So apparently one of my kidney function tests from my blood work was low. As if I need more problems. I'm talking with my internist about how to handle this now, but it seems like going on a particular blood pressure medication (an ACE inhibitor which helps not only lower the bp but also helps protect the kidneys) may be the answer (this is the kind of bp med that can cause a dry cough, I have a friend who coughed so badly on this type of med that we could barely have a phone conversation). I need two low readings to be diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. I am wondering if the radiation spill over to my kidneys and the high doses of ibuprofen over the last year for my back pain might be contributing to this. Also previous pelvic radiation and chemotherapy (I checked over some older blood labs done during my initial endo cancer treatment and while my kidney levels were normal, they were on the very low end of normal- but they didn't do this particular kidney function test). High blood pressure certainly is a contributor but it hasn't been high for that long that it seems to me I'd have kidney damage already. Sigh, I'm just glad I found a great internist who treats me like a respectful partner in my health care decisions to help me through all this crap.
Meanwhile my dietary changes are helping, my blood sugar reading this morning was 108, still above normal, but not diabetic. In fact for the last week the readings have been in the teens. I've lost 6 1/2 pounds and my blood pressure is coming down also (in normal ranges first thing in the morning at least). I'm doing well with eating as long as I am home, I don't know what I will do when I have to eat out. It's very hard to find food out that is both low sodium and low glycemic, even at a place like Whole Foods. I'm going to stop there to pick up lunch tomorrow between my acupuncture appt. and Open Studio. I'll probably stick with the salad bar and plain olive oil and vinegar (then I just have to deal with my salivary gland swelling up). A. and I had an opportunity to go out for a relatively quick dinner on Friday night as Z. had a late playdate but I couldn't think of one appropriate restaurant to eat at so we stayed home and made dinner instead (Southwestern Turkey burgers w/o buns from EatingWell.com, also without the pickled onions. I didn't get to A. in time and he put the whole salt amount in, I've asked him to at least half the salt amount in anything he makes from now on).
It's always amazing to me when I stop eating sugar (and white flour, which I normally don't eat except when I'm eating sugar, like in a cookie or something like that) how quickly my craving for it goes away. My dessert last night was a half a honeybell (these wonderful oranges from Florida my mom sends us every year) and a triangle of bittersweet chocolate (from those little round tins that Trader Joe's sells, since I really prefer the creamy mouth feel of milk chocolate I like this particular one as it's has a "creamy" feel while having a high cocoa content). Some nights I have a Kozy Shack sugar free pudding. Considering how important dessert was to me just a few weeks ago this is pretty remarkable.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Sigh. {{{hugs}}}
((Michele)) Have you ever tried the Bob's Red Mill brand soup mixes? They make a vegi soup mix that really tasty and super low in sodium (and low GI I imagine). It has lentils, split peas, some little pasta -- I add onion, carrot, and celery. It's really easy to make. My picky C ate two helpings of it last Friday!
I don't think I've seen them but I'll keep an eye out. I've seen lots of Bob's Mills stuff in both Whole Foods and the regular supermarkets, but never soup. I have found Amy's Organics low sodium canned soups that are good (and about half the sodium of most supermarket low sodium soups) and Health Valley has some no salt added soups that have even less sodium (haven't tasted those yet). Tomorrow night I'm going to a cooking class at the Wellness Community that is on making soups, maybe I'll find some good but easy soup recipes there :-)
Post a Comment