Surprisingly, my week has been super busy.
I've been getting up fairly early (7:30 ish) and trying to get to lab before 8:30. I spend alllll day in lab (apart from a lunch break) and then get back between 5:30 and 6. At 7ish, I go to the gym (I've been surprisingly good about going) and when I get back from that I shower and end up starting cooking dinner at 8:45 or 9. By the time I've eaten it's almost time for bed. I've been trying to get to bed earlier, by 11:30 or 12.
I wrote another post about this, and then ended up never posting it, but I actually really like being awake early. It's good to get to lab before everyone else, because it means its easier to get time on the machines I need to use and it's also just generally less crowded. During the school year I never get up early, so this is a bit of a change for me! (I was an early bird at home though!).
I've managed to get to the gym a fair amount recently, which is really good.
I stopped using the nuvaring over the summer (the boyfriend and I agree that there's no point - it's expensive, it's not great for me and because we only use it for birth control, there's no point in using it if we're not together), so I've been slightly anxiously waiting for my period. (When you stop using birth control you have no idea when you're going to get it. For me it also tends to be a bit weird/different when I do get it.). Anyway, I know that no-one really wants to know this, but I've finally got it and it's not fun. (Which is surprising, because normally on or off bc I don't have any problems). I have really bad tummy cramps, which means that I've had to scale back my gym time this week and I've just generally been feeling a bit rotten. Anyway, I got medicine for it so if they start to get bad again I'll just take that!
Showing posts with label nuvaring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nuvaring. Show all posts
Friday, June 24, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Home!
So, I'm home now, which is great. I'm home for about two weeks, and then I'm going to spend the rest of the summer in lab.
In my first two years of college, I found home very stressful and it made me quite unhappy. I'm not really sure why, but I think it was a combination of the hormonal contraception (got much worse after I started taking the pill) and also sibling rivalry (my sister is literally a genius. She's much smarter than me. I just try to hang onto the idea that I'm much more socially adept, which will hopefully serve me better, or equally as well, in the long run. More about that later I'm sure.). Anyway, since all the revelations of junior fall, I'm starting to really enjoy coming home, and I find it much more relaxing now.
Since I've been home...
My sister actually isn't here during the week, as she's working in a physics lab at a university a few hours from home. It's actually kinda nice. I get to see her on the weekends which is good, but it means that I also get a lot of time with my parents without her around (which helps with the sibling rivalry/my feelings of insecurity).
My skins gotten better. In an earlier post I think I talked about how the new sunscreen was making my skin worse. My boyfriend's 21st is on Saturday, and I really want to look good for that. I've stopped using the old sunscreen, and I'm also using a new facewash and I've also been using blackhead removing strips, which seem to be working.
I've missed a few days of vitamins, which isn't great. I need to get back up to speed with those. At home it's a little harder to take them at night, because I'm not sitting around at my desk working, like I am at school.
I've gone to the dentist, and found out that my messed up gum is more serious than I though, but not a total disaster. (Warning: Gross bit) About 10 days ago I managed to cut (cheesewire) the gum behind my last molar on the left side on the bottom (I don't have wisdom teeth) using floss (maybe, it seems a bit unlikely). Anyway, I either did it or exacerbated an existing problem with the floss, and I've partly split my gum open. The dentist doesn't think it'll ever fully heal, but it will close up. I could have surgery to remove the extra piece of gum that's currently attached to the tooth, but he doesn't really recommend it. He's given me some antiseptic type stuff to put on it to prevent infection and told me not to really floss back there (it's okay to do it occasionally and carefully).
I've been bored. I haven't really had all that much that I've needed to do to be honest. Being bored is kinda a nice feeling though, and it is nice to be able to sit around and read fiction books.
I found out that Louis died. We have two dogs (border collies), who are 10 and 11, which is fairly old for a dog. We had a choice of puppies originally, and I absolutely fell in love with Louis, and didn't like the dog we ended up getting at all (I love him now though!). Anyway, Louis is the dog that I loved who is the brother of our current dog.
I've relaxed. I feel much more relaxed and health at home which is good.
