What does a successful day look like?

“Well, that was a successful day,” I thought to myself as the kids and I headed home in a tuk tuk. 

At 5pm in Cambodia the sun is already setting. With the spectacular rainy season clouds and the tall palm trees there is enough to distract me from all the motorbikes that are zooming and weaving around us. 

My big achievement for the day had been lying down for 2.5 hours. 

Yes, congratulations to me for resting from 12.30 until 3pm. Having time to do that meant that I had a bit more energy and concentration for the one hour visit with friends in the late afternoon. 

Although my iron levels are in normal range now I feel like my brain fog is getting worse, it is so frustrating trying to interact with people when take so long to think. Hence, a long nap time to ensure I was feeling well enough to take the kids out.

It is one year since I started noticing fatigue. And since its my fatigue- iversary as I mentioned here I guess I’ve been noticing these things. I probably would not have called a two and a half hour rest a successful day before I was sick!

Today's Five Minute Friday writing prompt is success.

Photo by twinsfisch on Unsplash

My Fatigue-iversary: The tiredness I've blogged about in the last 12 months

Doctor: Have you had any loss of concentration, brain fog?
Me: Umm, er....what? Do you mean...ummm..like is it...err...ummm...

I've enjoyed using the A Chronic Voice link up to describe/ share/record our health experience and this months prompts fit exactly what I'm thinking about as I mark one year of being tired.

A Chronic Voice Link up for September -Prompts this month include: recounting, finding and researching

Finding out why and researching the next step

So my iron, Vit D and B12 were all low, so that could be the cause of fatigue and the first next step for remedying  that is supplements. My thyroid function is within normal range but some other tests showed high antibodies. Thyroids are tricky and researching the next step is probably going to be confusing. At first my doctor mentioned gluten free dairy free, even AIP, but then after another round of tests said I didn't need to try those diets.

Within days of finding out I have high antibodies I heard from a few people who have Hashimoto's. One swears by a gluten free diet, one had never heard of it for Hashi's , another had tried it and said it didn't help her, another sounded like she knew about it but didn't follow it strictly...


Recounting a year of fatigue 

So last October I felt unusually tired. As I mentioned back here  I went for some blood tests and I felt like I'd found out the reasons why and worked out the next step to deal with it. And then over the holiday in November I was still feeling tired so as I mentioned back here I just rested while all the relatives did the cooking, cleaning and looked after the kids.

I think in early December I felt a bit better after I'd been taking iron supplements for a month or so, but in late December I was still feeling frustrated with energy levels as I mentioned in my December  A Chronic Voice link up .

Then I started off the year thinking that eating enough iron would be the way to health as I mentioned in my A Chronic Voice link up for January. 

I was feeling tired in March and April too, but I always do as it is hot season. Everyone is tired and grumpy. So as I mentioned in my A Chronic Voice link up for April it wasn't the time to work out if my ongoing tiredness did have a medical reason.

So I think in May with the cooler weather I felt a bit better, but then in June both the kids needed medical attention and it felt chaotic as I mentioned in A Sandwich of Sickness stories and 4 Surprises in June.

So then in July it was time for a healthcation. I'm not really a fan of travelling but it turned out to be a useful time as I described here. Being away from normal life to focus on health meant I had time to think about my thyroid as I mentioned here.

So here we are in September, almost a year later. I've been taking supplements but no medications, according to doctor's advice.

Thanks for reading! I feel like there was something else I was going to include, but can't remember it at this time, maybe I'll edit later when I think of it. Sorry if it doesn't make sense I can't think clearly...So tired...

Photo Credit: Someone on facebook? I can't remember where I got it from, I did google it but no luck.

9 books I've blogged about in the last 12 months.

What supporters think we do, What nationals think we do, What the secular world thinks we do,
What my friends think we do, What we think we do, What we actually do...

This photo (above) may or may not give you an window into what I actually do. But this list (below) will give you an idea of what I have been thinking about recently.

Some of the books I've read over the last 12 months and the blog posts I mentioned them in:

1.Misunderstood: The impact of growing up overseas in the 21st century, Crossman 
-Culture Gap
-Searching for an origin
(other books mentioned Third Culture Kids: Growing up among worlds and Finding Home)
-6 ways I can see my offspring's childhood is different to mine

2 &3.Marilyn Gardner's books
-Between Seasons, Between Worlds

4.Serving Well: Help for the Wannabe, Newbie, or Weary Cross-cultural Christian Worker, Trotter
-Taking care of your heart well

5.The Body Keeps Score; Brain, Mind and Body in the healing of Trauma, Kolk
-A Sandwich of Sickness Stories
-3 books related to counselling
(other books mentioned Trauma and Resilience: A handbook, The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook)

6.Arriving Well: Stories about identity, belonging, and rediscovering home after living abroad, Brubaker et al 
-6 Types of Reverse Culture Shock Incompetence 

7.Apocalypse Now and Then: Reading Revelation Today, Barnett
-2 ways to read more of the Bible

8.Subversive Jesus: an adventure in justice, mercy and faithfulness in a broken world, Greenfield 
-Silent, settle, still

9.When Helping Hurts: How to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor... and yourself, Corbett and Fikkert
-What do poor people lack?

Let me know if you found a mistake in this post, or if you found inspiration for your own reading, or if you found a desire to buy me an Amazon gift card.

Photo credit: someone on Facebook?