Helen! Well done one being healthy around your parents! That's my next BIG STEP! Your holiday sounds ideal, absolutely lovely

Sooo... I went to the gym last night and did my chest and tris. It hurt to turn off my alarm clock this morning! Holy Moly Guacamole! And I have to do a double kickboxing class tonight They're not feeling too bad now though, I'll just have to think positive healing thoughts!

I had a lovely brekky, which is fairly high protein too! 1/2 C oats, 1/4 C dried milk (skimmed) and 1/2 C skimmed milk & splenda to taste. This is good if you like cereal for brekky! It's about 25% protein without adding rubbishy protein powder to the mix, and the dried milk mixes in perfectly without going all lumpy, and it makes the ordinary skimmed milk taste soooooo creamy like whole milk I'm going to be having this a LOT! I've even packed a kind of musli thing for this afternoon's meal - done the oats, dried milk, then dried cranberries, raisins and pumpkin seeds (they were all the seeds I had in the cupboard!) I might put a couple of almonds in there too!

We went out to see some live music last night, some guy on an acoustic guitar playing crowded house and fleetwood mac! I went to a couple of shops to find some veggies for a nice healthy stir-fry for lunch today. I went to 2 corner shops and there was NOTHING. No fresh fruit or veggies at ALL! I'd just missed M&S food closing by about 1 minute! No wonder there's a flaming obesity epidemic if you can't buy fresh fruit or veg at 9pm!!!

Anyway, I did myself a pork and apple stir-fry and I did DF some egg fried rice with cashews, mushrooms and peas (all we really had in!!!) So we were both happy and I didn't have to go to the shops!

YP - Spain sounds lovely.

Sarah-Ann - I was in the herbalists in York today and the woman in there told me there's been a haze of silver birch pollen here in Yorks, blown across the sea all the way from Eastern Europe. Mr Phat's hay fever is the worst it's ever been and my 11 year old has suddenly also got what looks like hay fever (SATs week, too!) - so I think we've an uber-high pollen count in Yorks this year.

2frus - I'm going to try your breakfast. Here's my new brekkie invention, which I figured out because shop bought museli is (a) expensive (b) full of preservatives, (c) it's too hot for my usual porridge.... and so far it's proving popular with me, Mr Phat and the 3 year old... half and half barley flakes and oats (I mixed jumbo oats with the smaller ones). Then whatever dried fruit/nuts/seeds you have in the cupboard - in this case, dried cranberries, raisins, and some pecans. I also put in some pumpkin seeds and raw shelled hemp seed as that's my new craze. I've been having either 100 ml of apple juice or the same of grapefruit juice on it. To top up the protein, I used a little of my home-made yogurt, which is sweetened with manuka honey! It cost me under £2 to make a couple of kilos plus - in the shop it's a couple of quid for 500g, and also bulked out with a lot of wheat flakes.

Yup, home made musli certainly is the best! Also Alpen has a lot of sugar in it too, I think that's what makes it tasty. I'm so glad I found porridge oats and I realised that there's ways to eat them other than in flapjacks and oatmeal and raisin cookies!

I'm off to the doctors this afternoon - I've got a shopping list to get sorted out with him: a) to find out if my thyroid problem has been fixed by the tablets I've been taken for a month (I don't think so) b) my blood pressure (yet again) and c) this rash which is getting worse. Good job the anti-histimine tablets that DH bought are the sleepy type ones otherwise I'd have gone nuts last night because its starting itching and stinging now.

Silver birch! Great!! Guess what the Moors are covered in - AND we've got three in the garden.

I love home made muesli. I normally use the little oats for making porridge or pancakes but if I'm making muesli then I'll use those organic jumbo oats. Have you tried grating an apple in to it just before serving. Yum!

Hope your doc sorts you out Sarah Oooh grated apple, that's a nice thought! I think I'm going to slice my banana into mine this afternoon.

I am so angry, upset, FURIOUS!!!

I went to the doctor - first of all he glanced at my rash and decided it was prickly heat - and told me to stay out of the sun, even though I said I don't ever sun-bathe just walk my dogs while fully clothed and - most importantly - IT DOESN'T PRICKLE! Next he told me that my thyroid test had come back okay even though the tablets hadn't done a thing to change all the thyroid-related symptoms I've got. FINALLY he took my blood pressure - no big surprise to me that it was sky high(I was more than a little wound up by the previous conversation) - but it obviously was to him because he immediately told me to lie down and called in a nurse to sit with me for 30 mins before taking it again. Luckily it came down a bit because he took DH in to a side room and told him that it was so high he wanted to admit me in to hospital!!!!!