I've stopped using the nuvaring (temporarily). I'm not going to see the boyfriend for the whole summer, so it doesn't really make sense to stay on it (especially given how expensive it is!).
In my first two years of college, I found home very stressful and it made me quite unhappy. I'm not really sure why, but I think it was a combination of the hormonal contraception (got much worse after I started taking the pill) and also sibling rivalry (my sister is literally a genius. She's much smarter than me. I just try to hang onto the idea that I'm much more socially adept, which will hopefully serve me better, or equally as well, in the long run. More about that later I'm sure.). Anyway, since all the revelations of junior fall, I'm starting to really enjoy coming home, and I find it much more relaxing now.
Since I've been home...
My sister actually isn't here during the week, as she's working in a physics lab at a university a few hours from home. It's actually kinda nice. I get to see her on the weekends which is good, but it means that I also get a lot of time with my parents without her around (which helps with the sibling rivalry/my feelings of insecurity).
My skins gotten better. In an earlier post I think I talked about how the new sunscreen was making my skin worse. My boyfriend's 21st is on Saturday, and I really want to look good for that. I've stopped using the old sunscreen, and I'm also using a new facewash and I've also been using blackhead removing strips, which seem to be working.
I've missed a few days of vitamins, which isn't great. I need to get back up to speed with those. At home it's a little harder to take them at night, because I'm not sitting around at my desk working, like I am at school.
I've gone to the dentist, and found out that my messed up gum is more serious than I though, but not a total disaster. (Warning: Gross bit) About 10 days ago I managed to cut (cheesewire) the gum behind my last molar on the left side on the bottom (I don't have wisdom teeth) using floss (maybe, it seems a bit unlikely). Anyway, I either did it or exacerbated an existing problem with the floss, and I've partly split my gum open. The dentist doesn't think it'll ever fully heal, but it will close up. I could have surgery to remove the extra piece of gum that's currently attached to the tooth, but he doesn't really recommend it. He's given me some antiseptic type stuff to put on it to prevent infection and told me not to really floss back there (it's okay to do it occasionally and carefully).
I've been bored. I haven't really had all that much that I've needed to do to be honest. Being bored is kinda a nice feeling though, and it is nice to be able to sit around and read fiction books.
I found out that Louis died. We have two dogs (border collies), who are 10 and 11, which is fairly old for a dog. We had a choice of puppies originally, and I absolutely fell in love with Louis, and didn't like the dog we ended up getting at all (I love him now though!). Anyway, Louis is the dog that I loved who is the brother of our current dog.
I've relaxed. I feel much more relaxed and health at home which is good.
I've stopped using the nuvaring (temporarily). I'm not going to see the boyfriend for the whole summer, so it doesn't really make sense to stay on it (especially given how expensive it is!).
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Summer Schedule and Update!
I'm spending my summer working in my lab at college :S. I told them I couldn't work this week and I'm going home for the next two weeks, which I'm looking forward to. The boyfriend and I are staying on campus this week, as all our graduation ceremonies/reunions are happening next week and we wanted to go to some of those things.
We had to move rooms for that (and he doesn't even technically have a room, so he's living in my room. I'm in a three room quad, meaning that there are two bedrooms, each with two beds in them. Luckily, my roommate (who I've never met) won't be here till Friday, so he's able to stay with me till then). Moving was incredibly stressful. I hate change anyway, it was hot and sweaty out and he was getting mad about having to move everything. Anyway, that's done now (but we have to move again at the end of this week, because I'm in a different room again for the summer), but it was really stressful at the time.
Since then we've just been trying to chill and de-stress, but there's still a lot that we need to do. I went to the doctor today and got my nuvaring prescription refilled - apparently it costs $20/month (with insurance), which is a bit ridiculous. I also got a new pair of shorts for the gym which I'm excited about! Talking about the gym I haven't been in the longest time. I'm planning to go today though for a bit. My diet has been so poor recently that I'm never going to hit my 5lb goal for this month, but a bit of toning never hurt and I need to start going to the gym again for my own sanity. I've also fallen off the wagon a bit with my resolutions. Now that we're settled into the new room though I'm going to try to start working on them again!
