As usual, it is a Thursday, which means a visit with my GP. She is the one person I see most frequently, regularly, and for the longest durations of time:
Frequently - Twice a week, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Regularly - Every week.
Duration of Time - Half an hour per visit, which would come to a total of an hour per week.
However, she's recently informed me that I'm getting a double visit each time, because they're usually supposed to be fifteen minutes long. Because there are a lot of patients who can only come in on Saturdays, she says it's nothing personal, but she might have to shorten it to fifteen minutes from now on. I was about to mention that, because I'm not having a crisis at the moment and hopefully not for a while.
I'm told that a lot of GPs wouldn't do that for their patients. I've never met a GP who I would want to see even once in a very long while. She's one of the kindest and one of the most knowledgeable people I've ever met, but she's the only one with the combination of the two. I really have to get going on writing that card. I've been at it for over a month now, but I know why that's happening. No, it's not just because I'm lazy. According to my workbook, I'm procrastinating because I'm a perfectionist and so I want it to be perfect. How accurate.
I'm not going to go into specific details on all my issues and whatnot, especially since none of them really have a solid solution. I had a blood test done recently. Nothing. Same goes for the x-rays. I did a urine test today. No abnormalities. Altered my medications and got the exact opposite of what was expected, meaning more side effects than before by decreasing, so I'm going back up again. Of course, with these experiments, everything is a variable and there are no controls aside from the medications themselves. I don't think anything else is steady, so it's not an accurate test at all. Therefore, I came to absolutely no conclusions with any sort of certainty. The guess is that I'm probably dependent on them. With these results, I'd think that I should further increase my Wellbutrin dosage, but I'm already at the 'target dosage' and I think any more would be really pushing it or too much altogether. I want to decrease the Lamotrigine, but my GP checked my charts and noticed that I've only been "stable" for almost an exact month, which isn't very long at all. She'd rather I be completely out of it than...well, how I was before. I feel brain-dead.
My cognitive abilities are terrible and I'm only a little bit upset about that, whereas I think it should be more serious than that. I. Can't. Do. Math. Or. Concentrate. Just when I finally decided on preparing and reviewing. I was really kind of getting driven to work on it. I think I still am, which is how I managed to find all my notes in the basement, because my dad rearranged my possessions and I couldn't find anything. I think I'll start by looking at it before attempting anything because that will probably discourage me. My GP thinks it's a good idea. She also tells me that I should go to the gym, exercise, go outside, socialize. I don't know why I say it every time it comes up, which is very often, but when she asks if the gym is accessible, I tell her that it's difficult and then she'll mention something about getting a ride, or like today, she suggested taking the bus and I said that I could always walk there, which I have done in the past. That was the past. It is not within walking distance at all. I don't know why I keep saying that. I'm very repetitive when I talk, much worse than when I write, and it really irritates me. The same word, the same sentence, same idea. I'll keep saying it over and over, but it's only after the appointment that it literally echoes in my mind, both the repetition of the actual phrases and the act of it. I think I'll move it up on the priority list and get going on that workbook. I didn't think it was as important, because I have all the time in the world for it, whereas school is coming up. However, solving Calculus and Algebra problems happen in September, while I need these skills probably take longer to develop and will ultimately be my most crucial ability. As well, I think I'm supposed to get the workbook done by May 24th, which always seemed like a very distant date. Well, it is now on the same page on my calendar that I look at everyday. My excuse was that none of that will get absorbed, so I should wait until my mind is actually functioning, but I'm not sure when that will happen. My GP asks about it and I have to say that whatever she's asking about is further along in the book, a chapter I haven't gotten to yet.
As for the problems that this post is supposed to address, I think I'll use the ones that I found and forgot about until I looked them up again and start from there. I swear that I am not the person who wrote this:
Dear Hungry Girl,
I often take in at least 40-50 grams of fibre a day. Is it possible to get too much of the stuff?
--Feeding on Fiber
Nor am I the one who wrote:
Dear HG, A friend at work told me that sipping apple cider vinegar after eating will break down fat, or keep it from absorbing into the body at all. Any truth to this? If so, how much should I sip and how often?
--Curious in
While I may be curious, I am not in 
Fibre
I'm pretty sure that my fibre intake exceeds 40-50 grams daily. I eat organic cereal like couch potatoes eat chips. Each serving has 10 grams of fibre, but I have a lot of servings each time and frequently throughout the day. I bought Fibre 1 yesterday and it has an impressive 100 calories, 0 grams of sugar and 14 grams of fibre for a fairly large serving. It tastes oddly sweet, because they use sucralose instead of sugar. I don't think it was spread very evenly throughout the batch, because I was very surprised when I had a blast of very synthetic sweetness. I eat multi-grain oatmeal with added organic oat bran for breakfast. I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. I don't know how much all of that adds up to, but I'm sure that the fibre from the cereal already surpasses 50 grams, which is already double the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI).
This is what Hungry Girl had to say:
Fiber is fantastic. But, like anything else, you can get too much of it. I turned to my email bud, Lisa R. Young, who is not only a PhD, RD, but also the author of The Portion Teller, for help with this one. Lisa says you can absolutely get too much fiber. She says, "While fiber has many wonderful health benefits, getting too much fiber is not a good idea. The main reason is this: it can bind and carry out needed minerals such as iron, calcium, and zinc which so many people have a hard time getting. These binders in fiber act as chelating agents which link chemically with nutrients and then carry them out of the body. Too much fiber can also carry water out of the body and cause dehydration, stomach distress and feelings of bloating. It is recommended that most women obtain 25 grams of fiber. While 30 grams would be ok, consuming 40 or 50 grams would be too much!" So there you have it. No more ODing on fiber!
