Diet therapy for narcolepsy -- Husain et al. 62 (12): 2300 -- Neurology
The effects of a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet (LCKD) on sleepiness and other narcolepsy symptoms were studied. Nine patients with narcolepsy were asked to adhere to the Atkins’ diet plan, and their symptoms were assessed using the Narcolepsy Symptom Status Questionnaire (NSSQ). The NSSQ–Total score decreased by 18% from 161.9 to 133.5 (p = 0.0019) over 8 weeks. Patients with narcolepsy experienced modest improvements in daytime sleepiness on an LCKD.
Monday, December 24, 2007
update
Well hey there!
I noticed I was falling behind with keeping this thing updated. I would get behind a few days, and then feel bad that like typical ADD stuff, here was another chore I was behind in. It gets frustrating. So I decided to keep a record on a paper planner instead. That's okay, but I don't write as many personal comments as I do here, since I hate handwriting- its so slow. Typing is much better. Should get voice recognition- since that would be the fastest by far.
Well, I'm at 263 right now. Been struggling with carbs. Candy at work, sesame chicken, a cookie here and there- and then holidays now.
Made an appointment to see a doc about ADD- might get a diagnosis and meds. I've been trying to figure out everything on my own- and tying it down to sleep/light and diet. It's hard to recreate a paleo diet and sleep routine- esp with work, food temptations, and peer pressure.
Reading more stuff than ever, and still confused. Reading more about narcolepsy today. Orexin involved with hunger, sleep, alertness. Sounds like ADD and diabetes rolled into one. I know the whole syndrome is related- all these things. Red light goggles help ADD. Obese/diabetics have depression, ADD causes/caused by sleep problems, etc etc. But I need to find the end of the thread and start pulling if I want to unwind this thing. I guess that would have to be the twin devils of sleep and carbs. Maybe I need to focus on just doing the right thing instead of figuring out HOW it works. I would like to take a few months to really experiment with a leakproof diet and sleep regimine, and blog the results. Now I'm on a routine where I generally try to sleep more, and eat less carbs- and it does help. But my motivation flags so often. What cinced the deal? This guy in this ADD group told me the medicine wears off after a while, but that for three years on meds he was all there- and got his masters degree easily. Man, I could sure use three good years! So Jan 3, we'll see what the crazy doc says.
Meanwhile, I lay plans for the uber-diet...
grassfed twice a day?
sleep 12 hours?
walk outside 3 times a week?
weights once a week?
I noticed I was falling behind with keeping this thing updated. I would get behind a few days, and then feel bad that like typical ADD stuff, here was another chore I was behind in. It gets frustrating. So I decided to keep a record on a paper planner instead. That's okay, but I don't write as many personal comments as I do here, since I hate handwriting- its so slow. Typing is much better. Should get voice recognition- since that would be the fastest by far.
Well, I'm at 263 right now. Been struggling with carbs. Candy at work, sesame chicken, a cookie here and there- and then holidays now.
Made an appointment to see a doc about ADD- might get a diagnosis and meds. I've been trying to figure out everything on my own- and tying it down to sleep/light and diet. It's hard to recreate a paleo diet and sleep routine- esp with work, food temptations, and peer pressure.
Reading more stuff than ever, and still confused. Reading more about narcolepsy today. Orexin involved with hunger, sleep, alertness. Sounds like ADD and diabetes rolled into one. I know the whole syndrome is related- all these things. Red light goggles help ADD. Obese/diabetics have depression, ADD causes/caused by sleep problems, etc etc. But I need to find the end of the thread and start pulling if I want to unwind this thing. I guess that would have to be the twin devils of sleep and carbs. Maybe I need to focus on just doing the right thing instead of figuring out HOW it works. I would like to take a few months to really experiment with a leakproof diet and sleep regimine, and blog the results. Now I'm on a routine where I generally try to sleep more, and eat less carbs- and it does help. But my motivation flags so often. What cinced the deal? This guy in this ADD group told me the medicine wears off after a while, but that for three years on meds he was all there- and got his masters degree easily. Man, I could sure use three good years! So Jan 3, we'll see what the crazy doc says.
Meanwhile, I lay plans for the uber-diet...
grassfed twice a day?
sleep 12 hours?
walk outside 3 times a week?
weights once a week?