Regarding grades...I'm still waiting on one in particular that I'm worried about (I'm meant to be getting it today), so as soon as I get that one I'll let you all know about the ones I have (temper the bad news of that grade with the good news of the others). The main issue with grades is the boyfriends grades though. Every semester he's always disappointed with his grades (mostly B-, B, B+) and thinks they don't adequately reflect his work input. To be honest, I kind of agree with him. He always gets a bit depressed about it, feels useless, compares himself to his genius sister and me (I do slightly better than him) etc. I never know how best to help him, as I don't want to make it seem like his problems don't matter, on the other hand I don't think his grades are that inherently bad. It's really getting to be a bit of a problem though, as I don't tell him my grades now because I don't want to upset him, and the whole not telling each other thing isn't really how our relationship operates. (NB He had a tough freshman year, got an F, through no fault of his own, and a C or two, so his GPA is really not good. Part of the reason he's so tough on himself now is that he really needs A and A-'s to pull up the GPA). I've finally got him to agree to go see the academic counseling people here. I've been to see them before and they really helped me to turn my grades around. He's been to see them before and doesn't like them at all. I think part of that though is his reluctance to put what they tell him into practice... . Anyway, I'm probably going to go to this meeting with him, which I'm hoping will help because at least I'll be able to remember/write down their advice! (Sorry about that rant!)
Does anyone else have suggestions for dealing with these kind of (boy)friend grade issues?
We had to move rooms for that (and he doesn't even technically have a room, so he's living in my room. I'm in a three room quad, meaning that there are two bedrooms, each with two beds in them. Luckily, my roommate (who I've never met) won't be here till Friday, so he's able to stay with me till then). Moving was incredibly stressful. I hate change anyway, it was hot and sweaty out and he was getting mad about having to move everything. Anyway, that's done now (but we have to move again at the end of this week, because I'm in a different room again for the summer), but it was really stressful at the time.
Since then we've just been trying to chill and de-stress, but there's still a lot that we need to do. I went to the doctor today and got my nuvaring prescription refilled - apparently it costs $20/month (with insurance), which is a bit ridiculous. I also got a new pair of shorts for the gym which I'm excited about! Talking about the gym I haven't been in the longest time. I'm planning to go today though for a bit. My diet has been so poor recently that I'm never going to hit my 5lb goal for this month, but a bit of toning never hurt and I need to start going to the gym again for my own sanity. I've also fallen off the wagon a bit with my resolutions. Now that we're settled into the new room though I'm going to try to start working on them again!
Regarding grades...I'm still waiting on one in particular that I'm worried about (I'm meant to be getting it today), so as soon as I get that one I'll let you all know about the ones I have (temper the bad news of that grade with the good news of the others). The main issue with grades is the boyfriends grades though. Every semester he's always disappointed with his grades (mostly B-, B, B+) and thinks they don't adequately reflect his work input. To be honest, I kind of agree with him. He always gets a bit depressed about it, feels useless, compares himself to his genius sister and me (I do slightly better than him) etc. I never know how best to help him, as I don't want to make it seem like his problems don't matter, on the other hand I don't think his grades are that inherently bad. It's really getting to be a bit of a problem though, as I don't tell him my grades now because I don't want to upset him, and the whole not telling each other thing isn't really how our relationship operates. (NB He had a tough freshman year, got an F, through no fault of his own, and a C or two, so his GPA is really not good. Part of the reason he's so tough on himself now is that he really needs A and A-'s to pull up the GPA). I've finally got him to agree to go see the academic counseling people here. I've been to see them before and they really helped me to turn my grades around. He's been to see them before and doesn't like them at all. I think part of that though is his reluctance to put what they tell him into practice... . Anyway, I'm probably going to go to this meeting with him, which I'm hoping will help because at least I'll be able to remember/write down their advice! (Sorry about that rant!)
Does anyone else have suggestions for dealing with these kind of (boy)friend grade issues?
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
General Life Update
Lab Paper
I'm done with the lab paper! Which is great, I'm pretty nervous about my grade on it though. A large part of the grade comes from how well your professor thinks you do in lab, and mine seems to think I'm never there (because I go at strange times when he's not there - he doesn't actually work in the lab).
