bits

So I've given up coffee now, for what, five days running?  I've had a little bit of powdered coffee each day just to use it up and not waste it, but it is nothing compared to the two full pots of coffee (plus the powdered in between sometimes) I was consuming before.  It's the equivalent of one cup to two gallons.. crashed caffeine levels.

I'm not ready to say that it is 100% better. I miss the coffee, and warming up some water is my 'tic trick' or grabbing a piece of Trident gum if I'm at work and have to go out on the floor... but it's not the same.

But am I feeling better?  It's hard to tell.  My leg is not swollen at and under the knee anymore... and I noticed some changes in it again last night.  My leg  has felt 'twisted' (inside the muscles) on the outside calf for the past week after I used the ice pack and Salonpas and compression brace to ease down the ball-sized knot in my inner calf muscle.  Last night, one area above my right ankle had a large 'white' patch that was slightly cool to the touch (and I wasn't wearing jeans.. so maybe I was getting cold, too)  - but when I massaged it I realized it was the remnants of the 'muscle knot' I had further up my leg earlier last week - the one that went down when I put the compression brace over it while I worked.

Its still 'weird' this morning.. it feels like a pad of fat or something on that side compared to the other leg's regular muscle, or like it has a layer of water slightly swollen?  It hurt briefly last night which was why I noticed it, but after massaging it and putting hot water over it I felt a 'shudder' in those tendons and it hasn't hurt since.  So it still looks odd but doesn't hurt and it isn't remarkably cold or anything.  Massaging it made the veins in my foot below it stand out.  I couldn't bend my leg at the knee upwards towards my waist earlier in the morning, but after the hot water treatment and the shudder I realized I could bend my leg all the way up to my waist without pain.  So, something is happening and it might actually be good.

So, no coffee (or next to no, and once the box is gone and not being wasteful I doubt I'll buy more).  Lemon ginger tea.  Brushing my teeth 30 minutes after a meal if I can, ACT mouth rinse morning brush and night, trident gum if I can't.  I've got to find a better 'get up and get Esme on the bus' routine for brushing my teeth after having tea and a food item with her in the morning.  I've ended up brushing after 'second breakfast' each morning after I get back home and have more time to make something substantial.

I noticed I am NOT going back to sleep dead tired after putting her on the bus, and I'm not getting 'dead tired' until 8 or so at night.. so 5:30 am to 8 pm is a good run compared to before.  And I'm doing things.. I've done some other self-care and laundry and crafts and thinking about lists of things that need to be done etc etc...

The other two things I'm doing is limiting wheat bread items (exception for dinner time with family and one fruit and grain bar for snack at work) and sugar and avoiding corn.  I am mixing a smoothie some mornings with a banana in it to add magnesium and was adding black beans to my meals for the week for the same reason.

Will see in another week if I can say these observations have continued.