RampartRabid

Everything in one go..

noreply@blogger.com (Hunglish) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 21:31:00 +0000

Our dear poochie still didn't got her handling from vet, but we did book her for next week. We was a lot up by Dave's mom, and made a lot of mesurments and today we took some pictures of our new home. We managed to make a 3d house plan with all the furniture in it so we can virtually move things around.

Since Sunday me and Dave are on Atkins life plan, phase 1! I did loose already 2 kg :) Kinda damn cool. I was dieting on and off since last February, was mainly calorie counting, sometimes i took a break. I would say that worked very fine too for me, since i didn't gained back anything. Started at 114kg ( 251 lb) and gone down to 96kg (211 lb) in kinda a year. As i said i took somewhere between breaks all time. As for exercise well ..im a lazy women, i wasn't walking dog often was more Dave's job, so i would say I didn't had my exercise at all, just basic moving around the house, sometimes 1 walk in park, and shopping. ( Changed since than :P )

So since Sunday we are doing Atkins. In the first 2 days it was kinda not so fun, but since that im kinda fine. True i miss a lil the variety, but i wouldn't say we eat boring. Mornings usually we have omlett with cheese, sometimes with spinach, bacon or onions in it. Next to it 1 Frankfurter and some vegetables. If we hungry or have munchies we eat a lil cheese with cucumber. Dinner is usually meat and veggies. Grilled, cooked, fried seasoned all different. We do miss sweets. But im not dieting for them. Im trying not to think on them lol.

As exercise i would say i do take the dog for a walkies. Usually every day or second day a good 30-40 mins walk. I know its not a super work out, but makes me move my ass, and still enjoying. I do have an Elliptical Cross Trainer what i bought last February, but couldn't bring my self to use it much. This is on what i want to change. Since Sunday i do feel a little more alive, sometimes i jump around and ll silly things lol. You know when u are excited or like that... So yes i DO WANT to use it! Worst case after we move, than we will have enough room for it. I tried yoga last year a little and i liked it a lot too. I have usually a bad backache all time. I did some yoga for a month kinda and it did make me feel more better. So want to do that too :)

Funny thing what i miss at the moment from my food list is fruits. I do like fruits, true i don't buy them every week. Slowly but surely.

Well this is for now, will update next days :)

Photo frames

noreply@blogger.com (Hunglish) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 01:15:00 +0000

Was random browsing around internet for some ideas.. what a surprise.. Anyway i found some nice ideas and i even tried out them.

Frame folding video

Blog link

Both works great, true im not a big origami expert.. last i tried in elementary school and it was called just paper folding..who know about origami that time in the 80s :D

Cat "problems"

noreply@blogger.com (Hunglish) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 19:51:00 +0000

I so cant wait to move to the new house. I think im slowly driving My swety to craze. When i have time im browsing the internet for different ideas. Like we will have a VERY small room upstairs, and at the moment Dave thinks we should put in it just a bed, and it will be guest room, but the room is so little not sure even a single bed will fit in it. Next to its smallness it has a nice "big" window, so i was thinking maybe we should make a reading room, relax room. I would put in just one single bed across under the window and a lots of pillows. Just an idea... will see what it will be.

My other big "problem" is the cat. In basics i love cats, but my Hun has an old ..well sorry to say but pissy cat. And his hair is falling..not little or normal..its like water .. every time you touch the cat, your hands clothes full with it. Or when he shakes his self.. the hair just flies around him.. not really nice. And we do have a dogie since a year nearly and they don't really come out. Sheba, our puppy really badly wants to be friends, brings the cat toys but she gets a hiss form him. So we need give the cat his own place to relax, eat and others. But cant be really some cat tree because he is very old. So i was searching the internet and found a great idea.

And an idea from an other webshop : Looks great!

Really giving me good ideas! :)

Joy of Desserts: Easy How To: Storing spices

noreply@blogger.com (Hunglish) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:44:00 +0000

Joy of Desserts: Easy How To: Storing spices: This post is featured at Molly Green's Econobusters.com

I think its awesome idea and cost nearly nothing! Just what i needed for the new house :) Im constantly on the web, hunting for ideas!

cableholder

Cable holder! Awesome idea! one of the types where u slap on your forehead: OMG that i didn't got this earlier!

