and train travel. For a few, there is no known motion event; the onset appears to be spontaneous. MdDS persists for months to years.
There are two treatments for this syndrome; therapy and a drug called Klonopin. My dr and I are choosing to do therapy. I was sent home with a notebook of 9 exercises to do everyday. These exercises are done while I am moving, either on a exercise ball or a mini trampoline. I can tell you that they are not fun. I pray that it works. Dr. Gans has seen great results with therapy, so we will see. I have to report back to him in 4 weeks. I am just thankful to finally have a diagnosis.
In other news, I am thrilled to report to you about my weight loss for the month of January.
I realize we still have 3 days left to go, but since I won't weigh in again until Saturday, I'm calling this my month end weight loss. Drum roll please........................ 12.8 pounds. I was floored when Brian told me this morning I had lost 4 pounds this week. I am a quarter way to my goal and I couldn't be more thrilled. I am not starving myself, counting points, eating prepackaged food or taking diet pills. I am simply eating a whole foods diet. 90% of the food I eat comes right from the ground. That makes me very happy. I've decided to plant a garden in our backyard this spring. I figure it will save me a ton of money in the produce I use to juice everyday. I think the girls will eat more veggies if we grow them ourselves too.
Do any of you have a garden? What tips would you give a beginner? I would love to hear them.
About Me
- Krista
- I'm a native Southern California girl now living in the South. I'm a wife and mom of 4 kids, 2 in Heaven. I traveled the country with my sisters as Christian Recording artists but gave it all up to be a mom. I love jazz music, interior design and movie nights with my family. I'm passionate about homeschooling and nutrition. I make a mean green smoothie. Most importantly, I'm a daughter of the King.
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3 comments:
I'm glad you got a diagnosis! I hope therapy helps.
After helping my mom with her in-ground garden for several years and seeing her bountiful harvest, I got inspired to start my own. I researched a bit online and finally decided on a raised bed garden. Oh my word I love it SO much. There's virtually NO weeding, the drainage is perfect, it's been wonderful. To make it we first laid down chicken wire in the shape of our garden (we have moles so this keeps them from burrowing through), then a layer of 100% weed barrier, then untreated landscape timbers around the edge. Mine is 3 timbers high nailed together, you can make it as high as you're willing to fill with dirt. Then we got a truckload of a fantastic dirt mixture from a local rock and mulch place (not expensive at all doing it this way, I think the dirt cost $40 and it's a perfect mix for organic gardens). I watered it for several days with no plants to let it settle and let the compost do it's thing.
Over the summer I planted zucchini, carrots, cantaloupe, watermelon, cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce, green beans, and onions. Unfortunately we had the hottest, driest summer on record (over 105 for most of the summer with NO rain), so I didn't yield much. I got a few zucchini, 2 watermelons, and quite a few cantaloupe. The upside? There was NO maintenance besides watering. This fall I planted a bunch of lettuce and broccoli. I've done NOTHING to my garden since I planted and I've had a HUGE harvest of both crops. But we actually got some rain! LOL.
Because of last summer, I've started syphoning water off of our pool cover during the winter to save for this summer. I also use the dirty water out of the fish tank on occasion for a nice fertilizer! Something about the algae and fish waste is phenomenal for plants. Who knew?
Try to get your plants or seeds from local feed stores. Getting to know the people at your feed store will help immensely if you run into any problems. They are WAY more knowledgeable than the guy at lowes. They will also have great organic things to help boost your garden.
There's tons of ideas on Pinterest for raised bed gardens. But whatever way you do it, if you're going for organic, make sure your plants or seeds SAY organic. Because they actually have to be started from organic seeds to be considered 100% organic. If you do start a garden and need any advice on organic pesticides or fertilizers let me know. Between my mom and I we've accumulated a lot of good information!
I can't wait to see what ya'll do!
Great blog post. We actually do a garden in our yard although the heat this year pretty much killed my stuff. My tips would be to definitely do the spacing they suggest on the seeds, water it regularly and learn when to pick the veggies. I got over ambitious this year and grew stuff I didn't know much about and did a terrible job with it.
I know some people who garden actually start growing the seeds inside and then plant those into their garden. They say this helps although I have planted tomatoes each way and gotten the same result.
We also bought a compost barrel and a rain barrel. I love the rain barrel for watering the garden. Come by and I can show you our set up if you want and you can learn from my mistakes. :)
Did you recover from Mdds? I was just diagnosed.
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