Sheesh, I can't believe I've neglected to write about the rest of our vacation for this long. There's simply no excuse other than I'm easily distracted by shiny objects, reddit, another nerdy shoulder injury that makes it hard to type with my right hand, and an extremely busy couple of months. But still!
So,Vacation Part Two! Here we go! The rest of our vacation was awesome. After leaving our beloved K (sniff sniff) in Our Nation's Capital, we headed down to Ben's family's homestead of High Point, NC via Raleigh, NC. Ben has an old college buddy that lives in Raleigh with his wife, and we met them for dinner so Ben and he could catch up and so we could get the skinny on what it's like to live in the Raleigh/Durham area. We got into Raleigh a few hours before we were supposed to meet up with Ben's friend, so we took the time to drive around a little bit. Mostly, we were trying to find a shoe store because our feet hurt so bad from walking the day before that we each needed to buy some new flip flops to give our tender near-blisters some airing out. We were successful! Also, we realized that it was SUPER easy to get around Raleigh, and that we could basically get from one part of the city to another in about 15 minutes, so it's a lot like Columbus in that sense. I always tell people that everything in Columbus is about 20 minutes from everything else, and it's usually true!
We met Ben's friends for dinner, and they were very nice! And they told us how much they enjoy living in the Raleigh area (they actually live in Carey, I think). They said it's nice because it's close to the beach, close to the mountains, and close to D.C! We had a delightful sup with them, and then left to go to Ben's parents'.
While at Ben's family's house we did a lot of just hanging out, but we did take one day to drive back to the Raleigh/Durham/Research Triangle area with Ben's mom to help us check it out even more. We drove around Durham, which was kind of nice, but reminded me a little too much of Oberlin only bigger. We also drove around the Research Triangle, learned all about the difference between "the Triangle" and "Research Triangle Park" , drove around Carey and the temple, and just had a nice time. We're a fan of the area for sure. I think it would definitely be a great place to live.
Ok, I'm sure we did some other fun stuff, but it's been so long since we actually went, that I can't even remember! Blerg!
I was going to update some more about what has happened in life SINCE vacation, but this post is too long, so I'll write it in another one.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Vacation: Part 1
We went on vacation!
Well, sort of. We considered it a working vacation. See, Ben & I have had the desire to get out of Columbus lately (and by lately, I really mean for the past 3 years). We like Columbus a lot, it has a lot to offer, but we don't really see ourselves becoming lifers here and it's just time to move on.
So, we're starting the process of trying to figure out where we'd like to "settle down." Ben's skill set is such that we can pretty much pick the general area we want to live and then work at trying to get him a job wherever that is, which is pretty nice. So, we've decided to start our location search. We started with a trip to Our Nation's Capital, Washington D.C. And we followed that up with an excursion to the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area of North Carolina.
Our Nation's Capital was amazing! Our good friend K has recently moved there and really enjoys it and since K is so awesome, we figured if she likes D.C., then we probably would too! And we did!
We pulled into Our Nation's Capital around 3pm, just before rush hour traffic got really bad. We checked into our hotel and then K got off work and came to meet us. Then (and this was probably the highlight of the trip) we went to CAFE RIO for dinner! That's right, folks. The D.C. area is now home to 3 Cafe Rios! So yummy. It was everything I remembered and more!
The next day, while K was at work, Ben & I took the Metro into the city and spent the day going to as many museums as we could! We ended up seeing the Natural History Museum, the National Gallery (West), the Air & Space Museum, and the American History Museum.
On the recommendation of Ben's brother & cousin, we also walked all the way up Capitol Hill to eat lunch at a little burger place that is just on the other side of the Capitol Building, called The Good Stuff Eatery. Good stuff indeed!
We also saw the back side of the White House, including the new vegetable gardens that The First Lady has put in. Very cool!
Then, K got off work and came to meet us to tour the memorials. We saw the WWII Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and the Korean War Memorial. K does not care for Jefferson much, so we skipped that one, which we were just fine with because by that time we were so tired from walking so much that we could barely walk and we were chafing in places that no one should ever have to chafe.
After that long day, K took us to Chinatown to eat at this place called Chop't. It wasn't Chinese food, but it was super tasty, and I wish they would expand them to lots of places all over the country.
