Fulenn's MS page New: before/after pics on page 15

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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby moonwatcher » Sat Jul 14, 2012 10:55 pm

hi fulenn--

If you feel like it, sometime would you describe more what your weight lifting routine is, what size weights, etc. Might be inspirational for others who may want to try something like that but don't know where to start. Plus, I'm curious! :) Glad things are going so well.

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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby fulenn » Tue Jul 17, 2012 7:51 pm

I took the girls out for lunch today with an out-of-town friend of theirs to a place called Pita Pit. They offered a choice of white or wheat pitas and they held up the package so I could see that it was oil free. I went ahead and ordered a make your own on wheat. Yummy! I was not thinking about what kind of flour it was as I do not eat much with flour anymore: it was NOT whole wheat, just wheat, which I means it was not the whole grain. I asked and they said they could do just the salad for me next time, but they didn't really have bowls, it would just be on the paper that they wrap the pitas in. I will not be making the Pita Pit choice again, but I am going to look for whole wheat pita bread at the store. I learned that I need to be prepared ahead of time for ordering at a restaurant; I was feeling pretty confident that I could handle whatever, but I wasn't even thinking about the flour, I was thinking about oil. That's good to think about oil, but I have flour issues and want to devour flour-based foods if I am not careful. So I will be ready if the opportunity presents itself again.

My exercise is this:
--walking 1-2 miles per day, 2.5-3.0mph, treadmill or at the track
--dumbbells, every other day, 8lbs each, the following exercises 12-15 reps and 3 sets each: biceps curl, triceps kickback, lateral raise, and lying fly
--weight bench every other day, 25lbs, 12 reps and 3 sets each of leg extension and leg curl

I am using very light weights and many repetitions to begin using my body again. I have spent a lot of months here just getting through the day, then going home and sleeping, not moving around. I am trying to get my body used to moving and bearing weight again. I am also trying to build my endurance by walking more often. Today I was in town with the girls and made a point of avoiding escalators and taking stairs, also parking in the far ends of the parking lot so I could walk more.

Food: slept in--right through breakfast! So I began with
lunch: veggie pita
snack: baked potato, bing cherries
dinner: bean and kale soup over hot rice
snack: carrot sticks with fat free hummus

Fulenn
Last edited by fulenn on Tue Jul 17, 2012 7:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby lmggallagher » Tue Jul 17, 2012 7:59 pm

Hi Fulenn:

Eating out is so hard - all you want is a place that's fun to enjoy with family and have something healthy for everyone! I looked at two eat out menus today and I think I can work both for a lunch with my younger cousin and friends in general. But I doubt I can get the food oil free.

I think it's amazing that you have gone from naps every day to weights. Your progress is inspiring and your adventures with the family are so fun to follow too! :nod: :nod: :nod: :nod:
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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby fulenn » Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:07 pm

Hi, Michelle!

I do still take naps, just not every day or for as long as I used to. But it is amazing to me, too, that there is still improvement happening. My left arm and hand are still bothering me and right now are the biggest issue that I have. The week before New Years, my left shoulder began feeling irritated, it spread slowly down my arm all the way to my fingers, and I was numb for months. The feeling has come back about half-way now. But when I wake up and sometimes in the middle of the day for no reason I can discern, it starts to tingle--it feels like when you sleep on your arm and it "falls asleep" then you move so the circulation begins and it tingles and burns, almost painfully. Only this feels worse. My pulse is still good in that arm, my fingers and hand aren't cold or anything like that, it appears to be another MS symptom, and it is still occurring. It will sometimes go away for 2-3 days, and then it will happen every day for several days.

The fatigue is slowly improving, though I do not deny myself a nap if my body wants it. The vertigo and balance issues seem to be a thing of the past as of the past several days. I haven't had speech problems for a few days now. Cross your collective fingers and I'll keep eating right!

I know what you mean about finding oil-free food. Pita Pit had hummus and baba ganoush that you could put on your pita, but I had no way of knowing what was in them--so I passed.

Fulenn
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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby moonwatcher » Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:23 pm

hi fulenn,

Wow, I'm with Michelle, that's a great transition in terms of your activity and stamina level! I have flour issues, too. That does, coupled with no oil, make it kind of hard to eat out. Or not worth it for me. I just don't eat out, except rarely, which is easy in my lifestyle, but wouldn't be if I was still raising kids, etc.

