Tracking changes

It has been nearly two full weeks since I began the regimen set out by my doctor. I am feeling great about the changes in my eating so far. I have been trying to monitor side effects of the medication, however, and that has proven a little difficult.

Some of the most common side effects of the drug she has me on are headaches, dizziness, trouble sleeping... things that I already experience on some level. So, my headaches don't seem any more frequent and/or more painful than before the medication. My dizziness may be happening a little more often, but that is super hard to judge since with the vertigo, I go through stages of this anyway. I've had sleep interruptions for a long time now, so even that is hard to know if it is potentially drug related or not. Generally speaking, none of these symptoms seem to have gotten measureably worse than before I started this medication, but I am paying more attention to them now.

The one change I have noticed and need to keep close tabs on is that while I am eating and drinking less, I am smoking more. I was not really a heavy smoker in the first place. On my *worst* days, I would smoke 5-6 cigarettes in a day. Honestly, I am still not exceeding that, but I am smoking that many on most days now instead of just once in a while.

Considering that one of my other goals is to give up smoking before my 30th, I need to keep a very close eye on this. I don't want to move from one unhealthy habit to a potentially more unhealthy one. It has taken me until yesterday to really pinpoint this change, but I'm glad I caught it now rather than waiting for it to continue or worsen.

Anyway, I go back to the doctor tomorrow for my first follow up and I'm actually looking forward to it. I will get all of my bloodwork results, monitor my progress so far, and potentially make changes to custom tailor my plan to my own needs based on what the tests show. It is nice to still be excited about this 2 weeks later. More often than not, I give up on myself before I hit this point, but not this time!