I've been experiencing the old health problems that plagued me for years: headache, lethargy, dizziness. Darnnit, I thought I "fixed" myself with the CPAP machine and subsequent weight loss. Since Thanksgiving, the weight has slowly crept back on (to the tune of 20 pounds. Ouch.) and the sleepiness and dizziness has been driving me CRAZY.

I fell asleep while watching TV at 7:30 last night and woke up 8:30 this MORNING. I've been doing that a LOT lately. I used to do that all the time.... and I was starting to worry my old habits would return, complete with my old 3X clothes.

Well this morning, we had someone come out to inspect our water heater because my husband found something slimy coming out of the bottom of the heater tank. The guys fixed the slime issue and found another problem. It turns out the vent on the top of it has been venting carbon monoxide into our livingroom!!!

How long has this been going on? Did the hose come out around Thanksgiving? Or was it long ago and it just snuck up on me around thanksgiving because thats when the house was locked up against the cold weather?

All I can say is this: Thank God we have a creaky, leaky, uninsulated old home! Otherwise we'd be dead.

How has this affected the animals? I read online that the symptoms are much like humans. Thank goodness the remedy is fixing the problem (done) and fresh air. Callie's gotten lots of fresh air, as has Harry and Mikey (they are allowed to go into the yard when Callie and I are there.) The others get fresh air any time they curl up next to a window - all of ours are drafty and you can actually see the curtains move in the breeze, despite being closed Hey, one good thing to be said for the antique windows original to the 1920's house!

As for me, perhaps now that I know my lethargy has an acutal trigger, I can relax about the weight gain and tiredness. Stressing about it certainly didn't help. I probably stress ate half those pounds on.