Good and bad

noreply@blogger.com (Hunglish) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 23:28:00 +0000

Think its normal, that in life good and bad things happen to you.

At the moment what is happening?

In December i was diagnosed with PCOS. It had never occurred to me that i may have PCOS, my "closest" best bet was Hiritusm. After a ultra scan, and blood test they decided i have PCOS. I need to say after reading a LOT about PCOS, most of the symptoms i do have. Just when u meet them along your life, it never occurs to you to think on it as a complex issue. My constant battle with weight, even if i don`t eat a lot. My excess hair problems - this why i thought i may have Hiritusm. The acne, still when im 28, and the acne scars. The "pregnancy strips" , even if i was never pregnant. The all time tiredness, mood swings and sooo on. As i just read on someones blog, basically if u have PCOS u have 19 days of PMs lol!

After i started my "treatment" i hoped changes will happen. Well my Gp "refused" to prescribe me metmorfin, so send me back to gyno, and gyno tells me after like a hour waiting, that she dont thinks i need it, till i try to get pregnant. Do we are trying at the moment for a kid? Than she would happy prescribe it! Thanks a lot! Was so angry :(

So my next steps will be:

- Get an insulin resistance test from GP! They want to tell me its not important if i have it, and i say it is. Its important for me to know, lets say, how far down on the road im, and it will help with diet too.

- I want to get referred to an endo. Seems to be the only other option, maybe there they will give me something other than dianette. ( that's all treatment what i get, and the good advise to lose weight)

Good news, as someone suggested in verity forum, on my excess hair problems i bought a braun 5780 epilator. I used to have one, but i wouldn't call it pleasant. Well this one is awesome. I wont go in details, but i can even use it on my face.. true its again not a walk in the park, but does not hurt very badly.

Other kind of "bad" news!

We have a puppy, a little girl named Sheba <3 She is out love :) She is a cross between Labrador and Staffi. In last month we noticed she is kind of stiff in front paws, seems to limp quite often. We thought she just sprained her paw. But some days ago we discovered a bump on the right paws top, near her toe. So we made an appointment, and the doctor said she needs to be checked up properly by Xray. She does have 2 conditions seems like. First of all the vet says she seems to have elbow dysplasia. Very worrying as it can result in her life with arthritis. Very sad, and she is just 11 months old.

On her paw the vet thinks may be a tumor :( She needs checking on that too. How could this all happen? Sad.

She gave us an estimate 659 pounds bill o.O

The good thing, seems we took out a good pet insurance the time we got Sheba. Its sainsbury`s option 2 cover. We phoned they, and asked they if they would cover us, and they said yes!

And a 3rd type of bad news..true i cant take it as very bad news! We get to move! Was scary first, because we was not sure where to. Happened that my pair lives in this house since good.. 20 yrs i think. He was renting it from someone who he knows. So the rent was not horrible high. Now they tried to sell this house since AGES, and none wanted it. Its not on a real nice area, not in good shape. Well now they found a "company" what buys "any house". Well they don`t lie! They decided to buy this one. First i heard i could not decide to cry or laugh. I wanted to move so badly to a nicer place, to have a fresh start. Same time, out bills will go up..

Long story short, after some days, we got good news, my pairs mom decided to "rent" us her house. I mean house house :) Garden on front , in the back, garage, nice stairs and the full house is lovely, and the area is Lovely too. U can even hear the birdies! What a change!

The right side of the house, with the white windows, door! Isn`t it pretty?! I wanted a place like this since i was little :)

I cant wait will may, that's the time when we can move in! In my mind i have mostly things placed lol, think it is a women thing!

I think this is it for now, it anyway happened to be a Loooong post. See u next time :)

What is polycystic ovary syndrome?

noreply@blogger.com (Hunglish) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 12:51:00 +0000

Polycystic (literally, many cysts) ovary syndrome (PCOS or PCO) is a complex condition that affects the ovaries (the organs in a woman's body that produce eggs).

It's complex because there are some very typical appearances in the ovaries that give the condition its name. But these are not always present and do not have to be present.

In PCOS, the ovaries are generally bigger than average. The outer surface of the ovary has an abnormally large number of small follicles (the sac of fluid that grows around the egg under the influence of stimulating hormones from the brain).

There are also characteristic changes in the appearance of the ovaries on anultrasound scan.