Sounds like your symptoms are improving. Do you find any relationship between the tingling/burning and using your arms? That kind of burning/tingling has slowly improved for me, but it comes back if I overdo, and especially if I overdo AND it's hot outside. But now it doesn't come back as severely, and resolves more quickly.

Has the birthday party happened yet? :)

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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby fulenn » Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:55 pm

Hi, moonwatcher,

I haven't noticed anything with using my arms. What I think is when I get up and begin moving my head, I may be irritating a lesion on my spinal cord that is in my neck. I have had issues in the past with that lesion.

The birthday party was yesterday! Very fun. Bing cherries, veggie dogs and some real hotdogs, too, carrots, hummus, potato salad, cake, and sorbet. It was a good lunch except for the hotdogs, but we had one child choose a veggie dog who had said they wouldn't eat one earlier. :)

We really didn't do much for this party. It was for high school seniors, who are too cool to play.....anyway, they had water balloons and had fun just hanging out.

Fulenn
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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby moonwatcher » Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:59 pm

Oh, yes, high school seniors are definitely too cool to play. :) Sounds nice though.

Thanks for sharing about the lesion on your neck and how you think it might be connected. Really glad you are doing so well.

take care,

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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby fulenn » Wed Jul 18, 2012 1:37 pm

Well, I know what the problem with my left arm is: Lhermitte's syndrome. I have been familiar with it as an electrical sensation that runs down my neck and back when I bend my head towards my chest, but I found out a few minutes ago that when I bend my head the electrical feeling runs down my arm. I can bend my head slowly and feel the sensation in my arm increase, then slowly raise my head and feel the sensation decrease, repeatedly. I noticed a bit of this in the past couple of days, but today was quite pronounced. So. This seems to suggest that a lesion in my neck is still causing problems. I will continue to eat well and, I'm assuming, watch it go away. There are other things than MS which can cause Lhermitte's, but I have a known lesion (seen on MRI's) in the right area for this and can assume fairly safely that this is the cause. If it doesn't clear up in the next couple of months, I'll see my neurologist and make sure nothing else has cropped up.

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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby moonwatcher » Wed Jul 18, 2012 2:21 pm

Thanks for describing that fulenn. In my time of the Swank discussion board, I read other people dealing with it. Hopefully it goes away altogether, or at least becomes less noticeable or bothersome or painful. I'll hold a good thought.

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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby fulenn » Wed Jul 18, 2012 3:51 pm

Breakfast: home-shredded hash browns (love my food processor!), red bell pepper
Lunch: romaine lettuce, tomatoes, rice with leftover bean and kale soup
Dinner: veggie and rice soup, sweet potato, kale with nutritional yeast
Snack: bing cherries, baby carrots

Fulenn
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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby fulenn » Wed Jul 18, 2012 5:44 pm

moonwatcher wrote:Thanks for describing that fulenn. In my time of the Swank discussion board, I read other people dealing with it. Hopefully it goes away altogether, or at least becomes less noticeable or bothersome or painful. I'll hold a good thought.

moonwatcher



Lhermitte's is just one of the many symptoms that have plagued me for the past several months, but the down the back sensation, not the arm (I thought). For a couple of weeks, I would feel it travel down my back and even feel it in my left hip and leg. But I have not had that happen for, I'm guessing, 3 months now. Not having the back and leg occurring is a good sign, to me at least, that the arm may go away, too. I do wonder if it might even be two different things going on. Just have to wait and see.

This journal is going to be hugely helpful to me in another year or two when I am feeling better and don't really remember how it was. I plan to come and look at it and remind myself of these things:


1--it wasn't my imagination
2--I am not exaggerating the memory of my bad experience, it's right here to read
3--don't quit eating right because look what happens when you do
4--don't be thinking, because you are doing so well that it can't happen again. It did this time. I was doing well, got lazy, busy, and just fooled myself into thinking that it wasn't really that bad and this couldn't really be what is making the difference, so eat what you want.

I think that number 4 is the most important thing for me. It is so easy after many years to begin thinking that maybe there was a misdiagnosis, maybe what I am doing to stay symptom-free really isn't making a difference, maybe I would have been fine anyway. I did that and will not make that mistake again. I will be on this board, if Dr. McDougall sees fit to keep it up, for years to come.

Fulenn
What if love really IS the answer?

