Face Off

First of all I would like to thank all of you that are supporting me.  You sent me well wishes and words of encouragement.  THANK YOU!!!!

In my last post I told you about Rosacea, the skin disorder that is attacking my face.  I was prescribed a topical gel for my face and the results...not good.  My face got red, hot, itchy, tight, dry and swollen...anything else???...ummm...oh yeah and numb.  The skin on my cheeks felt like a waxy banana box. If you have never seen and/or felt a box that bananas come in(I don't even know if they make them anymore),then you won't know what I am referring to...but that is what they feel like.

I have never had Botox or any other treatment like that, but from what they show in movies or on T.V. in making fun of it, that's what my face felt like.  The first movie that came to mind was Christmas with the Cranks with Tim Allen.  Remember the scene where he is at lunch after coming back from getting Botox.

That is what I felt my face looked like, only my eyebrows were normal. LOL

Anyway, the prescribed medicated topic gel may have been the answer to calm the redness of the Rosacea, but I ended up with some very uncomfortable and embarrassing side effects.  I stopped using the topical gel and went back to see the doctor.  I was prescribed some tablets to soothe the inflammation of my skin.  She was treating it as a burn now.  I am not big on taking prescription drugs, but in this case, something was definitely needed.  The swelling has finally gone down, the itchiness has subsided a bit, I am not longer as red faced.  However, I am still dealing with tight, dry skin.  Imagine you have one of those cucumber peel-off masks on your face...that is how I feel all day long.  It's not a very nice feeling.  Yes, we all long for tight skin, but when your tight skin has skin-clogged pores, it's not so nice.  The only areas of my face that can actually breathe are near my hair line and around my eyes.  Because of that, I have been waking up each morning with puffy eyes.

I tried riding my spin bike last Thursday and it was not a pretty sight.  No, you will not be seeing any pictures.  My face was huge!  I said to myself, "just get through 20 minutes", and that is what I did.  Exercise will have to come slow.

Today I did Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred Level 1.  It was tough because I felt like my face was going to explode...1) due to the Rosacea and 2)because I am out of shape.  I will get through this.  I am feeling a little more hopeful and inspired this week.

Last week I found a recipe online for a Veggie Roulade.  Well, I made it today.  Only I change things up a bit as I normally do.

Here is the link to the recipe...http://www.foodrepublic.com/2014/09/29/check-out-video-spiral-vegetable-tart-then-try-rec

Here is the Veggie Roulade that I made...

It was delicious!

I used purple sweet potato, orange sweet potato, broccoli stems, zucchini, egg plant, Italian egg plant and carrots.  The recipe calls for creme fraiche and Dijon mustard to spread over the pastry before adding the vegetables.  I used a store bought Baba Ghanouj instead.  So good!

Well I will try and write again soon.  Once I get my into my fitness regime, I will have more to say.  I could have lots of things to say now, but they would not be very inspiring to you.

Until then...

Stay Strong!

Trina

P.S.  I did try to order Jillian's new 60 Day workout Body Shred, but something didn't workout right so I will try again another day. I want to make sure the order did not go through before placing another order.  Or I may see if it is offered through iTunes.

I'm Facing Up To the Facts

It will be a year near the end of February since I wrote my last post.  Last year, 2014, flew by.  I can't believe how fast it went.  I did try to write a new post in July, but I never got around to completing it.  As the time went on and on, I felt as if I had let my friends/readers/followers down, and I didn't know what to write to you about.  This is probably the hardest post that I will write.

My blog is titled...A Healthier Version of Me and You...Over the last year and a half, I have felt like this was not true, well the ME part of it.  I know YOU have kept on becoming the Healthier version of yourself.  Good job!

Many things have gone on in my life over the time that has past.  Some I have wanted to write about, others, I have not.  I won't go into all of that because A) I don't want to bore you and B) Some things I don't want to think about again.  The past is in the past, and that's where it shall remain.  However, the things that happen in the past are great learning tools.  You don't realize it at the time, but eventually you realize that what happened, happened for a reason and you NEED to learn from it and use it for something good.  Use it to change your life for the better.

