I ran out of Arizona green tea two days ago, but I like the stuff and will get more of it. Unfortunately, I've only found it at a WalGreens so far, and that's 5 miles from anywhere I need to go any time soon.

On my second day of drinking the tea, I had about the same results as the day before -- pre-cramps stopped and didn't return until about 10 pm. As stated in a previous post, this may be entirely coincidental and non-related to the tea. In either case, I will get more tea and wait for the "true" cramps to begin in hopes of some relief.

Kind of odd, but yesterday I had no pre-cramping of any sort... none! So far this morning there's not one iota of pain. Amazing.. It makes me wonder when Aunt Flo will come. I'm in that "Is she coming or not??" stage. Let's go ahead and get this over with.

I've been doing considerably well off my SSRI. Two days ago I had some dizziness and brain zapping in the evening. I realized immediately it was because I forgot to take my pill for the day, and often occurence. So I got up and chopped a whole pill into fourths and downed it. In an hour or less I had no more withdrawal symptoms.

I am still on 1/4th pill and will be through Saturday the 4th. After that I will be on 1/8th pill or less for two full weeks as part of my weaning process. It's amazing how such a little piece of an already small pill can affect the brain and body.

I had a couple of moments of weakness yesterday and am having a hard time discerning whether it was due to PMS or an SSRI decrease. I was using a siphon to extract water from a fish tank and the d* thing just wouldn't work. I gave it a forceful toss into the sink and walked away. This "boiling up" happened rather quickly causing me to react rather quickly. Happily, it was over in a matter of minutes and I began feeling better -- more in control. Even an hour later when I tried to fill a 20-gallon tank with 30-gallons of water causing a major kitchen flood, I coped quite well.

It's still very hard to seperate PMS from general depression.

For the first time in months, yesterday I put earrings into my second holes. They are just simple gold balls, 14K I believe. By the time it was late evening, I believe I'd been reacting to them all day.

I wear earrings in the first holes daily with no problem. I've been able to wear the cheapos -- any earrings that are nickel-free. So now I'm wondering if it's more this ear or these earrings (I had no noticeable problems with the other ear). Being gold, there is destined to be some nickel so out they go.

In either case, I felt toxic last night, for lack of a better description. Now, I'm not one who screaches at everything I put into or onto my body as being toxic. I know much of it is, but I don't have a desire to become fully disconnected from what have been my standards (I happen to like my toxic V05 Kiwi Conditioner). However, last night was different.

My ear itched -- an obvious sign. My throat itched on that ear's side. This is partially because I feel a mild cold coming on and it's one of my usual symptoms, but I'm confident it's also in part to the earring. My tooth tasted metallic! I have those algamam fillings in two back teeth. I swear I can taste them, but it was a highly prominent taste last night. I should get these things removed.

I took off the earring, dabbed my ear with some Witch Hazel, and massaged it with my favorite cocoa cream. I then thoroughly brushed and rinsed my teeth (bet I scrubbed away some mercury, ey? J/K). This actually helped the taste some, seeing as how my toothpaste is oh-so-tasty.

I'm still eating healthy, or at least much better than normal. This alone could be the reason my pre-cramps have subsided and my overall mood is tolerable. Can I do this forever? Possibly. Will I do this forever? Possibly, but it won't start right away. I find that jumping head first into a life change (for me) results in a rubber band rebound into old habits. I have to take things like this one step at a time. This is the main reason I've yet to re-attempt a Master Cleanse. I am re-reading, re-researching and preparing both my mind and body for a cleanse.

OK, back to the food. I ran out of soy milk yesterday. Ouch! I wanted it all day and even went out to get it. A stop at the thrift store first ended up in an over-filled little car, forcing me to return home before the grocery store. I didn't get more until 6pm, but when I did, I stocked up.

I also restocked on some fruits (the kids found my fruit stash and have enjoyed eating more than just apples) and grabbed some plantains. I picked up some natural potato chips and cereal -- organic cocoa (like chocolate rice krispies) -- YUK! Costs too much, tastes too bad. Not again brother.

Dinner was great! I'd been craving chicken and pasta, so I picked up some legs and whole grain organic angel hair pasta. I sauteed some portobello mushrooms in EVOO, then the chicken in the same on the stove, finishing it in the microwave. I tossed the pasta with basil pesto and ate like I hadn't eaten in days! mmm mmm good.

Overall, I'm happy with the results of eating better and generally taking more control over my health. I've been having regular BMs, where normally I would go 3 days with nothing then go 3-5 times in one day. Much less gas!! It's obvious that my eating habits contribute to this. In several days I've only had a tiny amount of gas. The scale said 155 this morning! Was it lying to me? I feel good in general. I honestly think I would have felt OK regardless of some of this stuff, but I certainly don't feel any worse for wear!

Have a great day everyone!