Good morning everyonbe. Still no package, and no mail today as we all know it's a holiday. We have been sleeping in so much later these last few days, that not sure we'll hear the alarm tomorrow when it's time to get up for school! My granddaughter had off as of Friday. I better get in the habit since I may be going back to work real soon...sooner rather than never! LOL Mary Ellen, I don't blame you for being partial to the photos. I would be proud as well. Dianne, I can't tell you the number of times I would "remmeber" something, anything...especially that stuff I package up and put in containers in the freezer! LMAO....sometimes it's a defrost everything to determoine what it is. Or defrost what you think were mashed p potatoes and find out it was buttercream icing! My promise to myself this year was to label everything, but I don't always. oh well. One time I had a box take the longest time. When it came down to it, it was never mailed as a priority box, so it took a longer time to get here, perhaps Vina that is what is happeneing? I'm still experiencing great problems with GW. I type to a blank page and then minutes later, the words appear. As of now, I see the paragraph where I mention MaryEllen. It will be minutes before anything else appears and then I have to go back and fix typos. So strange, not sure why this is happening. Spring, plesae come soon, I can no longer take this cold. Have a great Monday! Maryanne

I went thru some old records and I was wrong about the six years. I think it's 4, which is still a long time. And yes, it has not been an easy journey for me. It is again very difficult these past few weeks. I had hoped that I would have been able to just pop on the mask, go to sleep and everything wd be fine and that didn't happen. I have insomnia along with other maladies. Just after my sosa(severe obstructive sleep apnea) diagnosis, I had surgery for a septal deviation and I don't think that was a rousing success, but I cannot recall the level of breathing difficulty I had, but it ain't perfect now. A nose spray helps occasionally. My sleep dr. calls it or me.....complex. (sounds polite, wouldn't you say?) Lars, interesting that the sleep dr. feels that the mask is not the cause of your anxiety and of course that's true, but anxiety is still a common reaction to the mask. And this kind of leads into what I was thinking in my earlier posts-about it being a young science, and believing in your own gut, and "sleep dr., just fix me-in the current imperfect state that I'm in. Yes, I have a few warts, anxiety being the one wart in the forefront now, but ..." Otoh, maybe these newly diagnosed sleep problems bring every big and little complaint, imperfection, trouble, symptom to the front and center of our worlds,--I cannot clearly articulate what I'm thinking--Is this the case that, finally, someone is paying attention and we have to spill our guts with each malady plaguing us? or should I just speak for myself, in this instance? Lars, why do you think your body is not in balance? Unless you have lab results that tell you of this imbalance? There's a lot of 'good health' in your activities, such as your wonderful hikes, and your gardening, and cooking, and jack of all around your house,--and certainly your artistic abilities to see art wherever you look, and I'm not referring to your professional work capabilities but your vision as a layperson/human -altho that's mental rather than physical. I just think you have a lot of good health showing, too. Perhaps there is a component to these sleep issues where the patient becomes more aware or somehow feels a need to discuss/ address each big and little thing? Does a sleep dx open a can of worms? And then does the sleep dr. adequately respond? or kick it to a colleague? Is it just because a forum for complaints opens up? I dunno. I don't even remember everything, The headgear used to pull my longish hair out. After sleeping with a satin shmattie over my hair, under the headgear, I finally cut my hair. I had nasal deviation surgery. I did finally start losing weight, about 40 lbs. so far and I'm eating the same! (Getting your attention, now?lol) I addressed my pulmonary problems and now take a boatload of pricey drugs. Lotta babbling on my part, here.

