I feel the need to write, though I’m not sure I have anything in particular to talk about. (The true sign of a captivating blog post. A perfect intro!) Let’s pretend this post is a series of short and snippy Tweets (I’m using the lingo of the day in an appropriate way in an attempt to reach out to my hip young audience. Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear) bound together for easy reading.

The TV show House provides some problems for me. Its medically suspect, at least based off of reviews I’ve read written by doctors, or at least, people with some sort of actual medical understanding. The doctors, including House, are suspect in themselves. Yes, House is a renegade who plays by his own rules and doesn’t care if anyone likes him. He would have been fired. End of discussion. At the very least, no patients would ever put up with his shit, and no one would ever work with him, and somebody probably would have killed him (Mind you, I’m only near the end of Season 2, so WHO KNOWS WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN?!) Every episode, he or his coharts nearly kill the patient at least three times. And while the show is usually rather clever, with snappy dialogue or interesting cases, it can at times be just as cheesy and manipulative as any other hour-long drama (Edit: The episode I just watched geniunely moved me emotionally, like tears and what not. So y’know, I ain’t hatin.) That being said, I’m addicted to it, and like it very much. Hugh Laurie’s awesome, and I only hope that his success in this brings more attention to his even-more-important career in British TV comedy. I’ve never watched A Bit of Fry and Laurie or Jeeves and Wooster, but he does start appearing in, I believe, the third season of Rowan Atkinson’s Black Adder series, and he’s fantastic. Netflix it. Besides, it’s important to remember that Atkinson is more than just Mr. Bean, and is certainly more than Bean: The Movie.

With this lupus that I have, I have to watch my diet pretty carefully. Since my kidneys are at risk (Basically, from what I understand, my blood is not holding the protein, and I’m “leaking” it out through my urine. Fun!) which causes all of the swelling in my legs and what not, I have to watch my sodium intake. Besides that, my cholesterol, due to either the lupus or the medicine or the kidney business, is at a superhuman level. Normal cholesterol is in the 100s, while high cholesterol is somewhere in the 200s. Mine’s in the 500s. So cholesterol needs to be maintained, as well as overall fat and saturated fat intake. This, you would imagine, takes the fun out of eating, and with the medicine increasing my appetite, I have to think a lot about what food I’m eating, especially since the sodium levels of food can be a real surprise. (A person’s daily sodium limit is about 2400 mg, and I’m supposed to keep mine around 2000. My common example in terms of how my former diet doesn’t quite fit in with my present lifestyle: A Cheesy Double Beef Burrito from Taco Bell, a delectable treat, has 1600 mg.)

A normal person might become frustrated at having to keep such a close eye on such an enjoyable pastime as eating. Not me. I have had what I strongly believe to be undiagnosed Obsessive Compulsive Disorder for most of my life. Now I know lots of people think themselves obsessive because they’re very clean, but that’s not OCD, that’s just your everyday neurosis. Mine extends far past that, and while I’m not going to go into details, for that could be not just a blog post, but a book, it has affected my life in many ways for a long time. While the ways and symptoms have changed over time, its obvious to me that they stem from the same common disorder. For the purposes of this, lets just say that I too am neurotic. Because of this, I rather enjoy doing the research and figuring out exactly what I’m eating. Its kind of like a puzzle. At first, I tried just estimating in my head, which quickly grew confusing. Then I opened a word document, writing down everything I was eating, and how much fat and sodium the food contained. The type and number of nutritional facts I was keeping track of increased to include calories and cholesterol, and pretty soon, I started a document in Microsoft Excel that keeps track of the calories, fat, calories from fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, fiber, sugar, and protein included in everything I eat (Basically the nutrition label on the side of everything. If its from a restaurant, or doesn’t provide a label, I estimate as best I can using a generic substitute found on the internet or in this handy-dandy little Pocket Guide to Low Sodium Foods book I bought.) And I enjoy this.

And really, it hasn’t been so bad. Yeah, food without salt is blander. But for the most part, I’ve been eating way healthier. I’ve given up smoking, and while I still might have a beer when I go out, the medicine causes me to get light-headed so quickly that I lose interest in having another (I’m a easy date, I guess.) So yes, lupus: bad. Some of its side effects (healthy diet, less drinking, no smoking): good. Really, the hardest part has been the Taco Bell. I haven’t had a cigarette since March 28th. (Yes, that’s after I initially got sick on the 17th. I still had half a pack. And I did smoke for four years. You think I’m just going to throw away half a pack of cigarettes? Get real. I did quit cold turkey, bitch.) Taco Bell, I think about getting every day. And I have eaten, far more often that I should. I haven’t got the previously mentioned burrito, because if I did, I basically couldn’t eat for the rest of the day. However, if I’ve been doing good that day in terms of my diet, and I can’t control the urge, the Mexican Pizza is about 1000 mg of sodium, and since I’ve always gotten it without the meat (my mother likes it this way, used to order it for me this way, and I became accustomed to it. I’ll eat it with the meat, but I won’t like it.), and losing the beef brings the Pizza down into the 700s, which is still pretty high, but manageable. If I need more (WHICH I DO,) a Taco Supreme can be mine for the price of about 350 mg of sodium. I certainly can’t eat it every day, but as it is with most things on this diet, I can eat it. If i do, however, I need to compensate by eating healthy for the rest of the day. Overall, though, I try not to push it too much.

Well, I think I’m done with writing for now. Off to watch more House. (I’m in the middle of a two-parter! I use a lot of parantheses!) Goodbye!