Over the last year and a half I have tried to keep up with my workouts and clean eating, but I guess LIFE had another plan for me.  I tried and tried, but I just got bored of the workouts and fell into a rut.  A rut that I am only just starting to come out of now.  NOW, because I am forcing myself to come out of it.  And because I HAVE to.  Things have changed, some good, and some not so good.  I am grateful for all the GOOD things, and have learned from the not-so-good.  With all that said, I will face up to the facts.  I have gained weight back and feel like I am starting from the beginning again. And that is why I have felt that I let you down. And more importantly, let myself down.  Don't get me wrong, YOU are important to me, but as I have said in the past, we must change and be healthy for ourselves.  You can only do it for YOU. After my Dad died, I started putting everybody and everything before ME.  I was starting to lose myself and becoming unhappy with that.  I love my family and would do anything for them, but that can't happen if I'm not here, present in their lives.  So with renewing that vow, I am back.  And even though I feel like I am starting over again, the big difference is that I know what I need to do and HOW to do it.  And I will!  Because I am worth it!

Something that did happen in the past, I want to share with you now.  It was happening while I was writing to you, but I kept it out of my posts because I didn't think it was a big deal at the time.  Now it's time for you to know so that maybe it may help you too...

For about the past 3 years(I think), I have gotten spots on my face some of them red, some of them itchy and some that resembled pimples.  I thought I was way beyond the pimple stage.  They would come and go and then come back again.  I didn't think much when it first started, I just lived with it.  I was eating clean and working out and feeling great.  Most of the time.  Some days my face would get so itchy it drove me crazy, and the spots were very red and embarrassing.  I don't wear foundation so I only had a powder that I could cover them with, and that actually made them feel worse.  So on I went with a red, itchy spotted face.  I thought maybe I was allergic to something, I was wrong.  I searched around the Internet and found out that it may be Rosacea.  But the spots I had at the time didn't really look the same, so I forgot about it.  Until NOW.  Rosacea is what I have.  Insert sad-itchy-red-face here---->_____.

Rosacea (pronounced roh-ZAY-sha) is a common but poorly understood disorder of the facial skin that is estimated to affect well over 16 million Americans -- and most of them don't know it. In fact, while rosacea is becoming increasingly widespread as the populous baby boom generation enters the most susceptible ages, a Gallup survey found that 78 percent of Americans have no knowledge of this condition, including how to recognize it or what to do about it.  <<This was taken from the website www.rosacea.org

As most of you may know, I don't really drink alcohol.  I used to, but not much any more.  Well over the Christmas holidays I had a few drinks here and there.  That was a BIG mistake!  My face broke out once again.  And for the time time in 10 years, that's right 10 YEARS, my husband and I went out with friends for New Year's Eve.  I had a blast!  BUT, my face is now paying for all the alcohol that I drank.  Not that I was stumbling and not knowing who or where I was, but I had a number of drinks.  Well that won't be happening again.  My face was so itchy again. Then instead of spots, my face got red blotches on my cheeks, forehead, nose and chin.  That is when I looked back at the Rosacea site and I confirmed it with myself that that must be what I have.  I went to a clinic to see what the doctor would say.  He confirmed it as well.  He prescribed a topical gel to use.  So let's hope it clears up and I can keep it controlled.

Some of the triggers that can cause this(remember everyone is different) are:

-alcohol consumption
-extreme heat
-spicy foods
-emotional stress
-wind
-cold temperatures
-certain skin care products
- heavy exercise
-sun exposure

and the list goes on...

The list does go on and it appears that I can't do anything, BUT as I said everyone is different and one must find out the things that trigger the symptoms in themselves.  The one thing on the list above that made me sad (I bet you can guess which one) is heavy exercise.  And yes, I didn't notice irritation after my workouts but that didn't stop me until I got into the rut.  And even though I have been slacking in this area lately, it does make me sad.  But now that I know what exactly I have, I know what to do to control it.  I just won't drink alcohol while working out in the hot sun or the cold windy winter...LOL...I'm joking of course, I never did that anyway.

With looking at the full list www.rosacea.org/patients/materials/triggersgraph.php I know that many of those triggers may have been what made my Rosacea flare up.  Chocolate is another one.  You know that that one is NOT good.  I am a Chocoholic.  I guess now I have to become a recovering Chocoholic.  Stress was probably one of the biggest triggers over the past year and a half. The time has come to CHANGE things up again.

I have missed writing to you, and hopefully I will get back to a regular regime and continue to share my journey with you.

Until then...Stay Strong!

Trina