Seeing as it's now been almost a month since I became a vegan, I have expected (and already started to notice) a lot of changes in my body. First of all, I seem to have more energy than I used to. Having an illness like bipolar disorder often leaves you tired an achy a lot (you know those commercials about how "depression hurts"? Well, bipolar disorder does, too). So now that I'm getting all these great fresh vegetables and vital nutrients in my body, I often feel re-energized, which I love. The only thing that slows me down is Seroquel, a drug my doctor prescribed me for my erratic sleeping habits. It's most commonly prescribed for schizophrenia, but it's also often used off-brand as a sleep aid. I take 50 milligrams of it every night, which only leaves me slightly groggy in the morning, but sometimes if I can't get to sleep or I'm not feeling tired until really late, I can take 100 milligrams. I can only do that if I don't have to get up early the next day, though, because I am so groggy and almost drunk-feeling that I can't really function. So, aside from taking Seroquel in the higher dosage now and again, I feel much more energized than I did before becoming a vegan.
The second benefit of becoming a vegan is that my mood has relatively stabilized and I'm not quite as cranky as I used to always be. I haven't really lashed out at anyone like I commonly used to, nor have I felt particularly depressed or manic. A third benefit is that I've lost some weight since becoming a vegan, which I needed to do, anyway. I'm not consuming any processed foods or fast food in general, which made up a lot of my diet before because my hectic and often-changing schedule makes it hard to cook and not just go through a drive-through and pick up something fast. I'm taking the time out of my day to cook my food and use healthy ingredients.
I'm not so crazy lately!
I'm losing weight, but I'll never be THIS skinny (thank goodness).
Now comes the downfall. As of today, I am 12 days late for my period. For the last several years, I've had pretty regular periods. My monthly bill would arrive every 28 days, as expected, and last about two days. A lot of this was due to the birth control I was on (Loestrin FE 24) but I've been off it since November. My period didn't hardly change at all since going off the Pill, except that it lasts a little bit longer than it used to. So now being 12 days late, I decided to do a little bit of research. Step one was taking a pregnancy test just to be sure, and it was negative. Step two was to pilfer around online and I've found that there are actually a lot of other women who have changes in their periods because of becoming vegan or vegetarian. I've found that some women's periods disappear altogether, while others have much longer periods than they used to. And the big thing I've found is that most women who still have their period have a lot longer between each period, sometimes 40 or 50 days instead of the normal 28-36 days. So I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens over the next few months to try to chart how my menstrual cycle has changed and any patterns to expect.
A tampon finger puppet!
Apparently tampon art is the new thing?
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