Other highlights of the trip to Our Nation's Capital included: a sighting of a blue jay stealing a peanut from a squirrel on The Mall, watching the latest episode of Sherlock with K at her swank apartment in Alexandria, seeing what I was pretty sure was a covert government spy get off the Metro at the Pentagon stop (don't pick up the newspaper he left on his seat!), learning how to correctly use the words 'captial' vs. 'capitol,' accidentally parking K's car in front of two people making out in their car in a busy and well lit parking lot and they didn't stop even though we were obviously parked there and watching them for quite some time! (p.s. we weren't watching them to be creepy, we just had to stay in our car because it was super rainy outside and we were trying to finish eating our frozen yogurt. Don't worry, after a while we moved to another parking space.)
Any way, the trip was awesome, the weather was perfect, the company was fabulous, and we'd go back again in a heart beat! Stay tuned for Part Deux of our D.C./North Carolina adventure!
Well, sort of. We considered it a working vacation. See, Ben & I have had the desire to get out of Columbus lately (and by lately, I really mean for the past 3 years). We like Columbus a lot, it has a lot to offer, but we don't really see ourselves becoming lifers here and it's just time to move on.
So, we're starting the process of trying to figure out where we'd like to "settle down." Ben's skill set is such that we can pretty much pick the general area we want to live and then work at trying to get him a job wherever that is, which is pretty nice. So, we've decided to start our location search. We started with a trip to Our Nation's Capital, Washington D.C. And we followed that up with an excursion to the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area of North Carolina.
OUR NATION'S CAPITAL
 |
| Carper Family in front of the Washington Monument |
We pulled into Our Nation's Capital around 3pm, just before rush hour traffic got really bad. We checked into our hotel and then K got off work and came to meet us. Then (and this was probably the highlight of the trip) we went to CAFE RIO for dinner! That's right, folks. The D.C. area is now home to 3 Cafe Rios! So yummy. It was everything I remembered and more!
 |
| Erin doing her T-Rex impression. Tiny Arms! |
 |
| The Rotunda at the National Gallery |
 |
| The Capitol Building |
 |
| The Obama Home |
 |
| The First Lady's Kitchen Garden |
Then, K got off work and came to meet us to tour the memorials. We saw the WWII Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and the Korean War Memorial. K does not care for Jefferson much, so we skipped that one, which we were just fine with because by that time we were so tired from walking so much that we could barely walk and we were chafing in places that no one should ever have to chafe.
 |
| WWII Memorial |
 |
| The Lincoln Memorial |
After that long day, K took us to Chinatown to eat at this place called Chop't. It wasn't Chinese food, but it was super tasty, and I wish they would expand them to lots of places all over the country.
Other highlights of the trip to Our Nation's Capital included: a sighting of a blue jay stealing a peanut from a squirrel on The Mall, watching the latest episode of Sherlock with K at her swank apartment in Alexandria, seeing what I was pretty sure was a covert government spy get off the Metro at the Pentagon stop (don't pick up the newspaper he left on his seat!), learning how to correctly use the words 'captial' vs. 'capitol,' accidentally parking K's car in front of two people making out in their car in a busy and well lit parking lot and they didn't stop even though we were obviously parked there and watching them for quite some time! (p.s. we weren't watching them to be creepy, we just had to stay in our car because it was super rainy outside and we were trying to finish eating our frozen yogurt. Don't worry, after a while we moved to another parking space.)
 |
| What would've been an awesome picture if the reflecting pool had been full. |
Any way, the trip was awesome, the weather was perfect, the company was fabulous, and we'd go back again in a heart beat! Stay tuned for Part Deux of our D.C./North Carolina adventure!
Monday, April 30, 2012
On the Art of Saying "No"
I can't believe it took me 30 years to figure out that the way the Church keeps people out of trouble is to keep them so busy they don't have time to get into trouble! Fact!
What is the opposite of magnifying your calling? Because that is what we need to start doing up in here. We have been so busy, we've barely had time to breathe, and something has just got to give. Luckily, we have a nice trip out of town planned in a few weeks, after which we plan on dropping off the face of the planet for awhile.
We had this great Sunday school lesson last Sunday during which one of the members of our stake high-council made the comment that while we are supposed to wear ourselves out in the service of God, it's all about balance, and what wears one person out might be a lot more or a lot less than what wears another person out, and that we shouldn't judge ourselves or others about what that "wearing out" limit might be. He speaks the truth!
