My body is falling apart - any ideas?

[Steely]

OK, so you got my last email about my sleep issues. For now I have Ambien, which has solved so many of my sleep issues, I could declare it a miracle. For the future I might have to get more medical help to prove I have some sort of sleep disorder in order to receive the Ambien. However, you know the thing that is weird? When I don't sleep, I don't just stay awake all the time - the rest of the time I have nightmares - and some these nightmares are telepathic in nature (I know it sounds kooky, but after 4 decades of them, I know it to be true). Before Ambien, I always knew when something bad was going to happen because of the nightmares. I had 2 night before last, that I am still shaking about.
* But my question is - if I take Ambien and do not dream these dreams - am I robbing part of myself of it's existence? You know what I mea? Like this is a gift of sorts, and I am deciding it is not worthy enough to be part of my life?

OK, onto the next pertinent piece of health news. I have really high cholesterol, triglycerides, and in the past, high blood pressure. I have had this since my early twenties. I have the blood pressure controlled, and it has been happy for years, but my cholesterol, not so much. The statin medications make my muscles hurt like I have a disease. My doctor just called and said we have to do something - but I am just out of ideas.
Yes, I could lose weight, but I had these problems when I weighed 110. I am 5'6 and 165 - so I still need to lose some weight.
Yes, I could eat better - but my eating patterns are not appalling.
No, I could not exercise more, because I already feel like I do? (See bottom section of my post.) Maybe not?
*So, my question is - what should I do? Do you think I should try something homeopathic? Or should I try some sort of strict diet, which I have never really tried? Or should I continue the trial and errors of these statins, which only lower my cholesterol a small amount and give me side effects?

Then there is the problem of my stocking (aka tennis) elbow. Since I started retail I have apparently developed "tennis elbow" in both elbows. It sounds so cliche, doesn't it? But it hurts!!!!
*Have any of you had it? And if so what helps?

And last I am having horrible muscle pain. It started a couple of years ago in conjunction with the sleep problems. I thought it could be some form of Fibro Myalgia. It is made worse on the statin medications for cholesterol. But even without those, (I have been off of them for a month) it has been really bad since I started working in retail. One of the sales assc has a pedometer, and as a sales person she walks appx 5-7 miles a day. I probably walk 2-3 miles a day as a manager - but we also have stairs to the upper floor I climb 20 times a day, and lots of lifting. Still it is not like I am running a marathon every day. So, I don't get it.
*Any thoughts?

You guys are so amazingly helpful! Thank you in advance.

 

[Hound dog]

Steely

As far as the nightmares, well mine are usually "dreams" not normally in nightmare form. And yes I do know what you're describing as I've done it as long as I can recall and if people want to think I'm off my nut than so be it. It doesn't change it any.

But what I wanted to say was that trazadone and seroquel weren't enough to keep mine at bay. The number and frequency was greatly reduced. But I did still have them.

Oatmeal and cheerios are supposed to help reduce cholesteral alot. Other than that I don't know anything except the medications. Sorry.

As far as the pain, I had alot of muscle pain when I was having insomnia. The past month or so I've been back to sleeping like a log. (knock on wood) And I've noticed a majority of them have disappeared, so I'm wondering if it was because my body just couldn't get adequate rest??

Hugs

 

[flutterbee]

Steely -

My first idea would be to trade your body in for a newer model.

Since that won't work...

I can't speak for the sleep/dream issues.

Statins can cause muscle pain but it sounds like you were having that before the statins. It seems like I came across something about that recently and I'll look and see what I can find. What statins have you taken?

I'll be back with some links. (I hope.)

 

[WhymeMom?]

Okay, no real medical opinions here, just personal opinions of an "old lady"......when you have a medication induced sleep it just isn't the same as "normal" sleep.....your subconscious doesn't react the same way.....if you can use the medications then get off them as soon as possible I think the "normal" sleep would be better......you have been thru a great shock with your sister's passing, so wouldn't be surprised you are not sleeping normally.....could take a while......
For your cholesterol I can only say watch your diet and stay away from saturated fats.......for exercise I would suggest a more meditative course, such as yoga or tai chai......you need the calming influence of this type of exercise.....It is different from moving around in your everyday life and you need to commit the time to YOU. It sounds from your description of symptoms that you need a more calming lifestyle, yeah, don't we all, but YOU are in control.......when upsetting things happen over which you have no control ask yourself what you can do to change the outcome, if there is something, do it, if nothing comes to mind, resolve that you can't change it and move on...... YOU need to gain peace in your life and I think this would help your physical health......I am not saying to ignore doctors, but the mind is an amazing thing and it can greatly effect how you function in everyday life........
Hope you can find some peace.......

