With the usual impeccable timing...
Feb. 16th, 2009 02:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urocyonI just spent two hours cleaning. Why would I start into that just before midnight? The kitchen stove started doing frightening things, and I'm embarrassed to get somebody in to fix it otherwise. :/
There had been a little smell of gas in there at times for the past week or so, but it got better when I fiddled with the wobbly knob for one of the burners, so I'd decided to watch it carefully for the time being. (Yeah, motivated in part by honestly not feeling like getting the kitchen completely cleaned up when I've been sick.) But, this afternoon, I noticed that the right front of the stove was hot, as if![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
vatine had been using the burner, but he hadn't been. I shrugged it off, but unexpectedly burnt myself tonight, putting my hand against what should have been a cool stove. It was hot enough that water sizzled immediately on the enamel, when vatine tested it. After we both fiddled with it, the best we can figure is that there is some small leak under the top of the stove, which is getting ignited when the nearest burner is used. *cringe* It went out after he messed with the wonky-knob burner--which is not the closest one, but the one behind it--so now there's the faintest smell of gas again.
This has probably been going on for a while, but I can't help but get nervous about it. We decided that calling the 24-hr. service number tonight wouldn't get someone here to fix it any earlier than calling in the morning, so he's going to do that. Good thing it's not so cold out there tonight, because I left the kitchen window open just to be safe, besides the rotary vent thingy over the sink.
This has, of course, happened with the usual perfect timing to cause near-maximal inconvenience.
But, probable small gas leaks trump moderate beriberi, and I knew I wouldn't be able to get to sleep right away for worrying anyway. Might as well don dust mask and do-rag, gulp some antihistamines, and try to make a small dent in the mess. Besides getting tired, I ran out of trash bags (only had two left), which gave me an excuse to quit until I can pick up more tomorrow. :)
It's looking better, with that amount of miscellaneous clutter out of the way, but there's still quite a bit to be done. Ingvar helped some earlier--before I put together what was happening with the stove, and that it is fairly urgent-- but had to go to bed. Surprising, that. :) He's going to get drafted tomorrow evening, likely to move heavier stuff and run the vaccuum. He may get to mop the kitchen floor, too, since it makes my back act up. At least now the hall is clear of obstructions like cardboard boxes, backpacks, and reading material/loose cable/etc. overflow.
Punkin and Mirrors have been galloping up and down the bare hall, enjoying the novelty. Feist just ran outside to get away from scary habitat rearrangement, but that's Feist for you; she's probably trying to find a fox to chase, to displace some of that Feisty anxiety. Too bad she doesn't stand watch for the one that keeps scat marking our front doorstep!
I also found the two weeks' worth of Januvia (sitagliptin) I thought I'd left back in VA, lurking in a box in the hallway. That was a relief, and gives a little more grace period to hopefully get feeling better before seeing the GP. It got my blood sugar staying between 6 and 8 (108 and 144) within three days of starting it, from a stress-fueled 16/288 as a monthly low--with no apparent side effects--so I'm hoping that will help those symptoms pretty quickly. It also shouldn't further mess with various B-vitamin levels like the metformin apparently did.
BTW, from further quick research, it seems that the diabetes alone was enough to cause honest-to-goodness beriberi symptoms. (Yeah, I'm still in some shock over this one.) This seems to have been going on for a while, but I only put things together after getting "moderate" symptoms. Turns out, this is apparently common enough that I would urge anybody dealing with either Type 1 or Type 2 to watch for symptoms of thiamine deficiency, which may look like complications (e.g. peripheral neuropathy). I thought I was reasonably well informed, but had managed to miss this one, as had a couple of GPs when I went in with classic deficiency symptoms, with the B12 as well. :/ The Evil Pills (metformin) no doubt* exascerbated** the situation, beyond the obvious GI side effects/malabsorption that I was concerned about. At any rate, I'm glad that I may not just have to learn to live with the muscle spasms and pain levels, etc.
This abrupt gas problem may be aggravating, but I managed to get over the panic reaction quickly, at least. Adrenaline is really not going to help the situation. I've been trying the incremental approach to the mess, since there's still clutter around that predates my trip back to VA, but some push toward quicker action was probably a good thing. Especially since I've been more prone to tripping over stuff lately. *shakes head*
It's still nerve wracking, what with my having no energy, for good reason--and being uncomfortable with people coming in to fix things (or read meters, etc.) at the best of times, even when I know to expect them. Since it's not a matter of Not Trying Hard Enough after all,vatine may need to take half a day off to deal with the repair people. :/ I'm trying to tell myself again that this is not really any more unreasonable than it would be, were I deaf and needing an interpreter.
