Ugh, I have another cold! I was sneezing like crazy over a couple of days, and now I've had a slight sore throat for two days. It's especially unpleasant at night. Kati has the same thing, we must have infected each other. Today I also have a slight headache and neck-ache. Of course the kids want me to go outside and do something exciting with them today, but I just don't feel like it. In fact, I feel like having a nap. I'm k.o.

Measured blood sugar after lunch today: 99.

 

I was reading the package notes on the Levothyroxin and noticed that it said to take iron supplements at least 2 hours after the thyroid meds so as not to interfere with absorption. I've been taking the iron 1/2-hour after the thyroid meds, before breakfast. I.e. wake up early, take the thyroid med, doze a bit, take the iron 1/2 hour later, get up, make breakfast for the kids, then eat breakfast myself 1/2 hour after the iron. This was a good routine for me and helped me remember to take the iron, because I keep forgetting it if I take it in the afternoon, which was the plan (1/2 hour before dinner). The annoying thing about the iron is you have to take it on an empty stomach, so I have to wait at least 3 hours after eating (better would be 4 hours or first thing in the morning). But if it's interfering with the thyroid med, maybe that's why I was feeling more tired. So I've changed it, and I do feel less tired, although that could be totally unrelated.

 

So I tried taking the iron at bedtime, 3 hours after eating dinner... but that means I can't have a snack at night. When I remember, I take it while I'm making dinner. Today I took it while I was making lunch, because I'd skipped the morning snack which meant I hadn't eaten in three hours. What do people do who have another medication that interferes with both iron and thyroid med and has to be taken on an empty stomach? It's ridiculous. I'm trying to be compliant, but for me the thyroid med has to take precedence over the iron. I don't even know what my iron levels are, and they aren't being checked every three months.

I've been getting tired again lately. A couple of afternoons, I've felt like just dropping where I was and going to sleep. I've also been sleeping longer in the morning again. I had been waking up around 6:15 for several months, and now it's close to 7:00. This is disregarding the time change to Daylight Savings Time. I am actually sleeping half an hour or more longer than before. I think I probably need to increase the dosage of the Levothyroxin. My next appointment for blood tests is on May 8 (I think, don't quote me on that). I also haven't been feeling that heart thingie for a few weeks, which also says to me that the amount of thyroid hormone in my body is low.

 

On a positive note, I did a couple of blood sugar tests over the last couple of weeks, and they were both good. Fasting blood sugar (about an hour after getting up) was 72; 1-hour post-prandial blood sugar was 92.

It's getting kind of scary. I thought my memory problems would get better with the thyroid medication, but it seems to be getting worse. I remember on Friday, I was driving in the car, and I noticed that my fingernails were getting kind of long. The next thing I know, on Sunday, my nails have all been cut. I don't mean I have a blackout for the intervening time. I just mean that I noticed on Sunday that my nails had been cut, and I literally cannot remember doing it. I know that I remembered that the fingernail clippers were on the table, and I recall going to get them, but the actual nail cutting has been erased. I don't know whether I cut my nails there at the table (bad hygiene!) or went into the bathroom to do it. I also don't remember putting the nail clippers back, but they did get back into the bathroom somehow. This may seem like a trivial, unimportant detail, but it is really freaky to know you've done something, something fairly recent, in fact, yet to have absolutely no recall of it.

 

I also realized today while I was preparing my English class for tomorrow, that I couldn't remember what topics we covered at the last class. Granted, it was 10 days ago. I do remember which activities from the book have been done, and I can even recall doing each of them, but I don't know anymore on which day they were done. I also have no idea what I assigned for homework. Null. Nada. This poses a bit of a problem in preparing the next class, since I don't know what the students will have prepared. It means I have to prepare two lessons, basically, one assuming they have prepared nothing, and one assuming they have prepared everything. And then possibly end up mixing the two if they have done only some of the prep.

 

Maybe there is something else going on, in addition to the thyroid. Maybe I am losing my mind. There is no history of dementia or Alzheimer's or any other brain/mind diseases in my family, so I really hope it isn't something like that. On the other hand, I'd be about the right age for certain things to start showing up.

As suddenly and mysteriously as it came, it has gone. The cold, I mean. I didn't have to use a single tissue today. No congestion. Nothing. It's like a cold virus vacuum cleaner snuck into the bedroom while I slept and sucked it up. Thanks, Mr. Vacuum Cleaner!

Yes, I still have it. It's not bad or anything, it's just always there. Hand me a tissue.

 

I bought myself a bike at a second-hand bike sale and I biked to work today. Well, I didn't work, I just biked to the language school, to see how long it would take. It took 15 minutes there and 20 minutes back (back is mostly uphill). That's actually pretty comparable to taking the car, when you factor in the time spent looking for a parking space and walking to and from the parking space (not always anywhere near the school). Plus it costs less and is good for me.

 

I was sweating something fierce on the way back, though, and the wind cut right through my fleece pullover. I'm sure that was really good for my lungs. Note to self: Wear a windbreaker when biking, lol.

 

So I think I'm going to add biking to my exercise choices. Swimming when the weather's bad, running or biking when it's fine. And hey, I can kill two birds with one stone and bike to work on those days when I have class.