Month 1, Day 9

Fatigue.

For the most part, I'm been fine.  But I've been noticing this low-grade fatigue over the last week.  I don't think it has anything to do with being lazy, sick or overworked.  I think it has to do with INH.

It's not exhausting me or making me keel over at the end of the day into a pile of bones.  It's just a feeling of lethargy.  Like I need to push a little harder to make things happen.  I need to psych myself up more to do active things. After last week's experience with the Lactic Acid, I realize that I don't want to have another episode of that.  What would be ideal is daily exercise to avoid anything dramatic.  But of course, that is difficult for me, since I'm out of shape.

So, work into it, they say...and so I must.  And most likely, the daily exercise will give me more energy!

On a different note, someone told me today that I look really healthy! I guess going from zero pills daily to 8 pills, better diet, lots of water and better nutrition daily says something, even if one of those pills are INH.  I think that when the body is clean, it makes it much, much simpler to process out toxins in the body.

Last night I made a Blueberry Banana Bread (Awesome Source) because I wanted something yummy.  It was absolutely delicious:

3 large over-ripe bananas
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/3 cup (80 ml) vanilla soymilk (or apple sauce)
1/2 cup (120 ml) agave nectar
2 cups (240 g) white whole wheat flour (or regular whole wheat flour) (Note: I used Brown Rice Flour instead of whole wheat to avoid gluten. 
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (240 ml) blueberries

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray or wipe a 9x5-inch loaf pan with oil (I used a silicon loaf pan).

Mix the soymilk with 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice and let stand until it curdles. (If using apple sauce, skip this step and add the lemon juice to the bananas.)
In a large bowl, mash the bananas and add the remaining lemon juice, soymilk, and agave nectar. Stir well to combine. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture, and stir just until the mixture is well-combined. Fold in the blueberries.
Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared pan and bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes. Allow to cool before cutting and serving.
Servings: 12

Month 1, Day 7

Well, I'm definitely getting into the swing of things.  I leave my pill out on the counter so it stares me down at night.  I drink 32 oz of water first thing in the morning accompanied by a probiotic.  I take a multivitamin daily, 3 after breakfast and 3 after lunch.

I'd say the first week was pretty good.  Feels like it's been forever already, though.  To go from taking no pills, to 8 pills a day is quite the adjustment.

As a wrap-up, my symptoms have been relatively minor.  I did notice that after playing racquetball for the first time in forever Thursday evening and getting incredibly musclesore, the pain actually seemed to linger longer than usual.  In addition to my right hand cramping up, my left hand cramped up too, and I had intense weakness in both hands.  Could just be that I'm THAT out of shape, but I'd like to look into the theory of INH interaction with lactic acid.  Actually - just did a cursory check - looks like INH actually raises the level of lactic acidosis in the system.  Makes sense that extreme exercise can actually create lactic acidosis in the body with INH.

Month 1, Day 5

Totally forgot to take the pill last night.  So at 5am, I woke up and remembered and panicked.  I figured it would be OK to take it then, and then another 14 hours later...so I took it, worried that I might feel some side-effects.  The only thing I felt was great when I woke up again at 8:15, realizing I'd slept in way too long and had to get to work.

This actually gives me some more confidence to take this pill on an empty stomach.  Since I didn't experience and side-effects like nausea, headaches, etc, I might want to try taking this in the middle of the day rather than after dinner so I don't forget it!  We'll see...

Month 1 - Day 4

Felt great this morning. 1 side-effect, diarrhea - ick. Luckily, I just bought from the store yesterday a hardy probiotic (acidopholis/lactobacillus friendly bacteria mix). Antibiotics usually kill friendly bacteria in your colon leading to symptoms like gas, diarrhea, etc. So this morning I took my probiotic 20 min before breakfast.

Drank 32 oz of water first thing.

B - Cut up banana, raw almonds, dried strawberries, hemp seed and coconut milk
S - Carrots and hummus
L - Salad and dressing
S - Banana chips (a lot)
D -Butternut squash soup with cauliflower, chocolate brittle

By the way, I love chocolate, so need to make a healthy, yummy alternative to the chocolate you usually buy...

So, here's what I do:

1/2c Coconut oil
1/2c maple syrup
1/2c cocoa powder
dash of vanilla
1/2c chopped almonds

Blend the top 4 ingredients until smooth, then add in almonds. Smooth it onto some plastic wrap and let it harden in the freezer.

