Dammit, George RR Martin

Image via WikipediaI finished A Dance with Dragons two nights ago.  Mr. Martin needs to cut it the hell out with the cliff hanger endings, especially if he is going to take brazillions of years between installments.  This is not good for my patience.

Otherwise, um, we're fiddling with my thyroid dose again trying to find the sweet spot.  I'll have to get the lab work done after we've moved to see if we got it right or need to fiddle more.
I have had another round of Botox shots for migraine.  Took a bit longer to feel (or not feel?) the numbness and paralysis in my forehead.  Still getting migraines, but not quite so many.
I am in an ongoing odyssey of trying to get replacement CPAP supplies and possibly repair before we move.  I have been trying for a month actually, but referrals keep getting lost or not sent and it is seriously starting to piss me off.  I am sensitive enough to stress and extra activity even with the CPAP but sleeping without it (or without it operating properly) will make everything WAAAAYYYYY worse.  And increase the time for my recovery to baseline functionality.  So, weeks or months to recover from the move, etc., instead of days or weeks.

I am still tired and shaky and hurty and having sleep problems after overdoing the packing last week.  Grumble.  The whole moderation and pacing thing with CFS is a pain in the ass sometimes all the time.

Still packing.  I have a lot of yarn.  Way more than I thought.  Mostly single skeins of acrylic or acrylic blend intended for amigurumi.  So I should, like, make more amigurumi and stuff.  Derp.

I have set aside my emergency travel projects and stash and a pile of actual paper books in addition to my Kindle.  I may have done that even before setting aside the important papers that should be easily available.

Oreo has had a bath and is grumpily curled up on my lap in a blanket to keep warm.  He finds the packing deeply confusing and a bit frightening and so has been even more of my furry shadow than usual.

Still Alive-ish

Image via WikipediaMy thyroid is being stupid again so we're fiddling with Synthroid doses.  I've also been having a dreadful time with migraines and trying to catch up after the 2-week span of evil pestilence cold.

Anyway, hopefully the new Synthroid dose will get me back in the sweet spot of not too high, not too low and maybe help the migraines.

I've finally decided to give CoQ10 supplements a trial too.  There is good, if preliminary evidence from limited trials for migraine prevention.  The supplements are a pricey, which has made me hesitate trying it, but I'm desperate.  So, 100mg 3 times a day for 3 months and we'll see if it helps. 

I've tried getting back to daily exercise after slacking off for most of the winter (because I couldn't bear to take my slippers and socks off to use the Wii in the cold) and managed to over do it Sunday and am paying for it today.  Because CFS needed to remind me it owns my ass, I guess.  Anyway, finding the right amount of exercise will help the migraines too.  My neuro did warn me that too much can be as bad as too little.  Fun. 

I've been trying to discipline myself to meditate a bit in the mornings too, but I have trouble taking the time.  It feels like "wasting time" even though it may help.

Better news though is that the blood pressure med we've tried for migraine prevention is at least helping with my heart rate - it's no longer sky high all the damn time.  So, um, yay. 

It's also gotten cold again but not quite cold enough for the boiler to be back on for the radiators.  My hands and feet are screaming with Raynaud's and even my lips were purple earlier today.  And Oreo and I have been fighting over the heating pad.

Hoping I'll feel up to actual posts again soon.

Spinning

Image via Wikipedia

It's a spindle, just not one for making yarn

I picked up my birthday spindle the other day, having abandoned it sometime around May or June because it seemed just too damn hot and humid to spin.  And then I sort of forgot about it.  Plus, I'm not very good at it.
So, I decided time to try again.  I already have Respect the Spindle: Spin Infinite Yarns with One Amazing Tool, but it wasn't quite enough for me.
Then I discovered that Interweave Press is having a sale on the companion video which is available as either a DVD or an mp4 for download.  Sweet!

I just finished watching it and am very pleased.  I especially like her point that you shouldn't regard your first few attempts as "waste" - you have to learn and there is no way you're going to be perfect immediately.

It's ridiculously cold here today, so I'm not sure I'll be spinning tonight, but hopefully I'll pick it back up in the next few days to practice at least a little bit.  

I also had the chance to look through a copy of Fearless Knitting Workbook: The Step-by-Step Guide to Knitting Confidence on Thursday after my endocrinology check-up and am definitely going to buy it, probably from KnitPicks as they're having a sale on books and I can get some inexpensive wool yarn to work with as well.

I'm also deeply tempted by the ball winder from KnitPicks as well as The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques, but that particular book is available at the public library, so I'm dithering. 

And, as I mentioned, it's ridiculously cold here.  I haven't been able to feel my toes properly all day.  Brrrrrrr.  Even with a blanket, my heating pad, and Oreo I'm cold.  I only did dishes earlier because the hot water feels good through the gloves and I managed to keep my fingerless gloves on under the rubber ones. 

I'm going up in Synthroid dose, starting today.  Would be nice if that helps with fatigue but, to be honest, I'm not expecting much.  I have been warned to avoid soy products as they can apparently mess with thyroid function.  Shouldn't be too much trouble as I can do dairy so I won't have to find an alternate.  If grumpy thyroid is causing my arthritis flare, though, this should help.

My glasses are awesome.  I've had waaaaaay less neck pain and as a result fewer migraines.  I sort of wish I hadn't spent so much getting them from the optometrist, but whatever.  They are awesome.  I'm contemplating ordering some non-Rx sunglasses and maybe an extra pair of reading glasses from here. 

Less neck pain has highlighted how much my right shoulder hurts all the damn time though, so I need to nag my rheumy about that in February.  And I've started getting more honest with myself about other pain too - like pokes in the ribs (including poking myself in the ribs) or even hugs sometimes *hurt!*  even wearing a bra a lot of the time.  This is not ideal.

Hashimoto keeps getting me down

Image via WikipediaI had a routine Rheumatology follow-up two weeks ago and they did their standard labs to see what's going on with me in terms of autoimmune suck.
Looks like the Plaquenil has done okay in bringing down some inflammatory markers, but apparently my thyroid is being a bitch again.  Or my immune system is being a bitch to my thyroid.  Yay, Hashimoto's thyroiditis
So, my TSH is high and my thyroid peroxidase is also high which means we probably need to up my dose of replacement thyroid hormone so my body will quit being all "ahhh! give me hormones!" and my immune system will quit being all "omnomnom tasty thyroid hormone."
I went in for more labs Friday and should get results this week along with some idea of how much we need to up my Synthroid.
I have to wonder how long this has been going on.  I have been more tired the past few weeks/month and this week has been awful - I had to call in to work last night because there was just no way I had the energy to go.  My job involves sitting there and occasionally interacting with people.  I was too freakin' tired to do that!
Well and I had a migraine.  But most of yesterday involved sleeping, waking up a bit and trying to read, falling back asleep, getting up for food or medicine and winding up winded just from the effort of moving.  Not cool.
Anyway, I'm wondering if stuff I attributed to allergies, migraines, and the weather were in part signs that I was getting hypothyroid again.  We'll see if daily sore throat, multiple migraines a week, random rashes, and extra exhaustion and brain fog go away with more Synthroid so maybe the next time this happens I'll be more likely to notice it.
I managed to get up the energy to shower today and I've been crocheting and watching movies.  I'm supposed to work tomorrow night and by Flying Spaghetti Monster I will make that freakin' shift!