Maybe it is dirt

This isn't even fully brewed (roughly 8 minutes into the 10-minute steep time). Looks more like coffee than tea. And when you open the packet, this brown powder gets all over everything. (It also leaves a murky residue in the mug after drinking.)

Oh, and a word to the wise: If you drink this tea right after eating something sweet, it's extremely bitter. I recommend drinking it before eating, so the food erases the taste. Might even make sweet foods taste sweeter; I've not tried that because I'm not big on sweets. But it stands to reason. (By that same token, I'd be hesitant to add sweetener to it. Chug it like a big girl.)

Thus ends today's PSA on PMS Tea.

Yoga for cramping people

Two posts in one day...I'm just as shocked as you are. Guess this means I can slack off for a bit now.

I've been test-driving some yoga videos, thanks to my handy-dandy Roku box. (Seriously...I love this thing. I don't watch TV, but I love me some Netflix.) Mostly I've been doing this for my mother, who has high blood pressure (part genetics, part stress) and other assorted heart problems...the woman needs to learn how to relax. A few years ago, I bought her a yoga starter kit -- mat, blocks, strap, and a how-to video. They're all still in the box. I think she's intimidated by yoga. Until recently, I didn't understand why.

See, I was spoiled. My first experience with yoga was this nifty little box set I bought from Borders -- Simply Yoga. The instructor, Yolanda, has the most soothing voice (and a gorgeous Australian accent). Every movement is slow, gentle, and deliberate. None of the stretches are overly challenging unless I'm experiencing excruciating cramps. It's just a peaceful, calming experience.

In my experiments, however, I've encountered some truly scary yoga. Fast-paced routines meant for strong, flexible people. People who apparently don't feel like they have daggers in the backs of their thighs. Yoga videos with words like "crunch" and "burn" in the title. I might try those some day, but not today. Or this week. Or probably next week.

In the meantime, I'm sticking with my nice Australian lady. And this mellow couple I've found -- Charles and Lisa Matkin, who have a couple of videos for people with injuries or chronic conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure. While I am otherwise healthy as a horse, I could not complete all the poses in these videos...not while cramping, anyway. But I came close. And I don't think they'll scare Mom off. So my next step is trying to arrange some mother-daughter yoga time. And doing some yoga of my own in the meantime.

PMS Tea

I'm not kidding -- it really exists. And I'm at that point where I say "What the hell?" and try just about anything that might work.

And this might work. The main ingredient is dandelion root, which I've read is helpful for endo. (Improves liver function, which flushes out all that estrogen and thus reduces bloating, pain, temporary insanity, and so forth. Or so they say.)Another tea that I'm going to try, as soon as I track it down, is Women's Liberty; I've also heard dong quai and wild yam are helpful, though I took wild yam for about a year with no visible improvement.

Still, I'll try just about anything.

I'm supposed to start Sunday. (Realistically, I'm thinking Tuesday or Wednesday.) Right now, I'm only dribbling a bit, but the pain is intense. And bloated...good lord. Yesterday morning, my rings were loose enough to spin completely around my fingers. By 10 a.m., they were so tight that they were making my fingers go numb. After I took them off, I had grooves in my fingers for an hour. I'm afraid to put them back on.

So, I'm drinking this tea. Three cups a day, as directed (my cups are a bit larger than 8 oz, which is why I'm drinking 3 and not 4). It's...not tasty. In fact, I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out what it does taste like. The only thing I'm coming up with is dirt. I don't remember ever eating dirt, but I probably did. (I was that kind of child.) The label says it's bitter and sweet. Really, it's neither. Just tastes...well, like dirt. And you're supposed to drink it 3-4 times a day for the entire week before your period.

I paid $5 for the privilege of drinking muddy water thrice daily for a week. Part of me feels like a complete idiot. The other part of me hurts, and would eat actual dirt if studies showed it helped.

I just don't know

Started spotting today. A little over a week out from the scheduled date. The spotting wasn't completely unexpected...my complexion's gone to hell, my back's been killing me, I'm waterlogged despite eating a low-sodium diet, and I've been extremely moody and insecure today. (By which I mean wondering, with no provocation whatsoever, if my boyfriend is cheating on me, and planning what I'd say to him if he were. Getting mad about things people did to me years ago. That kind of thing. So...I've gone temporarily insane, basically.)

The symptoms are familiar. But why are they here so soon? Okay, so I'm stressed. I'm always stressed. Stress didn't do this to me when I was younger. And lord knows that after the past couple of months, there shouldn't be any excess left in there.

I wish I had a clue what triggers this. Then maybe I could do something about it.

Month two update and renewed motivation

First of all, I'm a bad blogger. I've put off the month two update long enough that I don't really remember the details. And it was just last week. In sum, though:

- The period was longer -- roughly 5 days, with a day of (barely) spotting at the beginning. Not bad, but not the 4-day miracle of last month.
- The pain was the same as ever...yucky.
- The flow was "How am I not anemic?" heavy. I was so drained by Saturday that I asked my boyfriend to bring me a Mountain Dew. I detest soda. But I needed a sugar kick to keep me from passing out. (It was as nasty as ever, by the way. Next month, I'm trying juice.) And the clots came back...not as bad as before the Mircette, by any stretch of the imagination, but they still came to the party.

However, several events occurred today to reinspire my resolutions to eat better and exercise.

- I heard one of my favorite "manic mode" songs ("How Far We've Come, by Matchbox Twenty), which made me remember that I can influence my energy level based on the music I listen to. (Audio caffeine, so to speak.)
- I watched Supersize Me, and am now quite frankly horrified...but not surprised.
- I did some yoga, and struggled with it. The easy yoga, too.

So, motivation has returned. Now I just need to get to work.

Well, tomorrow. It's nearly time for bed now.

Oh, yeah, I need to exercise

Went bowling tonight with my boyfriend and his family. It was a lot of fun, but halfway through the first game, I started hurting -- bad enough to throw me off for the rest of the night. Not in my wrist or my arm...in my hip. No amount of stretching helped it. I had trouble getting up the stairs when I got home. And now I'm hobbling like an old lady. I know it's nearing that time of the month, but this is ridiculous.

The good thing is, my boyfriend bowled horribly. He wants a rematch. So maybe we'll do this more often. And of course I'll do other exercises, as well. I am not about to take this old lady hip thing lying down!

There's always a price, isn't there?

Last night I dreamed I was having a baby. A very long, drawn-out, agonizing dream. I should have known what was coming when I woke up and there was no baby, but I'm not always with it in the morning.

Yep. The pain's back. Not bad enough to require medication just yet, but I did have to cart the heating pad around with me today. I'm a week and a half into month two of the Mircette.

I'm gonna tell myself I'm still adapting to the pill for now. If the pain doesn't subside within the next month or so, however, I'm going to try a month without wheat.

There. I said it. And I will now retreat to my corner to tremble, whine, and hope that that dark day doesn't come.