Paxil (known as PaxHell among people who quit taking it) is probably the worst thing in the world to me now. I’d even go back to smoking if it would help the withdrawal. Last night, I decided once again to give sleeping without a pill a try. Bad idea. You see, if I take a sleeping pill before I go to sleep, I can fall asleep despite the heart palpitations. If I fall asleep despite them without a pill, I wake up within 10 minutes with not only the heart palpitations, but rapid heartbeat as well. So that’s what happened last night. So I took a Sonata after I was so rudely awakened, but the palpitations were so bad, I felt like I was going to re-enact William Hurt’s famous chest-popping scene from Alien. Except that my neck, back, and face would also explode along with my chest. I had been lying there wishing for sleep for an hour, hubby was asleep beside me (unlike me, he lies down. He falls asleep. He wakes up the next morning well rested. I don’t know how people do that.), which made it even worse, because my upper torso was still throbbing violently away at about 125 beats per minute, and the sleeping pill had made me more drowsy than I started off, but hadn’t put me to sleep. Damn him for sleeping when I couldn’t! (These thoughts are not uncommon, I’ll betcha, when you’ve been sleep deprived like this every single day for more than eight weeks. . .) I picked up my pillow and retreated to the family room, where the lack of a bedside clock and the white noise of the room a/c unit would surely help.

So, yeah, I did manage to fall asleep in there eventually, got up at 6 to visit the bathroom and take my synthroid (pills. . .grrr.) and went back to the family room to sleep. Hubby calling on the phone woke me around 8 or so, and I tried to go back to sleep, but couldn’t.

Well, during breakfast, I commenced my usual routine. Take a bite. Sneeze. Go get a tissue and wash hands. Pick up food. Put down food. Sneeze. Go get a handful of tissues and wash my hands. Finally finish breakfast and go take an allergy pill. Suddenly, it occurs to me – my allergies aren’t this bad in the Family Room, only in the rest of the house with central air (which we’ve been keeping on regardless of the weather because my outdoor allergies have been hellish down here. . .) I pull out the filter, after I manage to find it. The 30-plus year old furnace/blower gave me no easy clues as to where it was, and I took off the wrong part, which requires far more muscle than I have to put back, so now it’s kind of hanging there. I measure. 18 by 30 inches. Add to the shopping list.

Finally managed to get the laundry hung up and a new load started, and took Daughter #2 shopping. We hit Target, in the hope of finding her some shoes that would go with her Renaissance Faire outfit. Problem is, she’s very picky and has specific tastes and is not particularly adaptable, and has mixed these things up for quite some time (something that is not her taste will be “uncomfortable”, and she’s not willing to let shoes stretch out, for example. . .) Other problem is, her tastes precluded her from picking any of the half dozen shoes that would have passed for Renaissance-y, and she was instead drawn to the boots and the patent leather pumps. We did finally find a compromise, but not before I was about to let her decide between barefoot or sneakers. I hoped beyond hope that Target would also have furnace filters and high-potency wasp killer, but no go. Fortunately, it’s a brief walk across the parking lot to Lowe’s, where they did have the bug spray, but only one kind of filter that would fit our odd size blower.

Let me tell you about this filter. . .it’s just like the one we have. And it’s so convenient! Cut to fit!!!!! Then all you have to do is unscrew the ancient aluminum frame, open it up, wedge each side of the filter into the little tiny rough open edge of the aluminum, repeating multiple times, as the last side you squeezed in comes out as soon as you start wedging in the next. Then screw it back together, wedge in the parts that came loose while you were screwing it together, remove all items that block the doorway next to the furnace because the filter is just as wide as the space between the furnace and the edge of the door, and try to slide the rough-surfaced aluminum frame into the rough-surfaced aluminum slide and fit the furnace pieces back together!! And as far as filtering out allergens? Well, if I were allergic to small alien spacecraft, this would definitely do the trick. It’ll filter out any allergen you can see with the naked eye. Thank goodness for online shopping. The super anti allergen filter size I need is manufactured, and I could even comparison shop, so in a few days I can put in a filter that filters and doesn’t ruin the last few pristine millimeters of my manicure putting it in.

