My Sugar Free Sweet Life

Two weeks ago, we were talking about nicotine patches and how it can help one quit smoking. I was actually thinking about the transdermal nicotine patch that smokers who want to quit usually get. I was surprised though when my father-in-law showed us a nicotine patch that is stuck to the cigarette box and not to the smoker's skin. It looked something like this:

Image courtesy of http://waystopreventcancer.blogspot.com/2010/02/cell-phone-radiation-in-children-cell.html

I was informed that the patch uses scalar energy and can also eliminate the hazards of radiation from using cellular phones. The houseboy bought one patch and has been using it for a week now. He says that it does work for him and that the cigarettes have started to become tasteless for him. So, I guess it's effective. I just don't know if it will work the same for macanudo cigars, though.

These patches are sold for 550 pesos a piece. Let me know if you're interested to buy one. :)

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I got my lab tests results already. As it turned out, my blood sugar level is within normal range as expected because I've been taking my metformin meds regularly again after every meal. My HDL and LDL levels are also in the normal range and it's a big improvement from the last time when I was prescribed with Simvastatin to lower my bad cholesterol. However, my SGPT and SGOT levels rose beyond the normal range which just shows that my liver is having problems.

Aside from that, my urine showed both +3 for blood and protein. The proteinuria, I'm not at all surprised because it has always been like that for two years now. I was surprised though when my urine showed blood. Doc says I have a urinary tract infection even if I'm not feeling any symptoms. I was ordered to take in 500 mg of Ciprofloxacin twice a day for 7 days.

As for the cardio part, my ECG results showed a heart rate of between 96 to 101 beats/minute. Very typical of sinus tachycardia where the heart rate is beyond 100 beats/minute. Now I understand why I've been palpitating lately. My blood pressure that day (which was exactly a week after my last visit) was again at 140/100. But since my cholesterol levels were ok, doc calls it essential hypertension. I was given Amlodipine which I have to take for a month. My blood pressure should go back to normal by that time, or else, I'll have to take Amlodipine as part of my maintenance meds.

Since I have to lower my weight and blood pressure, I started on working out with Zumba. They say that it is the most enjoyable cardio workout. Indeed, I'm having so much fun dancing! I'm also going back to my Wii Fit routine.

As for the diet, I'm already eating rice only in the morning and just salad greens with apple cider vinaigrette and crackers for lunch and dinner. In between meals, I either snack on apples or bananas. Yep, I am now eating bananas. It's still a struggle taking it in but I'm getting there.

Hope everything will pay off in a month. I'm still waiting for the results of my full abdomen ultrasound. Wish me luck!

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Wee, it's Friday! Our Harry Potter day! We weren't able to watch yesterday because it's a school night and I just had to resist reading reviews of the film. People say it's good and it did justice to all the seven films that were shown beforehand. My boy is feeling quite happy-sad about it. He's the real Harry Potter fanatic in the family. He has all the books and the original DVDs except these last two films.

I'm leaving early this afternoon to fetch my boy from school and bring him to his Kumon class. Then, we'll meet our husband at Robinson's Galleria. I hope the line at the ticket area wouldn't be that long but it's payday today so that would be near to impossible. Maybe I should just buy tickets this early and window shop for digital cameras for sale while waiting.

Isn't it obvious that I'm so excited? Well, aren't you?



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Yesterday, I wrote about me having to undergo a KOH test to rule out fungal infection as the culprit of the nasty rashes on my neck. I already had the test this morning and it was just simple and quick. All the nurse did was to put a few drops of potassium peroxide on a glass slide and scrape a thin layer of my skin off.

There was a burning sensation after the nurse scraped my rash with the glass slide and it stung for about a minute. It sounds painful but it was bearable, really. Nothing to cause fear over people in nurses uniform, LOL!

I'm supposed to get the results in two days. I'll post an update by then.

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It's not unusual for me to have skin rashes once in a while, especially during the hot summer months. My skin gets irritated to dust and even to my own sweat. But those instances were manageable and the itchiness is not that annoying. This time, however, got me large patches of reddish rash on the left side of my neck and they itch like h3ll! It's so itchy that I'm having a hard time sleeping at night. So this morning, I finally went to the clinic to have it checked.

Doc says I may have contact dermatitis which is, according to Wikipedia, a term for the skin's reaction to allergens or irritants. The doctor is not sure yet because she still needs to rule out if it's a fungal infection or not but she's more convinced that it is an allergic reaction because the rashes look more like hives.

So tomorrow, I'm scheduled for a series of lab tests. According to her request, I would need an allergy/hypersensitivity test and a KOH test (skin scraping). I was also supposed to have only the standard blood test to rule out an infection (I was down with the flu over the weekend) but my blood pressure was high this morning at 140/100 so doc also requested to have an overall check of my stats. The works, I tell you! Lemme see, the request says CBC, PH, rurl, FBS, lipid profile, BUA, SGPT, SGOT, and creatinine.

I'm so glad that our health card covered everything! Just imagine if I had to pay in cash for all of these tests, my goodnes! I wonder whether Hormone replacement therapy is covered or not. I think I'll be needing that in a couple of years. That means, when I'm menopausal already, haha!


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Men and women have different routines when it comes to grooming. In our household alone, my toiletries are different to that of my husband's. He prefers anti-bacterial soap while I love beauty bars. I can't shower without conditioning my hair but he believes using it makes his hair limp and oily. If there's one thing we agree on, that would be using an anti-dandruff shampoo. We are loyal users of Head & Shoulders that's why I'm so happy that our favorite anti-dandruff shampoo now has For Him and For Her variants.