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Day 189 Sunday October 15
FOOD
bacon and eggs
cheese and crackers
pretzels
lunch meat
WEIGHT 257
CAFFEINE
SLEEP 11 hours
SUN
EXERCISE
BLOOD SUGAR
KETONES
EVENTS/MOOD/ALERTNESS
had friends over today. Totally broke still. That's depressing. Still trying to get organized. Carbs are creeping back into my life in a big way. Feeling overwhelmed. Trying to organize my time and realizing there's no time to do stuff, no money to do stuff, and no motivation to do stuff. Other than that I'm great. Blah. Starting to play around with skoach.com. It's sorta complex. The hope is that it can organize you. But you have to input so much stuff in, and estimate times for things, and block out times and appointments. If you can do all that, you're already organized. Then the start up time is immense. I told myself thinkingrock was going to be the last thing I worked on for a long time. and now I'm starting something new, like that will help my problems.
Reading about chaos magick. Great. Another impractical thing for me to spend hours reading about. And of course reading about it on the web gets me into hundreds of related interesting topics. Reading interesting stuff on the internet.
Once I read the last interesting article, and finally get organized, then I'll start doing things like paying bills, doing paperwork, getting a girlfriend, buying a condo, taking vacations, right?
Not doing so well. Not in a bad mood per se. Just feeling ineffective. Losing my mooring.
What's going well?
doing fairly well with sleep, so I don't feel exhausted. Doing fairly well with getting to work on time. Hanging out with friends lately. Keeping in touch with people a little more. Haven't lost more weight, but haven't gained any either. I'm at a plateu, eating candy bars at work, eating bad lunches at work, eating bad on weekends with friends. Not stocking up on meat foods.
bacon and eggs
cheese and crackers
pretzels
lunch meat
WEIGHT 257
CAFFEINE
SLEEP 11 hours
SUN
EXERCISE
BLOOD SUGAR
KETONES
EVENTS/MOOD/ALERTNESS
had friends over today. Totally broke still. That's depressing. Still trying to get organized. Carbs are creeping back into my life in a big way. Feeling overwhelmed. Trying to organize my time and realizing there's no time to do stuff, no money to do stuff, and no motivation to do stuff. Other than that I'm great. Blah. Starting to play around with skoach.com. It's sorta complex. The hope is that it can organize you. But you have to input so much stuff in, and estimate times for things, and block out times and appointments. If you can do all that, you're already organized. Then the start up time is immense. I told myself thinkingrock was going to be the last thing I worked on for a long time. and now I'm starting something new, like that will help my problems.
Reading about chaos magick. Great. Another impractical thing for me to spend hours reading about. And of course reading about it on the web gets me into hundreds of related interesting topics. Reading interesting stuff on the internet.
Once I read the last interesting article, and finally get organized, then I'll start doing things like paying bills, doing paperwork, getting a girlfriend, buying a condo, taking vacations, right?
Not doing so well. Not in a bad mood per se. Just feeling ineffective. Losing my mooring.
What's going well?
doing fairly well with sleep, so I don't feel exhausted. Doing fairly well with getting to work on time. Hanging out with friends lately. Keeping in touch with people a little more. Haven't lost more weight, but haven't gained any either. I'm at a plateu, eating candy bars at work, eating bad lunches at work, eating bad on weekends with friends. Not stocking up on meat foods.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Day 184, Tuesday October 9
FOOD
bacon and eggs
chicken wings for lunch
m and m's
chocolate bar
snickers bar
lamb, sour creme and shredded cheese for dinner
WEIGHT 263!
CAFFEINE coffee
SLEEP 8 hours?
SUN got some the day before
EXERCISE
BLOOD SUGAR
KETONES
EVENTS/MOOD/ALERTNESS
Not a great day, not a terrible day. Got a few things done at work, stuff turned out okay in the end.
Saw something interesting. This harvard psychologist showed how we overestimate how bad or good things will be. He wrote some book, I think stumbling towards happiness. Well, anyway, we basically have a set happiness level, and even things like winning the lottery or losing our legs have an effect that wears off after only a few months. I'd heard this before, but it was interesting watching the video. Kind of depressing. I don't think I'm depressed, I just don't thing things are all that exciting. I guess in a way, I don't fall into the category he described, where people OVERestimate how happy losing weight, or meeting a new girfriend, or getting a new job will make them. It seems like hardly worth the effort to do stuff like that. I can't get motivated because it seems like there's not much of a reward at the end. In a weird way, according to his research, I'm right. It seems to me like the easy pleasures, like sleeping late, reading and surfing the web are about as good as it gets. All the other stuff has as many downsides as upside, and besides, it's a lot of work and may not pay off anyway. Especially if you procrastinate like I do and don't finish jobs, and reap the rewards in the end.