Here’s a little synopsis of the stuff that this guy has been saying about ketosis (oh, wait – keto-adaptation!) and I just need to share it:

Stuff Wesley said. . .

“ i think the best thing to do would completely cut out fruit/veggies/bread etc, because then your brain would run on ketones at the maximum
the brain runs better on ketones then on glucose, so it should do something”>

> “besides, you cant store fat as fat, if you are overweight its because of carbs
the primary function of inulin is too prevent fat being used as fuel, and to store lots of fat and keep it in the adipose tissueadhd is linked to a bad metabolisme of glucose, so the best thing to do is limit your carbs”

If this doesn’t make your brain hurt enough already, he provided a bunch of links. It started with an article talking about the dangers of ketosis (clearly one he linked without reading) then a blog that said “those people are stupid. I’m on Atkins and I’ve lost weight!”, and another to a study that showed an unspecified number of postmenopausal women had less narrowing of the arteries in the high-fat group than in the high-sugar group. Plus some links to supplements you could buy from the author of the site.

“haha boy, you seem to have been brainwashed
all ppl have an insulin/collagen ratio, if you eat a high carb diet you basicly are in “survival mode” because the main purpose of insulin is too make as much fat as possible, and block burning of fat, if you eat less carbs and more fat the ratio changes, more collagen, the main porpose of collagen is too INCREASE muscle mass, and reduce fat, there are no ketones made from muscle!! where did you get this nonsense from? your liver makes ketones from triglycerides! your muscles convert to glucose (but that doesnt happen very fast on a low carb diet), so there is no way to make ketones from muscles.also i’d like to point out that being keto adapted (the proces takes 3 weeks) you will NOT be in ketosis, ketosis is a state were your body is still using glucose and spilling the ketones in the urine, usually the first weeks of a low carb diet.”

Of course. Ketosis gets better and goes away. They found that from the autopsies, I’m sure.

“yes, but all carbs (good or bad) rise insulin as much to stop the burning process of fat, and the main source of fuel for your body is fat.
i would avoid fibre as it scratches the delicate lining of the intestins and causes mucus and scarring, thats why this is very common by old ppl who eat like the “food pyramid””

Yes, the human body can’t handle fiber. . .

“you dont need to cut out sweeteners, aspartame is proven to be very safe at high doses! unlike the anti aspartame sites say, but they have no proof, thats important, allways look for studies etc..”

Unless your mind is already made up.

“i gues you didnt hear about glycation (but you do beleive bull**** about ketosis taking muscle protein:rolleyes
your blood sugar glucose, chemically attaches to proteins in your body, it doesnt need any enzymes glucose just attaches itself to any proteins it meets up withthe glycosylation process triggers chemical reactions that terminate with the creatin and piling up of irreversible croos-links between protein molecules that are in close contact with one another. One of the largest protein massas in the body is collagen (yea i was talking about glucagon, forgive me my bad translation) collagon the stuff that makes up the structure of your tissues and organs. and it gets whorse. Glucose binds to mucleic acids such as DNA, your genes, wich at that point become alle bound up. You won’t do a good job now at maintaining and repairing the wear and tear processes of daily life.

and these are bad:
a part of glucose of the glucose molecule reacts with a protein molecule and forms an unstable compound called a “schiff base”. This quickly changes its configuration known as an amadori product.

Now things get nasty, if amadori products remain in the body for weeks, months or years they slowly start to lose some of their water and rearrange their structure one again into a new type of glucose compound that forms IRREVERSIBLE structures, these are calles advanced glycosylation endproducts (AGEs) AGEs are yellow brown in color and are distinctly nasty and dangerous characters. They cross-link with one another and bind adjoining proteins.

Two amadori products may link as an AGE. From their study of diabetics researchers learned that the browning reaction damages the body.

plz read mly links carefully, they have a list of references you can check (dont tell me they sell anything) you seem to be falling for everything you read.”

