Nights

So I've been working nights at a retirement home as a personal support worker for a while now and I tell you I miss the sun!  My body is craving vitamins especially vitamin D.  I bought a multi-vitamin with 400 ui of vitamin D, a Calcium D3 with 400ui of vitamin D and vitamin D 400ui's to take everyday, I've only been taking them for two days now, but I hope they start working soon because I am exhausted!!  I get home from work at 8:20, sleep from 9:00 till almost twelve hours later!  I wake up so tired from oversleeping and then go back to work at 11:00 I have no social life let alone energy to even think about exercising.  My eating habits are literally whack!  I don't eat all day when I get up I'll have toast or cereal, eat a few snacks and maybe a sandwhich or a pasta dish during the night at work and then have more toast or cereal when I get home in the morning, mixed in with some chocolate!  When I have a day off I don't cook  I barely eat and I barely sleep.  But I'm able to live on my own in my own apartment and I am independent.   I just wish I could wake up to enjoy it.  My weight is stable at 263 but I want it to go down, not be stable.  I don't know what to do.  Any suggestions that don't involve changing my work schedule?

-Bliss

Dear Bliss:

I suggest you find another job so you can have a normal schedule!  And start going to Overeaters Anonymous meetings, because you need to get into recovery and get that weight off, while you can.  And ;you're starving yourself eating that way!  Please get a day job, and stop wearing yourself out!  I'm very concerned for you!

Yours truly,
Denise Phares/Highpow

Believe it or not, OA is not the magic bullet for everyone that it apparently is for you.  I'm glad it's giving you what you need, but that doesn't mean it's the only viable option out there or the one that will work best for everyone.  I see a good number of people on this board who are having success without OA. 

If you would like people to consider OA, I suggest you change your approach so that your message is better received and doesn't fall on deaf ears.

Hi there.  It takes a while for your body to rebuild its vitamin D stores.  If you haven't already had your blood tested for D, that might be a good lace to start.  You might need mega doses of D (eg, 35,000 to 50,000 units a day or a few times a week for a while) to get to where you need to be, and that's best done under a doctor's supervision. 

I tested low on D and am trying to get that corrected.  In fact, I'm due to get checked on that right about now.  My doc recommended an extra 1000 units a day in addition to the 400 in my multi-vitamin.  I won't have any idea whether that was enough until I get my blood tested. 

I feel for ya hun....I worked 7pm to 3am in an ER, and boy, trying to sleep, figure out meals was tough...I too felt like a zombie, would anwser the phone, agree to what someone said, and hang up, go back to sleep...Ya, and no social life...I get ya...

I really don't have any words of wisdom.  I hung in there until an opening came up for the 3pm-11pm shift.

The only thing I do now that has helped me lose is to PLAN .....Shop for the foods you need to take to work, stock up on frozed Lean Cusine type stuff so its available and you don't go grabbin fast foods...

Cutting out all the fats I can, and only doing chicken/lo fat stuff at Taco Bell, deli sandwhiches, no mayo...Things like that.  YES you lose slower, like 5lbs a month, but it adds up...

Take care

November 24, 2009

Dear Bliss:

I'm sorry I wrote to you to quit your job and find another.  How foolish of me it was to say that to you!  Of course you keep your job at night!  Good for you for being willing to work there, and to help people the way you do!

It's hard to eat with your schedule, I know.  And hard to sleep, as well.  Good luck to you, in all your endeavors.

Denise Phares/Highpow

Thank you all for your help and apologies.  I haven't made an appointment yet with my dr to check my vit d but I will I promise.  Good news though there's two full time openings at work for days or evenings, so I'm going to apply to the evenings position and then I get to see the sunlight, have a social life and maybe exercise every morning!  Can't wait to get back to work and apply for it.

I've been off work three days with a TBI. Head injury. Concussion whatever you want to call it.  Don't worry I'll be fine.   I just have a little bit of a headache and post-concussive syndrome.  Which sounds worse than it is.  Thanks for all your support!

-Bliss

Concussion?!?!?!  Yikes.  I hope you are doing better by now and I hope you get the job.

Mary

Well I thought I was doing better so I went into work tonight, I was only there half an hour when I turned around and went back home feeling dizzy and nauseas and faint.  I hope I get better soon, I miss working.

-Bliss