I’ve just had a lovely 1/2 hour chat with David. ![]()
Wondering are you drinking enough David? Some of what’s going on can happen if not drinking enough too
When I was recovering from a serious illness and needed to gain some weight despite having little appetite, the advice I was given was simply to eat what you really like.
So then, @David_Spardo I reckon you should take a trip to Lidl where they now have the Christmas goodies in stock. How about a packet of those tasty ‘Stollen’ cake bites full of raisins, finely chopped nuts, and marzipan. Or some of those iced cinnamon Christmas stars or ‘Pain Epices’ delicacies ? Handily, they also have such things as Rice Pudding and Creme Caramel deserts in individual size containers.
Would you have interest in a box of chocolate digestive biscuits from the Super U perhaps. Our branch also has English cheddar cheese and Heinz baked beans. A packet of soft juicy raisins and a bottle of maple syrup makes porridge much more appealing to my mind.
Now before someone reminds me that a chap is supposed to eat healthily, what I would say is that eating what you fancy is better than not eating at all. So if one fancies cheese on toast with a rasher or two of bacon on the top, then that is what one should have. Lightly toasted Brioche with strawberry jam anyone ?
When you live alone it can become a right pain to have to cook, eat, and then clear away / wash-up. So how about a trip to the local ‘workman’s lunch’ restaurant once a week. It’s not that expensive and one neither has to cook nor wash up afterwards.
I also wonder if there is a local bar/restaurant where English speaking folk tend to congregate from time to time. Having a decent meal is a far more pleasant experience when there is someone to chat with in one’s mother tongue.
So then David, off to the bakery with you and buy yourself a croissant / pain chocolat / pain raisin for breakfast. Enjoy.
Thanks for all the comments and good advice, unfortunately @Robert_Hodge I am not up for a 30 km trip to Lidl yet although I will try late morning to do the 8 kms to the boulangerie and market.
I take it you mean water @KarenLot and the answer is not less than usual but I do have it as coffee several times a day. As to alcohol, aside from a dry white kir early evening and a dash of calvados if I have a coffee late evening, not at all for over a week. Not eating any cheese I have not had any Porto and even when I have had soup have not used the red for chabrol which was a favourite.
But I did make a start last night, although I was not looking forward to it and struggled with the last 2 mouthfulls, as I told @toryroo when she rang, I did eat that big lump of cod and all of the large mashed potato (cooked and served in the skin and mashed with a masher, not pureed with with B & D) with butter and it was delicious.
Fell asleep last night in the recliner in front of the tv. missed the whole of Vera and got to bed at 1230, but then slept again right through 'till 7am. Following instructions I had toast butter and marmalade with my first coffee after water and all my pills. Then, as I was munching, walking up and down in the fresh air on the terrasse and in and out of the living room and kitchen, pausing just for another bite and slurp of coffee as I passed.
Once washed and dressed and after daylight I donned hat and coat and walked the full extent of the fencing. Don’t know if I have done any good or not but pretty sure no harm. There has been slight tingling in my lower limbs and the trembles in my hands mean coffee has to be held with both but all in all I am quite hopefull.
BTW, weight down to 64.5 kgs this morning, I think this is probably ok for my height, 1.8m, but the issue is how fast and why it has descended from my previous overweight of 81 kgs.
Been trying to continue this exercise and stave off the dreaded tingles. I don’t have a big house but pacing all the extremities, including 2 rooms 2 verandas and the front terrasse I make it 100 paces. Of course that is not metres, but done several times without hurrying but breathing sensibly but not desperately, it adds up to a good bit. Done about 20 of those circuits since the ones I did with my breakfast and, of course, the garden circuit earlier which must be getting on for 300 metres, so I am hoping to feel results. Still a slight tingling in the calves but not so far advancing and not painful or uncomfortable. ![]()
I wonder if you are having too much coffee? Unfortunately it is a diuretic, which means it is reducing the amount of water in your body - no need to tell us (!) but if you are constipated and/or have dark urine (it should be pale straw colour) you are not drinking enough water.
That’s progress. ![]()
Not constipated, rather the opposite, but that is because of the lack of solid food I suppose. When I say coffees I don’t mean mugs or even cups, half a small glass, possibly a bit more than an espresso in size about 5 times a day I should think. I have a glass of water with both my morning and evening pills in addition to that.
