Week #1 over!

Well, week #1 of this new journey is over. I started on last Monday and weighed 255.0 lbs. I weighed yesterday morning and I weighed 246.3 lbs. That's 8.7 lbs lost in one week!  Now, I realize that much of this was water weight, especially since I had begun to retain water the week prior to beginning all of this. And I realize that not all weeks will be like this. But, I am still excited!

Through all of this, I have begun to make changes in other areas of my health as well. I have taken way too many meds for way too long. I have taken diclofenac (anti-inflammatory,) gabapentin (nerve pain,) and cyclobenzaprine (muscle relaxer) for over a year due to my chronic knee and back pain. I also have maxalt for migraines. Since my concussion in April 2014, I have added propranolol for headache management and trazadone for depression and insomnia. I use Flonase and Zyrtec for allergies and an albuterol inhaler for asthma.  I had to add Mira Lax to my daily regime due to all the digestive side effects of these meds. I have pain meds as well that I don't like to take unless I truly need them for severe pain. I am a walking medicine cabinet. And I hate it!

So when my cognitive neurologist said he wanted to start weaning me off everything, I was nervous. I have gotten so used to all the meds, I was worried what would happen when they were gone. My back pain can be excruciating at times and that is with being on all those meds. I was scared to see what would happen when I came off of them.

I started with one at a time. I dropped diclofenac first, then the muscle relaxer a week later. Next off the list was the trazadone and that was weaned over a month to make sure I wasn't going to have any crazy side effects of coming off of an antidepressant. The next big one was the med for nerve pain. It had been my miracle drug a year ago when the pain shot down the backs of both legs and I was barely able to walk. Slowly over time, the neurosurgeon and my headache neurologist have upped the dosage to help with the back pain and the increasing headaches. This one was weaned down over about 10 days and the pain has increased some, but it is not unbearable. Today I started the last weaning for the propranolol. We will see how this week goes with the headaches because this med may not can be eliminated right now because my brain is still recovering from the concussion. With all of this, I have also come off Zyrtec and Mira Lax. Today was the first day in YEARS that I have taken ZERO meds. It feels amazing to be able to this and I hope that everything continues as I continue to lose weight and exercise.

I want to thank every one for their encouraging words and prayers. Some days I feel better than others. Some days I feel like a rock star and some days I feel like a slug. I am determined to make my life better, one step at a time. I still have physical therapy for my knees twice a week, weekly doctor appts, and cognitive therapy on the horizon to help with some lingering memory problems from the concussion. My world has been turned upside down over the past 4 months, but I believe that everything happens for a reason and God has a plan for me.

Some days it's still hard for me to understand why I had to go through my accident and resulting brain injury, but it stirred some things in me that needed to be stirred. I have been busting my tail to make my life better from that moment on and maybe that is the only reason for all of this. No matter what, one day I will look back at all this, and it will be a distant memory and I'll be able to see how far I have really come.