It tastes like fudge, is raw and healthy!

Pill:
Totally forgot - woke up at 5am and remembered...will talk about on next post.

Month 1 - Day 3

Felt very dry this morning...woke up and knew I needed water.

Once upon a time I used to start the morning with 32 oz of water. The purpose was not only to hydrate but to flush the kidneys of water soluble toxins and also flush the intestinal tract. I think I'll start this up again. The body is practically a bag of water, and needs to be changed just like a fishbowl. If you don't get enough water, those water soluble toxins just tend to hang out in the body. The new rule of thumb for water is half your body weight in water each day. I weigh around 130 (hoping that goes down!). So I should be drinking about 65 oz of water each day.

Drinking 32oz of water before doing anything else can be difficult the first couple of days. But it makes sense to get half my water consumption out of the way and provide a fresh start for my body each morning.

Today my diet is:
B- Medley of rolled oats, roasted almonds, banana, figs and coconut milk
S-Rice cake and 2 cuties
L- Rice, steamed kale, olives, tomatoes and a brown rice tortilla
S-Banana chips
D-Butternut squash soup, Salad, Chocolate bark (coconut oil, maple syrup, cocoa powder, almonds)

Took pill before bed.

Month 1 - Day 2

Well, as far as I can tell, the only symptom I might have had this morning was arthritic fingers. Very often when I drink red wine I tend to get a bit arthritic the next morning and this was reminiscent of that. No, I didn't chug the open bottle of my favorite red wine to finish it off...just took one little pill.

I did, however, chug wine on Friday and Saturday night, as well as eating cheese, meat and chocolate. Hey, I'm going to miss my wine and cheese! I don't know if that would continue to affect my liver, or make it more difficult for my liver to process the pill. We'll see as we go along.

I'd like to research more how INH is processed by the liver.

Tonight, I will also spread out the time that I take the pill to 1 hour after eating. I'm nervous about the nausea, but experienced none last night. Ideally, from what I've read, I should take the pill 2 hours after eating to ensure maximum efficacy.

My Diet Today:
B-Ezekial with Avocado, Tomato, Spike and Earth Balance
S-2 cuties (tangerines)
L-Baked Sweet Potato loaded with Earth's Balance, 1/2 c. tabhouli, nuts
S- Carrots/Hummus, Chips and Salsa when home
D-Stuffed portobello mushrooms, rice and lemon bars for dessert.

I ate at around 7:30 but kept eating until about 8:30...taking pill right before bed.

Month 1 - Day 1

The Public Health Department nurse who interviewed me after my PPD and chest Xray suggested that I take my INH pill after dinner to lighten nausea. I think that's a great idea, so my first day, possibly week, will just be about remembering to take my pill.

The Public Health department in Santa Fe, New Mexico was very easy to work with on my initial visit. After looking at my paperwork, the sweet, elderly hispanic nurse asked me a few questions that she'll ask every month as I return for my next 30-day dose. These questions help them identify what symptoms I have, and if I might be reacting adversly to INH. To me, if I vomit, that will be an adverse reaction, but the next medication in line might be even worse.

Since INH is hard on the liver (thus the increased risk of hepatits and requirement of little alcohol and increased problems with blood sugar) my desire through this 9 months is to provide adequate liver support. I hope to try different things that I wouldn't normally try. Although my diet is usually pretty good, I believe this 9 months will push me above and beyond my normal diet and force me to be as clean as possible. Imagine that...

My Diet Today:
Breakfast: Ezekial Toast with Avocado, Tomato and spike
Snack: Big bag of carrots and Hummus
Lunch: Cooked veges with goddess dressing on top
Snack: Grapefruit and nuts
Dinner: Kale and a Millet pilaf

My diet is pretty healthy for the most part anyhow, so this isn't a huge change for me. I could understand how this would really suck for a lot of people who drink soda, eat a lot of chips and refined products, etc. I'm pretty lucky on this end.

The First Pill
This morning I set out the bottle. It still has the little flap of info attached to the lid. I lifted it up and felt a little like Socrates holding his hemlock. Tonight, at 8'clock on the nose less that 10 minutes after dinner, I popped the pill in while my partner was singing to me. At 9:00 PM, I feel my normal tired.

We'll see how I feel tomorrow...bedtime at 10 tonight.