Lent
I guess I never explained what I gave up for lent - I'm not really religious, but in the UK (or at least where I'm from in the UK) Lent is a pretty big cultural thing. For the last last three years (2009, 2010, 2011), the boyfriend and I have given up desserts and juice. This year we also gave up alcohol (not that we drink that much anyway). Anyway, Lent obviously ended a few weeks ago, and I've had a tough time not binging on sweets and licorice and dessert. The sad thing is that I don't really even enjoy them all that much, just because I never feel great after I've eaten a lot of sugar. Anyway, over the next few days I'm going to make a big effort with making more conscious, aware food choices. I'm hoping that that will help mindless eating of crummy food.
Exercise
Guess who still hasn't been to the gym this month? Or last month? Or probably the month before? Argh. I really need to get onto that and stop making excuses!
Nuvaring
Seems to be okay - I was feeling a little depressed over the weekend, and I don't know if that was because of the whole "other guy" thing or if it was the new hormones or if it was a combination of the new hormones and not taking my B6 (vitamin). The stupid thing is that its making me scared to engage physically with the boy, just because he was poking around a bit a few days ago and it hurt :(
Other Guy
So, during formals weekend one of my friends announced, in front of a few of our female friends and my boyfriend, "[Other guy] is especially nice to Jinx because he wants to f**k her". It was in the context of a conversation about how he's drifting out of our friendship group a bit, so it wasn't at all meant to be taken as "that's the only reason he's nice to you", more just that he had a huge thing for me, so he was nice to me and not other people. Anyway, the whole thing was just really awkward and threw me a lot. I am feeling a bit better after talking to one of my close friends at home though - other guy is wonderful, but we aren't compatible in the long term, unlike the current boyfriend and me!
I'm done with the lab paper! Which is great, I'm pretty nervous about my grade on it though. A large part of the grade comes from how well your professor thinks you do in lab, and mine seems to think I'm never there (because I go at strange times when he's not there - he doesn't actually work in the lab).
Lent
I guess I never explained what I gave up for lent - I'm not really religious, but in the UK (or at least where I'm from in the UK) Lent is a pretty big cultural thing. For the last last three years (2009, 2010, 2011), the boyfriend and I have given up desserts and juice. This year we also gave up alcohol (not that we drink that much anyway). Anyway, Lent obviously ended a few weeks ago, and I've had a tough time not binging on sweets and licorice and dessert. The sad thing is that I don't really even enjoy them all that much, just because I never feel great after I've eaten a lot of sugar. Anyway, over the next few days I'm going to make a big effort with making more conscious, aware food choices. I'm hoping that that will help mindless eating of crummy food.
Exercise
Guess who still hasn't been to the gym this month? Or last month? Or probably the month before? Argh. I really need to get onto that and stop making excuses!
Nuvaring
Seems to be okay - I was feeling a little depressed over the weekend, and I don't know if that was because of the whole "other guy" thing or if it was the new hormones or if it was a combination of the new hormones and not taking my B6 (vitamin). The stupid thing is that its making me scared to engage physically with the boy, just because he was poking around a bit a few days ago and it hurt :(
Other Guy
So, during formals weekend one of my friends announced, in front of a few of our female friends and my boyfriend, "[Other guy] is especially nice to Jinx because he wants to f**k her". It was in the context of a conversation about how he's drifting out of our friendship group a bit, so it wasn't at all meant to be taken as "that's the only reason he's nice to you", more just that he had a huge thing for me, so he was nice to me and not other people. Anyway, the whole thing was just really awkward and threw me a lot. I am feeling a bit better after talking to one of my close friends at home though - other guy is wonderful, but we aren't compatible in the long term, unlike the current boyfriend and me!
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Coherence & Nuvaring Update
So, I realised that I keep talking about coherence, and "doing my coherence" and most people probably don't know what I actually mean by it.
