Day One

Well, really it's day two, but that's okay.

Today I'll write about my health.  It's been poor.  It turns out I don't have a thyroid condition, or at least, if I do, my medication isn't helping.  I tend to get lightheaded and "glassy headed" after meals, especially after drinking coffee so my current operating thesis is that I have some kind of hypoglycemia.  Hypoglycemia can't actually be treated; it's more a matter of watching what you eat, trying to have a number of small meals (instead three large ones) and generally worrying about your body's blood sugar.  Essentially,  I'm not getting enough glucose to my brain.  Paradoxically, however, ingesting large amounts of glucose tends to trigger an override mechanism which also denies glucose to my brain.  Without glucose, the brain works not very well.  It also leads to feelings of worthlessness and depression (interestingly some people with hypoglycemia are misdiagnosed as being bipolar and put on anti-depression medication), something I have had to deal with in the last few months.

Anyway, it's all tedious and sad, especially because drinking coffee, which used to be one of my sure-fire ways of forcing myself to write, is now a big no-no.  (Turns out that a lot of what gives caffeine its power to wake us up is that it releases large amounts of glucose in the brain).  Of course, I'm still drinking it (in small doses, once or twice a day).  At the right time of day, if all the levels are optimal, it still has some effect.

Well this post has turned out to be kind of self-pitying.  I apologize.  I'm actually feeling better today; I've gotten better at regulating what I eat; not drinking orange juice breakfast helps a lot as well.  So maybe I'm on way up, and out, from under the shadow of this red rock.

I should put up some illustration above, right?  Because illustrations supposedly make people want to read your posts.  But here's the thing about that: I don't want to go look for an illustration that ties in to hypoglycemia.  So I'm not going to!

For some reason, though, I just had an idea that I should try to find a puppet that is used to teach kids about hypoglycemia.  Hypoglycemia Elmo.  THAT would be a good illustration.  Did you all see the Top Chef recently where they cooked with Elmo and Cookie Monster?  How great was that?  How much does it suck that Dale was sent home?  I really respect that guy this season; it's amazing how much he's grown up.

Ok, I'm out...