| Author | |
amiefriedl
Forum Pro
Joined: Feb 15 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 323
|
| Posted: June 10 2005 at 7:02am | IP Logged
|
 |
|
My husband spent yesterday afternoon in the hospital after an extememe dizzy episode at work yesterday morning. All the tests showed up clear, but he still feels faint and I don't trust him to drive. (He won't be driving at least through this weekend.)
His stress level has been climbing lately, he's been compensating with less sleep, more coffee.
We have so much going on (like everyone else)and life never seems to stop hammering us with details. He's 42 now, gotten some pudge and won't slow down to exercise and eat right. I noticed this some months ago and decided to do some things about it. I've been getting him to make some improvments on and off. And he has been trying.
We both decided to give away the coffee maker, I didn't have to push. Coffee is his one 'vice' that he has always massively enjoyed. He is terribly addicted.
Please pray that he makes it through this detox time! We've 'cut back' before, but never gone so far as to give the coffee maker away. I'll be worried about him for weeks, especially once he starts driving again. He really has trouble focusing on things w/o his daily brew. This is huge for him. He has horrible detox symptoms. (He never makes it a week through Lent w/o coffee.) But if he can get through this period of life, I KNOW we'll all be better for it healthwise.
I'm also worried about his job. We seem to be in and out of employment an aweful lot lately. At least once a year. We NEED to stay employed right now and through this birth or it seems we'll be in a very bad way financially. Missing work due to any illness is just unacceptable right now, we can both tell.
Thanks for your prayers. We both know there are much worse things in the world to have to live through besides coffee detox and unemployment; we have not lost our perspective on the glories of God's gifts in our lives. But a few prayers for this particular challenge would be oh so appreciated!
__________________
In Christ the King through Mary our Mother,
Amie
Blessed with an awesome hubby and Mom of ds10, dd7, dd3 and dd 10months.
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Elizabeth
Founder
Real Learning
Joined: Jan 20 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5595
|
| Posted: June 10 2005 at 7:12am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Dear Amie,
Maybe he better not go "cold turkey" on the coffee. He might be able to taper off and avoid feeling so sick that he goes back to drining it because it's too hard, particularly since it's crucial he feel well through the birth. My dh had a very bad episode that ended up in the hospital about eight years ago. He was under a tremendous amount of stress and was working in an office with a coffee machine. We never had had one. He started drinking coffee and it gave him symptoms like you describe. Then, he also ended up with a strange stomach/intestinal thing that resulted in an appendectomy. The pathologist was never certain about his appendix and Mike still swears it was the coffee. He was in the hospital five days. The ironic ting is that there was a Starbucks between our house and the hospital. (This was before there was a Starbucks on every corner.) I stopped there on my way to see him and on my way home,every day. I'd never been a coffee drinker. A new habit was born. And I continue to fight with it to this day  . We'll pray for both of you.
__________________
Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
JennGM
Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 17702
|
| Posted: June 10 2005 at 7:28am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Amie,
I love my coffee, but it gives me some symptoms like your dh (not as extreme, thank God), and same with my husband when we overdo the stress and caffeine. I hope you are weaning gradually off the coffee, because cold turkey is hard on EVERYONE!! We now just do half-decaf and half-caffeine if we want a little boost, but sometimes I'll gradually cut the amounts of caffeinated coffee to nil and just have the decaf. There's still small traces of caffeine that if your dh slowly weaned it would work for him. My one sister only makes decaf now. Some of it's mental -- if you are making the coffee, just do it gradually and he might not even notice the difference.
Just a thought, if the thought of no coffeemaker scares him away. I know I just like it for the taste and a routine in the morning. He may miss holding that cup. But if he starts buying coffee, like at Starbucks, he can do all sorts of orders -- 3/4 decaf...etc.
I hope he feels better soon.
__________________
Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Karen E.
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 27 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1161
|
| Posted: June 10 2005 at 9:11am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Amie,
I'm with Elizabeth and Jenn on this -- I think cold turkey would be too hard and too stressful.
My husband and I have tried to switch over to one cup of caff. in the morning, then decaf for the rest of the day. My dh also has had problems with various things bringing on dizziness, so cutting back on the caffeine has been helpful.
Another thing we've found he's extremely sensitive to is MSG. We had never eaten at Applebee's until last week, and in the middle of the meal, he started to feel really strange ... he wondered if his burger had MSG in it. When we got home, we Googled Applebee's and MSG -- sure enough, they're known for loading their food with it.
I'll be praying for you through this stressful time, Amie.