Like I got this girl's phonenumber at work recently. In a way, I don't want to call her. I always have this problem. She's interested in me. I guess as an average guy, I should push ahead, so I can get laid. Haven't had sex in what, two years now? But for some reason, it just seems like another chore. More shit I have to do because other people want me to, or because I'm SUPPOSED to do it. Not that I dont' enjoy sex, it just seems like a huge effort to get to the goal, and it might not pay off anyway. Being lazy pays off RIGHT NOW.
It has to be something with dopamine. The motivational neurotransmitter that drives us to seek rewards. Like sex, money, power. ADD means low dopamine. Everything is permitted, but nothing is worth doing. I just coast through life, doing the bare minimum, so that nothing bad happens. And if I have to do something to avoid that bad outcome, I wait until the last possible minute. I think short term all the time. Dopamine motivates to long term rewards.
How to fix dopamine deficit? Exercise, caffeine (I do that one!), sleep, light during the day, stimulant medication (ritalin ex.).
Right now I'm hungry, but I'm too lazy to get up and make dinner. Then tomorrow more work, doing everything at the last minute. People ask what I'm doing tomorrow, and I don't know. I plan everything minutes beforehand. If that cats didn't meow so much, they wouldn't get fed. It's like they're in charge of telling me "feed us dummy". "play with us you lazy shit". They're more mature than I am. Fuck.
Again, I'm not sad. I'm just apathetic. The one thing I like is learning new stuff, thinking creativly. There has to be a way to harness that productively. If I have a boss saying do this now, do that, I'll work all day and never complain. I don't hide from work. I do extra things all the time. I just have problems self starting.
I signed up for this program online called skoach.com. Might be interesting. You do a big project tree, and map out your schedule, and it puts tasks in the right slots for you and monitors compliance. We'll see if it works. I thought thinkingrock was going to do it for me, but as awesome as it is, I end up with a huge list of shit to do, and no idea where to start. Most of it is "could do" stuff, and I have trouble identifying what's really important. Or I can, but I focus on busy work to avoid the important stuff.
Damn those candy bars at work. People selling them, and I'm on a roll with the sweets from visiting my mom and eating junk with her. She has all kinds of meds, I think for diabetes. Although she won't tell me she has diabetes. She eats carbs and sweets like crazy, and is on the low fat kick. What a fucking joke.
bacon and eggs
chicken wings for lunch
m and m's
chocolate bar
snickers bar
lamb, sour creme and shredded cheese for dinner
WEIGHT 263!
CAFFEINE coffee
SLEEP 8 hours?
SUN got some the day before
EXERCISE
BLOOD SUGAR
KETONES
EVENTS/MOOD/ALERTNESS
Not a great day, not a terrible day. Got a few things done at work, stuff turned out okay in the end.
Saw something interesting. This harvard psychologist showed how we overestimate how bad or good things will be. He wrote some book, I think stumbling towards happiness. Well, anyway, we basically have a set happiness level, and even things like winning the lottery or losing our legs have an effect that wears off after only a few months. I'd heard this before, but it was interesting watching the video. Kind of depressing. I don't think I'm depressed, I just don't thing things are all that exciting. I guess in a way, I don't fall into the category he described, where people OVERestimate how happy losing weight, or meeting a new girfriend, or getting a new job will make them. It seems like hardly worth the effort to do stuff like that. I can't get motivated because it seems like there's not much of a reward at the end. In a weird way, according to his research, I'm right. It seems to me like the easy pleasures, like sleeping late, reading and surfing the web are about as good as it gets. All the other stuff has as many downsides as upside, and besides, it's a lot of work and may not pay off anyway. Especially if you procrastinate like I do and don't finish jobs, and reap the rewards in the end.