Well, with any luck, we'll be getting a new stove out of this. The one in there is a fairly hideous brown '70s model with one missing knob, one wobbly knob stem, and a kaput sparky ignition system. (At least it can't unpredictably shock the pee out of me for no obvious reason, like one perverse elderly electric one I had the misfortune of using!) It mostly works, or it would have been gone by now, but I won't be sad if they decide to replace the thing instead of fixing it.
Argh, I just thought to check, and it looks like the British Gas HomeCare thingy does not cover the stove, unlessvatine upgraded the coverage more than I thought. Typical.
______
* "In theory, metformin may reduce thiamine activity, and based on animal research, taking thiamin and metformin together may contribute to the risk of lactic acidosis."
** "Metformin may reduce serum folic acid and vitamin B12 levels. These changes can lead to hyperhomocysteinemia (abnormally large levels of homocysteine in the blood), adding to the risk of cardiovascular disease in people with diabetes. There are also rare reports of megaloblastic anemia in people who have taken metformin for five years or more. Reduced serum levels of vitamin B12 occur in up to 30% of people taking metformin chronically. However, clinically significant deficiency is not likely to develop if dietary intake of vitamin B12 is adequate.*** Deficiency can be corrected with vitamin B12 supplements even if metformin is continued. The metformin-induced malabsorption of vitamin B12 is reversible by oral calcium supplementation. A multivitamin preparation may also be valuable for some patients. Patients should be monitored for signs and symptoms of vitamin B12 and folic acid deficiency. People taking metformin chronically should be advised to include adequate amounts of vitamin B12 in their diet, and have their serum vitamin B12 and homocysteine levels checked annually."
*** Why would I have trouble believing this, especially given how common GI disruption is, to go along with the more direct malabsorption?
There had been a little smell of gas in there at times for the past week or so, but it got better when I fiddled with the wobbly knob for one of the burners, so I'd decided to watch it carefully for the time being. (Yeah, motivated in part by honestly not feeling like getting the kitchen completely cleaned up when I've been sick.) But, this afternoon, I noticed that the right front of the stove was hot, as if
vatine had been using the burner, but he hadn't been. I shrugged it off, but unexpectedly burnt myself tonight, putting my hand against what should have been a cool stove. It was hot enough that water sizzled immediately on the enamel, when vatine tested it. After we both fiddled with it, the best we can figure is that there is some small leak under the top of the stove, which is getting ignited when the nearest burner is used. *cringe* It went out after he messed with the wonky-knob burner--which is not the closest one, but the one behind it--so now there's the faintest smell of gas again.This has probably been going on for a while, but I can't help but get nervous about it. We decided that calling the 24-hr. service number tonight wouldn't get someone here to fix it any earlier than calling in the morning, so he's going to do that. Good thing it's not so cold out there tonight, because I left the kitchen window open just to be safe, besides the rotary vent thingy over the sink.
This has, of course, happened with the usual perfect timing to cause near-maximal inconvenience.
But, probable small gas leaks trump moderate beriberi, and I knew I wouldn't be able to get to sleep right away for worrying anyway. Might as well don dust mask and do-rag, gulp some antihistamines, and try to make a small dent in the mess. Besides getting tired, I ran out of trash bags (only had two left), which gave me an excuse to quit until I can pick up more tomorrow. :)
It's looking better, with that amount of miscellaneous clutter out of the way, but there's still quite a bit to be done. Ingvar helped some earlier--before I put together what was happening with the stove, and that it is fairly urgent-- but had to go to bed. Surprising, that. :) He's going to get drafted tomorrow evening, likely to move heavier stuff and run the vaccuum. He may get to mop the kitchen floor, too, since it makes my back act up. At least now the hall is clear of obstructions like cardboard boxes, backpacks, and reading material/loose cable/etc. overflow.
Punkin and Mirrors have been galloping up and down the bare hall, enjoying the novelty. Feist just ran outside to get away from scary habitat rearrangement, but that's Feist for you; she's probably trying to find a fox to chase, to displace some of that Feisty anxiety. Too bad she doesn't stand watch for the one that keeps scat marking our front doorstep!