Well, yes, that is me to the extreme, as usual. They always mention increasing gradually, which I did. It just got out of control, like everything does with me, including blogging. First, I eat the bare minimum. Then, everyone urges me to eat and my GP gives me very disapproving, frustrated looks. So, I do, but I think I take it too far, because I eat a lot, but it might be by my standards. I don't know. Eating is a very serious matter to organize. I examine the Nutritional Information of everything I eat. Repeat. It's not as bad as before where I counted calories and wrote it all down, which I started on Monday but lost track of it with my absent-mindedness. I think a lack of variety concerns my GP, but I'm not sure what I can do about it. I never felt sick about it before, but it's been bothering me for a few weeks now. I feel full, yet unsatisfied and somewhat hungry. If I start eating, I get full quickly and feel sick, but I have difficulty stopping once it starts - all in the name of eating properly. After all, I am making healthy choices. In fact, I even put away whole wheat crackers and breads, because it's too processed and also in an attempt to limit myself, but it doesn't work that way. I just focus my attention on everything else that I've deemed healthy and all of it contains fairly high amounts of fibre. I don't care so much that it's leeching minerals, but this bloating, water retention, weight gain and all the other discomforts have got to stop, but I'm certainly not going to give up fibre, which is why I haven't even attempted to solve this problem. It finally got me thinking when my mom's face swelled up this morning, probably from the saline solution IVs. In addition to putting cucumbers on the eyes and that sort of thing, diuretics would be a solution:
Natural diuretics
More and more people are resorting to natural foods and herbs that exhibit diuretic properties instead of diuretic pills. Moderation is the watchword even in the case of natural diuretics. Natural diuretics can aid in removal of excess fluids from the body and aid in treating of sciatica, kidney stone, lymphatic swelling, PMS, gonorrhea, liver disorders and high blood pressure.
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Diuretic food
Natural foods with high water content such as watermelons and cucumbers help increase urination and better flushing out of toxins. Cucumbers are rich in sulfur and silicon that stimulate the kidneys into better removal of uric acid. Watercress and artichokes are also natural diuretic foods.
Asparagus contains asparigine - a chemical alkaloid that boosts kidney performance, thereby improving waste removal from the body.
Brussel Spouts help in stimulating the kidneys and pancreas. This helps in better cleansing of cells.
Beets are natural diuretic foods that attack floating body fats and fatty deposits.
Oats contain silica - a natural diuretic.
Cabbage is known to aid breakage of fatty deposits, especially around the abdominal region.
Carrots are a rich source of carotene that speeds the metabolic rate of the body and hastens removal of fat deposits and waste.
Lettuce aids better metabolism and flushing of toxins.
Tomatoes are rich in Vitamin C that aid the metabolism and release of water from the kidney to flush out waste.
Other than the other excellent properties that Garlic possesses, it is a natural diuretic food that aids breakage of fat. Horseradish, raw onions and radish speed up your metabolism.
I eat a lot of those fairly regularly, but I'm guessing not enough in relation to the amount of fibre intake. I think it's time to start the tomato soup craze again like when it was almost all I ate with cereal as a snack. I think I'll be adding some of the above instead of just plain tomato soup, sometimes with ground flaxseeds.
Vinegar
I can't even begin to describe the amount of vinegar I used to consume, as well as the quantities of lemon juice. I'll bet if I kept it up, I would have developed ulcers very quickly. It eroded my teeth and my dentist wondered what happened to them. Acid reflux? Maybe, but I think it's quite enough just to ingest that volume. I did the Master Cleanse Diet, which involves drinking a mixture of fresh lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and grade B maple syrup. This is followed up with a saltwater drink designed to purge the stomach and bowels. Some people choose to take a laxative while on the Master Cleanse, but no solid food is eaten while on the cleanse. The typical amount of time spent on the Master Cleanse is ten days, although it is not uncommon for people to stay on the cleanse for longer periods of time. I've done all sorts of bizarre "holistic" and "natural" detoxifications that don't seem to work, but I don't know for sure. Maybe magical things are happening internally for all I know.
In response to the question of concern above:
After reading your email, I was curious about that as well. VERY curious. But who are we kidding? If ingesting a little apple cider vinegar after downing a fatty piece of cream pie would help break down fat or even better keep it from being absorbed by the body, we'd all have portable IV vinegar drips! Unfortunately, all of the research I have done on the stuff points to the same sad conclusion. That apple cider vinegar pretty much has no effect on weight loss and the breaking down of fat. Honestly, if these vinegar rumors were true, wouldn't the big news already have been on the cover of every magazine, on Oprah and everywhere else under the sun? There's no magic bullet for fighting fat, I'm afraid. And that's that.
I might do a proper product/food review on some of the things mentioned above, but I'm a little bit busy and this extraordinary post started on Thursday and has been finally completed after a lot of procrastination. It turns out I was done and there wasn't really anything else that I wanted to discuss, but I was really bent on doing reviews of everything. I think I'll save that for separate posts.
