May!! Right?

We have had a ridiculously cold spring.  The cold weather we had in April seems to want to continue into May as well.  I just don’t think I should need to run the furnace here in May!  Maybe in the UP, but not here!  A couple of days ago it didn’t even get out of the 40’s.  Our danger of frost is supposed to be over now but I am not sure… there is still a snap to the air that tells me it might not follow its usual pattern this year!

Spring colds seem to have made their way through our household.  This time it has involved large amounts of congestion and drainage from both lungs and sinuses, and even my ears feel clogged up.  It appears to be taking longer than usual for these symptoms to improve.  My energy is pretty much gone and I’ve been reduced to a pile on the floor.  I haven’t been sick like this in a while so although I am thankful that I got through the winter without much trouble, I will be happy to see this monster dissipate.

To make my cold even more fun, I realized I hadn’t been feeling well for the past few weeks.  I was exercising and eating better and had been feeling great after having lost over 20 pounds, so I couldn’t understand what the trouble was.  After doing a little trial and error with some supplements I’d been taking, and after consulting Dr. Google (only due to a lack of information in any of my books), I decided I’d been taking too much Vitamin D.  There is a line of thought in medicine right now that feels everyone is deficient, that everyone should be on supplements, and that it is nearly impossible to overdose on it.  Apparently I am an exception!  When I found the information I was looking for I was amazed that I had been experiencing almost all of the symptoms listed here.

The most annoying and uncomfortable symptom was dry mouth/metallic taste.  No matter what I did, my mouth was dry and tasted terrible.  This made it difficult to eat.  Once I figured out what was going on and stopped the supplements, it took a few days for my mouth to stop hurting!  Then, when I got this cold, I decided I should probably start taking my multivitamin (which I often neglect) to give my body an extra boost since I haven’t really been eating that well in recent days.  Well, after 3 days of taking my multivitamin, all the symptoms I had were back!  I read the bottle and my multivitamin for women contains 200% of the DV of Vitamin D!  So now that is shelved for the time being.  Again, it took a few days for my mouth to start feeling better and my symptoms to subside, a real treat in the midst of a horrid spring cold.

From what I’ve read, it seems like most people do not have a reaction like this to Vitamin D.  I did feel better when I first started taking it this winter, so when next winter sets in (hopefully that will not happen for a few months now!) I will give it a trial taking the smallest dose I can find, and see how I feel.  It is a fat-soluble vitamin and is stored rather than excreted, so perhaps I do not need as much as many people or I am super good at absorbing it, or both.

In other news, we are about to venture into the world of charcoal/wood grilling and smoking.  We are going to get this grill and its smoker attachment and give it a go this summer.  Good barbecue is pretty much insurance that I won’t ever be vegetarian, even though wood-grilled veggies are divine!  We are making our final list of equipment we need, then we’ll be making our purchase.  I am looking forward to some good eating (and good homemade beer drinking) this summer!