The ovaries are polycystic, with many small follicles scattered under the surface of the ovary (usually more than 10 or 15 in each ovary) and almost none in the middle of the ovary. These follicles are all small and immature, and generally do not exceed 10mm in size and rarely, if ever, grow to maturity and ovulate.

In PCOS, these follicles remain immature, never growing to full development or ovulating to produce an egg capable of being fertilised. For the woman, this means that she rarely ovulates (releases an egg) and so is less fertile. In addition, she doesn't have regular periods and may go for many weeks without a period. Other features of the condition are excess weight and body hair.

The condition is relatively common among infertile women. If affects up to 10 per cent of all women between the ages of 15 and 50 and is particularly common among women with ovulation problems (an incidence of about 75 per cent).

In the general population, around 25 per cent of women will have polycystic ovaries seen on an ultrasound examination. But most have no other symptoms or signs of PCOS and have no health problems. The ultrasound appearance is also found in up to 14 per cent of women on the oral contraceptive pill.

What causes PCOS?

While it's not certain if women are born with this condition, PCOS seems to run in families. This means that something that induces the condition is inheritable, and therefore influenced by one or more genes.

Ongoing research is trying to clarify whether there's a clearly identifiable gene for PCOS. Several different genes have been implicated in the condition – none have been definitely implicated as being the prime cause. Perhaps this role of several genes, and not one in particular, is what lies behind the way in which the condition is expressed so differently in people.

We know that PCOS has some genetic basis, but it's unlikely that all women with one or more of these genes will develop the condition. It's more likely to develop, if there's a family history of diabetes (especially Type 2, the less severe type usually controlled by tablets) or if there's early baldness in the men in the family.

When the genetic tendency for PCOS is passed down through the man's side of the family, the men are not infertile – but they do have a tendency to become bald early in life, before the age of 30.

A number of marker proteins have also been identified in the blood of women with PCOS, further supporting the view that this is a genetically determined disorder.

Women are also more at risk if they're overweight. Maintaining weight or body mass index (BMI) below a critical threshold is probably important to determine whether some women develop the symptoms and physical features of the condition. Just how much weight (or what level of BMI) is difficult to say because it will be different for each individual.

Certainly, for patients who are considered overweight (BMI 25 to 30) or obese (with BMI greater than 30), weight loss improves the hormonal abnormalities and improves the likelihood of ovulation and therefore pregnancy.

Can PCOS be prevented?

Not being certain of the exact cause makes it difficult to answer this question fully.

If there's a genetic influence, some people are more likely to get PCOS than others. But it seems likely that you cannot alter your predisposition to PCOS.

There's no current proof of any benefit of preventative weight loss. But the best advice for overall health is to maintain a normal weight or BMI, particularly if you have strong indicators that PCOS could affect you.

These indicators include:

a tendency in the family towards Type 2 diabetes (non-insulin dependent diabetes)
the knowledge that a close relative already has PCOS
a tendency towards early baldness in the men in the family (before 30 years of age).

What are the symptoms?

The ways that PCOS shows itself include:

absent or infrequent periods (oligomenorrhoea): a common symptom of PCOS. Periods can be as frequent as every five to six weeks, but might only occur once or twice a year, if at all
increased facial and body hair (hirsutism): usually found under the chin, on the upper lip, forearms, lower legs and on the abdomen (usually a vertical line of hair up to the umbilicus)
acne: usually found only on the face
infertility: infrequent or absent periods are linked with very occasional ovulation, which significantly reduces the likelihood of conceiving
overweight and obesity: a common finding in women with PCOS because their body cells are resistant to the sugar-control hormone insulin. This insulin resistance prevents cells using sugar in the blood normally and the sugar is stored as fat instead
miscarriage (sometimes recurrent): one of the hormonal abnormalities in PCOS, a raised level of luteinising hormone (LH - a hormone produced by the brain that affects ovary function), seems to be linked with miscarriage. Women with raised LH have a higher miscarriage rate (65 per cent of pregnancies end in miscarriage) compared with those who have normal LH values (around 12 per cent miscarriage rate).

These symptoms are related to several internal changes, some of which can be relatively easier understood in the light of the hormone abnormalities that are frequently found.