In one of my last posts I talked about going to see a counselor and then going to see someone who specialized in biofeedback. During the biofeedback session I did various "stress tests" (recall a stressful incident, math etc) and saw how various physiological indicators changed (blood pressure, adrenaline, skin temperature etc). (Btw, my adrenaline was very high, all the time. Even when I was relaxing. And by "very high" I mean about 5 x what it's meant to be.)
Anyway, at the end of the session he suggested that I look into (and practice) "coherence", which is basically getting your breathing in sync with your heart rate. For me that means about 8-10 seconds per breath (in and out). I invested in a computer program which was pretty expensive, but very worth it. It has a sensor which I clip to my ear (the sensor measures the regularity of your heart rate) and a number of "games" to help you practice coherence (if you are "in coherence" you get more gold coins or the hot air balloon moves faster etc).
Eventually the goal is to be able to get into a state of coherence without the program. When you're "in coherence" you feel relaxed, less stressed, more clear headed etc, which are obviously good things! Anyway, I'll let you know how that all goes!
PS I'm loving the nuvaring so far - no side effects that I can tell at the moment! (Though, I'm not sure what my boyfriend will think of it, apparently some guys can feel it during certain activities. We don't engage in those activities when I have my period, which I still do, because he's too squeamish!)
EDIT: I've attached a picture of coherence/my heart rate. On the left it's much more jagged and less even than on the right (when I was incoherence). This is a screenshot from emWave Mac, and I'm sure it belongs to the people who made the program.
In one of my last posts I talked about going to see a counselor and then going to see someone who specialized in biofeedback. During the biofeedback session I did various "stress tests" (recall a stressful incident, math etc) and saw how various physiological indicators changed (blood pressure, adrenaline, skin temperature etc). (Btw, my adrenaline was very high, all the time. Even when I was relaxing. And by "very high" I mean about 5 x what it's meant to be.)
Anyway, at the end of the session he suggested that I look into (and practice) "coherence", which is basically getting your breathing in sync with your heart rate. For me that means about 8-10 seconds per breath (in and out). I invested in a computer program which was pretty expensive, but very worth it. It has a sensor which I clip to my ear (the sensor measures the regularity of your heart rate) and a number of "games" to help you practice coherence (if you are "in coherence" you get more gold coins or the hot air balloon moves faster etc).
Eventually the goal is to be able to get into a state of coherence without the program. When you're "in coherence" you feel relaxed, less stressed, more clear headed etc, which are obviously good things! Anyway, I'll let you know how that all goes!
PS I'm loving the nuvaring so far - no side effects that I can tell at the moment! (Though, I'm not sure what my boyfriend will think of it, apparently some guys can feel it during certain activities. We don't engage in those activities when I have my period, which I still do, because he's too squeamish!)
EDIT: I've attached a picture of coherence/my heart rate. On the left it's much more jagged and less even than on the right (when I was incoherence). This is a screenshot from emWave Mac, and I'm sure it belongs to the people who made the program.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Health Visit Last Week
So, I realised that I never explained the mysterious "health visit" from last Friday.
Like I said, I have a boyfriend of two years who I am very fond of. Like most couples our age, we sleep together (in both senses of the word). Anyway, because of that I've been on the pill (Ocella) since June 2009, a few months after we started dating (we started dating in March, and "first"* slept together at the end of May, not ideal I know). Anyway, I periodically go to the doctor to get my prescription refilled. One of the side effects of the pill is high blood pressure, so I also get that checked. Before I was on the pill (and when I was chilled out and at home for the summer) my bp was 100/60 (pretty low). My blood pressure now hovers around 135/95 (pretty high. If I was my grandmother they'd give me medicine for it.) I'm pretty sure that a lot of it is stress/diet/lack of exercise, but regardless my doctor was kinda worried. I measured it regularly for about a month, but also started thinking about other types of birth control.
I'm very close to my mum and best friend, so I talked over it with both of them (and my boyfriend of course!). Anyway, I decided that I wanted to switch to the nuvaring which (and don't read this part if you're squeamish) is a flexible plastic ring which fits inside you, and stays there for three weeks. It releases low levels of hormones, so mimics pregnancy (like the pill). There are a few advantages of it for me - not needing to remember to take the pill at the same time every morning, lower doses of hormones (which my doctor thinks will help the blood pressure) and hormones not going through my gut (it's just not good for you to send things like hormones through it).
