Tuesday, April 24, 2007

No What?!?

I rarely go to the doctor. Not only does it take time out of my busy day, but they always end up telling me something I don't want to hear. I have never had a doctor tell me to exercise less, eat more junk food, and stay up later. And once I've actually paid for their advice, it seems wasteful to just ignore it (besides which, my DH gets a bit frustrated with me as well).

However, I have a history of some sort of never-formally-diagnosed ulcer/stomach problem and the pain was so bad this time I actually rushed to the doctor today since my near overdose levels of Zantac and Mylanta were not helping at all. He did give me a prescription (which seems to be helping a bit already) but then he gave me "dietary guidelines".

Dietary guidelines... and do we remember the reason I avoid the doctor to begin with?

Doc: "Do you drink a lot of caffeine?"

Me: Blank stare (I'm thinking... what do you mean by "a lot")

Doc: "I'll take that as a yes."

Me: Slowly start nodding with my eyes glazing over, thinking I should've had my afternoon Diet Pepsi before I came.

Doc: "No caffeine for 2 weeks."

No. Caffeine. Is this even possible? How will I get anything done? How will I get a grip on my patience in the morning? How will I stay awake past noon?

No caffeine means, not only no coffee (gasp), but no Diet Pepsi, no chocolate and no Excedrin. How am I going to get rid of the migraine I'll surely suffer from caffeine deprivation? I'll have to think about this carefully... how bad does it really hurt? ...what if it starts feeling better tomorrow? Still no caffeine? If his next step wasn't some sort of evasive scope thingy, I imagine I'd end up being a very poor patient... but internal scope? Shudder. There were quite a few other things on his list too, but all were truly irrelevent compared to the loss of caffeine.

Anyway... I did get to cast on for Something Red last night which I am loving!

The Blue Sky Cotton isn't my favorite yarn to knit with but the result is so worth it and the color (a very deep, yet bright rusty red - not as orange as in the picture) is wonderful. I'm excited about it too... I want to wear it now! Could it be the first to reach the finish line? No... Embossed Leaves are almost there. Maybe the 2nd? We'll see.

9 comments:

Donna Boucher said...

I used to have a headache four times a week.
Then I quit caffine.
The head aches ended.

I hated giving it up.
And am back on the stuff...

But it might do the trick.
After day three you will feel normal, albeit sleepy.

I went to bed a lot earlier when I was not drinking Diet Dr. Pepper.

Caffine.
It's the most wonderful, awful stuff around.

Angelika said...

I know how you feel. I need my two cups of coffee in the morning and one in the afternoon, just to get going and to stay awake. It's hard to admit it, but we are adicted to this stuff, just as bad as cigaretts are to others. I hope you feel better and the lack of diet pepsi won't effect your knitting too much.

Michelle said...

...all I have to say is good luck! I'll be praying for you!

Laura said...

Love the red! Maybe knitting can be your anodyne - if you don't fall asleep over it. (If you do fall asleep over it, make sure one of your boys is ready with the camera and he can snap a picture of you asleep over your knitting like one of those classical pictures - one by Bougereau(Sp?)comes to mind... if he was the one who painted the picture of the little knitter asleep over the sock she was working on...)

I did go for years without coffee, tea, and Diet Coke and Diet Dr. Pepper - the years that I was pregnant/lactating. But I always figured that when the babies stopped coming I'd get my caffeine back. I'm so sorry for your loss... .

Sarah said...

Once that headache from the first few days goes away, you will feel better. I feel for you though and hope this is the thing that helps your insides calm down and you can skip any internal exams- yikes!

amanda said...

Yikes...hope you feel better. Good luck with the caffeine-free lifestyle.

Something Red is looking good!

Charity said...

Oh, no. Try drinking lots of extra water, it might help... I'll be thinking of you, caffeine is a tough one to walk away from.

I love the Something Red! What don't you like about the Blue Sky cotton?

Tammy said...

Thanks for all the encouragement. It's only 10:30 and coffee is all I can think about!

As for the Blue Sky Cotton, I really do like it... it just tires my hands a bit (as most cotton does). But I love the feel of the finished knit it produces.

5elementknitr said...

Thanks for visiting my blog! Did you know caffeine has no flavor? And there's all that lovely caffeine-free soda and coffee to be had. If that doesn't work, try acupuncture! It can also help with your stomach stuff. And knitting. Lots and lots of knitting!

The Something Made sweater is SUHWEET! I love that designer's stuff!