I know my February Thoughts 2024 is late. I almost wanted to wait for March before I put it out, but decided to do it anyway. It’s mostly inspired by this post from The Wordy Habitat. I just felt like I wanted to get this out.
My life has changed drastically in the last few months, and I have plans for even more drastic changes this year.
Health Updates – February Thoughts 2024
In July of 2023, I was admitted to the hospital for the first time in my adult life. I’m generally a healthy person, having gone through the first 27 years of my life with minimal doctor visits. Aside from a quick eye surgery, I haven’t been overnight in a hospital since I got my tonsils out at age 5.
I was not doing well. I suffered from chronic migraines, sometimes so bad I wouldn’t be able to function for days. After one particularly bad migraine, I noticed the visual auras didn’t go away. I kept seeing them, for almost a month after the migraine. So off to my eye doctor I went.
He concluded that my discs were severely swollen, and I needed to see a neurologist. To make a long story short, I was admitted to the hospital for a lumbar puncture, to check for various autoimmune disorders that could be causing my papilledema.
The first lumbar puncture was awful, but nothing compared to the second and third. The test results on the first spinal tap were inconclusive, so the neurologist wanted another one. So back I went two weeks later for another one. And another one, cause they didn’t use a long enough needle the first time.
Describing the absolute torture of these lumbar punctures, plus the brutal post-dural headache I had for almost 10 days afterward, is something that I can’t put into words even if I tried. The pain, the absolute uncertainty, the fear of MS or Graves or any other disorders was just so much.
I won’t bore you too much with the details, but ultimately I tested negative for everything, and to this day no one can tell me what caused my papilledema. The ultimate conclusion: lose weight.
Yes, I was overweight. At 1.8m I weighed 120kg. In my mind, I never felt that overweight, but looking back from where I am now, I know I wasn’t in a healthy state. However, just being fat doesn’t cause papilledema. In fact, my blood tests showed a non-functioning thyroid, so my being overweight should have been treated as a symptom, not a disease in itself.
I won’t say I was treated badly, because I wasn’t. But I also wasn’t treated, period. Just given some drugs and sent on my way.
I decided to see a functional health doctor to help me lose weight. My body and my brain were not happy with me, and I needed to do something.
It’s been a few months now, and I’ve lost about 23kgs. I’m much healthier than I was a few months ago, but I still don’t have any answers regarding my health and my thyroid function.
It’s an ongoing journey, especially with food. I’m trying not to see food as something good vs bad. I’ve stopped eating both dairy and grains (which is harder than it sounds), and sometimes when I “cheat”, I am reminded with a vengeance that I still have a long way to go. Which leads me to my writing projects.
Writing Projects
I’ve never spoken about my writing online. I stopped writing for many years after a falling out with my writing partner, and I didn’t think it was a thing I could do alone anymore. My writing was so wrapped up in my partner, doing it without them just felt wrong.
But life moves on whether we want it to or not, so in 2024 I decided to start taking my writing seriously again. I won’t say too much about my projects, but I’m working on a dark academia series, a standalone romance, and a sci-fi series.
It’s a little freeing to be writing again, but also super scary. I procrastinate a lot, but I am determined to make my yearly goal of completing at least a first draft of the romance novel. I might also be lowkey looking for some writing buddies, so if you too are a socially awkward introvert who likes writing, hit me up!
Reading Updates
Now for the actual reason you’re here, my February reading wrap-up. I hate writing wrap-ups, especially on my blog. But I figured I would include quick reading wrap-ups in these longer wrap-up type posts. We’ll see if I do one of these every month, but I’m not sure yet.
So here’s what I read in February:
- Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey
- Mickey7 by Edward Ashton
- The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater
- A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal
- An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson
An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson
I think this book put me in a major reading slump. Like my March reading has not been going well at the moment. The more I think about this book, the more I dislike it.
I was just expecting so much more. I didn’t like Laura or Carmilla, and I felt like this book was so shallow. This book handles the student/teacher relationship very well. It made me so uncomfortable, but it was written so well. The power dynamic between Camilla and the professor was so creepy. That being said, we could have gone deeper into it. There were elements to the relationship that could have been more fleshed out.
I did also fall asleep listening to the last 40-ish minutes of this book, but I don’t think I missed much. The secondary vampire plotline could have been left out in favour of spending more time with Carmilla as a vampire. Overall, the writing wasn’t bad, but I just wanted more from this book.
March Plans
My March plans include creating a new Instagram account. I am just so bored with mine, and I don’t like the content I’m seeing over there. I want a fresh start, something new. So you’ll be seeing a new Instagram from me, but the rest of my pages will still be the same.
Like I mentioned before, I want to transition to more lifestyle and writing content. I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a YouTube channel, but I’m still not sure about it. For now, we’ll just do a new Instagram account.
So, that’s my wrap-up for the month. Let me know how your February/March has been going so far.
oh wow your hospital experience sounds horrible! and for it to all end in a few drugs and being told to lose weight?? i’m not sure if you’ve heard but this is quite common for women because the medical studies are usually done on men and hence doctors aren’t really equipped to diagnose and treat women. have your migraines gone after losing weight? if not, i highly suggest going for a second opinion elsewhere, along with your reports of previous tests. it’s a common thing here in india to not believe one doctor or hospital, we get at least 2 medical opinions. often, it takes a while before we get a doctor who knows what we’re going through. when i was in 6th grade with migraines and frequent red eyes, it took visiting a doctor in a small clinic in a different state to finally get an answer and a solution. i’ve been much better since then.
i hope you’re doing better and hope that your migraines reduce!