I am certainly feeling better for all this walking about, not overdoing it, more a slightly brisk stroll and at no point getting out of breath. Only stopped to write this because I saw your post as I passed Sue. ![]()
An unexpected bonus. Been singing along to ‘How Great Thou Art’ on the radio as I walked. Although definitely a non-believer I do love a good hymn and remember many of the words from school. And that is a great one to sing with, also I get a double dose because the living room radio gets its feed from the satellite and the kitchen one from the internet, a lag between them of nearly 5 minutes, so I get it twice. ![]()
Also not having close neighbours and open windows I can be as lusty and tuneless as I like. ![]()
Nurse s hat on, this NO WHERE near enough water. As Sue said coffee doesn’t count and indeed you should drink extra water to counteract it. You should be drinking at least 1.5 litres of water a day. Particularly at your age dehydration can cause all sorts if trouble.
OK, I have some 1.5 litre bottles in an outside unplugged fridge, I could plug it back in there without crowding the normal fridge in the kitchen. Sounds like a helluva lot to drink though unless you take a glass with every meal rather than other beverages.
I’ll plug it in now though and have swig while I’m at it.
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I am late to this thread, but this is excellent news - so glad you are back on good terms with Marie-Paule and that she is helping you.
My ten euro cents regarding medicines - my quack put me on a pill to control my blood pressure - all was OK for a few months but then it started to adversely affect me - my lower legs would swell slightly during the day then subside at night (presumably blood pooling in my calves).
I reported this and he switched me to a different pill - that dealt with the leg issue but gave me the occasional bout of diarrhoea, which was inconvenient!
I am now taking smaller doses of two different blood pressure medications (Losartan and Lercanidipine), along with the Atorvastatin that controls my cholesterol levels (yes I am a physical wreck
) and now all is well, although if you catch me first thing you would think I am a pill-popping junkie. ![]()
So it’s definitely important to report any side-effects even if you think they are unrelated, as a swap-around in your meds can sort it!
Bon courage, and my best to the hounds!
I drink one and a half to two litres of water a day. A glass when I get up , another with breakfast (porridge) and one after coffee which lasts through to lunchtime then another with lunch. In the afternoon another glass and another with the evening meal. Not difficult as it’s now just become an easy routine. Each glass is about 400 ml. so a good 2 litres a day as per the doctor’s advice.
Working outside, during summer, I will drink more as necessary. Try it David.
Well I’ll try but just brought a bottle into the kitchen and had a glass as I did so but that made hardly any difference to the level in the bottle. Not sure I’ve ever drunk 2 litres a day and one wonders how I have lived so long without doing so. ![]()
I take a real cocktail @ChrisMann 4 in the morning and 3 last thing at night and a glass of water with each, but I am going to have to go some to get anywhere near what is apparently required. ![]()
Edit: Just checked, and the glass I use is 100ml, so I am well below. Just have to get into a better habit, that’s all.
Fwiw, icy cold water can suppress your appetite. I usually drink mine at room temperature and have a glass next to me when I’m watching TV, cooking or whatever, rather than just having water with meals or tablets.
Keep moving – blood circulation keeps you alive to say the obvious and helps mend when mending is needed. Reminds me being in hospital with peritonitis when the nurses kept the water jug just out of reach so I had to lift myself up into a sitting position in bed with the overhead grips and stretch round and across for it - and when I was encouraged to walk along the corridors pulling the drip apparatus I was attached to, behind me. I was feeling painfully weak and helpless and all this felt like torture and couldn’t believe I was being treated this way, and I complained. But this was deliberate to keep the circulation going at a critical time when I assume the surgeon and nurses knew I was on the mend.
Food. Summer this year was too much for me and I fell into a bubble of anxiety about the overwhelming heat which led to loss of appetite when I ate so very little for several weeks and at the same time drank too much water leading to a severe lack of sodium in my blood leading to possible seizures and coma due a brain tumour or heart, kidney or liver failure, according to the doctor, who said he may have to send me to hospital to find out which of these was responsible. I ate more and the sodium level came back to normal.
A worrying time when we feel unwell and not sure why. Best keep doing what you’re doing, listening to the advice being given, and also what the doctor says, but doctors need more than 1 symptom to proceed. Dizziness for example can be better investigated further if at the same time accompanied by a headache. I’m not a doctor, but you get my drift.
I don’t drink very much water either as a rule and can’t drink 2 litres a day! But I make myself drink 2 large tumblers a day, despite not feeling thirsty, on top of coffee, tea and the fluids in fruit & veg.
Or you could be like Chinese people and have hot water to hand in a thermos and work your way through several during the day.
The same for me as I don’t like it cold and take it from the tap. I don’t rush it and it will often be more or of at room temperature.
I didn’t know that. I don’t like the taste of hot water though.
Get a bigger glass
but that worries me even more that you’ve only been drinking 2 glasses of 100ml ![]()
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