After the Fast...

I made it through the rest of the month without my mystery sickness and did worry so much about it anymore. I just decided it might be low blood sugar as a result of fasting and as long as eating eggs before commencing the fast fixed it, I thought I should just let it go, thinking it will be a thing of the past after the month.

I was wrong! Few weeks after the month of ramadaan, I notice that for some days, whenever I skip breakfast and even if I eat lunch as early as 12.p.m, I get tired like I used to in the month of ramadaan. I still thought it may be blood sugar problems as carbohydrate is always a major part in my meals. I went to the doctor and did all the blood sugar tests. I was so scared and worried for the 2 days I had to wait to get the result. It came out negative, alhamdulillah. The doctor said I did not have diabetes. I was relieved about that news, but was still worried about what ails me, that could not be diagnosed. I even convinced myself there must be a mistake somewhere; maybe they did not get the result right. I decided to start eating like someone who has diabetes, limited carbs, more protein, no more juice, etc as much as I could. I checked out a list of foods allowed for diabetics and shopped for the ones I know I will enjoy and started eating that, hoping for relief...

Well, I did not have any noticeable improvement. Some days, I was okay after eating and some days, I still get dog tired. I started getting depressed. I no longer look forward to mealtimes. And I used to be someone who loves food so much. I read on health forums and other random sites that the solution is to eat more!. To eat 5-7 small meals a day, to never be hungry. Who has time to prepare and eat 5-7 meals a day, especially as a mum of 4 young ones and the fact that I go to tahfeez school in the morning and homeschool my kids in the afternoon. It is easy to forget to eat except at meal times when everyone is eating. Anyways, I went back to my doctor and asked her to tell me what else could be making me tired after eating if I was not diabetic. I explained to her that I sometimes have the symptoms if I had not eaten for some hours too, even though when it stated, it was just after eating. That very day, I went in the morning right after leaving the tahfeez school. Just as the nurse called me in to the doctor's office, I started feeling tired again. So, the doctor asked the nurse to test my blood glucose again, the one they check by getting a drop of blood from the thumb after pricking it with a needle. The result was fine. so she said the nurse should check my BP, and there, I got the answer to what has been making my life uncomfortable for months. My Blood pressure was not normal, not high, but Low!. ya Rabb!. The tiredness was as a result of a sudden drop in blood pressure. I was scared, quickly asking the doctor so many questions about the seriousness of someone's blood pressure being low. She assured me that it is ok, she said it is not a disease, just a condition(yea right). It does not reqiure medication, just some lifestyle changes and healthy eating and living. She told me some things to do like eating salted crackers, salted peanuts, drinking salty water and generally adding more salt to whatever I eat. She also told me to lie down for a few seconds with some pillows under my feet so that more blood can flow to my head.

I was thankful to Allah for being able to find out what was wrong with me, and to know its not as bad as I had feared. I know that low BP could be dangerous too, especially if it falls too low, but the fact that I had feared the worse made the news more acceptable to me. Most of my friends have high BP and have to take meds daily. So being told I do not have dibetes or high BP or even some form of cancer but just low BP was a welcome relief to me. Sometimes, I still feel guilty that I must have brought it on myself by my yoyo dieting and most of the time, not eating well, because I was concerned about my weight. Another reason I suspect I got to have low blood pressure is because I was busy trying to be smart by half. I am very much into holistic medicine and being surrounded by loved ones who have high blood pressure including my mum, I felt the need to take measures to prevent myself from developing the disease. So I used to drink Apple cider vinegar which is known for its amazing ability to lower BP., even though it has a number of other health benefits. I did not stop there, I was adding less salt to my cooking and also stopped using food additives that has MSG, especially maggi cubes among other things. I was practically living like someone who has been diagnosed of high BP already. This is a big lesson to me and others. Even though prevention is said to be better than cure, one still needs to err on the side of caution so as not to invite one ailment while trying so hard to prevent another.

I have been mostly okay after I started following the doctor's instruction and I am indeed Thankful to Allah for everything and pray that I am not tested with that which I cannot bear.