miscellaneous life update

[edenfalling]

My parents have decided that they have both the time and the inclination to visit me next weekend (ie, February 11) in honor of my birthday. My actual birthday is Friday, but both Mom and I are working, so that's no good. Saturday is better. I dunno quite what we'll end up doing, besides lunch or dinner, but it will be good to see them.

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I messed up the cash register fewer than 10 times today, and most of those were harmless miskeys that don't actually scramble data -- they just make an annoying beeping noise to remind you that you need to subtotal the costs before you can enter the payment information. This is good. I'm really getting the hang of this now.

And I learned how to run coupons through the lottery machine. That machine is weird in concept -- imagine, an entire register thingy for nothing but lottery tickets! -- but it's quite ingenious in practice. It's also hooked up to some sort of network, because it can get instant results for all sorts of games, both daily drawing style and instant scratch-the-card style.

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This weekend is going to be nothing but rain, and potential snow. Lovely. I think I will be taking busses, and to hell with walking for my health and general fitness. Cold, high winds, precipitation, and puddles are not my idea of fun.

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I continue to hate that the start of my period disguises itself as a bad case of the sniffles; that means I can end up carrying extra tissues in my bag instead of a pad or tampon, and things can get messy. Fortunately, this time I had a pad with me, because I'd been vaguely estimating the days. I guessed Tuesday, so I'm only three days off. That's about equal to my old accuracy, before I had a hormonal imbalance and then was on the pill for a few years.

I forgot to carry ibuprofen, though. Gah, cramps. In the middle of my work shift, no less. I am now going home to take medication and lie down for a little.

Comments

Take extra care of yourself right before your period

[gsyh.livejournal.com]

I know that somewhere around ovulation, just after, the immune system is lowered. I always get my colds around the week right before my menses arrive, but not during or after.

menstrualhut is a good place to rant or go for information, some other women health stuff too.

Cramps happen because the blood isn't flowing out smoothly enough. Exercise helps, along with using a heat pad, you can buy it from stores or make it yourself. Stuffed with grains, to produce a moist heat, mine needs to be heated for 2 and a half minute in the microwave, it's kinda like a really wide and fat belt and covers my belly area.

The Chinese (some other cultures are kinda into this too probably), divide their food into hot or cool (and neutral) categories. When your blood pressure is low, you eat hot and rich/oily food, when the pressure is high, you eat cool and plain food. Cool/Hot in this aspect is not determined by what temperature the food is served, chocolate ice cream is hot, whereas hot soymilk is cool group. A hot bowl of soymilk is very soothing when you have cramps. I take it when I can have it though I usually ended up drinking cold soy milk, still works. I keep my diet plain on the first day too, nothing oily or rich.

Cool groups foods that are good for easing cramps: Watermelon, cantaloupes, galia melon, honeydew melon...most melons I think. There is also chrysanthemum tea, you can buy it at supermarkets, and some restaurants and teashops serve them.

If your cramps is really bad, try mung beans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mung_bean) soup in the week before you get your period, but not during! Why? A true horror story I heard from my relatives, is that someone drink a mung bean dessert soup while she was on the rag, and she bled so much she was dripping onto the floor while she was out. Granted, back then, they used rags instead of the plastic bottomed pads we have now, but be careful.

Oh, also, while the red azuki bean (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azuki_bean) is in the same genus as the green mung bean (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mung_bean), the red is hot, whereas the green is cool.

Re: Take extra care of yourself right before your period

[edenfalling]

Thanks for the concern, but I don't get real colds. I just get increased post-nasal drip. And my cramps are more of a vaguely queasy, hot discomfort than any true pain. They also never last past the second day, and rarely last past the first day; I think they're just a reaction to the start of flow.

Soy is icky and I don't like melons -- I'm probably allergic to them anyway, since I'm allergic to just about every raw fruit except bananas -- but I do try to avoid excessive grease when I have cramps. It's nice to know that there's a rationalization for that!