These include:

raised luteinising hormone (LH) in the early part of the menstrual cycle
raised androgens (male hormones usually found in women in tiny amounts)
lower amounts of the blood protein that carries all sex hormones (sex-hormone-binding globulin)
a small increase in the amount of insulin and cellular resistance to its actions
raised levels of anti-Mullerian hormone, when compared with women with normal regular cycles (this may become a more useful and accurate test than checking LH or the LH to FSH ratio).

Most women with PCOS will have the ultrasound findings, whereas the menstrual cycle abnormalities are found in around 66 per cent of women and obesity is found in 40 per cent. The increase in hair and acne are found in up to 70 per cent, whereas the hormone abnormalities are found in up to 50 per cent of women with PCOS.

How is PCOS diagnosed?

The diagnosis is based on the patient's symptoms and physical appearance.

If the diagnosis seems likely, because the patient's history contains many of the symptoms described already, certain investigations are done to provide confirmatory evidence or to indicate another cause for the symptoms.

These include:

blood tests such as:
- female sex hormones (particular time points in the cycle are important for some of these)
- male sex hormones
- sex-hormone-binding globulin
- glucose
- thyroid function tests
- other hormones, eg prolactin.
ultrasound examination.

Your own GP can do the initial blood investigations, ensuring they are carried out at the correct time of the cycle if appropriate. Your GP may be able to arrange an ultrasound scan.

Once the diagnosis is made, nothing more needs to be done for some women, eg if their fertility is not an issue, if their weight is within normal limits, and if they do not have excess body hair.

If any of the symptoms are an issue – further advice and treatment, and possibly specialist referral, is needed.

What else could it be?

The other conditions likely to cause abnormal periods include raised levels of prolactin and of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). Both these hormones are produced from a particular part of the brain, the anterior pituitary.

Raised prolactin levels can occur together with headaches and some disturbances of vision, whereas raised TSH levels indicate low thyroid hormones (hypothyroidism). Both these conditions lead to suppressed ovulation and infertility.

Increased hair and acne reflect an increase in male hormones (androgens) in the blood. Other conditions can cause such an increase.

Rarely, adrenal disorders or tumours cause increased androgens. In these conditions: hirsutism usually develops quite rapidly, previously normal periods may also stop and, occasionally, muscle weakness occurs.

Loss of, or changes in, female aspects of body shape and appearance (secondary sexual characteristics), especially reduction in breast size, may also occur.

As the androgen excess progresses, the voice can deepen and the clitoris can increase in size (clitoromegaly). If these serious medical disorders are present, the male hormone levels will be considerably increased, way above those found in PCOS, and specialist treatment should be arranged.

What can you do for PCOS?

There are several things that an individual can do if they have a tendency towards developing some or all of the elements of PCOS. Much of this involves lifestyle changes to ensure that your weight is kept within normal limits (BMI between 19 and 25).

In addition, because there is a likelihood of developing diabetes in later life and a slightly higher risk of heart disease, low-fat and low-sugar options should be considered when making choices about what to eat or to drink.

Weight loss, or maintaining weight below a certain level, will have the short-term benefit of increasing the likelihood of successful treatment and the long-term benefits of reducing the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Weight loss is effective in reducing male hormone levels, increasing the likelihood of ovulation and getting pregnant.

Using medications to lose weight may be effective, and orlistat is probably the most effective of these. Metformin on the other hand is probably not effective in helping to lose weight though evidence on this is conflicting.

It's interesting that despite all the research into PCOS, the exact relationship between the condition and weight gain (or loss) is unclear. But being overweight, and especially increased abdominal fat, seems to be a strong predictor of having other hormonal problems – such as raised male hormones and tendencies to having diabetes.

What can your doctor do?

Your family doctor will be able to provide many of the drug treatments available (although these are probably best taken in consultation with a specialist). Treatments aim to improve several aspects of PCOS, including:

fertility, via the stimulation of ovulation
reduction of the insulin resistance
reduction of the increased hair.

Treatments

The range of treatments available and their application are listed in Tables 1 and 2.

Table 1 deals with the treatments for improving fertility in women with PCOS (Homberg, 1998; Pirwany et al, 1999; Farquhar et al, 2000; Hughes et al, 2000a; Hughes et al, 2000b; Hughes et al, 2000c).

Table 2 deals with the treatments for other features of PCOS including hirsutism, irregular or absent periods and obesity. The evidence in favour of using of these medications to improve symptoms is not strong and reviewed elsewhere in detail.