__________________
God bless,
Karen E.
mom to three on earth, and several souls in God's care
Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
alicegunther
Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 28 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1992
|
| Posted: June 10 2005 at 9:54am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Amie, I'll be praying for you and your husband.
__________________
Love, Alice
mother of seven!
      
Cottage Blessings
Brew yourself a cup of tea, and come for a visit!
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Natalia
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Louisiana
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1343
|
| Posted: June 10 2005 at 11:03am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Praying for you and your husband,
Natalia
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Victoria in AZ
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 16 2005
Location: Arizona
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 672
|
| Posted: June 10 2005 at 11:11am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Praying, Amie. St. Joseph intercede for your dh.
Sauna use is excellent for detox symptoms. It was championed for drug users going cold turkey by L. Ron Hubbard. Another good reason to join a gym...or just do long, very hot, epsom salt baths.
__________________
Your sister in Christ,
Victoria in AZ
dh Mike 24 yrs; ds Kyle 18; dd Katie 12; and one funny pug
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Willa
Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 28 2005
Location: California
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3881
|
| Posted: June 10 2005 at 12:18pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I can sympathize with your dh -- I've been trying to cut back too and withdrawal makes me awfully depressed and messes up my focus too. I gave up coffee for Lent and it was miserable, almost exactly like a first trimester of pregnancy. The only reason I'm trying AGAIN to cut back is because I'm afraid it's an addiction/attachment and I want to try and eliminate "needs" that are not real. Oh, it's hard though!
I am glad he is seeing a doctor and that the tests don't show much. I suppose that now he's not masking the stress effects with the coffee drinking, perhaps part of the problem is sheer exhaustion and overload?
Anyway, I'll add your dh to my perpetual ST Joseph novena for dh's!
__________________
AMDG
Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Molly Smith
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 08 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 669
|
| Posted: June 10 2005 at 4:39pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Amie, you and your husband will be in my prayers. I know I cannot give up my mug, but I will try to cut back and offer it up for your dh and his health and for all of us who would like to cut back. Fact is, I'm nicer after my coffee, especially the second cup, so my family will have to offer it up too .
__________________
Molly Smith in VA
Mom to seven beautiful children, ages 1-14
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
amiefriedl
Forum Pro
Joined: Feb 15 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 323
|
| Posted: June 10 2005 at 9:44pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
You guys are so encouraging! Thanks for all your kind words and thoughts. Coffee discussions bring out such chummy crowd and funny sentiments. I personally love the stuff, but I'm not so addicted as to cast much more than simply a longing glance at the empty pot.
Elizabeth, I thought your advice wise and so I asked Andy today about perhaps doing a taper. Nope, he said, he wanted to just do this. We'll see if he is singing a different tune by Sunday. (But just between us, I'm not giving the coffee maker away yet, just putting it deep in the pantry.) Already the tightness in his head was starting tonight. So funny enough, as Victoria mentioned, I've put him in the big tub. He's bubbling as I write. Thanks for mentioning it Victoria, I'll add the Epsom salts and give him these baths the rest of the week if that is what it takes.
Willa, I know you're right. He is one stressed and overloaded fellow. Part of it is my fault too. I reflected on that tonight. He is very into making sure I'm content...I've been nesting a lot lately and most probably keeping him on the run way too much. I'm going to back off and let God lead me more, and I'll try to push him less. Except I plan on gently encouraging him to keep working in the right direction on his health. God blessed me with way, way, way more than I deserve in the husband department and I just want to appreciate him more and more.
It is a tremendous comfort to have such faithful praying friends. Thanks again!
__________________
In Christ the King through Mary our Mother,
Amie
Blessed with an awesome hubby and Mom of ds10, dd7, dd3 and dd 10months.
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Willa
Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 28 2005
Location: California
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3881
|
| Posted: June 12 2005 at 9:28pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Amie, I was thinking about it last night and wondered if your dh could be a bit dehydrated? I read somewhere that people trying to quit coffee have to make sure to make up the fluid balance by drinking extra other liquids. If they have been drinking a lot of coffee for quite a while they may be in the habit of getting a large part of their daily fluid through that medium. Coffee IS a fluid in spite of those myths about having to drink 2 cups of water for every 1 cup of coffee. It's only a bit more of a diuretic than plain water itself. For accustomed coffee-drinkers the diuretic effect is even less than it is for those who are unaccustomed.
Anyway, that just occurred to me since I know headaches, dizziness etc can be caused by fluid depletion. I'll continue to pray that he makes the adjustment and his symptoms clear up!
__________________
AMDG
Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
|
|
4Real Forums : We Pray to the Lord
Topic: husband had a episode of some kind