My limit has been met, people, and it's time to start saying "No!" (I wish I could say things like "No, get your own stinking life together!" or "No, you are too emotionally needy and that's why no one wants to be your friend!" or "No, I won't teach your class at the last second because you didn't bother to find someone to do it before even though you knew you were going out of town three months ago" or "No, I will not play for you so you can sing some crappy Sally DeFord piece" or "No, I will not baby-sit your kids because it is making me not want to have kids of my own" or "No, I don't want to go to another girls night, because I actually like spending time with my husband and don't want to sit around listening to you complain about yours or complain about how awful it is to be a mom." ---you get the idea. I will just have to stick to a plain "No, sorry, I've already got plans.")
Oh, and one more thing. It is super manipulative to call someone up and say "Hey, what are you doing this afternoon?" or "Hey what are you doing next Thursday?" or "Hey what are you doing _____"? If you want or need something, just ask. Don't tease me into thinking you're going to want to do something fun, when you really just want to find out if I'm free to _____(Fill in the blank)____ for you.
Okay, rant over. All I'm saying is that sometimes "No" isn't such a bad word, and I plan to use it a lot more often in the near future.
What is the opposite of magnifying your calling? Because that is what we need to start doing up in here. We have been so busy, we've barely had time to breathe, and something has just got to give. Luckily, we have a nice trip out of town planned in a few weeks, after which we plan on dropping off the face of the planet for awhile.
We had this great Sunday school lesson last Sunday during which one of the members of our stake high-council made the comment that while we are supposed to wear ourselves out in the service of God, it's all about balance, and what wears one person out might be a lot more or a lot less than what wears another person out, and that we shouldn't judge ourselves or others about what that "wearing out" limit might be. He speaks the truth!
My limit has been met, people, and it's time to start saying "No!" (I wish I could say things like "No, get your own stinking life together!" or "No, you are too emotionally needy and that's why no one wants to be your friend!" or "No, I won't teach your class at the last second because you didn't bother to find someone to do it before even though you knew you were going out of town three months ago" or "No, I will not play for you so you can sing some crappy Sally DeFord piece" or "No, I will not baby-sit your kids because it is making me not want to have kids of my own" or "No, I don't want to go to another girls night, because I actually like spending time with my husband and don't want to sit around listening to you complain about yours or complain about how awful it is to be a mom." ---you get the idea. I will just have to stick to a plain "No, sorry, I've already got plans.")
Oh, and one more thing. It is super manipulative to call someone up and say "Hey, what are you doing this afternoon?" or "Hey what are you doing next Thursday?" or "Hey what are you doing _____"? If you want or need something, just ask. Don't tease me into thinking you're going to want to do something fun, when you really just want to find out if I'm free to _____(Fill in the blank)____ for you.
Okay, rant over. All I'm saying is that sometimes "No" isn't such a bad word, and I plan to use it a lot more often in the near future.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Observations
Just some observations on this, the 29th day of March, the year of our Lord two-thousand and ten:
1. I watched people go in and out of a tanning salon today. Today was ridiculously beautiful, sunny and warm. Something is wrong with this picture. Why would you pay for sunshine when you can get it for free?
2. The serious lack of sidewalks that comes with living in the middle of the city drives me bonkers. Especially in the spring/summer when I want to go for a nice walk without the threat of being killed by traffic while walking on the side of the road. Also, I hate having to drive somewhere just to go for a walk. It seems counter-productive and offends my snooty eco-sensibilities. Just another way that growing up in "Stars Hollow" has ruined me forever.
3. If I lived in England, the NHS would pay for my insulin. The NHS has lots of problems, but not having to pay for something that everyone else's body makes is very attractive to me. Also, being able to participate semi-fairly in a health care system/market is also something that makes the NHS very appealing to me. I've started doing some more research into health care in other English-speaking countries. We're a little worried in the Carper household about how we'll possibly be able to care for ourselves during retirement, especially since I have the 'betes. Seeing as the current Medicare system is pretty inadequate for taking care of a Type 1, and it only seems like it will get worse in the future, I don't really feel like we can count on that. So, we're exploring other avenues of getting insurance when we're old. Of course, emigration seems like the most viable option, right? ;)
Semi-related aside: When President Obama got elected, I remember reading on some girl's blog that she wept & prayed for America because she was afraid of what kind of country we'd become that we would elect such an "evil" president, and she was worried about what her boys would have to deal with in the future. I mocked her. Last night I literally prayed that Heavenly Father would soften the heart of just one more Supreme Court judge so that in June they would rule that the individual mandate didn't violate the constitutionally given powers of congress. I wonder if that girl would mock me now?
