Lulu's Challenge... rise from the ashes

Lulu, you've got a lot going on right now!!!!! Your swollen ankles/legs sounds very worrisome - especially since it's so much extra weight!! Have you gone to your doctor or called the nurse?

And I'm really worried for you with your situation at work. Ahhh!!! I truly hope things get resolved quickly and completely. I'm amazed you've been so patient - 3 1/2 years is too long to deal with that kind of stress. I'm glad you're finally getting outside help.

Hey Lulu! So sorry about work. Oh geez, that sounds awful.

Still haven't been to the doctor? Let me explain why I am worried about you. My cousin had a cold and the virus ended up attacking his kidneys. They almost stopped working! Symptoms included rapid (water) weight gain, headache, and high blood pressure. So this is why I am encouraging you to go to the doctor. It just is not within normal parameters to suddenly gain 9 lbs!

Wow! I hope both situations get better soon-please go see a doctor!

Work situations like the one you are having can be so stressful. I've had problems in the past that were, fortunately, taken care of quickly. I'm glad you're taking the necessary steps to improve the situation.

Best of luck!

This happened in June (I think) and I went scurrying off to a doctor. He didn't get too excited. He said, "it happens in some women." And then he prescribed a diuretic which I don't use. I have since been to an allergist who said, "some women retain water and we don't know why. Just learn to live with it." My OB/GYN looked at my thyroid and said it has to do with progesterone. When I told him that I know there was no correlation to the water retention and my cycle because I write it down everyday -- he laughed. He knows me pretty well, so he definitely believes me. My blood pressure is low around 90/60 with my resting pulse between 42 and 47. Thanks for your concern.

Thanks for the comment, Sounds like you've got the medical under control for now, I just hope it resolves soon. You could try one of the diuretics to speed things up? Hope the situation at works resolves too, I can't imagine the stress that would cause. Good Luck!

Vitamin C is a natural diuretic.

I'm glad you added this info. I feel better now--but wait! YOU are the one who needs to feel better! Hope everything calms down quickly for you.

Oh lulu..I am worried for you..but hopefully in a good prayerful way that will help you. I have heard before and believe that prayer is a form of work and that when we come to our Father with requests and do the work we need to he will grant our petition. I don't know if you are religious or not but I will pray for you and hope that your smarts and strength of character will see you through this tough situation.

I hope everything gets resolved at work. And I hope your ankles and the weird water retention clears up. Finally, I hope that you are giving your body and mind extra love right now. You deserve it.

Thank you for your prayers. I believe that prayer is extremely powerful. I also believe that God doesn't put us into situations that we cannot handle, and that he always has a reason for allowing things to happen as they do. Sometimes we get to find out and other times we do not.

I don't want to get into specifics but I have a lot of peace because the people I have helping me. They are very reputable and competent. I have a lot of support from most of my colleagues. It saddens me greatly that I had to get outside help with this situation. In fact, if it does get resolved, I don't know if I can ever respect the people in the chain of command that were legally and morally responsible for protecting me. I am really struggling with that right now. I have a minimum amount of high regard for most of the people who are above me at work. I see this as a huge problem.

That is sad and scary about the people in charge not taking care of things...but they are only people and not necessarily strong in all things..I guess I try not to judge but I also understand your feelings. You have a very mature and beautiful understanding of how God works with people. I also believe that he doesn't give us more than we can handle and will give us the strength we need. Good luck.

Sarah that strength you refer to also should include the strength to forgive. I actively work on that. I tend easily forgive people but this has gone on so long it is going to be hard for me. I also know that the forgiveness that I am talking about does not mean FORGET. I am still figuring out what to do with all this in my head.

In our church one of our leaders spoke on forgiveness. He said something like -Open your hearts and wait for the forgiveness to come and it will. I have had some experience with needing to forgive and I done it well at times and really really struggled with it other times. I think that if we are open to forgiving and don't close our hearts off to it completely that the healing feeling will come eventually and we will not be left with the bitter feelings that accompany the memory of the wrong doing...which yes...will of course be there..just not painful hopefully.

I was thinking about you and then I sat down to read a book. The page I opened to was talking about forgiveness....coincidence? So I felt like I should share with you what I read and hope that maybe it helps. I'll just quote it. " In their hearts, they may have been saying, 'Well, I might forgive if he repents and asks forgiveness, but he must make the first move.' Then the full impact of the last line seemed to strike them, "For there remaineth in him the greater sin.'

"What? Does that mean I must forgive even if my antagonist remains cold and indifferent and mean? There is no mistaking it.

"A common error is the idea that the offender must apologize and humble himself to the dust before forgiveness is required."

This comes from a book called Teachings of Presidents of the Church, from a man named Spencer W. Kimball that served as our president and prophet several years ago. Hope it helps or at least is interesting to you.

On forgiveness - the meaning of it is to get rid of the rattlesnake poison rather than being in a hurry to kill the rattlesnake that bit you.

On the job - there is always another, and it is often a better one.

I could go on and on about how unnecessarily stressful many (maybe most) jobs are. I think this is a significant minus to American distance running. I've seen a lot of talented runners literally killing their talent overworking themselves doing something the world could live very well without, or at least without them doing it 60 hours a week.