Taking Charge of My Health

I mentioned in my post yesterday that I have been having tingling and numbness in my hands and feet. And that I discovered that this can be symptomatic of several illnesses, including full-blown diabetes and multiple sclerosis.

This really blew my mind. And made me face up to the fact that I can no longer afford to play around with my health. It really is a life/death situation.

Then last night it occurred to me that the problems seemed to start about the same time I started taking niacin, at my doctor's recommendation, to raise my HDL cholesterol, which is slightly lower than it should be.

That's when I discovered that tingling and numbness in the extremities can be a side effect of niacin! Not only that, but blurring vision (I had just made an appointment with the eye doctor that same day!), and racing heartbeat (had noticed a minor episode last week).

So. . . I am discontinuing the niacin in the hope that these symptoms will go away. If not, it's back to the doctor and I will just have to face the music.

But this incident has served me very effectively as a huge wake-up call. From now on, eating junk "just because I can" is not going to be tolerated. The purpose of eating is to provide nutrients for the body and not for entertainment or self-medication.

I will just have to deal with emotional issues another way.