I also found the two weeks' worth of Januvia (sitagliptin) I thought I'd left back in VA, lurking in a box in the hallway. That was a relief, and gives a little more grace period to hopefully get feeling better before seeing the GP. It got my blood sugar staying between 6 and 8 (108 and 144) within three days of starting it, from a stress-fueled 16/288 as a monthly low--with no apparent side effects--so I'm hoping that will help those symptoms pretty quickly. It also shouldn't further mess with various B-vitamin levels like the metformin apparently did.
BTW, from further quick research, it seems that the diabetes alone was enough to cause honest-to-goodness beriberi symptoms. (Yeah, I'm still in some shock over this one.) This seems to have been going on for a while, but I only put things together after getting "moderate" symptoms. Turns out, this is apparently common enough that I would urge anybody dealing with either Type 1 or Type 2 to watch for symptoms of thiamine deficiency, which may look like complications (e.g. peripheral neuropathy). I thought I was reasonably well informed, but had managed to miss this one, as had a couple of GPs when I went in with classic deficiency symptoms, with the B12 as well. :/ The Evil Pills (metformin) no doubt* exascerbated** the situation, beyond the obvious GI side effects/malabsorption that I was concerned about. At any rate, I'm glad that I may not just have to learn to live with the muscle spasms and pain levels, etc.
This abrupt gas problem may be aggravating, but I managed to get over the panic reaction quickly, at least. Adrenaline is really not going to help the situation. I've been trying the incremental approach to the mess, since there's still clutter around that predates my trip back to VA, but some push toward quicker action was probably a good thing. Especially since I've been more prone to tripping over stuff lately. *shakes head*
It's still nerve wracking, what with my having no energy, for good reason--and being uncomfortable with people coming in to fix things (or read meters, etc.) at the best of times, even when I know to expect them. Since it's not a matter of Not Trying Hard Enough after all,
vatine may need to take half a day off to deal with the repair people. :/ I'm trying to tell myself again that this is not really any more unreasonable than it would be, were I deaf and needing an interpreter.Well, with any luck, we'll be getting a new stove out of this. The one in there is a fairly hideous brown '70s model with one missing knob, one wobbly knob stem, and a kaput sparky ignition system. (At least it can't unpredictably shock the pee out of me for no obvious reason, like one perverse elderly electric one I had the misfortune of using!) It mostly works, or it would have been gone by now, but I won't be sad if they decide to replace the thing instead of fixing it.
Argh, I just thought to check, and it looks like the British Gas HomeCare thingy does not cover the stove, unless
vatine upgraded the coverage more than I thought. Typical. ______
* "In theory, metformin may reduce thiamine activity, and based on animal research, taking thiamin and metformin together may contribute to the risk of lactic acidosis."
** "Metformin may reduce serum folic acid and vitamin B12 levels. These changes can lead to hyperhomocysteinemia (abnormally large levels of homocysteine in the blood), adding to the risk of cardiovascular disease in people with diabetes. There are also rare reports of megaloblastic anemia in people who have taken metformin for five years or more. Reduced serum levels of vitamin B12 occur in up to 30% of people taking metformin chronically. However, clinically significant deficiency is not likely to develop if dietary intake of vitamin B12 is adequate.*** Deficiency can be corrected with vitamin B12 supplements even if metformin is continued. The metformin-induced malabsorption of vitamin B12 is reversible by oral calcium supplementation. A multivitamin preparation may also be valuable for some patients. Patients should be monitored for signs and symptoms of vitamin B12 and folic acid deficiency. People taking metformin chronically should be advised to include adequate amounts of vitamin B12 in their diet, and have their serum vitamin B12 and homocysteine levels checked annually."
*** Why would I have trouble believing this, especially given how common GI disruption is, to go along with the more direct malabsorption?
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no subject
Date: 2009-02-16 12:50 pm (UTC)I don't think they are aware of the mechanism at all.
As for the Metformin, a glance at the symptoms of lactic acidosis - which happened to be the symptoms I was already experiencing - made it pretty clear that it would not be a good idea to take it. As I understand Metformin, however, it reduces the absorption of nutrients - and it's meant to do that, so you get less glucose from your food, and thus reduce your blood sugar levels. So why anyone is surprised that it will also interfere with the absorption of other things I don't know...
The more I learn about Metformin, the more it scares me, and the more the thought of listening to GPs frightens me to death, because I would be unhealthier by several orders of magnitude if I had listened. I am aware that there may be a time in my life when I will need medication support - but that is a considerable way off.