Like I got this girl's phonenumber at work recently. In a way, I don't want to call her. I always have this problem. She's interested in me. I guess as an average guy, I should push ahead, so I can get laid. Haven't had sex in what, two years now? But for some reason, it just seems like another chore. More shit I have to do because other people want me to, or because I'm SUPPOSED to do it. Not that I dont' enjoy sex, it just seems like a huge effort to get to the goal, and it might not pay off anyway. Being lazy pays off RIGHT NOW.
It has to be something with dopamine. The motivational neurotransmitter that drives us to seek rewards. Like sex, money, power. ADD means low dopamine. Everything is permitted, but nothing is worth doing. I just coast through life, doing the bare minimum, so that nothing bad happens. And if I have to do something to avoid that bad outcome, I wait until the last possible minute. I think short term all the time. Dopamine motivates to long term rewards.
How to fix dopamine deficit? Exercise, caffeine (I do that one!), sleep, light during the day, stimulant medication (ritalin ex.).
Right now I'm hungry, but I'm too lazy to get up and make dinner. Then tomorrow more work, doing everything at the last minute. People ask what I'm doing tomorrow, and I don't know. I plan everything minutes beforehand. If that cats didn't meow so much, they wouldn't get fed. It's like they're in charge of telling me "feed us dummy". "play with us you lazy shit". They're more mature than I am. Fuck.
Again, I'm not sad. I'm just apathetic. The one thing I like is learning new stuff, thinking creativly. There has to be a way to harness that productively. If I have a boss saying do this now, do that, I'll work all day and never complain. I don't hide from work. I do extra things all the time. I just have problems self starting.
I signed up for this program online called skoach.com. Might be interesting. You do a big project tree, and map out your schedule, and it puts tasks in the right slots for you and monitors compliance. We'll see if it works. I thought thinkingrock was going to do it for me, but as awesome as it is, I end up with a huge list of shit to do, and no idea where to start. Most of it is "could do" stuff, and I have trouble identifying what's really important. Or I can, but I focus on busy work to avoid the important stuff.
Damn those candy bars at work. People selling them, and I'm on a roll with the sweets from visiting my mom and eating junk with her. She has all kinds of meds, I think for diabetes. Although she won't tell me she has diabetes. She eats carbs and sweets like crazy, and is on the low fat kick. What a fucking joke.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Day 180 Friday Oct 5
FOOD
bacon and eggs
coffees
1 breaded fish patty
1 cup heavy whipping cream
eggs
2 bacon
3 pcs swiss cheese
3 pieces string cheese
WEIGHT 253
CAFFEINE lots
SLEEP 8 hours
SUN
EXERCISE
BLOOD SUGAR
KETONES
EVENTS/MOOD/ALERTNESS
Good day at work. Super crazy, had to do crowd control, but really liked it. Felt good about my ability to do my job. Did extra and really pulled my weight. Was unprepared and improvised at one point.
I am experimenting with the kirby alarm scheduler. You can have it start programs, and deliver pop up and wav alarms. I am playing around with text to speech online, so I can have the computer tell me to do things. Hope this helps me.
bacon and eggs
coffees
1 breaded fish patty
1 cup heavy whipping cream
eggs
2 bacon
3 pcs swiss cheese
3 pieces string cheese
WEIGHT 253
CAFFEINE lots
SLEEP 8 hours
SUN
EXERCISE
BLOOD SUGAR
KETONES
EVENTS/MOOD/ALERTNESS
Good day at work. Super crazy, had to do crowd control, but really liked it. Felt good about my ability to do my job. Did extra and really pulled my weight. Was unprepared and improvised at one point.
I am experimenting with the kirby alarm scheduler. You can have it start programs, and deliver pop up and wav alarms. I am playing around with text to speech online, so I can have the computer tell me to do things. Hope this helps me.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Day 176 Monday October 1
FOOD
breakfast 2 lg coffees
lunch- 2 pcs chicken wings
after work- 5 breaded chicken tenders at mcdonalds, with bbq sauce
coffee
dinner
grassfed beef
some ketchup
WEIGHT 260
CAFFEINE
SLEEP 7 hours
SUN
EXERCISE
BLOOD SUGAR
KETONES
EVENTS/MOOD/ALERTNESS
was sleepy today. Busy at work. Feeling overwhelmed, but I keep plugging along. Still chaos from the job switch. Had a meeting today that went well.