1. I watched people go in and out of a tanning salon today. Today was ridiculously beautiful, sunny and warm. Something is wrong with this picture. Why would you pay for sunshine when you can get it for free?
2. The serious lack of sidewalks that comes with living in the middle of the city drives me bonkers. Especially in the spring/summer when I want to go for a nice walk without the threat of being killed by traffic while walking on the side of the road. Also, I hate having to drive somewhere just to go for a walk. It seems counter-productive and offends my snooty eco-sensibilities. Just another way that growing up in "Stars Hollow" has ruined me forever.
3. If I lived in England, the NHS would pay for my insulin. The NHS has lots of problems, but not having to pay for something that everyone else's body makes is very attractive to me. Also, being able to participate semi-fairly in a health care system/market is also something that makes the NHS very appealing to me. I've started doing some more research into health care in other English-speaking countries. We're a little worried in the Carper household about how we'll possibly be able to care for ourselves during retirement, especially since I have the 'betes. Seeing as the current Medicare system is pretty inadequate for taking care of a Type 1, and it only seems like it will get worse in the future, I don't really feel like we can count on that. So, we're exploring other avenues of getting insurance when we're old. Of course, emigration seems like the most viable option, right? ;)
Semi-related aside: When President Obama got elected, I remember reading on some girl's blog that she wept & prayed for America because she was afraid of what kind of country we'd become that we would elect such an "evil" president, and she was worried about what her boys would have to deal with in the future. I mocked her. Last night I literally prayed that Heavenly Father would soften the heart of just one more Supreme Court judge so that in June they would rule that the individual mandate didn't violate the constitutionally given powers of congress. I wonder if that girl would mock me now?
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Glory be!
How is it March already? We have been BUSY here in the the Carper household! For some reason, February turned out to be the absolute busiest month! Sheesh. Not a minute to breathe (literally, because we were both sick for a lot of February, too!), but this week we've finally had a few slower days. We even went on a spontaneous date on Friday night! We went out to run an errand, and Ben surprised me by saying "let's catch a movie!" We saw "We Bought A Zoo." I loved it!
In other news: We survived the deadly tornado outbreak of March 2012! We were right in the line of the nasty storms, but just north enough in Ohio to not get a tornado, just some thunderstorms and wind, and it actually wasn't that bad. Parts of Ohio got some bad damage and tornadoes, but it wasn't as bad as other places, thank goodness!
More Ohio News: The Chardon school shooting was a sooooo incredibly sad. I grew up not that far away from Chardon, and it is just such a crazy thing that these kinds of things happen! I distinctly remember the day the Columbine shooting happened (we watched it on Channel 1, and then followed it on the news the rest of the day when I was in high school), and thought that it was the craziest thing that could ever happen. I can't believe how many times that horror has been repeated in schools since then.
Some More Ohio News: We're having an outbreak of the Norovirus. Not me, personally, but central-Ohio. It's basically a nasty stomach virus (the one that you always hear people get on cruise ships a lot) but it's particularly bad because the virus can survive on surfaces from 2-10 days! Also, you still shed the virus in your feces for 3 days after you recover (yes, I just said "feces" in my blog), so you are still contagious after you are back at work and stuff. Anyway, I don't know anyone who's been sick yet, and we've been really good at hand washing in Carper-dom and we're super anti-social so I don't anticipate us getting it, but oh how I love me a good epidemic! That's just how I roll.
Even More Ohio News: Oh, Super Tuesday. How I loathe thee. Seriously, one reason (among many) to NOT move to Ohio is that it is a swing state. Although, being a registered democrat currently has its advantages, because I haven't been getting all the phone calls urging me to vote for Mitt or Rick or Newt or Ron. Thank goodness! I wish people at church would quit acting like Mitt is God, though. Also, I think they all assume that Mormon=Republican. I think I might need to "come out of the closet" as a democrat to my ward at some point, just to get people talking. Maybe during testimony meeting, wherein I get up and announce how I "know social welfare programs are true" and how I'm "so grateful for comprehensive sex education in schools"? Just for shock value? Don't worry, I'll restrain myself. But if I hear Brother____ say that "universal health care is Satan's plan" one more time (to an investigator, no less!), I might just have to speak up.