 

[flutterbee]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071127105528.htm

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=16431

http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/137/7/I-45

Also, some new cholesterol medications have been shown recently that while they do reduce cholesterol, they don't have an effect on death from heart disease. That is not the case for older statins, but is starting a discussion on just how much of a role cholesterol plays in cardiovascular disease and what exactly the other statins are doing that the newer drugs aren't.

In my case, my cholesterol was 227 a few years ago and 277 six weeks before my heart attack yet I had severe atherosclerosis. One would think my cholesterol would have been much higher. One of the medics that transferred me from one hospital to another had cholesterol in the 400's and I was the one strapped to a gurney. Huh.

 

[Marguerite]

Steely, come join us over on Healthful Living. A lot of us have complicated problems surrounding a need to lose weight.

I also have severe chronic pain issues. I can tell you, if you have breakthrough pain in your sleep, it will work its way into your REM sleep, generally as nightmares. Some of the prophetic stuff - it could be self-fulfilling and it could also be that you have an extremely acute intuition. And sometimes stuff just happens.

I've had some horrendous 'psycho' nightmares over the years, I'm sure I could really understand Stephen King's mind and where he gets his ideas from. Pure horror, mental torture so vivid I had a hard time distinguishing reality from dream, even hours after I woke. Or days or months, even.

If you can get yourself to a pain management specialist, whose main brief is to find a way to help you with pain, it could help in other areas. For example, if some medications aggravate the pain a pain specialist can sometimes find another way that avoids that medication, or controls the pain side-effects.

The weight loss - I was talking to a good friend (very overweight) this morning. Normally when I try to diet, I can lose a few kilos but soon the weight loss slows and stops, no matter what I try to do. But I finally had to go on a diet because the gastroenterologist said I must, my liver is almost saturated with fat and I'm right on the edge of having Type II diabetes. And I thought I already WAS on a diet!

What I'm doing is drastic but I am losing weight, at a steady rate. I'm not happy to be so restricted in what I eat, but I AM highly motivated. If my liver can improve, it will be easier to keep the weight down. A fatty liver also can lead to easier weight gain, I've been in a Catch 22 loop.

High BiPolar (BP) - mine was climbing but it turned out to be due to HRT. I stopped the HRT and the BiPolar (BP) dropped.

There are ways and there are ways... if you just decide, "I'm going to lose weight," and try to do it on your own, you're likely to get trapped in so many silly ways. For example, if you decide to cut out fat from your diet, but you still eat out a lot or buy a lot of processed or partly processed food, it's very easy to find yourself gaining even more. The reason is, when they take the fat out, sugar creeps in. Or salt. or both. And other carbs. Also, taking out the fat often is associated with taking out the protein and research is now showing that we diet better on more protein and fewer carbs. Not the ridiculous amount in some unmentionable fad diets, but less than we would think.

I've found that if I eliminate all plain white carbs (such as potato in any form; white rice; white flour products) I can substitute almost the same amount of brown equivalent - brown rice, wholegrain flour products (such as wholegrain bread), oats, linseed etc. Eliminating sugar in any form is also important. That also means no honey or anything else containing sucrose.

Depending on how drastically you have to diet, you can ease some of the stuff back in. I can't - I have to be really strict with myself. This means I have to take supplements to replace stuff like calcium and a number of vitamins, since I'm eating less than a dietician would like.

Maybe for you it's not so much a matter of weight loss, as eliminating the problem foods from your diet, at least for a while, and substituting more fresh vegetables and wholegrains. Trying to de-stress can help a lot - hard to say at the moment, with all you've had going on.

For now, I would just concentrate on eating a healthy diet, and don't count calories until you have the emotional resources to do so. And see if that helps.

Also, see a pain specialist. I used to find that when my pain was out of control, I would eat more since food seemed to ease the pain a little. Not enough, though.

Marg

 

[amazeofgrace]

I am so glad I am not the only one. I feel like I am falling apart too!!!

being sick makes me feel even worse! Bathing suit season around the corner makes me feel mucho worse.

I know what I need to do, I look at the success stories of woman older and heavier then me and I say why can't I do this?