Read my journal about tackling Multiple Sclerosis with a plant-based McDougall diet in the journal forum on this site, Fulenn's MS Page.

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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby lmggallagher » Wed Jul 18, 2012 6:12 pm

Fuelenn:

I clipped your 4 item list and am posting it on my journal under wise words from Fuelenn. You nailed why I am journalling here too! My symptoms are hard to piece out too. I have found that I have eliminated things that I thought were part of the fibromyalgia and ended up being something else altogether ( like localized arthritis) and some that definitely are (like IBS) - even thought the top two pain and fatigue remain. I think like you there are numerous syndromes within our diagnosis that seem to be knocked out early on by the WOE. Funny thing is I still think I am having bad days when the severity is so much less there is no comparison. Our journals will keep us on the straight and narrow in future too, just as you say.

Thanks for the list and your clear goals. Along with the accounting of all the progress you are making and of course the delish meal lists!
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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby fulenn » Wed Jul 18, 2012 6:33 pm

lmggallagher wrote:Fuelenn:

I clipped your 4 item list and am posting it on my journal under wise words from Fuelenn. You nailed why I am journalling here too! My symptoms are hard to piece out too. I have found that I have eliminated things that I thought were part of the fibromyalgia and ended up being something else altogether ( like localized arthritis) and some that definitely are (like IBS) - even thought the top two pain and fatigue remain. I think like you there are numerous syndromes within our diagnosis that seem to be knocked out early on by the WOE. Funny thing is I still think I am having bad days when the severity is so much less there is no comparison. Our journals will keep us on the straight and narrow in future too, just as you say.

Thanks for the list and your clear goals. Along with the accounting of all the progress you are making and of course the delish meal lists!


I'm so glad that you will be helped by this, too! It will be good for both of us to be able to look back someday.

moonwatcher, thanks for the good thought. :)

Fulenn
What if love really IS the answer?

Read my journal about tackling Multiple Sclerosis with a plant-based McDougall diet in the journal forum on this site, Fulenn's MS Page.

My blog: http://fulennskitchen.blogspot.com
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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby nicoles » Wed Jul 18, 2012 6:50 pm

fulenn wrote:
This journal is going to be hugely helpful to me in another year or two when I am feeling better and don't really remember how it was. I plan to come and look at it and remind myself of these things:


1--it wasn't my imagination
2--I am not exaggerating the memory of my bad experience, it's right here to read
3--don't quit eating right because look what happens when you do
4--don't be thinking, because you are doing so well that it can't happen again. It did this time. I was doing well, got lazy, busy, and just fooled myself into thinking that it wasn't really that bad and this couldn't really be what is making the difference, so eat what you want.

I think that number 4 is the most important thing for me. It is so easy after many years to begin thinking that maybe there was a misdiagnosis, maybe what I am doing to stay symptom-free really isn't making a difference, maybe I would have been fine anyway. I did that and will not make that mistake again. I will be on this board, if Dr. McDougall sees fit to keep it up, for years to come.

Fulenn


I could not agree more, Fulenn!

(Hi, I'm Nicole, and I read your journal regularly, but haven't had time to post til today.)

I feel off the wagon a couple of times after thinking I was "cured" or maybe not sick at all, but that so was not true and I paid for it, with lots of pain and disability for a couple of months at least.

Your journal is very helpful to me, too. :-D
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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby fulenn » Wed Jul 18, 2012 7:05 pm

nicoles wrote:[I could not agree more, Fulenn!

(Hi, I'm Nicole, and I read your journal regularly, but haven't had time to post til today.)

I feel off the wagon a couple of times after thinking I was "cured" or maybe not sick at all, but that so was not true and I paid for it, with lots of pain and disability for a couple of months at least.

Your journal is very helpful to me, too. :-D


Hi, nicoles! Nice to meet you, too. I also look at your journal about your journey with arthritis. This way of eating really does make such an impact on illness. What continues to amaze me is that the food doesn't just aggravate the illness, but is often the cause of the illness. And people don't know about it.

Fulenn

edited to change the word "poor" to "food"
Last edited by fulenn on Thu Jul 19, 2012 2:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
What if love really IS the answer?

Read my journal about tackling Multiple Sclerosis with a plant-based McDougall diet in the journal forum on this site, Fulenn's MS Page.

My blog: http://fulennskitchen.blogspot.com
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