Week 7!

Today, Sunday, is a day of rest. I started doing the exercises and then remembered that I will be doing them tomorrow, so I stopped. Not that it would have hurt to do them one more day, I expect.

I am beginning to think about doing things that take more energy and a good attitude. I'm getting ready to tackle more clutter. It seems I do this in waves, but I want it to become a regular activity, one that I feel strong enough and pain-free enough to do every day. So as of today I am committing to just fifteen minutes of decluttering every day. I suspect that as I feel better about what I have accomplished I will in turn gain more energy just because I will like myself more.

I think my golden words are worth more.

My blog is worth $0.00.
How much is your blog worth?

Week 6

Six weeks seems like a magic number. I think that is the length of the trial of ginger supplement, the one that showed that about 2/3 of the people found ginger to be as effective as tylenol arthritis. I am starting week six and not too auspiciously.

It's snowing outside, and wet. There are so many variables to account for that I can't sort them out, can't determine if this program is definitively helping me or not, but I suspect that I need more time. Five weeks doesn't undo so many years of pain. Today, anyway, I am feeling extra pain, and I think it may have to do with the weather more than anything else.

supplements

I finished my bottle of glucosamine and chontroitin yesterday and moved to my new bottle of vegetarian glucosamine. I was not taking the recommended dose of glucosamine, I realized when I reread that section in Arthritis Rx. Now I am. However, I am now taking no chondroitin. Unless a vegetarian source is found I won't be. I am hopeful that the full dose of glucosamine will make a difference, though. My ginger supply is running low. I will probably need more before I leave New York.

This is the fifth week. I believe I am in less pain than I was when I was here last November. But I can't prove that definitively. Perhaps in a few more weeks the differences will be more noticeable.

good day

This morning I took some extra-strength excedrin because I had a headache. So I can't sort out what's happening. I felt less pain going both up and down the stairs this morning, and the walk was pleasant, if cold, because my knees did not hurt. I am tempted to keep taking the excedrin but I think it makes more sense to try again without it, to sort out what's happening.

Bed

Last night I slept in a bed for the first time since I've been in NYC. I woke with less pain in my knees. Getting up was not excruciating. It seems odd that the way I sleep would have an effect on my knees. I can understand it helping my back, but don't quite get the knees.

Fifth week

I start out my fifth week somewhat unhappy with my progress. It is difficult to measure changes in pain levels incrementally. I do not know if any objective measurements could be made at this point, either - measures of ligament improvement, for example.

I am in a challenging situation, with stairs and a cold outside. It's possible that when I return to Las Vegas, and then San Luis Obispo, I will notice more of a change. But at this point I suspect it may be another several weeks before I can say definitively that this program is working.

It would help, of course, if I followed the food recommendations more closely. I would be eating fewer inflammatory foods (I think the main transgressors right now are white bread or crackers, the wrong kinds of oils; I continue to eat many kinds of vegetables but not as many fruits as I could). If I were doing a better job on the food end I would also be losing weight, which by itself would make a big difference. Which, of course, leads us to the question: when the pain is reduced will it be because I lost weight or will the exercises and supplements take the prize?

I can only wait and see. Today is "rest day". But I will still be walking the doggie. I am sure that "rest day" does not mean one plops on the couch and stays there all day long.