Erin News: I switched from atenolol to treat my SVT to something called Bystolic (nebivolol). It's a newer beta blocker, and is supposed to be a little less harsh in the side-effect arena, because it doesn't penetrate the blood-brain barrier as easy (or something). So far, I think it's been great. Atenolol gave me headaches, and made me soooooo exhausted, but this new drug seems to be pretty good. It doesn't seem to keep my heart rate quite as low as atenolol, but it does seem to tackle the "I-think-I'm-having-a-heart-attack-but-actually-these-feelings-aren't-really-dangerous" symptoms of SVT better. So, thus far it's a win-win. I haven't had to actually buy it yet though (my GP just gave me a month of samples), so we'll see how much of a win it is when I actually have to pay for it. Hopefully it won't be too expensive.
More Erin News: I've discovered a promising new GF baking blog, The Art of Gluten-Free Baking. I've made the faux oreos (faux-reos, anyone?) and they were really good. I'm planning on baking my way through this blog. Mmmm, it looks so good! I'm making her buttermilk biscuits and her thin mints next. And then maybe her pop-tarts. Yum. I'll let you know how it goes.
And, that's the latest.
In other news: We survived the deadly tornado outbreak of March 2012! We were right in the line of the nasty storms, but just north enough in Ohio to not get a tornado, just some thunderstorms and wind, and it actually wasn't that bad. Parts of Ohio got some bad damage and tornadoes, but it wasn't as bad as other places, thank goodness!
More Ohio News: The Chardon school shooting was a sooooo incredibly sad. I grew up not that far away from Chardon, and it is just such a crazy thing that these kinds of things happen! I distinctly remember the day the Columbine shooting happened (we watched it on Channel 1, and then followed it on the news the rest of the day when I was in high school), and thought that it was the craziest thing that could ever happen. I can't believe how many times that horror has been repeated in schools since then.
Some More Ohio News: We're having an outbreak of the Norovirus. Not me, personally, but central-Ohio. It's basically a nasty stomach virus (the one that you always hear people get on cruise ships a lot) but it's particularly bad because the virus can survive on surfaces from 2-10 days! Also, you still shed the virus in your feces for 3 days after you recover (yes, I just said "feces" in my blog), so you are still contagious after you are back at work and stuff. Anyway, I don't know anyone who's been sick yet, and we've been really good at hand washing in Carper-dom and we're super anti-social so I don't anticipate us getting it, but oh how I love me a good epidemic! That's just how I roll.
Even More Ohio News: Oh, Super Tuesday. How I loathe thee. Seriously, one reason (among many) to NOT move to Ohio is that it is a swing state. Although, being a registered democrat currently has its advantages, because I haven't been getting all the phone calls urging me to vote for Mitt or Rick or Newt or Ron. Thank goodness! I wish people at church would quit acting like Mitt is God, though. Also, I think they all assume that Mormon=Republican. I think I might need to "come out of the closet" as a democrat to my ward at some point, just to get people talking. Maybe during testimony meeting, wherein I get up and announce how I "know social welfare programs are true" and how I'm "so grateful for comprehensive sex education in schools"? Just for shock value? Don't worry, I'll restrain myself. But if I hear Brother____ say that "universal health care is Satan's plan" one more time (to an investigator, no less!), I might just have to speak up.
Erin News: I switched from atenolol to treat my SVT to something called Bystolic (nebivolol). It's a newer beta blocker, and is supposed to be a little less harsh in the side-effect arena, because it doesn't penetrate the blood-brain barrier as easy (or something). So far, I think it's been great. Atenolol gave me headaches, and made me soooooo exhausted, but this new drug seems to be pretty good. It doesn't seem to keep my heart rate quite as low as atenolol, but it does seem to tackle the "I-think-I'm-having-a-heart-attack-but-actually-these-feelings-aren't-really-dangerous" symptoms of SVT better. So, thus far it's a win-win. I haven't had to actually buy it yet though (my GP just gave me a month of samples), so we'll see how much of a win it is when I actually have to pay for it. Hopefully it won't be too expensive.
More Erin News: I've discovered a promising new GF baking blog, The Art of Gluten-Free Baking. I've made the faux oreos (faux-reos, anyone?) and they were really good. I'm planning on baking my way through this blog. Mmmm, it looks so good! I'm making her buttermilk biscuits and her thin mints next. And then maybe her pop-tarts. Yum. I'll let you know how it goes.
And, that's the latest.
Friday, February 3, 2012
My Nose, and other things.
Olfaction:
Is there such a thing as an over-sensitive nose? A super sensitive sniffer, if you will? I seem to be able to smell things that no one else can. When we had our two (yup, that's TWO) gas leaks, I smelled both of them first, before Ben could. One of the times, the repair person from the gas company said she was even surprised I could smell the leak, because she couldn't even smell it. The leak was definitely there, since her gas-detecting contraption thingy (that's the official term for it) said there was a leak, but apparently it wasn't very bad.