Okay, I'll suspend activities on the weights but I'm NOT going to give up my lovely walks!!!!

Aw Sarah - sounds like you had a really bad day. I wouldn't hesitate to look for another GP, or ask to see a diff one in that practice if you can, because it looks like you're getting no answers there, re thyroid and rash.

As for relaxing exercise, there's always swimming or yoga? Your walking can do you nothing but good. I always wind down with a bit of amateur aromatherapy - a bath with rose oil or lavender oil diluted in a dispersant oil works wonders. Vetivert or Neroli oil work even better.

You can't be left wondering what's going on with you, though, so I'd just ask to see another doctor if you haven't got any real answers.

Oh Sarah How frustrating. I hate it when doctors are dismissive and don't listen.

Phat's right, you need to see another guinea pig, that one is obviously not helping you.

I've developed a horrible red rash on both of my hooves, it's really itchy and driving me nuts. I wore leather shoes without tights on Wednesday, and really paying for it now, ouch!

Poor Sarah! I'm so sorry you'll have to nix the weights. I agree with the others, get ye to another doc. He sounds like a total reminds me of one guy who spent my WHOLE 10 minute appointment on the phone and didn't listen to me at all, he then prescribed me the wrong pill. Needless to say I didn't go back to him! Oh you could also complain to your practice manager about him too. In fact I think you should!

All you rashy people - making me itch!

I got really dehydrated last night at kickboxing, I forgot to drink my squash during the day, I think I only had one pint. I normally have about 5, plus it was a hot day. So then training in the heat wasn't great - I barely made it through the second class after a gruelling sparring session in the first one! I'm making up for it today, I'm on my 4th pint already!

All those pounds that I put on last week are proving very hard to shift! I'm only 2lbs down - I thought they'd come off quicker I suppose it might be because of the dehydration though... We'll see what happens tomorrow!

I'm going to tonight, after abs, shoulders and legs in the gymmy gym!

Thank you for all the sympathy - much appreciated! He was actually a quite nice doctor, I was just a bit put out by being 'ill' when I try and keep so fit! I did tell him at the time that my BP was probably high because I was stressed over what he had just told me and that is why he didn't admit me in to hospital immediately.

I've booked a telephone appointment for this afternoon with another doctor at the same practice - just to find out about the thyroid stuff and to ask about the walking. Maybe the various symptoms I've got are just stuff I've got to live with - after all I didn't realise that those minor problems all bunched together could possibly be symptoms of thyroid until I looked it up on the internet after I got the letter from my doctor telling me there was a problem with my test result.

I think someone, somewhere is trying to tell me something about lifting weights. Its not that I've got a death wish or anything, but this morning I thought I'd just carry on as normal but use lighter weights - and promptly dropped a 15k dumbell on to my foot. Luckily it mainly missed and just clipped my right big toe joint (where it joins the foot) - theres a nasty bruise but its not broken or anything, thank goodness.

I've been looking up heat rash on the net and it could be my body lotion which is causing the problems. I didn't realise it could stop me from sweating and that can cause heat rash. I didn't put any on this morning after my shower and I am actually feeling a bit more comfortable today.

Kyk, are you allergic to the tanning or dye stuff in the leather? My sister used to suffer from that and couldn't wear leather at all.

Frus - oh be CAREFUL - its dangerous to exercise when you are dehydrated, especially in this weather!

Ouch! Glad you missed your toes!

Yeah I know, I'm an idiot! Luckily my instructor had me sit down for most of the second class!

I've been itching all night then I get up and I can't do anything because of my blistered hands (I can still type though ha) just washing, dressing etc hard!

Veggie, I've got some stuff called Benadryl cream which relieves skin allergies - and its working great. If it gets too bad to sleep then try some stuff called Cetirizine which is for hayfever but works on other allergies as well - but don't take it unless you want to go to sleep.

We've got a thunder storm here - my favourite. Just got to go out in the garden to watch it. I need to shut Fred in the cupboard under the stairs - I'm not being cruel, its just his preferred place to be when theres loud noises going on.

Oooh I love a good thunder!

Unfortunately it's stupidly sunny here! I'm going to skip the gym tonight, I feel pants! I think sometimes a rest would do me better than working like a trojan. Kickboxing again tomorrow!

Sarah I took an allergy tablet on your advice then saw they were best before end of July 05! It has spread to (before the tablet) my neck now.