Does your brain hurt yet? It should be becoming clear that he knows all about falling for everything you read.

“you links are pretty much behind, they still seem toe beleive saturated fat causes hearth desease, while the best research allready showed its insulin.”

Yeah, those folks at the American Heart Association, National Institute of Health, Mayo Clinic, UK National Health Ministry, et. al., are so behind the times. *sigh*

“besides no diet should be high proteinbesides, i dont think you know stefanson’s work? he lived on an all meat diet for a year being monitored in an hospital
and gues what his health improved

and i say it again, no zero carb diet causes ketosis, this is only when you are keto adapting”

OK, no carbs, no high protein. No fiber. I’m thinking this guy lives off blubber and Bacardi Breezers (which he advertises in his avatar.)

“oh and please, lets stop about what other scientists say, your diet is what most ppl are on, most ppl know about that one and tried it, i’m posting my experience with my diet and i try to help ppl.”

“but, you didnt try an all meat diet!
besides, all are bodies are basicly the same, humans are a carnivorian specie

sugar fuels cancer, so it accelerates cancer, but a zero carb diet doesnt prevent it tough just slows it”

I’ve looked everywhere, even in his links, and can’t find a single scientist who tells how to manage to eat an all-meat but protein free diet, much less outline its benefits.

“i gave you links, if you dont wonna take advice from me, do it from the ppl that lived their WHOLE life on such diet!!
the bear for instance eats only meat for 48 yearsi’m sorry but i get very upset with this, you all complain about the adhd symptons, i did too, i tried this diet and my add allmost cured, so i tought i started learning the sience behind it
then i tought, hey i’l help the guys at this forum, because i posted here earlier
no-one even wants to READ all my links or even TRY it, read all the POSITIVE reactions of ppl that tried this diet

Why does a siencetist like richard veech who actually studies ketosis, call ketones MAGIC, he did prove that our brains run 25% more EFFICIENT on ketones, you can even read this on wikipedia! (wikipedia, an infallible source of factual information that can be updated by anyone who can get three friends to say, “yeah. What he said.”) the conclusion that ketones are not good is no scientific fact anymore, its been proven your body needs time to adaptfine you dont have to take advice from me, but pls listen to real scientists whith life experiece like dr greg ellis i posted the interview from, or barry groves? …”

“no! you gotta compare our digestive tracks with that off omnivores and herbivores, the conclusion is simple, they are the same as carnivoreswe also don’t have the complex teeth like omnivores do, so if we eat carbs and dont brush our teeth, they will rot away

why are you talking about his nickname? he was called the bear in high school, its just a nickname man…”

This last one was in response to a comment I made that if a bear can live for 48 years eating only meat, then maybe we should swim around and eat raw fish, instead, because sea turtles live 150 years on that diet.

“i said this allready, these links are not aware of keto adaption, all this side effect can only occur if you stay in ketosis for a very long time, and thats only possible when you eat like 200 grams of carbs every 2 weeksveech researched ketones and concluded that ketones are the preferred fuel for the brain and the hearth

you ignore my research? tell me one reasen why i should read a text of someone that is not aware of keto adaption?

no, once keto adapted alcohol won’t throw me out of ketosis (wich i aint in anymore) one there are ketones my cells won’t use glucose again even when its present
they only will when eating enough carbs to change the insulin glucagon ratio

its true that alcohol will throw me out of ketosis, but its time to make the difference between ketosis and keto adaption”

So this one had me splitting my sides. Here’s what I told him:

This has tremendous medical applications, you know. I researched “keto-adaptation” and it says nothing about it being a permanent metabological change. However, if what you are saying is true, then it could follow. . .

“I went to a two week yoga retreat. Now I will never again feel stress in my life.”

“I haven’t touched a drop of alcohol in a month. Now I can drink as much as I want and I won’t get drunk.”

“I got my legs waxed. Now I’ll never have to shave again.”

And the one that will make the most of us happier than anything. . .

“I’ve lost 40 pounds. Now I can eat whatever I want for the rest of my life.”

Just needed to put that in perspective. Now I completely understand the concept.