Want to make this month really good for my diet and exercise. Nov 1 marks one year I've been dieting. I won't say paleo, since I've cheated way too much. But that has been my goal.
Feeling in an okay mood today, other than lack of sleep.
Going to be RIGHT NOW to fix that problem!
breakfast 2 lg coffees
lunch- 2 pcs chicken wings
after work- 5 breaded chicken tenders at mcdonalds, with bbq sauce
coffee
dinner
grassfed beef
some ketchup
WEIGHT 260
CAFFEINE
SLEEP 7 hours
SUN
EXERCISE
BLOOD SUGAR
KETONES
EVENTS/MOOD/ALERTNESS
was sleepy today. Busy at work. Feeling overwhelmed, but I keep plugging along. Still chaos from the job switch. Had a meeting today that went well.
Want to make this month really good for my diet and exercise. Nov 1 marks one year I've been dieting. I won't say paleo, since I've cheated way too much. But that has been my goal.
Feeling in an okay mood today, other than lack of sleep.
Going to be RIGHT NOW to fix that problem!
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Day 175 Sunday September 30
FOOD
1 lb rib meat no sauce
2 lg coffees
3 burgers, 2 with cheese (no bread)
and ketchup
diet pop
1 1/2 pork chops with bbq sauce
lots of chocolate cake
sesame chicken
rice
teriyaki beef
(too full, but forced myself to eat this "treat", because I'm going to get stricter in my diet tomorrow. Stupid diet mentality)
WEIGHT 285
CAFFEINE lots
SLEEP 9 hours?
SUN
EXERCISE
BLOOD SUGAR
KETONES
EVENTS/MOOD/ALERTNESS
Hang with friends. Nice time. Spent time in woods. Meditated for 5 minutes. Want to start meditating, and I certainly did that. Nice to be outside.
I always find myself in the woods, trying to relax and get a "green dose", and all I do is obsess on chores. Sometimes I realize that all my chores are stupid. Most are things I could do, only a few are vital, and they aren't done because they're paperwork and I could probably do all of them in a few days if I had more motivation and money (bills are a chore category that stumps me duet to lack of funds sometimes. You need money to get stuff done. Without money many chores can't possibly get done anyway.)
None of these chores are really goals, or real projects. Things I want to achieve. Things that I want to do, or have a good payoff I can visualize. Just stuff I could do, or stuff I should do. Nothing I want to do. Chore mentality. When it comes to what I want to do I can't decide, and don't have drive. Well, sun's going down, time to leave the woods, with nothing settled. Too bad I couldn't just enjoy the trip to the woods in its own right. It was a venue to solve problems I didn't solve anyway.
Blah.
Okay day, still, anyway. Stayed up too late though.
1 lb rib meat no sauce
2 lg coffees
3 burgers, 2 with cheese (no bread)
and ketchup
diet pop
1 1/2 pork chops with bbq sauce
lots of chocolate cake
sesame chicken
rice
teriyaki beef
(too full, but forced myself to eat this "treat", because I'm going to get stricter in my diet tomorrow. Stupid diet mentality)
WEIGHT 285
CAFFEINE lots
SLEEP 9 hours?
SUN
EXERCISE
BLOOD SUGAR
KETONES
EVENTS/MOOD/ALERTNESS
Hang with friends. Nice time. Spent time in woods. Meditated for 5 minutes. Want to start meditating, and I certainly did that. Nice to be outside.
I always find myself in the woods, trying to relax and get a "green dose", and all I do is obsess on chores. Sometimes I realize that all my chores are stupid. Most are things I could do, only a few are vital, and they aren't done because they're paperwork and I could probably do all of them in a few days if I had more motivation and money (bills are a chore category that stumps me duet to lack of funds sometimes. You need money to get stuff done. Without money many chores can't possibly get done anyway.)
None of these chores are really goals, or real projects. Things I want to achieve. Things that I want to do, or have a good payoff I can visualize. Just stuff I could do, or stuff I should do. Nothing I want to do. Chore mentality. When it comes to what I want to do I can't decide, and don't have drive. Well, sun's going down, time to leave the woods, with nothing settled. Too bad I couldn't just enjoy the trip to the woods in its own right. It was a venue to solve problems I didn't solve anyway.
Blah.
Okay day, still, anyway. Stayed up too late though.
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