I was at the media launch of the new Head & Shoulders variants which was held last July 6 at the Mandarin Oriental. Present at the event were long-time Head & Shoulders brand ambassador, Angel Locsin, and its newest endorser, John Lloyd Cruz. Both have confirmed that they have different hair grooming needs but agree that they both have found "The One" in Head & Shoulders.

Head & Shoulders Anti-Hairfall For Him and For Her brand ambassadors, John Lloyd Cruz and Angel Locsin.

Head & Shoulders Brand Manager, Ms. Carla Sia, explains that Head & Shoulders Anti-Hairfall For Her has been specifically designed to care for women's hair which is more prone to breakage. It has more conditioning ingredients to strengthen hair while, at the same time, getting rid of dandruff. Meanwhile, hairfall in men is often caused by constant scratching because of excess sebum in the scalp that causes dandruff. Head & Shoulders Anti-Hairfall For Men has optimized conditioning technology combined with HydraZinc technology that targets dandruff while keeping the hair grease-free.

Ms. Carla Sia being interviewed by host, Sam YG (Shivaker).

Also present in the event was Dr. Jasmine Karsono, Principal Scientist and Manager of P&G Beauty's Hair Care Scientific Communications and she taught Angel, John Lloyd, and all the media present about the importance of scalp massage in dandruff control. I'm so guilty of this, actually. Because I'm often in a hurry, I don't take time to massage my scalp while shampooing. I learned from Dr. Karsono that the massage part is important to induce proper blood circulation in the scalp and to make it more receptive to nutrients and to the active ingredients of the anti-dandruff shampoo.

Dr. Karsono teaches John Lloyd Cruz the proper way of massaging the scalp.

Head & Shoulders Anti-hairfall For Him and For Her are available in all leading supermarkets and drugstores nationwide. Suggested retail price (SRP) is at Php 119 for a 200 ml bottle.

View the rest of the event photos here.

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Often, when we say spam, there are two things that come to mind - luncheon meat and unwanted mail. The first one, I want. The second, nah! I don't mind the spam emails that much because my email clients do a good job in screening unwanted emails. I just check the spam folder monthly to see if there are strays. It's the physical mail spam that ticks me off. I find it a total waste of marketing efforts and precious paper. How I wish there's a similar service to eliminate junk mail here in the Philippines.

Typical spam mail that ends up in my home are those of financial loans, magazine subscriptions, and product fliers. I don't know how they got hold of my address. I have given my contact details to colleagues that I trust, such as PR and marketing people who often send me product samples for review. I'm sure that they don't share my contact details to other people without my consent.

Since I can't do anything about it for now and until we have an anti-junk mail service here in the country, I have thought of these ways to prohibit others from getting my contact details:

• Shredding bills and other old documents containing my home address.
• Not giving my complete address in unimportant forms (e.g. supermarket surveys, product registration cards, etc.).
• Contacting my bank and credit card company to ask them not to share my contact details.

Can you think of anything else to add to this list?

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My son has already been blogging since 2005 but has been preoccupied with a lot of things that he seldom gets to update his blog more often. The husband, on the other hand, has been thinking of having a blog but I doubt that he can ever manage writing regularly since he's busy with work, too. Thus, OurFoodTrip.com was born in October last year. I designed it to be a collaborative writing project for the three of us. I serve as the site admin and they contribute their food reviews when they're available to write.

Hope you can visit us at OurFoodTrip.com.

Nine months and 24 posts after, our food blog has now achieved Page Rank 1. It was a delightful surprise, actually, considering that we don't get to update the blog as often as we want to. I'm now more inspired to write more mouth-watering posts. I may also share recipes from the books I kept all these years. Who knows, I may impose on myself a cooking challenge ala Julie/Julia Project.

The only downside to all this cooking and eating will be my health and my weight, I know. So, most probably, I'll be cooking and the boys will be eating. Then they'll be the ones to hunt for the best diet pills in the world! Haha! Sweet revenge, don't you think?


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I remember Cortal from way back when I was younger but it was gone in the market for a while. It now makes a comeback as Cortal SQR that has an advanced formulation combining Ibuprofen and Paracetamol. Muscoskeletal pain will be gone in as little as 15 minutes because Cortal SQR dissolves and is absorbed by the body faster. This ability to provide quick relief has made Cortal SQR the pain reliever of choice by no other than the Philippine National Football Team, the Azkals!

Cortal SQR offers relief for pain brought by joint pain, myalgia, arthritis, rheumatism, sprain, strain, bursitis, tendonitis, backache and stiff neck, among others. It can also be taken for fever, headache, dysmenorrhea, toothache, and post-operative pain. One may take 1 tablet of Cortal SQR every six hours or as prescribed by a doctor. Suggested retail price is Php 6.50 per tablet.

Cortal SQR used to be offered by GlaxoSmithKline Philippines, Inc. before Pharma-Rex, Inc. acquired it. Incorporated in March 25, 2010, Pharma-Rex, Inc. imports, manufactures, wholesales and trades ethical and over-the-counter pharmaceutical products.


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I've been thinking of buying psyllium fiber supplements. Last week, I attended an event where the host is a media personality who endorses C-Lium Fibre. She was also the host of a mommy blogger event that I attended last year so I really noticed how slim she is today. Although she told us that she works out in the gym, I was still convinced that C-Lium Fibre helped her lose the unwanted pounds.

As usual, my initial concern is how it will affect my blood sugar. Surprisingly, I found articles that share how it can lower blood sugar levels because of its high fiber content and its ability to absorb sugar from food. However, it is also for this reason that diabetics should take extra care before taking in psyllium fiber especially while on maintenance medications.

I still have to consult this with my doctor so that I will be advised of the correct dosage. My sister warns me of dehydration and I don't want to take that risk. While waiting for my doctor's visit, I'm going to visit the buyliporexall.com site to see if it's okay to use as well.


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