I had to go to the doctor to get the new prescription. She was really in favour of the switch, so that's good.
I actually put it in for the first time today...it feels strange. I know this is a bit gross, but I'm not entirely convinced that it's in me quite right (but, given that I have my period right now, I don't really want to go fishing around down there too much). I'm going to see how it goes though, and hopefully I'll get used to it (and stop being afraid to pee - I'm terrified that it'll fall out into the loo when I pee!). When I started taking the pill it gave me some...issues. I was stressed and depressed, and constantly angry at my family. I'm going to be recording how I feel with this new type of BC - I'm hoping I don't get any negative side effects from it.
*I'm pretty conservative, and I absolutely categorically do not believe in one night stands. I'm much more relaxed in relationships though, and even at the beginning of our relationship I thought we had a lot of potential. Anyway, we actually slept together before that first time (while we were dating). It was maybe a month into our relationship, but it wasn't a good idea. We both thought it was a good idea beforehand, but we weren't ready. The boyfriend had never had sex before, so that made it an even less good idea (I had, story for another day) (also, the fact that he was and I was pretty much a virgin is part of the reason that we have "unprotected " sex. He's also been tested for STDs).
EDIT: So it did almost fall out when I just used the bathroom - not just me being paranoid! I took it out and reinserted it though, and it feels much better now!
Like I said, I have a boyfriend of two years who I am very fond of. Like most couples our age, we sleep together (in both senses of the word). Anyway, because of that I've been on the pill (Ocella) since June 2009, a few months after we started dating (we started dating in March, and "first"* slept together at the end of May, not ideal I know). Anyway, I periodically go to the doctor to get my prescription refilled. One of the side effects of the pill is high blood pressure, so I also get that checked. Before I was on the pill (and when I was chilled out and at home for the summer) my bp was 100/60 (pretty low). My blood pressure now hovers around 135/95 (pretty high. If I was my grandmother they'd give me medicine for it.) I'm pretty sure that a lot of it is stress/diet/lack of exercise, but regardless my doctor was kinda worried. I measured it regularly for about a month, but also started thinking about other types of birth control.
I'm very close to my mum and best friend, so I talked over it with both of them (and my boyfriend of course!). Anyway, I decided that I wanted to switch to the nuvaring which (and don't read this part if you're squeamish) is a flexible plastic ring which fits inside you, and stays there for three weeks. It releases low levels of hormones, so mimics pregnancy (like the pill). There are a few advantages of it for me - not needing to remember to take the pill at the same time every morning, lower doses of hormones (which my doctor thinks will help the blood pressure) and hormones not going through my gut (it's just not good for you to send things like hormones through it).
I had to go to the doctor to get the new prescription. She was really in favour of the switch, so that's good.
I actually put it in for the first time today...it feels strange. I know this is a bit gross, but I'm not entirely convinced that it's in me quite right (but, given that I have my period right now, I don't really want to go fishing around down there too much). I'm going to see how it goes though, and hopefully I'll get used to it (and stop being afraid to pee - I'm terrified that it'll fall out into the loo when I pee!). When I started taking the pill it gave me some...issues. I was stressed and depressed, and constantly angry at my family. I'm going to be recording how I feel with this new type of BC - I'm hoping I don't get any negative side effects from it.
*I'm pretty conservative, and I absolutely categorically do not believe in one night stands. I'm much more relaxed in relationships though, and even at the beginning of our relationship I thought we had a lot of potential. Anyway, we actually slept together before that first time (while we were dating). It was maybe a month into our relationship, but it wasn't a good idea. We both thought it was a good idea beforehand, but we weren't ready. The boyfriend had never had sex before, so that made it an even less good idea (I had, story for another day) (also, the fact that he was and I was pretty much a virgin is part of the reason that we have "unprotected " sex. He's also been tested for STDs).
EDIT: So it did almost fall out when I just used the bathroom - not just me being paranoid! I took it out and reinserted it though, and it feels much better now!
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