Lost in the rabbit hole -- want a reality check.
Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2018 10:36 am
I know I'm not the only one here who alternates between intense periods of reading/experimentation and other times when I just need to lighten my load a bit, and step away from tracking, supplements, and this weird inward focus. I'm in the intense phase at the moment.
I have just recently noticed a little too-far-down-the-hole behavior in myself that I think is the result of having to change meds for my blood pressure situation. I don't trust my doctor to catch differences between drugs that don't matter to most people, but might to me. So that's been on my mind. I also don't trust her to recognize when my individual situation justifies departing (just a little) from one of her family practice guidelines. Of course, the worry and emotions do my BP no good.
Three times recently I have done something weird for me, and that is order supplements that I haven't really done due diligence on. I also recognize a little weirdness (OCD? retail therapy? impulse buying? magical thinking?) in this pattern. So I would just like a reality check from anybody who has any knowledge or experience of these recent purchases.
1. The only one I feel like I've read up on properly is Theracumin HP from Integrative Therapeutics. I followed a recent thread on that and purchased it a while back. So maybe that doesn't qualify as an impulse buy.
2. I don't know why I bought GLA except that it was on sale from a familiar source, I had heard of it, and it is supposed to be both anti-inflammatory and maybe good for skin issues. I have basically undiagnosed rashes that I think are triggered by stress. Psoriasis? Eczema? Only diagnosis I ever got was "chronic idiopathic urticaria" which didn't tell me a lot. Twenty years ago I managed the first-and-worst such outbreak with antihistamines but don't take those any more. Should I take such a supplement without a better reason?
3. This morning I saw the study on the new high-priced MitoQ that supposedly addresses the availability problem of CoQ10. I've been taking Qunol Mega Q10, which is said to be water and fat soluble and therefore higher absorption. But the study seemed to show results in people just like me, and what happened was that it relaxed their blood vessels, which is my issue. But instead of setting it aside, doing my work, and coming back to it, I jumped on the bandwagon like everybody else and pulled out the credit card like I was made out of money. Just not like me.
That's what I really wanted to ask you guys. Beyond that, I'm hanging out on the site a lot because I enjoy the company of others dealing with the same issues. I know it's all a gamble, and all that.
The other thing I suppose I ought to mention is that I had a scary reaction to emotional upset last October that my doctor decided not to worry about once it passed. It had to do with a work issue -- I had to agree to take on a temporary (3 months) doubling of my work load, long story. I agreed, because I have a kind of Mighty-Mouse complex ("Here I come to save the DAY!") and because it was the prudent thing to do. This is the job that pays for my health insurance. But after I agreed to do it, I then had to go through a charade of acting like I had applied for the job, which meant a full academic dressup and tap dance, interviews and presentations in front of deans of a school I had worked for the last seven years -- teaching the same courses as this extra workload -- when I already was facing major disaster cleanup. (A teacher was fired mid-semester. I had to take over. She left no records.) This pointless demand on my time -- and I guess there was an element of humiliation since nobody even pretended it was going to continue after the end of the semester -- just floored me. I lost an entire night's sleep and was a basket case. At one point, I came up the stairs from the subway and had to just sit down on the pavement and call a car service to come get me. The 8-mile hiker couldn't make it six blocks home. It was several days before I felt right again. Felt a lot like a time a few years ago that I overdid the weight loss/ fasting/ workout/ ketosis routine and "hit the wall." It took about a week before I was really myself again.
So yeah. Obviously I need an intervention on the stress business. I also have a close relative with rage issues and a new AR-15, but we might as well just not go there. Thanks for listening, guys. I know I'm reacting way out of proportion to actual events. Just figuring out how to get myself back between the lines.
I have just recently noticed a little too-far-down-the-hole behavior in myself that I think is the result of having to change meds for my blood pressure situation. I don't trust my doctor to catch differences between drugs that don't matter to most people, but might to me. So that's been on my mind. I also don't trust her to recognize when my individual situation justifies departing (just a little) from one of her family practice guidelines. Of course, the worry and emotions do my BP no good.
Three times recently I have done something weird for me, and that is order supplements that I haven't really done due diligence on. I also recognize a little weirdness (OCD? retail therapy? impulse buying? magical thinking?) in this pattern. So I would just like a reality check from anybody who has any knowledge or experience of these recent purchases.
1. The only one I feel like I've read up on properly is Theracumin HP from Integrative Therapeutics. I followed a recent thread on that and purchased it a while back. So maybe that doesn't qualify as an impulse buy.
2. I don't know why I bought GLA except that it was on sale from a familiar source, I had heard of it, and it is supposed to be both anti-inflammatory and maybe good for skin issues. I have basically undiagnosed rashes that I think are triggered by stress. Psoriasis? Eczema? Only diagnosis I ever got was "chronic idiopathic urticaria" which didn't tell me a lot. Twenty years ago I managed the first-and-worst such outbreak with antihistamines but don't take those any more. Should I take such a supplement without a better reason?
3. This morning I saw the study on the new high-priced MitoQ that supposedly addresses the availability problem of CoQ10. I've been taking Qunol Mega Q10, which is said to be water and fat soluble and therefore higher absorption. But the study seemed to show results in people just like me, and what happened was that it relaxed their blood vessels, which is my issue. But instead of setting it aside, doing my work, and coming back to it, I jumped on the bandwagon like everybody else and pulled out the credit card like I was made out of money. Just not like me.
That's what I really wanted to ask you guys. Beyond that, I'm hanging out on the site a lot because I enjoy the company of others dealing with the same issues. I know it's all a gamble, and all that.
The other thing I suppose I ought to mention is that I had a scary reaction to emotional upset last October that my doctor decided not to worry about once it passed. It had to do with a work issue -- I had to agree to take on a temporary (3 months) doubling of my work load, long story. I agreed, because I have a kind of Mighty-Mouse complex ("Here I come to save the DAY!") and because it was the prudent thing to do. This is the job that pays for my health insurance. But after I agreed to do it, I then had to go through a charade of acting like I had applied for the job, which meant a full academic dressup and tap dance, interviews and presentations in front of deans of a school I had worked for the last seven years -- teaching the same courses as this extra workload -- when I already was facing major disaster cleanup. (A teacher was fired mid-semester. I had to take over. She left no records.) This pointless demand on my time -- and I guess there was an element of humiliation since nobody even pretended it was going to continue after the end of the semester -- just floored me. I lost an entire night's sleep and was a basket case. At one point, I came up the stairs from the subway and had to just sit down on the pavement and call a car service to come get me. The 8-mile hiker couldn't make it six blocks home. It was several days before I felt right again. Felt a lot like a time a few years ago that I overdid the weight loss/ fasting/ workout/ ketosis routine and "hit the wall." It took about a week before I was really myself again.
So yeah. Obviously I need an intervention on the stress business. I also have a close relative with rage issues and a new AR-15, but we might as well just not go there. Thanks for listening, guys. I know I'm reacting way out of proportion to actual events. Just figuring out how to get myself back between the lines.