Also, I am constantly taking out our trash. I'm always complaining that "our house smells!" and emptying the trash can. I also am annoyed that our trash can seems to absorb the trash smells, and they never go away, even if I change the bag every day, let it sit outside overnight to air out, wash the thing out, etc. We've even recently replaced our trash can because the old one just got too smelly, and guess what? The new one already smells. I think the smells must permeate into the plastic. I've thought about buying a metal trash can to see if it is immune to smell permeability, but I just can't stomach spending $50+ on a metal trash can.
Stupid nose.
Portrait Painting: (This is long and probably boring, so feel free to skip it)
I've started portrait painting again! I'm working on a small test-portrait right now, and will probably do a few smaller ones before I start on something serious, just to help me get back into the swing of things. I'm surprised both how easily some things came back to me, and also by how much technique I've lost by not painting for so long! The color mixing and matching have come back really well, and I forgot how much I love painting skin tone! There are so many different colors that make up skin tone! What's kind of funny is that I've struggled a little bit with my highlighting (lights) but not my shading (darks). I know I have the tendency to not be bold enough with both of those, so I'll have to work on that a little bit more. The thing that surprised me the most, though, is how much of my actual brush technique I lost (I don't even know if that's the correct term for what I'm talking about, but that's what makes sense to me). I really struggled with figuring out which brush to use, and how to pull or push or smoosh it across the canvass to get the effect I wanted. I could feel in my hand what I wanted to do, but my brain couldn't get the brush to do it, or it couldn't remember which brush to use or which angle to use it at in order to get what it wanted. Does that even make sense? It used to be so effortless! I would just pick up the brush and paint! Maybe I'm over-thinking things now? Any way, I'm sure it will come back with time and practice!
Sleep:
Remember how I'm the world's worst sleeper? Well, two things were really helpful with that these last few weeks. First, when we had my dad's dog, he would herd us both to bed at a decent hour. He was warm and snuggly and I would be lulled right to sleep when he was lying in the bed with us. Also he made sure we got up at a decent hour too, by stirring and getting in and out of the covers. Brilliant, and totally cute. Second, I got that Wake-up Light. That things is pure bliss! I would seriously headline an infomercial for that thing, that is how much I love it. BUY ONE! Between that and the dog, my sleep habits were whipped into shape in about 2 weeks! My recent foray into the world of beta blockers has put a little snag in this, but mostly it just makes me want to sleep all_the_time, so it's not so bad. I'm sure I'll get used to it soon!.
And that's it. I'm off to empty the trash. :)
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Week 1 on Atenolol.
So, I've been on Atenolol (beta blocker for SVT) for about a week now and I have mixed reactions.
Things I don't like:
Things I don't like:
- It totally masks my low blood sugars, but I was aware that it could do that so I've been prepared for that. I've been wearing my CGM more and testing more to stay on top of that, but I've definitely tanked a few times before catching those lows! Crazy!
- It's given me a crazy bad headache for like 4 days, but it's not so bad that I can't function. And today I actually haven't gotten one, so maybe I'm adjusting?
- It makes me exhausted! But not all day long, so that's good. I was also informed that this might happen, but that after about 3 weeks, you kind of adjust to it.
- It doesn't seem to have really stopped my strange heart palpitations. The first few days were okay, but I've had a ton of them since then.
Things I like:
- It has definitely lowered my heart rate, and while I'm still having tons of palpitations/flutters/heavy heart beats/skipped beats, they don't seem as intense, if that makes any kind of sense.
- It makes it SOOOOOO much easier to work out! Before atenolol, my heart rate would sky rocket to like 175-180 bpm within the first 10 minutes of working out. I'd be out of breath, and ready to stop and the whole rest of the work out would be so labored. Now, it barely hits 140 and I feel like I can work out forever! It makes me wonder how long my heart rate has been high, because I've been feeling this while working out for years. My heart rate has always skyrocketed really fast (I always remember having a really high one in high school when we'd measure it in gym class), but I haven't had the weird palpitations, etc. until this year. Interesting. Any way, I just know that working out has been so much more fun this last week! Woot.
So, the verdict's still out. There are other beta blockers I can try if this one doesn't work or if the side effects are unbearable, so it's good to know that I can find something else if this one is not adequate.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