I DID have the same tightening pressure in the head when I wake up bit it went away after I cut out my overindulgence in tea and coffee. I still DO wake up around 3 am. sometimes, I am wide-awake, and I AM ON HRT! I have noticed if I keep up with a high level of calcium -- my GYN said 1500 mg of calcium AND 800 IU of Vitamin D is also necessary. Don't forget to get the type of calcium that has magnesium, else you are really not absorbing the calcium into your system! So everything working in concert correctly has helped me get a solid night's rest but if I forget my vitamins, then the HRT has no effect... The other thing I have noticed is if I wake up hungry at the magic hour of 3 a.m... I sometimes have not eaten enough for supper (ergo the cure of those who take tryptophan)... I often skip dinner and graze on smaller items... so had to cut that out... But I am going to try that natural progesterone cream... anyway, Doc says he will only keep me on HRT for a very short period of time, wants me only to take it every other day, but I need to work for a living and I need my sleep. But like I said, it is not working that great anyway... You can try the HRT for a short term just to see it's effect.. I remember taking two pills the first night and it knocked me out and proved that it was a key piece of the puzzle. I went to a sleep seminar not too long ago when it first started happening to me at age 53, and when the speaker asked for a raise of hands for a) who is under stress then b) who can't fall asleep and c) who is menopausal, man, the hands that went up was astounding.. I then realized this is biological and definitely related to the whole hormonal complex..... of course, it pays to stay as calm as possible as pointed out.. perhaps your headache is related to a bit of panic? At the very least if it continues, ask for a blood pressure check... be well

I'm mostly vegetarian. I don't much care for meat, don't like to digest it, and don't like the taste. When I do eat meat it is poultry or fish. I use bacon occasionally as a flavoring, more often pancetta or proscuitto. My "problem food" is evil cheese. I just love the stuff and can't get enough of it. Cheese has some kind of addictive chemical in it I read. I have to work really hard to limit my consumption of cheese. The kinds I like are full of saturated fat. I do mix the fatty kind with lower fat kinds to try and mitigate some of the damage. I have no heart or cholesterol problems, and have been in generally good health my whole life. I have fairly decent genes. But I think the main issue with eating for health is to eat a balanced diet. It does no good to eschew red meat and then eat tons of sugar and fatty junk foods, which is what I see some young "vegetarians" doing. And these sugary drinks also are terrible for your health. I would be much more concerned about someone eating lots of sugar and junk foods than occasional red meat or eggs. I think that is what does people in, a diet of very little fruit or vegetables, and high in the saturated fat, including bacon, sausage, etc. I don't see a problem with maybe two strips of bacon if you're eating it with whole grain waffles topped with fresh fruit and yogurt. But that's now how most people eat. They eat processed foods. Also, a huge culprit in our national heart disease epidemic is lack of exercise. We lead such sedentary lives that it's almost impossible to control one's weight just with diet. I would say it's not beef per se that is killing us, it's how we raise the beef, how we cook it, and how much of it we eat, and what else we eat (or don't eat) along with it. For most of time, red meat was an occasional treat, and sausage was used as a flavoring for potatoes or beans, and it was a struggle to get ENOUGH calories for folks, not what we're facing today. Most people ate some kind of grainy gruel every day, not the rich dishes that have survived in the cookbooks and literature. My dad's four main food groups are meat, fat, sugar and white carbs. He always goes shopping and lays in a supply of junk food when he comes to visit me. Also suggests that we go out to eat all the time. Once Christmas I cooked and ate like he likes just to keep the peace. I felt really bad after a week of it. Poor sleep, and generally sluggish with mild digestive upset all the time. Of course I guess one's body does kind of "adjust" over time. Anyway, dad had been plagued by digestive problems all his life, and has clogged arteries, yet for whatever reason, cannot change his eating pattern, even though it makes him suffer. He's kind of like an alcoholic. He thought he could get away with it when he was younger because he was an athlete and not overweight. He's still only a little bit overweight, but has terrible acid reflux along with colon and artery problems. Shy of genetic conditions, I would say my dad is fairly typical of what's out there. BF's co-workers are dropping like flies now that they are in their late 50's and sixties. They all smoke, drink and eat like my dad, and are overweight. I would say eating a lot of red meat is in most cases part of a general pattern of poor health habits. Folks here are probably not typical American eaters.