Sorry to hear that, Lauren. I have a dear friend who is struggling with long covid as well 🙁
Unfortunately I have no excuse for my ‘falling off the wagon’. I just got a bit too confident that I had hit my desired weight, and a few weeks off plan didn’t seem to make a difference on the scales, so I just kept going off plan. And then it made a big difference on the scales over a number of months. Sadly, I am a bit of a ‘sugar addict’ – and I have eaten a truckload of chocolates and toast with peanut butter and honey over the break, and my beautiful clothes that I bought this time last year no longer fit. But, that’s okay. I know that I have the tools, I know that this WoE works for me, and I am back with a fresh lot of willpower. It has been a lot easier for me to get back into the 2nd time around, and I am seeing results at a pleasing pace. It’s great that you are finding what you think will work for you with the myriad of goals and medical considerations you have. We can do this!!!!!

Wendy it’s a bung in a bowl and microwave job – I’ll let you know how it goes and share the recipe if it’s worth doing again!

L x

Hi everyone, thank you so much for your good wishes. Thank you Wendy for concentrating my mind on what is real and known, not what is imagined. Although I did type of list of all my symptoms including the little things you dont bother to mention to your doctor like pins and needles in my right buttock. Anyway, I rang the doctor this morning and asked for an emergency appointment and I got Thursday so I asked the receptionist if the doctor could look at my test results and let him decide. He says it is not that urgent but he does want to see me. So the appointment book has obviously filled up a little so I am now booked in for Tuesday next week.

Thank you Lauren for the science, maybe you can make sense of this….. The basic thing is anaemia shown in 2 tests (very low haemaglobin and haemocrites) causing difficulty in breathing or doing small things like dressing being a problem, high eosinophiles (white cells that fight infection) which can mean allergy, parasitic infestation or the dreaded C word. Then, without being asked but because they were concerned about the above 3 results the lab decided to test for Ferritin which is iron build up in places it shouldnt be like the liver, pancreas, lungs etc – also signs of cancer, range should be between 20 – 200 ug/l and mine was 788. I could have ignored most of that but it was my blood pressure that was a real worry – under 100 / 60, yesterday down to 96/54 and I felt really ill. Considering we had 42 degrees heat I guess a lot of people were feeling just as ill. I didnt quite get round to getting my will out but in my mind I was planning my funeral.

Life goes on and I will see what doc says next week. Just one worry and that is he didnt tell me to stop taking the blood pressure tablets – I didnt take one yesterday and today my BP is 112/65 – so an improvement. Dont know whether to take or not take, that is the question to quote the bard. It has given me reason to think about my life, my diet and my diabetes and, after the wedding which I want to lose weight for, I might make some changes and stop obsessing quite so much – I even had an choc ice yesterday 🙂 Not that I have a sweet tooth but it made a nice change to just eat it rather than agonising about it.

We will be rolling onto a new week tomorrow and I am sure mine will be better than the last one. KOKO.

Hi S-g. Please, please try and keep Wendy’s wise words at the forefront of your mind, even if you have to write them down and look at them when necessary.
Your doctor has said it’s not that urgent …. believe in that.
You might think ‘sound’s easy for you to say’ but I know exactly how your mind must be racing at the moment. On Christmas Eve I had a letter with test results from a routine bowel test …. not good. I didn’t tell anyone because it was Christmas, then New Year, and not only did I not want to spoil their holidays, but I knew nothing would happen before January. My mind was all over the place, I guess a bit like yours is at the moment. All was ok in the end but that was after a lot of ‘imagined’ trauma. Do try to concentrate on the ‘real and known’ and try and push the ‘imagined’ out of your mind like Wendy has so wisely said.
Food! Oh how easy it is to become obsessed. We’ve been ‘thinking’ constantly about food for so many years now that’s it’s very easy to become obsessed with every morsel, especially when you feel that the ‘cure’ for T2 is in your own ‘hands’ or to be more accurate ‘mouth’. I’m so glad you had a choc-ice and enjoyed it. You’re absolutely right we have to stop agonising over food, find some ‘balance’ and ‘live’ as near to normal lives as we can. When the ‘cure’ becomes worse than the ‘disease’ we have to take a step back and reassess.
Try your best to stay calm until you see your doctor and find out the real situation.
My thoughts are with you. Sending huge armfuls of good vibes your way.

Hey sg, I echo Wendy and V, keep calm – you know what it’s like having a bit of medical knowledge and then letting your imagination run away with you, I’ve done it myself, and they even have a name for it in medical students – they call it medical studentitis where student doctors learn a new condition and suddenly believe they have it!

I agree all those signs *could* be the sign of something concerning, however all of them could also be something completely innocuous, eosinophils can be raised for any number of reasons, it’s just a general inflammatory marker, and the anaemia I’m sure is what’s making you feel so poorly at the moment, anaemia can be rotten and can certainly contribute towards the breathlessness and fatigue you’re experiencing. The high ferritin, well that could be overdoing it on supplements or apparently a high serum ferritin is associated with diabetes so it could just be incidental. I know it’s really hard to not let it run away with you but take heed from what the doctor has said that he isn’t unduly concerned xx – big hugs though, I completely get it, and this is coming from someone who’s literally just spent an hour sobbing on their counsellors shoulder because her doctor was very dismissive this morning and have made her feel like she’s imagining things!!

Can you speak to the pharmacist in France like you can here? I know here everyone is meant to have a medicines review yearly, and contrary to popular belief that should be by the pharmacist and not the doctor, but i don’t know if that’s the same in France (I used to work in a pharmacy – we’d have clients all the time presenting with random and seemingly unconnected symptoms and the pharmacist would just go ok well if we just switch this tablet or this dosage or this frequency, you’ll be fine, and they were!)

I know you know all this but remember to drink plenty, keep cool – could be a touch of heatstroke in there as well, and maybe your doctor was right the other day and you just need to stop the insulin – obviously don’t do that against advice but maybe you’re finally there! Or maybe just your meds need adjusting petal

Don’t forget as well if you’re generally feeling a bit rubbish everything seems worse somehow! So be kind to yourself.

Follow your own mantra sweet, one step at a time and keep on keeping on!

L xx

SG I do hope you feel reassured by what Lauren and V have said .You know that if there was any serious concern they would not hang about in France and if the doc thinks your appointment can wait then that’s good news. You can ask the surgery to ring you if they have an unexpected spare slot. Yes, why not chat with the pharmacist about your blood pressure meds in the meantime ?

It is as Lauren and V have said , easier to say than to carry out but relax a bit SG . Eat what feels good to you right now and rest .This heat is brutal . I don’t think you need my ” Happy Ending File” just yet !!! Sorry if I offended anyone, just want to lighten the mood 😉

I’m off to set up the new thread xx